General Notes

Immigration: BEF 25 JUL 1649 Suffolk County, Massachusetts
Occupation: a shoemaker
Religion: Baptist-appears in Swansea Baptist Church Records.
Event: Living 1651 Dorchester,,  Massachusetts,
Note:
house/land purchased from William Betts and later sold to Jacob
Hewins(Registry of Deeds).
Residence: 1658 Rehoboth,, Massachusetts
Note:  Received permission to "sojourn" there 9 Dec 1657 per "Records of Rehoboth"
1 NOTE He "came to America upon the turn of the times in England." He was a soldier in Cromwell's Army. He purchased a proprietorship in Dorchester, Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1650. His will in Suffolk  County Massachusetts Wills, Vol. 1, pg. 288.
He was killed in KingPhilip's War and he is buried in Rehoboth.

Sources:
Title: New England Families Genealogical and Memorial, Edition: Third
Series
Abbrev: Cutter
Publication: Clearfield Company, Inc, Baltimore, Maryland, 1996, Original
Date, 1915
Page: Vol. 2, p.873
Title: The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Volume 1
- 148
Abbrev: NEHGS Register CD
Publication: NEHGS, 101 Newbury St, Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts 1996
Page: Vol 18, pps 245-256
Title: The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Volume 1
- 148
Abbrev: NEHGS Register CD
Publication: NEHGS, 101 Newbury St, Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts 1996
Page: Vol 139, p. 49

SECOND GENERATION

2. Sampson Mason was born on 10 Mar 1625 in Bolton, Lancastershire, England. He signed a will on 22 Oct 1672 in Rehobeth, Bristol, Massachusetts. Will of Sampson Mason

The 22cond Day of October in the year of our Lord according to the English Accompt one Thousand six hundred seventy and two.

Know all men by these p'sents the I Sampson Mason of Rehoboth in the Collonie of New Plymouth in New England, Cordwinder, being sicke in body, but through the Grace of God of Good and p'fect memory doe make and declare my last will and Testament in manor and form following; That is to say

first, I give and bequeath my whole estate as well Reall as p'sonall to Mary my beloved wife; To have and to hold the same and every p'te thereof To the use of her the said Mary during her widowhood; Only excepting such Gifts and Legacys as are herin and hereafter bequeathed;

Item. I give and bequeath unto my eldest son Noah; either my house which is shortly to be build in Swansey, or that house wherein I doe Now dwell, That is to say that house which his Mother my said wife shall order him to take; and an equal proportion with all his brothers in all my lands within the several Townships of Rohoboth and Swansey; and on the Northsyde of the Towne of Rohoboth; when he shall attain to one and twenty years of age; To the use of him and his heires and assignees for ever;

Item. I give and bequeath unto my second son Sampson Fifty acres of Land which is shortly to be laid out as my Lott on the Northsyde of the Towne of Rohoboth; to have and to hold the said Fifty acres; from the Time that he shall attain to one and twenty years of age; To him and his heires and assignees for ever.

Item. I give and bequeath unto my son Samuell that house which my said wife shall Choose for her own particular use; with five and Twenty acres of Land where my said wife and the overseers of this my will hereafter Named shall see convenient; To have and to hold the said house and land from and after my said wifes decease; To him and his heires and assignees for ever.

Item. I give the bequeath unto my other six sons an equal right to and proportion of all my lands not already bequeathed within the several Townships of Rehoboth and Swansey; and on the Northsyde of the Towne of Rohoboth; whether the same of any p'te thereof be divided or undivided; as it is or shall be layed out to the use of me or mine heires or assignees att any time hereafter; To have and to hold To them my said six sons and every of them respectively; when they shall attain to one and twenty years of age; and after the second Marriage of my said wife or her decease; to their several and Respective uses of them and to the several and Respective uses of their heires and assignees for ever provided nevertheless that whensoever every of my last mentioned six sons possess and enjoy an equal proportion of all of land with my said sons Noah and Samuell; That the Remaining lands shall be att my wifs dispose; and off my said overseers hereafter mentioned: (Note: Total of 13 children mentioned, nine sons and four daughters).

Item. I doe hereby declare that it is my last will and Testament; That every of my four daughters shall have such a portion of my estate both Reall and P'sonall as my said wife and the said overseers shall see meet and to be paid to every of them according to the order of my said wife and overseers;

Item. I doe hereby Nominate my said deare wife Mary sole executrix of this my last well and testament; and my beloved friends Mr. John Myles, Mr. James Brown and my brother John Butterworth to be overseers thereof; desireing that they doe see the same accomplished and preformed according to the true Intent and meaning thereof; In witness whereof I have hereunto putt my hand and seal the day and year first above written.

Signed & sealed in the presence of Jonathan ffuller Sampson Mason
Jonathan Willmoth and a seal (Plymouth Colony Wills. Vol. 3, Part 2, Page 49.)

1676 Nov. 1. Mr Brown is appointed by the Court to give oath unto the witnesses of the will of Sampson Mason and to administer an oath unto Mary Mason for the truth of the inventory. (Printed Records of Plymouth Colony. Vol.5.)
Jonathan Fuller and Jonathan Willmoth took their oath to the truth of this will and Testament the 17th of November 1676, before me.
James Brown, Assistant

In reference to the will of Sampson Mason tendered unto the Court whereas it doth appear that some p'sells of land have been purchased since his will was made that are not paid for, this Court hath ordered that his widow, Mary Mason, shall have liberty from the Court to make sale of some p'te of said land to make payment for the rest that what remains be improved for the bringing up of his children.
And Mr. Browne, Mr. Daniel Smith and her brother Butterworth are deputed by the Court to be helpfull to her in this disposing of the said Estate.
(Printed Records of Plymouth Colony. Vol. 5.)
He died on 7 Sep 1676 in Rehobeth, Bristol, Massachusetts. On the 25th. day of July in the year 1649, Edward Bullock of Dorchester in the Colony of the Massachusetts Bay in New England. being on the point of departure for England and mindful of the many perils of the voyage, made his will. Onre slight mention in this document makes it of the greatest importance to the numerous descendents of one individual named therein. "To Sampson Mason for wife's shoes" (Suffolk County Massachusetts. Wills. Vol. I, page 298.)
This is the earliest known record to prove the presence of Sampson Mason in New England. Of his early history nothing more is known than is contained in the following extract from the History of the Baptists in America, complied by the Rev. Issac Backus. "Sampson Mason was a solider on the Cromwell's army and he came to America upon the turn of times in England and settled in Rehoboth and his prosperity are now as numerous, perhaps those of any man who came to our country in his day." (Vol. 2, page 435.)
On the ninth day of March in the year 1650-51, Sampson Mason, designated shoemaker, purchased from William Betts his house and home lot in Dorchester, the lot containing six acres. (Suffolk County Massachusetts. Deeds Vol. I page 127.) The date of purchase of this house probably very nearly the time of his marriage to Mary Butterworth. Her parentage can only be surmised, but she was probably daughter of John Butterworth of Weymouth in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and from various mentions it appears evident that she was a sister of John Butterworth of Swansea, Massachusetts.
On the ninth day of March in the year 1650-51, Sampson Mason, designated shoemaker, purchased from William Betts his house and home lot in Dorchester, the lot containing six acres. (Taken from Suffolk  County Massachusetts Deeds - Vol. 1, Page 127.) By a later purchase the lot was enlarged to six and one-half acres. The date of purchase of this house probably indicates very nearly the time of his marriage to Mary Butterworth. Her parentage can only be surmised, but she was probably daughter of John Butterworth of Weymouth in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and from various mentions it appears evident that she was a sister of John Butterworth of Swansea.

Feb. 19, 1655-56, Sampson Mason sold to Jacob Hawkins of Dorchester, his house and home lot containing six and one-half acres, two divisions in the commons of Dorchester, Viz, the thirty-seventh lot in the second divisions, 2 acres, three quarters and 26 rods, and the thirteenth lot in the third division, containing the same amount of land as the first named. By the same deed he conveyed three divisions beyond the Meponset river containing two and three-quarters acres each, with the common rights thereto belonging. (Taken from Suffoldk County, Massachusetts Deeds - Vol. 1, Pages 299-301.)

The exact date of his removal to Rehoboth is     but the records of the town have the following entry. "1657, Dec. 9. It was voted that Sampson Mason should have free liberty to sojourn with us and to buy houses, lands and meadows, if we see cause for his settlement, provided he lives peaceable and quietly." The form of vote was not essentially different from that ordinarily employed and merely expressed the town's reservation of its right to expel unruly or obnoxious inhabitants.

At this time the Sampson Mason Family consists of Sampson, his wife, Mary and three children but upon his removal to Rehoboth, John the third child, was left in Dorchester to be brought up by John Gurnell or Gornell, a tanner of that town. The births of the ten younger children are recorded in Rehoboth and it is probable that they were born there. The eleventh child, Pelatiah, is recorded in Rehoboth with the statement that he was born near Providence Ferry, and it is probable that the father was then living on a tract of land on Watchemoket Neck, now East Providence,  Rhode Island. In conveyances from one to another son and grandson of Sampson Mason, mention is made of a tract of ninety-five acres of land on Watchemoket Neck, and also of a smaller tract of eight acres with a house at the Ferry, and it is possible that the family occupied one or the other of these places for a short time; but the homestead was probably further inland within the limits of the present town of Seekonk in Massachusetts.

From the records it is evident that Sampson Mason had acquired considerable property when he removed to Rehoboth, and he then entered extensively into the land specutations so common in his age. He appears as the holder of one share of the seventy-nine and one-half shares in the Rehoboth North Purchase, which afterward became the town of Attleborough, and also one of the Proprietors or shareholders of the town of Swansea in which his descendants for many generations were prominent.


Family Tree Maker #1122 indicates: Early settler in Massachusetts. He fought with Cromwell


See additional data in "Genealogy of the Sampson Mason Family"

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New England Families Genealogical and Memorial by William Richard Cutter
Vol. 2, page 873
"Sampson Mason, the immigrant ancestor, was a soldier or 'dragoon' in Cromwell's army, and he came to America about 1650. ...He was a founder of the town of Rehoboth... He died in 1676, in the midst of Indian wars, and his widow settled that of the estate which was left after the ravage of the Indians."

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The Mason Family by The American Genealogical Research institute, Arlington, Va., found in the Fort Wayne library #GC 929.2 M38011a
"Sampson Mason; died 1676; emigrated to Dorchester,  Massachusetts from England in 1651; former dragoon in Oliver Cromwell's Army; moved to Rehoboth in 1657, and to Swanzey in 1667; shoemaker; married to Mary Butterworth; his children were Sampson and John."