John Fay

• General Notes
  • John Fay embarked May 30, 1656, at Gravesend, England, and arrived in Boston on June 27, 1656, at the age of 8 years on the Speedwell (sister ship of the Mayflower). John was by no means the first Fay to come to America. Available Town records in New England show for example that (1) Richard Fay resided in Dorchester MA in 1634; (2) Henry Fay, a weaver of Newberry MA died 6/30/1655 and (3) William Fay was admitted as a townsman in Boston in 1643. These Fay's unquestionably preceded John Fay to America (1656), but there are no records to establish any interrelationship between any of them.   There is, however, reasonable evidence that his father and a brother Michael had preceded him to America. Although there is no documented record of the father (David) or Michael's birth or death. Reference is made in the early Town records of Sudbury, Massachusetts, that the father of John and Michael was David Fay 'who came to America prior to 1656.' On the other hand the direct lineage of the descendants of John Fay from his birth in 1648 down to 1898 were clearly and logically documented in the records accumulated in Orlin P. Fay's book.   The passenger list of the Speedwell lists five minors, including John Fay age 8 years. These young men were bound to Sudbury MA (settled 17 years previously) where each of them had parents or relatives. It is presumed that since John Fay was the youngest of these minors, he very likely had parents already residing in Sudbury.   Shortly after John Fay's arrival a group of recent immigrants, including young John moved to a new grant which was newly incorporated under the name of Marlboro, MA. The early records of Marlboro show that John Fay was made a freeman in 1669, at which time he had a wife and child. In 1675 the name of John Fay appears among the proprietors of Worcester Mass., and that he had a lot of 50 acres assigned to him 'in the eastern squadron, lying next to the County road to Boston.' Although, he owned land in Worcester he continued to live in Marlboro until the marauding Indians during the Phillips War made it necessary to move his family to the greater security of Watertown Mass. While in Watertown he buried his first wife, Mary Brigham and one child. His second marriage was to Susan 'Susanna' Shattuck who was the widow of Joseph Morse. She had 7 children by Morse and 4 by John Fay. After John Fay's death, Susan married as her third husband, Thomas Brigham, who was a brother of John Fay's first wife, Mary Brigham. It is interesting to record that from Susan's last marriage, one of her descendants [actually it was her husband Thomas' brother Samuel] was Peter Bent Brigham who left a sum of $1,000,000 which was not to be spent until 25 years after his death. By this time the fund had grown to $2,000,000 and was used to build the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, a world famous medical research hospital connected with Harvard Medical School in Boston, Mass.   Source: 'Fay Genealogy - John Fay of Marlborough and his Descendants' by Orlin P. Fay, 1898, page 13.