General Notes

[Joanne's Tree.1 GED.GED]

2  SOUR S332582
3  DATA
4  TEXT Date of Import: 14 Jan 2004


[daveanthes.FTW]

Joshua Fisher Dedham (Mass) 1640. Medfield 1650. d. Medfield 9 Nov 1674. Freeman, Blacksmith, Deacon. Brother of Anthony. Tildne, Medfield.

English Ancestry of Joshua and Anthony Fisher:
Joshua Fisher was baptized 24 March 1587/8 (parish register has Joseph, rather than Joshua) at Fressingfield, Suffolk. Deacon Joshua Fisher died 18 October 1674 at Medfield, Massachusetts. He married first, about 1618, Elizabeth ___, who was buried 11 September 1638 at Redenhall with Harleston, Norfolk. He married second, 7 February 1638/9 at Syleham, Suffolk, Anne Orfor. Anna Fisher, widow of Deacon Fisher, died 27 January 1676/7 at Medfield, Massachusetts.
Wife Anne's name has been published as Luson, with the suggestion that she was sister to John Luson, who emigrated to New England, but the original marriage entry, checked by Marion Allen in Ipswich, appears to be Orfor. This spelling is probably a variation of Orford, a name that appears in records of the area, whereas Luson does not. Jevons suggests that Anne may have been the daughter of her husband's first cousin, Rachel (Fiske) Orfor.
In 1621 or 1622 Joshua Fisher moved his family three miles or so from Syleham, Suffolk, across the River Waveney to Harleston, Norfolk. In the 1636 will of his brother John he was named as living in Harleston. The burials of four of Joshua's children appear in the Redenhall with Harleston registers, and probably a fifth child died there also, or before the move from Syleham.
Joshua and his brother Anthony decided to take their families to faraway New England. Anthony departed from the home country first, undoubtedly in 1637, and likely took with him Joshua's sixteen year old son, Joshua. Anthony's family and nephew Joshua settled in Dedham, Massachusetts. Dedham record of 1 January 1637/8 show that Upon a motion made by Anto Fisher It is condescended that Josua Fisher may enter upon the Smithes Lott & ther fitt himselfe ye building & otherwise for to doe some worke of ye trade for ye Towne in the behalfe of his Father wch is expected this next somer. Provided yt yf he cometh not in such a tyme as may be conceived fitting by our sayd society Then the sayd Josua shall leave ye sayd Lott & ye Towne to be at liberty to put in another Smith: aloweing unto the sayd Josua his wholl Charges upon the same to be alowed by 2: Judicious men.
The father Joshua Fisher apparently had not arrived by 28 August 1638, on which date Edward Kempe, blacksmith, was granted half the smith's lot.
Passenger ships to New England generally arrived around June. Joshua and Anne probably sailed soon after their February 1638/9 marriage. The first mention of Joshua in the Dedham records is on 23 March 1639/40; the last is 21 September 1650. Probably in the spring or summer of 1651 Joshua and Anne became residents of Medfield, a new settlement created from part of Dedham.
Records indicate that Anne considered her stepchildren her own and that her affection was reciprocated. On 5 April 1658, Joshua and Anne Fisher--Joshua being described as a blacksmith--deeded part of the homestead and other property in Medfield to "our Sonne" John. John lived only ten more years, dying in 1668. Son Joshua died in 1672, leaving Joshua and Anne only their daughter Mary.
In the will of Joshua Fisher, dated 2 May 1674, probated 19 November 1674, he named his wife Anne; daughter Mary, wife of Thomas Battle, and her children; children of deceased son John; children of (deceased) son Joshua; and "cozen" (nephew) Daniel Fisher of Dedham.
Widow Anne Fisher's will was dated 8 April 1675 and probated 1 February 1676/7. She gave legacies to "daughte Battle," "Grandson John Fisher the Son of my late Son Lieftenant Joshua," "Grandson John and Grand daughter Elizabeth Fisher Children of my late Son John Fisher," and the remainder of her goods "to my Loving Grandson Joshua Fisher Son to my late Son Lieftenant Joshua Fisher whom I brought up from his Childhood whom I make my Sole Executor.