General Notes

[Joanne's Tree.1 GED.GED]

2  PLAC 6344
2  SOUR S332582
3  DATA
4  TEXT Date of Import: 14 Jan 2004


[daveanthes.FTW]

John Heald, (or Hale)  as the name was often spelled in the early records, was one of the first settlers of Concord, Massachusetts.  Some say 1635, but it may be 1641, as suggested by the birth of his first three children.

He was admitted a freeman, June 2, 1641, and lived for some time at Roxbury and Cambridge, before settling in Concord

His will, written by his own hand, was dated the 19th of April the same year. In it he named his three eldest children, John, Timothy and Hannah, who had received their portions of his estate, and "my five youngest children," whose names he does not list. Beloved wife Dorothy was to be sole executrix.

Note: One additional child, Dorcas, died at age 5.  This confirms that he had nine children.

It is interesting that among records of the earliest New England settlers one finds some autograph wills and few marks in place of signatures. In many cases this cannot be said of the next generation or two, no matter how prosperous their condition may have become. It is true of all pioneer communities at any period and is entirely understandable. Yet many a will that is signed by mark or initials means only physical weakness, since the signature of the testator appears on earlier papers.

On Parents: Some genealogy files have John's parents as Thomas Heald (Hail) b. 1588 and Mary Turner b.1583.  Most of these also have John coming from Berwick upon Tweed.  It may be that an early genealogist had this wrong and it has been copied without verification.  No one is certain.


On Samuel.

One theory is that Samuel Heald (1668) was a nephew of John.  As they came from neighboring areas of England, it is possible that they are related.


Please contact Robert W Heald, healdfamily@@netservice.com for more information.