Genealogy Report: Descendants of Robert Fletcher
Descendants of Robert Fletcher
1.ROBERT1 FLETCHER1 was born 1592 in England1, and died April 03, 1677 in Concord, Middlesex Co., MA2.
Notes for ROBERT FLETCHER:
From "Fletcher Family History, the Descendants of Robert Fletcher of Concord, Mass.," by Edward H. Fletcher, p. 11: "ROBERT FLETCHER, the immigrant ancestor from whom are reckoned the generations recorded in the following pages, was born in 1592, as appears from the record of his death found upon the town records of Concord. Mass. The part of England whence he came has not been certainly ascertained. One circumstance has indicated Shropshire. The family tradition makes it Yorkshire, one of the northern counties of England. The name has been, and still is, common there. Rev. Elijah Fletcher of Hopkinton, N.H. (b. 1747, d. 1786), the first, so far as we know, who made genealogical collections of the family, believed that our great ancestor came from Yorkshire; and that account was gathered when Robert's great-grand-children were living. He settled at Concord, Mass., in 1630; in which year seventeen ships arrived in Massachusetts Bay and at Plymouth, swelling the number of settlers to 21,000. He was then thirty-eight years of age, and had two sons, Luke and William, and it may be supposed a wife, and his daughter, Cary. It was said by Gardner Fletcher (3136), that the tradition in his branch was that Robert had a brother William, who came at the same time. The only traces found of a William who could have been brother of Robert are two; one from the records of Middletown, Conn.: 'Rev. Samuel Stow, m. Hope, dau. of William Fletcher, Esq., of Chelmsford, 1649;' and the other relates to William of Saco, Me., (p. 508.) It was five years later that Concord was organized, the twentieth town incorporated within what are now the limits of Massachusetts, and his name appears in the earliest records of that town.(*) In the court files of Middlesex county his name frequently occurs as petitioner for bridges, as juryman, &c. He was a wealthy and influential man, and died at Concord, April 3, 1677, ‘. 85.
"(*) The following petition is copied from the history of Concord, by Mr. Shattuck, who speaks of the early settlers of this town as among the most wealthy, intelligent, and pious of the early colonists. They chose this location probably on account of the beautiful open plain land and the broad meadows of the Concord River, or Musketaquid (grass-grown) of the Indians. They were, however, disappointed by the 'povertie and meannesse' of the soil, and the "badness and wetnes" of the meadows; and ten years after the organization of the town, and fifteen after the arrival of Robert in this country, the discouraging state of affairs in the settlement is thus set forth by its leading citizens:--
'To the Wor??ll Governor, Deputy Governor, with the rest of the Assistants and Deputies of the Court now assembled. The humble petition of the Inhabitants of Concord sheweth:--
'That, whereas, we have lived most of us in Concord since our coming over into these parts, and are not conscious unto ourselves that we have been grossly negligent to employ that talent God hath put into our hands to our best understanding: Neither have we found any special hand of God gone out against us, only the povertie and meannesse of the place we live in not answering the labor bestowed upon it, together with the badnese and wetnes of the meadowes, hath consumed most of the estates of those who have hitherto borne the burden of charges amongst us, and therewith the bodily abilities of maney. This being soe eminent above what hath befallen other plantations, hath occasioned many at several times to depart from us, and this last winter, in the end of it, a 7th or 8th part of the Towne went to the southward with Mr. Jones, and many more resoived to goe after them, so that maney houses in the Towne stand voyde of Inbabitants, and more are likely to be; and we are confident that if conscience had not restrained, fearing the dissolution of the Towne by their removeall, very many had departed to one place or other where Providence should have hopefully promised a livelehood.
'This our condition we thought it our duty to informe you of, fearing lest if more go from us we shall neither remayne as a congregation nor a towne, and then such as are most unwilling to depart, whiles there remayne any hopes of ordinance among us, will be enforced to leave the place, which if it should come to pass, wee desire this may testify on the behalf of such it was not a mynd unsatisfied with what was convenient, which occasioned them to depart, but mecrely to attaine a subsistence for themselves and such as depend on them, and to enjoy ordinances. If it be sayd we may goe to other places and meet with as many difficulties as here, experience herein satisfies as against many reasons. Such as hardly subsisted with us, and were none of the ablest among us, either for labour of ordering their occasions, have much thriven in other places they have removed unto. Our humble request is that you would be pleased to consider how unable we are to beare with our brethren the common charges, the premises considered.
RICHARD GRIFFINROBEET FLETCHER
JOSEPH WHEELERWALTBE EDMONDS
TIMOTHY WHEELERWILLIAM HUNT
GEORGE WHEELERWILLIAM WOOD
JOHN SMEDLEYJAMES BLOOD
THOMAS BATEMANJOSEPH MIDDLEBROOKE
'These in the name of the rest.'
"This petition was presented May 14, 1645, just one month before the decisive battle of Naseby, between Charles I. and Oliver Cromwell. The petition was favorably received, and from the fact, which appears from the records, that the assessment of Concord in 1640 of fifty pounds for the 'common charges,' was reduced to fifteen in 1645, it is inferred that the court was satisfied of the truth of the representations of the petitioners."
More About ROBERT FLETCHER:
Age: Died at age 853
Office Held: Bet. 1637 - 1639, Constable4
Children of ROBERT FLETCHER are:
i. | LUKE2 FLETCHER5, b. England5; d. May 21, 1665, Concord, Middlesex Co., MA5. | ||
ii. | WILLIAM FLETCHER6, b. 1622, England7; m. LYDIA BATES7. | ||
iii. | CARY FLETCHER8, d. Abt. 16709. | ||
iv. | SAMUEL FLETCHER10, b. 1632, Concord, Middlesex Co., MA11; m. MARGARET HAILSTON11. | ||
2. | v. | FRANCIS FLETCHER, b. 1636, Concord, Middlesex Co., MA. |