| Notes |
- RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. Today's Hampden County of Massachusetts was originally Middlesex County until it was split off in 1662 and named Hampshire County. Hampden County was formed from Hampshire County in 1812.
2. Per 16 Feb 2002 Website: <http://www.gencircles.com/users/cherybills/data/115>. Notes also "Gladys Bagrowski; 'My Harmon Heritage,' by Cheryl Bean; 'Artemus Harmon book,' pg. 159."
3. The book "Anthony Dorchester and his Descendants," by Janice P. Dorchester (1998) Janice P. Dorchester, pp. 1-5:
"FIRST GENERATION
ANTHONY1 DORCHESTER was born about 1620, probably in Dorchester, Dorsetshire, England. He may have been among the first settlers in this country in Hingham, Plymouth, Massachusetts, about 1634, before settling in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut, with the Dorchester Company. He died 28 August 1683, in Springfield, Hampden, Massachusetts.
He married SARAH (last name unknown) about 1643. In the summer of 1649 the family moved up the Connecticut River to Springfield, Massachusetts. Sarah fell ill in July and died 9 November 1649.
Children born in Windsor by Anthony's first wife, Sarah;
i JOHN2 B., born 4 November 1644.
ii. JAMES, born 1646.
iii. MARY, born about 1648.
Anthony married MARTHA CHAPMAN KITCHERELL on 2 January 1650. She was the widow of Samuel Kitcherell with two young children, Samuel and Martha. Young Samuel died the next year Martha died 17 December 1662 at the age of 32. Anthony was now left with several children dependent upon him.
Children born in Springfield by Anthony's second, Martha C. Kitcherell:
iv. BENJAMIN2, born 9 March 1651.
v. SARAH, born 16 October 1653.
vi. HESTER or ESTHER, born 25 October 1656 - died 17 November 1662.
Anthony purchased land in Windsor from Benjamin Newberry. His land bordered that of the Rev. John Warham and Dr. Bray Rossiter. This lot originally belonged to William Phelps, and in 1649 he made an agreement with Mr. Warham and Dr. Rossiter concerning the fencing of land. He sold this land bounded by Warham, Rossiter, and Job and John Drake, to Robert Howard in 1649.
Anthony Dorchester, with William Pyncheon, bought land from the Indians in Springfield. He bought approximately 10 acres from Griffith Jones, bounded by Jonathan Tayler, Rice Bedortha and John Matthews. He owned land later across the Greate (Connecticut) River and across the Agawam River and land in other parts of Springfield and the "Chikkupy Plain" as well.
At this point the issue of witchcraft suddenly emerged. Anthony Dorchester was employed by Hugh Parsons and had a fourth interest in a cow, which was killed and divided. Both wanted the tongue of the animal. Anthony received it but while cooking it in the pot it mysteriously disappeared. It was considered to be the work of a witch. Hugh and Mary Parsons were not friendly people and rather antisocial. Other incidents followed, and subsequently they were condemned for witchcraft and sent to Boston for trial. Mary was found to be mentally deranged and confessed to killing her own child. She was sentenced to be hanged but died of natural causes before the execution could take place. Hugh Parson escaped conviction. He left Boston and was never seen in Springfield again.
Anthony established a mill in 1652 and became a fence viewer that same year and for many years thereafter. He was named Deputy Constable in 1657. He was also the second man on the list to whom lots were granted in 1654/5 in West Springfield, then called Chicopee Plain.
Anthony was first assigned a seat in the meeting house (church) in 1659. Where one sat in the congregation depended upon your status in the community. Anthony's seat moved forward in 1662, 1673 and again in 1678. In 1661 he took the freeman's oath. Only church members could vote in the community and they were designated "freemen". The next year he became a Selectman and was re-elected in 1671 and 1676.
On 16 May 1663 Anthony married ELIZABETH HARMON, the widow of John Harmon, and she had three children: John, Samuel and Joseph. She and Anthony had no children together. Elisabeth died 16 May 1699, at the age of 92.
Anthony is listed as one of 74 Townsmen in Springfield and listed as Surveyor of Highways in 1664 and 1665. He was fined for neglecting some work on the roads at one time and also fined because he (and 15 others) didn't answer a call to a town meeting. The next year he was fined again for not carrying out the orders of the Court as its deputy constable. In 1668 he was one of 62 men who protested the taking of customs tax. He held various positions in the town and in the church.
When the youth began misbehaving in the meetinghouse, the Selectman in April 1669 voted Niles Morgan and Jonathan Burt to sit in the galleries to check on the disorderly youth at the time of worship and Anthony Dorchester was to sit in the Grand Seat to watch over the troublesome mischief-makers.
By 1670 he was operating a ferry on the "Greate" (Connecticut) River just below the Agawam River and he charged 8 pence for horse and rider, 2 pence for people on foot, and 3 pence for a trooper and horse. Going over the Agawam River he charged about half as much.
He and 15 other men wanted to make a settlement at what is now the town of Suffield. Townsmen were ordered to provide 70 loads of firewood to the preacher and Anthony provided 4 loads. He and Miles Morgan were designated to care for ordering furnishings for the preacher's house.
In February 1672 he was sent with some others to talk with the local Indians as there was trouble over land ownership. That same year he acquired 30 more acres of land. The names of Anthony Dorchester and four others are mentioned in a deed of land sold by the Indians to them within the limits of the old town of Springfield in 1674. Tracts of land were granted to the Dorchesters several times. For many years Anthony was a Selectman and a tithingman (one who collected the 10% tithe due the church).
In 1674 he was given two pounds for killing 4 wolves. Anthony was also chosen to be on the committee to build a new meetinghouse in Springfield in that same year. The next year he was granted a military deferment for health reasons (lameness), running the ferry, and keeping an ordinary (tavern) where he sold beer and cider.
In 1676 Anthony Dorchester was appointed Selectman to fill the vacancy caused by the killing of John Keepe by the Indians at Pacowsick (Pecowsic). That was the year Springfield was burned by the Indians. In 1677 Anthony was fined because he didn't report for jury duty when called. The next year he was paid 8 shillings, 6 pence from the Town treasury for transporting some persons on horseback on his ferry. That is also the year that Anthony and his sons took the Oath of Allegiance to King Charles II.
Anthony was a miller by occupation and for many years appears to have had charge of a corn mill and the saw mill of William Pyncheon. He also ran the ferry and in 1680 his victualling license was renewed. The exact location of his house is not known, but it was probably near the southern end of Main Street (as it was then known) and on the west side of the street, probably not very far from the present Loring Street,
Anthony Dorchester was one of 22 men who owed fines to the town in 1681. The fines paid went to pay the taxes of widow Beamons. Amin that year he asked for military deferment, and in 1686 he was given a fine for not attending a town meeting,
Anthony and his sons, John and James, were granted several portions of land in the Springfield-Chicopee area. In a distribution of land back as early as 1664 he had set aside 30 acres for each of his sons, John and James, and step-sons, John, Samuel and Joseph Harmon, making a total of 150 acres at that time. Son Benjamin was only 12 years old and thus was not on this list. This son predeceased him in 1676.
When Anthony Dorchester died 28 August 1683, he left 97 acres of land, buildings, guns, swords, a boat and chain, household goods, farm tools and livestock. The inventory was appraised at 278 pounds and 7 shillings. According to records, he had about 18 acres in what is now Chicopee, four in Pascowick and the remainder of over 60 acres in Springfield.
References:
Pioneers of Massachusetts by Pope, pg. 142. Genealogical Dictionary of New England by Savage, Vol. II, pp. 60-61, 357, Vol. 111, pg. 33. Wilbraham's Centennial Volume, pp. 193-195. Greene's History of the Town and City of Springfield (1636-1886), pp. 102-109. New England Marriages Prior to 1700, by Torrey, pg. 226, pg. 442. The History & Genealogies of Ancient Windsor, 1635-1891, by Henry R. Stiles, Vol. 1, pp. 146, 154, 179, 827 (Windsor Historical Society). A New History of Old Windsor, Connecticut, by Daniel Howard, 1935, pp, 11-13. The Dorchester Pedigree by Daniel Dorchester III, 1902, pp. 1-3, 7. Directory of Ancestral Heads of New England Families 1620-1700 by Frank R. Holmes, 1964, pg. lxx (Windsor Historical Society). The Settlement of Windsor, CT, by K. Avery and D. Siemiatkoski, pg. 16 (Windsor Historical Society). The Founders of Windsor, CT - Ancestral Heads of Windsor's First Families, pg. 196 (Sept. 1983 The Conn. Nutmegger). Letter from K. Carter, County Librarian, County of Dorset, Dorchester, England, 1971. Dorchester Family Chronicles, 1905, by Earle and Patricia Swanson, pp. 13-24, 66, 72. Windsor, Connecticut, Volume of Deeds. Springfield, Massachusetts, Volume of Birth, Marriage and Death Records. Book of Possessions, Springfield, Massachusetts. The First Century of Springfield by Henry M. Burt."
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Chris & Julie Petersen's Genealogy
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