The Minor Family of Somerset

will dated 4 mar 1674.
John Pease, son of Robert Pease and Margaret King Born1608 in G
reat Baddow Essex england, Christen 20 Nov 1608 in Great Baddow
, Essex, England. He died sometime between Sept 1677 and Jun
e 3 1689 when his widow disposed of her interests in his estate
. She remarried in Prtsmouth, NHwhere he may have died.
Biography: This man lived a troubled life. Emigrating to Sale
m at the age of 27, he married into the Weston family, which wa
sembroiled with the local authorities over theology. His fathe
r in law was banished and later died in prison for his heretica
l teachings. His mother in law went mad and his wife, faced wit
h arrest, was forced to recant shortly before she died. In 1644
, the year his father-in-law was banished, his mother and brothe
r died and John Pease sold his property in Salem and 'fled' to M
artha's Vineyard,becoming one of the original settlers. There h
e remarried andpeaceably raised a second family until he joine
d in the rebellion against the autocratic rule of Governor Mayhe
w in 1673. In the wake of reprisals by the Governor following h
is reestablishment of authority, John Pease left Martha's vineya
rd for the mainland, probably for Portsmouth,NH, although it i
s not known for sure when or where he died.
Salem Records.
November 1634; sailedwith his brother Robert on the ship Franci
s from Ipswich arriving at Boston late in 1634.
3 Nov 1635, Salem court record: "ordered that John Pease shalb
ewhipt and bound to his good behaviour for strikeing his mothe
r [in law] Mrs.Weston and deryding of her and for dyvers othe
r misdemeanors and other evellcarriages" (Mass. Col. Records,I,
155)
1637, Salem: mentioned as having landin the early Salem Town Re
cord. "Robert Pease and his brother"
23 Apr 1638,Salem: Granted "five acres of land next adjoining t
o Samuell Cominge neer unto the watermill"
18 June 1644, Salem; sold his house and 75 acres of land tohi
s neighbor, Richard Ingersoll.
(His father in law being arrested in 1643,his wife arrested and
/or recanting her 'hertical views', his mother and brother dyin
g in 1644, all make his removal to Martha's Vineyard in 1645 und
erstandable.)
Martha's Vineyard Records.
23 March 1646/47, Edgartown: sold ten acres of land at Mattakees
et to John Bland/
1650 New London Ct. evidenlty involved in land transactions here
. Prbable that in these years he was involvedin some land tran
sactions in Connecticut before returning to the Vineyard.
Little record of him in the next twenty years, although he acqui
red a good deal of land and scattered lots on the Vineyard. Evi
dently lived first at Mattakeeset and then on the first lot of t
he Five and Twenty, situated at the North end of town at the pla
ce ever since known as Pease's Point (land wich eventually was s
old to Hannah Mayhew Daggett in 1692)
4 March 1674: will (Dukes Deeds, 1,340)
Evidently left the island following the sipute with Governor May
hew. Not known when or where he died, but it is highly likely i
t was at Portsmouth NH as that is where his widow remarried.
Research: Banks states that he devoted more time to John Pease'
s history than anyone owing to the claim that John Pease first s
ettled on the island in 1632 and had a claim prior to Thomas May
hew. This alleged settlement could bot be born out by the disco
vered facts of his life.
caulkins, an early historiographer of Norwich and New London, Ct
, confounds John Sr. and John Jr., the latter living on a lot gr
anted to his father, he bot being of age when the Grant was made
. This is perhaps where the death place entry of New London i
n the Ancestral files come from, although it is not known for su
re where John Sr. died.