The Minor Family of Somerset

Will is dated 30 JUN 1666.
Ref. Savage Thomas Makepeace, Dorchester 1636, came with a larg
e family arr Co. 1638, m 1641, for his second wife, Elizabeth wi
dow of Oliver Mellows, had Joseph, bapt 20 Sep 1646, who prob. d
i bef he family removed some years later to Boston, and there di
ed. In his will of 30 June 1666, he names eldest s Thomas, to w
hom he had before given home and landin England where he then l
ived and William; eldest daughter Hannah, wife ofStephen Hoppin
; Mary wife of Lawrence Willis; Esther, wife of John B rown ofM
arlborough; and Waitawhile, w of Josiah, not (As Geneal Reg V 40
2 has it)Thomas Cooper, nine ch of Hoppin whose mothere was Op
porutnity, four of Brown and two of Cooper. William, Boston s
on prob of the preved m 23 May 1661,Ann Johnson, rem. I suppos
e, to Taunton, for there the name was long kept up.
Ref. Edminster Family in Americaq; find that a James Edmester an
d Anne Makepeace were married in Taunton, Ma on 19 April 1689
. It is certain that this is the same James. Taunton is clos
e to Freetown; the Anne checks; and thetiming is satisfactory
. Once more, the spelling variation is not a handicap(except t
o a genealoger!) According to archive records in the Mormon Gen
ealogical Library, Ann Makepeace was born about 1668 at Freetown
. Another reference (17) cites the fact that, "Sarah the secon
d wife (of Remembrance Davisof Freetown) was a daughter of Chri
stopher Fox and wife Hannah Edminster, andborn March 30, 1724
, near Freetown, Ma, granddaughter of James Edminster andwife A
nne Makepeace." here the spelling is back to "Edminster" the pat
hetic remainder of this story of Sarah is that "...several child
ren of Remembrance Davis by his second wife were so deformed tha
t they could not live."
In the genealogy of the Makepeace family (18) it states, "Also
, another deed datedJan 25, 1689, by William Makepeace, Thoma
s Makepeace, William Daivs, James Edmester and Anned Edmester, w
ife of James, all of Freetown..."Spelling is back to "Edmester
" again. Also, note that the January date in 1689 of the deed
, above, is about nine months later than the April 1689 date o
f the marriageof James and Anne due to the fact that the beginn
ing of the new year was onMarch 25th, and January was thus th
e 11th month.
In a discussion of the early residents of Freetown, especially o
ne Lieut. Gardiner, is the following which places James in Freet
own as a taxpayer in 1690; "To the record of Lieut. Gardiner w
e also owe the names of the resident taxpayers of Freetown in 16
90, and which were as follows: John Reed,....William Davis, Wil
liam Makepeace,Thomas Makepeace, Ann Makepeace, widow, James Ed
minster, Job Winslow..."Thjewidow Ann Madepeace in this note i
s the widow of William Makepeace and mother of Ann Makepeace Edm
inster. This William Makepeace had been drowned in 1681 (19)
. He was the second son of Thomas Makepeace who was born in Eng
landabout 1592, came to Boston in either 1635 or 37 from Davent
ry, Northamptonshire (20). It is not know whether or not this T
homas Makepeace was closely related to the Makepeace's of Northa
mptonshire, England, who owned Sulgrave Manor. Lawrence Makepea
ce, of London , in 1610 bought the Manor from Robert Washinton
, 4-great grandfather of George Washinton of Virginia. Robert W
ashington's sister, Mary married Abel Makepeace, father of Lawre
nce who acquired the famed Manor. Lawrence's son, also Abel, so
ld the Manor in 1659 (21).
In 1637, soon after his arrival in Boston from England, Thomas M
akepeace was Granted "...a house plot and garden place." with l
ocation given as "...bounded with Jeremy Houtchin, Southeast; Wi
lliam Wilson, South; the street, Westerly;and the Lane, Norther
ly. "It was" ..in Hanover Street, near Court Street, andprobabl
y not far from where Concert Hall now (1857) is..." It was nea
r the"Market Stead" where the first "Meeting House" w