Benjamin Crisp/e, my 10X great grandfather, settled in Watertown, Massachusetts by 1631, but nothing is known of his origins, in spite of the fact that Crisp/e is not a particularly common English surname. His birth happened no later than 1610 since he was of age when he first appeared in town records.

Benjamin Crisp appears in the New England Historic Genealogical Society’s The Great Migration Study with but a few facts about his early life. He was able to sign his name and he worked as a mason, which would have been a highly prized skill in the first years of Massachusetts.

Benjamin married Bridget, likely the daughter of another early Watertown settler, no later than 1636. No marriage record has been found for them. Birth records for six of their eight children are found in Watertown records.

By 1666, Benjamin Crisp and his family settled in Groton, Middlesex, Massachusetts. Groton was not a particularly safe place to live as it turned out, suffering from repeated Indian attacks. Bridget died about 1675 and it is thought she might have been a victim of one of those attacks.

Sometime between 1675 and 1681, Benjamin returned to live in Watertown, where he died before 21 December 1683. Benjamin married (2) Joanna Goffe Longley (c1619-1698) after 20 November 1680, but it was obviously a short marriage. He and Joanna had no children together.

Children (all births recorded in Watertown vital records except for those with estimated dates ):

1. Elizabeth, born 8 January 1636/37; married George Lawrence, 29 September 1657, Watertown, Suffolk, Massachusetts
2. Mary, born 20 May 1638; married William Green, c1660. He was born in 1635; died 1713.
3. Jonathan, born 29 January 1639/40; died unmarried and before 25 October 1680, when his father administered his estate.
4. Eleazer, born 14 January 1641/42; no further record
5. Zachariah, born c1644. He was unmarried, but had an illegitimate daughter, Mary, with Mary Stanwood. He was also tried for murder, but acquitted.
6. Mehitable, born 21 January 1645/46
7. Mercy, born c1646; married Robert Parish or Parris, 11 April 1667, Chelmsford, Middlesex, Massachusetts
8. Deliverance, born c1650; married William Longley Jr., before 1674

My descent from Benjamin and Bridget Crisp:

1. Benjamin Crisp and Bridget (MNU)
   2. Mary Crisp and William Green
   3. Eleazer Green and Elizabeth Prescott
   4. Jonathan Green and Sarah Lakin
   5. Mary Green and Samuel Scripture
   6. James Scripture and Sibbel Shepley
   7. Oliver Scripture and Mary Goddard Bucknam
   8. Mary Elizabeth Scripture and George Rogers Tarbox
   9. Nellie F. Tarbox and Calvin Segee Adams
   10. Charles Edwin Adams and Annie Maude Stuart
   11. Vernon Tarbox Adams and Hazel Ethel Coleman
   12. Doris Priscilla Adams and George Michael Sabo
   13. Linda Anne Sabo Stufflebean – me

Like with several of my other early lines, it doesn’t appear that much new information has been discovered in the last two decades. Are you a Crisp descendant? I’d love to hear from you.