Last fall, I began delving into some of my earliest colonial America ancestors. I wrote about Josiah Lakin and his wife Lucy (MNU), who I firmly believe to have been a daughter of Thomas Boyden and his wife, Martha Holden. All the evidence points towards that conclusion and there isn’t a single iota of evidence against it. All the puzzle pieces fit together (although I still have Lucy’s surname entered as Boyden? in the hopes that a primary record will appear from somewhere.)

Even though the Lakins were born in the late 1600s, information has been published about the parents and grandparents of my ancestors.

I had to chuckle when I took a look. I have quite a few ancestor couples from whom I descend twice. I even have a quadruple line through – yep – the Lakins.

Groton, MA
Source: Google Maps

Groton, Middlesex, Massachusetts, where they lived, was and is a small place. Back in 1676, when the town was attacked by Indians and abandoned, it was said that there were about 70 homes there. Seventy homes definitely doesn’t equal 70 different surnames, so there had to have been a lot of intermarriages.

So it is with Lucy’s (alleged) parents, Thomas Boyden and Martha Holden – specifically, the Holden family.

Thomas Boyden’s wife, Martha was Martha Fosdick, daughter of Stephen Fosdick.

Stephen Fosdick married Anne Harre on 10 June 1612 in Hadleigh, Suffolk, England. She was the mother of their six children:

1. Hannah, born c1616; married Mr. Tingley, c1638
2. Samuel, born c1618, England; died about 22 May 1649 at sea
3. Martha, born c1621, England; married Richard Holden, c1641. She died 6 December 1681, Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts
4. Thomas, born c1623, England; died 21 July 1650, Charlestown, Suffolk, Massachusetts; married Damaris (MNU)
5. John, born c1625, England; married (1) Ann Shapleigh (2) Elizabeth (MNU)
6. Marah, born c1627, England; married Thomas Webb, before 1663

The next generation exposed the new double descent from the Holden-Fosdick family.

Richard Holden and Martha Fosdick had the following children:

1. Stephen, born 19 July 1642, Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts; died 12 January 1658/59, Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts; unmarried.
2. Justinian, born c1644; married (1) Mary (MNU), before 1680 (2) Susannah Dutton, 6 December 1693, Billerica, Middlesex, Massachusetts
3. Martha, born 15 January 1645/46, Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts; married Thomas Boyden, before 1667
4. Mary, born c1648; married Thomas Williams, 11 August 1666, Groton, Middlesex, Massachusetts
5. John Holden, born 17 March 1650/51, Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts; married (1) Abigail (MNU), before 21 May 1685 (2) Sarah Pierce, 19 June 1690, Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts (3) Abigail Morse, c1719
6. Samuel, born c1655; married Anna (MNU), before 1682
7. Sarah, born c1657; married Gershom Swan, 20 December 1677, Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts
8. Stephen, born c1660; married Hannah Lawrence, before 1685
9. Elizabeth, born c1662; married John Reed, 21 March 1681/82, Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts
10. Thomas, born c1664; died after 25 July 1679

Martha was the third child born to Richard and Martha (Fosdick) Holden. Their fourth child, daughter Mary, who married Thomas Williams, is also my ancestor. My descent through Thomas and Mary Williams is as follows:

1. Thomas Williams & Mary Holden
2. Thomas Williams & Elizabeth Blood
3. Elizabeth Williams & James Lakin
4. Mary Lakin & Oliver Shepley
5. Sibbel Shepley & James Scripture
6. Oliver Scripture & Mary Goddard Bucknam
7. Mary Elizabeth Scripture & George Rogers Tarbox
8. Nellie F. Tarbox & Calvin Segee Adams
9. Charles Edwin Adams & Annie Maude Stuart
10. Vernon Tarbox Adams & Hazel Ethel Coleman
11. Doris Priscilla Adams & George Michael Sabo
12. Linda Anne Sabo Stufflebean – me!

It’s always fun to add new names onto the family tree, but  in this case, it just made for more tangled branches!