Today begins a series of posts covering a collateral line in my family tree – the paternal tree of my maternal cousins, as there are some family members who are beginning to take an interest in their family history. 🙂 I certainly want to encourage that, so I am updating very old information that I had found about our not-in-common ancestors.

While working on the Tower family lines, I even found a fun fact. This family lived in the section of Providence, Rhode Island that became the town of Cumberland at the same time as our common Thornton ancestors lived there.

For my cousins, that means that their maternal grandmother’s Thorntons knew their paternal grandmother’s Towers in Cumberland in the early 1700s!

Now – down to business!

The Tower family history in the American colonies begins with John Tower who married Margaret Ibrook in Charlestown, Suffolk, Massachusetts on 31 (sic) February 1638/39.

While John Tower’s origins are known, not much is known about his family, aside from his parents. John was baptized on 17 May 1609 in Hingham, Norfolk, England, the son of Robert Tower. Robert married Dorothy Damon on 31 August 1607. Robert was buried in Hingham, England on 1 May 1634. Dorothy was buried in Hingham, England on 10 November 1629.

There are no other known children for Robert and Dorothy (Damon) Tower and young John Tower made the decision to emigrate to the Massachusetts Bay Colony after his father’s death, first appearing in Hingham, Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1637.

A bit more is known about Margaret Ibrook. Her father, Richard Ibrook, was born c1583 and lived in Southwold, Suffolk, England before migrating to Massachusetts by 1635, when he received land in Hingham, Plymouth, Massachusetts. Richard married Margaret (MNU), by 1607. Richard died on 14 November 1651 in Hingham, Massachusetts. Margaret survived him by quite a few years, dying on 4 April 1664, also in Hingham. A separate post will provided the family sketch of Richard and Margaret (MNU) Ibrook.

John Tower was made a freeman there on 13 March 1638; he and wife Margaret raised a large family there.

John Tower died on 18 February 1701/02, aged 93 years. Margaret predeceased him by almost 2 years, dying 15 May 1700.

Note that some online trees give birthplaces as Cohasset, Massachusetts. Today, Cohasset, founded in 1770, is in Norfolk County, but in the early 1600s, it was part of Hingham and in Suffolk County, Massachusetts.

Hingham birth records don’t begin until 1645 and appear to be very incomplete.

I have found all kinds of exact dates of birth for John and Margaret’s children. However, I have only seen reliable proof on American Ancestors for Ibrook and Benjamin. In fact, the only “source” I have found for this list of children is The Tower Genealogy: An Account of the Descendants of John Tower, of Hingham, Massachusetts, published in 1891, which gives exact dates of birth, but no source. If there was a family bible, Charlemagne Tower, the author, failed to mention it. Therefore, birth years in this post are “about”, aside form Ibrook and Benjamin.

Children (All events in Hingham, MA unless noted):

1. John, born c1639 ; died 30 August 1693, Braintree, Norfolk, Massachusetts; married Sarah Harding, 14 May 1669
2. Ibrook, born 1643; died 22 November 1732; married Margaret Harding, 1668
3. Jeremiah, born c1646; died January 1676; married Elizabeth (Goodale) Rowland, widow of John Rowland, 28 October 1670
4. Elizabeth, born c1648; married William Roberts, 9 October 1667
5. Hannah, born c1652; married David Whipple, 11 November 1677. Hannah Tower gave birth to son Joseph Tower on 2 December 1673. From this, there is the suggestion that the father might be Joseph/Richard Cowell, but no marriage record found. No further information has been found about this couple.
6. Benjamin, born 5 November 1654; died 24 March 1722; married Deborah Garnet, 23 December 1680 [Clerk forgot to enter bride’s name in the town record.]
7. Samuel, born c1661; died 21 March 1724; married Margaret Damon, 14 December 1683

This is a difficult family to prove because of the lack of vital records. However, I have found primary evidence of each of these seven children that fits with their suspected birth years. I have found a couple of other children purportedly part of this family, but no records to prove their existence.

Another difficulty placing these people is because Cohasset was recognized as a neighborhood when it was part of Hingham, but the community chose to become part of Norfolk County when it was set off from Suffolk County in 1793, but town records predate the county formation.

Before I get too far afield in this tree, the next family sketch will cover Richard Ibrook and Margaret (MNU), followed by my cousins’ ancestral lines through John Tower and Sarah Harding.