Next up in the Tower family sketches is Benjamin Tower and Deborah Whipple, who settled in Attleboro, Bristol, Massachusetts soon after their marriage.

Benjamin Tower was born on 25 January 1673, Hingham, Plymouth, Massachusetts, the first son and eldest known child of John Tower and Sarah Hardin/g of Hingham, Plymouth and Braintree, Norfolk, Massachusetts.

Benjamin married Deborah Whipple, c1698, probably in Providence County, Rhode Island. She was the daughter of David Whipple and his second wife, Hannah Tower and born 12 September 1681 in Providence, Providence, Rhode Island.

Benjamin and Deborah settled in Attleboro and lived there for many years, as the births of their children from 1700 until 1721 are all recorded in the town.

Exactly where Benjamin and family lived in the later 1720s and early 1730s is unclear, as Benjamin gave 4 lots of land in Wrentham to his son Benjamin and bought land in Smithfield, Rhode Island in 1731. No records have been found to support the idea that he actually lived in those towns, but it is possible.

Sometime between 1722 and 1743, the Tower family moved to Cumberland, Providence, Rhode Island, where Benjamin died on 2 May 1743. Deborah survived Benjamin by quite a few years, also passing away in Cumberland, Providence, Rhode island on 26 March 1755.

Benjamin and Deborah had hardy genes, as only their last child, Enoch, died young.

Children (All born in Attleboro):

1. Gideon, born 24 February 1699/1700; died 29 December 1772, Cumberland, Providence, Rhode Island; married Mary Ray, 2 October 1729, Wrentham, Norfolk, Massachusetts
2. Patience, born 10 April 1702; died after 1731, possibly in Connecticut; married Nathan Carpenter, 26 December 1723, Attleboro, Bristol, Massachusetts
3. Sarah, born 16 August 1704; died c1792; married Elisha Sabin, 10 June 1732, Attleboro, Bristol, Massachusetts
4. Margaret, born 26 October 1706; died 9 April 1787, Cumberland, Providence, Rhode Island; married Jeremiah Bartlett, 10 May 1730, Providence, Providence, Rhode Island
5. Zipporah, born 4 December 1709; married Joseph Jackson, 28 January 1730, Attleboro, Bristol, Massachusetts. No death dates have been found for this couple, who lived first in Cumberland, Providence, Rhode Island in the 1740s and in Sturbridge, Worcester, Massachusetts when daughter Ruth was born in 1755.
6. John, born 23 November 1711; died c1753, Connecticut; married Hannah Hancock, 22 November 1739, Wrentham, Norfolk, Massachusetts
7. Hannah, born 2 January 1714; died c1791; married William Hancock, 19 July 1733, Attleboro, Bristol, Massachusetts
8. Benjamin, born 25 February 1716; died c1792; married Ruth (MNU)
9. Esther, born 5 January 1718; died c1766; married Morris Tucker, 2 April 1741, Smithfield, Providence, Rhode Island
10. Joseph, baptized 13 September 1720; died before 20 July 1761, Providence, Providence, Rhode Island; married Judith Briggs, 9 April 1743
11. Enoch, baptized 3 December 1721; no further record and not in his father’s will

Benjamin and Deborah (Whipple) Tower have many descendants today!

Today’s family sketch covers the family of John Tower and wife Sarah Harding of Hingham, Plymouth, Massachusetts in the 1600s.

John Tower’s parents, John Sr. and Margaret Ibrook, were married in February 1639 in Charlestown, Suffolk, Massachusetts.

Their first child, son John, was reportedly baptized in December 1639, but I have been unable to find a source for that date. The FamilySearch family tree has this information, but it comes from a “Legacy” collection, or from someone’s old family history information submitted to the LDS Church. No image is available and I haven’t been able to find it on American Ancestors.

While the baptismal date might well be correct, no primary record has been found to support it.

The same situation exists regarding Sarah Harding’s birth year. It is said to be c1645. However, Sarah’s father, John Hardin/g, is said to have been born in 1624 and married at 20 years of age.

In this time period in Old & New England, it was very common for young men to marry at 25 years of age and women at 21. Again, it’s not impossible that John Hardin/g married when he was 20. However, the name of Sarah’s mother is unknown (NO PROOF that it was Hannah or Hannah Hurst) and John’s marriage record has not been found.

Let’s say he married when he was about 23 years old, so c1647. Sarah might be the first child and born c1648. That would make her exactly 21 years old when she married John Tower.

In any event, John Tower and Sarah Hardin/g were married on 14 May 1669 in Hingham, Plymouth, Massachusetts. It is possible that they perhaps lost their first child in childhood because the first known child, Benjamin, was born early in 1673.

The Tower family spent most of its years in Hingham, but John decided to move his family to Braintree, Norfolk, Massachusetts about 1685.

John Tower died in Braintree on 30 August 1693. Sarah reportedly survived him by many years, passing away c1729. However, I have found no documentation for that life event either.

Most online information seems to originate from The Tower Genealogy: An Account of the Descendants of John Tower, of Hingham, Massachusetts by Charlemagne Tower, published in 1891. Mr. Tower cited the death date, but left a space for the place and, unfortunately, gave no source for his information. No death, burial or probate record has been found for Sarah Tower.

Children (All events in Hingham, unless noted):

1. Benjamin, born 25 January 1673; died 2 May 1743, Cumberland, Providence, Rhode Island; marriage Deborah Whipple, c1698
2. Gideon, born 26 January 1676/7; died 26 October 1698, Braintree, Norfolk, Massachusetts; unmarried
3. Sarah, born 21 October 1679; no further information
4. John, born 18 June 1682; no further information
5. Joseph, born 27 February 1685/65, Braintree, Norfolk, Massachusetts; died c1761; married Ruth (MNU) (reportedly Ruth Thayer, but I’ve found no record), c1709
6. Mary, born 26 April 1690, Braintree, Norfolk, Massachusetts; married Ebenezer Spear, 17 January 1727, Quincy, Norfolk, Massachusetts as his second wife. Mary gave birth to one known child, Gideon, on 24 May 1730 in Braintree. However, Ebenezer died on 28 January 1732 and was buried at Copps Hill, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts. Gideon next appears in Wells, York, Maine, filing an intention of marriage in 1748, when he was 18 years old. No further record has been found for Mary. It’s possible she remarried and moved to Maine since Gideon was so young when he apparently married.

Next, we will look at the large family of Benjamin Tower and Deborah Whipple.

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.