Name Jonathan Wade57, M
Birth Date 1606/1612
Birth Place Norfolk, England
Death Date 24 Jun 1684 Age: 78
Death Place Ipswich, Essex, MA
Flags Great Migration
Misc. Notes
JONATHAN WADE
ORIGIN: Unknown (but see ASSOCIATIONS below)
MIGRATION: 1632 on Lyon
FIRST RESIDENCE: Charlestown
REMOVES: Ipswich 1636
RETURN TRIPS: To England 1657 and 1658 and back soon; to England 1669 and back soon
OCCUPATION: Merchant and tavern keeper . In 1647 he made a five-year agreement to conduct joint trade in Ipswich with Robert and William Paine, John Whittingham, John Whipple and William Bartholomew .
CHURCH MEMBERSHIP: "Jonathan Wade and Susanna his wife" were admitted to Charlestown church 25 May 1633 .
FREEMAN: 14 May 1634 . Took the oath of allegiance to the King, 1678, at Ipswich .
EDUCATION: He signed his 1682 petition.
OFFICES: Grand jury, 19 September 1637 .
Grand jury, 29 September 1646 (fined for absence), 25 September 1649, March 1677 (fined for absence, perhaps the son) . Petit jury, 31 March 1646, 29 March 1653, 26 September 1654 .
ESTATE: On 6 June 1639 the court granted to Mr. Jonathan Wade two hundred acres of land . In 1639 Jonathan Wade, "sometime of Charltowne, being lawfully possessed of ten acres of land in Mistick Field upon the long hill by Mistick river," sold them to Thomas Allin, teacher of the church of Christ in Charlestown .
On 2 May 1649 Jonathan Wade was granted four hundred acres of land "where he shall find it undisposed of" . This land was ordered laid out on any side of Nashaway bounds . At court March 1652 Jonathan Wade sued the town of Ipswich for trespass "for interrupting him about a sawmill" .
On 28 May 1659 Humphrey Griffin of Ipswich, butcher, sold to Mr. Jonathan Wade, merchant, six acres of marsh near Hog Island .
In the late 1660s Jonathan Wade acquired several marsh lots at Plum Island: Lot #65, three acres, from William Buckley of Ipswich, shoemaker, 16 October 1666 ; Lot #8, from Nicholas and Anna Clap, "late wife unto John Annable," 15 April 1667 ; Lot #9, from Abraham Fitt of Ipswich, husbandman, 8 June 1667 ; three acres "which I bought of John Pindar," from Samuel Hunt of Ipswich, 2 May 1667 ; Lot #23, six acres, from Samuel Appleton of Ipswich, gent., 26 July 1667 ; and Lot #64, from Nathaniel Rust of Ipswich, 4 April 1669 .
On 9 October 1673 Joseph Bigsbie Senior of Rowley Village sold to Mr. Jonathan Wade of Ipswich one-sixteenth part of the ironworks in Rowley Village . On 11 February 1674 Thomas Lovell of Ipswich sold to Jonathan Wade his "right of commonage which now is or hereafter might be due unto me by virtue of the town's grant unto John Hassall" . On 16 April 1679 William Symonds of Ipswich, gent. sold to Jonathan Wade a houselot in Ipswich . On 11 November 1682 John Perkins of Ipswich, quartermaster and innholder in Ipswich sold to Mr. Jonathan Wade of Ipswich (and confirmed to Thomas Wade son of Jonathan Wade) one acre of land "of my farm of Chebacco next adjoining to the sawmill of said Wade" .
The probate of the estate of Mr. Jonathan Wade touched off an enormous wrangle. He had made several wills over the years, all with varying provisions. The court had no choice but to declare him intestate, since there were flaws in each. With property in both New England and old England, the matter was quite complex. In September 1683 Mr. Jonathan Wade's three sons appeared in court and desired administration upon their father's estate. "Court offered to appoint all three, but the second asked to be excused and the eldest refused to join with the rest, so court appointed the third son, Mr. Thomas Wade, he being most acquainted with his father's affairs in Ipswich. He was ordered to bring in an inventory to the next Salem court" . But at the next court, "Capt. Jonathan Wade appeared and asked for sole administration upon the estate" stating that he was the eldest son and entitled to administer without his brother and requested the removal of his brother Thomas. Court appointed all three sons administrators and they gave bond for £1000" .
Eldest son Jonathan complained that he had brought a valid will to court and seen it disallowed, and now was greatly damaged by the fact that the court was treating him as though he was not to be trusted with the estate, so that he could not be acknowledged as a claimant to land in other jurisdictions, including England.
Among the several wills produced was one in which the signature was torn off, made by Jonathan Wade of Ipswich, dated 22 May 1669, presented 27 December 1683 by Mr. Thomas Wade, who with Mr. Nathaniel Wade, affirmed that it was in their father's handwriting, and Capt. Jonathan Wade acknowledged he believed it, but said "it was cancelled":
I Jonathan Wade of Ipswich in New England being to go a voyage to sea and not knowing the day of my death, do ordain this as my last will and testament ... my land in England should be equally divided betwixt my three sons Jonathan, Nathaniel and Thomas, only that land I had of Mr. Drury for rent should be sold to pay Sir William Peak what is due to him & the remainder to be sent over in goods to my executrix, whom I do hereby appoint to be my beloved wife Susana, also I give to my son Jonathan the one half of my farm at Mistick with the one half of all the stock upon it, also I give to my son Nathaniel the other half of the said farm at Mistick & half of the stock on it to be equally divided betwixt them. I give to Thomas all my housing Land & mills at Ipswich & all the stock on it. I give to Jonathan all my land at Malden, to Nathaniel my land at Wemeseck, to Thomas my grant of land of 800 acres. I give to Anthony Crosby my son £50. I give to Thomas Crosby, Nathaniel Crosby, & Jonathan Crosby £50 apiece to be for the use of Prudence Crosby their mother during her pleasure. I give to Elihue Wardell my son £200 to be laid out in housing & land to be for the use of his wife Elizabeth during her life, & his two children after these legacies to be appointed out of my debts abroad ... I give equally to my three natural sons to be possessed of as at the pleasure of my executrix or at her death or at the day of her marriage with another man which shall first fall out .
Another will, dated London 17 June 1657, provided that all the land in "Norfolk in parish of Druer " was to go to eldest son Jonathan, after his mother had her thirds . The younger two sons petitioned the court that they had been to seven sessions of court with no settlement yet and would the court please make up its mind . The case was not settled until November 1684 when the 1669 will was annexed to the letters of administration already granted .
BIRTH: About 1612 (deposed about September 1678 aged "about sixty-four years" ).
DEATH: 13 June 1683 . (Sewall reported the burial on 8 November 1684 of "Dom Wade" , which Savage has taken to be for Jonathan Wade . The date of death given by his sons in the administration of his estate must be accepted, and so this burial date must be incorrect, or be for some other man named Wade.)
MARRIAGE: By 1633 Susanna _____; she died at Ipswich on 29 November 1678.
CHILDREN:
i MARY, bp. Charlestown 2 October 1633 ; m. (1) by 1669 William Simonds; m. (2) (after 1683) by 1689 Francis Littlefield.
ii JONATHAN, b. about 1637 (d. 24 November 1689, in 53rd year ); m. (1) Ipswich 9 December 1660 Dorothy Buckley; m. (2) by 1665 Deborah Dudley, daughter of THOMAS DUDLEY (called daughter Wade in her mother's will); m. (3) as her first husband say 1687 Elizabeth Dunster.
iii PRUDENCE, b. say 1639; m. (1) Rowley 28 December 1659 Anthony Crosby; m. (2) 9 July 1673 Seaborn Cotton , son of JOHN COTTON ; m. (3) Rowley 7 November John Hammond, son of WILLIAM HAMMOND .
iv SARAH, b. say 1641; m. Ipswich 13 November 1661 Samuel Rogers, son of Rev. Nathaniel Rogers .
v ELIZABETH, b. about 1644 (deposed 21 April 1670 aged twenty-six years ); m. Ipswich 26 May 1665 Elihu Wardwell.
vi NATHANIEL, b. about 1648 (deposed aged about thirty-six by March 1684 ); m. Andover 31 October 1672 Mercy Bradstreet, daughter of SIMON BRADSTREET (Dudley Bradstreet testified that when Mr. Wade came to speak to his father about a marriage between his son Nathaniel and deponent's sister Mercy "I heard him tell my father that he would forthwith settle his said son upon one half of his farm at Mistick which part of said farm should be his, also that one third of the land in England should be his, but he refused then to make the conveyance, saying that he himself might live to spend it" ).
vii THOMAS, b. about 1650 (deposed 25 November 1678 aged "about twenty-eight years" ); m. Ipswich 22 February 1670 Elizabeth Cogswell.
ASSOCIATIONS: On 2 June 1635 it is "ordered, that warrant shall be sent to Norton to bring into the next Court a bill of £5 made by Goodman Perkins to Thomas Wade, that it may be safely kept till it appear to whom it is due, the money being given (as the Court is informed) to Jonathan Wade his brother" . On 4 May 1649 Jonathan Wade claimed land in Plum Island for the £60 disbursed by Thomas Wade of Northampton for his use into the country stock, but the claim was denied .
COMMENTS: On 1 December 1640 "having been much misused by his master, Jonathan Wade," servant Samuel Hefford was freed and put to John Johnson for three years . We are not told the nature of the misuse, but Jonathan Wade was bound in £40 for good behavior .
In the Essex County courts, Jonathan Wade was frequently plaintiff and more rarely defendant in cases of debt. He had a lengthy court battle with Mr. Robert Paine over money committed to him in a business agreement . Mr. Jonathan Wade was in court over various business debts owed and unpaid, some small and one as large as £1000 . In November 1645 he was fined for speeches affronting the court .
In 1658 in Jonathan's absence in England, his servant William Deines did many good things on Wade's behalf and was commended for them, but likewise he did many unpleasant things, and was complained of. On his return, Mr. Jonathan Wade prosecuted Deines as a runaway, but the court found him to be free . Many of the Wade family, including Mrs. Susanna, Prudence, Sarah, and Jonathan Wade Jr. deposed in this matter, but none of their ages were given.
On 22 May 1669 Jonathan Wade gave a letter of attorney to Nathaniel and Thomas Wade "his sons" .
On 17 June 1679 Mr. Jonathan Wade was appointed joint administrator with widow Mrs. Mary Symonds to the estate of her husband, Mr. William Symonds, deceased .
On 17 March 1682 Jonathan Wade petitioned the general court saying that he had been
an adventurer and participant with the patentees and undertakers concerning this Colony of the Massachusetts, and for the carrying on of the great occasions thereof, was incited unto, and did lay down, in the year 1629 in January or February into the common stock £50 and into the joint stock £10 or more for which they promised land here upon our arrival, and also that there should be a division of the stock and fence at the end of seven years. The abovesaid Jonathan Wade having found out land several times, that was free from any former grant, and desired confirmation of it to him, he was denied, and the land hath been given to others, and for the division of the stock to the adventurers, he cannot understand of any division but certainly he never yet had any of said division, but others carry away the whole, so that he now beggeth of this government, being long out of the use of his money, that the money may be returned to him with due interest as is allowed unto others, upon borrowing of money .
The settlement of his estate was evidently a matter of some concern to Jonathan Wade shortly before his death, as evidenced by the following two depositions.
Samuel Gidding, aged about thirty-nine years, testified that in the latter end of May last, two or three days before he died, Mr. Jonathan Wade came to Ipswich and inquired after sheep of his daughter Symondses. `I was by the field side going down to fishing and when I saw him I stayed till he came unto me. He complained that he was very hot so we went under a shady tree where we stayed near two hours and there fell into discourse about several things and amongst the rest he inquired how we that is my brethren & I did agree about my father's estate that he had left not making a will. I told him that in a short time we agreed amongst ourselves and the court confirmed it. He then spoke of his own concerns and intentions he said that he had settled two of his sons at Mistick, he asked how high the men that prized our land valued it by the acre. I told him that that sic] they prized it at £5 per acre. He told me that was very high, but said he I count the land at Mistick that my sons have to be worth fifteen hundred pounds apiece. Also, said he, my land in England I intend shall be equally divided amongst my three sons and the land at Mistick to them two that enjoy it and my land at Ipswich for my son Thomas. He also inquired how Goodman Proctor's sons did agree and whether the eldest had a double portion. I told him no: the land was equally divided amongst the three brethren after the old man's decease, only the eldest had formerly a hundred pound, he said I count that I have given my son Jonathan a great deal more than any of the rest by reason he had the enjoyment and the improvement of all the land at Mistick for many years, then after we went to Benja. Procters and to their Island and had much much discourse but not worth rehearsing now' .
Isaack Brooks, aged about forty years, testified that he came from Charlestown with Mr. Wade sometime since the Indian war, when the latter spoke about his affairs in England, that is, the trouble he had in obtaining good title to his land there, which he had done. He said also that he had given this land to his three sons equally .
