Daniel Shed, of Finchingfield & Billerica

Daniel SHEDD of Finchingfield & Billerica

Immigrated to America in 1640
Living in Brain tree Massachusetts 1643 on land known as " Sheds Neck"

Family 1 Elizabeth, d. 17 Jan 1700 [1] Children

	1. Samuel Shedd,   b. 13 Aug 1660, Billerica, Middlesex, Massachusetts 

	2. Susan Shedd,   b. 28 Dec 1662, Billerica, Middlesex, Massachusetts 

	3. Eunice Shedd,   b. 19 Mar 1664, Billerica, Middlesex, Massachusetts 

	4. Nathan Shedd,   b. 5 Feb 1668, Billerica, Middlesex, Massachusetts    d. 18 Jun 1736, Billerica, Middlesex,  (Age 68 years)

Family 2 Mary GURNEY + 1. Mary Shedd, b. 8 Mar 1648, Braintree, Norfolk, Massachusetts d. 17 Aug 1688, Billerica, Middlesex, Massachusetts (Age 40 years)

	2. Daniel Shedd,   b. 30 Aug 1649, Braintree, Norfolk, Massachusetts   d. 24 Dec 1670, Billerica, Middlesex, Massachusetts (Age 21 years)

	3. Esther SHEDD,   b. 1650, Braintree, Norfolk, Massachusetts d. 18 Sep 1724, Sandwich, Barnstable, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 74 years)

	4. Hannah Shedd,   b. 6 Sep 1651, Braintree, Norfolk, Massachusetts d. 19 Dec 1672, Billerica, Middlesex, Massachusetts (Age 21 years)

	5. Ensign John Shedd,   b. 1 Apr 1654, Braintree, Norfolk, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 31 Jan 1736/1637, Billerica, Middlesex, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location

	6. Zechariah Shedd,   b. 17 Jun 1656, Braintree, Norfolk, Massachusetts d. 2 May 1735, Chelmsford, Middlesex, Massachusetts (Age 78 years)

	7. Elizabeth Shedd,   b. 17 Jun 1656, Braintree, Norfolk, Massachusetts 

	8. Sarah Shedd,   b. 30 Oct 1658, Braintree, Norfolk, Massachusetts  d. About 1719, Billerica, Middlesex, Massachusetts (Age 60 years)

Arrival Year 1643 Arrival Place Massachusetts

per: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Shed-4 Biography

Daniel was born in Finchingfield, Essex, England, in June of 1620. He was baptized at St. John the Baptist Church in Finchingfield on June 25, 1620. He married Mary Gurney in 1647 in Braintree, MA. His name appears in the records of "Brantrey" Massachusetts as early as 1643. (Braintree was settled in 1635.) Brantrey's Book of Records beginning in 1643, records the births of 7 children to Daniel & his wife Mary between 1 Oct 1647 & 30 Oct 1658. Mary would have died about 1658-59 in Braintree. Daniel married secondly, Elizabeth, about 1659. Four more children were born by this marriage. Daniel passed away in Billerica on July 3rd, 1708.

Note

Note: REFN: 548 Sources

North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000

Massachusetts Applications of Freemen, 1630-91 Massachusetts, Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index, 1790-1890 Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988 Massachusetts, Town Death Records, 1620-1850 Middlesex County, Massachusetts Probate Index, 1648-1870 U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900 U.S., New England Marriages Prior to 1700 U.S., Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783 Daniel Shed Geneaology Source Information: Title Shedd, Frank E., Daniel Shed Genealogy. Note: Shedd, Frank E., Hubert C. Shedd & J. Gardner Bartlett. Daniel Shed Genealogy: Ancestry and Descendants of Daniel Shed of Braintree, Massachusetts 1327-1920. 148 Washington St.; P.O. Box 778; Salem, MA 01970: Reprinted by the Higginson Book Company, Orig. 1921. Original book published for the Shedd Family Assoc., Boston, 1920
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The Story of Daniel Shed Posted 07 Aug 2010 by stephaniesiderits Daniel Shed, born in England, probably about 1620, was the progenitor of our family in America. It is a matter of sincere regret that the exact date of or the circumstances attending his arrival on these shores have not been learned, although every available avenue in America has been searched for the information. The name of Daniel Shed appears among those of the earliest settlers in ancient "Brantrey" as early as 1643, and, along with it, among the founders of this town seated on the southern shores of Massachusetts Bay, may be found the family names of Adams, Quincy, Barrett and Spalding, with others well known in later American history. Before entering upon the full story of his life and the record of his descendants, it will be well to divest the mind of all knowledge of material things as now existing in New England and go back in imagination to the conditions and circumstances that this group of settlers found when they made their first appearance here nearly three centuries ago, in order to judge more correctly of their careers. Banish them from mind our contiguous towns and cities. Banish not alone the mills and marts, the railways and telegraphs of which the ceaseless throbbing measures like a pulse the nation's health through all the arteries of its vast business life; banish everything that over two centuries of increasing civilization has wrought; find a land without a name, a land almost without homes save here and there a few rude ones or such habitations as fortune hunters raise; a land untraversed, untrapped and of unknown extent. Such was the country to which the Puritans came. Then an almost unbroken wilderness met an equally unknown ocean with scarce a score of little settlements along the entire eastern coast intervening at the most accessible points to offer their puny resistance to the supremacy of nature. These were but the germs of our present development, yet like leaven was their mighty influence. Single handed each little band began its struggle; they sought full freedom of action and trusted not each other lest one should seek to override another's rights; against the denizens of the forests and fields alone were they united as against a common foe. How vast the country, how broad the problem that met these first settlers they themselves little realized, else one well might fear lest their strength be not sufficient to overcome the difficulties; yet upheld by a sublime faith they sought no backward path but with noble persistence broke down all obstacles that rose before them. To the south some thirty or forty miles was Plymouth Colony where the Pilgrims came first, quite a score of years before, there to establish their homes and enjoy "freedom to worship God" as to their minds seemed best; there still they dwelt, with added friends and strength, exemplifying the beauty of their faith, -- a pilgrim band. Northward, little more than half as far, was Naumkeag (Salem) and a little beyond was Agawam (Ipswich), where at each little church band had settled seeking under its favorite preacher to secure social and religious freedom, and already both were bearing evidence of a sturdy growth. And here again where the Charles River spreads out into a broad harbor were clustered several little settlements under the general name of Massachusetts Bay Colony. Though of later establishment, yet already they evinced more rapid development by reason of the fewer restrictions imposed upon immigration, by which greater influence was lent toward settlement than at the sister settlements. Boston, on its then narrow neck of land, was thus early the chief town, and, strange as it seems, with less than a hundred houses within its bounds, its citizens felt severely hampered for room. For their relief the General Court was persuaded in 1634 to grant for an extension of territory a tract of land near Mount Wollaston, a few miles south but bordering on the same harbor. Within a few years the ministers and other leading men received grants of land there, ranging from a hundred to over a thousand acres each, in return for which they were to establish industries and induce settlement thereon, both for personal profit and public welfare.*

• Chronological Order of Settlements in New England. The Pilgrims came to Plymouth in 1620. Endecott with the first Puritan company founded Salem in 1628. The charter of the Massachusetts Bay Colony was granted in 1629, and in 1630 a fleet of fourteen ships brought 1500 colonists under Gov. Winthrop, who founded that year the towns of Boston, Dorchester, Charleston, Hull, Medford, Roxbury, and Watertown. Cambridge and Lynn were settled in 1632, Ipswich, Andover, and Hingham in 1634, and Braintree, Concord and Newbury in 1635. Over twenty other towns were also established in the Massachusetts Bay Colony before Bellerica was settled in 1653 and incorporated as a town in 1655. BRAINTREE In the broad plantation that was thus established, settlement had not progressed very far when early in 1640 the General Court set off the territory as a separate town under the name of Braintree. There also our first ancestor Daniel Shed fixed his home about this time. ENGLAND Now this Daniel Shed being the first emigrant to America in the family, we now go back to his history in England, whence he came. From here he becomes Daniel Shed(12), son of Daniel(11), son of Thomas(10), son of Thomas(9), son of Thomas(8), son of John(7), son of John(6), son of John(5), son of John(4),

  ---

  > great-grandson of John De Schedde(1), with the parentheses noting the generation from the first of this line. Before John De Schedde, we have no record at this time. Daniel Shed(12) was baptized 25 June 1620 in the ancient parish church of Finchingfield, County Essex, as appears from its old parchment register still perfectly preserved from 1617. The venerable church (except for loss of its spire) still presents the same appearance as it did just three centuries ago when the infant eyes of Daniel Shed(12) first beheld it; even the very font, which held the sacred water with which he was christened, still remains in regular use. This baptismal record is the sole mention of him in these registers which have been carefully examined down to 1710; if he had died there his burial would have been recorded. His father, Daniel Shed(11), in no record in Finchingfield is ever termed "senior," nor is there anything to infer that there were ever two Daniel Sheds of adult aga living there at the same time. In the Protestation Roll of February 1641/2, only one Shed appears in Finchingfield, Daniel Shed(11); at that time the son Daniel Shed(12) was nearly twenty-two years of age; as all males over eighteen years old are listed, and as Daniel Shed(12) does not appear on this roll either in Finchingfield or in any of the other surrounding forty-five parishes of the Hundred, it is evident that he had removed from the neighborhood before February 1641/2. During the period of 1630-1642, about twenty-five thousand English Puritans emigrated to New England, either to escape religious restrictions or with the hope of bettering their material condition. Over half of these emigrants were from the counties of Essex and Suffolk, and among them was Daniel Shed(12) who first appears on records in New England in 1643, in Braintree, Massachusetts. This town was named for Braintree in Essex, only eight miles south-east of Finchingfield, and a large majority of the early settlers of Braintree, Massachusetts, are known to have come from various parishes in Essex and Suffolk in England within a fifteen-mile radius of the mother town of Braintree. Neither the date of sailing, the port of departure, nor the name of the vessel which brought Daniel Shed(12) to New England has been discovered; but his emigration must have taken place before 1642, so probably about 1640, or about the time he became of age. So here may be framed a very real mental picture of the emigrant Daniel Shed(12), raised as a farmer's boy in rural Essex in eastern England, amid strong Puritan influence, and while yet a youth so imbued with their fervid religious faith and desire for liberty as to join the memorable throng that left their beloved ancestral homes and braved the perils of the deep and the hardships of pioneer life in a savage wilderness to found a nation in the New World. "What sought they thus afar?

    Bright jewels of the mine? The wealth of seas, the spoils of war?

    They sought a Faith's pure shrine!" The substantial worth of this epochal emigration, extolled for two centuries by many writers, was aptly set forth by William Stoughton in his sermon at the Massachusetts general election of 1668: "God sifted a whole nation that he might send choice grain into this wilderness." In the three centuries that had elapsed (up to about 1920) since the birth in 1620 of Daniel Shed(12), he became the progenitor of nearly four thousand descendants born of the name Shedd, and of scores of thousands of descendants born of thousands of other family names, now dispersed all over the United States. This old New England stock, derived from the Puritan founders like Daniel Shed(12), has been the predominant element in influence in American institutions among the population of our northern and western states. In the preceding pages has been set forth for the first time the history of the ancestry of Daniel Shed during a period of over three centuries prior to his emigration to New England about 1640. His career in the New World and the records of his descendants in America, compiled during many years by the late Frank E. Shedd, form the remainder and main part of this volume. FIRST GENERATION To show the relation of the early towns or colonies we append an outline map, and as interesting matter upon the subject we make a few extracts from the valuable history of the old town as compiled by Dr. W. S. Pattee. As early as 1622, only two years after the landing of the Pilgrims, one Thomas Morton visited Mt. Wollaston, as it was later known, and was much pleased with its appearance and with the abundance of fish found off the shore. In September, 1625 Captain Wollaston with about thirty adventurers came from England and began a settlement there, but the next spring he sailed to Virginia and the company was broken up. Thomas Morton (a lawyer from Cliffords Inn, London) again turned up in the settlement and securing the leadership set up a free and easy manner of life; shrewdly treating the Indians kindly to secure their friendship, the company indulged freely in drinking and sport. The name "Merry Mount" was given the place and they set up the first and only "May Pole" ever raised in Puritan New England. This free mode of life was a great offense to the religion of the staid Puritans and Separatists comprising the other colonies upon the coast, who soon took stringent measures to remove the source of evil; after many futile attempts Morton was finally taken and in September 1631 was sent back to England while his house was burned and his property confiscated and the party scattered by order of the General Court of Massachusetts. The first permanent settlement of the place may be traced from 1634 when the territory was assigned to Boston for an extension of its territory. All who came previously were mere adventurers having no interest or sympathy with the sentiments held by the majority of the colonists; but the stigma resting upon the place by reason of the unpuritanical reputation of these first occupants hindered its development in a large degree. The tide of immigration was now setting in strong, and most of the land upon the peninsula of Boston being taken up grants were more readily taken for settlement in this new territory. The settlers there came largely from the counties of Lincoln, Suffolk and Essex in England. By the records of the General Court the first grant was to Rev. John Wilson in 1635. Mr. William Hutchinson had in 1636, two years after his arrival, "a sufficient farm laid out for him at Mount Wollaston" and in 1637 "our brother [Rev.] John Wheelwright" received "an allotment of 250 acres," but he was afterwards expelled from the colony because of his religious views. Among others we find that "4th Jan'y 1636 - it is agreed by general consent that Mr. Atherton Houghes shall have 600 acres laid him out beyond Mount Wollaston from between Monatquot river to bounds of Weymouth etc," and later 4 December, 1637 - "Mr. A. Houlgh shall have all that neck of land (as yet not laid out) joining to Mr. Coddington, etc."; this was in exchange for some part of his previous grant, relinquished, and through all these years since has always borne the name of Hough's Neck, being to-day a fashionable resort for summer homes. On January 27, 1639/40, "there is granted to Mr. William Thompson, Pastor of the Church at the Mount, 120 acres of Land there." (Town Records of Boston, Vol. I, p. 47). By subsequent transfers, to be quoted later, it is established that this grant comprised the neck which became a few years later the home of our ancestor until 1658, and which for a century even after his removal from the town bore the name of "Shed's Neck." All these grants near Mount Wollaston were by order of the General Court on 13 May 1640 incorporated as the town of Braintree* which comprised the present towns of Braintree, Quincy, Randolph and Holbrook, and from then its progress was assured. For over a century and a half Braintree maintained its original area; then on 22 February 1792 the northerly third of the town was set off to form the town (now city) of Quincy, and on 9 March, 1793 the south-westerly third became the town of Randolph a part of which on 29 February 1872 was established as Holbrook. The 120-acre grant to Rev. William Thompson in 1639/40, which was occupied to 1658 by Daniel Shed and so for a century was known as "Shed's Neck," was located in that part of Braintree which since 1792 has been Quincy.

• Braintree was so called from a place of the same name in County Essex, England, which in the Domesday Survey of 1086 appears as Branchetreu, signifying in Anglo-Saxon "a town on a hill." Extending from the main land of old Braintree into the waters of Massachusetts Bay were five necks of land: Squantum was the most northerly one; next was Hough's Neck; the next or middle one was Shed's Neck which after 1750 was known as Germantown; then came Quincy Point and still further south was Knight's Neck. This portion of old Braintree near the coast was the seat of the principal settlement during the first half century. Between Shed's Neck and Quincy Point flows Weymouth Fore River affording a convenient harbor for ship building which was long carried on there and in recent times has become the location of a great modern plant for ship construction. It seems evident that Daniel Shed came to Braintree a youth or young bachelor of small means, arrived there or became of age too late to become an original proprietor and grantee of lands, and did not have means to purchase an estate. So about the time of his marriage in 1646 he doubtless leased for a term of years from Rev. Willaim Thompson the 120-acre neck granted to the latter in 1639/40, and on account of Daniel Shed being the first resident on the tract it came to be generally known as "Shed's Neck." Here he evidently continued about twelve years until 1658, when perhaps the expiration of his lease or the destruction of his house by fire together with the opening up of cheap lands in the new town of Billerica on the then frontiers induced a removal to the latter place. The later history of Shed's Neck is readily traced by recorded deeds. On 18 June 1661, Samuel Thompson of Braintree, with power and order from his honored father Mr. William Thompson, for 8 pounds conveyed to Edmund Quincy, John Hull and William Penn the 120-acre tract given by the Town of Boston to his father, as shown on a plot surveyed in November 1658, with all the timber, wood, appurtenances and privileges belonging thereunto. (Suffolk County Deeds, Vol. 13, pg. 49.). The small amount of the consideration and the fact that no buildings are mentioned, suggest that there were none then on the property; so perhaps the log cabin occupied by Daniel Shed may have been destroyed by fire shortly before the survey was made. Mr. Quincy soon secured the shares of his associates in the purchase, and we next find that on 26 November, 1680, Edmund Quincy of Braintree conveyed to John Hull of Boston, in trust for the grantor's five children, "All that my Neck or parcel of land, scituate, lying and being in Brantrey afores'd comonly called and known by the name SHED'S NECK, containing about One Hundred acres of upland and twenty acres of Salt Marish, bounded by Rock Island [part of Hough's Neck] Easterly, by Weymouth and Brantery Schoole Land Westerly and Northerly." (Suffolk County Deeds, Vol. II, p. 387.) On 17 February 1680/1, John Hull of Boston, as trustee, for 460 pounds conveyed to Samuel Torrey, Ephraim Hunt and John Hunt, all of Weymouth, the upland and meadow "commonly called Shed's Neck," containing 120 acres. (Ibid., Vol. 12, p. 22.) The property continued nearly half a century in possession of various members of the Torrey and Hunt families until 11 December 1727, when Enock Hunt sold 42 acres "on Shed's Neck so called" to Nicholas Phillips who on 29 January 1734/5 conveyed it to Col. John Quincy of Braintree, grandson of Edmund Quincy previously mentioned; and on 1 May 1730 Col. Quincy also bought of John Hunt's 72 acres "in that part of Braintree commonly called Shed's Neck." (Ibid., Vol. 41, p. 225; Vol. 68, pp. 236-7). These two purchases vested nearly the whole Neck in Col. Quincy who on 8 August, 1750 leased the property, at an annual rental of 10 shillings per acre, to a syndicate consisting of John Franklin [brother of the illustrious Benjamin Franklin], Norton Quincy, Peter Etter, and Joseph Crellius. (Ibid., Vol. 80, p. 169.) The syndicate intended to develop the Neck for a colony of Germans, but the scheme failed, and on 24 August, 1752 the associates subleased to Gen. Joseph Palmer and Richard Cranch seventeen of the lots "as laid off at Shed's Neck called Germantown." (Ibid., Vol. 81, pg. 109.) Since that time the Neck has continued to be known by the latter name, Germantown, and after passing through various hands most of it was secured by "The Sailors Snug Harbor," a corporation chartered 20 May 1852 to maintain a home for old and retired seamen. This beneficent institution still owns the property and has smoothed the last years of over five hundred old and disabled sailors. In 1916 the Shedd Family Association secured a small plot of land on the crest of the Neck and erected thereon a memorial to Daniel Shed in the form of a lighthouse, consisting of a column of Quincy granite about twenty feet high surmounted by a substantial glass and copper lantern enclosing a powerful incandescent electric light. A bronze tablet on the base of the column bears the following inscription: A Memorial to DANIEL SHED An original settler and resident here in old Braintree 1642-1658 His descendants to the tenth generation erect this shaft to commemorate his life. They dedicate it to the City of Quincy and as a beacon to the Sailors Snug Harbor which for over 60 years has occupied the land once tilled by their ancestor for whom it was for the first century called Shedds Neck a name that it is hoped may now be restored. Erected August 1916 by The Shedd Family Association Here then upon the central one of five necks of land in old Braintree (now Quincy) extending from the mainland eastward into Massachusetts Bay was the original "ffarme" of our ancestor. A visitor to this place to-day cannot fail of pleasure with the prospect offered by the smooth, rolling, open fields, washed on either side by the waters of the bay, beyond which westward rise dark hills rugged with granite quarries that have yielded many a noble monument to more noble dead; eastward are spread bright enchanting sea views over the harbor with its many islands and the ships that ply between at the call of trade or pleasure. We may well wonder if our forefather too was attracted thither by these prospects, then seen in promise only or did he have ambitious notions of the vantage this very point of land should afford in a commercial view, as soon as increasing trade improved the privilege offered by Weymouth River which flowed past it into the harbor. Who then could say but there should be built a leading port of the country? Certainly later history has shown how sound was the judgment by the amount of trade and ship building carried on at this very point. We can at least rejoice with him in his promising outlook in settling there while we turn to search closely the old books of records for some account of his doings. Daniel Shed was first mentioned as a resident of "Brantrey" under date of 1642, says Pattee's History of Braintree. Daniel Shode was with others granted new lands by the General Court, 1 October 1645 as recorded in Massachusetts Colonial Records. (Vol. 2, p. 128). This same year Daniel Shed was one of the thirty-two residents, including twenty freemen representing as many families of Braintree, who besought the General Court for liberty to remove and begin a new plantation where the noted preacher Samuel Groton had obtained a grant of a thousand acres at Shawamet or Warwick, but which the Court had confiscated by reason of Groton's averred heresy. Though this petition was granted, yet before any settlement was effected disputes as to jurisdiction arose with the Plymouth Colony, and shortly afterwards the authorities in England over-ruled the whole matter and restored the lands to the original grantees, while our petitioners all continued their residence at Braintree for many years. Here again in "Brantrey's book of records" of births, marriages and deaths "beginning in ye year 1643" we find a page of especial interest, for it records the births there of seven children to our ancestor and his wife Mary between 1 October, 1647 and 30 October, 1658, records of which we give further on at the proper place. What a story these few simple lines from the old records reveal to us and yet what a broad field for conjecture they leave open! They state only the bare fact, name and date of birth, and not one more word do they give to allay our curiosity. Who was "Mary his wiffe" and when were they married? Were they acquainted in Merrie England or did they first meet here where each had sought a home in this new land of promise? Neither record nor tradition gives an answer. Of their toils, their joys or their sorrows for these dozen years that they lived there together no word is said, and yet all these things came to them as to others as they struggled for a livelihood for themselves and the children that gathered about their hearthstone. FIRST GENERATION Three years brought also great development in the whole country, considering the means at hand, and new settlements were springing up farther inland; sturdy yeomen and men ambitious for wealth all roamed the fields and forests seeking new and more favored locations, and frequent changes were made in the older settlements to avail of whatever promised a better situation, though always limited by certain strong ties of family or church that bound them close together and served to make each little community self-contained. This feeling of unrest and desire for change was felt as well in the little settlement at Braintree, and frequent changes were there made among the neighbors and associates of Daniel Shed. Peter and Joseph Adams, sons of Henry Adams (the ancestor of the Presidents Adams), continued to reside in Braintree as has also an honorable posterity, while two other sons, Thomas and Samuel were among the first settlers of Chelmsford far northward in the valley of the Merrimack. Thither also went Edward Spalding and Thomas Barrett whose descendants names we shall later find closely allied by intermarriage with our own family. From the same circle also there went out Christopher Webb, Thomas Foster and several of Deacon Richard Brackett's children, all to find new homes in the town of Billerica lying well north upon the Concord and Shawshine rivers near where they joined the Merrimack. Thither also in 1659 went our own ancestor Daniel Shed, with his family, and there established their permanent home from which a numerous posterity has gone forth. What his reasons were or what the inducements for this move has not been discovered, and it seems all the more peculiar because most of the grantees of this new township were chiefly from Cambridge, to which it had been assigned for an extension of the territory. BILLERICA Reared in a country where landed possessions were largely the basis of wealth and rank, all the early colonists in New England were eager to secure as ample territory for their plantations as possible and improved every opportunity for obtaining grants as the settlements pushed inland. Such was the case with Cambridge, which "Newtowne" had become with the establishment of Harvard College there; to increase the revenue of the college and give a wider influence to the town its rulers sought control of a tract of land called Shawshine lying northeast of Cambridge and east of the Concord River. After much parleying this was finally granted by the General Court on 7 March 1643/4, "provided the church & prsent elders continue at Cambridge," an order to guard against further disruptions since Rev. Mr. Hooker and most of his followers had previously left to settle at Hartford, Connecticut. Several large grants had previously been made "about six miles northward from Concord" among which Gov. Winthrop and Deputy-Gov. Dudley received each twelve hundred to fifteen hundred acres. The exact location of any of these grants had not been determined, but having established their claims little haste was made to improve them by settlements. In June, 1652, an allotment was made there of over twelve thousand acres among one hundred and thirteen people in Cambridge, and the most important of these divisions was one of four hundred acres for "a township"; this tract lay just north of "Mr. Dudley's farm" and east of Concord River, occupying the crest of a large hill on which is now situated the beautiful village of Billerica, and upon it "house lots" of from twenty to thirty acres were granted to the first settlers. The development of the section now began in earnest, and in this the "Dudley Farm" exerted a vital influence in giving shape to the new town. Its fifteen hundred acres extended from Gov. Winthrop's farm northward down the Concord River about two and a half miles; this when sold was divided into twelve equal lots or shares of one hundred and twenty-five acres each, and each share or "right" was for convenience called "a tenne acre lot" though really consisting of one hundred and thirteen acres of upland and twelve acres of meadow. This became the unit of measure throughout the whole town so that each man's share was computed at a certain proportional part of "a tenne acre lot" in all the divisions of the common lands. As settlements began the need for a separate existence as a town became the primary question. After long deliberation of the step, the "General Court" combined all the grants it had made in that section with all unclaimed lands, and on 30 May 1655 incorporated it as the town of Billerica. At that time not more than nine or ten families were located there, but others soon followed and the maintenance of the town was assured. Naturally the largest portion of settlers came from the parent town Cambridge and the next largest as naturally from the adjoining town of Woburn. Braintree also gave an important circle of eight families including Daniel Shed, Thomas Foster, the Webbs and the Bracketts. John Rogers came with John Stearns from Watertown, John Kitteredge, whose descendants have been many and honorable, came as a young man in the employ of John Parker who was called his "master." John Leviston, a Scotchman, also a few years later brought good blood to Billerica. In 1658 when Rev. Samuel Whiting came to minister to their wants he found only twenty-five families, of whom eleven were "on the township," seven on the Dudley farm and seven elsewhere, but only one was located north of the township; in 1660 the number of families had increased to forty. With the incorporation of the town came the first suggestion of the new name that was to supplant the euphonious Indian Shawshine. When a company of earnest English families had gathered there they naturally sought to cultivate the home feeling by the transfer of familiar names to their homes in the wilderness. Their choice fell upon a name unique and peculiar, to unfamiliar ears perhaps a little awkward and unattractive; yet while most other names have been repeated over and over again in newer states, this name has remained in the sole possession of this town. There is but one Billericay in England and but one Billerica in the United States. Leaving his old home in Braintree our Daniel Shed came to Billerica and in 1659 bought from George Willice a certain tract of land which had been the original "right" of Joseph Parker to lands in this town; this consisted of "an eight acre lot" as styled in the divisions but really representing a right to about a hundred acres. Of the land he thus acquired his house-lot is especially mentioned in the records as "twenty and three acres of land be it more or lesse lying upon the township and is bounded by Jacob Browne on the north; by [the Rev.] Mr. Whiting on the south; by Concord river West, and by the highway by ye brooke on ye East; also he is bounded on the south partly by Jonathan Stearns his land upon ye township; also it is divided neare ye East and by Concord road lying crosse it four poles wide." Where the balance of the one hundred acres of his right lay we have not learned. His house was located on the easterly side of the Concord or Bedford road on land which in 1869 was bought by Samuel Sage and where his widow, Mrs. Martha (Hill) Sage resided as late as 1913. By reference to a map of those grants their relative location can be easily seen, while for fixing them most definitely within modern bounds we are aided by one of the most prominent features of the early town's topography and one that still lingers in all its quaintness of title, viz; Charnstaffe Lane, extending from the Boston road westerly to the river. Then it separated the large and earlier "Dudley Farm" on the south of it from the township grant proper on the north as set off to the Cambridge Church. Immediately north of Charnstaffe Lane and bounding upon it was the lot of Rev. Samuel Whiting, the first minister of Billerica, who came there in 1658. Adjoining him upon the north was the land of Daniel Shed extending westward to the Concord river, while upon his arrival there in 1659 he established his dwelling upon the eastern portion near "ye brooke" in the valley between the present Boston and Concord roads. The records of the early grants show that a highway was reserved along this brook, but given up later on. We can learn very little from the records as to his coming or the details of his early abode there though many things can be gathered by inference. The year 1659 must have been the time of his arrival, for in October of the preceding year he had a daughter Sarah born by "wiffe Mary" in Braintree, while in the ancient records of Billerica we find a "sone," Samuel, born to "Daniel and Elizabeth Shed" on August 13, 1660. Few indeed were the accomodations afforded by the new settlement to which our ancestor brought his family of seven children whose ages ranged from one to twelve years. The houses were small and rude; there were no fences or enclosures. The minister's house was built but not yet finished, and "the meeting house," that one rallying point in all early towns, was not begun. The force and peculiarity of their seclusion comes to us more fully as we read of the meagre opportunities for travel to neighboring towns; a road by which to reach their forest home from Cambridge and Woburn; another to Concord on the south, while only a path led northward to Andover and another to Chelmsford further west. And what roads were these -- without form, little more than tracks marked by blazed trees! The early settlers had no time for more improvements than necessity demanded, -- all their energies were given to clearing up the heavy forests, not for profit in the lumber, but that the virgin soil might be exposed to the sunlight and induced to yield them the necessaries of food and shelter. It needed men with strong arms and strong hearts imbued with mutual sympathies for their work, and such they proved. If their circumstances afforded but scant returns for their toil they made their wants few in proportion. They were laying foundations then and looking to the future with high hopes and large faith. In England landed possessions were largely the basis of wealth and rank, so here it was natural for them to secure as many broad acres as they were able, hoping thus to build a rich and prosperous future. Withal they wer pious folks and believed the Scriptures literally without question; they toiled six days of the week and kept the Sabbath with rigid exactness. They found little use for pen and paper, for writing was little practised because little needed; printing was not common at that time and book stores and post offices were unknown. Reports travelled but slowly, but great time for consideration was allowed. Just then as they struggled on their Puritan sympathies were deeply awakened by accounts of Cromwell's deeds for greater freedom in the mother country; and thus here, too, upon fertile ground were sown ideas that, growing up with that knowledge and independence which self-reliance brings, developed a spirit that a century later made the American revolution not only possible but successful. In addition to the purchase of land already mentioned our ancestor received numerous later grants from the town of Billerica besides other private purchases, so that his estate finally embraced quite a large territory. "BILLERICA THEIR TOWN BOOKE OF RECORDS TRANSCRIBED ANNO DOMINI 1665." "Daniel Sheed purchasing & possessing all the premises - Hence all the remaining grants wch are properly to this alotment by town order are granted and recorded to him: -- (1) Granted to him one parcell of land containing eighteen acres of land be it more or lesse lying in the great Comon field which lyeth on ye east side of Concord river below ye falls, it is the ninteen lot in that order being tenne poles wide at the east end wr it is bounded by ye Comons and seventene pole wide upon a perpendicula at ye west end wr it is bounded by ye river, bounded by Willm Tay on ye south and John poulter north. Also there is a highway crosse this lot laid out according to ye record of it in page 164. (2) Grant of a small skirt of land joyneing to ye east end of his house lot, to extend two poles nearer the brook from his bound stump at his southeast corner and to come straight along to take in his old dwelling house the whole grant standing within his fences. (3) Granted more to him - forty and six acres of land be it more or lesse lying on ye south side of the highway by fox Hill among ye second divisions being ye second lot in that order and bounded by Thomas Hubbard on ye west whose northeast angle is a twisted maple marked with H on ye west side and S on ye east side - from thence runing eastward about thirty and eight poles unto a stake marked with S & P (which stake stands by ye old highway as you go to ye willow spangs) bounded on ye east by Willm Pattin, on ye south golden more thirty and two poles and by Willm ffrench Seaven poles all at ye end - his S:W: angle is a white oake marked with H on ye west site & S on ye east side - his east angle is a stake: bounded north by ye highways. Also there is a burden of a highway lies upon part of it as appears from ye record of it. Moreover there is allowance given into ye Measure of this lot in reference to many swamp and Crambery holes within it, all which is conteined with in ye bounds specified before" There are three more grants of meadow land, in all about 23 acres, fully described and bounded. Also in 7:-4m:68 there was granted more to him - eight acres of land be it more or lesse lying (on ye right hand of the way) on the pine plaine, on this side ye great corner field lying thirty pole wide at each end and is bounded on ye east by Roger toothaker, on ye west by ye Highway, on ye south by Mr. Whiting & on ye north by John bracket, the four corners are all stakes, this is granted on account of ye gratuity division. Other small grants followed at various times and as late as the general distribution on 9th 1685 we find one of three acres to Corpll Daniel Shed Senr. As early as 1663, or only four years after his settlement there, we find that Daniel Shead paid pound 1-4-10 in "the ministers rate" for the Rev. Mr. Whiting's maintenance out of a total levy of pound 71-1-8; the fifty assessments ran from 3s. to pound 3-17-6, showing that he was not accounted poor. When the meeting house was built Daniel Shed was assigned "to ye 2d seat in ye fore gallerty of ye meeting house." For various reasons we judge that he was a strong supporter of the church and a close friend of Minister Whiting. Certain it is that their homes were but a few rods apart, and aside from any personal reasons that may have existed for this friendship there were plenty of external causes to bring them into close relationship. Aside from their struggles with natural obstacles which required all the ingenuity of the settlers to overcome there was another burden that rested upon all alike and with which they were less able to cope because it was less tangible; this came from their fear of the Indians round about them. Friendly as seemed those whose dusky forms were often seen at their firesides and who had in a measure embraced Christianity and civilization through the labors of Eliot among them at Warnesit, still the settlers watched them closely to guard against any treachery and to gain some hint of impending attack from the less friendly tribes farther back. For more than fifty years this danger hung over the pioneers, sometimes almost forgotten then with one burst bending them low in its fury and destruction. So imminent seemed this danger in 1667 that the settlers in Billerica determined to build a stone and brick fortification house; and again eight years later during King Philip's War several of the larger houses were appointed garrisons and protected as well as they could be. Among these was Rev. Samuel Whiting's house, and thirty men and several yoke of oxen were over two days putting it in proper condition for defense; to this place as garrison was assigned Daniel Shed Sen. and his son John, Thomas Dutton Sen. and his son John, John Rogers Sen. and his three sons John, Thomas and Nathaniel, also John Durant and two other soldiers, making eleven soldiers in all and six families under his roof, which was ordered "to be ye maine garrison & ye last refuge in case of extremity. "What anxious times were these with little news from the outside, and yet amid their dangers Cupid stole into the garrisons with his arrows, past the sentinels, and wounded several youthful hearts as the sequel shows. The Indian attack however did not come nor for several years afterward, so that the families returned to their homes and the preacher performed his services without guns being stacked in church ready for instant use. It was probably at this time that our ancestor Daniel Shedd Sen. acquired his military title of "Corpll" and for other similar service his son John Shed probably acquired his various appellations of Sergeant, Ensign, etc. It may be well to note here that all the descendants of Daniel Shed, though by no means fighting men, have always been ready to answer every call for protecting the country's rights, and many have laid down their lives for the public good during the various wars in which our country has been engaged. As the years came and went, some prosperous, some less successful, his children married, one by one, with the children of his neighbors, and all settled not far away from the old homestead, and in turn reared around them many children according to the custom of those days. If amid their many cares they became incautious and forgetful of their danger they were rudely recalled to their exposure by the Indian attacks in 1689 upon Dover, N.H., and three years later on 1 Aug. 1692, the deadly blow so much feared fell upon this little settlement, blasting the homes of Zechariah Shed and Benjamin Dutton who lived near "the falls." With the fears aroused by this alarm mingled with the witchcraft excitements and trials at Salem three years more passed, and a second massacre fell upon them on Monday 5 August 1695 when fifteen persons in four families suffered the fury of the Indians. We have but a slight conception of the alarm and agitation these bloody deeds spread over the entire section. No one knew what day might bring a similar fate; as they went about their fields at work every nook, tree and bush was watched for a concealed foe, but their vigilance was its own reward, for the enemy came not again this community. Thus, leading a life such as we have pictured, now aroused by reports of some savage outbreak, then settling back again into the routine of daily toil in their fields that alone provided the necessities of life, dwelt our forefather and his family. And as the shadows of increasing years came upon him it must have proved a source of great satisfaction that all his children should grow to maturity and settle near him. FIRST GENERATION Of his eleven children we know the full history save of one daughter Susan who doubtless died young; five sons and five daughters grew up to maturity and made homes of their own, into all of which except of two daughters. Children came to cheer the grandparents' lives. Hannah, the second daughter, died in 1672, a young bride of but a few months; then Mary and Daniel, the first born and the first son, were a few years later cut off in the prime of life, but each leaving several children from whom have descended honorable posterity. It was quite natural that the youngest son of the family should succeed to the father's homestead, and while he doubtless provided as well for all his children as his means allowed when they went out for themselves, yet Nathan was the one chosen "to provide for them in theire old age" and received the homestead. Here is a copy of the agreement of which the original is on file at the Registry of Deeds for Middlesex County at Cambridge; the spelling and use of letters has been followed. "This Indenture made March the Twenty and Seventh In the year of our Lord God one thousand six hundred ninety and four - Between Daniel Shed Senr of Billerica in the County of Middlesex in theire Majesties Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England on the one party and his Sun Nathan Shed on the other partex, - Wittnesseth That the said Daniel Shed For and in Consideration of the Love and affection he beareth to his Son Nathan Shed and for a settlement of his Sd Son Nathan as also ye Sd Daniel Considering the age both of himself and wife and inability to manage and Carry on husbandry as formerly and to the end that ye sd Daniel and his wife may be Comfortably take Care of and provided for in theire old age according to what is after Expressed Covenanted and Agreed upon as appears by this Instrument. As also that ye Sd Nathan hath with his own money purchased all the right, Title or Interest that his Brethren Zechariah and Samuel ever had or might now or hereafter be considered to have in theire Said ffathers Inheritance* which in and by this Instrument is granted and made over to the said Nathan, upon the account of the premises The Said Daniel Shed Hath given, granted, bargained and Sold, aliened, Enfeoffed and Confirmed And by these presents Doth freely fully Clearly and absolutely Grant bargaine and Sell alien Enfeoffe and Confirm to his said Son Nathan Shed and to his heirs and assigns forever All this house and Lands in the aforesaid Town of Billerica, that is his Dwelling house and Barn, orchards, home lott Called about twenty three acres, with all the Cultures, Monurements, Husbandry, ffences upon or around about Sd Houses & Lands, also all his medow Land & upland lying about Sd Houses and Lands; also all his medow Land & upland lying elsewhere in Billerica Towne. The meadow Called Broad Medow on the West side of Concord River by Estination one acre & three Quarters more or less, And ShawShin River Meadow Called three acres and a halfe, And his two springs of medow lying on the north heath Brooke, and his medow at Strong water Brooke called four acres and a halfe and his upland lying by it Called Twenty acres & adjoining to it, And his meadow at Prospect Hill and his allotment of medow at Mill Swamp, be they all or any of them more or less, with all his Town rights and priviledges upon ye Town Comons to all or to any part of them. Also his Two oxen Cart and wheels, plow and Chaine horse Traise with all the utensills of husbandry thereunto belonging that are now to be found of his own either in house or ffield. To Have and to Hold ye above granted & bargained prmsses and Every part and parcell thereof wth all the priviledges & appurtenances to the Same appertaining or in any wise belonging according to the Towne Record of the bounds of each of them to him ye Sd Nathan Shed and to his heires and Assigns forever to his and their own propper use and behoof. And all this upon the Condition and proposition following and no other. That is that ye Sd Nathan Shed his heires or Assigns Shall finde and provide for his Sd father Shed and his said Mother during ye whole time of theire naturall life and the longest liver of them both Convenient and Comfortable houseroom with a Competent & Suitable maintenance and apparill Physick and atendance in Sickness and a decent buriall and in all and every respect Suitable to prsons of their age and quality. And in Case at any time Sd Daniel or his wife shall think their maintenance is too little and shall desire more than Sd Nathan is willing to provide, In all such cases it shall be determined by prsons Indifferently Chosen by each party one; and in case after Such determination Sd Nathan his heirs or Assigns Shall neglect or Refuse to perform what is determined by them as meet and equall for Said Nathan further to do toward the Comfortable maintenance of his said Parents or parent according to this agreement, then Said Parents or parent and the longest liver of either of them shall have power to sell any part of Said Lands for theire comfortable Subsistence and no further, as if no covenant had been made with said Nathan. Allwaces provided that what if left of Sd estate and not spent as aforesaid Shall remain a good and Indefeassable estate in fee simple to Sd Nathan and to his heires and assigns forever. But in Case Sd Nathan Shall duly perform his above said Covenant according to all the particular articles thereof, Then Sd whole Estate of Inheritance as above Sd now put in the Sd Nathans hands Then the Said Danl Shed binds himself his heires and Administrators to Sd Nathan his heirs and Assigns to warrant and to secure the whole and every part thereof to him the Sd Nathan Shed & to his heires and assignes forever. Wittness their hands & seals hereunto the date hereof above written Daniel Shed and a Seal Elizabeth Shed, her mark and a seal. Nathan Shed and a Seal. Signed, Sealed & Delivered In ye prsence of us Jonathan Danforth Jun. Thomas Rogers Thomas ffrost 27 March, 1694 17-10-1694 Charlestown Dec. 16 - 1698 Entered by Samll. Phipps, Regr. Danll Shed Senr and Nathan Shed his son each of them prsonally appeared before me this 4th day of ffebruary 1695 and acknowledged the within written Instrument to be theire act & Deed each of them. Thomas Hinchman, Justice
• Daniel Jr. was dead but why John was not mentioned we do not know. That the son Nathan fulfilled his part of the agreement there is no doubt without the directions of "prsons Indifferently chosen" and we believe that the parents passed a happy old age. To summarize in brief our knowledge of the life of our first ancestor as conveyed by records and by inference we may say that he was born probably between 1620 and 1625 in England whence he came as a youth or a young man perhaps just of age to make a home for himself in America. He landed about 1643, probably at Boston, being then unmarried, but about 1646 acquired a wife at Braintree where they had seven children. She died in 1658-9, and a few months later he married a second wife and settled in Billerica, Mass., where he had four more children and died 27 July 1708, probably aged about eighty-eight years. He married first, about 1646, Mary ________*; she had seven children and died either late in 1658 or early in 1659.
• According to Hazen's "History of Billerica" Daniel Shed terms John Gurney "father." John Gurney was born in England about 1603, as he deposed in 1653, giving his age as about fifty years. He was in Braintree, Mass., before 1645, and died there about 1663; his wife died there 20 September, 1661. His history is very obscure and the list of his children is uncertain, but he probably had four sons; 1. Richard, b. about 1630; 2. John, b. about 1633; 3. Peter, b. about 1636; and 4. Isaac, b. about 1640. He very likely also had daughters, and may have had a daughter Mary, b. about 1628, who became the wife of Daniel Shed. This seems the most probable explanation for Daniel Shed terming John Gurney "father," although it is barely possible that the latter was his step-father. He married secondly, in 1659, Elizabeth _______, whose parentage is unknown; she had four children and died in Billerica, 17 January, 1699/1700. This concludes the story of Daniel Shed, first emigrant from England by that name. This story is based on the information found in the book named for Daniel Shed about the Shed family genealogy. It includes the Ancestors & Progenitors of Daniel Shedd - emigrant to New England between 1620 and 1641. Much of this information has been copied directly from that book. However, there may be more information about Daniel Shed (1620-1708) available. If and when it becomes available to me, I will add that information to this story.

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The Shed Family and the Massacre of 1695 Posted 07 Aug 2010 by stephaniesiderits Eunice Shed was the daughter of Daniel Shed, the emigrant, and Elizabeth (_______). The Shed family lived in Billerica, Massachusetts for many years before this, and Daniel had many children and grand-children living in the area at the time. Eunice would have been about 60 years old when she married John Levistone on November 29th, 1705 in Charleston, Massachusetts. She was his second wife. John was a Scotchman, from Chelmsford, Massachusetts at the time, but had lived in North Billerica previously. John and Eunice had no children, but then she was probably beyond child bearing years by that time.

You see, John Levistone was a widower who had been married to Margaret Ross, his first wife. She died earlier in the year, and I suppose John was a lonely man. His oldest son, John would have been about 23 years old by now, and had probably left home several years earlier. John married Margaret on September 12, 1681. Margaret was the daughter of Thomas and Seeth (Holman) Ross of Cambridge, Massachusetts. John and Margaret had a house located on the plain in North Billerica, an exposed situation. In the summer of 1695, Margaret's mother Seeth Ross came from Cambridge to visit her daughter and grandchildren. On the afternoon of August 5, 1695, the Indians attacked. I suppose they had gotten tired of being accused of crimes for which there has never been enough proof to convict them. And I suppose they had gotten tired of the land they loved and used for providing the means of life being taken by the white settlers. In any case, they attacked on horseback that afternoon. The family of Daniel Shed was hit hard by this attack. John Rogers the husband of his oldest daughter Mary, was taking an afternoon nap after working in the fields all morning. When the Indians attacked, he was hit in the neck by an arrow which woke him up. He immediately grabbed the arrow and pulled it out of his neck, but it had punctured his jugular vein and he died quickly from the wound. John and Mary's oldest daughter Mary Rogers, 27 years old was captured and taken away, and their son Daniel, 12 years old, was killed also.  John's brother Thomas, the husband of another of Daniel's daughters, Hannah, was also killed that day, as was her eleven year old son, Thomas Junior. John and Mary (Shed) Rogers had a daughter Sarah who married a Mr. Toothaker, son of Doctor Toothaker of Billerica. The Doctor's wife, Sarah's mother-in-law, was killed that day, and the youngest toothaker, the Doctor's daughter Margaret, age 13, was taken captive.

As hard as this must have been on the Shed family, I can't help but feel that John and Margaret Levistone were completely devastated by the massacre in North Billerica that day. You see, Margarets mother was killed, and 5 of their children were also killed. Their oldest daughter Sarah, age 11 was taken captive by the Indians. The only one of their children who survived was John, age 13 at the time. It is very likely that John Levistone was a very lonely man after his wife Margaret died, and his son moved away from home. Eunice Shed must have been a great comfort to him. She knew what he had gone through that day in Billerica, Massachusetts. She knew the feeling of losing members of her family too. Daniel Shed had fought the Indians before. He and his son John, the Rogers brothers and many others had been part of the Garrison of Billerica built to protect the citizens. But that fateful day in August, 1695 there was nothing they could do. Daniel was no spring chicken; he was 75 years old by then. And most of the Shed family lived in Billerica, too far south of North Billerica to even know the massacre was taking place, until it was too late. How the family must have mourned the loss of their loved ones and friends. But they survived, and together they must have been stronger for it. This family became one of the best families in America. Their sons and grandsons fought in all the wars this country has ever had, and have protected their families through hardships and bad times. What courage and faith we each can gain from the them! We today don't have to endure the hardships they did, because they were brave enough to do it for us. And so we honor these our ancestors by providing an enduring memory to them, through these words and through our own communication to our families today. Just as they did in those days, we must stay together as families, and work for a better tomorrow, just as they did. Can we ever thank them enough for what they have done?

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history 1st Shedd in America-Lighthouse memorial Posted 07 Aug 2010 by stephaniesiderits I3996 Name: Daniel SHED Sex: M Birth: 1620 in Essex, England Death: 27 JUL 1708 in Billerica, Mass. Note: Daniel Shed, born in England, proably about 1620, was the progen itor of the She d family in America. The name of Daniel Shed ap pears among those of the earlie st settlers in ancient "Brantrey " as early as 1643, and, along with it, among t he founders of t his town seated on the southern shores of Massachusetts Bay, m a y be found the family names of Adams, Quincy, Barrett and Spau lding, with other s well known in later American history. It see ms evident that Daniel Shed cam e to Braintree a youth or youn g bachelor of small means, arrived there or becam e of age too l ate to become an original proprietor and grantee of lands, and d i d not have the means to purchase an estate. So about the tim e of his marriage in 1646 he had leased for a term of years fro m Rev. William Thompson the 120-ac re neck granted to the latte r in 1639/40, and on account of Daniel Shed being t he first res ident on the tract it came to be generally known as "Shed's Neck ." Here he evidently lived about twelve years until 1658, whe n perhaps the expira tion of his lease or the destruction of hi s house by fire together with the ope ning up of cheap land in t he new town of Billerica on the then frontiers induce d him to m ove to the latter place. In 1916 the Shedd Family Association se cur ed a small plot of land on the crest of the Neck and erecte d thereon a memorial to Daniel Shed in the form of a lighthouse , consisting of a column of Quincy g ranite about twenty feet hi gh surmounted by a substantial glass and copper lant ern enclosi ng a powerful incandescent electric light. A bronze tablet on t he b ase of the column bears the following inscription: A Memor i al to Daniel Shed An original settler and r esident here in ol d Braintree 1642-1658 His descendants to the tenth generatio n erect this shaft to commemorate his life. They dedic ate it t o the City of Quincy and as a beacon to the Sailors Snug Harbo r which for ove r 60 years has occupied the land once tilled b y their ancest or for whom it was for the first century calle d Shedds Neck a name that it is hoped may now b e restored. Ere cted August 1916 by The Shedd Family Association To summariz e in brief our knowledge of th e life of our first ancestor as c onveyed by records and inference we may say th at he was born pr oably between 1620 and 1625 in England whence he came as a you t h or a young man perhaps just of age to make a home for himsel f in America. H e landed about 1643, proably at Boston, being t hen unmarried, but about 1646 ac quired a wife at Braintree wher e they had seven children. She died in 1658-9, and a few month s later he married a second wife and settled in Billerica, Mass . , where he had four more children and died 27 July 1708, proba bly aged about ei ghty-eight years. Of his eleven children we k now the full history execept of one daughter Susan who doubtles s died young: five sons and five daughters grew to maturity an d made homes of their own, into all of which, except two daught e rs, children came to cheer the grandparents' lives. Hannah, t he second daughte r, died in 1672, a young bride of but a few mo nths; then Mary and Daniel, the f irst born and the first son, a few years later died in the prime of their lives, but each lea ving several children from whom have descended honorable posteri ty .Father: Daniel SHED b: 1596/1597 in Finchingfield, England Mother: Sarah UNKNOWN b: 1597 in Finchingfield, EnglandMarriage 1 Mary GURNEY b: ABT 1628 in EnglandMarried: 1646 in Braintree, Essex, MassachusettsChildren Zechariah SHED b: 17 JUN 1656 in Braintree, Mass. Mary SHED b: 1 OCT 1647 in Braintree, Mass. Daniel SHED b: 30 AUG 1649 in Braintree, Mass. Hannah SHED b: 7 SEP 1651 in Braintree, Mass. John SHEDD b: 2 MAR 1655 in Billerica, Ma Elizabeth SHED b: 17 JUN 1656 in Braintree, Mass. Sarah SHED b: 30 OCT 1658 in Braintree, Mass.Marriage 2 Elizabeth UNKNOWNMarried: 1659Children Samuel SHED b: 13 AUG 1660 in Billerica, Mass. Susan SHED b: 28 DEC 1662 in Billerica, Mass. Eunice SHED b: 19 March 1664/5 in Billerica, Mass. Nathan SHED b: 5 Feb. 1668/9 in Billerica, Mass.