Among our ancestors the Bond family seems to have been given a special respect. Asa Jr and Alpha Pratt gave their first born, William, the middle name of Bond. His grandson, my Uncle Henry was also given the middle name of Bond, as was Henry's grandson Jason.
The earliest known of our Bond progenitors was Jonas Bond. He was born in Woolpit, Sufffolk, England, about 1568, supposedly of an ancient English family. About 1590 he moved to Bury St. Edmunds, nearby in Suffolk, with his wife, Rose Woode (married 1588) and two little boys. Rose was the daughter of George Woode and Katherine ??? of Rattlesden, Suffolk, another nearby town. George and Katherine would be my Gx9 grandparents. In Bury St. Edmunds Jonas and Rose had seven more children, including our ancestor Thomas, born in 1597. Jonas died in 1601. We * don't know when Rose died.
* When I say "we" don't know somehing that usually means I didn't know and Allen couldn't find out either.
Thomas Bond grew up in in Bury St. Edmunds and married there Elizabeth Woods, parents unknown. They also had nine children. Our ancestor William was fourth, born in 1625. Thomas was called "the maltster of Bury St. Edmunds". A maltster selects and gathers barley and and "malts" it with skilled use of water, heat and time in preparation for brewing beer. Thomas died in 1659. We have no death date for his wife.
I went to Google Earth and "flew" to Bury St. Edmunds. I think you would enjoy a look at where your Bond ancestors came from 378 years ago. The imagery is excellent and you can zoom right in close and look at that old town and the surrounding countryside.
William Bond was our immigant ancestor. He came to New England with The Winthrop Fleet in 1630. He probably traveled with Deacon Ephraim Child whose wife was his Aunt Elizabeth, as he was only 5 years old. * The Winthrop Fleet was a group of eleven sailing ships that carried approximately 700 Puritans plus livestock and provisions from England via the Isle of Wight. Of these 700 passengers, 200 had died by December. Another 100 bugged out and returnd to England. Those who stayed settled in Boston and Salem and nearby areas. This was the beginning of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Our ancestor's aunt and uncle settled at Watertown and there he grew up. Watertown is on the Charles River about 9 miles northwest of downtown Boston.
* One has to wonder about the motivation of his parents sending him off to America at that young an age, never to see him again.
William Bond became one of the foremost men of his day; was town clerk, justice of the peace, captain of the Watertown military company; on the council of safety, a deputy to the General Court, first speaker under the new charter uniting Plymouth with Mssachusetts Bay Colony, and presided in 1691, 1693 and 1695. He was admitted a freeman in 1682, and joined the church in full communion in 1687.
I have notes that he served in King Philp's War as a lieutenant in the Company of Horse. He would have been fifty at the time. Allen is trying to find out more about his service.
After the war he served on a committee to rebuild Lancaster. Lancaster was the hometown of Mary Rowlandson who was taken into captivity by Indians after burning the town and her house and killing most of her family. She and her survivng children were forced to accompany their captors in their travels. She wrote a book while in captivity later published as "A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rawlandson" which is widely considered to be one of the great captivity narratives..
In 1650 William married Sarah, daughter of Nathaniel Biscoe, "...the rich tanner..." Sarah was born in 1630. Her mother was Elizabeth Honor. Sarah and William had nine children including our ancestor Thomas II (b 1654), their third. Sarah died in 1693. He remarried in 1695 but didn't last the year out.
Our ancestor Nathaniel Biscoe, Sarah's father, was apparently somewhat of a character. He wrote his name "Briscoe", which is undoutedly the true orthography, but it became an early usage in the town records to write it "Biscoe" or "Bisco". He was in Watertown as early as 1642, and probably 3 or 4 years earlier. In that year he wrote a pamphlet "...against the way of supporting ministers..." that gave grave offense, and for which he was fined ten pounds. In that year his barn, with leather and corn valued at 100 pounds, was destroyed by fire. He was so dissatisfied with the prevalent ecclesiastical intolereance that he returned to England about the end of 1651, or early the next year.
He wrote a letter, dated London, Sept 7, 1652...which fell into the hands of the Government and produced some excitement at the time (I don't know what it was about, religion undoubtedly).
Sarah and her parents were from Buckinghamshire, he from Little Missenden, she from Greater Missenden. Nathaniel was born in 1595, she in 1599. Presumably Nathaniel returned there and died about 1686. Her mother Elizabeth died in Watertown in 1642 before Sarah married William.
NEXT: More on the Bond family.
Emailed Dec. 15
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