| Notes |
- (If you use any portion of these notes, please give credit to me, Lois Sorensen, and/or to other sources as noted herein.)
John Remington, the first Remington ancestor in America, came here about 1637 and settled at Newbury, MA (just north of Boston), where he became a freeman (full-fledged citizen) 22 May 1638 (one source says 1639). About two years later he moved to Rowley, MA (probably to be with Rev. Ezekiel Rogers and his party from Rowley, Yorkshire, England), and was commissioned a lieutenant of the first military company there on 13 May 1643, under the command of Capt. Sebastian Brigham. He had a two-acre house lot there (Rowley is close to Newbury, a little to the southwest). Later he moved to Roxbury, MA (now a city neighborhood just south of Boston), and reconstructed its meetinghouse in 1658. He became a proprietor there and is also mentioned in the town records of April 1662 as "late inhabitant of Rowley now of Roxbury." He sold land there in 1659 and 1662. His wife Elizabeth died at Rowley in 1657, after which he married Rhoda Gore, widow of John Gore. Some online genealogies have her maiden name as Rose (?). She survived him and later married Edward Porter as her third husband. (See "New England Marriages Prior to 1700" by Clarence Almon Torrey; also Rootsweb's Worldconnect -- Debora Heath's data)
Genealogist Armand Lariviere tells his story with some variations: John Remington, the youngest of 10 children, came to America in 1638 with Ezekiel Rogers [but he probably came earlier] and a group that included 20 families from Rowley, England. They founded Rowley, MA, where John became a freeman on 22 March 1639 [38?]. Other records show the following about him: was granted land on Weathersfield St., 1643; was made Sergeant of the militia, 14 May 1645; was lieutenant of the Rowley Co., Pequot War, 26 May 1647; was a carpenter and a schoolteacher, 1656; was left L300 capital and L30 annuity by his father, and L10 annuity by his brother Timothy. John Remington moved to Roxbury between 1659 and 1662; married (2nd) Rhoda Gardner Gore (widow of John Gore) b. 1607, d. 1693. Rhoda later married Edward Porter, on 13 June 1674 (he b. ca. 1610, d. 1677).
His estate was administered by son Jonathan and son-in-law John Stedman of Cambridge, MA.
Some genealogists and many Remington family members connect this first Remington immigrant to the lineage of Archdeacon Richard Remington, who married Elizabeth Hutton, daughter of Archbishop of York Matthew Hutton. These families are associated with several locations in England: Rowley, Lund, Garrowby, Lockington, and Kirby Underdale in Yorkshire; and Rimington, now in Lancashire but (I think) formerly in Yorkshire (before county boundaries were changed). There is some evidence for believing that John Remington is indeed of this lineage, but no absolute proof has been found. At the very least, there are definite indications that he had ties to Yorkshire.
(See also "Ancestral Lines Revised" by Carl Boyer III, pp. 336 & 337 for similar information with some slight variation in dates.)
Archbishop Hutton was sympathetic toward Puritans at a time in history when they were being marginalized and punished. (See Wikipedia article)
The following information is from three sources:
"Some History and Genealogy on the Remington Line in England and America" by J. W. Remington
"History of Warwick" by Oliver Payson Fuller (at Rhode Island Historical Society Library)
Paul Remington's web site: http://www.uftree.com/UFT/WebPages/Paul-Remington/REMFAM/
John was baptized in Yorkshire, England, Feb. 7, 1599/1600. (This is the date of baptism of John Remington, youngest son of Archdeacon Richard Remington 1548-1615 of Yorkshire, England. It is believed very likely that this is the same individual as John Remington, the first Remington immigrant. However, absolute "proof" does not exist.)
The departure of the Remingtons from England was probably on religious grounds. Three thousand persons left for America from different parts of England in 1637. In 1638 the Reverend Ezekiel Rogers, rector of Rowley, near Beverly - 20 miles from Garrowby, left for America with all the farmers of his parish for religious reasons. Rogers, a Puritan sympathizer, had been suspended for not conforming to certain regulations for public worship, as prescribed by Charles I and Archbishop Laud.
On reaching America these colonists [with Rev. Rogers] found other Yorkshire people near Boston [including John Remington and his family]. They joined forces with these earlier settlers and formed a new settlement near Salem, Mass., which they called Rowley after the old home of so many of them. The town charter was dated 4 Sept 1639. For nearly five years they held land and labored in common. It was not until 1643 that a home lot was laid out for each family.
All the records seem to agree that John Remington the first [immigrant] landed at Newbury, in what is now known as Massachusetts, in the year 1637. It also seems clear that his first child, John the second, was born in England about 1623-24. The date of birth of John Remington the first is not known, but it may be assumed that if his first child was born in 1628, he may have been married about 1626, and it would be reasonable to think that he was about 22 or 23 years of age when he married. If all these assumptions are correct, he may have been born about 1604/5.
The records show that he remained at Newbury for two years and at the end of that time he was made "freeman" and removed to Rowley, Massachusetts. The move to Rowley was made in 1639 and in that connection, it may be of interest to note that Reverend Ezekiel Rogers, who was the founder and first minister of Rowley [Massachusetts], came to America in the ship John, sailing from Hull, Yorkshire, and landed at Boston, New England, on December 2, 1638. Rogers and his company wintered in Salem, Ipswich, and Boston, whence they began to look for a permanent home . . . They finally selected a place on the shore between Newbury and Ipswich where they, with about forty other families who had joined them, settled in 1639. [Ezekiel Rogers' new plantation was called Rowley. Rev. Rogers had been born in 1590, and had been a minister for 17 years at Rowley, Yorkshire, before coming to America.] These facts regarding Rogers are given because they seem to point strongly to the possibility that John Remington the first joined Rogers' company and went to Rowley with [them]. Bear in mind that he, too, came from Yorkshire. (*see addional notes below on Rogers)
The streets of the town were officially laid out in 1643 . . . One of the lots went to John Remington . . . two acres, bounded on the west side by the commons . . . It appears that John Remington the first resided at Rowley until about June 1657, when he conveyed to Jochim Reyner his dwelling house, lot, and pasture. In April 1662 he described himself as late of Rowley, now of Roxbury . . . It is also stated that by deed dated October 22, 1662, he, then of Roxbury, conveyed four score acres of land in Rowley on the Merrimack River to William Sterling of Rowley.
Boston Records, Roxbury, Vol. 43, states as follows: "The name of Lieutenant John Remington is associated with the First Church of Roxbury, which was a crude and unbeautiful structure with a thatched roof, destitute of shingles or plaster, without a gallery, pew, or spire. The people sat on plain benches, the women and men on opposite sides of the house. In 1646 the first house was put in 'safe repair' and in 1656 the ends were clapboarded . . . [On] January 12, 1658, it was agreed that the meeting-hawes be repaired for the warmth and comfort of the people; namely that the hawes is to be shingled and also two galleries built, with three seats in a gallery, one at the one end of the hawes and the other at the other end. Also the hawes to be plastered within side with plaster and haire; also for the seting out of the howse, that some pinakle or other ornament be set upon each end of the hawse . . . and the charge to be borne by the several inhabitants of the town by way of a rate. For which work Lieut. John Remington is to have twenty-two pounds; more, if the work deserveth more; less, if the work deserveth less."
The exact date on which John the first removed from Rowley and settled in Roxbury is not known. However, historians fix the date as about June 1657 . . . [He] lost his first wife, Elizabeth, in 1657/58 and was married a second time, possibly sometime in 1659, to Mrs. Rhoda Gore, widow of John Gore . . . who had settled at Roxbury in 1635. John Remington died at Roxbury 8 April 1667 [should be June], leaving no will.
About Yorkshire, from the website origins.net:
Prior to 1974, when new boundaries were introduced, Yorkshire was by far the largest county in England. Split into three Ridings - North, West and East - derived from the Viking word "thrithing," meaning third part, Yorkshire boasted over 3.75 million acres and laid claim to a recognizable identity dating back to Anglo-Saxon times.
* Additional notes on Rev. Ezekiel Rogers from Rootsweb's mailing list archives for Eng-East Yorks, 2000: "Ezekiel Rogers was a 17th century Rector of Rowley (sw of Beverley in the East Riding) who disapproved of games being played on a Sunday. Because of this, he refused to read out the Book of Sports in his church, in spite of an order that it should be read in every church in the country. As a consequence of this, he was turned out of his living and, together with 20 families from Rowley, emigrated to America . . . Ezekiel Rogers held the degrees of bachelor and master of arts from Christ's College Cambridge. After serving as chaplain in the family of Sir Francis and Lady Joan Barrington, the latter the aunt of Oliver Cromwell, at Hatfield Broad Oak, Essex, he was presented by his patron to the rectorship of St Peter's at Rowley, in Yorkshire which drew its congregation from the neighbouring hamlets of Bentley, Hunsley, Riplingham, Risby and Little Weighton. He was there for 17 years where he embraced the principles of non separating Congregationalism. He apparently met with no molestation as long as Tobie Matthew, George Montaigne and Samual Harsnett held the see of York. With the advent of Richard Neile, conditions changed however, and for "refusing to Reade that accursed Booke that allowed sports on Gods holy sabbath" he was suspended. Despite efforts by Archbishop Neile over a period of two years to reclaim him to orthodoxy, he gathered a small company of Yorkshire adherants and set for for London (they sailed from Hull). In the spring of 1638 he resigned his living at Rowley from aboard ship sailing for new England . . . The families who went with Rev. Ezekiel Rogers in 1638 (18 years after the Mayflower) to Massachusetts Bay were mostly of 'good estate.' There were 20 families . . . The Town of Rowley was founded in 1639 by the Reverend Ezekiel Rogers and a band of 20 families from Rowley, Yorkshire, England. The group sailed on the ship John of London bringing with them the first printing press to be used in America, the famous "Daye Press" which was to be set up in Cambridge." The Rowley Manor Hotel in East Yorkshire is said to have been built by Rev. Rogers in 1621 as the rectory to Saint Peter
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1608 - 1667 (~ 68 years)