Nicholas Hathaway

1595 – 16XX

By: Bob Alford 2010

Nicholas Hathaway was born in 1595 in Kingscote, Gloucestershire, England. It is believed that most Hathaways in America are

descended from him. We know that he was the great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather of Frank Randel

Hathaway (1865-1954). He immigrated to Braintree, MA before February of 1638. His death record has never been found and it

is uncertain if he died in America or returned to England.

The Hathaway Family Association, www.hathawayfamilyassociation.org has done extensive research trying to identify the origins

of Nicholas Hathaway in England. They have published a large book, Hathaways of America, and several follow-ups, which go

into the subject and the research in great detail.

He is believed (but not proven) to be the son of Margaret and Thomas Hathaway of Kingscote. This is based on research done in

England by a Mr. Firth, who was a professional genealogist. He was hired by the Hathaway Family Association to perform this

work. One of the documents that he found, and is used to support his conclusions is the will of Margret Hathaway, believed to

be his mother.

A possible list of the children of Thomas and Margaret was constructed from wills, baptismal and marriage records that are admittedly incomplete but give a good picture.

1. Sarah b. ca 1584. She was named in her mother's will as executor 2. Matthew b ca 1586. He was mentioned in both wills and was listed in the Smyth's list. 3. Gyles b ca 1587. Mentioned in the list and in fathers will and died before 1630 4. Thomas b ca 1590. Mentioned in mother's will as living in Chipping Sodbury. 5. Nicholas b. ca 1595. Mentioned in his mother's will. Living in London in 1630 6. Elizabeth b. ca 1597 and died 1624 7. Mary b. ca 1599 married to William Corbett, mentioned in mothers will. 8. Agnis b. ca 1601 Mentioned in mother's will as Agnis Sanniger 9. Abraham b. ca 1603. Mentioned in Mother's will, living in London in 1630 10. Anthony b. ca 1605 Mentioned in Mother's Will.

We do believe that Nicholas was born and raised in Kingscote England, and moved to London as a young man. Above is an aerial view of Kingscote and the surrounding area as it exists today. This is looking southwest. Off in the distance, near t he water, is Bristol. Below is a typical hillside scene of the nearby country side.

We do not know exactly when Nicholas came to America, but he was in Braintree on February 24, 1639 when he was granted 36 acres of land at Monaticott, Mount Wollystone, which is now part of Braintree. There are also records indicating that he bou ght land in the Boston area around the same time.

Shortly after he came to America the town of Taunton was founded about 40 miles south of Boston and 25 miles west of Plymouth. The town was official incorporated in 1639, and Nicholas Hathaway is on a list of “First Settlers”. His name appears frequently in the town’s historical records in regards to land transactions, indicating he became an extensive land owner.

His name is not included in the militia list of 1643, which comprised all able to bear arms between the ages of 16 and 60. This has led some to believe that he died prior to 1643, but there is no proof of that. From the amount of land he owned he appears to have been quite wealthy and probably brought that wealth with him from England. He may have returned to England and not been there when the list was drawn up. We simply do not know.

We also know very little about his family. That he had a son named John (see biography of John Hathaway 1629-1705), who was born in England in 1629, is certain. There is also a baptismal record for “Elizabeth, daughter of Nicolas Hathaway” in Kingscote dated February 29, 1623. We do not even know his wife’s name.

There are some genealogies that claim he came to America much earlier, and that he had perhaps a second wife and a total of eleven children, but these are suspect and no sources are provided. The land grant in Braintree is some evidence that he came in 1639 as such grants were normally given to new immigrants. The grant suggests that it was for four people. Two were certainly Nicolas and John. Some have suggested that he had two other sons, Jacob and Joseph.

We also know that Nicholas resided in London prior to coming to America, that he was a brewer, and that he was quite wealthy. He lived at a time of great unrest in England. From 1639-1651 civil wars broke out throughout Scotland, Ireland and England. In 1640 Charles the first, King of England was forced to summon Parliament and in 1642 civil war broke out which ultimately led to the King in 1649 by order of Lord Cromwell, who was a Puritan. The Puritan movement ruled England until 1660 when the Monarchy was restored. There was no peace or safety in other parts of Europe either, where various wars raged across the continent. It is easy to speculate that Nicholas did not come to America for religious reasons, but rather to protect his family and his wealth from the problems in Europe.

There is much speculation as to where he lived and died after 1643, but no records. If he did return to England it would surely have been to London where he lived prior to coming to America. The Great Fire of London took place in 1666 destroying the old city. It consumed 13,200 homes, 87 parish churches, Saint Paul’s Cathedral, and many government buildings. While the death toll is believed to have been very small, many people lost their homes and almost all records leading up to that time were lost.

It is not surprising that there are no records of him in England. It is somewhat surprising that there are no records in America after 1643 if in fact he returned there. We can only speculate.

A key piece to the puzzle is in spite of his significant land holdings in colonial Massachusetts his name is not on the militia lists of 1643. This list was drawn up by the colonists to include all men between the ages of 16 and 60 capable of bearing arms. It is understandable that his son John is not on the list as he would have been only 14 years old at the time, but where was Nicolas? As previously stated, it is possible he returned to England, at least at the time the list was drawn up. John either remained in Massachusetts, or went to England with his father and returned later. We do know he took title to the lands he father had obtained. He is our ancestor and the ancestor of most of the Hathaway descendents in America.

The Great Fire of London 1666

A new theory/fantasy concerning Nicolas Hathaway

As noted above great mystery surrounds Nicolas Hathaway and what happened to him. Why, after making a large number of land purchases between 1639 and 1643 did he simply disappear? Perhaps it is because he wanted to.

We know that he went to London as a young man and became a very successful owner of a brewery. We also know that he appeared in Braintree in 1939 and subsequently made a number of land purchases in the Boston area, and that he was listed as a founder of Taunton, Massachusetts.

We know that this was a time of great upheaval in England. When Queen Elizabeth died in 1603, James the First took the throne. He was the first of the Stuart (Scottish) kings. He believed in the absolute power of the monarchy and was in const ant conflict with Parliament, where the roots of democracy had started to take hold. In 1625 he was succeeded by his son, Charles the First. Charles was even more stubborn and abusive. In particular he was constantly at conflict with parliament over the power to tax.

In 1628 Parliament passed the Petition of Right which basically said the King could not impose any tax without the permission of Parliament. Charles’s response was to abolish Parliament and from 1629-1640 he ruled as an absolute monarch, taxing as he saw fit to provide for himself and his foreign ambitions. Some of the ways he raised money during this period were of dubious legality by the standards of the time. This led to the English Civil War which officially started in 1642 and ended in 1645 only to be followed by a second civil war that ended in 1649 with the beheading of Charles the First and control of England being assumed by Lord Cromwell and the Puritans.

In American schools many of us were taught that the great migration to America was made up of people seeking religious freedom. In part this is true, but a large number of people who migrated were escaping the tyranny of the King, the treat of Civil War and the potential loss of everything they owned.

Put yourself in the shoes of our Great, Great …… Great Grandfather Nicolas Hathaway. You have worked hard and become quite wealthy by building your own business in London. You have two young children (John and Elizabeth). Your tax burden is ever increasing and you see the probability of civil war on the horizon as a major threat to your fortune and your livelihood, if not the very lives of your family. A new world has been discovered and a fledgling society has been established. You may have some contacts that have already migrated and can book passage on a ship. What would you do?

I would liquidate my assets as quietly and quickly as possible, pack up my family, and head for America. When you arrive you manage to get a very nice land grant for four people as that is the size of your family. You are however sitting on a large amount of cash or cash equivalents. As a successful businessman you know that has to be invested. Also the colonies are still under the rule of the King and the King is upset by money being drained out of the country and out of his reach. You want to make sure the King’s tax people cannot get at your hard earned savings. The best bet is to start buying up land tracts. The migration is underway and land will only get more valuable. It is a great investment and the King is looking for cash, not land. Besides, land transactions only show up in obscure local records. There is no colony wide reporting or taxing of land in those days.

So far it all fits and is not too controversial. Now ask, who were those four people? Certainly two of them were Nicolas and John. There are claims that the other two were additional sons, Jacob and Joseph. This appears however to be pure speculation. There is no evidence that he even had two other sons. There are records in England concerning John and Elizabeth, but that is all. Also, John made a huge footprint on colonial America, due in part to his wealth inherited from his father. There are no footprints of significance from siblings. If they did exist, why did they not share in Nicolas’s great wealth and make some mark on history. I believe the answer may be that the other two people were Nicolas’s wife and his daughter Elizabeth. More on this in a moment.

In 1643 a colony wide census is ordered that will list all men between the ages of 16-60. This presents a dilemma. To have your name on relatively obscure local land records is one thing. To be listed on a single list for the whole colony that can be reviewed by the King’s minions, or anyone else seeking you out for whatever reason, is quite another. John is safe from the listing a s he is only 14. Somehow, Nicolas manages to stay off the role. He is either in America and knows the right people (or has bribed the right people), or he temporarily returns to England. He avoids the role, but his holdings remain in his name. It is not until 1680 that an official document is produced that legally transfers Nicolas’s holdings in Taunton to his son John! This is 37 years after he apparently goes missing in America. I say apparently because his name no longer appears on any new documents after that date. Nicolas was born in 1595. It is quite likely he has died by 1680, but not by 1643.

There is another curious clue, although admittedly a weak one. In 1659, on the Taunton List, John’s household is shown as consisting of seven people, but at that time John only had three children. Could it be that the other two people were his by then aging parents, Nicolas and his wife?

There is one final point on this scenario and it has to do with the name of John Hathaway’s wife. Most genealogies report that John (Nicolas’s son) was married to Martha Shepard. Her maiden name being Shepard is based on John’s relationship with William Shepard, a fellow settler of Taunton. The March 1664 Plymouth Colony Records Archives Book (page 38) contains an entry where Will Shepherd of Taunton, shoemaker, empowered "my loving brother John Hathaway of Taunton husbandman to take Care of all that I, William Shepard, have within Taunton or elsewhere in the sovereign King Charles Dominions and to dispose anything that I have for the best advantage of me and my Children" .......If Shepherd should die then John Hathaway was to divide all the property equally among Shepherd's children, except that his eldest son Samuel should have a double portion of the lands, which was the custom of the time. The document makes no mention of Shepard's wife; the omission suggests though it does not prove, that she had already died.

This document, especially the phrase “my loving brother John Hathaway” is taken by many to indicate that Martha was William Shepard’s sister and therefore a “Shepard”. This is far from certain however. It is believed by many that William Shepard was the son of John Shepherd of Towcester England. The will of John Shepherd of Towcester refers to his oldest son William as being “now in New England”. It goes on to list seven children, but there is no Martha among them. On April 11, 1936 an article was published in the Boston Transcript concluding from this Martha was not a Shepard. It proposed instead that William Shepard was married to a sister of John Hathaway. Could that sister have been Elizabeth? She is the only know daughter of Nicolas.

If it were true that Elizabeth Hathaway, Nicolas’s daughter, was married to William Shepard of Taunton, this would add to the argument that Nicolas came to America with his wife, son, and daughter sometime before 1639 and they may have all lived out their lives in Taunton, although only John’s name appears in the town records.

This theory has some basis in fact as described, but of course there is no real proof of what happened. There are no records from colonial times of Nicolas Hathaway being in America (or anywhere else) after 1643. Furthermore there are no records of his wife, or his daughter Elizabeth anywhere. The above seems very plausible to me. One can only imagine.

The Will of Margret Hathaway November 2, 1630

She uses the remaining paragraph to close the will by appointing her daughter Sarah and son Matthew as executors and lists debts owed to her son Nicholas (five pounds) and a Francis Alborne of Iron Acton (five shillings).

The will was proved at Gloucester on January 8, 1630.

Note the spelling as Hathway. Also note that based on this Nicholas was living in London in 1630. Also note the It in front of each paragraph. This stood for “item” and was pronounced eetem.

" In ye name of God Amen. I Margaret Hathaway beinge very weake & sicke in bodye but of pfect memory thanks be to God doe here make my last will & testament as it followeth. First I commend my soule into ye hands of my merciful lorde & heavenly father assuredly trustinge to bee saved by ye only maritte of my blessed redeemer the lorde Jesus & my body to ye earth from whence it came disposinge of worldly goods & substance in this manner."

"I give unto my sonne Matthew Hathway my cart & my plough harnesse, my cesterne & my maltmill, also a cheese wringe an axe an Iron Barre my beste ploughe stringe & my dray bridler."

"I give to Daniell Hathway sonne of ye said Matthew one lambe"

" It to my sonne Thomas Hathway of Chippen Sodbury one sheepe wch hee hath allready in his keeping & a tennon sawe."

"It I bequeath unto Margrett Hathway wife of ye sayde Thomas my best gowne and hatte."

" It I give to Thomas sonne of ye sayde Thomas Hathway one lambe."

"It to William Corbett of ye prsh of Yeate a plough stringe."

"It to Mary Corbett wife of ye sayde William my best petticoate & a little coffer standinge under the window in the ulter chamber."

"It to John Corbett sonne of ye sayde William a lambe if he live to full age."

"It I give to Agnis Sanniger widow of Riddlsett in ye prsh of Barkley my second gowne"

"It to my sonne Nicholas Hathway of London five shillings"

"It to my son Abraham Hathway of London a piece of Medyle of five yardes or five yardes or thereabouts & twenty shillings in money"

"It I give unto my sonne Anthony Hathway twenty Shillings"

The Times of the Life of Nicholas Hathaway

This was the age of kings and royalty. Nicholas was born in England at a time when a young William Shakespeare was writing his

famous plays. He was 12 years old when the first colony at Jamestown was founded and only 25 when the Pilgrims sailed for the

new world.

Nicholas spent most of his early life in England, growing up, getting married, starting and building a business, and raising a family.

While we don’t know much about this period, other than that he lived in London and was a brewer, there is reason to believe

that we was well off, at least by the time he came to America in 1638.

By the time he reached the new world, towns had sprung up, Boston had been established as a port, and primitive roads were in

place. America was still the new world and New England was largely unsettled, but it had come a long way in the 18 years since

the Pilgrims had landed at Plymouth.

He became a “first settler” in Taunton and, along with his son John helped establish this colonial town in Massachusetts.

His early life in England was during the reigns of Elizabeth I followed by King James I, who ascended to

the throne in 1603, uniting the crowns of Scotland and England. During the 22 years of James’s rule,

the”Golden Age”, started by Elizabeth, continued. England was relatively peaceful during this period

and opportunities existed for young men to succeed and accumulate wealth. Taxes were kept low

and the country flourished, mostly in peace. We know that as a young man Nicholas moved from his

family home in Gloucestershire to London, presumably in search of opportunity. There he started and

ran his brewery business.

This was the age of Shakespeare and Sir Francis Bacon. England sought and achieved international

trade and influence through the East India Company. The Spanish and the English both began to

establish settlements in the New World. There was also some amount of religious freedom in England

at this time with Catholics being allowed to worship as they pleased.

King James I, for whom the King James Version of the bible is named, died in 1625. He was replaced by his second son, King

Charles I, who proved to be less capable than James. Early is his reign, Charles and Lord Buckingham sanctioned a series of

military expeditions that ended in failure. Charles believed he ruled by the “Devine Right of Kings”, and had a low opinion of

Parliament and the people. He interfered with the church and imposed what was considered at the time to be excessive taxes

on the people. It is easy to imagine a successful man living in London wanting to move his family and his wealth to the New

World to escape this tyranny.

By 1642 England broke out in Civil War that lasted until 1645 when Charles’s forces were defeated. Parliament expected Charles

to resign himself to defeat and accept a constitutional monarchy. His failure to do so led to the second English Civil War i n 1645

that ended with Charles being beheaded in 1649.

It was during the first English Civil War that Nicholas disappeared from Massachusetts. He may have gone back to England to

protect the rest of his family and his English possessions. We will never know.

King James I

“So How am I Related to Nicholas Hathaway?”

If you can trace your ancestry to Frank Randel Hathaway and his wife Beulah Messer

Hathaway, who were my grandparents, you are a descendent of Nicholas Hathaway.

Nicholas was the great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather of Frank Randel

Hathaway. Simply determine how many generations you are descended for him and add

that number of “Greats”.

If you are not sure who Frank Randel Hathaway was, see his biography which will tell you

who some of his descendents were, and perhaps you can establish a relationship.

If you are a more distant cousin who is descended from one of the early generations you

can do your own generation counting. In this case please contact us and let us know who

you are.

I hope you have enjoyed meeting Nicolas and thinking about what his life was like. Had

he not lived, married, and migrated to America, none of us would exist today.

All the information in this biography is historically accurate to the best of my knowledge.

With genealogy, new information often comes to light that contradicts the old. If you are

aware of any errors I have made or corrections or additions to this that should be added,

please let me know.