Downs Family Line

Downs Family

Name origin: A term applied in Eng., to a tract of poor, sandy hill land, used only for pasturing sheep.

  • Thomas Downs(1612-1699)
  • Thomas Downs( (1654-1711)
  • Ebenezer Downs (1685-1755)

    Thomas Downs

    b.Feb. 2, 1611/2; parents ukn
    d.Jan. 21, 1698/9 in Dover N.H.
    m.bef. 1635 Catherine ______
    b.bef.1615 prob. Boston, MA
    d.Dec. 23, 1702 in Dover, N.H.

    CHILDREN:

    1. Rebecca Downs b.Apr. 22, 1652 Boston, MA
    2. Thomas Downs b.March 17, 1653/4 Boston, MA
    3. Elizabeth Downs b.Nov. 17, 1663 Dover, N.H.
    4. Mary Downs m.Nov. 25, 1686 John Cook in Dover, N.H.

    NOTE: From Pioneers of Maine and New Hampshire 1623-1660 by POPE page 58: DOWNS, Thomas, Dover, fined in 1657 for going in his boat on the Sabbath. Wife Katherine; ch. Elizabeth b.17 Nov. 1663. [Dover Hist. Coll.]

    Thomas was a shoemaker. He immigrated on the Defiance in 1650.

    From Directory of Ancestral Heads of New England Families 1620-1700 by Holmes: THOMAS, b.Eng., 1610, came to Boston, Mass., 1635, was at Dover, N.H., 1657.

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    Thomas Downs, Sgt.

    b. Mar. 17, 1654 in Boston, MA son of Thomas Downs and Catherine _______
    d.Apr. 13, 1711 Kittery, ME
    m.(1)bef. 1681 Martha ______ d.bef. 1681
    m.(2)1691 Mary Lord d.Jul. 26, 1691 in Dover, N.H.
    m.(3)Oct. 24, 1698 Abigail Roberts

    CHILD of Thomas and Martha:

    1. Gershom Downs b.Jan. 10, 1680 in Dover, N.H. d.Jun 27, 1750 Somersworth, NH m.(1)Dec. 24, 1707 in Dover, N.H. Sarah Hall m.(2)bef.1736 Elizabeth Tibbetts

    CHILDREN of Thomas and Mary:

    1. Thomas Downs b.bef.1690 d.bef.Nov. 29, 1749 in Somersworth, N.H. m.Jun. 8, 1710 Sarah Ham in Portsmouth, N.H.
    2. Ebenezer Downs
    3. Martha Downs b.1691 d.Sept. 24, 1792 m.(1) Dec. 1725 John MacKelroy m.(2)1755 Philip Stackpole
    4. Samuel Downs d.May 30, 1755 m.Judith ______
    5. William Downs d.Aug. 28, 1754 m.May 3, 1721 in Dover, N.H. Mary Pitman
    Thomas was killed by Indians while working in a field the spring of 1711. Estate admin. by son Gershom 1713.

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    Ebenezer Downs

    b.1685 son of Thomas Downs and Mary Lord
    d.aft.1755
    m.1715 Elizabeth Hanson
    b.Jan. 9, 1687 dau. of Thomas Hanson and Mary Kitchen
    d.1755

    CHILDREN:

    1. Ebenezer Downs d.1777 m.Jane Walton dau. of John Walton of Newington. They lived in Arundel, ME.
    2. Nathaniel Downs prop.m. Susannah ______
    3. Mary Downs m.John Grindle
    4. Ephraim Downs
    5. Elizabeth Downs
    Occupation: Housewright, yeoman

    Ebenezer was a Quaker, taken by Indians 1724. Grossly insulted and abused for refusing to dance. "Boston Newsletter" 1725 says returned from captivity, had wife and 5 children at Piscataqua.

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    This page last updated on March 5, 2007

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