1st Generaton

William¹ Simonds is the immigrant ancestor of the great majority of ancestral lines bearing the surname Simonds that extend back to colonial New England. He was born in England about 1611, and died at Woburn, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, 7 June 1672. He was perhaps the "W^m Symons" whose wife Sarah was buried at Concord, Massachusetts, 3 April 1641 (Concord, Massachusetts: Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 3). He then married at Woburn, 18 January 1643/4, Judith (Phippen) Hayward, born, probably at Wedmore, Somerset, England, about 1618 and died at Woburn, 3 January 1689/90, the widow of James Hayward.

Judith Phippen was the daughter of William Phippen or Phipping, a baker of Wedmore, Somerset, England, buried 5 October 1647, and Judith his wife, buried 10 December 1637 (Wedmore Parish Registers, 2:84, 100). William Phippen’s will was proved 22 September 1647 by his daughter Elizabeth, wife of John Adams, and mentions a brother Joseph in Ireland, a daughter "Judah" in New England, and two other daughters, Frances and Joan ("Miscellaneous Notes - Phipping," 87). Judith came to New England on the ship Planter which sailed from London about April 2, 1635, and arrived at Boston on Sunday, June 7, 1635. She was listed on the Planter’s passenger list, aged 16, along with her future husband James Hayward, aged 22, both being servants to the tailor Nicholas Davies. James Hayward was no doubt an apprentice to Nicholas Davies since he appears in later records as a tailor himself (Wyman, 489). Nicholas Davies was also accompanied by his wife Sarah (Locke) Davies and his nephew William Locke, then aged 6, a later resident of Woburn (Locke, 9-10). William Locke was born in Stepney Parish, London, and this explains why he, his aunt and uncle, and their servants, including Judith Phippen, had a connection with that place and were all certified on the passenger list from Stepney Parish. However, William Locke’s father William and his aunt were originally from Pilrow, Somerset, near Loxton, a town which is situated a mere eight miles from Wedmore. It is therefore not unlikely that Judith Phippen’s connection with the Lockes had begun in Somerset. Also on the Planter was the Rev. Thomas Carter, the first minister of Woburn, who was from Hinderclay, Suffolk.

James Hayward settled first in Charlestown before moving to Woburn (Wyman, 489) where he died, 20 November 1642. He and Judith Phippen had one daughter, Rebecca, who was born at Woburn, 4 December 1642. She married Tobiah Cole, and their daughter, Rebecca Cole, born at Woburn 21 November 1661, was the unnamed "grandchild" mentioned in the inventory of William Simonds’ estate "that he food as his owne child."

Unlike his wife, nothing is known of the English origins of William Simonds himself, although it seems likely that he, like the great majority of immigrants to New England, came from East Anglia. The name Simonds, or Symonds, is a common one in the parish registers and will indexes for Norfolk and Suffolk especially. Recent speculation that he was the grandson of William Symonds, a gentleman and mayor of Winchester, (Simonds) is totally without support.

When William Simonds arrived in Massachusets is unknown, although he is perhaps the William Symonds who was in Concord by 1636 and whose wife Sarah was buried there in 1641 (Farmer, 281). There is no proof that the two men are identical, but it seems likely because of the close association of William Simonds of Woburn with Concord, his three eldest daughters marrying Concord men, and his son William apparently being a resident of that town at the time of his death. On the other hand, he might be the William Simonds who was in 1639 an inhabitant of Charlestown where he had a house-plot "betwixt widow Rand’s and the Cellar" (Wyman, 866). Whatever the case may be, William Simonds had probably moved to Woburn by January 1643/4 when he was married to Judith (Phippen) Hayward. He settled on Upstreet at a place called Dry Brook, located about a mile and a half north west from the center of town. His house was used as a garrison during the Indian wars, especially King Phillip’s War. The family homestead remained in the family for almost two hundred years, passing at the death of his great-great-grandson, Nathan⁵ (Benjamin^4-3-2, William¹) to an only daughter, Lucy (Simonds) Barnard. She lost it through foreclosure to Joseph B. Blanchard, and it was owned at the beginning of this century by Jesse Cutler (Johnson, Genealogical Sketch of William Simonds, 5-6).

William Simonds’ name appears in Woburn town records soon after the date of his marriage to Judith (Phippen) Hayward. He was one of forty-five men who were taxed in the first country rate, September 8, 1645. He was taxed three shillings and eight pence (Johnson, Genealogical Sketch of William Simonds, 8-9). On February 23, 1649 at the annual town meeting for the choice of officers, he was chosen one of four surveyors (9). At the annual election of town officers in 1666, William Simonds was chosen, with three others, an officer "For Swine and Fences." In 1668 he was again chosen a surveyor (10). William Simonds was assessed £4.16s. in the rate for the new meeting-house that was made in Aug. 1671, paying the 16^th highest tax out of 102 people (11).

William Simonds also owned property in Cambridge Farms, later Lexington, which he and Michael Bacon purchased in 1648 from Roger Shaw (Middlesex County Deeds, 1: 94). A part of that land eventually became the property of his son Joseph Simonds who was a resident of Cambridge Farms after 1679. The deed of 1648 is as follows:

Know all that Roger Shaw of Cambridge in the County of Midlesex in New England for and in consideracion of ten pounds received by him of Michaell Bacon and William Simons both of Woburne in the aforesaid County, doth by these presents give, grant, sell, enfeoffe & confirme, to the aforesaid Michaell Bacon & William Simons two Hundred acres of land in the towne of Cambridge, being bounded Capt. Cookes farme Sou=east, & the Common Bound where, with all the meadow adjoyneing to the great Swamp neare the East Corner of Concord boundes, that fals in Cambridge boundes: To have & to hould the said bargained & assigned premisses, to them, their heyres, executors & administrators to their proper use & uses, and as their proper goodes & lands for ever, & the same will warrant & deffend from all people what ever claimeing or pretending any title to the same, By, from, or under me, unto the true performance whereof I have here unto set my hand & seale: this 15. of March 1648

Aside from town records and land deeds, information about William Simonds can also be gleaned from Middlesex court records and colony records, some of them giving tantalizing clues to his involvement in the controversies of the day. On 22 December 1658, William Simonds, aged about 47, was a witness in the suit of Capt. Edward Johnson against Ensign John Carter for slander. A verdict was rendered in favor of Edward Johnson whereby John Carter was to declare publicly that he had "wronged, slandered, & defamed Capt. Edw: Johnson in saying that he the said Capt. Johnson, did falsify the Town Records" (Middlesex County Court Records, 1: 161; Johnson, Woburn Records, 3: 284).

In April 1659, William Simonds and William Locke were charged with a serious offence, the details of which are somewhat obscure. According to court records, "William Simonds and William Locke of Woburn, being convicted of seditious & contemptuous carriages towards Authority, & of putting in their votes for the choice of Deputy for the General Court, although they were warned to forbear, & also of affronting the Church in their private consultations, this Court doth sentence them to be severely whipt with thirty stripes a piece, or to pay a fine of twenty pounds a piece, and to stand bound with sufficient sureties in 20 £ for their good behavior & appearance at the next Court." William Clarke and Francis Kendall paid the forty pounds and stood as bondsmen for the offenders.

William Simonds and William Locke petitioned the Deputy Governor and the County Court for clemency in 1660 (Middlesex Court Files):

that you wold bee plesed to votesafe [vouchsafe] sume mitygation of that Just Censor which for oure misscarriges against this gouorment wee have Rightly incurred, yet shold you bee pleased to grant the Request of such unworthy supplycants and the god of all marcy giue your harts so to doe: our poore wifs and children who are now overwhelmed with sorrow seing noe hope of subsistance shold the most bee taken, wold with noe smale rejoysing blesse the lord for you: and for future boath they and wee: wold for euer by your clemency force and submit our selves and our whole estats to this gouorment as we are bouⁿd in duty: and what ever your answer shall bee wee are the same altho right afflicted with unsupportable pouerty: shold it bee taken without delaye & therefore besech that you wold bee plesed not only to give us leaue but also to helpe our supplycation to the generall court should you at present deny our formor request: knowing assuredly the harts of kings are in the hands of the lord: to whome wee are euer bound to pray much honoured, that under you wee may liue a quiet and a peacable life in all godlyness and honnesty

Perhaps because of this petition and because of a petition on their behalf by Capt. Edward Johnson, the fines were abated fifteen pounds apiece on the condition that they make a satisfactory acknowledgement of their offences (Middlesex County Court Records, 1: 175, Johnson, Woburn Records, 3: 166, Locke, 14).

It seems likely that the charges against William Simonds and William Locke stemmed from their adherence to Baptist principles, in particular, the rejection of infant baptism. For reasons that are beyond the scope of this essay, the Puritan authorities tried vigorously to suppress the Baptist movement (On this and the argument for and against infant baptism, see McLoughlin, 1: 26-48). Those who expressed Baptist sympathies, either by their words, by refusing to present their children for baptism, by failing to attend church, or by turning their backs when baptisms were performed, were often warned, fined or whipped by order of the county court. Also, known Baptists could not attain the rights of freemen, respectable church membership being required, and could therefore not vote (McLoughlin, 1: 15; "Notice Concerning the Early ‘Freemen’ In New England," 3: 41). This perhaps explains why William Simonds had failed to become a freeman by 1659, and was therefore forbidden to vote for the deputy to the General Court. His and William Locke’s likely Baptist sentiments also no doubt explain the charge against them "of affronting the church in their private consultations."

The supposition that William Simonds was associated with the Baptist movement is given further credence by the particular strength of that movement in Woburn and by his own close association with a number of known Baptists or people who at least had Baptist sympathies at one time. The Baptist movement was strongest in Boston where a Baptist church was founded in 1665, but evidence from court records shows that it had spread to Charlestown, Woburn, Concord, Cambridge, Malden, Reading and Billerica. The group in Woburn was one of the most active, and John Russell, Sr. of Woburn, a member of the Baptist church in Boston, even began to conduct regular Sunday meetings in Woburn (McLoughlin, 1:73).

In December 1671, some twelve years after the charges against William Simonds and William Locke, thirteen Woburn men were prosecuted before the Middlesex County Court for showing contempt for the ordinance of Infant Baptism administered in the church of Woburn. They were charged with going to Baptist meetings, turning their backs when baptisms were performed, or withdrawing from communion with the church in Woburn on account "of sundry scruples in poynt of conscience" (Sewall, 153-154). The men charged were John Johnson, Hopestill Foster, John and Robert Pierce, John Russell, Sr. and his son John Russell, Jr., John and Joseph Wright, Isaac Cole, John and Francis Wyman, Francis Kendall, and Matthew Smith. It is probably no coincidence that five of these men, Robert Pierce, John Russell, Jr., John Wyman, Hopestill Foster, and Francis Kendall, are among eleven men mentioned in the inventory of William Simonds’ estate in 1672 who were not then related to him by birth or marriage. These were men to whom William Simonds owed money, and no doubt men with whom he was closely associated. One of these five men, John Russell, Jr. went on to become pastor of the First Baptist Church in Boston and wrote a famous treatise in defense of the Baptists (McLoughlin, 1: 27-28. 75, 82-84).

Most of these men suffered no lasting consequences. Except for John Russell, Sr. most were probably discharged, some after receiving public admonitions, or promising to change their conduct and pay costs of court. Most were apparently reconciled with the church in Woburn and remained respectable inhabitants of the town (Sewall, 156). That was apparently true of William Simonds and William Locke as well. William Locke went on to become a deacon in the church (Locke, 14). William Simonds was admitted a freeman in the colony, 11 May 1670, so he must have been a respectable member of the church by that date (Paige, "List of Freemen," 3: 241).

In 1662 William Simonds was one of 42 citizens of Woburn to sign the petition of Samuel Walker to the Middlesex County Court requesting a license to sell liquor. He was an innkeeper in Woburn and said in his petition that he "by advice of his friends did set upon the trade of stilling strong waters." The men who signed in support of his petition stated: "The premises considered we whos names are underwritten, humblee request this honoured Court that they would be pleased to grant y^e petitioner license not onlie to still, But allso to sell stronge waters by y^e quart so long as he shall observe ye wholsam laws and rules y^t the Supreme power, and this Court Shall set for p^ruenting y^e abuse thereof That so we may not be driven to goe to more remote Towns for a supply of our necesitie hearin, when we maie (if you shall be pleased to grant y^e request) have Supply at home." Samuel Walker’s petition was granted in April 1662 (Loring, "Samuel Walker," 351).

According to the Massachusetts Colony records, in Oct. 1662, William Simonds and Michael Bacon were accused of trespass. "In the case now depending between the Artillery Company of Suffolke, plaintiff, & Michael Bacon & W^m Symonds, both of Wooborne, deffend^ts, in an accon of trespasse on the land of the sajdartillery, the Court, on a hearing of the case, & what hath binn alleadged by both partjes, doe finde for the defend^ts costs of Court" (Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay, 4, part 2: 66). The dispute somehow involved a question of title to a grant of land made to Cambridge in 1644 (Middlesex County Court Records, 1:224).

In May1663, we find William Simonds named in court records in connection with the controversies surrounding the Restoration of the Stuart monarchy in England in 1660. Massachusetts, having denied its allegiance to Charles I and recognized both the Commonwealth and the Protectorate, found itself in a precarious position with the return of the Stuarts under Charles II. The colony was divided between the commonwealth faction led by Gov. John Endecott which preferred a policy of obstructionism, and a moderate faction which supported a more submissive policy towards the new king. There were apparently a number of men of the former persuasion in Woburn. In 1662 a letter was received from Charles II, and copies were sent to all the towns. The letter sent to Woburn was addressed "To y^e Constable of Wooburne who is hereby required to publish or cause the same to be published at a generall toune meeting there."However, it was returned with the following endorsement: "This is to Certify whom it may concern, that I Thomas Dutton of woobovrn do acknowledg, that on reqvest of several inhabitants of the said tovn, did proevre this Letter of the secretary & gaue it to the CvnstabLe Isack CoLe who refused it, & so I brought it again this 8 of Desember 62. Thomas Dutten." "Witness: Moses Cleveland, John Baker, & willjam Simons." ("Old Dorchester," 392). In 1663, William Simonds and Thomas Dutton testified to the General Court that the Constable, Isaac Cole, had refused to accept the king’s letter, and, moreover, that one of the selectmen of Woburn, Edward Converse, spoke "of sajd letter to be Popery." According to the colony records, "it was putt to the question whither there be any thing conteyned in the testimonys of Thomas Dutton & Willjam Symons ag^t Edward Converse, which doeth reflect on his maj^tys letter. It was resolved on the negatiue" (Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay, 4, part 2: 72-73).

William Simonds died at Woburn, 7 June 1672, and in that same month administration was granted on his estate to his widow Judith and to his town eldest sons, Caleb and William Simonds. Joseph Simonds, then aged 19, chose John Wyman, Sr. as his guardian. Benjamin, aged 18, and James, aged 15, chose Francis Kendall guardian (Johnson, Woburn Records, 3:252). The inventory of his estate has survived (Middlesex Probate Record, 20472; Johnson, Genealogical Sketch of William Simonds, 16-21):

An inventory of the goods and estate of William Simonds, late of the Towne Woburne deceased the 5th of June 1672

	£. s. d.
Three cowes,	010 10 00
Imps. two oxen,	010 10 00
Two sters,	007 00 00
One yearling calfe,	001 00 00
A mare and a coult,	004 10 00
A sorrell mare,	004 10 00
Tenn swine,	008 00 00
Two calves,	001 10 00
To puter and brass,	002 10 00
Two iron potts and a trying pan,	000 12 00
To waring apparrell,	002 16 00
To linnen,	002 14 00
To bedding,	006 15 00
To a payer of pistells, holsters, brestplate and crooper,	001 10 00
More in armes,	000 18 00
A saddle and a pillion	001 00 00
Indian corne mault and provifsions,	003 03 00
To lumber	001 06 00
For cart and oxen and other iron worke.	003 19 00
For books,	000 10 00
For 3 acres of wheat, at	002 05 00
For Indian corne upon the ground	7 10 00
For halfe an acre of hopps,	1 10 00
For house and barne and all of his land about his house and belonging to his house with all rights and priviledges therunto belonging in the bounds of Wooburne and halfe the meadow at his farme in Cambridge bounds, meadow and meadow like ground	250 00 00
For the remainder part of his farme in Cambridge bounds with all the rights and priviledges thereunto belonging,	150 00 00
Total	485 18 00

William Simonds hath left a wife and she is weakly and crazey and aged, and five sones and seven daughters, the eldest sone is 22, the second sone in 21, the third is 19, the fourth is 18 yeares olde, the fifth is foureteene yeares olde, the eldest daughter is 26, the third daughter is 24, the fourth daugher is 12, the fifth daughter is 10, the sixth daughter is 8, the seventh daughter is 10 yeares of age which is a grandchild that he food as his owne child and to doe for it as for the rest.

	£. s. d.
To Mr. Carter,	008 07 03
To Michell Bacon	001 13 00
To Robert Pearce,	000 14 08
To Samuel Walker	000 05 00
To William Clarke,	000 06 06
To John Faxx	000 08 07
To Michell Bacon clarke,	000 05 00
To Caleb Simons,	000 03 00
To wine for the funeral,	000 15 00
To John Russell junr.,	000 18 11
To John Wyman serg for 7 windows at 4 s apeece,	001 08 00
To Hopestill Foster,	000 09 06
To John Hayward	003 02 01
To the meeting house,	004 03 06
More in debts come in to widow Carter,	002 10 00
More to Mr. Line,	002 00 00
More to Mr. Chickrine,
More in debts to Roger Chandler,	003 10 00
Then more to Roger Chandler,	006 00 00
Debts due to the esteate for a farme, due from John Barker of Concord,	003 00 00
More in three borde log,	000 10 06
Total	003 10 00

As the inventory of his estate shows, William Simonds had five sons, and seven daughters, the seventh "daughter" being "a grandchild that he food as his owne child." All of these children are known except for the daughter aged 8. The "grandchild" referred to was Rebecca Cole, Judith Phippen’s granddaughter by her daughter Rebecca (Hayward) Cole. Part of Rebecca Cole’s inheritance was apparently a share in the land which William Simonds owned in Cambridge Farms (Johnson, Abstracts, 71).

vi. Joseph, b. 18 Oct. 1652, d. at Lexington, Mass., 12 Aug. 1733; m. Mary Tidd.

vii. Benjamin, b. 18 March 1654, d. at Woburn, 21 September 1726; m. Rebecca Heywood.

xi. Bethiah, b. 9 May 1659, d. at Woburn, 8 November 1695; m. Samuel Walker, Sr.

xii.Huldah, b. 20 Nov. 1660. d. at Woburn, 14 March 1745/6; m. Samuel Blogget, Jr.

xiii. Unknown daughter, b. ca. 1664 (mentioned in the inventory of William Simonds’ estate).