John Heath of Haverhill, Massachusetts
and Norwich, Connecticut

            John Heath, born in Haverhill, Massachusetts on March 29, 1676/7, was the son of Josiah and Mary (Davis) Heath of Haverhill.  John Heath was a grandson of Bartholomew Heath, the immigrant ancestor of this line of Heaths, who, it is speculated, came from County Essex, England and sailed aboard the ship Lyon, arriving in Boston on September 16, 1632. Valerie Dyer Giorgi has chronicled the life of Bartholomew Heath in her book, Bartholomew Heath of Haverhill, Massachusetts and Some of His Descendants, and she provides information on Josiah and John Heath as well.

            John Heath married Hannah Haines (or Haynes), the ~19-year-old daughter of Jonathan and Sarah (Moulton) Haynes on December 16, 1697 in Norwich, Connecticut.  It's possible, but amazing, that John and Hannah Heath moved back and forth between Norwich, Connecticut and Haverhill, Massachusetts (some 120 miles between the two locations), because the births of thirteen of their fourteen children are recorded in Haverhill, Massachusetts (1698-1716), yet John and Hannah's 1697 marriage was recorded in Norwich, Connecticut.  Hannah Heath was received into the church at Norwich, Connecticut in 1715.

                       John and Hannah Heath had the following children:

Mehitable Heath, b. 21 October 1698, Haverhill, MA; d. March 1698/99, Haverhill, MA.
John Heath, b. 24 November 1699 (triplet), Haverhill, MA; d. 25 November 1699, Haverhill, MA.
David Heath, b. 24 November 1699 (triplet), Haverhill, MA; d. 25 November 1699, Haverhill, MA.
Jonathan Heath, b. 24 November 1699 (triplet), Haverhill, MA; d. 25 November 1699, Haverhill, MA.
Obadiah Heath, b. 24 June 1701, Haverhill, MA.
John Heath, b. 06 July 1702, Haverhill, MA; m. Lydia Bradley, 03 September 1743, Haverhill, MA.
Abigail Heath, b. 06 January 1702/03, Haverhill, MA; m. William Ticknor, 20 April 1727, Lebanon, CT.
Jonathan Heath, b. 21 November 1706, Haverhill, MA; d. Norwich, CT; m. HannahWilbour, 13 May 1734, Newport, R I.
Mehitable Heath, b. 19 November 1708, Haverhill, MA.; d. 1797; m. John Bell, 17 December 1734, Lebanon, CT.
Bartholomew Heath, b. 01 October 1710, Haverhill, MA; d. 11 February 1789, Sharon, CT.
Thomas Heath, b. 25 July 1712, Haverhill, MA; d. 23 December 1754, Mansfield, CT; m. Waitstill Fuller, 21 February 1733/34, Preston, CT.
Josiah Heath, b. 28 August 1715, Haverhill, MA; m. Rebecca Handy, 17 December 1734, Norwich, CT.
Hannah Heath, b. 25 February 1715/16, Haverhill, MA.; m. Elias Bellowes, 19 April 1742, Preston, CT.
Joseph Heath, b. 09 December 1718, Norwich, CT.

            Jonathan Heath, the eighth child of John & Hannah (Haines) Heath, married Hannah Wilbour in Newport, Rhode Island on May 13, 1734.  He appears to have been the only child of John and Hannah's to have removed to Rhode Island, although, in light of the evidence that Joseph Heath, Jr. lived in Newport in 1747, this information no longer seems quite so unusual. If the Haverhill branch of John and Hannah (Haines) Heath were related to the Heaths of Bristol County, this might provide an explanation for why Jonathan Heath settled in nearby Newport County, Rhode Island. On the other hand, perhaps the socio-economic conditions of the time also precipitated moves between the Newport/Bristol County area to Groton and vice versa.

            Jonathan and Hannah (Wilbour) Heath had nine children, whose baptisms are recorded in the records of the First Congregational Church of Newport, Rhode Island.  Their eighth child,  William, was baptized July 26, 1752.  It's remotely possible that my ancestor, William Heath, born ca. 1750, was this son, who removed to Groton, near where his paternal grandparents lived.   However, I have found no evidence to corroborate this theory other than the similarity of names and birth dates and the fact that the grandparents of William Heath of Newport lived within close proximity to William Heath of Groton. There appears to much stronger evidence that my William was the son of Joseph Heath, Jr. of Groton by his marriage to Mary Bell of Newport.

SOURCES

Bartholomew Heath of Haverhill, Massachusetts and Some of His Descendants, by Valerie Dyer Giorgi. Santa Maria, California, 1994, pp. 1,9, 16 and 29.