Ebenezer TOWLE

Other Events:

• _UID: DE7F7D2425964C499F22FD479E68794D1FD8

Ebenezer married Alice FIFIELD 10 Apr 1749, Kingston, Rockingham Co. NH. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• _UID: 029F7AE0E7BE4188B2FEF62C7E066D0E3AE1

Notes:

Some of the descendants of Philip Towle of Hampton, N H, Mrs. A.E.T. Lindsay, p.6
Name: Joshua Towle
Gender: Male
Birth Date: 1692
Birth Place: Hampton
First Marriage Date: 6 Feb 1713
Death Date: 24 Nov 1752
Father: Joshua Towle
Mother: Sarah Reed
Spouse: Sarah Brown

Died:
New England Historic Genealogical Society. The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Boston: The New England Historic Genealogical Society.

Name: Joshua Towl
Event Type: Death
Death Date: 23 Nov 1752
Death Place: Hampton, New Hampshire

Joshua married Sarah BROWN 6 Feb 1712/13, Hampton, Rockingham, NH. Sarah was born 3 Apr 1691, Hampton, Rockingham Co., NH; died 8 Aug 1767, Hampton, Rockingham Co., NH. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• _UID: 55DD1234861A409CB3732E4A7833BDA6A021

Other Events:

• _UID: 49362ED75B8541BFA1EC6C7B2E4985DDB14A

Notes:

New Hampshire Provincial and State Papers; Author: Albert Stillman Batchellor; Probate Place: New Hampshire

Name: Joshua Towl
Probate Date: 8 Dec 1715
Probate Place: New Hampshire
Inferred Death Year: Abt 1715
Inferred Death Place: New Hampshire
Item Description: Vol 31

Buried:
Grave location:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=98902729

Died:
New Hampshire Death Records, 1654-1947." Index. FamilySearch, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2010. New Hampshire Bureau of Vital Records. "Death Records, 1654-1947." Bureau of Vital Records, Concord, New Hampshire.

Name: Joshua Towle
Birth Date: abt 1663
Death Date: 25 Jul 1715
Death Age: 52
Clerk Locality: Hampton, New Hampshire
Event Type: Death
FHL Film Number: 1001112

Joshua married Sarah REED 2 Dec 1686, Rockingham Co., NH. Sarah was born , Portsmouth, Rockingham, NH; died Aft Nov 1714. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• _UID: 16C4661722AD451E9F0EBB3F64FA27D085F5

Notes:

Sources:
Title: "Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire"
Author: Sybil Noyes, Charles Libby and Walter Davis
Publication: Southworth-Anthoensen Press, 1928-1939
Repository:
Call Number: F18.N68
Media: Book
Page: p. 580, 689
Title: "History of the Town of Hampton New Hampshire"
Author: Joseph Dow
Publication: Salem Press Publishing and Printing Co., Salem, MA, 1894
Repository:
Note: Prokasy Library
Call Number:
Media: Book
Page: p. 1000
http://www.hampton.lib.nh.us/hampton/history/probate/joshuatowle1714.htm, Named in her husband's will of November 1714.
Title: "Vital Records of Dover, New Hampshire 1686-1850"
Author: Dover Historical Society
Publication: Scales and Quimby; Dover, NH,1894
Repository:
Note: New England Historic Genealogical Society
Call Number: F44.D7.D7/1894
Media: Book
Page: p. 124

Notes:

Married:
Torry, Clarence A. New England Marriages Prior to 1700. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2004.
Name: Joshua Towle
Gender: Male
Birth Year: 1663
Marriage Date: 2 Dec 1686
Marriage Place: New England
Death Year: 1715
Spouse: Sarah Towle

Other Events:

• _UID: 6790DC7FBB5E45BB877F267A0F79F46AF75E

Notes:

Jones, William Haslet, "Philip Towle, Hampton, New Hampshire: His English Origins and Some American Descendants," (1995). Jones states in the introduction at pages v.-vi., "...it seems more than likely that Philip Towle came from the parish of Crediton, County Devon, England." The name "Philip Towle" was common in Devonshire. When he emigrated is not known. His name is not found at Hampton in any early land owner records. He signed the Oath of Allegiance April 25, 1678 and became a freeman June 23, 1681. (Jones, p. 6)

In an update of this book on the Towles:

Philip Towle, Hampton, New Hampshire His English Origins and Some American Descendants, William Haslet Jones, Heritage Books, Inc. published August 1, 2012.

The author has found, "The English home of Philip Towle, an early settler of Hampton, New Hampshire, has been established with a high degree of certainty to be the parish of Crediton, County Devon (sometimes referred to as County Devonshire). His ancestry in County Devon was traced back four generations to Roger Toolie, born about 1545 at Colebrooke, Devon. Crediton parish records, records of adjacent parishes, Devon will lists, Subsidy Rolls, and 1641 Protection Rolls are all presented as proof of Philip Towle's English origin.

The name was very common in the 16th and 17th centuries, especially in County Devonshire along the River Exe. The name was generally spelled Towell, but Towle was a common variant.

"For the time period from 1577 through 1650, the name Philip Towell/Towle appears some 16 times in English records. All of these entries occurred in Co. Devon. And with two exceptions, all of these men named Philip Towle lived in or near the parish of Crediton. It therefore seems quite likely that this was the home of Philip Towle of Hampton, N.H."

"One individual named Philip Towle was found of the correct age living at Crediton in Co. Devonshire. Perhaps he was the immigrant, since he is not named in later records. This Philip Towle was named in the 1641 Protection Record for Devonshire at Crediton. He was born about 1616 the son of Philip Towell and his wife Margaret Whyte."

----------------

He arrived in Hampton just a short while before his marriage. He bought land and the deed was from the Rev. John Wheelwright, the founder of Exeter, who had been third pastor in Hampton. The land is described as follows: 'one messuage, or dwelling-house, with the other out-housing thereunto belonging; as also a house Lott adjoining thereunto, containing by estimaccon seven acres and a halfe more or less (being formerly the house and land of Henry Ambrose) butting upon the highway leading to Exiter with one end, and with the other upon the land of John Marian, lijng between the lands of the sayd John Marian on the west and the land of Jasper Blake easterly."

He was an average "yeoman" in the community and didn't appear in many records. When Philip was about 60 years old, he, along with five others, were fined "for taking tobacko neare ye meetinghouse in ye face of ye court, were fined each of them ten shillings according to law.' The law was an act of the town meeting Feb. 14, 1676, recorded as follows: 'To prvent Danger by fire itt is ordered thatt if any prson shall take any tabaco, or Carrie any fire or make use of any fire in the new meeting House or fortt yard, they shall forfitt ten shillings for Every such offense, the one Halfe to the Informer & the other Halfe to the Towne."

History of Hampton: "The house-lot here described has ever since remained in the Towle family, and is now John A. Towle's homestead." [born 1827; page 1016] "Before he settled down to farming, Mr. Towle probably led a sea-faring life, as in the deed he is styled 'seaman."


Buried:
Grave location:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=98901600

Philip married Isabella AUSTIN 19 Nov 1657, Hampton, Rockingham Co. NH. Isabella (daughter of Francis AUSTIN and Isabella BLAND) was born Abt 1633, Colchester, Essexshire, England; was christened 09 Jun 1633, Great Gidding, Huntingdonshire England; died 7 Dec 1719, Hampton, Rockingham Co., NH; was buried , Pine Grove Cemetery, Hampton, Rockingham Co. NH. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• _UID: 823B65B27A2B46E39112E2FC8EB0FDD331C0

Notes:

Isabella was persecuted for witchcraft. She and Rachel Fuller were accused in the summer of 1680 after the death of a child of John Godfrey. Rachel confessed and accused Isabella. both were committed to prison where they remained until the sitting of the Hampton Court, September 7, 1680. The court ordered that they continue in prison until bond be given for their good behavior of 100 pounds each. John Fuller became a bondsman for his wife, and Isaac Marston and John Redman for Isabella (it is likely that husband Philip was not able to raise the required bond). They were discharged at the Dover court in 1681. She was united with the church on July 2, 1699.

A second person was charged as a witch that summer at Hampton [1680]. Isabella Towle by name, she was a woman in her late forties, married, and the mother of nine children.(107) Her husband, Philip, was first a seaman," and later a "yeoman" of average position in the community. Beyond this the record does not speak. Particularly unfortunate is the lack of any material on the substantive charges against Goodwife Towle. All that survives is a court order, from September 1680, that "Rachel Fuller and Isabel Towle, being apprehended and committed upon suspicion of witchcraft . . . still continue in prison till bond be given for their good behavior of £100 apiece, during the Court's pleasure. Both defendants were discharged in the following year.

(107) This woman was born Isabella Austin, dau. of Francis and Isabella [Bland] Austin, in about the year 1633. Her father, an early resident of Hampton, died in 1642, and her mother was remarried thereafter to Thomas Leavitt. The Bland connection, on the mother's side, was a distinguished one: "Mr." John Bland was an early and prominent settler of Martha's Vineyard. Moreover, Thomas Leavitt was a man of considerable stature within Hampton itself. Isabella Austin married Philip Towle November 19, 1657. Towle's origins are not known, though local tradition makes him out an Irishman. He arrived in Hampton just a short while before his marriage. Philip and Isabella [Austin] Towle had children: Philip (born 1659), Caleb (born 1661, killed by Indians 1677), Joshua (born 1663), Mary (born 1665), Joseph and Benjamin (twins, born 1669). Francis (born 1672), John (born 1674), Caleb (born 1678). Philip Towle died in 1696, aged about eighty; his widow died in 1719. See Noyes, et al., Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire, 68-69, 95-96, 425, 689; and the Town Book of Hampton, passim.

The details of Isabella's ordeal are compelling as related in JOSEPH DOW'S HISTORY OF HAMPTON [NH]
Chapter 3 -- Part 23 MORE WITCHES

In July, 1680, a little child of John Godfrey died, and the old cry of witchcraft was raised again. An inquest was held, with twelve solid men of Hampton for jurors, and a verdict rendered: "We find grounds of suspicion that the said child was murdered by witchcraft."

Godfrey's wife and daughter, Sarah, deposed that Rachel Fuller came in with her face daubed with molasses, and sat down by Goody Godfrey, who had a sick child in her lap, and took his hand; when the mother, in fear, drew the hand away and wrapped it in her apron. Then Rachel Fuller "turned her about and smote the back of her hands together sundry times and spat in the fire." Then she strewed herbs on the hearth and sat down again and said: "Woman, the child will be well;" and then went out, beat herself thrice with her arms, as men do in winter, to heat their hands, picked something off the ground, and went home. The next day, the children told their mother that Goody Fuller had said if they did lay sweet bays under the threshold, it would keep a witch from coming in. So they laid bays under the threshold of the back door all the way, and half way of the breadth of the fore door; and soon after, Rachel Fuller came about to the fore door, though she had always formerly come in at the back door, which is next her house; and she crowded in on that side where the bays lay not, and rubbed her back against the post so that she rubbed off her hat, and sat down and made ugly faces and nestled about and would have looked on the child, but not being allowed to do so, went out as she had come in, after having looked under the door where the bays lay; and she had not been in the house since.

John Godrey, Nathaniel Smith and Hezron Leavitt made depositions, equally damaging.

Elizabeth Denham (wife of Alexander), deposed that Rachel Fuller told her "Witches did so go abroad at night, they did lay their husbands and children asleep;" and she said there were eight women and two men in the town, who were witches and wizards.

The men's names were not given, but the women Goody Fuller reckoned as witches were: Eunice Cole, Benjamin Evans' wife and two (?) daughters, Grace (Swaine) Boulter, Mary (Boulter) Prescott, Isabella (Austin) Towle, "and one that is now dead. " Goody Towle, was, in fact, arraigned about the same time, on a different charge, and both she and Rachel Fuller were committed to prison till the sitting of the Hampton Court, September 7. Then, "The Court having heard ye case of Rachel Fuller and Isabel Towle being apprehended and committed upon suspition of witchcraft doe ordr yt they still continue in prisson till bond be given for their good behavior of £100 a piece during the Courts pleasure."

John Fuller became bondsman for his wife; and Isaac Marston and John Redman, for Goody Towle. They were discharged at the Dover Court the next year.

It brings the perils of that time nearer home to recall the fact that she was at one time the victim of the persecution of witchcraft. Both she and a friend were at first accused and the friend,incidently hoping to gain immunity, confessed and put the blame on Isabella Towle. They were both arrested and placed in prison, remaining there from the summer til the 7th of September, when Hampton Court heard their case and released them on bail of one hundred pounds each, and finally, in the following year, discharged the case.

Maine: A History. The American Historical Society. New York. 191

Entertaining Satan:Witchcraft and the Culture of Early New England

By John Putnam Demos
Oxford University Press - 1982Chapter 10

http://www.hampton.lib.nh.us/HAMPTON/biog/goodydemos.htm

Birth:
Edmund West, comp.. Family Data Collection - Births [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2001.

The Family Data Collection - Births database was created while gathering genealogical data for use in the study of human genetics and disease.

Name: Isabella Austin
Father: Francis Austin
Mother: Isabella Bland
Birth Date: 1633
City: Colchester
County: Essexshire
Country: England

Christened:
England and Wales Christening Records 1530-1906, Ancestry.com

Buried:
Grave location:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=98895384

Died:
Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire, Sybil Noyes, Charles Libby and Walter Davis, Southworth-Anthoensen Press, 1928-1939,p. 689.

Vital Records of Hampton New Hampshire to the End of the Year 1900, George Freeman Sanborn and Melinde Lutz Sanborn, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, MA, 1992, Vol 1, p. 126.

Notes:

Married:
Source: Yates Publishing. U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.

Name: Philip Towle
Gender: Male
Birth Year: 1616
Spouse Name: Isabella Austin
Spouse Birth Year: 1633
Marriage Year: 1657
Number Pages: 1

Source: New England Marriages Prior to 1700, Clarence Almon Torrey, Genealogical Publishing Company, Baltimore, 1985; Reprinted 1997, page 749.

Source: Vital Records of Hampton New Hampshire to the End of the Year 1900,George Freeman Sanborn and Melinde Lutz Sanborn, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, MA, 1992, Vol 1, p. 73.

Source: Philip Towle, Hampton, New Hampshire His English Origins and Some American Descendants, William H. Jones, Heritage Books, Inc., p.123: "Philip Towle married, Nov. 19, 1657, Isabella, daughter of Francis and Isabella (Bland) Austin of Colchester, England, and Hampton, NH, and granddaughter of John and Joanna Bland of Edgartown, England"