WILLARD
MEMOIR
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I.
NATIONAL ORIGIN OF
THE NAME AND FAMILY.
Keltic or Teutonic. Tradition in some of the American branches; also in
the German Family. Saxon Names of Places and Persons. Battle Abbey Roll.
William's followers from different Nations. The German Immigration. The Name in
France, pp. 1‑20.
CHAPTER II.
THE NAME IN SUSSEX
AND KENT, FROM THE CONQUEST TO THE PRESENT DAY
The Name in Domesday Book, in the Subsidy Bolls of Sussex and Kent, and
in other Records. Sussex Wills. Parish Registers of Waldron in Sussex; and
Horsmonden, Brenchley, and Cranbrook in Kent. Kentish Wills. Sundry Names in
Sussex and Kent. Pedigree of Colonel John H. Willard. Arms of the Family, pp.
21‑80.
CHAPTER III.
SOME ACCOUNT OF THE
WILLARDS IN THIS COUNTRY, NEITHER DESCENDED FROM MAJOR SIMON WILLARD; NOR FROM
HIS FATHER, RICHARD WILLARD.
The Willards of Maryland from Germany in 1746. Descendants of Dewalt Willard.
The Newton Willards, descended from Jacob Willard of Watertown, in the
Seventeenth Century, pp. 81‑97.
CHAPTER IV.
SOME ACCOUNT OF A
BROTHER AND SISTER OF SIMON WILLARD, WHO CAME
TO NEW ENGLAND.
George Willard of Scituate, and his Children. He engages in the
Controversy between Rev. Mr. Chauncy and Mr. Vassall. His Children baptized by
Rev. Mr. Witherell. He is "convented" before the General Court in
Plymouth. Proceedings against him. Marriage of a Son. Marriage of a Daughter to
Paul Sears, with Notice of some (if their Descendants. Margery Willard, who
intermarried with Dolor Davis: Notice of some of their Descendants, pp. 98‑111.
CHAPTER V.
THE COUNTY OF RENT,
AND THE PARISH OF HORSMONDEN IN THAT COUNTY.
Early Settlements of the Kelts, Belgae, and Saxons. Description of Kent:
its Area, Population, and Local Divisions. Tenure of Gavelkind. Relation of
Tenures in Kent to those in Massachusetts. Horsmonden described: its Position,
Population, Soil, Products, and Freeholds. The ancient Church and the great
Oak, pp. 112‑124.
CHAPTER VI.
THE LIFE AND TIMES
OF SIMON WILLARD, WITH THE NAMES OF RICHARD
WILLARD'S CHILDREN,
&c.; PRECEDED BY A BRIEF MENTION OF HIS IMMEDIATE ANCESTORS.
Richard Willard of Horsmonden; his Children; his Character. Tabular View
of his Family. The Early Years of Simon. Condition of Puritanism. Remarks upon
Emigration. Simon's First Marriage. His Arrival in 1634. His Residence at
Cambridge. Negotiates with the Indians for the Purchase of Concord, and removes
to that Town. With Gibbons, superintends the Erection of Buildings at Saybrook
Fort, at the. Mouth of Connecticut River. Clerk of the Writs, Commissioner,
Surveyor of Arms, Military Officer, Deputy to the General Court. His Trade with
the Indians; treats with the Block Islanders and Pequots. Slavery in
Massachusetts considered; never hereditary. Visit to Passaconaway in company
with Eliot. Is on numerous Committees of the General Court. Establishes with
Johnson the North Line of the Patent. History of the Massachusetts Title to
this Line. Arbitrator in the Lancaster Difficulties. Of the Committee on the
Dunster and Glover Controversy, and on other Committees, pp.125‑187.
CHAPTER VII.
THE LIFE AND TIMES
OF SIMON WILLARD (OONTINUED).
Chosen to the Command of the Middlesex Regiment. Chosen Assistant:
Legislative and Judicial Duties of an Assistant described. Sketch of the Troubles between the United
Colonies and the Niantick Indians under Ninigret. Major, Willard appointed
Commander of the Expedition against Ninigret; the Proceediings of the
Expedition; and the Report of the Council of War. The Commissioners' Letter to
the Major. Remarks upon the Result of the Expedition, pp. 188‑228.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE LIFE AND TIMES
OR SIMON WILLARD (CONTINUED).
The Commissioners of Charles II. Their Proceedings. The Major on a
Committee concerning them. Chairman of the Board to superintend the Town of Lancaster.
His Removal to Nonaicoicus. County Courts in Dover and Yorkshire, pp. 229‑240.
CHAPTER IX.
THE LIFE AND TIMES
OF SIMON WILLARD (CONTINUED).
Beginning of Philip's War. Major Willard's Command. He relieves
Brookfield when on the Eve of Destruction. Contemporary Commendation of his
Gallant Conduct. Letter of Secretary Rawson. Letter of the Major, &c., to
the Secretary Captain Henchman's and the Secretary's Letters. The Major's
Military Services, in the Fall and Winter of 1675, on the Frontiers. Mission to
the Wamesit Indians in company with Gookin and Eliot, pp. 241‑264.
CHAPTER X.
THE LIFE AND TIMES
OF SIMON WILLARD (CONTINUED)
Military Services on the Frontiers in February and March, 1676. Secretary
Rawson's Letter as to "a full Command." Savage, why appointed. The
Essex and Norfolk Levies placed under the Major's Command. Secretary Rawson's
Letter. Various Notices of the Attack upon Groton. The Major's dwelling‑house
burnt; the Family escape to Charlestown. His Narrative of Proceedings, March 21‑29. Allowance, by the General Court. His last
Appearance on the Bench. Military Service, September, 1676, ‑ April,
1676, pp. 265‑284.
CHAPTER XI.
TIM LIFE AND TIMES
OF SIMON WILLARD (CONTINUED).
The Statement of Rev. Dr. Fiske, that the Major was censured by the
Government for marching his Force beyond the Bounds of Middlesex, in the Relief
of Brookfield, considered, and shown to be without Foundation. Contemporary
Evidence uniform in Refutation of the Allegation, pp. 285‑303.
CHAPTER XII.
THE LIFE AND TIMES
OF SIMON WILLARD (CONTINUED).
Epidemic in New England. Sickness and Death of Major Willard and other
distinguished Individuals. His Funeral. His Character. Extent of his Military,
Legislative, and Judicial Service, pp. 304‑312.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE LIFE AND TIMES
OF SIMON WILLARD (CONTINUED).
A Brief Review of the Leading Historical Events in the Colony daring the
Forty‑; two Years of his American Life, 1634‑76. The Early Towns.
Disputes between the Assistants and Freemen, resulting in the Establishment of
a Representative Government. The " Negative Voice." Separation into
Two Branches. Settlement of Connecticut. Treaty with the Narragansets. The
Pequot War. Harvard College. The Antinomian Controversy. Various Proposals by
Friends of the Colony in Favor of Removal. Jurisdiction over New Hampshire.
Confederation of the New‑England Colonies. The Navigation Act.
Jurisdiction over Maine: its Loss and Resumption. The Mint. The Synod of 1662.
The Third Church in Boston. Commissioners of Charles II. Abolition of the
Feudal System. Restriction of "Freedom." Appeals to the King. Philip's War, pp. 313‑324.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE LIFE AND TIMES
OF SIMON WILLARD (CONTINUED).
His Patrimony. Estates in Cambridge and Concord. The Two‑thousand
Acre Grant. The Assabet Grant. Nonaicoicus Grant. The Lancaster Estate. His
Inventory. Grant of a Thousand Acres to his Widow and the six youngest
Children, pp. 3125‑337.
CHAPTER XV.
THE LIFE AND TIMES
OF SIMON WILLARD (CONTINUED).
His Marriages: Mary Sharpe, Elizabeth and Mary Dunster. Relationship of
the Dunsters to President Dunster. The "Balehoult" Letter. The
Dunsters a Lancashire Family. The Name in the Bury and Middleton Parish
Registers. Other Memoranda of the Name, pp. 338‑352.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE LIFE AND TIMES
OF SIMON WILLARD (CONTINUED).
His Children. Estimate of the number of Descendants, Eight Generations.
Order of Births, Marriages, &c., of the Children. Genealogy of the Family extended to Four
Generations, with some Brief Sketches of
Individuals, pp. 353‑440.
CHAPTER XVII.
CONCLUSION.
Brief Remarks on Genealogical Investigations, and wherein they are of
Value. The Puritan Descent; its Character and Results, The New Element in our
Population; its Dangers and Hopes. The Voice of Warning and Instruction in the
supposed Words of the Subject of this Memoir, addressed to his Descendants, pp.
441‑452.