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Henry Boston Biography Torrence, Clayton. Old Somerset on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. 1938. Richmond: Whittet and Shipperson. Family History Library. Pages 319-322. HENRY BOSTON We have discovered nothing about the origin of Henry Boston. Of the place and date of his birth, his parentage, and whence he came to the colony of Virginia, we must plead ignorance. The first item of record which we have discovered about him is that in March, 1655/56, the Northampton County, Virginia, court ordered that "Henry Boston to have the child of Augustine Moore in his charge." Again his name appears on the records of the court in April 1657. It is evident that Henry Boston frequented the company of religious and political rebels in Northampton County, Virginia, and got himself into serious trouble by his too "free speech." Major William Andrews testified in open court, April 30, 1660, that "this Day ye late Acts of Assembly being published hee heard Henry Boston say they were simple foolish things whereupon Major Jno Tilney Reprimanded him & Henry Boston demanded wheither hee did it out of envy & further Saith not." Upon this testimony the court of Northampton County, on May 28, 1660 "ord'd yt Henry Boston shall for his contempt of Authority & speaking Reproachfull words wen ye Acts of Assembly were publishing bee fined two thousand pounds of tobb [tobacco]: & Remain in ye Sherr Custody tell hee enter into bond w'th Sufficient Security for his good behavior to ye Grand Assembly & all ye free people of this Country & pay Court charges." From this incident we can veritably place Henry Boston's association with the rebellious Quakers and other non-conformist elements in Northampton County; for "ye late Acts of Assembly . . . published" in that county on April 30, 1660, and about which Boston was so frankly contemptious, were the Acts passed by the Assembly in March, 1660, one of which was a drastic law against Quakers. . . . In August, 1661, we discover that Henry Boston's wife was named Anne, and that they were living in Northampton County. We do not know the date of Henry Boston's leaving Northampton County, Virginia, to settle at Annemessex on the lower Eastern Shore of Maryland; however, he was established at Annemessex by the Fall of 1663. Boston appears as one of the immortal Annemessex men who, in October, 1663, offered stalwart defiance to Scarburgh's invasion. [See note below.] When the Commission of the Peace for the "Eastern Shore below Choptank River" was augmented in August, 1665, to meet the needs of a rapidly increasing and expanding population, Henry Boston's name appears in the commission then issued; and he was also named as one of the members of the first court of Somerset when the county was established in August, 1666. . . . He was again named in the Commission of the Peace for Somerset issued in March, 1675/76. In March, 1671/2, Henry Boston became the object of the Somerset Grand Jury's indictment because of his action in a rather interesting proceeding. The record reads that on March 12, 1671, the grand jury presents "Henry Boston for entertaining the wife of Thomas Davis and Thomas Davis for disposing of his said wife to the said Boston." Writs of arrest were then issued against the said Boston and Davis, returnable to June court, 1672. At a court held for Somerset County, June 11, 1672, suits in his Lordship's name were entered against Boston and Davis on their former presentments by the grand jury and the cases brought to trial. Boston "appears & pleades & saith that he hired her [Judith Davis] with the consent of her husband [Thomas Davis] and Craves A nonsuite. Tho: Davis, Taylor [tailor] appeares and Saith he gave Consent to it. Whereupon the Co'rt ord'rs A Nonsuite." Thomas Davis appearing in the suit against him in this cause made plea, "saying that for want of sufficiency for maintenance he gave consent that she [his wife, Judith Davis] shoulld Live at Mr Bostons & craves A Nonsuite. Whereupon the Co'rt orders a nonsuite." The question involved in the indictment of Henry Boston and Thomas Davis and the legal proceedings against them was that of a man's having the right to so dispose of his wife and of the right of another to receive the wife so disposed of. On the face of it the matter looks like a simple trading in human flesh by two men. Evidently there was an illegal as well as an inhuman aspect of this Boston-Davis matter shocking to the moral sensibilities of the community and forcing the authorities to take cognizance thereof. However, the court, when the matter came to trial, accepted Boston's explanation that he had simply hired Judith, the wife of Thomas Davis and Thomas Davis' explanation that he had given consent that his wife should live at Mr. Boston's because he, Davis, was not able to support her. The court, as we have seen, cleared both Boston and Davis of their indictments. However, other records prove that Henry Boston was the father of an illegitimate child by Mrs. Judith Davis before she became the wife ot Thomas Davis, the tailor. That child, one Richard Boston, was born early in 1670 while his mother, Judith Best, married Thomas Davis in November, 1670, and as Judith Davis, wife of Thomas Davis, was living at Henry Boston's in March 1671/72, when the indictments recited above were returned by the Somerset Grand Jury. Henry Boston lived on a plantation called "Boston Town" on the South side of the Great Annemessex River. This plantation adjoined Ambrose Dixon's home place, "Dixon's Choice," and was sold, in November, 1677, by Henry Boston (son and heir of Henry Boston, deceased) to Captain Thomas Walker, and later sold by Walker to William Planner. Henry Boston died at his plantation in Annemessex on September 24, 1676. Henry Boston married, first, Ann (whose surname is unknown); second, Maarch 19, 1673, Elizabeth Rogerson. Henry Boston had issue by his first wife, Ann, the following children: (1) Henry Boston, Junior, born August 13, 1656; (2) Rebecca Boston, married ______Millner; (3) Ann Boston. Henry Boston had issue by his second wife, Elizabeth Rogerson: (4) Isaac Boston; (5) Esau Boston. Henry Boson had issue by Judith Best, an illegitimate son: (5) Richard Boston, born 1670. Mrs. Elizabeth (Rogerson) Boston married, secondly, Henry Lewis, of Anne Arundel County, Maryland. ----------------------------- Note: The Quakers were considered rebellious because they refused to recognize the Church of England and to pay their tithes. After the Acts were passed, Col. Edmund Scarburgh was sent into Annemessex and Manokin areas of Maryland (an area claimed by both Virginia and Maryland) and described in a report to the Governor the leaders of the rebellion: Stephen Horsey, ye Ignorant, yet insolent officer, a Cooper by profession who lived long in ye Lower parts of Accomack, once elected a Burgess by ye Comon Crowd & thrown out by ye Assembly for a factious and tumultuous person, A man Repugnant to all Govmt, of all sects yet professedly none, Constant in nothing but opposing Church Govmt, his Children at great ages yet uncristned, That left ye lower parts to head Rebellion at Amanessicks, where hee now liveth, and stands arrested, but bids defiance untill by stricter order delt wth; George Johnson ye proteus of heresy who hath bin often wanderin in this County where hee is notorious for shifting scismatticall pranks At length pitched at Anamessicks where hee hath bin this yeare and made a plantation, A known Drunkard & Reported by ye neighbors to be ye father of his Negro Wenches bastards, suspected to be made away privately, & wth stands Govmt. . . . Thomas Price a creeping quaker by trade a leather dresser, whose conscience would not serve to dwell amongst ye wicked, and therefore retired to Anamessicks, where he heares much & saith nothing else but yt hee would not obey Govmt; for wchhee also stands arrested. Ambrose Dixon a caulker by profession that lived longe in ye lower parts, was often in question for hs quaking profession, removed to Anamessicks, there to Act what hee could not be here permitted, Is a prater of nonsense, and much led by ye spirit of Ignorance, for wch he is followed, A receiver of many quakers, his house ye place of their Resort, and a Conveyor of or ingaged persons out of the County, averse to Govmt, for wch hee stands arrested, and y broad arrow on his doore, but bids defiance until severer course reforme him. Henry Boston an unmannerly fellow yt stands condemned on or records slighting & condeming ye Lawes of ye Country, a Rebell to Govment & disobedient to authority, for wch hee received a late reward wth a Rattan and hath not subscribed: hid himself & so scaped arest. These are all except two or three loose fellows yt follows ye quakers for scrapps whome a good whipp is fittest to Reforme. (pages 390-391) -------------------------- Maryland Archives Vol. 54, preface 34: Henry Boston, who was appointed one of the commissioners of the peace for the lower Eastern Shore on August 28, 1665, had probably come into Maryland from Virginia in 1662 or 1663. He was in Northampton County, Virginia, as early as 1655-56. At the time Scarburgh invaded the lower Eastern Shore in October 1663, Boston was one of the Annemessex group who actively opposed the Virginia pretensions. When Somerset County was erected in August, 1666, he was reappointed as a justice for that county. Boston was an aggressive non-conformist and had been fined in Northampton County Court in 1660 for the "simple foolish things" which he had uttered and for his "contempt for authority and speaking reproachful words." He does not seem to have been a Quaker, although he was in close affiliation with members of this sect in Annemessex, where he lived on his plantation, "Bostontown," on the south side of the Great Annemessex River. Here he died, September 24, 1676, and was buried. Torrence says that Boston was indicted by the Somerset County grand jury in March 1671/72 and was brought before the county court June 11, 1672, grand jury having presented him for "entertaining the wife of Thomas Davis and Thomas Davis for disposing of his said wife to the said Boston." Boston was acquitted when he explained that he had simply hired Judith, the wife of Thomas Davis, a tailor, because Davis would not support her; but notwithstanding this there are said to be other records which show that Boston was the father of an illegitimate child by Judith Best before she became the wife of Thomas Davis. The situation had obviously given rise to more or less scandal in the neighborhood, but the county records of Somerset here printed to not extend to the date of this episode. |