Essex County, Massachusetts was created on May 10, 1643 by the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, when it ordered "that the whole plantation within this jurisdiction be divided into four sheires."
A yeoman was a man who owned and cultivated a small farm. He belonged to the class below the gentry or land owners. A husbandman was a free tenant farmer. The social status of a husbandman was below that of a yeoman.
Mark Fiske was born on November 20, 1716 in Ipswich, Essex County, Massachusetts. His parents were Joseph Fiske and Susannah Warner. He was a yeoman.
He married Lydia Smith on November 2, 1738 in Ipswich, Essex County, Massachusetts. Lydia was born February 14, 1717/18 in Ipswich. Her parents were Thomas Smith and Elizabeth Emmons.
Mark was the executor of his father's will. In 1740, Lydia owned the covenant of the church.
Lydia and Mark's children included:
Lydia Fiske (1739), Joseph Fiske (1740/41, married Eleanor Abbott and Sarah Hobbs),
Mark Fiske (1742/43),
John Fiske (1746),
Susanna Fiske (1748),
Elizabeth Fiske (1750),
Sarah Fiske (1752),
Abner Fiske (1755, married Hannah Jefferds), and
Ruth Fiske (1757, died young).
Lydia died on September 27, 1759 when she was 41 years old.
According to Fiske and Fisk Family by Frederick Clifton Pierce, after she died, Mark married Eleanor Porter Abbott on March 12, 1762. She was the widow of Nehemiah Abbot.
On May 7, 1763 Mark and Eleanor sold Benjamin Dutch a house and 30 acres in Ipswich. The land was bounded by Daniel Chapman's land, the County Road, Joseph Metcalf's land, and land they still owned.
On October 28, 1763 they sold John Calef a 70 acre farm, with a house and a barn in Ipswich. This land was bounded by Joseph Metcalf, Captain Stanford's meadow and lands owned by Daniel Rindge, William Hobson, and Daniel Chapman, as well as the County Road.
Old Style Calendar
Before 1752 the year began on Lady Day, March 25th,. Dates between January 1st and March 24th were at the end of the year. Old Style (O.S.) and New Style (N.S.) are used to indicate whether the year has been adjusted. Often both dates are used.
The town of Ipswich was established on August 5, 1634, from common land called Agawam. On October 18, 1648, that portion called the "Village" at the New Meadows was set off as Topsfield. The boundary line between Ipswich and Topsfield was established, February 28, 1694.
Lush forests in Colonial America allowed settlers to build wooden homes.
Estate inventories give us a glance into the home life of Colonial Americans.
from The Fiske Family: A History of the Family (Ancestral and Descendant) of William Fiske, Sen., of Amherst, N. H. by Albert Augustus Fiske
...Mark [Fiske], born in 1716, married Lydia Smith in 1738, and had
Lydia,
Joseph (1741),
Mark (1743),
John (1746), and
Susanna.
Of these, Joseph [Fiske] was twice married, and had following
Eleanor,
Joseph (1767),
Benjamin (1768),
Sarah,
Lydia,
Elizabeth, and
Mark (1778).
It was common for bequests to include wearing apparel.
Mark Fisk, and wife Eleanor, of Ipswich, yeoman, mortgaged to Benjamin Dutch of Ipswich, yeoman, 30 acres of his homestead land in Ipswich with his dwelling house &c bounded by land of Daniel Chapman, County Road, Joseph Metcalf & his other land, May 7, 1763.
Mark Fisk & wife Eleanor of Ipswich, yeoman, sold to John Calef of Ipswich a certain farm, house, and barn lying in Linebrook Parish, Ipswich bounded by Joseph Metcalf, meadow of Capt Stanford & Daniel Rindge, William Hobson, Daniel Chapman, & County Road, 70 acres more or less, Oct 28, 1763.
