Various spellings of Estey
Easte, Este, Estee, Estes, Estey, Esty
The settlement of New Meadows was incorporated as the Town of Topsfield in 1650. The church "gathered" on November 4, 1663. The third Meeting House was built in 1703 with Rev. Joseph Capen as pastor.
Many factors led to the witchcraft accusations in Salem.
In 1688, during theGlorious Revolution, the Protestant king and queen,William and Mary, took the English throne from Catholic King James II. The bloodless revolution profoundly impacted the American colonies.
Jacob Estey was born January 24, 1674/75 in Topsfield, Essex County, Massachusetts. His parents were Isaac Estey and Mary Towne. He was a bricklayer.
When he was 18, in 1692, his mother, Mary Towne Estey, became a victim of the Salem hysteria and was executed for witchcraft.
He was appointed by his father in 1710 to take the petition to court for damages in his mother’s death.
He married Lydia Elliott on March 25, 1710. Lydia was born about 1688. Many reseachers believe she was the daughter of John and Naomi Elliot, but she does not appear in lists of their children.
Jacob and Lydia's children included:
Jacob Estey (1711, married Dorcas Hovey),
Lydia Estey Towne (1713, married Isaac Towne, son of William, Edmund), Isaac Estey (1715, married Sarah Gould),
Anna Estey (1719, died young), and
Mary Estey (1720/21, died young).
When his father died in 1712, he inherited the Estey homestead. That included the house, barn, other buildings, orchards, fields, pastures and meadows. It also included farming and barrel making tools and the road.
As for my son Jacob, my will is yt he & his heirs forever have my now dwelling house, together with barn, and other buildings with my orchards, plow lands pasture lands and meadows not already otherwise disposed of together with all my Implements of husbandry, weaving or Copering also my will is yt my son Jacob have ye whole of my movable estate yt shall be left at my decease he taking off & discharging my funeral expenses whom I do appoint sole Executor of this my last will . . . also my son Jacob and his heirs forever shall have all my right in cart or drift way as expressed by deeds.
He was selectman in 1725.
Jacob died in 1732.
After he died Lydia moved to Vermont with her son, Isaac.
His aged mother came to town with him, rode in a chaise which it required several men to steady and help over the obstructions of the way, and was the first adult female that died in Royalston.
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.
Three daughters of William Towne and Joanna Blessing were wrongly accused of practicing witchcraft in Salem. Rebecca Towne Nurse, Mary Towne Estey, and Sarah Towne Bridges Cloyes were persecuted in 1692. The children of people in the line below are all descendants of Mary Estey.
The use of the term ye to mean the derives from Early Modern English, in which the was written "þe," employing the Old English letter thorn: "þ."
Ye is also the plural of thou.
In early New England towns policy was set by a board of 3 to 5 selectmen. They oversaw public responsibilities such as the policing, roads, and fences.
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."
