“Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists."
― Franklin D. Roosevelt
The New England Meetinghouse was the only municipal building in a town. Both worship and civil meetings were held there. It was customary for men and women to sit separately and the town chose a committee once a year to assign seats according to what was paid, age, and dignity.
Early European settlers in the American colonies were mostly farmers and craftsmen. They had to work hard to provide daily neccesities for themselves.
Mary Kimball Knowlton was born on December 10, 1658 in Ipswich, Massachusetts. Her parents were John Kimball and Mary Bradstreet.
When she was 25, she married the much older, Deacon Thomas Knowlton on May 17, 1683. Thomas was a brick mason. In 1645 Henry Batcheller sold Thomas Knowlton a six acre lot on the hill on the north side of the river in Ipswich.
They settled in Ipswich.
Thomas had been married before to Susannah who died on November 20, 1680. Thomas did not have children with either wife, but provided for his brother, William Knowlton's, two sons and daughter. On November 19, 1678, Thomas wrote his will and
. . . gave a coat to brother William, and his two boys I keept to scool from the age of 5 to 8 years, and a girl from the age of one & a half years till she was married.
He was deacon from 1667-1668 of the First Church in Ipswich.
Mary died on November 20, 1680. Thomas died April 3, 1692 at age 70.
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.
Deacons played a respected and important role in early New England churches. They sat in a raised pew near the pulpit and had special duties during communion.
Various spellings of Kimball:
Kemball, Kembolde, Kembold
Europeans who made the voyage to America faced a difficult journey of several months.
New England Historical and Genealogical Register by the New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1861.
The third brother, Dea. Thomas Knowlton, was born in 1622. He m. first, Susanna. His second wife was Mary Kimball, to whom he was m. May 17, 1682. It does not appear that he had children.
On the 19th of Nov. 1678, Dea. Thomas thus writes:
gave a coat to brother William, and his two boys I keept to scool from the age of 5 to 8 years, and a girl from the age of one & a half years till she was married.
He died April 3, 1692, aged 70 years. [In 1679 he was the administrator of Henry Batcheller's estate.]
