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Hugh Gunnison was born ABT 1610. He died AFT 21 SEP 1658.
Hugh Gunnison's wife was Sarah Lynn. They were married 23 MAY 1647 in Boston, MA. They had one known child named Elihu Gunnison (1650-?).
Genealogy Of The Descendants Of Hugh Gunnison,
OF BOSTON, MASS.
COVERING THE PERIOD FROM 1610-1876.
One Hundred And Twenty-seven Families Bearing
The Name Of Gunnison.
One Thousand Five Hundred Of His Descendants In The
United States.
Compiled By
GEORGE W. GUNNISON, A.M.
Tradition informs us that Hugh Gunnison was born in Sweden, but came
to America a single man, with an English Colony composed of five
families, named respectively Scammons, Frost, Bryar and Raynes, two of
the families bearing the same name. They reached Piscataqua harbor
before there was any house in Portsmouth ; i. e., before 1631, and when
there were but two small huts on Great Island, now New Castle. He first
settled at Dover Neck, N. H. My father had this direct from his
grandfather, who was born in 1713. I have derived the same intelligence,
substantially, from other independent sources.
Public Records show that Hugh Gunnison was in Boston in 1634, and how
much earlier cannot now be ascertained. On the occasion of his admission
to the church that year, he was entitled " Servant to our Bro. Richard
Bellingham." Now Richard Bellingham came to Boston in New England
from Boston in old Engladd, where he was " Recorder," with his wife and
son in 1634. He was subsequently Governor of the Colony of
Massachusetts Bay.
May 25, 1636, Hugh Gunnison was made Freeman and took the usual
oath, with sixty-eight others, including Mr. Richard Bellingham, Mr. John
Winthrop, Sen., Mr. John Humfrey, Mr. Thomas Dudley, Will. Coddington,
Simon Bradstreet, Robert Kaine, Thomas Savage, and John Higginson.
Jan. 9, 1637. In the distribution of land to the residents of Boston, there
was allotted to " Brother Hugh Gunnison at the Mount, for three heads,"
implying that he had a wife and also a child born before 1637. (Vide
Drake, p. 233.)
Nov. 30, 1637. With fifty-seven others of the best citizens of Boston, he
was disarmed for the Hutchinson Heresy.
Feb. 28, 1642. He proposed "to keep an Ordinary with a Cooke's Shop."
June 14, 1642. " Hugh Gunnison haveing set up a Cooke's shop is alowed
to sell beare to his guestes some at 2d a quart, some at \d a quart,
being al ways to have small beare for such as desire it."
May 14, 1645. "Hugh Gunnison and Susan Hudson were denied to draw
wine."
Jan. 25, 1646. His first wife, Elizabeth, died in Boston.
May 22, 1646. "At a session of ye General Court the Deputes haveing
bene comfortably pvided for and \vth due attendance ye Corte hath
voted y1 Hugh Gunnison shalbe paid w,h ye first, either out of ye custome
of wines, or ye wampum from ye Narragansett when those bill wch are
charged thereupon are satisfied and y1 his servants be alowed out of ye
treasury 20 S. for their service."
In 1646 he was duly enrolled as a member of the Ancient and Honorable
Artillery Company.
Nov. 4, 1646. He was licensed for Boston.
May 23, 1647. For n1s second wife he married Sarah, the widow of
Henry Lynn. (See Drake.)
Dec. 11, 1648. He was again licensed for Boston.
Jan. 29, 1649. "Hugh Gunnison may payle in for 40 S. six foot of ground
in width and twelve in length down to his sign post."
The " Book of Possessions" in Boston (see Drake), contains the following :
" Gunnison, Hugh. 1 House and Garden the St. S. E. Geo. Burden, N. E.
Wm. Hudson, Jr., N. W., Wm. Ting W'd 10 (4) 1650." (June 10, 1650,
probable date of his Deed.) Robert Saltonstall, gr. Hugh G. 50 A, in
Salem near Mr. Downing's Farm, late the land of Richd. Walker of Salem :
Deed 25 (5) 1647. In pres. of Rich. Stileman, John Bushnell and Wm.
Aspinwall."
Oct. 29, 1650. " Hugh Gunnison of Boston granted unto Mr. Anthony
Stoddard and Henry Shrimpton all that his dwelling house called by ye
name of the King's Armes, with all that land, brewhouse, barnes, stables,
yards, thereto belonging, with all his furniture therein, as beds, bedding,
linnen and woollen, curtains, vallence, pewter, brass, copper, tables,
stooles, with his horse, cows and fifteen swine, and all his brewing
vessels. And this was for considerable summes to them due. Provided,
that if the said considerable summes of money due to them be paid at or
before the 28th of October, 1650, and then his Deed to be void,
otherwise to remain in force. Acknowledged with the consent of his wife,
Oct. 29, 1650, before William Hibbins."
April"], 1691, above Mortgage satisfied and ordered to be taken off.
(Suffolk Rec., Lib. \.f. 128.)
April "j, 1651. Deed from Hugh Gunnison of Boston in New England,
Vintner, and Sarah his wife to John Sampson, Henry Shrimpton, and
William Brenton, all of Boston, Merchants, in consideration of ^"600
Sterling, for the above property, and the goods specified in an Inventory
annexed in eighteen rooms, halls and closets. On record in Suffolk
Records, Lib. 1, folios 135, 136, and copied here in Appendix.
" The King's Arms Tavern formerly as early as two centuries ago was the
principal place of entertainment in the town, at the corner of Col.
Shrimpton's Lane, now called Exchange St. Afterwards called States Arms
Tavern, in State Street, then known as Water St." " The ordinary where the
magistrates used to diet, 1653. Owned by Henry Shrimpton, 1666."
(Shurtleff, pp. 396, 641.)
Hugh Gunnison must have gone directly from Boston to Kittery, Me., in
1651, for in that year, we find him noticed by the Grand Jury at Kittery,
as follows :
" We present Hugh Gunnison for neglect of enclosing up his copper or
Furnace, after notice given him of the danger, whereby a man fell and
was scalded and died the next day ensuing, by means whereof he was
buried without a coroner's inquest."
He is mentioned in Genealogical Register, VIII., 61, as being in Kittery on
Sept. 22, 1652.
Nov. 16, 1652. Hugh Gunnison and forty others, including Wm. Hilton,
Charles Frost, Nicholas Shapleigh, Humfrey Chadbourne, and Thomas
Withers (early settlers of Dover, N. H.), appeared before the
Commissioners at Kittery and submitted to the Government of
Massachusetts Bay in New England. (Gen. Reg. III., 192.)
Nov. 20, 1652. The Town Commissioners in Kittery were Hugh Gunnison,
Bryan Pendleton, and Thomas Withers. The licensed Innholder or
Ordinaries were John Davis of York, and Hugh Gunnison of Kittery. The
latter was " required to pay only 20 S. the butt for his license to sell wine
and Strong water.''
Dec. 16, 1652. " Three Hundred Acres of Land were granted to Mr. Hugh
Gunnison."
May 18, 1653. Hugh Gunnison was appointed Judge of Common Pleas
with Brian Pendleton and Thomas Withers. He was also this year
Representative to the General Court for Kittery.
Aug. 24, 1653. "Granted to Mr. Hugh Gunnison a little island within
Spruce Creek on the West side, Ram Island, excepting any former grant."
(Kittery Town Records.)
In 1654, he was Representative to the General Court for Wells. (Date,
May 3, 1654.)
May 3, 1654. " In answer to a petition of Hugh Gunnison, and the case
respecting him and Capt. Shapleigh, and the late Court held at York, it is
ordered, and hereby declared that all Hugh Gunnison's goods shall be
returned to him, taken away by execution or replevin at Capt. Shapleigh's
sute and the damage and costs shall be made good according to the
Judgment of Capt. Richard Walden and Mr. Valentine Hill, and if they
cannot agree, they are to choose a third man, and then to determine it,"
&c.
Aug. 12, 1656. With others he petitions Oliver Cromwell for relief from
Royal Exactions.
May 6, 1657. " Hugh Gunnison being returned by the Constable of Kittery
to serve as a Deputy for y' towne upon information against him, was
judged unmeet for y' service and so dismist ye Court and discharged
from what employments he hath had, both in Military and Judiciary
affayres." (Mass. Col. Records, III., 431.)
Notwithstanding he had been disarmed for Heresy in Boston, and had
been driven away by oppression, the tyranny of the " Lords Brethren," it
seems, reached Hugh Gunnison even in his retreat at Kittery. Although he
had the popular vote, he was not allowed to discharge the duties of the
office to which he was elected, or to exercise any office of trust or
authority in the colony.
The inuendo of Bourne in his " History of Wells and Kennebunk," p. 96,
that the General Court refused to admit him as a member when elected
to that position by the Town of Kittery, on the ground that he was a "
licensed rum-seller," is not justified by the facts, and is unworthy a place
in serious history.
The latest notice of Hugh Gunnison that I can find, is under date of Sept.
21, 1658. ((Sen. Reg.
VIL, 3S4-)
One of Hugh Gunnison's daughters married a man named Tucker. For on
Nov. 4, 1718, one Richard Tucker took out Letters of Administration,
filed his bond, and an Inventory, on the Estate of Hugh Gunnison, late of
Kittery, deceased, his Grandfather. (See Probate Records, Alfred, York
Co., Me.)
His son, Joseph, (b. Mar. 31, 1659) was never married. On the old
Gunnison place (granted Dec. 16, 1652), was a Garrison House erected
by Hugh the year previous. One evening in the fall of 1707, while a
violent snow storm was raging, the above Joseph was stationed as a
sentinel at this house, as hostile Indians were in the neighborhood. His
instructions were to hail any person approaching, three times, and if no
answer was returned, to fire. Now it happened that a boatload of persons
from Portsmouth landed near by, among whom was Grace, the wife of
William YVentworth, who had left a young child at home, and was hurrying
on, in advance of the rest of the company, past the Garrison house,
muffled up in her cloak, facing the driving snow storm. She was hailed,
and not replying, was fired upon by Joseph Gunnison, and mortally
wounded. Before she died, she acquitted him of all blame in the matter,
but his own conscience refused to pronounce him guiltless. Although he
was put on trial for the homicide and legally aquitted, he was himself
always under the impression that he was guilty of murder. During the rest
of his life he was melancholv, and at times deranged.
Tradition by Mrs. Saml. Gunnison (Sally Norton.) The following from the
York County, Me. Records, confirms the tradition :
"Joseph Gunnison tried at Kittery Court for killing Grace, the wife of Wm.
Wentworth, on 27th day of Sept. 1707. He was acquitted."
The woman who was killed was one of the children of Nicholas Tucker,
who made his Will Jan. 21, 1716—17, Proved April 2, 1717, and willed
to his grandson, William Wentworth, his mother's portion of his estate.
Richard Tucker, who administered on the estate of his grandfather, Hugh
Gunnison, was probably first cousin to the woman who was killed. That
would make the woman first cousin to Joseph Gunnison's nephew.
GUNNISON score of years after the planting of the colony at Plymouth in 1
620, there came to New England five immigrant families who bore the sur
names of Scammon, Frost. Bryar and Raynes, two having the same name.
These are said to have been families of English birth and origin, and that
with them came one of another nationality a Swede, young, strong and
of good appearance, whose name was Hugh Gunnison, founder of the firs
t family of that name in New England.
It may be said, however, that early New England records are not quite cle
ar in respect to the date of birth, the year of landing and the events of th
e early life of Hugh Gunnison, or in respect to the date of his first marriag
e, the family name of his first wife and the precise number of his children
; but the best information drawn from all reliable sources, supplemented
with well preserved family tradition, indicate that he was born about the y
ear 1610, and -came to New England probably in 1630: that the colonist
s of whose number he was one entered Piscataqua harbor before there w
as any habitation of man at Portsmouth and when there were only two sm
all huts on Great Island (New Castle). His later movements, so far as the r
ecords searched tend to throw light on the matter, cannot be given with a
ny safe degree of accuracy, but generally it may be said that he was first
of Vintner, New Hampshire, then <-f Boston, and later of Kittery, Maine,
where he died September 21, 1658.
(I) Hugh Gunnison was in Boston as early as 1634, and on May 25. 1636.
with sixty-eight others subscribed to the test oath and was accepted as a
freeman. In the distribution of lands to the freemen of Boston on January
9, 1637, there was allotted to "Brother Hugh Gunnison at the Mount for th
ree heads," indicating that he then had a wife and one child, although "Re
cords of Boston" says that Sarah Gunnison, daughter of Hugh Gunnison
and Elizabeth his wife, was born December 14, 1637. From the same so
urce it is learned that Elizabeth Gunnison, daughter of Hugh and Elizabet
h Gunnison, was born February 25, 1640, and also that their third child.
Deborah (immison. was born in August, 1642. It may be well to state in t
his connection that Sarah was not the first born of Hugh and Elizabeth Gu
nnison, but that their first child died in extreme infancy. Elizabeth, first wi
fe of Hugh Gunnison, died November 25, 1646 (Records of Boston), and
after her death he married Sarah Lynn, who bore him two sons, Joseph, b
orn January , 1649, and Elihu, born February 12. 1650. In Novem
ber, 1637, Hugh Gunnison was one of fiftyeight of "the best citizens of Bo
ston" who were charged with complicity in the Hutchinson heresy, and for
that offense were deprived of the privilege of bearing arms. He must hav
e gone from' Boston to Kittery, in Maine, before 1651, for in that year he
was noticed by the grand jury of that town. In 1654 (date of May 3), he w
as representative of Wells to the general court.
(II) Elihu, sixth child and youngest son of Hugh Gunnison, was born in Bost
on. February 12, 1650, and died after March 29, 1729. He was a shipwr
ight by business occupation and a man of considerable influence among t
he townsmen. In 1680 he joined with other inhabitants of York, Kittery an
d Wells in an address to Charles II, praying to be relieved of the Puritan g
overnment of Boston, and in the same year he was acting magistrate. His
name does not appear in the public records of Kittery before the year 16
93, when he was chosen selectman, in which capacity he continued to ser
ve until 1710. On May 9, 1693, he was appointed with others to give inst
ructions to the deputy of the representatives to ' the general court at Bost
on. From 1699 to 1726 he was moderator of the town. Elihu Gunnison m
arried, first, November 10. 1674, at Dover, New Hampshire, Martha Tric
kee, who died before November 23, 1765. The Christian name of his sec
ond wife was Elizabeth, but her family name is unknown. By his first wife
Elihu Gunnison had four children and two by his second wife. Mentioned i
n the oTder of birth these children were as follows: Elihu, born in Dover,
New Hampshire; a child, born in Dover and afterward killed by the Indian
s; Priscilla, born at Kittery. and married Nicholas Weeks; Mary, married Jo
seph Weeks; Joseph : Elizabeth, married John Walker.
(III) Joseph, son of Elihu Gunnison and Elizabeth, his wife, was born Octob
er 14, 1690, and died September 8, 1748. He was by trade a shipwrigh
t, following the occupation of his father; and he was a pious man. upright
in his daily walk, and exercised an influence for good in the community in
which he lived. He was admitted to the church April 14. 1720, and was el
ected deacon April 2, 1731. On July 15, 1724, he was made clerk of the
parish of Kittery. He married four times: First, Susanna Follett; second, Eli
zabeth Lewis; third, Margaret Wilson, and fourth. Susanna Ayers. His child
ren, in the order of birth, were: Samuel, John. David, William. Christopher,
Benjamin. Margaret, William (the second child so named), Elizabeth and L
ydia.
(IV) Samuel, eldest son and child of Joseph Gunnison, of whom mention is
made in the preceding paragraph, and of the fourth generation of the de
scendants of Hugh Gunnison and Sarah his wife, was born in Kittery, Main
e, January 27, 1720-1, and to him is accorded the honor of having found
ed in New Hampshire that particular branch of the Gunniscn family whose
representatives in succeeding generations have been so prominently iden
tified
with the best interests and history of Sullivan county for nearly a century a
nd a half of years. Samuel Gunnison was a carpenter in Kittcry until 1749,
when he removed to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where his wife and the second
of their children died. He afterward returned to Kittery. lived several mor
e years in that town, and in 1765 moved with his second wife and family t
o the town of Goshen, New Hampshire. He was one of the pioneers of the
town and one of its foremost citizens until the time of his death, May 14,
1806. He married, first, February 6, 1745, Jane Fernald, who died Janua
ry 20, 1750, and married, second. May 3. 1752, Alice Fernald, a sister o
f his first wife, and who died July 5, 1804. She was born February 21, 17
25-26. The children of Samuel Gunnison were Susanna, who married Ed
mund Wilson; Joseph; Margaret, who married Joseph Chandler, of Goshen
; Samuel; Ephraim, who died in infancy; Daniel; Ephraim and Nathaniel, t
wins, and Alice.
(V) Ephraim Gunnison, son of Samuel and Alice (Fernald) Gunnison, was b
orn in Goshen, New Hampshire, July 16, 1766, and with his twin brother
Nathaniel was the first of his surname to be born in that town. He was a f
armer by occupation, a thorough, practical, hard-working farmer, and by
his energy and thrift acquired a fair competency for his time. He lived to
attain the full age of eightyfive years and for many years was a consistent
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In politics he was a Democrat
. Ephraim Gunnison died June, 1851. His wife, whom he married August
6, 1787, was Deborah Freeman, born January 24. 1764, died April, 185
.3. They had seven children : Eunice, who married Ebenezer Batcheldcr ;
Deborah, who married Abner Colby; Lucy, who married James Osgood; L
ois, who married John' Stephens; Vina!, who married Eliza Baker and had
eight children; Ebenezer; and Margaret, who became the wife of David H
astings.