-68-

MAJOR JOHN FREEMAN 

Generation 4

John Freeman son of Edmund Freeman, the Immigrant, was born in 1622 in Pulborough, Sussex county, England. His baptism did not occur until January 28, 1626/7 in neighboring Billingshurst (nine miles to the north), and this took place in St Mary the Virgin Parish Church.

In July 1635 he sailed on the ship ABIGAIL with his parents: Edmund and Elizabeth Freeman, and his siblings: Alice, Edmund, and Elizabeth to Saugus, now known as Lynn, Massachusetts. In March 1990, when wife Nancy Jean and I visited Lynn, Massachusetts, its current appearance was that of an East Coast mill town-a far cry from what it looked like in November 1635 when he arrived.

We know that he moved with his parents from Saugus to Duxbury in 1636, to Plymouth shortly afterward; and then in 1637 to newly created Sandwich on Cape Cod-the first town so created there. His father, Edmund Freeman, was the Proprietor of Sandwich as noted in "Sandwich, A Cape Cod Town" by R.A. Lovell. Other than this we have no personal knowledge of him during this phase..

In 1646 his future father-in-law: Thomas Prence moved to Nauset (now known as Eastham, Massachusetts) on the east coast of Cape Cod.

On February 13, 1649-50 he married Thomas Prence's daughter Mercy in Nauset. (It was not renamed Eastham until 1651) .

No birth record has to date been found for Mercy Prence, but she was born in 1631 according to gravestone computations. The place of birth must have been Duxbury, MA because her parents were living there then.

According to MFIP: William Brewster, published 1994, page 27, "An early settler in Eastham, John Freeman was a large landholder and attained the military rank of Major. (There is a Colonial War marker adjacent to his gravestone in Cove Burying Ground in Eastham, MA.). Prominent in civic affairs, he served as Deputy to the General Court, Assistant in the government. Selectman, Deacon of the Eastham Church, and was appointed to the Bench of the Common Pleas:. Further, "The autograph signature of John Freeman is found on a deed, dated 25 March 1663, when he exchanged land of 'my father, Thomas Prence', with Hannah Mayo (his sister-in-law)".

MFIP Brewster further says: The will of Major John Freeman of Eastham, dated 1 June 1716 proved 10 November 1719 (note: he had died on October 28th), named his eldest son John, Executor; gave his son Edmund, all land and housing where he lived in Eastham..." and made other bequests to all his surviving children. Son Edmund Freeman died soon afterward-in 1718/19 and was buried in the same cemetery plot in Cove Burying Ground. He, too, had a Colonial War emblem adjacent to the grave.