Surnames Starting With (  U )

Complete Revision of:

A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England
showing three generations of those who came before May 1692
on the basis of John Farmer`s Register

Volume 1 originally published Boston 1860-62

Second revision published by James Savage 1965
Baltimore Genealogical Publishing Company 1965
History of Congress Catalog Card no. 65-185451  

Edited for easier and friendly internet-search of names, by
Donald F. Day, Ottawa, ON, Canada
February 2014

PREFACE

John Farmer`s original continuous text has been found by many genealogists to be quite cumbersome, not easy to follow with his constant use of abbreviations, and in places almost impossible to interpret.  Over the past 18 months I have painstakingly sifted through Farmer`s condensed text, editing, rearranging, and reformating in the hopes of aiding researchers in their quest for family histories. 

I cannot guarantee that my interpretations are correct, so like any professional genealogist using resource materials, I would suggest that other sources be used in your search for exactness.

 U

UFFORD, UFFOOTE, or UFFIT.  See Offit.  probably the first spelling here is the best.

JOHN UMPHERVILE, JOHN UMBERFIELD, JOHN HEMPEHREVILLE, JOHN UMFREVILLE, New Haven 1674, a proprietor 1685, was perhaps father of Samuel and Mary, and may have had other children.  One Mary Umphervile, perhaps his sister married 26 March 1684, Thomas Mallery, and another married 28 November 1694, Ebenezer Downes, who may justsify a conjecture that two families of the name lived there. 

SAMUEL UMPHERVILE, SAMUEL UMBERFIELD, SAMUEL HEMPEHREVILLE, SAMUEL UMFREVILLE, New Haven, perhaps son of the preceding, had by wife named Sarah, born 2 April 1695; Ann, 28 April 1700; John, 15 March 1702; Thomas, 8 February 1705; Elizabeth, 27 October 1708; Esther, 12 September 1710; Mary, 28 Aug 1714; and David, 16 August 1716. 

GILES UNDERHILL, was complaining of in New Hampshire 1668, for not living with his wife. 

JOHN UNDERHILL, Boston, came in the fleet with Winthrop as Captain of a military force that might be employed or instructed, as he had service under the great Dutch prince in the war of the Netherlands, speedily joined the church being counted number 57 in the list, and was sworn a freeman 18 May 1630.  His wife Helena joined 15 December 1633, and their daughter Elizabeth was baptized 14 February 1636; and son John, 24 April 1642, about 13 days old; but he was less fortunate in the church than in the town, served representative at the first Court that deputies came to, and in the earliest and the last hours of the Pequot war.  He wrote a short story of his service which is the first Article In 3 Massachusetts history Collection VI.  Soon after returning from the triumph at the total extirpation of that tribe, our victor Captain was in November 1637, the first named among the disarmed for the antinominity heresy, and driven away to New Hampshire where his rest lasted not long, though he was chosen Governor at Dover, in place of Burdett, 1638, the same infirmity rendered his removal unavoidable and he went to the Dutch.  With them he succeeded obtaining good estate on Long Island, and to that juridiction transferred his allegiance, yet gladly resumed it on the conqquest by the English, and died before the reconquered late in 1671 or early in 2.  His heirs enjoyed the lands without the martial toils of their ancestors.  By the will of 18 September 1671, of which his son John was made administrator 4 November 1675, no unusual provisions are made except that his youngest son Nathaniel remain with his mother Elizabeth until he be 21.  In it he calls himself of Killingworth, Oyster Bay.  Bolton's history of West Chester, II. 229, repeats the absurd tradition about his service in Holland, eighty-five years before under patronage of the Earl of Leicester, the favorite of Queen Elizabeth.  Such ornaments belong to the work of diction, under the name of Updike Underhill, by Reyal Tyler; and thence probably they were derived by popular credulity.

HENRY UNDERWOOD, Newport, by wife Jane, had Jane, born 17 March 1670; William, 24 May 1671; and John, 3 August 1673 at Canonicut.

JAMES UNDERWOOD, Salem 1654, a baker. 

JOSEPH UNDERWOOD, Hingham 1637, removed to Watertown, freeman 1645, had Joseph, born 1650; Sarah; Mary; Martha; Hannah;  Elizabeth; and Thomas, 11 October 1658; and his wife died 13 February following.  Barry thinks he married 1662, but Morse writes 29 April 1665, Mary How of Dorchester, who died 1667, and he died 16 February 1677.  Mary married 18 May 1670, Isaac Ongee; Hannah married 14 October 1680, John Gibson; and Elizabeth married 13 September 1683, William Bull. 

JOSEPH UNDERWOOD, Watertown, son of the preceeding, by wife Elizabeth, had John, born 6 March 1677; Elizabeth, 8 May 1679; Joseph, 28 May 1681; Joshua, 31 January 1683, and by wife Mary, had Sarah, 9 May 1687; and Hannah, baptized 13 April 1690, was a freeman 1690, and died 1691, his widow Elizabeth Bond says, though he had not mentioned 3rd wife having administration.  HIs will of 16 February probated 7 April following names all these six children and Jonathan, besides, whose date is not seen in record. 

MARTIN UNDERWOOD, Watertown, came with wife Martha Fiske, he aged 38, she 31, in the Elizabeth from Ipswich, County Suffolk, April 1634.  She was sister of the first Nathan Fiske, had no children.  He was a cloth manufacturer or weaver, a freeman 3 September 1634, and died 7 November 1672, given by his will more than 9 years before all his property to wife for her life, next to one Fisk, nephew for his life, and remainder to another nephew.  His widow died 6 May 1684. 

PETER UNDERWOOD, came in the Rebecca 1635, form London, a husbandman, aged 22; but I hear no more of him. 

THOMAS UNDERWOOD, Hingham, brother of Joseph Underwood, a freeman 9 March 1637, was Representative 1637 and 48; removed to Watertown, there was selectman 1656, died 1668, his will of 15 February probated 7 April of that year gave to wife Magdalan for life, and remainder to Thomas Underwood, son of his brother Joseph Underwood, so that we infer, that he had no children.  The wife died 10 April 1687, aged 80. 

THOMAS UNDERWOOD, Watertown, son of Joseph Underwood the first, had wife Magdalen, but she seems to have been his second wife, and to her, by his will of 19 July 1679, he gave most of his property and residual to his only son Thomas, probably by the first wife.  See Bond, 610.  Very observed is it that both uncle and nephew had wives with unusual Christian names, which is very rare occurrence. 

WILLIAM UNDERWOOD, Concord, married widow Pellet, mother of Thomas, had Remembrance, born 25 February 1640; a freeman 1650; removed to Chelmsford as one of the first settlers there, had Deborah, 1653; Samuel, 14 February 1656, baptized 20 April following, but he may have had more before removing, as Sarah, 1642; Priscilla, 1647; and Aquila, who died 17 June 1657, eight years old.

CHRISTOPHER UNTHANK, Warwick, among a freeman there in 1655, had first been of Providence.  Susanna was his wife and the only child of who we hear was Mary, who married Job Almy.

GILBERT UPDIKE, Neweport, came, it is said, in 1664, from New York, married a daughter of Richard Smith of Narraganset, had Lodowick, about 1666, who was father of Daniel Updike, a man of distinction in Rhode Island a century ago. 

JAMES UPDIKE, a soldier, perhaps from Dorchester or Milton, served in Mosely's Company December 1675, before the great Narraganset fight.

JOHN UPHAM, Weymouth, came, as is thought with Reverend Joseph Hull, certainly was a freeman on the same day with him, 2 September 1635, was Representative 1636, 7, 8, and 9, had John, who was buried 5 June 1640, and perhaps others, certainly Pricilla, born 1642.  But he had probably brought from England Mary, born perhaps 1628; Elizabeth, 1630; Nathaniel, 1632; Hannah; and may have had soon after arriving Phineas, 1635.  These were by wife Elizabeth.  But before 1650 he removed to Malden, favored the cause of Marmaduke Matthews in 1652, and his wife died late in 1670, or early next year took, in August 1671, second wife Catharine, widow of Angel Hollard of Boston, as we learn by his deed of relinquishing all her property, was Deacon 24 years, and died 25 February 1682, aged 84, says the gravestone.   Mary married John Whittemore; Elizabeth married Thomas Welsh; Hannah married a Long, whose baptized name is not seen; but Bond, 959, makes her first married I think, erronous William Ballentine; and Pricilla married Thomas Crosswell. 

JOHN UPHAM, Malden, "a poor, friendless child coming from Barbadoes, about 4 years old, with John Upham of Barbadoes (who died on the voyage, October 1652), had been adopted by him, died at Charlestown, 25 November 1677, was engaged to marry Elizabeth Mousal, daughter of John Mousal, and gave her all his property except a musket to young Phineas Upham. 

JOHN UPHAM, Malden, son probably of Phineas Upham, married 31 October 1688, Abigail Hayward, daughter probably the youngest of Samuel Hayward of Malden. 

NATHANIEL UPHAM, Malden, son of the first John Upham, born in England, preached sometime at Malden, was a freeman 1653, married at Cambridge, 5 March 1662, Elizabeth Stedman, daughter of John Stedman, and he died 15 days after.  His widow married 27 April 1669, Henry Thompson. 

NATHANIEL UPHAM, Malden, son of the first John Upham, as the careful family history conjectured making his name only of the first two syllables but my scruple is strong.  Examination of the Colony record will satisfy instantly that a freeman of 1653, and the freeman of 1655, was the same.  By one of the scandalous blunders of Mr. Secretary Rawson, the list in the latter year is (in large part on both sides, next above and below, of the Nathaniel Upham) a uniform copy of that for the former year. 

PHINEAS UPHAM, Malden, son of the first John Upham, married 14 April 1658, Ruth Wood, perhaps daughter of Edward Wood of Charlestown, had Phineas, born 22 May 1659; Nathaniel, 1661; Ruth, 1664, died at 12 years John, 9 December 1666, Elizabeth; Richard; and Thomas; was Lieutenant of the Company headed by the brave Isaac Johnson of Roxbury, in the memorial battle of 19 December 1675, and after the Captain was killed recorded his mortal wounds of which he languished until October following.  The Colony record V. 122, shows how the government provided for relief of widow and her seven minor children.  His widow died 18 January 1697, aged 60.  What meaning to give the Malden record of marriage of Phineas Upham with Hannah Ensign, 19 September or November 1658, as given in Genealogical Registrar VI. 337, when only one Phineas at that time is heard of, I know not.  But this is one of many errors in that transcription which cost me very large researching.  The true husband of Hannah Ensign, 19 November 1658, was Thomas Shepard of Malden, the freeman of Woburn, 1684, I presume to be the son of the Lieutenant.  Farmer notes that in 1834, nine of this name had been graduates at Harvard and three at Dartmouth.  Of one brother of this family distinguished for its proportion of lawyers, clergy, judges, politicians and scholars, a good collection of Notices by Albert G. Upham, M.D. one of the later progeny, was published at Concord New Hampshire 1845.

NICHOLAS UPSHALL, or NICHOLAS UPSALL, Dorchester 1630, came probably in the Mary and John, was first heard of as member of the inquest on the body of Bratcher, killed by Walter Palmer, 30 September required administration as a freeman 19 October of that year, and was recorded 18 May following.  By wife Dorothy Capen, who was probably daughter of the first Bernard Capen, had Ann, born February 1636, died young; Elizabeth, February 1638; Susanna, 7 February 1640, who married 10 November 1659, as history of Dorchester, 88, says Joseph Clock; and Experience, 19 March 1641, a son who died under 19 years; was of artillery company 1637, and the same year took license for an ordinary, and served as selectman, 1638.  After some years he removed to Boston, and on the last Sunday of July 1644, he and his wife were administrators of our children.  On recommendation from that of Dorchester in 1656 he had so distinctly spoken against the intolerance of the government towards Quakers, as to subject him to fine £20, but the court had so much tenderness in their bigotry as, finding his wife innocent, they ordered that she should have part of the money.  But he was cruelly imprisoned for years after and died 20 August 1666; and his widow died 18 September 1675, aged 73.   His will, that is very honorable to his character may be read in volume I. 490.  Her will of 30 August 1673, may be seen in volume VI. 108.  Elizabeth married 4 July 1652, William Greenough, and after Captain Timothy Prout.

STEPHEN UPSON, by vulgar spelling STEPHEN UPSUM, conforms to sound, came to Boston, in the Increase from London, 1635, called a sawyer, aged 23, was living 20 years after, and I presume that he had a family but am ignorant of details.  See 3 Massachusetts history Collection VIII. 261.  Many years after that publication Mr. Drake, in Genealogical Registrar XIV. 312, marks this Stephen Upson, a lawyer, yet gives him the same number of years with my reading.  Perhaps his eyes were deluded by the handwiriting, for my own experience proves how easy it is to be wrong in such puzzles.  

STEPHEN UPSON, by vulgar spelling STEPHEN UPSUM, conforms to sound, Hartford, son of the first Thomas Upson, lived chiefly at Waterbury, married 29 December 1682, Mary Lee, daughter of the first John Lee of Farmington, had Mary, born 5 November following; Stephen, 30 September 1686; Elizabeth, 14 February 1690; Thomas, 1 March 1693; Hannah, son 16 March 1695; Tabitha, 11 March 1698; John, 13 December 1702; and Thankful, 14 March 1707; and all these eight were married.  His wife died 15 February 1716; and he, after being Representative 1710, 12, and so late as 29, died 1735, aged 80, or more.

THOMAS UPSON, by vulgar spelling THOMAS UPSUM, conforms to sound, Hartford, of which we know not from what part of England or when he came, may have been at Cambridge, or other town in Massachusetts before going to Hartford.  He probably was brother of the first Stephen Upson, and settled very early at Farmington, married for second wife 23 January 1646, Elizabeth Fuller, died 19 July 1655, leaving wife Elizabeth and children Thomas, Stephen, Mary, Hannah, and Elizabeth, all probably, some certainly born in England, but the daughter Elizabeth died the very day after her father.  The widow married Edmund Scott.  The name had been well perpetuated but I know not whether by both of the son or which of them. 

THOMAS UPSON, by vulgar spelling THOMAS UPSUM, conforms to sound, Saybrook, possibly son of the preceding, was killed casually 9 December 1672.

JOHN UPTON, Salem, 1658, a blacksmith, by wife Elinor, had James, born September 1660; William, Mary, and Elinor, who three died in 1663, but may not all have been younger, for another William was born 10 June of this year;  and Samuel, October 1664; Isabel, 3 January 1667; Ezekiel, September 1668; Joseph, 9 April 1670; and Francis, 1 July 1671; removed perhaps to Reading, a freeman 1691, there died 1699.  Probably he had family and Samuel, with William, at Salem, village 1686, and Ezekiel, with Joseph, Reading, may have been his son.  Ann, perhaps his daughter, married 4 April 1684, Samuel Fraye, as his second wife according to Essex Institute II. 95, but the man was never heard of by me.

JOHN URANN, JOHN URAN, or JOHN URIN, New Hampshire, married 12 November 1686, Rebecca Cate, may have been or Newbury 1669

WILLIAM URANN, WILLIAM URAN, or WILLIAM URIN, of New Hampshire says Farmer MS, died about 1664.

URING, or YOURING, Boston 1674, fisherman.

HEZEKIAH USHER, Cambridge, a freeman 14 March 1639, by wife Frances, had Hezekiah, born June 1639; Rebecca; John, 11 September 1643, who died December 1645 in Boston, whither the father had removed; Elizabeth, 1, baptized 8 February 1646, about 7 days old; John, born 17 April 1648; and Sarah, whose date is not found.  His wife died 25 April 1652, and he married 2 November following Elizabeth Symmes, daughter of Reverend Zechariah Symmes, had Hannah, born 29 December 1653; Zechariah, 26 Dec 1654; and perhaps more.  A third wife Mary Alford, widow of Peter Butler, daughter of William Alford, survived him, married Samuel Nowell, outlived him, and died 14 August 1693.  He was early member of the artillery company, Representative for Billerica 1671, 2, 3, died 14 May 1676.  His daughter Rebecca married 1 May 1660, Abraham Brown; and Sarah married Jonathan Tyng. 

HEZEKIAH USHER, Boston, son of the preceding, married probably December 1676, Bridget, widow of Leonard Hoar, who had been President of Harvard Collection and daughter of that lady Alicia, widow of John Lisle, the regicide, who had most cruelly been executed 2 September preceding, through infamous abuser of the Statute against treasurers, after the suppressing on Monmouth's rebellion.  This explains the meaning of Sewall's Diary, where he writes "Mr. Hezekiah Usher's mother beheaded".  This was not a happy marriage and she went home 1687, and came not to Boston again during his life.  He was of artillery company 1665, died at Lynn, 11 July 1696, but Sewall says was buried 14th in own tomb at Boston.     

JOHN USHER, Boston, brother of the preceding, married Elizabeth Lidgett, daughter of Peter Lidgett, had only child Elizabeth, born 18 June 1669, and by second wife Elizabeth Allen, daughter of Samuel Allen, the royal Lieutenant-Governor of New Hampshire, had John Usher, born about 1699, Harvard College 1719; Hezekiah; Elizabeth, and Frances.  He was, at first, a stationer, and encouraged by the General Court, prohibited to all others for 7 years in 1672, published the valuable edition of the laws of the Colony, artillery company 1673, a freeman the same year, Colonel of the Boston regiment under Andro's administration, was one of the most trusted counselors, and treasurer of his noble province of all New England, yet managed to be on the strong side, removed to Portsmouth, was in 1692, made Lieutenant-Governor of New Hampshire, served five years and in a later year had the same honor for another term; removed back to Massachusetts, and died at Medford, 5 September 1726.  His daughter Elizabeth, by first wife, married 15 September 1686, David Jeffries, and died 27 June 1698, leaving 8 children.  The compiler of the Parsons Genealogy In Genealogical Registrar I. 268, mistakes in calling him son of Hezekiah, by the second wife.  

ROBERT USHER, New Haven, swore fidelity 1644, in few years removed to Stamford, was brother of Hezekiah Usher the first, married 12 May 1659, Elizabeth, widow of Jeremy Jagger, was constable 1662, Representative 1665 and 7, died in September or October 1669, leaving good estate to widow and two children, Elizabeth, born 1660, and perhaps by a former wife Robert.  His inventory was made 26 October 1669, and his will of 21 September preceding, disposes of good estate to children, in it desiring care of Hezekiah to bring them up. 

ROBERT USHER, Dunstable, son of the preceding, had John, born 31 May 1696, and Robert, June 1700, killed in famous Lovewell's fight.

RICHARD USSELL, Portsmouth, or Newport Rhode Island 1653-6, though an odd sounding name, is regarded by me as truer than Sussell; but the reader may take his choice, if he agree with me, that only one man is intended, where either appears in Rhode Island Colony record volume I. 263, 300, 49, 59, 60 and 5.

FRANCIS USSELTON, Wenham, married Sarah Barnes, about 1657.

UTTING, ---------, Dedham, whose wife Ann died January 1642.

SAMUEL UTTLEY, Scituate, married 6 December 1648, Hannah Hatch, daughter of the first William Hatch, had Lydia, born 28 December 1659, who married February 1684, Thomas Hewitt.

HENRY UXLEY, Taunton, about 1637, at the head of the list of first settlers 1639, Baylies I. 289.  He assures us, Ib. 283, "none can tell, who he was, whence he came, or whither he went, or at what period he" arriving at Taunton.