| Home Surname List Name Index Sources Email Us | Twelfth Generation3970. Anthony Colby187 was christened on 8 September 1605 in Horbling, Lincolnshire, England. He died on 11 February 1660/1 in Salisbury, Massachusetts (Essex). Anthony COLBY was christened/baptized on 8 SEP 1605 in Horbling, Lincolnshire, England. He immigrated on 29 MAR 1630 from England to America. He took the Freeman Oath of the Massachusetts Bay Company in MAY 1634 in Massachusetts. He died on 11 FEB 1660 at Salisbury, Essex County, Massachusetts. He estate was inventoried on 9 MAR 1660 in Salisbury, Essex County, Massachusetts. Estate of Anthony Colby of Salisbury Inventory of the estate of Anthony Collby, late of Salisbury, deceased, taken Mar. 9 1660, by Sam. Hall, Tho. Bradbury and Tho. Barnett: His waring Apparrell, £2. 10s.; 1 feather bed & bolster & old Cotten Rugg, a payer of course sheets & a course bed case, £4. 15s.; one old warming pan, 3s. 4d.; an other feather bed, feather pillow, feather bolster & a payer of sheets & Cotten Rugg, £4. 10s.; about £8. of sheeps wooll, 10s 8d.; five pound of cotton wooll, 5s.; £10. of Hopps, 6s. 8d.; a copp. kettle & a payer of tramells £1.; a little old brass skillett & old morter & pestle, 3s 4d.; trayes & other dary ware, 15s.; a landiron, gridiron, frying pan, old cob iron, 5s.; in old peuter, 3s 4d.; 4 scythes, 8s.; 2 pillow beers, 3s.; table, two joynstooles, 2 chayres, £1.; old swords & 2 old muskets, £1.; one chest & one box, 10s.; an old saddle & a pillion, 10s.; old lumber, 10s.; a grindle stone with an Iron handle, 3s. 4d.; a new millsaw & 1-2 an old one, £1.; a croscutt saw & half a one, £1.; a broad bow, 3 forkes, a rake, 2 axes & an Iron Spade, 12s.; 5 yoakes, 10s.; 2 Iron cheynes, 10s.; halfe a tymber cheine & a new draft cheyne, £1. 15s.; an old tumbrill with an old payer of wheeles, £1.; 2 sleades, £1.; a long cart & wheels & Spanshakle & pin 4th pt. of and other cart, £2.; a plough & plough Irons, 10s.; 2 Canoas & 1-2 a canoa, £3. 15s.; 6 oxen, £42.; 6 Cowes, £27.; 2 3 yeare old steers, £7.; 2 Yearlins, £3.; 2 calves, £1.; 7 swine, £5. 5s.; 8 sheep, £4.; 1 mare & colt, £20.; 1 horse, 10s.; a dwelling house & barne & 14 acres of upland in tillage, £70.; a pasture of about 30 acres, £20. 2 lotts att yt wch is cald Mr. Hall's Farme, £5. 10s.; about eighteen acres of fresh meadow, £40.; ye accoodacon bought of Mr. Groome, £6.; 60 acres of upland towards pentuctt bounds with meadow to be laid out, £10.; ye 8th pt. of ye old saw mill, £30.; 40 bushells of wheat, £9.; 10 bushels of barley & 6 of rice, £3. 4s.; about 60 bushels of Indian corne, £9.; total, £359. 19s. 4d. Copied from the files of the Norfolk county court records, and sworn to by the widow Colby, Tho. Bradbury, rec. Anthony Colby, debtor: To Sam. Worcester, £1. 7s.; Willi Osgood, £2. 9d.; Goodman Tappin, £1. 2s. 6d.; Abram Morrill, £2. 10s. 10d.; John Tod, 10s.; Tho. Clarke, 9s.; Mr. Russell of Charlstown, £10.; Mr. Gerish, £5. 8s. 6d.; Mr. Woodman, £2. 14s.; Jno. Bartlett, £2. 2s. 1d.; Steven Sweat, £2. 5s. 5d.; John Webster, 13s.; Steven Greenleif, 13s.; Goodman Peirce, 10s.; Goodman Cillick, £3.; Jno. Lewis, £1. 10s.; Orland Bagly, £5. 19s.; Jno. Blower, 6s.; Mr. Worcester, £1. 13s. 6d.; Mr. Bradbury, 16s. 9d.; to the widow Colby, £10.; Henry Jaques, £2. 10s.; Willi. Huntington, 11s.; John Severans, £1. 13s. 8d.; Jno. Clough for grass, 6s.; for 9 weeks worke, £8. 2s.; total, £68. 14s. 7d. Debtor p Contra: Rodger Eastman, 10s.; Robert Clements, £1. 5s.; from ye town, 9s.; Jno. Maxfield, £2.; Leonard Hatherlee, £1.; Sam. Worcester, 14s. 6d.; Goodman Morrill, £1. 10s.; Steven Flanders, 6s.; Goodman Randall, 6s.; boards at ye saw mill, £3. 7s. 6d.; loggs to make 2000 of bord, £2. 5s.; for work done to ye estate, £1. 2s. 6d.; total £14. 15s. 6d. Norfolk Co. Quarterly Cout Files, vol. 1, leaf 33. The division of the estate of Anthony Colby of Salisbury, late deceased, made by Tho. Bradbury and Robert Pike, Apr. 9, 1661, by order of the county court held at Salisbury. To ye widdow for hir part & the two youngest children: ye dwelling house, barne and 14 acres of upland in tillage, £70.; ye ferric meadow, £30.; ye household goods, £19. 19s. 4d.; a yoake of Oxen, £14.; 3 Cowes, £13. 10s.; 7 Swine, £5. 5s.; in sheep, £2. 10s.; in Corne, £21. 4s.; the boggie meadow, £10. To John Colby: an acre of land aded to his halfe acre at his house, £2. 16s.; two cheyns, 10s.; a yoake of oxen £15. 10s.; Mr. Groom's accomodacons, £6.; in sheep, £1. 10s.; a cart & wheels, span, shackle & pin & ye 4th pt. of another cart. £2. To Sarah, ye wife of Orlando Bagly: one Cowe & one 3 yeere old steere, £8.; a young horse, £10.; another Cowe, £4. 10s.; p. Isaac Colby, £5. 16s. More payd by Isaac Colby to Orlando Bagly for ye which the estate was debtor. £5. 19s. 8d. To Samuell Colby: one yoade of oxen, £13.; the pasture, £20. To Isaac Colby: the eleven lotts of marshe at Mr. Hal's farme, 2 lotts of sweepage & one higledee pigeledee lot, £9. 10s.; 2 yearlins, £3.; ye part of ye saw mill, £30. To Rebecka Colby: a Cowe, one 3 year old steere & ye mare colt, £14.; two Calves, £1.; a bed & bolster, £4. 10s.; p. Isaac Colby, £2. 11s.; p. Sam. Colby, £5. 4s.; in corne, 11s. This division was consented to by the widow Colby and all the children who were of capacity. Confirmed by the Norfolk county court at Salisbury, 14:2:1663, and recorded by Tho. Bradbury, rec. Norfolk Co. Quarterly Court Files, vol. 1, leaf 34. Upon the petition of Susanna Whittredge formerly Colbie the Ipswich court Mar. 28, 1682 granted her power with the advice of Samuell Colbie and Thomas Colbie to sell enough of the estate left in her hands by her former husband for her necessary support in her old age, not exceeding the value of two of the parts or shares which the coutr Apr. 9, 1661 allotted to her for her part of the estate. Petition of Thomas Challis, Orlando Bagly, Ephraim Weed and Ebenezer Blasdell for some part of the estate of their grandfather Anthony Collby formerly of Salisbury left in the hands of their grandmother Susanna widow of Anthony, administratrix to his estate, afterward Susanna Whithredg, deceased: the Court Ordered the division of the estate Apr. 9, 1661, and it was allowed 14: 2m: 1663. Also such of us as have married the daughters of John Collby, deceased, eldest son of said Anthony and Susanna, hath letters of administration granted him unto the estate of Susanna Whithredg, deceased, and hath exhibited a large account of debt from the estate and also he designeth a further application for liberty for alienation of more of said estate. We address ourselves to the court :where we think we ought for ye interposing & improvement of yt authority for ye prevention of ye evacuation of yt estate whereunto we have right (as we think) out of half gills or gills, and ye exhausting & wasting thereof by such embezelling trifles," also crave you advice whereby we may be orderly possessed of our rights. Dated Sept. 28, 1698. Citation of Samuell Coleby to appear before Jonathan Corwin, Esq., at the house of Mr. Frances Elles to take administration on the remaining estate of Anthoney Coleby of Amesbury, deceased. Dated Salem, Nov. 16 1699, Said citation read to Samuell Colby Nov 18, 1699 by Ebenezer Blasdell, Constable of Amesbury. Essex Co. Probate Files, Docket 5,896 ========================================
Examination of the other three men in these groupings reveals some interesting parallels: 2) Colby moved next to Ipswich (1637) and then Salisbury (1640); Haddon moved next to Salisbury; Redding moved next to Ipswich (1639). 3) All three were single men in 1630: Colby married about 1633, Haddon married about 1639, Redding married about 1640. The grouping of these four men in 1630 and 1634, and the concerted migrations of the three survivors, suggest that the four were associated in some way. The gap between church admission in 1630 and freemanship in 1634 suggests that they may not yet have been twenty-one in 1630, and this is supported by the approximate dates of marriage. Taken together, these facts and suggestions indicate that JOHN BOSWELL/BOSWORTH, ANTHONY COLBY, GARRETT HADDON and JOSEPH REDDING came to New England as servants, and were perhaps all from the same part of England. A survey of the members of the Winthrop Fleet produces one man who settled first in Boston, then moved to Cambridge and on to Ipswich, and who was wealthy enough to have brought four servants with him - SIMON BRADSTREET. As a working hypothesis, then, we propose that this grouping of four young men were from the vicinity of Simon Bradstreet's home at Horbling, Lincolnshire, and came to New England in 1630 in his service.
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ANTHONY COLBY OF MASSACHUSETTS, 1633 By John G. Hunt* "It is tempting to seize hold of a trans-Atlantic personage of noble descent as our own ancestor, simply because he bore the same baptismal name and surname as were borne by our known first ancestor to land in America. The science of genealogy would benefit if we were actuated more by a desire to determine what is provable, than by a wish to aspire to noble ancestry. In this connection, let us examine what appears to be an unwarranted claim to royal ancestry. In "Living Descendants of Blood Royal, 4:757 (reviewed in the "Quarterly" 59:316-7), Count d' Angerville printed a line of descent from King Edward I for Anthony (1) Colby of Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1630. It claims that Anthony was the fourth son of Thomas and Beatrice (Felton) Colby of Beccles, Suffolk, and Roos Hall, and cites the evidence as a "pedigree of family of Colby of Brundich and Beccles, College of Arms, extracted by an officer of the College for Colonel Ordway, 1967." What is the basis for asserting that the Anthony Colby who came to Massachusetts by September 1633 is the same Anthony who was son of Thomas of Beccles? Frederick Lewis Weis, "The Colby Family (Concord, Mass., 1970), page 3, shows that Anthony (1) Colby was born in 1595. If so, he cannot have been son of Beatrix and Thomas, for the will of Thomas was dated in June 1588 and proved 22 November 1588. (1) Moreover, there has been cited nowhere any indication that Anthony (1) Colby was a member of the gentry. His name was not given the prefix "Mr." in usage during his lifetime, as far as can be determined. As the late Donald Lines Jacobus used to insist, it would have been contrary to normal usage for a member of the gentry to have shown up in America without being accorded to style "Mr." Contrary to alleged royal descent, there is nothing in the Banks manuscripts that justifies any supposition that Anthony (1) Colby descended from the Colby family of Beccles. Indeed, Colonel Banks supposed that the New England settler was akin to one Anthony Colby of Aswardby, Lincolnshire, six miles from Sempringham, home of the earl of Lincoln, and of Thomas Dudley, and five miles from Horbling, the home of Bradstreet. Each time such unsupported pedigrees are printed, the cause of genealogy receives a setback. The burden of proof lies upon those claiming a royal ancestry for Anthony (1) Colby. Claimants must cite parish register entries, wills, and/or other sound evidence." *821 North Jackson Street, Arlington, Virginia 22201 "(1). P.C.C. 9 Leicester, abstracted in Col. Banks' MSS, vol. I (A through C), pp. 236-241, in Rare Book Room, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Note: The late Col. Frederick Ira Ordway, Jr., of Washington, D.C., contributor of the lineage to the Counde d' Angerville's compendium, was offered an opportunity to provide a rebuttal to the above article, but was unable to cite any documentary evidence in support of the lineage. -Editor" Source: NATIONAL GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY QUARTERLY, Volume 62, June 1974,
Anthony Colby. There was an ancient Colby family in Banham, Norfolk Co., Eng. The ancestor of one branch was Sir John Colby, Kt., of Swarson [Swardeston], Norfolk. A pedigree of some of his descendants is printed on p. 82 of "The Visitations of Norfolk, 1563, 1589, and 1613," Harl. Soc. Pub., 1891. One of the seventh generation, named Anthony Colby, died without issue. His nephew, Christopher Colby, son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Greene) Colby (Edward, William, Thomas, Robert, John, John), is the eldest son of a family of eleven children, with whose names the pedigree ends. No dates are given, nor any means of determining from which of the three visitations the pedigree was taken. They were combined about 1620. There is a Colby parish in Norfolk, and a Coleby one in Lincoln. "Lincolnshire Pedigrees," Harl. Soc. Pub., 1904, contains a pedigree of the Thorold family of Marston. On p. 983 is a Christopher Colby of Grantham, who m. Anne Thorold. They had children: Thomas Anthony, Markham, and Helen Colby, who were legatees of their aunt, Elizabeth Thorold, who d. unm. in 1616. Anne (Thorold) Colby had a brother and a grandfather both named Sir Anthony Thorold, Kt. The brother was high sheriff of Co. Lincoln in 1617. This Christopher Colby of Grantham (Co. Lincoln) may have been the son of Thomas of Banham, Norfolk, named without comment in the pedigree quoted above; but proof has not been found. Anthony Colby, son of Christopher and Anne, must have been b. as early as 1595 to be executor of the will of another aunt, Mary Thorold, who d. unm. in 1615. This Anthony Colby was therefore b. about the same time as Anthony Colby of Salisbury, Mass., but here, again, proof of identity is lacking. The names Thomas and Anthony are repeated early in this country, but not Christopher, Markham, Anne, or Helen. James W. Colby, in his "History of the Colby Family," Waltham, Mass., 1895, states that Anthony of Salisbury, b. 1690, was son of Thomas of Beccles, Suffolk, Eng. He carries the ancestry back through Suffolk families, probably descended from John, who disappears from the Norfolk pedigree, eldest son of John of Banham, Norfolk, grandson of Sir John, and brother of Robert; but gives no authority. He carries the Norfolk line much further back than Sir John, to Robert de Colebi. He gives Colby families in other parts of England, and gives the ancestry of Christopher as we have it above; but states that he was living in 1616 and left no issue. The "Visitations" quoted above make no such statement. Mr. Colby omits entirely the Thorold-Colby line, which includes an Anthony Colby who may have been b. in 1690 (Note: probably 1590). It is probable that the Suffolk family is a branch of the Norfolk line; but it is doubtful if the connection Mr. Colby gives is correct. If we understand his arrangement, he makes the ancestry of Anthony of Salisbury as follows: Sir John, John of Banham, John d. 1459, John of Brundish (Suffolk) d. 1540(?), Thomas of Beccles, will 1588, Anthony, b. 1590. It is not often that a son dies 81 years later than his father, and if a man's will was probated in 1588, he could not have a son b. in 1590. Mr. Colby gives a Christopher of this branch, an uncle of Anthony of Salisbury. Could he have been the husband of Anne Thorold? Six generations seem too few. If the Christopher of Banham and Grantham were the same, the son Anthony would be of the ninth generation. The Suffolk "Visitation" of 1664, published in 1910, gives a later pedigree, showing the Rev. Thomas Colby, son of Thomas and brother of Christopher settled in Cawston, Norfolk, and had a son, John of Waltham, Suffolk, in 1664. SOURCE: "Old Families of Salisbury and Amesbury" by David W. Hoyt, Vol III p. 1059-1060.
Comment 1. Colby is a place name deriving from the parish of Coleby, which lies seventeen miles northwest of Semperingham, and six miles south of Lincoln. There is also a parish of Colby in Norfolk, next to Beccles, and it too seems to have been the source of a quite unrelated Colby clan. There are also villages called Colby in Westmoreland, in Yorkshire, and one in Denmark. Comment 2. Anthony Colby, was the founder of the Colby family in New England. He was born about 1605 at Horbling, Lincolnshire, England. Horbling is next to Semperingham where his Colby ancestors had lived for several generations. He was apparently named for his uncle Anthony Jackson. Anthony came to America in the Spring of 1630, with the "Winthorp Fleet". Their first home was in the disputed territory between Cambridge and Watertown which was given to Cambridge in 1632, and was on the road to Mount Auburn close by the river. In 1633, on the second Sabbath that Rev. John Cotton preached, he baptized his own son Seaborn Cotton and John Colby, son of Anthony. Anthony built a second house near the Washington Elm and a third one near the Fresh Pond. He was admitted freeman in Cambridge in 1634. Three years later, he appeared in Ipswich, and three years after that in Salisbury. He was among the first settlers of the latter town. Together, the men (Jared Haddon) joined the church in Charlestown and took the freeman's oath in Cambridge on 14 May 1634. Together lay their house lots at East Salisbury and when Jared sold his homestead in 1644 and built in what is now Amesbury, Anthony bought the lot adjoining and came with his family. On this land he at last settled down to make a permanent home. He received additional lots of land from the divisions in 1643, 1654, and 1658. In 1640, he was appointed an appraiser for the government and in 1651 was elected a selectman. He died Feb. 11, 1660, aged about 54 years. Anthony Colby seems to have been always at odds with the leaders in town affairs and was often in controversy, legal or personal, with the authorities. Once he was fined for making a speech in town meeting on the ground that he had created a disturbance. He worked incessantly to have the new settlement at Amesbury set off from Salisbury as a town. The fight was carried on after his death by his sons, and the separation was finally accomplished in 1666. He was an industrious man, and in spite of moving every few years and in spite of many children, he became one of the largest property holders in Amesbury. His lots included: Back River, Fox Island, Lion's Mouth, Great Swamp, Hampton, River, Whiskers Hill, and lots from the third and fourth divisions. His inventory set a value of 359 pounds sterling upon his property. The old house was on the southwest side of Main St. which leads from Amesbury Center to the Merrimac and was the seventh from Bartlett's Corner. Here is the well described in Whittier's poem, "The Captain's Well". The well was dug by a grandson of the daughter Mary. The year after Anthony's death, the widow sold to her son Isaac, sixty acres near Haverhill to pay for her board. From the public divisions she received land in 1662 and 1664. In the latter year she married William Whitridge, a carpenter from Gloucester. he died in 1669. In the meantime, she had had to defend her homestead against the claim of Thomas Macy from whom it had been purchased. At about the time of the sale, Macy had fled to Nantucket to escape the penalty of sheltering two Quakers during a thunderstorm, but later he denied the sale and tried to expel the widow and her family by legal process. He was unsuccessful and the premises were in the possession of her descendants as late as 1895. In 1678, the son Thomas was deeded half of all the lands remaining in consideration of services rendered the widow, and in 1682, the homestead was deeded to her son Samuel, who cared for her during the infirmities of old age. The widow lived until July 8, 1689. Comment 3. Noted in "The Great Migration Begins" 1996, New England Historical and Genealogical Society, pages 413-416 He died on Feb 11 1660 in Amesbury, Ma. Extract from The American Genealogist Anthony Colby’s Purported Ancestry James W. Colby’s frequently unreliable ‘Colby family History’, published in 1895, is the basis for the statement that Anthony Colby of Massachusetts Bay Colony was the son of Thomas Colby, Esquire, by his second wife Beatrice Felton of Beccles, Co. Suffolk, England. Since the printing of that volume, this relationship has been repeated in many other publications with elaboration’s upon the various royal personages which fill the ancestral pedigrees of the Colby and Felton families. Most recently it has appeared in Michel L. Call, ‘Royal Ancestors of some L.D.S. Families’ (Salt Lake City: 1972), and in Count d’Angerville, ‘Living Descendants of Blood Royal’, vol. 4. While the first book is so error-filled as to make it completely untrustworthy to any serious student of royal genealogies, the second does contain some lineage’s of merit. To the discredit of both authors they fail their readers by not giving documentary source material or references for data contained in their books. It should not be too surprising, therefore, that the claim of the Massachusetts immigrant, Anthony Colby, as the son of Thomas and Beatrice (Felton) Colby is without substantiation and most likely completely fallacious. Certain lineage societies have rather blindly accepted this lineage in the past and, I presume, continue to do so. (See Langston and Buck, ‘Pedigrees of Some of the Emperor Charlemagne’s Descendants’, Vol. ii (1974), p. 96--Ed.). Therefore, in order to correct this purported parentage and to warn those who might be tempted to accept the questionable lineage, the following information is presented. Anthony Colby came to New England probably with the Winthorp Fleet in 1630 for in that year he was of Boston and recorded as a church member. He was of Cambridge as early as 1632 when he owned land and buildings there, and was still there when, on 14 May 1634, he took the oath of "freeman" before the General Court in Boston. About 1637 he moved to the settlement at Ipswich, but soon thereafter moved on to Salisbury, then called Colchester, where he received land in the first division of 1639. Additional grants of land were given to him by the town of Salisbury in 1640 and 1643. Anthony Colby was one of the original settlers of the "newtown", now called Amesbury, where he was made a commoner on 19 March 1654, receiving a grant of land there in that same year as well as grants in subsequent years. Examination of English Colby records sheds light on the problem at hand. The 1612 Visitation of Suffolk contains the family of Thomas and Beatrice (Felton) Colby as "Thomas, son and heir; Charles, second son, obit; John, obit; Anthony; Edmond, obit; Philip; Francis; Huntington; Beatrice, mar to Edmond Thurston of Colchester; Mary, mar. to John Copuldyke of Kirby in suff.; Penelope, mar. to Sir Walter Aston in Chesh.; Katherin, unm." (7) Thus it can be seen that there was a son Anthony belonging to this family. However, justification for rejecting him as the immigrant Anthony is substantial, as will be further explained. Thomas Colby of Beccles, co. Suffolk, England, wrote his will 8 June 1588 and it was proved that same year at the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. (8) In this will Thomas referred to "Beatrice my well beloved wife" to whom he gave all his manors for life as well as other items. He then bequeathed to his "son Thomas from and after the decease of my wife all my manors. . ." Provision was made that should the son Thomas die without legal heirs, the lands were to be entailed to his other living sons, Anthony, Edmond, Philip, Francis and Huntington, in that order. Concerning these last five sons mention is made of a distribution of an annual rent in the sum of 9 pounds and 6 shillings to each of the sons from a farm in Brundish, co. Suffolk, that "eache and every of them shall begin to receyve their saide annuitic or portion at twentie years of age untill whiche time I will and devise that my executors shall putt the saide money during their minorities or manage to the only profit and bringing upp of my said sonnes in vertu good education and bearinge. . ." Thomas also mentioned "my thre (sic) daughters and the child whiche my wife is at the making. . . at their age of twentie yeares or at their severall dayes of marriage. . ." Thomas made his son Thomas and his brother-in-law Anthony Felton executors of his will, with his brother Francis Colby as supervisor. The children of Thomas and Beatrice (with approximate birth years based on the best documentation available) were: (9) The Anthony Colby living in Beccles, England, son of Thomas and Beatrice (Felton) Colby, as has been pointed out, was under 20 years of age in 1588 when his father made his will. His eldest brother Thomas was the only one of the family not designated as under age. Consequently Thomas’s birth year cannot be placed later than 1568 and was probably just one or two years before that date. The Visitation of Suffolk taken in 1561 (10) indicated the father as then married to Ursella, Lady Brend, his first wife. Therefore, Thomas’s second marriage, to Beatrice Felton, occurred subsequent to 1561. The 1612 Visitation of Suffolk lists the children of Thomas and Beatrice, listing Anthony as the fourth of their eight sons along with four daughters. Other listings of the brothers follow the same basic position of Anthony as fourth son. Given this information, and knowing all of Thomas and Beatrice’s children were born between 1561 and 1588, their son Anthony’s birth year can be approximated as 1574. Certainly a few years variance is possible, one way or the other, but reason dictates it cannot be placed earlier than 1570 nor later than 1579. If this was the Anthony Colby who came to New England in 1630, he would then have been at least 50 years of age! That by itself would not be too astounding, but his next feat, marriage to a young, recent widow who had the attractive attribute of owning property and not under the necessity of making an undesirable marriage arrangement, certainly would have been. (11) Next, this Anthony would have sired at least eight children, the last arriving when he was at least 70 years of age. For this to be the case, the wife Susannah would have had to be at least twenty years his junior. While not biologically impossible, these accomplishments are not very probable. Their improbability is further accentuated by a knowledge of what the immigrant Anthony did after coming to New England. In the old Norfolk County, Mass., records, (12) can be found an agreement made 4 Nov. 1658 between Willi: Osgood, Phillip Challis, William Barnes, Anthony Colby and Sam’ll Worcester, copartners, present possessors of a saw mill situated in Salisbury. David W. Hoyt in his work, ‘Old Families of Salisbury and Amesbury,’ (13) presents information concerning each of these men. According to Hoyt’s records, William Osgood was born about 1609 and hence would have been about 49 years of age in 1658. Philip Challis, according to his own deposition, was born in 1617, and therefore 41 years of age in 1658. William Barnes would have been born between 1605 and 1615, as his children are recorded as born from about 1640 to 1653; his age then in 1658 would have been between 43 and 53, say 48 as a compromise. Samuel Worcester was first married in 1659 when he was about thirty, placing his birth about 1629. Compare these ages of 49, 41, 48 and 29, with the 78 years of the son of Thomas and Beatrice (Felton) Colby. The wording of the sawmill agreement is such as to make it seem that all were able-bodied men who would be personally laboring at the mill. For a man of 78 this would have been difficult, even if in excellent health. Association of a elderly man with men of middle years might be reasonable if he had superior financial capacity, but this does not seem to have been present to the advantage of Anthony Colby. The total value of his estate when appraised just three years later was only li 359, of which li 185 was in real estate and the remainder in various sundry personal goods. (14) of interest also is the fact that the inventory contained several items belonging to the saw mill and its activities. The logical conclusion that must be reached is that the Anthony Colby associated with the saw mill in 1658 was not in his late seventies, and therefore could not have been the son of Thomas and Beatrice (Felton) Colby of Beccles, England. The most enlightening information concerning his comes from the will of his brother Philip. (15) This will, made and proved in 1643, mentions, among others, two of his sisters, two of his brothers and seven nephews and nieces, including: Item I doe give into my brother Mr. Anthony Colby in present moneys xx li and doe give & confirm unto him his anuity or porsion being ffive pounds by ye yeare during the terme of his naturall life, payable at hollowmas and candlemas. Item I doe give unto his sonne Thomas Colby three score pounds to be payd unto him within one yeare next after my decease. This document is important because (1 it mentions Philip’s brother Anthony with no hint whatever that he was not residing in England, thirteen years after the American Anthony had arrived in New England, and (2 it show that Anthony had a son Thomas in 1643 also presumably living in England. It would have been very unusual for Philip not to make provision for sending Anthony’s "ffive pounds by ye yeare during the term of his natural life" twice yearly, if this money was to have been transported to the New World! Failure to make such a provision is further indication that two Anthonys are involved. The second item quoted shows that Anthony had a son Thomas in 1643 who was to receive a substantial legacy within one year after his uncle Philip’s death. An examination of the American Anthony’s family, as presented earlier, indicates that his son Thomas was not born until 1650, with only sons John, Samuel and Isaac in 1643! Furthermore, none of the American Colbys would have been anywhere near their majority when the will was written. Had Philip’s nephew Thomas then been a minor, provision would certainly have been made for supervision of his legacy monies until a specified age was attained. In fact, this is exactly what Philip did with two of his three grandchildren with legacies to become due and payable when the grandchildren reached the ages of 16 and 14, respectively. The logical conclusion to be reached, again, is that Philip’s brother Anthony was not the same person as the Amesbury Anthony. While use of the given name Anthony in the Beccles Colby family does provide a valuable clue as to the immigrant’s possible ancestry, the Beccles branch of the Colby family had no monopoly of this Christian name. Edward Colbye, Gentleman, Of Banham, co. Norfolk, wrote his will 31 March 1580, proved 17 May 1580, (16) in which he named, among others his wife Elizabeth, daughter Alice and sons Thomas, Francis, Anthony and Edward. The Banham parish registers contain the baptismal records of Edward (28 Jan 1560) and Thomas (14 Sept. 1561), (17) but not those of Alice, Francis and Anthony. There seems to have been a break in the Banham registers from about 1565 to about 1580, and their births probably occurred during this time. This Anthony could logically be estimated as born about 1568, making him even older than the Beccles Anthony. The Colby family of Banham, co. Norfolk, and that of Beccles, co. Suffolk, were branches of the same family, sharing common ancestry. It can be seen that the name Anthony was known in both branches at least one generation before the American Anthony came to New England. Furthermore, two other contemporary Anthony Colbys can be located in England. In 1622, Elizabeth Colby, singlewoman of Matshell (Mattinshall?) , co. Norfolk, made a nuncupative will in which she left the majority of her goods to "Anthoney Collby my brother Also his wife"(18) but as Thomas and Beatrice did not have a daughter Elizabeth, this must be another Anthony, especially in light of the significant distance. The parish registers of St. Nicholas, Ipswich, Suffolk, (19) contain the baptismal record on 29 April 1597 of Richard, son of Anthony Colby. The burials of this church show in 1604 - 29 Aug. John Colby The only similarity between the immigrant and the son of Thomas and Beatrice was the given name. However, other Anthony’s located in England, without any additional documentation, have just as valid a claim to be the New England immigrant. Further research into source material in Suffolk and Norfolk may reveal the parentage of the immigrant to New England who now has a large posterity in America, including the author of this article. Nevertheless, until documentation is forthcoming, the parentage of Anthony Colby of Amesbury must be regarded as unknown *, and the previously accepted connection with the son of Thomas and Beatrice (Felton) Colby must be discarded. SOURCES: (1) Mary Lovering Holman, Ancestry of Charles Stinson Pillsbury and John Sargent Pillsbury (Concord, N.H., 1938), pp. 137 f.; * The ancestry of Anthony has been found in recent years and he is from Horbling, Lincolnshire, England.
All I can do is pass on the information printed in "The Great Migration Begins". Page 416 states: COMMENTS: Earlier writers erroneously placed Anthony Colby's origin in Beccles, Suffolkshire, but in 1975 Glade Ian Nelson showed that the Beccles Anthony was still in England long after the immigrant was settled in the Massachusetts Bay (TAG 51:65-71). More recently John B. Threlfall made what appears to be the correct identification in Horbling, Lincolnshire GMC50 123). Anthony Colby was not at that time and in that area as rare a name as one might think, so the simple appearance of a baptism at about the right time is in itself not sufficient evidence. But the occurrence of a baptism in Horbling, the home of Simon Bradstreet, who seems to be indirectly connected with Colby, makes this very likely the correct solution to the problem. The identity of Susannah ______ is one of the peerennial mysteries of the period. Several authors have suggested that Susannah's maiden name was Hadden, given that Colby and Garrett Haddon were neighbors and associates. Others have suggested that she was the daughter of William Sargent, and others that she was a Nutting, all without support. Her identity is currently unknown. Among other defects to be found in the literature regarding Colby and his family, there is no obvious reason why Savage said there were four children earlier than Isaac and no support has been found for Sarah's birthdate given by Waterman. Anthony Colbby was ordered to build four rods of fence around the common lands in Cambridge in a list dated 2 January 1632/3 (but probably from a year or two later) (CaTR 5). At Salem Court on 3 Oct 1637 "Anthony Colebie" of Ipswich sued John Hall of Saugus (EQC 1:6). William Osgood and the other pert-time owners of the the old mill at Salisbury were brought to task for failing to pay the town its share of lumber agreed upon in return for allowing the mill to be built on Salisbury land. Osgood had to sue the heirs of the other owners, including "Susan Whitrige, administratrix of Anthony Colbye," to recover boards for Salisbury, which he did at court September Term, 1682. Among the depositions establishing the number of boards due were several describing immigration into Essex County, such as that of John Pressy "aged about fourty-four years, testified that the first summer he came into this country, in 1651...I do well remember the saw mill at Salisbury was one thing that was accounted a rare thing and I did go see it and I did see it going and sawing boards that very summer" (EQC 8:250, 373-75) EQC = Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, SOURCES: (1) "The Great Migration Begins", Vol. I. by Robert C. Anderson, 1995 pages, 186-187, 413-416; (2) "Fifty Great Migration Colonists to N.E." by John W.Threfall,1990, pages 122-148; (3) "National Genealogical Society Quarterly", Jun 1974, Vol 62, "Anthony Colby of MA", by John Hunt; (4) "New England Historical and Genealogical Register" Apr 1997, Vol. CXLI: Apr 1987. pg. 104-107, "Disproved Royal Descendants."; (5) "The Old Families of Salisbury and Amesbury Massachusetts" by David W. Hoyt; (6) "The Colby Family in Early America" by Frederick L. Weis. COMMENT #5 See Will notes for his father Thomas Colby. 10 December 1625 - the will of THOMAS COLBIE of Horbling, county of Lincoln, taylor, sick of body.... to my five sons William Colbie, Richard Colbie, Anthony Colbie, Mathew Colbie and Robert Colbie half of my goods to be equally divided amongst them, but my will is that my son William Colbie shall have my house at Dinnington for part of his portion of goods aforesaid, which cose me eight pound... if nay of these sons die before age 21 at which time the legacies shall be due unto them, then his or their shares to be divided amongst the overlivers. Residue to wife Agnes Colbie whom I make executrix. In March 1636/7, an assessment was made for expenses of repairing the church at Horbling. Thirty seven names were listed. William Colby, who had a small stock of animals, must have been the older brother. The widow Colby must have been their mother. Robert was mentioned for having been paid for some work. Nowhere is there any mention of Anthony or Matthew after their father's will of 1625. Possibly both of these brothers left for America with the Winthrop Fleet in 1630, but if so, there is no trace of Matthew. His fate will probable remain a mystery. As for Anthony, he is surely the one who went to New England in 1630. All the other know contemporary Anthony Colbys in Old England can be eliminated from consideration for one reason or another." "Assessment agreed upon the fifth of March 1636 for the church wardens for the repairing of the church of Horbling and other duties by us whose names are here under written - Mathias Browne, William Stringer, John Hardie, with others. Every horse 7d., every beast 7d., and every score of sheep 2s 4d. horsebeastsheep (Ref.: Lincoln Consistory Court Wills - 1626/292) Susanna Haddon and Anthony Colby were married in 1631/2 in Boston, Massachusetts (Suffolk). 3971. Susanna Haddon187 was born in 1610 in London, Middlesex, England. She died on 8 July 1689 at the age of 79 in Salisbury, Massachusetts (Essex). Name: "The Colby Family in Early America," by Frederick L. Weis, pg 3. Children were:
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