The first town clark

I  grew up believing, on the basis of the few stories that were actually discussed in our house, that I was the third generation of relatively recent immigrants to the United States and focused on that in a variety of ways, including the denial of my ancestors involvement in pretty much any part of the country's less savory past. To the extent that I can point to at least two and possibly three grandparents who came from other nations, that worked out pretty well.

Now, after plowing through the genealogical record, I know that the one leftover grandparent had a heritage that extends all the way back to the colonization and establishment of the nation, which shatters my assumptions. My side of the family has thoroughgoing American roots. 

Many of this particular line immigrated from Great Britain and settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, as I have pointed out in another of these missives. I'm beginning to think we're going to have to plan a trip to New England. 

As I worked my way that direction genealogically, I ran into a Richard Burke, the son of Richard Burke, who immigrated from England and settled in Sudbury, Mass., where he purchased 130 acres of land when he was about 30 years old and married a Parmenter. Not sure how much material I'll mine from the Parmenters, but they appear to have been significant members of Sudbury society.

Richard the son, married a woman named Abigail Sawtell, whose grandfather, also named Richard, was one of the first settlers of Groton, Mass. (I realize families pass down names, but honestly it can be so confusing sometimes.)

Groton was established in 1655 and lies about 35 miles from Boston. The Encyclopedia Britannica reckons the town may have been named for the ancestral home of the colony's governor, John Winthrop. The official town history, on the other hand, states the town was named to honor one of its original selectmen, Dean Winthrop, who was born in Groton, Suffolk County, England. In 1755, the town was destroyed by Native Americans in King Philip's War, which we learned a bit about in another post. After the war, many of the surviving residents who had fled returned to rebuild the town.

While looking at the history of the town, I clicked on a link for the town's public library and found links to digitized books about the town. One of those was The Town Records of Groton, Massachusetts, 1662-1768, edited by Samuel A. Green, M.D, published in Groton, 1879, accessed through Google Books.

Green dedicated the book to Richard Satwell and six others, who were the "First Seven Town Clerks of Groton." The town records refer to them as "town clarks," the English version of clerk and the reason for the goofy title of this blog. 

Here are the two mentions of Richard:

"The first town clerk was Richard Sawtell, an original proprieter of Groton and the possessor of a twenty-acre right. He came from Watertown, where he was living as early as the year 1636. He wrote a good hand for his day, and held the office during three years. He died August 21, 1694, at Watertown, where he went, doubtless in the spring of 1676, when Groton was burned by the Indians."

This paragraph seems to have been written by Green. Imagine being immortalized for writing with a good hand. If I ever appear in a book, no one is going to make a positive comment about my handwriting, but then, I'm not a clerk. 

From the actual records for 1662:

"At a generall Towne meeting December, the twenty fourth it is agreed that Richard Satwell being chosen to the the Towne Clark shall have six penc for Recording & giving a Transcript of every twenty Acars of land to the severall proprieters."

Could have used a bit of punctuation there, said the former copy editor. Spelling didn't become standardized until the 1800s. 

 I'm going to look as some non-family aspects of Groton next.