 1640 - 1691 (~ 50 years)
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| Name |
Benjamin HIGGINS [1] |
| Born |
Jun 1640 |
Eastham, Barnstable Co, MA  |
| Gender |
Male |
| Died |
14 Mar 1690/91 |
Eastham, Barnstable Co, MA |
| Person ID |
I1469 |
adkinshorton |
| Last Modified |
2 Jan 2013 |
| Father |
Richard HIGGINS, b. 1 Aug 1603, England , d. 21 Jun 1675, Piscataway, Middlesex Co, NJ (Age 71 years) |
| Mother |
Lydia CHANDLER, b. 1614, Duxbury, Plymouth Co, MA , d. 1651, Eastham, Barnstable Co, MA (Age 37 years) |
| Married |
23 Nov 1634 |
Eastham, Barnstable Co, MA [2] |
- From "Richard Higgins and His Descendants", by Mrs. Katharine Chapin Higgins, 1918:
Having now a good house and twenty aacres of land, and being a tailor with an apprentice, Richard Higgins bethought himself of a wife and his eye fell upon Lydia chandler, daughter of Edmund Chandler, of Duxbury and Scituate. She was favorable to his suit, and on December 11, 1634.*, they were married and went to housekeeping in the house bought of John Barnes....
*The date of marriage was Nov. 23, 1634, according to Eastham records.
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| Family ID |
F24968 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Family |
Lydia BANGS, b. Aft 1640 |
| Married |
24 Dec 1661 |
Eastham, Barnstable Co, MA [2] |
| Children |
| | 1. Ichabod HIGGINS, b. 14 Nov 1662, Eastham, Barnstable Co, MA , d. 1 Jun 1728, Eastham, Barnstable Co, MA (Age 65 years) |
| + | 2. Samuel HIGGINS, b. 7 Mar 1676, Eastham, Barnstable Co, MA , d. 10 Dec 1761, Eastham, Barnstable Co, MA (Age 85 years) |
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| Family ID |
F5320 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
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| Notes |
- Marriage year also given as 1666. Benjamin and Lydia are said to have had 7 sons together.
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| Sources |
- [S18767] Richard Higgins and His Descendants.
"Benjamin Higgins resided at Eastham, probably on lands which had belonged to his father at Pochet, now in East Orleans. On March 2, 1668-9, he was sued at Law by Peregrine White for damages of L16 for not paying a debt due him, the said White. The parties came to an agreement, and the suit was withdrawn. On June 1, 1675, he was one of the jury in a trial which had momentous consequences, and an account of it may be interesting. In 1662, Massasoit, Sachem of the Wampanoags, the faithful friend of the Pilgrims, with whom he had kept peace and friendship for forty-one years, was gathered to his fathers. Two sons survived him, Wamsutta and Metacom, to whom the names Alexander and Phillip had been given at their own request. Alexander succeeded his father as sachem, and his sudden death in 1662 gave the Indians suspicion that he had been poisoned by the English. His brother Phillip, then about twenty-three years of age and by nature less inclined than his brother to accept a position of dependence, succeeded him. A policy of conciliation might have won his good will, but the constant nagging to which he was subjected increased his resentment and nurtured in him a sullen distrust. The attitude and measures of Plymouth Colony were arbitrary and high-handed and were admirably adapted to bring about the very state of affairs they were intended to forestall. For a dozen years Phillip was intriguing and preparing for war. The least suspicion of intrigue could not long escape the notice of those Indian converts who kept the authorities well informed of all that went on. there had been living among the Wampanoags at Nemasket (near Middleborough) the daughter of whose chief he had married, an Indian convert of the Rev. John Eliot's, named Sassamon, a Natick, 'a cunning and plausible man', Hubbard calls him. This man had accompanied Phillip to Boston as interpreter after the death of Alexander and served him for some time after, but having, it is said, been found guilty of some offence, had again professed Christianity. Associated with Phillip on familiar terms, he claimed to have received the sachem's confidences, and betrayed them to the English under pledge of secrecy. His information was not at first much regarded, but Phillip, learning in advance of a summons, made hast to Plymouth to free himself from suspicion, and was allowed to return. In the spring of the following year (1675) the dead body of Sassamon was discovered in Assowomset Pond. An investigation led to the belief that Sassamon had been killed while fishing during the winter and his body thrown under the ice. Three Indians were arrested on the evidence of an Indian who claimed to have been an eyewitness of the affair. The three Wampanoags were convicted by a white jury to which had been added several friendly Indians, and executed, utterly denying their guilt, yet the last of them did confess that the other Indians did really murder John Sassamon, and that he himself, though no actor in it, was yet a looker-on. The trial and execution of the three Indians aroused the Wampanoag warriors to madness, and they at once began hostilities. Thus indirectly Benjamin Higgins was one of the immediate causes of the outbreak known in history as King Phillip's War. That he was a soldier in the contest is probably in general, and is proved by his inventory, which shows that he possessed the equipment of a trooper, and by the grant to his grandson, Jedidiah Higgins, of a share in Narragansett Township No. 7, now the town of Gorham, Me. These grants were made only to the direct heirs or descendants of men who had served in King Phillip's War....
An inventory of the estate of Benjamin Higgins, amounting to L85 in real estate and L206.06.00 in personal estate, was rendered June 19, 1691, and sworn to by Mrs. Lydia Higgins, administratrix, five days later. 'Memorandum: that Ichabod Higgins hath already had L10 and a piece of land on which his house stood, appraised at L9.' An agreement was made that Ichabod should have in cattle, bedding, boards, shingles and cash L20.05.00; Richard the loom and gears, 7 acres of land, a cutlass, cartridge box, cattle and cash L20.18.00; Joshua a gun, rapier cartridge box, bedding, wearing clothes, powder and bullets, saddle and cloth, cattle, sheep and cash L20.05.00; Lydia should have cattle, sheep, an iron pot, books, cloth and cash L20; Isaac a gun, ammunition, a cutlass, cartridgebox, bedding, clothing, cattle, sheep and cash L20.05.00; Samuel was to have a gun, sword, cartridgebox, a book, bedding, clothes, ammunition, cattle, sheep and cash L20.05.00; Benjamin was to have two-thirds of the housing and one-third of the lands and meadows; the widow to have her legal third part. She was living Feb. 13, 1760-7, when her brother, Joshua Bangs, willed to her one-eighth part of such personal estate of his as might remain after the death of his wife. Aug. 20, 1711, town of Eastham 'Laid out to widdow Lidia Higgins for her natural life and returns to the town, a parcel of land near the head of Namskaket on the Eastern side of the first lot which is the lot of Daniel Cole Sr.' The date of her death is unknown. She married (2) Nicholas Snow. Children were: *Ichabod Higgins , Richard Higgins , John Higgins , Joshua Higgins , Lydia Higgins , Isaac Higgins , Rebecca Higgins , Samuel Higgins , Benjamin Higgins .
- [S18767] Richard Higgins and His Descendants.
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