Question about joseph hills and mass history?

Question:

Question about joseph hills and mass history?

me and my father are doing a geneology search. and we came across an ancesror names joseph hills. he wrote all the original mass bay colonie laws in the 1600's. Does anyone know anything about him, where i could view the laws and possibly where i could see his will?

thanks

cory

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Hi Cory,

I found out a lot by using two exact phrases in Google:

"Joseph Hills" "Massachusetss Bay Colony"

The upper and lower case doesn't matter, but the quotation marks around each phrase are very important.

Here is a brief bio, with no sources cited:

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Joseph Hills

According to family tradition, Joseph immigrated in from Malden, England in 1638 on the "Susan and Ellen" which arrived July 17 (there is no known manifest for this ship). He was the "undertaker" of the voyage, which arrived July 17 of that year, and landed her passengers and cargo at Boston. His first abiding place was where the settlement of Charlestown was located by Governor Winthrop, between the Charles and Mystic rivers, and which, about the middle of the nineteenth century, became a city. In 1874 it was annexed to Boston. The family dwelling was "near the market place," but in a few years he was a resident of that part of the town north of the Mystic river, establishing his home at "Mystic Side" on a farm of considerable size.

He soon became active in public affairs, was selectman of the town in 1644, and in 1646 represented it in the General Court, as the colonial assembly was then named, and as its legislature is still known under the Constitution of the State. he was re-elected in 1647, and was chosen speaker of its House of Deputies.

As one of only a few lawyers in the colony, Joseph figured prominently in legal matters. He was elected by the Massachusetts Bay Colony to make the first code of laws for its government and for his services received 500 acres of land on the east bank of the Merrimack River, embracing part of what is now Hudson, New Hampshire. Some of his children settled there.

When "Mystic Side" was set off as a separate town, it was doubtless named by him for the place where he last dwelt in Old England. This part of ancient Charlestown has long since outgrown the town form of government, and is now known as the city of Malden.

While a resident of Mystic Side and Malden he was captain of its train-band. At his death he willed his "buffe coate" to his son Samuel, and his "backsword" to Henry Lunt, his stepson. He was Malden's first deputy, and the town had no other representative until after 1664. In 1665 Malden was not represented, Mr. Hills having removed to Newbury, on the Merrimac River. In 1666 his son-in-law, John Waite, was his successor, and "for an unbroken series of nineteen years he filled this office," being Speaker of the House of Deputies in 1684 and nominated as a magistrate in 1683.

He and Rose were admitted to the church Feb 12 1640. She was the sister of Henry Dunster, the first President of Harvard College.

His 3rd marriage was in a ceremony performed by himself, for which he was admonished by the court and fined ⣵.

He served as Captain in the Malden Military Company. He had in all 14 children.
He lived at the house of Henry Lunt in Newbury after marrying Ann Lunt in 1664/5 He became totally blind in 1678 and died 1688 about 86 yrs old.

Note: Walt Disney is a descendant of Joseph and wife Rose, and Photographer Ansel Adams is a descendant of Joseph and wife Hannah.
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The important part is the death in 1688 aged 86, which means born in 1602.

Now we go to

http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.c...

I filled in his surname, given name, and birth year, but I changed "Exact" to "+ or - 5" next to the birth year. 429 entries. I checked "Has notes" and "Has sources" on the form. That brought the total hits down to 79. If you repeat my steps you'll have 79 chances of finding his will among those entries.

I looked at a couple. The data base named "szemke" has some good stuff on him, but no will. Have fun!