If we surmise that John1
came across to New England in the Winthrop Fleet, we can perhaps
guess
that he had knowledge of some of the people. A John Firman and
Giles
Firman also
were from Nayland, as were John Water and Richard Webb. Issac
Stearns,
tailor, from Stoke-by- Nayland was in the Fleet and settled in
Watertown - as did John'.
The Stearns early became
associated with the Bigelows - see Vol. I
of The Bigelow Family Genealogy.
Isaac Stearns was born
about 1600 based on estimated date of marriage. A tailor who came
to Massachusetts Bay in 1630 from Nayland with Wissington, in
Suffolk. Settled in Watertown MA & died there, 19 June 1671.
Married Stoke by Nayland 20 May 1622 Mary
Barker, daughter of John and Margaret (Walter) Barker of Stoke
Nayland. On 23 May 1665 "Goodwife Stearns Senior" was one of
several Watertown residents warned to town meeting to answer for
not "attending their seats in the meetinghouse appointed them by
the town." She died at Watertown on 23 April 1677.
Charles Stearns, who was at Watertown as early as 1646 & who
had a son named Isaac, was called kinsman in the will of Isaac
Stearns.
Mary Barker was born 01 Jan 1604 in Stoke-by-Nayland,
daughter of John and Margaret (Walter) Barker. She married Isaac
Stearns Stoke by Nayland, Suffolk, 20 May 1622, and they came to
Massachusetts Bay with the Winthrop Fleetin 1630.
On 23 May 1665 "Goodwife Stearns Senior"
was one of several Watertown residents warned to town meeting to
answer for not "attending their seats in the meetinghouse
appointed them by the town." She died at Watertown on 23 April
1677. (John Brooks Threlfall has identified the parents and other
ancestors of Mary Barker.)
They had 7 children: John, Mary Learned, Anna (Hannah) Freeman,
Isaac, Sarah Stone, Samuel, Elizabeth Manning, & Abigail
Morse.
Sources: Anderson's
Winthrop Fleet.
Find a Grave contributor adds to Isaac Stearns' and Mary
Barker's children--their son Isaac Stearns II was born 6 Jan
1632/33 and died 29 Aug 1676. He married Sarah Beers. Their info
can be found in Bond's genealogy of Watertown, p. 453.
<
rodbigelow@netzero.net > 
