Plymouth County Biographies



Part of the Massachusetts Biographies Project



Edmund Weston

"Edmund Weston, the progenitor of that portion of the Weston family who settled in Plymouth Colony+, came to Boston in the ship, Elizabeth & Ann, and settled in the town of Duxbury in the year 1635. In the passenger list, his age is put at thirty years. There is a tradition that in the old country his trade was a thresher of grain. Soon after coming into town he entered himself as an apprentice unto John Winslow and Nathaniel Thomas, and in 1639 formed a partnership with John Carver for planting and farming. In 1640 he had a grant from the colony of four acres at Stony Brook, Duxbury, and a tract of land near Green Harbor. In 1643 he was one of the men who were enrolled to bear arms. In 1652 he was a surveyor of highways, and from this time his name frequently appears in connection with town affairs and in various public matters. Winsor, in his history of Duxbury, speaks of him as "the enterprising ancestor of an enterprising family whose descendants have been numerous, and most of them have resided in town". He married late in life, probably a De La Noy (afterwards called Delano). A copy of Edmund Weston's will is found among the early records of Plymouth, B. 8, p. 16. It bears date Feb. 18, 1686, and was admitted to probate June 3, 1686. He died in Duxbury in the 80th year of his age, respected and honored by all who knew him.

* [Author's Note] I have been very much assisted in the preparation of this genealogy by the careful and laborious researches of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel M. Weston, of Boston. The loss of the earlier records of Duxbury has rendered it necessary to rely largely upon the traditions that have come down through the numerous branches of the family, for much that is important relating to their history. Many of these are so varied, specially as to names and dates, that is impossible to fix them with accuracy. The family of Westons were numerous in England at the beginning of the seventeenth century, and many of them early emigrated to America. Hotten, in his list of emigrants in the year 1635, gives no less than twelve of this name who emigrated to Virginia. Those who came to New England were Thomas Weston, the London merchant, who was probably a brother of Sir Richard Weston, Earl of Portland. Frequent mention is made of him in the early history of Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay archives. It is doubtful, however, he left any descendants in the country. Francis Weston was with Roger Williams, but he had no children. John Weston came to Salem in 1664, a lad of thirteen years, who secreted himself on board the vessel and was not discovered until it was too far at sea to return him. His descendants are very numerous in New England. Among the early settlers of Duxbury occurs the name of Francis West. In a tax-bill of March, 1630, he is called Francis Weston, which was probably his true name. He however soon disappears from any records of the town or colony, and he probably left no descendants.

+ [Author's Note] There is a tradition that a brother of Edmund Weston, soon after his arrival, came from England and settled in the colony. I am unable however to find any record or trace of such a person."

Edmund WESTON I was born in 1605 in Cornwall, Oxford, England. He died in 1686 in Duxbury, Plymouth, Massachusetts. Edmund married Jane DE LA NOY (DELANO) daughter of Phillip DE LA NOY and Hester DEWSBURY. Jane was born in Duxbury, Plymouth, Massachusetts.

They had the following children:

Sources:

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