A RECORD
OF THE
DESCENDANTS
OF
ALLEN BREAD,
WHO CAME TO
AMERICA FROM ENGLAND
IN
1630.
Originally published by
HATHAWAY & BROTHERS,
THE EVANS PRINTING HOUSE,
FOURTH AND LIBRARY STS.,
PHILADELPHIA.
1892.
PREFACE.
On the 10th day of September, 1868, a convention of members of one of the many branches of the Breed family assembled at the house of the late Deacon J. C. Breed, in Jamestown, N.Y. Deacon Breed read a paper giving the result of his work in tracing the history of that branch of the family back to Allen Bread, who came from Englant to Massachusetts in 1630. A report of the proceedings was printed, and in 1874 a copy of it was examined by the author of this book. The statement that Allen Bread, born in England in 1601, was the father of all the Breed families in the United States, coupled with the fact that he came to America at such an early date, suggested at once the idea that some person should write a history of the Breed family, and thus exhibit between the covers of a book the size of the family, and the influence exerted by its members in Lynn and other cities and towns to which they migrated; alsotheir share in the events which made up the nation's history.
I decided to undertake the task of compiling this work, securing and classifying the data obtained as opportunity offered, and the result is herein given.
This book is primarily intended as a record of the Breed Family.
It is designed to enable the members of the family to trace easily the genealogical record of any individual, or of any branch of the family; likewise to trace the records of more than one person, and find when and where they unite.
I start with the name Allen Bread, b. 1601, and place in the record no name that cannot be traced to this one man by the plan here adopted.
The notes concerning individuals have been sent to me by the relatives of those to whom they refer, and are therefore believed to be correct.
The historic narration of events in a few cities and towns are given at some length, because linked with the history of our family.
The genealogy of the family previous to the year 1630, can not be secured without much expense, and therefore it is not treated in this book.
Many blanks occur among the dates of births, marriages and deaths, and these can be filled by the families concerned.
Some of the readers will doubtless be greatly surprised to discover how much more material they might have sent me. It gives me pleasure to acknowledge the valuable assistance which has been rendered by a few friends. When I had done about all I could to establish my own line of descent, information given from the War Records by the Hon. Charles O'Neill, the Representative in Congress from the Second District of Pennsylvania, and by Mr. Chas. B. Whiting, of Hartford Conn., enabled me to complete the record. When an appeal was made for subscriptions in advance, those who responded promptly with checks for $20.00 each were Rev. Dr. David R. Breed, of Chicago; Mr. Wm. J. Breed, and Mr. Judson W. Breed, of Cincinnati; And Mr. Allen G. Breed of Perry, Iowa. After the manuscript had been about completed, the index and chart made, and a long delay occurred, Dr. David R. Breed sent me his check of $100.00 "to be returned in cash or in books." With this encouragement I have been able to revise all the manuscript and place the matter in the hands of the printer. One hundred books will be printed, and nearly all of this number have now been ordered.
J. Howard Breed
March 1st, 1892.
THE SETTLEMENT OF NEW ENGLAND
"The settlement of New England was a result of the Reformation and of implacable differences between the Protestant Dissenters and the Established Anglican Church."
"Puritanism, zealous for independence, admitted no voucher but the Bible; a fixed rule, which it would allow neither Parliament, nor Hierarchy, nor King to interpret."
"The surplice and square cap were rejected as the livery of superstition; the outward sign that prescription was to prevail above reason and authority to control inquiry." So says the historian Bancroft.
While the Dissenters were protesting, King James saw that there was danger that their desire for freedom might yet lead to an attempt at representative government; for did he not say to some of them, "You are aiming at a Scot's Presbytery, which agreeth with Monarchy as well as GOD and the Devil," yet this very King made our grand representative Government possible by granting his subjects a large tract of land in America, thus inducing them to emigrate and establish a government for themselves. His first grant gave them 800,000 square miles of territory; six times the area of Great Britain.
Even after the Colonies had been established, the fears of the Parliament were aroused, and much was apprehended from its interference. Such interference was however prevented by important events happening in Great Britain, for just at this time the Jenny Geddes exploit occurred.
That zealous woman could not brook the reading from the Liturgy, prayers translated from the Roman Missal, and expressed her discust by the throwing of her three legged stool at the officiating Dean, and by the cry, "What, ye villain, will ye say mass in my lug?" This crucial act on the part of the brave Jenny, was the beginning of the great religious rvolution, which drew attention from the American Colonies, and permitted them to grow untrammeled for twenty years.
The name "NEW ENGLAND" was given by Captain John Smith, who examined the shores from the Penobscot to Cape Cod and prepared a map of the coast.
The first Patent was issued by King James to forty of his subjects, under the title of "The Council established at Plymouth, in county of Devon, for the planting, ruling, ordering and governing New England in America."
The territory conferred extended from the 40° to the 48° North latitude and from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, with the lands and islands, rivers and harbors, more than 800,000 square miles. With this territory there was granted to the colonies the rights to the appointing of all officers, and of the determining of all forms of government.
On the 19th of March, 1628, John Humphry, a brother-in-law of the Earl of Lincoln, John Endicott, and four others, gentlemen from Dorchester, Obtained from the Council of New England, a grant of the coast between Laconia and Plymouth Patent, including the whole of Massachusetts Bay and all the land Westward to the Pacific Ocean, between two parallel lines, "the one north of any and every part of the Merrimac River, and the other south of any and every part of the Charles River."
These pioneer formed a company known as "The Massachusetts Company," an on the 4th of March, 1629, John Winthrop, Sir Richard Saltenstall and others secured a charter to confirm the grant and then formed a corporation known as "The Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay in New England." Preparations were made to extend the settlement, which they named "The Londons Plantation in Massachusetts Bay."
Every 50 pounds ($240) contributed to the company's stock by any member entitled him to 200 acres of land.
Every stockholder who emigrated at his own expense was to receive 50 acres for each member of his family. The stock afterward diminished in value, and as a compensation, each stockholder was to receive 200 acres additional for each 50 pounds originally subscribed; of this company, John Winthrop was elected Governor.
Governor Winthrop was born in Groton, County of Suffolk, England, January 11, 1588. He died in Boston, Mass., March 26, 1649. He was bred to the law. He sailed with his company from Yarmouth, England, April 7, 1630.
EARLIER EMIGRATIONS.
The Puritans from Leyden sailed from Southampton in the Mayflower and Speedwell, on August 5, 1620, but were forced by storms to return to Plymouth. The Mayflower again sailed for America on September 6, 1620, and entered Cape Cod harbor on November 11. The colony consisted of 101 persons.
The passengers of the Speedwell came with others in the Fortune, which arrived November 10, 1621.
The third colony arrived in the "Annie and Little James," in August, 1623.
The fourth colony arrived in June, 1629, in six ships, and with them came thirty-five members of the Leyden Congregation. They landed at Naumkeag (Salem).
The fifth party arrived about June 1, 1630, from the West of England, under Ludlow, brother-in-law of Endicott. They landed at Nantasket, and settled Matapan, which they called Dorchester, after their native city.
On June 12, the Arbella, and fifteen other vessels, arrived at Salem, with eight or nine hundred souls; being the Massachusetts Company under John Winthrop.
Winthrop went to Boston, Saltenstall to Watertown, Pynchon to Roxbury, Craddock's servants to Mystic (called Medford), and Allen Bread, and others, stopped at Saugus, and founded Lynn.
Mr. Bancroft tells us, "About 800 - all of them Puritans, inclined to the party of Independents; many of them men of high endowments, large fortunes and best education, scholars, well versed in all the learning of the times; clergymen, who ranked among the most eloquent and pious in the realm - embarked with Winthrop."
LYNN.
Lynn is pleasantly situated on the northern shore of Massachusetts Bay, between the cities of Salem and Boston. It has the river Saugus on the west, the harbor on the south, the ocean on the south-east, and the Lakes of Lynn on the north; Salem is five miles north-east, and Boston is nine miles south-west. From the centre of the southern side of Lynn a beach of sand extends two miles into the ocean, at the end of which are two peninsular islands called the Nahants.
The name Nahant is supposed to have been derived from the Indian word "Nahanteen" - twins. Great Nahant is two miles in length, and half a mile wide. It is surrounded by steep, craggy cliffs, rising from twenty to sixty feet above the tide, with a considerable depth of water below. Above the cliffs the promontory swells into mounds from sixty to ninety feet high.
It was these Nahants which Thornwald saw as he sailed eastward from his Vineland, as he called Rhode Island. Lief, a brother of Thornwald had discovered Rhode Island in the year 1000, being led to it by reports from voyager Biarne, who had seen new lands in that direction when driven out of his course by storms.
Lief and Thornwald were sons of Eric the Red, and Iceland Prince who emigrated to Greenland in the year 986.
Thornwald, it is said, noticed Cape Cod and passed on to Nahant, where he landed and was killed by the Indians, and was buried by his friends.
In 1603, Martin Pring, and explorer, sailed into Cape Cod Bay in search of medicinal plants. In 1614 Captain John Smith sailed into Massachusetts Bay and expressed his admiration of the Nahants thus: - "The many isles of Mattahunts are on the west side of this bay, where are many isles and some rocks, that appear at great height above the water like the Pieramides of Egypt."
At the north-west extremity of Nahant is "John's Peril" a vast fissure in the cliff, forty feet perpendicular, which received its name from the following anecdote: -
"John Breed, one of the early inhabitants of Nahant, one day attempted to drive his team between a rock on the hill and this cliff. The passage being narrow, he found on the hill and this cliff. The passage being narrow, he found his team in great peril and hastily unfastened his oxen. The cart fell down the precipice and was dashed to pieces."
In 1629 the inhabitants of Lynn consisted of the families of the following five men: Edmund and Francis Ingalls, John and William Wood and William Dixey.
Allen Bread, with some fifty others who landed with Gov. Winthrop settled at Lynn.
After these settlers others came rapidly; Mr. Bancroft says: "Before the Long Parliament assembled in 1641, 21,000 persons had arrived in New England, in 198 ships, and the cost of the Colonies had been nearly one million dollars."
boston was not a large town at this time, for John Fuller who came there in 1630 found that "only seven huts were erected."
Lynn was known as "Saugust" when it was incorporated in 1630 by being represented in the General Court.
In the early part of 1631 provisions were scarce and many persons depended for subsistence on clams, ground nuts and acorns. Wheat sold for $3.11 per bushel, and Indian corn from Virginia at $2.44 per bushel. A good cow brought over $100 and a yoke of oxen over $175.
Previous to 1632 the people of Lynn had no minister of their own. Some attended church at Salem, and others had meetings in their houses. The Rev. Stephen Bachiler arrived in Boston, June 5th of that year and went at once to Lynn, the first service being conducted by him on the 8th of June.
In 1635 Mr. Bachiler was dismissed and the celebrated Hugh Peters was employed to preach, but he would not become their pastor. He went back to England in 1641 and was executed on the charge of treason, Oct. 16th, 1660.
In 1635 Rev. Samuel Whiting came to Lynn from his home in Lynn, England, and in compliment to him the name Saugust was dropped and the name Lynn adopted.
Lynn in England was called "Lynn Regis," because it was patronized by King John, who in 1215 received great service from the town in his war with France. "He granted them a Mayor and gave then his own sword to be carried before him, with a silver gilt cup which they have to this day."
On November 8th of this year, Mr Whiting was installed pastor of the church at Lynn, which consisted of six members besides the pastor. They signed a covenant and adopted the name, "The First Church of Christ in Lynn."
Samuel Whiting was b. at Boston, Lincolnshire, England, Nov. 20th, 1597. His father John was Mayor of the city in 1600, and his brother John secured the same office in 1625. Mr. Shiting sailed from England in April, 1636, and arrived at Boston, Mass. on May 26. He d. Dec. 11th, 1679, having preached at Lynn 43 years. His second wife was Elizabeth St. John, of Bedfordshire, England, sister of Oliver St. John, Chief Justice of England in the time of Oliver Cromwell. She was sixth cousin to King Henry VII. Through the Beauchamps she was descended from the Earls of Warren and Surrey, from the Earl of Warwick, from William the Conqueror and from King Henry I, of France. She was descended from William the Norman in two distinct lines and in her were united the lineage of ten of the soverigns of Europe.
It seems most probable that Allen Bread was a Puritan when he landed. He came to this country to assist in establishing a government which should be based upon principles which were supported by the Puritans. He was identified with the First Congregational Church in Lynn, and as late as 1692 we find that his son Allen 2 was assigned to a seat in the pulpit by vote of the Town Meeting. He had gone to Long Island and assisted in the organization of a Congregational Church there, which afterward became a Presbyterian Church. We find his grandson signing the list of "those called Quakers" in 1692. The greater part of that branch of the family which remained in Lynn, are members of the Society of Friends.
Allen's grandson, John 48, went to Stonington, and the greater part of his descendants have been Baptists. Some of the Stonington Branch near Norwich, Conn. are Congregationalists, ant those who descended from his great-grand-son, George 162, are Presbyterians. Other members of the family are found in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Kansas, California and Texas. The descendants of Josiah 24, a great-grandson of Allen 1601, are Presbyterians.
We know of several ministers of this name - three Presbyterians, 35, 37 and 193, two Congregationalists, 90 and 190, one Episcopalian, 109, and one Baptist, 136.
We shall not make the absurd claim that no man by the name of Breed has ever disgraced that name by evil deeds. It is a name of a human family, and the family can only improve and secure honor to their name by obediance to the laws of God as found in the Bible. This they have not all done.
THE BREED FAMILY.
It is well known that the peculiarities of a family of animals are found in all its members. It is known also that this law applies to man.
Each family has its distinctive traits. It is therefore very interesting to notice how these traits cling to all the family, even though the varied circumstances of locality, religion, and employment.
As a rule, the Breeds have been a positive, determined race, industrious and persevering in business, and careful of their income.
In Leiden, Holland, Dr. Breed 35 saw, a few years ago, that the name of the chief street was "Brede," and that "Brede's Lager Beer Distillery" seemed to be flourishing.
In the year 1100 many Hollanders emigrated to England and it was about that time that the town of Brede in Sussex county was settled. The town now contains a population of one thousand souls, and covers some five thousand acres. It was here that King Edward I in the year 1297 received the oath of fealty from the Scottish chieftains, Comyer and Monteith. The Register of the town dates back to 1359. In its church there are brasses with Latin inscriptions to Robert Oxenbridge, dated 1487 and 1492. The Atford family mansion which is now called Brede Place, was erected in the reign of Edward III.
The Manor of Brede, was distinct from Hundred of Hastings up to the thirth-third year of Henry VIII.
the family spread over England and we know very little of their history until the time of Allen Bread, who sailed for America with Governor Winthrop.
In England the name is now spelled "Brede," "Bread," "Breed" and "Breeds." London has a Bread street.
Allen 1601 spelled his name Bread, but soon after the family settled in this country the name was spelled "Breed," and this form is now universally used here by his descendants. The Breed family in the United States is one family, all being the descendants of Allen Bread and his first wife, who came to this country in 1630, bringing with them two boys and having two boys to them after their settlement in Lynn.
It is our intention in this book to show how all persons named in the Record are related to Allen Bread and consequently to each other, andto show as far as possible, what sort of persons they are and have been, and under what circumstances their lives have been spent.