Weymouth is the second oldest town in Massachusetts. It was established in 1622 and incorporated in 1635. The town was a fishing and agricultural community.
Estate inventories give us a glance into the home life of Colonial Americans through their possesions.
Early European settlers in the American colonies were mostly farmers and craftsmen. They had to work hard to provide daily neccesities for themselves.
Elizabeth Fry Fiske was born on October 20, 1639 in Weymouth, Norfolk County, Massachusetts. She was the daughter of William and Elizabeth Fry.
When she was three years old, in 1642, her father died and she inherited
. . . his house & foure acres of land being his home lot, & after her [mother’s] decease to his two daughters, Elizabeth & Mary. To his two daus. 2 acres of mead & sixe acres of land lying by the mill, also to each of them a Goate. (Suffolk County Wills, Abstracts of the Earliest Wills Upon Record, 17)
In 1653 when she was about 14 she was left with her step-father, Thomas Daggett (Doggett), when her mother died. Thomas held her land until her majority.
On July 10, 1659 she changed her membership to the church of Dorchester, Suffolk County.
Elizabeth Frye (being married to a man at Watertowne) was dismissed to Joyn to ye Church 3 June 1666. (Chamberlain, George, The History of Weymouth, p. 244.)
She died May 15, 1696 when she was 56 years old in Watertown. (Colonial & Revolutionary Families, Volume III, Charles Warren Merrill, Page 1391) On June 2 her children agreed upon the division of her estate. These children were James and Elizabeth Ball, Edward and Martha Park, John and Abigail Mixer, and Susan Fiske.
Old Style Calendar
Before 1752 the year began on Lady Day, March 25th,. Dates between January 1st and March 24th were at the end of the year. Old Style (O.S.) and New Style (N.S.) are used to indicate whether the year has been adjusted. Often both dates are used.
