At 6:02 PM -0600 9/14/11, Dale H. Cook wrote: > >At 07:20 PM 9/14/2011, Carol Botteron wrote: > >>I checked the FHL catalog but didn't find anything. > >http://www.familysearch.org/eng/library/fhlcatalog/supermainframeset.asp?display=titledetails&titleno=190554&disp=Records+of+deeds%2C+1639-1885%3B+index%20%20&columns=*,0,0 > >(watch out for line wrap) Thank you, but isn't this register of Suffolk County deeds the same as what NEHGS has? > >Is there any way to check on land grants from the king of England to >>people in Mass.? I am skeptical of that story. > >I am too. > >Note that I am at a loss to find any 17th-century Hixsons in eastern >MA. The only Hixson marriages shown by Torrey are in western MA, and >the earliest Dorchester vital record appears to be the birth of >Walter, son of Richard and Hannah, in 1705. Torrey does list my ancestors' marriage: HIXSON Richard (-1718) & Margaret WADKINS/WATKINS; 14 Sep 1686; Milton {Reg. 36:19, 44:170; GDMNH 723}. The marriage is also in the Milton VR. Richard-1 Hixson's probate names his wife Margaret as administrator and mentions children John, Richard, Hannah, Rebeckah, Margaret, Elizabeth, Walter. (I am convinced that Walter's mother was actually Margaret Watkins. I have found no records of other marriages for Richard-1 or deaths of his wives. Note that Richard-1's oldest daughter was named Hannah. "Hannah" in Walter's birth record was probably an error by the clerk.) Back to the land grant from the king ... weren't these usually to people who had done something the British government would consider worth rewarding? As far as I can find, Richard-1 was basically a farmer and did no military service. Carol B. P.S. I suspect that if any of my ancestors had a lot of money, they spent it bribing clerks to remove evidence of them from the records. :-}

At 08:40 PM 9/14/2011, Carol Botteron wrote: >Thank you, but isn't this register of Suffolk County deeds the same >as what NEHGS has? These are films of the deed books at the Suffolk Registry 1639-1885, plus films of the grantor and grantee books 1639-1920, and (rather unusual) an index to persons named in the deeds other than grantors and grantees, 1639-1799. The set totals 1,128 rolls of microfilm. I do not know what NEHGS has since my use of film at 99-101 Newbury St. has not included Suffolk deeds. Dale H. Cook, Member, NEHGS and MA Society of Mayflower Descendants; Plymouth Co. MA Coordinator for the USGenWeb Project Administrator of http://plymouthcolony.net

At 08:40 PM 9/14/2011, Carol Botteron wrote: >I suspect that if any of my ancestors had a lot of money, they >spent it bribing clerks to remove evidence of them from the records. They may also have paid to keep their names out of print. :-) There is little to be found on the early years of this family, based on a search for Hixson, Hixon and Hickson in my CD-ROM copy of PERSI 2001. The only article that looks at all likely is one on the Hickson-Hixson-Hixon family 1663-1940, published in Poplar Row in October, 1984 (published by the Jackson County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society). However, the online index to Poplar Row at the Jackson County Chapter site does not list Walter or Margaret, so the family dealt with might have been a Virginia or Pennsylvania family.. Dale H. Cook, Member, NEHGS and MA Society of Mayflower Descendants; Plymouth Co. MA Coordinator for the USGenWeb Project Administrator of http://plymouthcolony.net