Hi: This is from THE GREAT MIGRATION BEGINS: IMMIGRANTS TO NEW ENGLAND 1620-1633 which consists of bios for men mainly. I saw mention of one of my surnames in another man's bio but could not pull him up with the search mechanism unless I left the names blank and put his name in as a keyword. Since I knew the Hinds did not arrive until after 1633 I put "Hinds" in as a keyword and found three entries. This is the first. Use your Find feature to find Elizabeth Hind Beck. Do any of you know her parents or siblings? Regards, Nan [email protected] - ------------------------------------------------ Search Terms: HINDS (3) Database: The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-33 ALEXANDER BECK ORIGIN: Unknown MIGRATION: 1632 FIRST RESIDENCE: Boston OCCUPATION: Laborer, husbandman. CHURCH MEMBERSHIP: "Alexander Becke a labourer" was admitted to Boston church 22 June 1634 [BChR 18]. FREEMAN: 3 September 1634 [MBCR 1:369]. EDUCATION: Signed his deed of 31 March 1668 but made his mark to his will six years earlier. OFFICES: For some years, from 1638 to 1646 at least, Alexander Beck was reimbursed by the colony for keeping various indigent persons, apparently not chargeable to any one town [MBCR 1:230, 312, 318; 2:139, 153, 160, 165; 3:68, 82]; he also performed this service for the town of Boston, as evidenced by reimbursement given to him on 25 March 1650 [BTR 1:100]. On 9 April 1649 chosen by Boston to keep the cows for the year at 2s. per head [BTR 1:95]. Appointed Boston fenceviewer 26 April 1652, 30 January 1653/4 and 30 March 1655 [BTR 1:110, 118, 123]. ESTATE: On 8 January 1637/8 granted eight acres at Muddy River [BTR 1:23]. On 22 February 1640/1 William Courser of Boston sold to Alexander Beck "his lot at Muddy River, it being 10 acres" [BTR 1:59]. On 31 March 1645 the Boston selectmen granted to Alexander Beck "the little marsh next Mr. Haughe's Point" for £3 10s. per acre, and on 29 September 1645 he paid £4 7s. for this marsh, "being about an acre and a quarter" [BTR 1:83, 85]. In the Boston Book of Possessions, compiled in 1644, Alexander Beck held three parcels: one house and garden; one acre in Newfield; and "a small parcel of land first granted for a houselot"; on 11 November 1651 he purchased from Thomas Woodward four and a quarter acres at Muddy River [BBOP 14]. On 31 March 1668 "Alexander Beck of Boston husbandman" made a deed of gift of a small parcel in Boston next to his house to "Manasses Beck my only son & Mary his now wife" [SLR 6:147]. On 23 February 1674/5 John Leverett of Boston granted to "Manassah Beck (the only child & executor of the last will and testament of the said Alexander Beck deceased)" "in consideration of exchange for other lands with the late Alexander Beck of Boston" one acre in Newfield and six acres of marsh at Muddy River [SLR 9:133]. In his will, dated 20 June 1662 and probated 27 October 1674, Alexander Beck bequeathed to "my beloved wife" (name not given) for life "my little house where John Glover now liveth with the yard before it & the one quarter of the garden" and one half his cattle and movable goods along with yearly maintenance, to son Manassa Beck "all the residue of my estate that is to say my other house in which I live with the other part of my said garden or orchard & the one half of my said pasture close & my land at Muddy River with the little house and barn there with all the upland & marsh there," and to Hannah Alcock £30, of which £20 to be paid by his son Manassa Beck and £10 by his wife; after his wife's death her share to go to son Manassa Beck who is to be executor, and Elder James Penn and Deacon Richard Truesdale are to be overseers [SPR 6:61]. The inventory of the estate of Alexander Beck was taken 26 October 1674 by William Salter, Jacob Eliot and Theophilus Frary, and totalled £348 5s., of which £320 was real estate: "Dwelling house with old housing and the land adjoining," £200; "a piece of pasture land lying in the Newfield in Boston," £40; and "at Muddy River: 26 acres of upland & 8 acres of marsh," £80 [SPR 5:210]. BIRTH: By about 1613 based on date of freemanship. DEATH: Boston after 31 March 1668 (sale of land to son) and before 26 October 1674 (date of inventory), and probably closer to the latter date. MARRIAGE: 1 April 1633: "It is ordered, that Joyce Bradwicke shall give unto Alex: Becke the sum of 20s., for promising him marriage without her friends consent, & now refusing to perform the same" [MBCR 1:104]. [See JOYCE BRADWICK.] He m. (1) by 1639 Mary _____, who died Boston 2 May 1639 [BVR 7]. He m. (2) by 1640 ELIZABETH HINDS; on 27 November 1642 the Boston church admitted "Elizabeth the wife of our brother Alexander Beck sometime called Elizabeth Hinde upon letters of dismission from the church at Roxbury" [BChR 37]. CHILDREN (all born and baptized Boston): With second wife i EPHRAIM (twin), b. 1 June 1640 [BVR 9]; bp. 7 June 1640 [BChR 285]; no further record. ii DELIVERANCE (dau., twin), b. 1 June 1640 [BVR 9]; bp. 7 June 1640 [BChR 285]; no further record. iii STRANGE, b. 1 June 1640 (sic) [BVR 9]; bp. 5 June 1642 "about 5 days old" [BChR 289]; no further record. iv MANASSEH, b. 8 October 1645 [BVR 21]; bp. 12 October 1645 "about 5 days old" [BChR 300]; m. by 31 March 1668 Mary _____ [SLR 6:147; BVR 107]. The will of Alexander Beck and the deeds involving Manasseh Beck make it clear that none of the other children had surviving issue, and there is no hint that any of them even lived to adulthood. COMMENTS: The year of birth for son Strange Beck given in the Boston vital records should be 1642 and not 1640; as Savage notes with regard to the record of three children born on 1 June 1640, "the unworthy copy of town record of births has the monstrous assertion of these three, as born at once." Since the mother of Ephraim is given in town records as Elizabeth, Ephraim and Deliverance must be twins, although this is not stated in the baptismal record. Alexander Beck may have dabbled in trade to the West Indies, for on 4 January 1647/8 he "assigned unto Thomas Harlowe a bill of John Manniford's of two hundred weight of tobacco or the value thereof in Barbados ..." [Aspinwall 120].