Subject: William Longley, Sr. a 1st Proprietor of Groton formerly of Lynn Source: Epitaphs from the Old Burying Ground, Groton, Mass. by Dr. Samuel A. Green, Boston, 1878. p. 244 - Appendix William Longley was among the earliest settlers of Groton and was the owner of a thirty acre right. He was the son of Richard Longley of Lynn, where in the town records the name is sometimes spelled Langley. He had been one of the Selectmen of Lynn and was clerk of the writs there in the year 1655. He removed about the year 1661 to Groton where he was one of the selectmen in the year 1665 and town clerk in 1666. He died Nov. 29, 1680 leaving a Will dated six days before his death. His widow Joanna afterward married Benjamin Crispe whom she survived; she died at Charlestown in the year 1698. The following is a list of his children, though probably not in the order of their birth: 1. John Longley b. abt. 1640, married Hannah____ and had several children. 2. Elizabeth Longley m. Sept. 7, 1669, James Blood & died abt. 1677 leaving two daughters, Mary Blood & Elizabeth Blood who married brothers named Shattuck. 3. Anna Longley (or Hannah) who married June 30, 1666, Thomas Tarbell, Jr. and had several children. 4. Mary Longley who m. Samuel Leaman, prob. of Charlestown. 5. Sarah Longley b. Oct 15, 1660; m. June17, 1679, Thomas Rand of Charlestown. 6. Lydia Longley who m. James Nutting and had six children 7. William Longley Jr. who married May 15, 1673, Lydia _____. Note Torrey, p.472 has he m. his 1st wife Lydia May 15, 1672. and he m. (2) Deliverance Crispe He was town clerk in the year 1687 and from 1692 till his death in 1694. William Longley lived on the east side of the Hollis road about a mile from the village. A melancholy interest is connected with the site, as it was here that he and his wife and five children were massacred by the Indians in their assault on the town July 27, 1694. Three more of their children, Lydia, John & Betty were carried off by the savages and taken to Canada. Lydia was sold to the French and placed in the Congregation of Notre Dame, a convent in Montreal where she embraced the Roman Catholic faith and died July 20, 1758 at the advanced age of 84 years. Betty died soon after her capture from hunger and exposure and John Longley, the third child remained with the savages for more than four years when he was ransomed and brought back against his own will. He was known to his captors as John Angary. After he came home his sister Lydia wrote from Canada urging him to abjure the Protestant religionbut he remained true to his early faith. Their grandmother, the widow of Benjamin Crispe, April 13, 1698, made her Will which was admitted to probate on the 28th of the following December, and in it she remembered these absent children as follows: "I give and bequeath unto my three grand-children that are in Captivity - if they return, viz., three books, one of them a Bible, another a Sermon book treating of faith, and the other a Psalme book." John Longley returned about the time that his grandmother died. Transcribed by Janice Farnsworth Subject: William Longley Source: History of Lynn, Mass. by Alonzo Lewis & James R. Newhall, Boston, 1865. p.155 William Longley, clerk of the writs of Lynn, Mass., in 1655, son of Richard Longley of Lynn p.175 At a court held at Ipswich, March 26, 1661, Andrew Mansfield, "aged about thirty- eight yeares" made affadavit that he had been an inhabitant of Lynn "aboute twenty three yeares," and that William Longley came at the time he did and "by himselfe and familye;" had remained an inhabitant, having bought a house and land; that in 1649 this William Longley, at a general town meeting, demanded his portion of land should be laid out, according to the town records; that "the records were vewed and therein was found 40 acres granted to one Richard Longley. But his name being William Longley and not Richard, as also sum asking the said Longley whether hee had paid for the Laying it out; he answering that he had not," the majority voted that it was not his. Mr. Mansfield also testified that Longley had been called by the name Langleyand that he never knew an inhabitant of Lynn called either Longley or Langley, but THIS William Longley and his ffamilye." Subject: William Longley Source: History of Groton by Caleb Butler, 1848. p.278 William Longley Sr., owned a thirty acre right at Groton. He died Nov. 29, 1680. John & William were his sons. William Longley, Jr. was town clerk six years and held that office when he and his family were slain by the Indians in 1694. John Longley, the son of William Longley Jr., who was carried away, a captive, was also town clerk six years, a deacon of the church from 1722 to the time of his death, 1750 and town treasurer and parish treasurer for many years. He represented the town in the General Court three years. He had nine sons and three daughters; five of them by his first wife, Sarah, one of the eight daughters of Capt Jonas Prescott and seven by his his last wife. His son Joseph was a soldier in the French War and died of a wound at Greenbush, New York, 1758. This Josephwas father of Col. Edmund Longley late of Hawleyand grandfather of Gen. Thomas Longley of the same place. Not less than fifteen of the name, in Groton and its vicinity were soldiers in the Revolutionary war. Transcribed by Janice Farnsworth Subject: William Longley, Jr. Source: Various Groton books William Longley, Jr. who died July 17,1694 at Charlestown, Mass. m. (1) Lydia Pease on May 15, 1672 at Groton, Mass. He m. (2) Deliverance Crispe. William Longley Jr. and his 2nd wife, Deliverance Crisp, and five of their children were killed by Indians on July 27, 1694. Lydia Longley and John and Betty Longley were taken prisoners. On the long march, Betty died. John Longley was a prisoner until after the French and Indian War and then released. He never talked of his experience. Lydia Longley was taken to Montreal and sold to the French. She became a nun and never returned to Groton. His first wife, Lydia Pease m. William Longley Jr. May 15, 1672 at Groton. Their Children: 1. Lydia Longley b. April 14, 1674 at Groton; d. July 21, 1758 in Montreal, Canada. 2. William Longley b. Dec 17,1675 at Groton; d.July 27, 1694 at Groton. Deliverance Crispe was born about 1650 at Watertown, Mass. She died July 27, 1694 at Charlestown, Mass. She m. as his 2nd wife, William Longley Jr. Their children: 1. Jemima Longley b. 1680 at Groton; she d. July27,1694 at Charlestown,. Mass. 2. John Longley b.1682/1683; d. May 25, 1750 3. a child Longley b. 1684 d. July 27, 1694 at Groton 4. Joseph Longley b. Jan 6, 1686 at Groton; d. July 27, 1694 at Charlestown, Mass. 5. a child Longley b. 1688 at Groton, d. July 27, 1694 at Groton, Mass. 6. Elizabeth Longley b. 1690 at Groton; she d. July 1694 in Canada Transcribed by Janice Farnsworth Some Marriages and Births at Groton, MA Transcribed by Janice Farnsworth