52 ANCESTORS in 52 WEEKS, No. 50: William HEALY, 1613-1683

Following the challenge from Amy Johnson Crow to write a post weekly, 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, here is my 50th installment, William HEALY, 1613-1683 in early Massachusetts.  He is in my ex-husband's RICE line, his 7th great-grandfather, 8th for our children. 

His parentage is still disputed.  Mrs. Carl W. Carrier, in her book Healy History (revised 1968), states that William HELE ...  "is evidently a descendant of Hugh HALE, progenitor of the Cornwood line of Hale's in Devon [England]."   

It is known that he had arrived in Massachusetts before 1640, since he was admitted to the church at Lynn, MA in 1640.  He moved to Marshfield where he became a freeman in 1643; then to Roxbury in 1649.  He joined the church in Cambridge after all those moves, the Lynn church finally dismissing him to the Cambridge church.  

William appears to have been born about 1613, arriving in Massachusetts from England between 1635-1639.  He was a landholder, and was active in the local church.  From 1674-1682 he worked  as a Jailor or 'keeper'; he was the official "flogger".  He was removed from office 29 Dec 1682 for "gross misconduct" - having (apparently) been found copulating with "heavily pregnant strumpet Mary Lovell".  He was sentenced to be severely whipped 20 stripes, and was an inmate of the prison for 6 months, dying in prison.

William married five times, children are listed with their mothers in chronological order:
1643 - Grace Ives b. est 1620 England, d. 1649 Roxbury, MA; 3 children born in Roxbury MA
     1. Hannah, bap. 7 Jul 1644, d. 1667; m. 27 Oct 1665 to John Eastman 
     2. Samuel, bap 14 Feb 1645/46, d. Jan 1646 Roxbury
     3. Elizabeth, bap 14 Nov 1647; m. 10 May 1672 to Jonas Gregory

1650 - Mary Rogers, b. 1628 Devon Eng, d. 29 Nov 1652 (father Rev. Nathaniel Rogers); 2 children born in Roxbury MA
     4. Sarah, bap 2 Mar 1650/51, d. 10 Oct 1653 Cambridge 
     5. William, bap 11 Jul 1652, d. 1689 Cambridge

1653, Oct 14th - Grace BUTTRICE (Butrys) [ancestor], b. abt 1633 England, father Nicholas Butrys; d. 1660, Cambridge MA; 4 children:
     6. Grace, bap 1 May 1654, d. 2 Oct 1730; m. 15 Jul 1680 to John Ireland
     7. Mary, bap 4 Nov 1657, d. 27 Dec 1657
     8. Nathaniel [ancestor], bap 6 Feb 1658/59, d. 2 Jun 1734; m. Rebecca HAGAR 14 Jul 1681; 11 children
     9. Martha, bap 9 Mar 1660, d. 1735 Boston; m. 10 Dec 1707 to John Cunnabell

1661, 5 Aug - Phebe Greene, b. abt 1636 England, d. 1672; father Bartholomew Green; 3 children:
    10. Samuel, bap 21 Sep 1662, d. aft 1732 Hampton Falls NH; 4 marriages, 3 children
    11. Paul, bap 3 Mar 1664, d. 12 Apr 1717; m. 1694 Elizabeth.
    12. Mary, bap 29 Oct 1665, d. 16 Sep 1728; m. 12 Nov 1702 to Jacob John Watson

1677 - Sarah Cutting, b. abt 1630, d. 25 Oct 1699 Newbury Ma; 1st, 1651 to James Brown, d. 1676; 2nd to William HEALY on 29 Nov 1677; no children.


Oh my, so many children died young, most mothers died young. Despite that, there are many descendants of William HEALY and his 3rd wife, Grace BUTTRICE/BUTTRESS/BUTRYS, our ancestor.  Note that it was common to use the name of a deceased child again for a subsequent later child (i.e., Samuel - b./d. 1645-1646 & 1662;  i.e., Mary - b/d 1657, & 1665).

The Compendium of American Genealogy, Vol.VII, p.857, Immigrant Ancestors; accessed online, Ancestry.com, provides the following brief history:
HEALY (Hele, Healey), William  (1613-83), from Eng. ca. 1638;  member of ch. at Lynn, Mass., 1640;  at Roxbury, 1643, at Cambridge, 1653; prison-keeper, 1672-82;  m 1643, Grace Ives (d 1649);  m 2d, Mary Rogers; m 3d, 1653, Grace (1634-60), dau. Nicholas Buttrice; m 4th, 1661, Phoebe (d 1662), dau of Bartholomew Greene (d 1638), of Cambridge; m 5th, 1677, Sarah (Cutting) Brown, dau. John Cutting, widow of James Brown.

Further sources were found as in the History of Cambridge, Healy History (mentioned at beginning), Records of the Church of Christ in Cambridge, Vital Records of Cambridge, Vital Records of Newbury, Vital Records of Roxbury, NEHGS Register articles, and more.  

This was a challenging post simply because there is so much more to his life stories as noted in various histories and articles which I could have included - plus his 5 wives and 12 children!  

If you have further information on William HEALY, or corrections to offer, I would be happy to receive them. Contact me via calewis at telus dot net or in the Comments below.  Thanks for stopping by to comment!