Elmer G. Bridgham:
"Joseph Bridgham, fourth son of Henry Bridgham and Elizabeth
Harding Bridgham, was born January 17, 1651....Joseph was a tanner by trade. In 1678 he was made a freeman.
He became quite prominent. He served as selectman, town clerk,
and in the General Court. Under the law at that time a town at
a distance from Boston might elect a man nearer Boston to repre-
sent it in the General Court. Joseph Bridgham represented North-
ampton in 1690 and again in 1697. He and Copp were ordained el-
ders of the First Chruch of Boston. He joined the Ancient &
Honorable Artillary Company in 1674. He was often moderator of
the Boston town meeting and often served on various town com-
mittees. Rev. Cotton Mather officiated at his wedding with
Mercy Wensley, April 17, 1700. His will dated January 3, 1708
was probated in Suffolk County. In it he bequeated twenty
pounds to be spent by the deacons of the church for plate for the
communion table. The first Church in Boston still his this plate.
It consists of three communion cups made by Jeremiah Dunner.
"The gift of Joseph Bridgham." These cups are kept at the Boston
Art Museum on Huntington Avenue for exhibition purposes. They
are in a case marked, "First Church Silver." First Church in
Boston, Berkley and Marlborough Streets. He died January 10, 1708.
Samuel Sewell wrote to Thomas Cookerill in New York as follows,
"I am in pain foe the loss of my good friend, Mr. Bridgham. He
was a publick Spirited Man, very pious and charitable to the
poor; and will be much missed. We have a Treacherous mortal
Fever with which he was seis'd on Friday and died the Wednesday
following." "My worthy friend, Mr. Bridgham is buried; Bearers
Mr. Cook, Col. Hutchinson, Elder Cop, Deacon John Marion, Deacon
Isaiah Tay, Deacon Thomas Hubbard. Is buried in the Col. burying
place. Went up by Mr. Dudley's House into King Street, and up
between the Town-House and Mr. Phillips. He was a Righteous,
Mercyful, publick Spririted man, bery useful in the Town." He
was born January 17, 1651. Sewell Papers Vol. 2, page 248. He was
married three times. I think he had children only by his
last wife, Mercy Wensley. He lies buried in King's Chapel burying
ground in Tremont Street, Boston. A plain stone marks his grave.Of Joseph Bridgham and Mercy Wensley were born five children,
but it seems four of them died young.
Joseph's 3rd wife. (New England Marriages Prior to 1700 by Clarence Torrey
According to Elmer G. Bridgham:
Henry Bridgham, Junior, second son of Henry Bridgham and Ursula
Brett Bridgham, had listened to the teaching of the nonconformist
Jonathan Burr, who lived at Redgrave, a parish adjoining Thelnatham,
and when Burr was obliged to leave with his wife and family
for New England, Henry Bridgham, Jr.m either came with him or
followed soor after as he joined the church in Dorchester (where
Burr had gone) April 16, 1641. He lived in Dorchester two years
and then moved to Boston, "where his descendents became many".
He was made freeman, May 10, 1641. He united with the First
Church in Boston, March 31, 1644. In the same year, he joined the
Ancient & Honorable Artillery Company. He was constable in 1653.
He was a deacon and ruling elder in the church. The Geneological
and Family history of Massachusetts says "This name has been well
known since 1641 in Massachusetts, and the family were from the
first prominent in the business and political life of the colony.
The name frequently appears in the History of Boston where the
Bridgham family were held in high esteem as merchants and were
men of comparative wealth for those days. Some served in the
Revoloutionary War and many of them had fine educations and
associated with people of the highest culture." He married Eliz-
abeth Harding, daughter of John Harding, yeoman of Borsham, Essex
County, England. She is mentioned in her father's will dated Sep-
tember 1, 1631, and probated January 7, 1632. John's Harding's
wife's name was Annie.On the creek near the corner of the present Water and Congress
Streets the leather dressers in 1643 were granted a place to water
their leather. Deacon Henry Bridgham was in possession of the prop-
erty on the south side of Water Street in 1655, and in 1670 he
built a mansion on the let and had tan pits near by. He did not
live to move into the new house. It becae the famous Julie
House and its history is given by Shurtleff in his Topograph-
ical Description of Boston Volume 2, page 524. In 1646
the Selectmen gave Captain Bridgham permission to set his bark
house on the town's land, and in 1660 the land was confirmed unto
him by them upon his paying forty pounds towards the erection
of the "Almes-house" in the town. He served as captain in the
militia. He died March 1, 1670/1. His will was proved April
13, 1671. The inventory was nearly four thousand pounds. His
tan yard was divied among his sons, Jonathan, John and Joseph,
July 2, 1680.Authorities: The Society of Genealogists, Chaucer House,
Malet Place, London, England, History of the Ancient & Honor-
able Artillery Company, Savage's Genealogial Dictionary, Re-
port of Boston Records, Volume 2. Boston Magazine, Volume 1,
page 275, Shurtleff's Topographical Description of Boston.
Confirmed WFT db=jrecord, id=14928.
WFT db=jrecord, id=14943
Elmer G. Bridgham wrote:
Dr. John Bridgham, son of Henry Bridgham and Elizabeth Harding,
was born 1646, died 1721, leaving a good estate on Milk street.April 16, 1685 the freeman of Ipswich, Massachusetts, granted
to John Bridgham, "about half an acre of land near goodman Bridge
near the widow Clark's provided he improve it for a garden, and to
build on for his settlement here in this town." The Boston News-
letter May 13, 1721, has a communication from Ipswich that, "On
Tuesday the 2 Currant Died here in the 76th year of his age Doctor
John Bridgham, Eldest son of Mr. Henry Bridgham of Boston -- A
Gentleman of great natural Modesty, ingenuity and Generosity of
Temper and Spirit. Liberally educated at Harvard College in Cam-
bridge (where he resided nearly twenty years) & became a consider-
able proficient in most of the parts of Learning; but Eminently
skilled in the art of Physic and very successful in the practice
of it nearly forty years." He was Foefee of the Ipswich grammer
school from 1714 to the time of his death. "The Gift of Doc. John
Bridgham to the Church of Christ in Ipswich," is inscribed on a
silver cup belonging to the communion of the First Church. This
church still has this cup. He never married. He graduated at
Harvard College in 1690.
WFT db=jrecord, id=14945
Confirmed by Elmer G. Bridgham
WFT db=jrecord, id=14946
Confrmed by Elmer G. Bridgham
WFT db=jrecord, id=14948
Elmer G. Bridgham says his death was 1677
WFT db=jrecord, id=14949
Confrmed by Elmer G. Bridgham, who adds that he died young.WFT db=jrecord, id=14947
Confrmed by Elmer G. BridghamBIRTH: Also shown as Born 8 Dec 1659
WFT db=jrecord, id=14950
Confrmed by Elmer G. Bridgham
Source: Woodworth Genealogy
Source: Woodworth Genealogy
Weaver. See description of his life
See his tombstone
His will
Source: Woodworth Genealogy
Source: Woodworth Genealogy
Source: Woodworth Genealogy
Source: Woodworth Genealogy
Source: Woodworth geneology
BIRTH: Also shown as Born 2 Dec 1686
BIRTH: Also shown as Born 7 Mar 1689
Source: Woodworth Genealogy