John Pederick (also spelled Pedrick or Pederithe) was one of the early settlers in Marblehead. His origins before he arrived in the Colony are a grand magesty. A query found on the web commented as follows: "I am researching the First John Pederick of The Great Neck, Marblehead, USA. It is purported that this John may have been the son of a regicide (Sir John Bourchier) and had changed his name when leaving (fleeing) England for America." There is no reference for this purported information.

Samuel Roads wrote in the History and Traditions of Marblehead, page 334:

One of the earliest of those who erected houses and resided upon the Neck was John Pedrick, whose name appears among the householders of Marblehead in 1665. He possessed a large amount of property in real estate, and being a man of considerable means, devoted much of his time to the cultivation of the soil. From records and traditions of his family it appears that he was of high lineage, and that Pedrick was not his real name. Coming to America at a time when the English government strongly opposed the emigration of families of upper class, a disguise was rendered necessary, and he had recourse, as did many other of his rank and station in society, to an assumed name. He brought with him money, servants, laborers, farming implements, and household furniture. Some of the persons who came with him, it is said — but in no way related to him or his family — were permitted to take his name. That it was his intention to throw off the disguise and resume his legitimate name there can be little doubt, but as the years passed on and his property accumulated, it was evident that the act would be attended by great inconvenience, and the idea was abandoned.

We know from various sources that at the age of about 29, he married a woman named Miriam when she was 17 years of age. Together they had nine known children who lived to adulthood.

John died between August 1686 when his will was written and October of the same year, when his estate was probated. His widow Miriam married John Grose in 1688.

We don't have records of the exact births of their children, other than the first Agnes, who was born in 1655 and Johanna, their youngest, who was born in 1680. Three of their nine children are our direct ancestors.

The eldest Agnes was married to John Stacey, who was mentioned in her father's will. Together, they had eleven children. Their daughter Miriam, who married John Gale, was our direct ancestor.

John Pederick, their oldest son, married Mary Brown, the daughter of William Brown and his wife Mary (possibly Chinn). They had nine known children, two of whom were our direct ancestors. Their son Richard married Jean Merrett, and their son William married Jane Chapman.

Their daughter Sarah was married to Henry Brintnall (Brentnall) at the time her father died. She and her husband had three children before Henry died a couple of years after her father. Sarah then married David Oliver in 1691 and together they had seven more children. The son John Oliver was our direct ancestor. The Essex Antiquarian gives details of the the genealogy of her Brintnall children.

Benjamin Pederick apparently did not marry and have children. I was able to find an LDS record for the marriage of his sister Mary Pederick to John Searles, but no additional confirmation of this marriage nor any records of children of the Searles marriage could be found.

Daughter Meriam (or Miriam) married three times. Her first husband Samuel Waldron, married Jan 1689, "being sick" made his will on the 28 Nov 1691 bequeathing to his father John Waldron "whatever debts may be due", to his sister Rebecka Stevens 6 Pounds and the remainder, and "to my mwife Miriam for the maintenance of her self and the child she now goes with." Samuel died in Marblehead on 8 Dec 1691. The inventory was taken 15 Jan 1692, amounting to 206.14 pounds, and presented to Miriam Waldron, Widow, and executrix (Exxex Probate Records, 303:67,68). Her son Samuel Waldron was baptized on 24 Apr 1692.

Miriam Pederick Waldron secondly married on 12 Apr 1694 Benjamin Henley, son of Elias, who had been baptized at the First Church of Salem on 8 Aug 1672. Miriam "Henley", widow, was appointed administratrix of the estate of Benjamin Henly, mariner, late of Marblehead, deceased, 14 Sep 1704. Their son John Henley was baptized 10 Mar 1695. Their daughter Miriam Henley was baptized 21 Mar 1697.

Mariam Pederick Waldron Henley then married in Marblehead Abraham Lashere (Lasher) on 29 Sep 1704. Their daughter Elizabeth Lasher was baptized on 25 Aug 1706.

(All of the above information on Miriam is from The Magazine of History with Notes and Queries, Volume 18, Page 43, The Henley Families)

Daughter Ann was married to John Barrett (spelled Parrott in her father's will) when he died in 1686. No records of children born to this union could be found. She then married Pentecost Blackinton, and together they had eight known children.

Daughter Elizbeth married Thomas Rhodes. No records could be found of the the names of their children.

Their youngest daughter Johanna, who was born 25 years after her eldest sibling, was married to Elias Cook. They had three known children.

DOCUMENTS:

The records of marriages, the first shown being that of Miriam to her second husband:

 

Sir John Bourchier (c. 1595 – August 1660) was an English parliamentarian, Puritan and one of the regicides of King Charles I.
In 1625, Bourchier was appointed as a Justice of the Peace for the three Yorkshire Ridings. When Charles dissolved Parliament and sought to raise money through the forced loans in 1627, Sir John was one of those who refused. At the outbreak of the English Civil War, he was arrested and imprisoned in York until 1643. He was elected Member of Parliament for Ripon in 1647; at Pride's Purge, he was one of the MPs permitted to keep his seat in Commons.

As a judge at the trial of King Charles, he was one of the signatories of the King's death warrant. After the Restoration, May 1660, Bourchier was too ill to be tried as a regicide, and died, unrepentant, a few months later. Ironically John Bourhier was a great-grandson of Margaret Pole, 8th Countess of Salisbury who had been beheaded by order of King Henry VIII; Charles I was a great-great-grandson of Margaret Tudor-a sister of King Henry VIII.

Note found on the Web: "I am researching The First John Pederick of The Great Neck, Marblehead, Mass. USA. It is purported that this John may have been the son of a regicide (Sir John Bourchier)and had changed his name when leaving (fleeing) England for America.

I would like to find information relative to Sir John Bourchier 1595-1660 (the regicide) and his offspring. With the purpose of identifing The First John Pederick of The Great Neck of Marlbehead, Mass. USA"

 

GateHouse News Service
Posted May 28, 2010 @ 07:21 PM
Marblehead Reporter

To the editor:

Lifting the Veil on Miriam Grose

Regarding the story by Nikki Gamer, “Conservator: Mysteries abound at memorial site” (Marblehead Reporter, May 20, 2010), I feel I must comment, at the risk of seeming like a 300-year-old wet blanket.

Mr. Ivan Myjer, who is identified as having been hired by the town of Marblehead to “conduct a site assessment of Old Burial Hill as a means of coming up with a preservation master plan,” seems pretty mystified by the subject of his study. I think I can help lift the veil, or the shroud.

Regarding the old gravestone of Mrs. Miriam Grose, he mentions that it is “unique to find a stone that doesn’t have a death date.” Maybe so, but I might put it differently. The gravestone epitaph says that she died at the age of 80 leaving 180 living children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Obviously, her family felt that, in light of this profusion of life, death came in second — besides, they all knew when she died. They were on to something, since Mr. Myjer is fascinated by her stone precisely because it has no death date — Mrs. Grose’s numerous family are still calling attention to her, three centuries later!

There really is no mystery, though, about her date of death: She died in September 1717, per the records of the First Congregational Church of Marblehead, as listed on page 568 of Marblehead Vital Records, Vol. II, published by the late lamented Essex Institute in 1904, a volume that is available seven days a week at Abbot Public Library. Her age-at-death is also listed, as 80, taken from the gravestone record at “Old Burying Hill cemetery” (per the Vital Records book; “Burial Hill” seems to be a neologism, since the old-timers called it “Burying” Hill, just as Salem’s graveyard was, and is, Burying Point).

Who was this Mrs. Miriam Grose? In 1654 or so, Miriam, aged 17 (I don’t know her family surname), married John Pedrick (1625?-1686), a 29-year-old fisherman who had settled in Marblehead by 1648. John was probably from Devon or Cornwall in the West of England, where the name Petherick (Pedrick) was not uncommon. In fact, there was another John Pedrick (c.1638-c.1706) living in Marblehead in the 1600s. 

Miriam and John had at least nine children, the eldest being Agnes, born 1655, and the youngest Johannah, born 1680! They all survived to adulthood, and all had children except for son Benjamin (evidently).

In the 1670s, the John Pedrick family (two sons, seven daughters) moved to Marblehead Neck (no yacht clubs then; plenty of fish yards though) and settled on eight acres. Miriam was 49 when her husband died in 1686 (probably he was buried on his homestead), and late in 1688 she married Richard Grose, likely a widower, aged about 45. Her eldest daughter, Agnes, married John Stacey c.1673 and had 11 children; her eldest son, John, married Mary Brown and had nine children, and others of her offspring were similarly prolific.

Miriam and Richard lived together for almost 23 years, until he died in September 1711, aged 68 (his gravestone is on the old hill). Six years later, Miriam died, too.

Robert A. Booth from his article Lifting the Veil on Miriam Grose"

John Pedrick
M, #3242, b. circa 1624, d. before 7 October 1686

John was born circa 1624. He married Miriam  (?). Their other children were: John; Benjamin; Agnes; Mary; Sarah; Meriam; Elizabeth and Joanna, married 27 Mar 1698 Elias Cook.. John Pedrick left a will on 2 August 1686 at Marblehead, Essex County, Massachusetts, 

He mentioned in his Will his wife Meriam, eldest son John and eight more children: Benjamin, Agnes, Mary, Ann, Sarah, Meriam, Elizabeth and Joanna. His son-in-laws : John Stacy, John Parrot and Henry Prentall. 1He died before 7 October 1686 at Marblehead, Essex County, Massachusetts.
Citations

1. [S401] James Savage, Genealogy Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England, v.3, p385.

The article below details the marriages of Miriam Pederick. I believe it confuses her father with her brother.

 

From Sidney Perley's Marblehead in the Year 1700: We get a bit of the flavor of the real estate transactions of the family at these times.

Information on the will of John Pederick, Sr.