Book Chronicles Oldest Concord, MA Families
Genealogical Tables and Biographical Sketches Given
Sep 23, 2008
Concord—then known as Musketsquid—was settled by Rev. Peter Bulkeley of Odell, England. He and merchant Simon Willard of Horsmonden, England brought about 12 families with them.
The Barrett Family
Humphrey Barrett, probably from Kent, England, settled in Concord in 1639. Coming with him were his wife and sons John, Thomas and Humphrey Jr. Humphrey’s house was near the center of town on what is now Monument Street. His farm consisted of 300 acres and his house lot in town was 12 acres.
Descendant Col. James Barrett was in command at the famous April 19, 1775 Concord battle at North Bridge. The Lowell Sun reports that on Sept. 22, 2008, the U. S. House of Representatives approved legislation to permanently protect Col. Barrett’s farm by placing it within the boundaries of the Minute Man National Park in Concord.
These are some of the other early settlers of Concord:
- Brooks—Thomas Brooks came to Concord about 1636.
- Brown—Thomas Brown was in Concord by 1640. His son Thomas was an early Concord town clerk. Descendants include a U. S. Congressman, newspaper editors, numerous clergy and a missionary who translated the Bible and a hymnal into Japanese.
- Buttrick—William Buttrick came to Concord in 1635; great-grandson Maj. John Buttrick was one of the leaders at the famous 1775 battle at Concord.
- Davis—Dolor Davis was at Cambridge in 1634, moved to Barnstable, then settled at Concord.
- Potter—Luke Potter was among the original settlers of Concord and one of the deacons of the first church there. Descendants included Boston merchants, one of the country's most skilled makers of gunpowder and a Civil War union soldier who managed to tunnel his way out of Libby Prison.
Genealogical Tables and Biographies
The book contains about 100 pages of indexed genealogical tables. There are fairly extensive tables for the Barrett, Blood, Brooks, Brown, Buttrick, Prescott and Wheeler families, plus more than 80 pages of Wood descendants.
Fourteen of the book’s biographical sketches are accompanied by pictures, eight of them being of Barrett family members. There is also a picture of the author.
Other families who later settled in Concord, where successive generations lived, bore these surnames: Farrar, Greene, Hubbard, Hunt, Jones, Lewis, Miles, Minott, Russell and Swain.
Concord, home of "the shot heard round the world", is most known as site of the first Revolutionary War skirmish. It also was home to such literary figures as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Louisa May Alcott.
The Heritage Books website currently lists reprint copies of Charles E. Potter’s 143-page book, Genealogies of Some Old Families of Concord, Massachusetts, for sale for $24.50.
