Edmond Freeman was born July 1596 in Pulborough, Sussex, England, United Kingdom to Edmond Honington Freeman (1572-1623) and Alice Coles (1575-1651) and died 21 June 1682 Sandwich, Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States of unspecified causes. He married Bennett Hodsoll (1596-1628) 6 June 1617 in Cowfold, Sussex, England, United Kingdom.
Biography
Early Life in England
Edmund Freeman was born on 25 June 1596 in Pulborough, Sussex, England. In his pre-imigration life he lived not only in Pulborough but he moved to Billingshurst, Sussex in 1619-1620 and lived there for seven or eight years. On 16 June 1617 in Cowfold, Sussex, England, he married Bennett Hodsoll, daughter of John Hodsoll & Faith Gratwick Bacon. Bennett bore him at least six children before she died on 12 April 1630 in Pulborough. On 10 August 1632, he second married Elizabeth Raymer in Shipley, Sussex, England. She was born about 1600 in England.
Summary
He was a passenger on the English ship Abigail, which sailed from Plymouth in July, 1635, bound for New England. The ship arrived safe at Massachusetts Bay. Passenger list information was transcribed in the 19th century by Michael Tepper from records found in London, the Public Rolls Office, formerly at Carleton Ride.
Edmund Freeman sailed on the Abigail leaving Plymouth, Devon on 04 June 1635, arriving in Boston, Massachusetts on 8 October 1635, infected with smallpox. On board the Abigail with him was his second wife, Mrs. Elizabeth Freeman as well as 4 of his children, Alice, Edward (Edmund), Elizabeth, and John.
He moved to Saugus, Essex, Massachusetts first, noted as living there on 10 December 1635. It is recorded that he presented the colony with twenty pieces of armor plate. Within two years, however, he removed to Duxbury in Plymouth Colony, where he was admitted as a freeman on 2 January 1636/1637. He was present at a general meeting of the freemen of Plymouth on 7 March 1636/1637.
Settlement of Cape Code
On 3 April 1637, ten men of Saugus, including Edmund Freeman, gained the agreement of the General Court of Plymouth Colony to commence the establishment of the first English Town on Cape Cod, extinguishing the Indian’s Title to the land. It was written at the time that they went to Cape Cod “to worship God and make money”. Within two years, the settlement was legally incorporated as the town of Sandwich. Edmund and Elizabeth settled near Scusset Marsh in 1638 and also owned land in Ploughed Neck in East Sandwich.
Edmund was very active in public affairs. In 1640, he was appointed as the representitive of Sandwich and with Thomas Dimmock of Barnstable and John Crow of Yarmouth, met to discuss the causes/controversies with the three townships of Cape Cod. He was elected as one of the 7 Assistant Governors of Plymouth in 2 June 1640 and re-elected annually thourgh June 1645. When the government of Plymouth realized the need for a means to resolve small legal cases on Cape Cod with the parties having to go to Plymouth, Edmund Freeman was appointed head of a court of three men to hear and determine such cases.
He showed himself to be of tolerant and liberal views through two cases. Late in 1645, Captain William Vassal petitioned the Plymouth Court to legalize for men of every religous belief who would still “preserve the the civil peace and submit unto government.” The Plymouth Couty of 7 plus the Governor were evenly divided, with Edmund Freeman among those in favor of the petition. The conservative faction obtained a delay and the matter was never raised again, while Plymouth became steadily more rigid in it’s intolerance of beliefs other than those of the established church.
The second incident came when, during the Quakers troubles in the Colonies, which reached Sandwich 16 or 17 years after its settlement, he counselled moderation. Edmund Freeman opposed the enactment and enforcement of severe and illiberal punishments for the Quakers. This principled stand put him in opposition to many others in the Plymouth Colony government and resulted in not being re-elected. Edmund and Elizabeth Freeman of being undevoted to the established Separatist church of Plymouth Colony, when on 7 October 1651, they, along with 11 other people of Sandwich, were presented to the court for not “frequenting the publick worship of God”. Nevertheless, according to Frederick Freeman, he was “pre-eminently respected, always fixed in principle, and decisive in action, nevertheless quiet and unobtrusive, a counsellor and leader without ambitious ends in view, of uncompromising integrity and of sound judgment,…”
Death and Burial
Gravestone of Edmund Freeman at Saddle and Pillion Cemetery in Sagamore, MA.
Elizabeth Freeman died in Sandwich on 14 February 1675/1676. Edmund Freeman wrote his will on 21 June 1682 (proved 2 November 1682), which he assigned as executors his son, John, his daughter, Elizabeth Ellis, and his son-in-law, Edward Perry. He gave his land to them, as well as to his other son, Edmund, and his grandson, Thomas Paddy. He referred also to land he had already given to his grandson, Matthias Ellis on 24 February 1678 in Sandwich.
Edmund and his wife were both buried on a hill at the rear of his house under rustic stone monuments, known as “the saddle and pillion” which he selected himself at the time of his wife’s death, the oldest burying ground in Sandwich. The graves are now marked by metal plaques on the original farm, located on Tupper Road, just east of Route 6A in Sandwich. (GPS: 41.76744, -70.51906)
The date often given and seen on the grave as a birth date is probably in error. There has been located a baptism record for him in the Parish church records at Pulborough Church in West Sussex, England for 25 July 1596. Most babies were baptized within a few days or weeks of their birth; so 1590 is probably an error. Robert Charles Anderson gives in his "The Great Migration", Vol. 2, page 577, the date of this baptism. The death date is also deceptive. He wrote his will on 21 June 1682 and it was probated on 2 Nov 1682; so he died between those 2 dates.
Source: Freeman, Robert R. Freeman Families of New England. Vol. 1. Westminster, MD: Heritage Books Inc., 2005.
Marriage & Family
1st Marriage: Bennett Hodsoll
Edmund married firstly to Bennett Hodsoll (1596-1628) on June 16, 1617, she was buried at Pulborough on April 12, 1630. She bore him six children.
- Alice Freeman (1618-1651) - 1635 family migration to America
- Eleanor Freeman (1618-) - died early in England
- Edmund Freeman (1620-1673) - (AKA: Edward or Edmund Jr.) 1635 migration to America - md Rebecca Prence, sister of Mercy (below) who later married his brother John (below).
- Bennett Freeman (1622-1634) - died young in England
- Elizabeth Freeman (1626-1719) - 1635 family migration to America
- John Freeman (1626-1719) - 1635 family migration to America - md Mercy Prence, daughter of Thomas Prence (1600-1673) and Patience Brewster (1600-1634). First as a Lieutenant, then as Captain, and later as Major he took an active part in the Indian Wars.
2nd Marriage: Elizabeth Unknown
On 10 August 1632, he second married Elizabeth Raymer in Shipley, Sussex, England. She was born about 1600 in England. Elizabeth Freeman died in Sandwich on 14 February 1675/1676.
There is no good evidence for the maiden surname of Elizabeth, second wife of Edmund Freeman. Robert Charles Anderson lists her surname as blank. Homer Worthington Brainard says she was a widow, Elizabeth Perry. Both Rosemary Canfield and Henry J. Perry suggest that she may have been the Elizabeth Raymer who married at Shipley, Sussex, 10 Aug 1632, Edmund Freeman. Shipley is a village about four miles from Billinghurst on the road to Cowfold.
One child from this marriage:
- Mary Freeman (1636-aft1653) - md Edward Perry.
Children
| Name | Birth | Death | Joined with |
| Alice Freeman (1618-1651) | |||
| Eleanor Freeman (1618-) | 7 April 1618 Pulborough, Sussex, England | 1633 England | |
| Edmund Freeman (1620-1673) | 20 November 1620 Billingshurst, Sussex, England | 5 January 1702 Barnstable, Barnstable County, Massachusetts | Rebecca Prence (1627-1651) Mercy Perry (1631-1688) |
| Bennett Freeman (1622-1634) | 20 January 1622 Billingshurst, Sussex, England | 3 January 1634 England | |
| Elizabeth Freeman (1626-1719) | |||
| John Freeman (1626-1719) | 28 January 1626 Billingshurst, Sussex, England | 28 October 1719 Plymouth County, Massachusetts | Mercy Prence (1631-1711) |
| Name | Birth | Death | Joined with |
| Mary Freeman (1636-aft1653) | |||
Siblings
References
- Edmond Freeman (1596-1682)/List of Famous Descendants
- Freeman, Robert R. Freeman Families of New England. Vol. 1. Westminster, MD: Heritage Books Inc., 2005.
- Goddard, M. E., and Henry V. Partridge. History of Norwich, Vermont. Hanover, NH: The Dartmouth Press, 1905.
- Biography of Edmund Freeman - TravelYourGenealogy.com
Residences
Footnotes (including sources)
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