B. about 1613 in (probably) England
M. before about 1634
Wife: Agnes
D. 19 Feb 1674 in Ipswich, Massachusetts
Joseph Redding was an early New England colonist who wasn't a leader in his community, but who seemed to focus more on taking care of his own family. Joseph’s origins are unknown. He was said to have migrated to Massachusetts in 1630 or 1631, possibly as a servant to Simon Bradstreet, one of the founders of Boston, but this isn’t proven. Some researchers have speculated that he was from Ireland, not England. The only fact that is certain about his childhood is that he never learned to read and write.
Joseph was married to a woman named Agnes (sometimes spelled Annis), and they appeared to have had only one child, a daughter named Elizabeth, who was born in about 1634. The earliest record of Joseph was on May 14, 1634 when he took the oath of allegiance in Cambridge, Massachusetts. A few years later, in 1641, he was listed as a commoner in Ipswich, where he would spend the rest of his life as a farmer.
Ipswich was a colonial New England town north of Salem that included a marshy coastline, and an inlet that made a good natural harbor. During his life, Joseph owned nine acres of marsh on Plum Island, a peninsula separated from the mainland by a small channel. He also had an acre and a half of marsh next to a creek, four acres of marsh (probably near the coast), an acre and a half at a place called “Heartbreak Hill,” and six acres of farmland with a house. On his farm, he grew barley, wheat and corn, as well as maintained livestock.
Court records in Ipswich showed several incidents involving Joseph, but nothing where he was at the center of a serious case. He failed to show up for jury duty in July 1650 and was given a small fine, but he did serve on a jury in 1655. When he was about in his mid-40s, he asked to be excused from militia training, and this was granted in 1658 as long as he paid 6 shillings and 8 pence per year; in 1664, this was reduced to 5 shillings. In 1660, Joseph, along with his son-in-law Samuel Hunt, sued a man for non-payment of a debt of “16 bushels of wheat, barley and malt.”
Also in 1660, Joseph testified at a trial for a man named John Leigh who had been damaging the livestock of other farmers if any cattle wandered onto his land. Joseph said he once owned some pasture next to Leigh’s property, and witnessed the man’s abuse. One time when Joseph confronted Leigh, he defiantly told him he would “throw the cattle in the river if he liked.” Leigh was later at odds with Joseph’s son-in-law Samuel in an incident that ironically involved Leigh’s sheep wandering onto Samuel’s property.
Joseph made out his will on December 15, 1673, and he died on February 19th of the following year. The inventory of his estate showed he was worth £351 at the time of his death. He left his entire estate to his wife Agnes, with instructions that upon her death the money would be divided between his four grandchildren. This was done on March 28, 1693, so Agnes likely died not long before that.
Joseph was an ancestor of Mormon Church founder Joseph Smith, and actor John Lithgow.
Children:
1. Elizabeth Redding — B. about 1634; D. 16 Feb 1707, Ipswich, Massachusetts; M. Samuel Hunt (1633-1695), 3 Jan 1657, Ipswich, Massachusetts
Sources:
The Journal of the American Irish Historical Society, Vol. 6, 1918
The Great Migration Begins, 1620-1633, Robert Charles Anderson, 1995
Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Volumes I, II, III, and VI, edited by George Francis Drew, 1912, 1913 and 1914
The Ancestry & Posterity of Joseph Smith and Emma Hale, Audentia Smith Anderson, 1926
The Probate Records of Essex County, Massachusetts, 1917
WikiTree
