John HUSSEY

                   CHRISTENING:

MARRIAGE:
    (1); (2) Hampton Town Book 2:398, FHL 0985083: "Christopher Hussey widower & Ann Mingay widow joyned in marriage the 9th of the 10th mo 1658 [9 Dec 1658]."

DEATH:
    Hampton Town Book 2:8, FHL 0985083: "Capt Christepher Hussy Died the 6th day of March 1685 or 1686 being about 90 years of Age was entered the 8th of March 1685 or 1686."

PUBLISHED SOURCES:
    Warren Brown, HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF HAMPTON FALLS, NEW
    HAMPSHIRE  , FROM THE TIME OF THE FIRST SETTLEMENT WITHIN ITS BORDERS, 1640 UNTIL 1900 (Mancester, N.H.: John B. Clarke Co., 1900), 181-85: "Christopher Hussey. Christopher Hussey was born at Dorking in Surry, England.  He went to Holland where he became enamored of Theodata, daughter of Rev. Stephen Bachiler, who had resided there for several years, but her father would not consent to their marriage unless Mr. Hussey would remove to New Enlgand, whither he was preparing to go.  Mr. Hussey came to Lynn, New England, with his wife and his mother, widow Mary Hussey, in 1630.  His son Stephen was born here the same year and was the second white child born in Lynn.  He removed to Newbury in 1636, and was one of the first settlers there.  In 1637 he was chosen one of the first seven men of the town. He and his father-in-law, Bachiler, sold their lands in Newbury to Mr. John Oliver for sixscore pounds, on the 5th of July, 1636, and removed to Hampton.  Next to Mr. Bachiler and Mr. Dalton he was considered the greatest man among the early settlers of Hampton.  At the incorporation of the town, May 3, 1636, he was appointed to "end all buiness under 20s."  There were two others joinded with him in this office, which was similar to justice of the peace.  He was appointed at first by the court, but afterwards he sustained the office several years by a vote of the town from year to year. August 30, 1639, he and two others were chosen to measure and bound the respective lots, and several owners attending with stakes.  For this service they were to have 12d. per house lot and a penny an acre for other lands.  May 29, 1640, he and John Moulton and Mr. Dalton were appointed to set the bounds between Hampton and Salisbury.  April 30, 1640, he was granted "10 acres for a house lott, as it is laid out, 14 acres of fresh meadow near the bridge by the beach, fifteen acres of planting ground part of which joined his house lot & the rest in the East field.--150 acres for a farm as it is in part layd out near the falls river on the further side thereof.  There being near about 18 acres of fresh meadow 100 acres of upland & the rest in Salt marsh.  The residue of this 250 arces granted, is yet to be appointed.  3 1/2 acres or upwards of the swamp next Bro. Davis' is added & about a qr. of an acre by his cellar." June 25, 1640, six persons were chosen to go and view the highway towards Colchester.  Hussey was one of them.  November 29, 1640, he and two others were chosen to oversee the building of the meeting-house.  February 19, 1641, he was to confer in relation to a ferry place.  May 28, 1641, he was chosen moderator. This is the first mention of this office upon the record.  He was representative in 1658, 1659, and 1660.  He was selectman in 1650, 1658, 1664, and 1668.  He was town clerk in 1650.  In 1645 he had two shares of the 147, beside his farm, and in 1651, two shares in the ox common.  In 1663 his tax was 2 [pounds] 8s. 3d., being the second, as respects the amount, inthe town. From 1641 to 1650 his name is not found upon our records in the important business proceedings, from which it may be inferred that he had become unpopular on account of his being a son-in-law of Rev. Mr. Bachiler, who was the occasion of dividing the town into two parties who show much animosity to each other.  The Bachiler party, being the minority, were obliged to leave the field to their more successful opponents.  These prejudices probably existed some years, and operated against Mr. Hussey's being put forward as he otherwise would have been.  But from 1650 to the time of his death, he seemed to have gained his former consequence, and frequently discharged the duties of those offices which were then only bestowed upon the best informed and influential men.  Among those offices was that of moderator at the meetings, and they were then chosen to preside over the next meeting, so that nothing was to be done in assembling but to proceed immediately to business.  May 28, 1641, the town passed a vote to regulate these meetings: 1st. The moderator was to be 
    chosen at the end of every meeting for the next succeeding one. 2d. The moderator, if the elders were not present, was to open the meeting with prayer. 3d. he was there to state to the meeting some proposition or to call on some one else to do it.  4th. When any person addressed the moderator he was to stand up and put off his hat, and no other person was to speak at the same time, and no one was to speak oftener than twice or thrice on the same business without leave.  "Nor shall any one propound anything till the former be for that time determined. Nor shall any, when a matter is in agitation, be talking of any other thing whithin the meeting room."  The clerk was to call over the freemen and note the absent.  The meeting was to be ended with prayer.  Every person who violated the foregoing rule was subject to a fine of six shillings, to be laid out upon the highway or other town business, and if not paid within six days the constable had power to distrain, etc. He was a signer to Weare's petition to the king.  He was probably a very severe suffeer from the hands of Mr. Mason, for in Weare's brief of evidence presented to the Lord's Commissioners to Trade, etc., it is stated that for Partridge's costs, goods were tendered and refused, and that Partridge was imprisoned; that he was forbid to work in prison, and forced to live upon the charity of his friends.  John Smith testifies the same of Christopher Hussey. Mr. Weare knew him to be 86 years old.  This brief is dated March 10, 1685. Lewis's History of Lynn says he was cast away on the coast of Florida in 1685.  He was then about 87.  It would seem almost incredible.  What could induce such an old man to take a voyage so far from home, as to have been cast away upon the coast of Florida?  The only reason we can assign for it is that having suffered imprisonment on account of Mr. Mason, there was an entire uncertainty whether he should not again be exposed to a similar trail, as well as to the loss of his estate.  He may have contemplated moving to one of the West India islands, in order to spend the remainder of his days in peace and quietness. From another source we learn that Captain Hussey, having rounded out ninety years in an honorable and distinguised career, died March 6, 1686, and was buried March 8, as stated on the town records.  Capt. Henry Dow wrote upon his diary in cipher for Monday, March 8, that he was at Captain Hussey's burial. From this it would appear that he died in Hampton, and not, as has been previosly stated, upon the far-off coast of Florida. Mr. Hussey was appointed one of the first councilers in New Hampshire under royal authority, upon its seperation from Massachusetts in 1679.  This office he held till his death.  He was also a military man.  April 2, 1653, he was chosen presyter ot the next court to be held at Salisbury, to be installed as lieutenant for the town of Hampton.  He was afterward called Captain Hussey. He was a chief man in church affairs, being one of the first deacons, having the first seat. His mother, Mary Hussey, had a separate grant from her son in 1640.  It was 5 achres for a house lot, 3 acres fresh meadow, and 5 acres of planting ground.  In 1645, she had one of the 147 shares. She died June 16, 1660. It is not known where her house was. His inventory was 660 pounds, appraised by John Tuck and Joseph Dow. His first wife was Theodata Bachiler, daughter of Rev. Stephen Bachiler. She died October 20, 1649.  He married, second, Anna, widow of Jeffery Mingay. She died June 24, 1680. His children were as follows:
    STEPHEN  , who was born in 1630, married Martha Bunker, and moved to Nantucket, where he died in 1718, aged 88 years.
    JOHN  , who married Rebecca Perkins.
    JOSEPH  .
    MARY  , who married Thomas Page; second, Henry Green; third, Henry Dow.
    HULDAH  , who married John Smith and died in May 1740, aged 97 years.
    THEODATA  , who married Benjamin Swett in May, 1682. Captain Hussey's farm, where he lived after 1645 or 1650, was south of the Falls river, and was afterward known as the Worth farm and was probably owned by the Husseys until Mr. Worth came here, about 1733.  It has since been owned by Captain Hayt, Abraham Dow, James Brimner, and others, and comprised what is now owned by George L. Brown, heirs of Jefferson Janvrin, John A. Down, and others. Many have erroneously supposed that Mr. Hussey owned and operated the mills now known as Dodge's.  This could not have been so, as Henry Green was in possession as early as 1648, by a grant from the town.  They remained in possession of his descendants until 1764, when they were sold to Col. Jonathan Moulton of Hampton.  If Mr. Hussey ever owned or operated mills it must have been elsewhere. The poet John G. Whittier felt pride in the fact that he