vital records sources
go to Abigail Solart's page

On 1 January 1682 Mordicai was accepted a "townsman" and to have town priviledges in Wenham, Massachusetts Bay Colony.1 On 7 January 1683 he was given a small piece of land by the town next to his homestead.2 He lived in "The Neck" neighborhood of Wenham. A vague boundary description of one of his neighbors seems to say he was about a quarter of a mile north of the town line with Beverly.3
     Three of Mordecai's children were baptized at the same time in Wenham, probably in 1688.4 The appear without a date, but shortly before 5 January 1687/88. The town was sparsely populated, with, evidently, a scattering of baptisms in the course of a year, but it's likely the Larcum baptisms were some time in 1688. Group baptisms are often a sign that one or both of the parents had become members of a church after the group had been born. Mordecai isn't on any of the membership lists of the church, but Abigail is on the "watch" list, which was a precursor to joining in full communion.5 This list also has no dates. Mordecai is on a list of men paying a tax to support Gerrish made on or near 10 January 1687/88.6
     Mordecai paid the town a 5 shilling fine "due to the poor of the said town" in June 1701.7 On 12 January 1704/05, the townsmen who had common rights signed an agreement to protect the town's common land from misuse. He signed with a mark.8 He marked other documents outlining an exchange of common land, and in all instances the town clerk interpreted it (when he transcribed records for the town meeting minutes) as a "W." The common lands included the "Great Swamp" in the far western end of the town. On 6 March 1715/16, he was chosen to "see to the observance of the law about swine."9
     There are no recorded deeds by which Mordecai bought land in Wenham. He called himself a carpenter when he and Abigail sold land to John Dodge, Sr., in 24 December 1683.10 On 8 July 1708 they sold four acres of land to Josiah Dodge.11 In lieu of a will, Mordecai of Wenham, by then a husbandman (farmer), settled the remainder of his estate in a deed to his son John on 4 February 1708/09:12

...in consideration of ye parentall love and affection that I have and do bear towards my well beloved son John Larkcum of Wenham...I have given...unto him...all my houseing and lands scituate...in ye bounds of Wenham...always provided ye said John...shall pay twenty shillings to my daughter Elezebeth and twenty shillings to my daughter Mary & twenty shillings to my daughter Martha and twenty shillings to my daughter Rebeckah when he shall come to ye age of twenty one years or when he shall come in to ye possession of ye said house and lands at the desire of my self or my now wife.

     If John were to die in the meantime, the real estate would be divided among his surviving siblings. Abigail was to have the improvement of the real estate during her lifetime "so long as she shall keep the name of Abigail Larkcum."
By 1740 she found that the income from the improvement of the estate wasn't enough to support her and John having died, no shares of the estate had been given to his siblings. She petitioned the court to allow her to sell some of it. A committee was appointed and they sold eleven acres. The proceeds were then given partly to her and divided into equal amounts for the children or their heirs. John's portion was £35, 7 shillings, 9 pence. The rest were given £17, 13 shillings, 10 1/2 pence, totalling to £141, 11 shillings.13 The eleven acres sold wasn't part of the family homestead land and I find no record of what happened to the homestead after this, including the house or a description of where it was. John had moved to Connecticut after his father died and is said to have died there in 1729. It was normal for shares of an estate to be divided after the youngest child came of age. In this case it was Rebecca, who was 16 when her father died. John was only 18 and apparently went to Connecticut

children of Mordecai Larcom and Abigail Solart (order not certain):14

Mordecai, b. abt 1684
Abigail, b. abt 1686
Elizabeth, abt. 1688
Mary, b. abt. 1690
Martha, b. abt 1693
John, b. 20 November 1695, d. 21 November 1695
John, b. 10 June 1699
Rebecca, b. 10 July 1701
Hannah, b. 16 July 1704, d. 17 October 1704
Hannah, bap. 9 September 1711

vital records sources: his birth is in Vital records of Ipswich, Massachusetts, to the end of the year 1849, vol. 2, (Salem, MA: Essex Institute, 1910), 235, "Mordicha Larckum," from an Essex County Quarterly Court annual return of vital records; his marriage is in Vital records of Beverly, Massachusetts, to the end of year 1849, vol. 2 (Topsfield, MA: Topsfield Historical Society, 1907), 187. His death is in ibid, 210.

1. Wenham Town Records (hereafter WTR), vol. 1 (Wenham Historical Society, 1927), 66.
2. Ibid, 72.
3. 14 April 1685, ibid, 76.
4. The New England Hlistorical and Genealogical Register, vol. 62 (Boston, MA:New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1908), 36
5. Ibid, vol. 61 (1907), 334.
6. WTR, 88.
7. 16 June 1701, WTR, vol. 1 supplement (1940), 60.
8. Ibid, 79.
9. Ibid, vol. 1707-1731 (1938), 128.
10. 24 December 1683, Essex Co., MA, deeds, 32:14.
11. Ibid, 21:63.
12. Ibid, 32:236.
13. Essex Co., MA, probate case 16401.
14. Vital records of Wenham, Massachusetts, to the end of year 1849, (Topsfield, MA: Topsfield Historical Society, 1904), 57 (births where recorded), 210 (deaths).