Without good evidence of what year John was born, when his parents married or where John Sr. was living before December of 1636, John Jr.'s birthplace or a specific year of birth can't be said with confidence. He surely was the underage son, mentioned with two underage sisters, in his father's probate file in 1647.1 Thomas Chubb and John Glover testified in 1684 that John Pride Jr. lived on Salem Neck between 1652 and 1662.2 His father had a grant of twenty acres between December 1636 and July 1637.3 The location in Salem of this property isn't given. Another grant was for a half acre at Winter Harbor in March 1637 "by their house."4 "Their" house may be a figure of speech, but it suggests the twenty-acre grant was also at Winter Harbor and the Prides set up their homestead there. Winter Harbor is on Salem Neck. His homestead was only four acres and no specific place in Salem is given. It included a workhouse, suggesting this was also where he made his pottery. Only one of the other parcels is placed in Salem and it was on Salem Neck. It may be that Chubb and Glover were referring to John Sr.'s homestead and that they recalled the family living there after John Sr.'s death.
     On 26 March 1661, Edmond Batter sued John "Pryd" about a debt, which he withdrew before it went to trial.5 This is the first record found of John, and since he must have been an adult, it puts his birth before 26 March 1640. Given his probable death about 90 years after this, a reasonable estimate is that was born between 1635-1640. If he did have his own household on Salem Neck in 1652, it means he was about 100 when he died, which is unlikely. His mother's name and when she died is unknown, but she is mentioned in John's probate documents as his widow. His sister Elizabeth married in 1663,6 putting her birth roughly to 1640-1645. Since they were probably living in the same house they had when John Sr. was alive, it was at Winter Harbor. This surely was a factor in John Jr. becoming a fisherman.
     John was involved with a mortgage of real and commercial property with Mordecai Crafford, which was acknowledged by both on 27 December 1661.7 This concerned a homestead and other land in what is now Beverly, ownership in several ships that were at what is now Southport, Maine, and goods associated with a trade voyage between Southport and Salem. The mortgage was to be paid off in fish, which was the primary commodity in that trade route coming from the Southport region. Craford subsequently had a series of court cases originating with this mortgage, but the only time John Pride is mentioned is in the original mortgage. He was the master of one of the "barques" and Craford was master of the other. It may be that John was invested in the goods rather than ownership of any of the tangible property, and concluded whatever obligation he had with Savage before the other court cases arose.
     In 1737, several people testified that they knew John, who at some point lived at "Cape Anawagin" Island (now Southport).8 The depositions were for information about the Lovering family of Sheepscot, now Newcastle, north of Southport. This region was part of Devonshire County, Massachusetts Bay Colony,until it was absorbed by York County in the eighteenth century. They also say John married Jane Lovering, sister of William Lovering of Sheepscot. Based on rough estimates of when John and Jane's older children were born, the married about 1665. This region, much of it made up of islands and long necks of land in Penobscot Bay, was populated mostly by fishing families. Since John was involved with Mordicai Craford in maritime trade in the area as early as 1661, he may have been a part-time resident there. No obvious record was found of John (Jr.) or his widowed mother selling the Winter Harbor property in Salem, so that may have been his home when he was in Essex County. Jane and the Pride children wouldn't have gone back and forth with him. They may have stayed in Salem, especially if John's mother was still alive.
     The 7 October 1674 General Court session of Massachusetts lists John of "Damerills Cove" as a grand juryman for Devonshire County.9 Damerill's Cove was an early name for what is now Damariscove Island in Maine. Of all the Devonshire County men chosen to serve, John's oath of fidelity, required of him to serve on the jury, was the only one taken in Salem, showing he still had a connection there.
     Devonshire County went dormant when the effects of King Philip's War were felt in 1675 and 1676, and the settlements within it were attacked and fishing trade seriously disrupted. Where John lived between 1674 and 1686 isn't apparent. "Goody Pride" was admitted to the Beverly church on 16 November 1686, so it was she who brought the children in to be baptized on 12 December 1686.10 "Ye chilldren of John & Jane Pride baptized were John, William, Peter, Joseph, Mary, & Elizabeth of wch ye eldest viz. John & Mary made a publick profession of their own faith & repentance." There is no record of any of the Pride family before this associated with a church in New England, and it wasn't uncommon for wives to become members and the husbands not. Jane Underwood, one of the 1737 deponents, was Jane (Lovering) Pride's niece, and she knew the Prides were at Cape Anawagin, that they moved to Beverly, and that they both died there. She also mentions their oldest son William. John was the oldest son known to have been born to this couple. He must have been the John Pride Jr. whose wife Hannah joined the Beverly church on 31 May 1691,11 but no subsequent record of either of them has been found unless she was the "Goodwife Pride" who died in Beverly in December 1713. This record is more likely for Jane (Lovering) Pride.
     The Town of Beverly granted John a half-acre lot on 5 November 1678, but it wasn't laid out until 10 December 1689, after which a house was built on it.12 John may have retired from the sea in 1689. The lot was on what is now the northern end of Cross Street. Both the lot and the house, described as being old and uninhabited, are in John's estate inventory. As mentioned above, his widow Jane is supposed to have been the "Goodwife Pride" who died in Beverly in December 1713,13 She was supposedly alive in 1708, when "the house of widow Jane Pride" appears in a description of what is now Cross Street.14
     John probably died in the Spring of 1731. The administration bond for his estate was agreed to on 28 June 1731. Someone later wrote in pencil the date 28 June 1730 on the back of the bond, right below the original label that says 1731. This error was then transferred to the packet envelope. Because of this, 1730 has been the assumed year for his death.

The handwriting in the text of the bond is poor and was probably done fast, so letters are formed casually and here and there, left out. "Thirty" is followed by another number both times the year is written. The bond specifies that an inventory should be made by the first Monday of September and an account made by 14 November. The actual inventory and accounts were done in August and September 1731 and brought to court on 28 September. Looking at the better of the handwritten years, you can see that the last number is written out as "one." After the "o," the "n" is written with two upstrokes and the "e" is just a gesture, as was common with letters at the end of a word written fast. It doesn't look like any other number. It's unlikely the family waited well over a year to bring the inventory and accounts to be approved.

Comparing this ("hundred & thirty one") with the other written year (below), it's apparently the same, just more badly formed.

Other document's in John's probate file:

An inventory of all the estate of John Pride mariner formerly of Beverly, deceased, as it was shown by the administrator aprised att Beverly on ye 23d day of August 1731 by the subscribers is as followeth

To half one acre of land with sum orchard on it £14-00-00
to and old house standing on sd land not inhabited £1-11-00
to hay cut on sd land this year clear of charge 00-16[shillings]-00
to one common right in ye body of common not inclosed £19-00-00
total £35-07-00

Peter Pride
Jonathan Woodbery
John Ober

Sepr 28th 1731

Then Petter Pride made oath to the truth of this scct & what more shall come to his inowledge he will give an acct thereof, before John Appleton J. Probt

An acount of ye committee's charge in prising the estate of Mr. John Pride

Mr. Robert Haskul charge for half one day 00-02-06

Jonathan Woodbery half one day 2-6 mony expended 5s 00-03-02
John Ober one day 5s paying for 2 men being sworn 3s 00-08-00
by drafting ye inventory and a notification 1-6d 00-01-06

£1-3-2

Robert Haskell
Jonathan Woodbery
John Ober

Peter Pride of Beverly in Essex in New Engld
his accomptt of money dew to him from the estate of his father John Pride late of said Beverly deceased is as followeth

viz In the sumer of the year 1692 to a fire lock that my said father improved and sent out into the King's servis by a man that he hired which fire lock was my own and was never returned to me again, at £01-10s-00d

In the fall of the year 1697 - to six pounds in silver money that my mother recd of me pr accomt of my said father and for his use - 06-00-00

--------------
07-10-00

Beverly September 17th 1731

a true accompt - errors excepted

Peter Pride

Some, but not all, boundary descriptions for properties adjacent to the half-acre lot on Cross Street say it was formerly that of John Pride. These were transactions involving his sons selling or buying these properties in 1723. Other deed records before and after this outside the family may help clarify this. If the town record describing Hale Street in 1708 does call Jane a widow, it means John died before that and the half-acre lot was formerly John Pride's in 1723 and uninhabited in 1731 because he and Jane had previously died. While it's possible he lived nearly to 100 years old, the idea that he died much earlier than 1730-1731 is good to consider.
     The order of birth of the children of John and Jane Pride is uncertain. Their baptism record lists them like this: John, William, Peter, Joseph, Mary, and Elizabeth, with John Jr. and Mary described as the oldest. The children are categorized by gender, but unlike probate records, they probably aren't listed chronologically by age within their gender groups.
     At the time of the baptism, John and Mary "made a publick profession of their own faith & repentance," which was a first or early step in joining the church. John could have been an adult, or nearly so, in 1686. If Mary were, say, the second-born child, it would mean she was about 48-50 years old when she had her last child. This isn't impossible, but it certainly would have been rare. There is plenty of evidence found by the author, based on known or closely estimated birth years of mothers and the birth years of last-born children, that some women in 17th century New England had children into their early 40s. There is more evidence of it in the 18th century and later, and which pushes the age to 45. If Mary was bout 45 in 1718, when her son John was born, she was born abou8t 1673. Her brothers Joseph and William were likely older than that. It seems unlikely that the clerk making the baptism record confused Mary with one of her other brothers. No information was found showing how early a child was allowed to make "a publick profession of their own faith & repentance." If the church record meant to say that Mary was the oldest daughter, which she evidently was, and not one of the two oldest children, she was about 13 in 1686. William and Joseph may simply have not wanted to join the church at that time, but it makes more sense that John and Mary did, or were allowed to, because they were the oldest, perhaps in their late teens.

Children of John Pride and Jane Lovering, disregarding the order in the baptism record, which is surely wrong, but considering the statement that John and Mary were the oldest, land records, marriage dates, births of their children, and death records:

i. John, b. say 1665-6815
ii. Mary, b. say 1669-7018
iii. Joseph, b. say 167117
iv. William, b. say 167216
v. Peter, b. say 167519
vi. Elizabeth, b. say 1677-8020

1. Essex Co., MA, probate file 22742.
2. Files and Records of the Essex County Quarterly Court vol. 1 (Salem, MA: Essex Institute, 1911), 131.
3. Town Records of Salem, vol. 1 (Salem, MA: Essex Institute, 1868), 24.
4. Town Records of Salem, 1:41.
5. Files and Records of the Essex County Quarterly Court vol. 2 (Salem:The Essex Institute, 1912), 274.
James Savage, A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England vol. 3 (Boston:1861), 486.
6. Vital records of Beverly, Massachusetts, to the end of year 1849, vol. 2 (Topsfield, MA: Topsfield Historical Society, 1907), 250.
7. Files and Records of the Essex County Quarterly Court, 2:33.
8. York Deeds vol. 18 (Bethel, ME: 1910), 580-81.
9. Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts, vol. 5 (Boston, MA: William White, 1853), 18.
10. Records of the First Church in Beverly (Beverly, MA: Essex Institute, 1905), 26, 103.
11. Records of the First Church in Beverly, 21.
12. Municipal documents of the city of Beverly, Massachusetts "Early Records" section, third part, transcription of book 2 of Beverly town records, 1676-1685 (Beverly, MA: 1897), 361.
13. Records of the First Church in Beverly, 39.
14. Sidney Perley, "Beverly in 1700," in Essex Institute Historical Collections, vol. 56 (Salem, MA: Essex Institute, 1920), 36.
15. Oldest male in baptism record, represented himself; had a wife Hannah in 1691, no further record found.
16. Called oldest in 1737 surely since his brother John had died. William bought land on 2 Apr. 1694, Essex Co., MA, deed 14:163b, adjacent to his father's to the north; m. intentions Beverly 22 July 1699 Hannah Thorndike (Vital records of Beverly, Massachusetts, to the end of year 1849, 2:251); dismissed from Beverly to the church at Norwich, CT Colony, in 1723; deeds call him mariner, coaster, then farmer in Norwich.
17. Bought land on 6 Nov. 1693, Essex Co., MA, deed 14:164a, adjacent to his father's to the south, sold to William; m. Beverly 17 Dec. 1702/3 Elizabeth Bond (Vital records of Beverly, Massachusetts, to the end of year 1849, 2:251). Deeds call him a weaver in Essex Co. and farmer in Falmouth, District of Maine, so he didn't follow in his father's and brothers' occupation footsteps.
18. Oldest female in baptism record, represented herself; married Beverly 5 Mar. 1694/5 John Lovett (Vital records of Beverly, Massachusetts, to the end of year 1849, 2:251).
19. Died 17 July 1743, age 68, settled in what is now the Pride's Crossing neighborhood, Beverly; m. intentions Beverly 22 Dec. 1700 Hannah Thistle (Vital records of Beverly, Massachusetts, to the end of year 1849, 2:2510. Deeds call him fisherman, coaster.
20. Youngest daughter; m. Lot Conant 14 June 1698 (Vital records of Beverly, Massachusetts, to the end of year 1849, 2:250).