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Origins in Kent and his immigration
Josiah was baptized as "Josias Roottes" in Ashford, Kent, England, early in 1613. The record only says he was the son of Edmund. More of Edmund's family are in the Ashford and Eastford, Kent, parish records:
Edmund Rootes m. Em Norinton on 27 July 1603
Edmund, bap. 19 August 1604
Em, bap. 2 February 1605/6
Richard, bap. 7 December 1607
Thomas, bap. 5 September 1610
This shows the family moved from Eastwell to Ashford between 1610 and 1613. Edmund, Sr., was buried in Ashford on 13 October as was his daughter "Ember" on the following 27 December.
An interesting and rare document from Kent is an account of people getting on the ship Hercules in 1635 at Sandwich, heading for New England.1 It is or was a list with names of the passengers, where they lived, how many were travelling with them (probably to account for children) and certificates from their local vicars attesting to their church membership and allegience to the crown. "Jos. Rootes" was from Great Chart. Just before him on the list was his mother, "widow Em. Muson." "Muson" was undoubtedly a transcription error. She was from Eastwell. Neither had anyone accompanying them. Josiah had several brothers who also came to Salem, but they were on one or more of the many Great Migration ships for which there are no extant passenger lists. They had three Mason half-siblings, only one of whom has a burial record in Eastwell, where their father died and where their mother lived in 1635. They, if alive, were teenagers when their mother immigrated, so what happened to them is a mystery. There was a John Mason in Salem in the later 1600s, but I find little about him. He was allowed to be an inhabitant of Salem on 7 December 1658.2
Wife Susannah
Josiah probably married Susannah about 1640. No evidence has been found of her birth family. Based on a deposition in 1678 that says she was about 53,3 she is thought to have been born about 1625. Ages in court depositions are often incorrect, even though it's reasonable to think the deposers gave their age themselves. I've come across several depositions within the same case in which someone (theoreticallly) gave themselves two different ages. In the case above, Josiah deposed twice and gave his age as about 65, which is correct, and about 60, assuming the transcription is accurate. I don't think the one for Susannah is correct. Her first child, which had to be Bethiah (see note ), was very likely born before 1642. If Susannah was born in 1625, she was about 17 when she had Bethiah and 15 or 16 when she married. That's possible, but far out of the norm for the place and time. I prefer a circa birth date of 1620-22.
Records in Salem
"Josua Roots" was given twenty acres of land by the Town of Salem between 26 Dec 1636 and 12 July 1637, as were his mother "widow Mason" and his brother Thomas.4 At the 10 November 1645 Salem town meeting, it was "agreed that Joseph the Drummer shall have 10s a day for the trayning dayes."5 Drummers were used during military exercises, as indicated above, and to call people to town meetings. On the previous 13 June 1644, the town had decided to pay a drummer £7 a year, but there is no mention of an appointee until the agreement with "Joseph." He likely had already been drumming since he was called "Joseph the drummer" and on 18 November 1645, only a week later, the town approved a bill from him for £7, and bills for service were usually presented at the end of the term.6 He probably hadn't been drumming for a year, though, since on 3 November 1645 it was agreed to pay John Endicott by proxy for "for the drumms" he bought for the town.
There is no other mention or evidence of a Joseph Roots in Salem, and given the next record, it's apparent that clerks were confused about his name. At the February 1645/46 session of the Massachusetts Bay Colony General Court, "Josiah Rootes of Salem, drummer, was fined 10s[hillings] for being overtaken in drink at the last excersize of the artillery in Salem, which was publicly known to the bench."7 He petitioned the court to waive the fine the following year.8 Another bill for £4, 10 shillings to the town was approved on 12 May 1647.9 If this was a bill for drumming, there is no record of his being reappointed for 1646/47. Another £2 bill due to Josiah from theThe appears in the 10 November 1655 town meeting minutes, also with no mention of an appointment.10 On 3 March 1656/57 it was agreed "Joshua Roots" would have 40 shillings a year for beating the drum to the train band and to continue as long as the town saw fit,11 so the mode of payment over the years was fluid. References to "the drummer" on town expenses lists for £2 and £4 (likely to cover two years payment) continue to appear after this up to 1667, when the area of Salem he lived in became the Town of Beverly. When named, he is called Josiah and Joshua. The entry for 1666 refers to him as "drum major."12
On 13 June 1648 he was admitted to full communion in the First Church of Salem,13 and his four children were baptized there on the following 10 September.14 On 21 January 1649/50 he was granted two acres that abutted his own lot on one side and Robert Morgan's on the other.15 In February of 1649/50 he was sworn a freeman of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.16 Beverly in 1700 says his lots were on what is now the west side of Cabot Street roughly between Pleasant and Federal Streets.17 On 8 June 1657, a dispute was aired about a driftway from the head of Bass River into Ryall's Neck. It involved William King, John Batchelder, Nicholas Hayward, etc. vs. Ens. Dixey, "Josia" Roots and Samuel Corning.18 He was elected a surveyor for Cape Ann Side on 4 April 1659,19 Cape Ann Side generally referred to the part of Salem that is now Beverly, Massachusetts. Another name was "Bass River," which tended to be more specific to the western side of what is now Beverly along Bass River.
He was on a list of eligible grand jurymen chosen twice in 1665.20 A court record of the same year shows he owned a share in the field on Cape Ann Side.d21
In the Town of Beverly
The creation of a separate township including all the areas of Salem called Bass River and/or Cape Ann Side was brought up over a number of years. Josiah was among those who signed a petition for it on 9 May 1659.22 The Colony legislature finally granted it and the Town of Beverly became official on 7 November 1668. The creation of a separate parish in Bass River happened in 1656 and a church completely separate from Salem was created on 23 April 1667.23 Josiah also signed the documents asking for and the forming of the new church. On 24 May 1668 his minor children Thomas, Susannah and Jonathan were named in the transfer from membership in the Salem church to that of Beverly.24
In 1669 Josiah charged his neighbor Joseph Harris with stealing his calf.25 On 25 October 1678 he brought a complaint to the court that he and his wife "for neare twenty years" experienced theft of their goods, including sheets, a shirt, apples, wood, hay and oil, at the hands of the Harris and Hoar families.26 A litany of accusations, some bordering on gossip, were heard from other neighbors and townspeople during the trial.
"Josias" was chosen a constable for Beverly on 13 September 1671.27 At the same meeting it was decided to create a cemetery on an acre of land bought from William Dixey, bounded on one side by the Country highway and on the other by "Josias" and Nathaniel Gove. "Josiah Roots desired to be freed from common training from military service due to age and weakness" in 1676.28 He was chosen to be a tithingman for Beverly in 1677.29 He lived about six more years.
Probate
Josiah wrote his will on 15 May 1683:30