vital records sources
go to Hannah Pickworth's page

John was born about 1627 in Suffolk, England. His family was living in Dennington, Suffolk, when his oldest sibling, Daniel, was baptized in 1620, but he and three other siblings were baptized elsewhere, likely not far from Dennington, where the parish registers aren't extant. He or the court clerk gave his age as 52 when he deposed at court in 1679.1
     John was about 10 when the Killams sailed out of Great Yarmouth for Boston on the ship Mary Anne.2 The original document has page damage that removed the full surname of his father, his age and place of residence, and the identity of other family members. We can see that he intended to settle in "Salam" in New England. A customary examination was made for him on 12 May 1637 to determine his adherence to the Church of England. With him on the ship were a number of men who, with Austin, were admitted as inhabitants of Salem in August of 1637.
     Austin Killam and his sons Daniel and John are on a list of subscribers dating to 8 November 1657 to pay Wenham's minister Antipas Newman in wheat and Indian corn and again in December 1660.3 John agreed to contribute £1, ten shillings.3 On 22 March 1659/60, John and John Abey agreed with the town to be cowherds. This involved moving cattle in and out of the common land.4 On 13 January 1661/2, John joined the Wenham selectmen to lay out a highway through "The Neck" (the narrower middle third of Wenham).5He was elected a surveyor of highways at least three times on 5 January 1667/8, 6 January 1672/3 and 6 January 1678/9 and 3 January 1680/1.6 He was a elected a tithingman on 5 January 1679/80 and 7 March 1692/3.7 He was on a committee to lay out land, appointed 2 January 1670/1.8 He was on a grand jury at the Essex County Quarterly Court on 29 November 1681.8 He evidently was the John Kellum who joined the Wenham church in April 1694.9
     There is little evidence of John's land holdings or where he lived in Wenham. On 14 November 1653, John sold a house and land to Charles Gott in Wenham10This must have been a gift from his father, because Austin and Alice signed a document relinquishing their rights to the property on 26 May 1654.11 On the same day, and therefore likely the same property, Gott sold a house and land to John Browne of Salem. On 11 June 1659, he and Hannah sold more land to Charles Gott Jr.12 On 15 Novmber 1661, he sold land to Thomas Fiske13This was east of the junction of the Wenham/Ipswich border and Pleasant Pond. Austin Killam's meadow is mentioned, but no homesteads. There wasn't any estate probate for John or real estate sales to show he disposed of anything, leaving us to wonder what became of it.
     The last mention of John in found records is when the Wenham selectmen agreed onn 16 March 1707/8 to grant him two acres in connection to a previous grant. The land wasn't laid out at the time, and it wasn't laid out until his son Samuel requested the town to do so on 30 March 1713.14 The boundary description is vague, but it was adjacent to land Samuel already had and bordered on Andrew Dodge's land. This suggests Samuel ended up with his father's land, but if so, it's very odd that an inventory and division was never made involving the probate court.

Children of John Killam and Hannah Pickworth:15

i. Hannah, b. 29 Apr. 1660 Essex Co. court record ii. Samuel, b. 1 Aug. 1662 Essex Co. court record ii. Abigail, b. abt. 1671
iii. Ann, b. 4 Mar. 1672/3 iv. Benjamin, b. 3 Feb 1674/5 bap. 1675, after May (NEHGR, 62:34)

vital records sources:

1. Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Massachusetts [hereafter ECQC], vol. 7 (Salem, MA: Essex Institute, 1919), 207.
2. Wenham Town Records [hereafter WTR], vol. 1 (Wenham Historical Society, 1927), 12.
3. WTR, 18 3. WTR, 12.
5. WTR, 17.
6. WTR, 21.
7. WTR, 28, 38, 47, 56.
8. WTR, 49, 102.
9. WTR, 34.
10. ECQC, vol. 8 (1921), 187.
11. NEHGR, 61:332.
12. Essex Co., MA, deeds, 1:21.
13. Essex Co., MA, deeds, 1:23.
14. Essex Co., MA, deeds, 2:22.
15. Essex Co., MA, deeds, 11:16.
16. Essex Co., MA, deeds, 3:91.
17. Vital records of Wenham, Massachusetts, to the end of the year 1849 (Salem, MA: Essex Institute, 1904), 48, 50-1.