Wednesday, January 13, 2010

The Beginning

Ensign JAMES KIDDER, the progenitor of practically all persons in the United States who bear his surname, believed to have been born a East Grinstead, Sussex, England, about 1626; died at Billerica, Middlesex County, Mass., 16 April 1676, "aged fifty". He married at Cambridge, Mass., presumably late in 1649 or early in 1650, ANNA MOORE of that place, born in England about 1630; died at Billerica in 1691, daughter of Elder Francis and Katherine Moore.
James Kidder's probable birthplace, East Grinstead, is a small town about thirty miles from London, and in the near vicinity of Maresfield, ancient seat of the Kidder family. Nothing is known of his early years nor of the reasons which prompted his leaving the home of his fathers to settle in New England where he is believed to have arrived about 1649, shortly before his marriage to Anna Moore.
Children:
i. HANNAH, b. at Cambridge, Mass., 1 March 1650/51.
ii. DOROTHY, b. 29 January 1651/52.
iii. JAMES, b. at Cambridge, 3 January 1653/4
iv. JOHN, b. at Cambridge, in 1655/6
v. THOMAS, b. at Cambridge, 1 Mar. 1657
vi. NATHANIEL, b. at Cambridge, 27 Feb. 1659.
vii. EPHRAIM, b. at Billerica, 31 Aug. 1660
viii. STEPHEN, b. at Billerica, 26 Nov. 1662
ix. ENOCH, b. at Billerica, 16 Sept. 1664
x. SAMUEL, b. at Billerica, 7 Jan. 1665/6
xi. SARAH, b. at Billerica, 1 June 1667.
xii. JOSEPH, b. at Billerica, 20 Nov., 1670; d. there in 1683.

1 comment:

  1. Gray Ghost -- This is a great blog.

    I am a distant relation to James Kidder. I believe he had a father that was also named James Kidder (b. 1595) and was married in Massachusetts. I found a gedcom file on familysearch.org that goes back to Richard Kidder (b. 1512 of Lancaster, England).

    http://www.familysearch.org/eng/search/AF/pedigree_chart_gedcom.asp?recid=1690859&familyid=176532

    There is also apparently a book called the history of the Kidder family that goes back to 1320, but I haven't gotten my hands on a copy yet.

    John Marciano

    ReplyDelete