Basic information taken from the book "Genealogy of the Shumway Family in
the United States of America." Compiled by Asahel Adams Shumway. Volume 1.
Reprinted 1972 by Maple Press, George Shumway, Publisher, York, PA. Page
#28, Book identification #2.
MARRIAGE: Family History Library, Salt Lake City, UT, Film #0761323
From the seven sons of Peter2 have descended all of the Shumways found in this country.
Removed from Topsfield, Massachusetts to Oxford, Massachusetts about 1714.
One of the first "voted in" inhabitants of the town of Oxford, MA. in 1713.
Oxford was a settlement in the heart of the so called "Nipmuck Countr y"
which Oliver Wendell Holmes called "the second colony of the Pilgrim Fathers"
Several books have been written about this area and time.
Will was presented for probate before Judge Joseph Wilder, Worchester, Massachusetts on Sep. 17, 1751.
Even though Peter II, first-born of Peter "the soldier" and Frances Shumway had three brothers
and one sister, he was the only one to pass on the family name. His seven sons, however,
greatly augmented the Shumway genes pool by producing offspring too numerous for me to count here.
Sometime after the Soldier's death in Boxford, Massachusetts the family seems to have split up.
The widow Frances with son Samuel must have moved three or four miles to Topsfield for it was
here that, in 1714, she made her last will and testament signing it:
her
Francies X Shumway
mark
Peter stayed in Boxford, probably on the family farm, with his wife and children. His brother Joseph
moved to Topsfield and apparently never married, for no wife nor children were mentioned in his will.
Their sister Dorcas married Valentine Butler and later, Henry Whittingham, and between these
two marriages produced three children.
Brother John moved from Boxford to Oxford, an abandoned settlement about 75 miles southwest.
Quite a distance in colonial times. He probably joined Peter and family who pulled up stakes from
Boxford in 1714.
Oxford was originally called "New Oxford" and was to have been colonized in 1686 by thirty French
Protestant families who promised to develop the new colony. Well, not all thirty showed up, so the
little group had a tough time getting started. Hostile Indians didn't help much, either. When in 1696 after
repeated raids through the years, the Indians attacked and killed nearly the whole family of one of the
settlers, the rest of them threw in the towel and left for Boston.
So the village stayed empty for sixteen years, when it got resettled by about thirty new families
including Peter and his brood. Oxford (by now the "New" had been dropped) apparently prospered
as the Shumways stayed on and the family kept growing until goodwife Maria had presented
Peter with nine children. Maria was Maria SMITH in Boxford, until her marriage into the Shumway
family in about 1700. She died in 1738 in Oxford at age 60.
Peter lasted another thirteen years and apparently remarried, for in his will drawn in
1741 he not only generously endowed all of his offspring, including our ancestor, Jacob,
but he left his "beloved wife Mary" among other things, the use of one room and the cellar
in his house for as long as she would need it. Oh, yes, he left her a "milch cow" too.
Much is written about Peter Shumway, son of the man known as Peter the soldier,
in Asahel Adams Shumways' book. Of his siblings Peter is the only one seemingly to
have produced children and therefore all Shumways are believed to be descended from
his seven sons. According to Mr. A.A. Shumway, Peter left Topsfield, MA and removed to
Oxford about 1714.
Peter was one of the founders of Oxford, Massachusetts. He was one of thirty heads of family
who settled Oxford in 1714.
WILL OF PETER SHUMWAY 2D.
"In the Name of God Amen--This Twelfth day of May in the year of our Lord One Thousand
seven hundred and forty one I Peter Shumway of Oxford in the County of Worcester in the
province of ye Massachusetts Bay in New England Husbandman being advanced in years
and in a weak and Low Condition do make this my Last will and Testament as follows vizt.
First and principally I Comitt my soul into the hands of almighty God my Creator hoping in
his mercy thro' the merrits Death and passion and prevailing Intercession of Jesus Christ
my Lord and Saviour and my Body I desire may be Decently Interred at ye Discretion of my
Executors hereafter named in faith of ye Resurrection of it at the Last Day and as Touching
such Temporal Estate as God hath betrusted me with after my Just Debts and funeral Charges
are paid I will and bequeath the same as follows.
That is to say--
Imp. I give and bequeath unto my beloved wife Mary Shumway the use and Improvement
of one room and Cellar in my present Dwelling house During her Naturall Life if she Continues
my Widow Rent free if she shall Incline so long to Live therein. But not otherwise. I likewise
give and bequeath unto my said Wife one good milch Cow for which my Executor hereafter
named shall find and procure at his proper Cost and Charge hay in the winter and pasture
in the Summer and if by any Casualtys the said Cow should Dye or be rendered unprofitable
I hereby order my Executor to find my said wife the milk of a Cow with Sufficient keeping as
afore said. Moreover I hereby order and appoint my Executor to procure and provide for my
said wife yearly Dureing her natural Life Seven bushels of Indian Meal three bushels of Rye
meal Eighty pound of Pork forty pound of Beef fine wood and Water Ten pounds of Sheeps
Wool fifteen pounds of well Dressed Flax. I also give and bequeath unto my said wife
all the Household Goods which she brought with her at our marriage and finally I order my
Executor to be at the Charge of Giving my said Wife at her Decease a Christian Decent Burial
f she dyes my Widow.
Item-I give and bequeath unto my Eldest Son Oliver Shumway Ten shillings in the present Currancy
of new-England he having already Rec'd his full part and Portion of all my Estate by Deed of Gift.
Item--I give and bequeath unto my son David Shumway Ten pounds in the present Currancy
of the Bills of the old Tenor of the said Province he having already Rec'd the Greater part in Cash
of his part and Portion of all my Estate.
Item--I give and bequeath unto my Son Samuel Shumway Twenty pounds in the present Currancy
of the Bills of the old Tenor of said Province he having already Rec'd in Cash and Cattle the Greater
part of his Portion of all my Estate.
Item--I give and bequeath unto my Son John Shumway five shillings in the present Currancy of the
Bills of y' old Tenor of the said province he having already Rec'd by Deed of Gift his full part and
Portion of all my Estate.
Item--I give and bequeath unto my Son Jacob Shumway five shillings in the present Currancy of
the Bills of ye Old Tenor of y' said Province he having already Rec'd in Cash his full part and
Portion of all my Estate.
Item--I give and bequeath unto my Son Amos Shumway one hundred Pounds in the present
Currancy of the Bills of the old Tenor of y' said Province to be paid unto the said Amos Shumway
when he arrives at the full age of one and Twenty years.
Item--I give and bequeath unto my Daughter Mary Barton Twenty Pounds in the present
Currancy of the Bills of ye old Tenor of ye said Province to be paid to her or her heirs at the Expiration of one year after my Decease She having already had some Considerable part and portion of all my Estate.
Item-I give and bequeath unto my Daughter Hepsibah Shumway Twenty Pounds in the present Currancy of the Bills of ye old Tenor of y' said province to be paid to her at the Expiration of one year after my Decease or whensoever she is marryed she having already Received some Considerable part of her part and portion of all my Estate.
Item--I give and bequeath unto my Son Jeremiah Shumway all and Singular my lands Tenements Hereditaments, Buildings Movables and Utensills Whatsoever as well within doors as Without not Disposed of already in this my Last will and Testament To be to him the said Jeremiah Shumway his heirs and assigns as his and their proper Estate and Inheritance without any Reservation or Condition.
Item--I do hereby nominate Desire and Appoint my said Son Jeremiah Shumway Sole Executor of this my Last will and Testament.
In testimony whereof I the said Peter Shumway Have hereunto set my hand and seal The Day and year first herein before written
PETER SHUMWAY L. S.
Signed Sealed & Delivered In presence of us by the said Peter Shumway and by him
declared to be his Last Will and Testament
Jonathan Town
Samel Town
Abiel Lamb Jr.
(Presented for probate before Judge Joseph Wilder, Worcester, Massachusetts, on Sep. 17, 1751
[It would appear by this will that he had a second wife "Mary" but no entry of such
marriage appears in either town or church records.
A. A. S.]
********
Peter II and Maria (his wife) and their family migrated to Oxford, Massachusetts, after the parents
died in 1714. It is assumed the only ones left was Dorcus and her family in the Boxford area.
There is no further record of her and family. The brothers, Samuel and Joseph were buried there.
Oxford was in the heart of the Nipmuck Country, named after the Nipmuck Indians. In 1646,
John Elliot started his missionary efforts as an "Apostle to the Indians." These Indians were
not as hostile as those along the coast. In 1683 a grant of sixty-five square miles was given
three men to establish a French Protestant Colony. It does not say Huguenots, but most of
the French Protestants at that time were Huguenots. The pioneers had a rough time getting started
and the quarrelsome Indians came in making things even more difficult. The Indians finally massacared
the Johnson family and those that were still there left. The massacre took place August 25, 1696.
In 1713 a movement was started to re-settle Oxford again by the English. A grant was made to let
thirty families settle the area. Sept. 13, 1713 the thrity families voted to let Peter Shumway come
as an inhabitant of Oxford upon the right of Joshua Chandler, one of the thirty.
Peter II's Will is of record. The Will was probated Sept. 17, 1751 at Worchester, Massachusetts It appears
by the Will he had a second wife, Mary.
DOC: Daniels, George F. History of the town of Oxford, Massachusetts,
Oxford,1892.
Peter of Topsfield was progenitor of all of the name in the country, so far as known. It is well known
that in several other instances in Oxford names, the French termination OIS has been changed to WAY.
A letter of William H. Shumway, Esq., lawyer at Syracuse, N. Y., May, 1871, says: "I understand from
an attache' of Joseph Bonaparte that our name Shumway is a corruption of 'Chamois,' a person bearing
it was Compte De Chamois, a member of the court of Louis XIV.
In 1713 they moved to Oxford where they were living in 1726, when they deeded their share of Robert
Smith's estate her brothers Jacob and Ephriam;
He was 17 when his father died. His mother died when he was 36. In 1713 he moved his family to Oxford, Massachusetts
Oxford had been orginally settled in 1686 by a group of Huguenots. They were pushed back to Boston by Indians. Peters
family was one of thirty that were selected to resettle the Oxford area.
The home lot of Joshua Chandler, who 10/12/1721, conveyed to Peter Shumway,
who came in on Chandler's rights; 5/12/1741, Peter Shumway to Jeremiah,
his son, 1/2; 7/12/1755, Jeremiah Shumway to Isaac Larned, in exchange for another
property; 4/8/1756, Isaac Larned to Capt. James Griffin, who d there; 1/12/1771,
executor of will of Griffin to Josiah Wolcott; 1/18/1771, Josiah Wolcott to William
Watson; 1772, William Watson sold this with the tannery to Jonathan Gould of Woodstock;
it later went with another lot to Hardy, Duncan, Jones, Goulding and Forbes; 1794, Forbes
to William Phips, Esq., 1 a. The next owner was probably Thomas Russell; title not found.
He d there and his son Josiah succeeded and occupied and d there 1867; 9/28/1867,
heirs of Josiah Russell to Elijah Pratt, who d there 1881; 4/8/1882, Hannah J., widow of Elijah
Pratt to Ithiel T. Johnson. (History of Oxford page 345)
http://www.petershumway.org/oxford.htm - 1714 Map of Oxford, Worcester, Massachusetts
Who is this family member?