Joseph Hills Sr. (1602-1688) and Rose Cleerke (abt 1603-1651)

{immigrant ancestors on the Hills line.}

Written by Carol Walters

Click here to go to a condensed version of this biography.

Most of the information in the following history comes from Hills Family in America by William Sanford Hills. The dates shown in this source may not take into account the shift from the Julian Calendar to the Gregoria Calendar, and may not, therefore, be accurate.

When I lived in Cambridge, Massachussetts, for a year, I made a friend named Charlie Sullivan who had grown up in that area. When I mentioned that I was trying to do research about my ancestor, Joseph Hills, he got quite excited and asked, "The Joseph Hills? The founder of Malden?" I didn’t know, but Charlie told me that he had grown up in Malden, and that all the children there learn about Joseph Hills in school. He took us to Malden and showed us the monument that had been erected in honor of Joseph Hills in front of the Baptist Church.

C:\Users\carol\Pictures\From Carol's HTC Trophy\Camera roll\WP_000121.jpg Picture 25

The History of Malden Massachusetts, 1633-1735 has a whole chapter about Joseph Hills, Sr. and his son-in-law, John Wayte. It starts out: "Of the early settlers of Malden, two men, above all others, filled prominent positions in the local affairs of the town and took no mean part in the civil and religious concerns of the Colony."1

Joseph Hills, Sr., is considered one of the founders of Malden, Massachusetts, and is credited with choosing its name.

Joseph was the son of George and Mary Hilles who were married 13 October 1596 in Billericay, Essex, England.2 Joseph was christened in Great Burstead, Billericay, Essex, England, 3 March, 1601/2.2 He was still living in Great Burstead at age 22, when he married Rose Clarke on 22 July 1624.2 Their first four children were christened there: Mary (1625/26),2, 3, 4 Elizabeth (1627),2 Julia's ancestor Joseph, Jr., (1629),2 and James (1632) who probably died young.2 By 1632, their family had moved to Maldon, Essex, England, and they had four more children christened there: John (1632), Rebecca (1634), Steven (1636), and Sarah (1637). The last two children died as babies. Joseph was well educated and apparently had legal training. "A woolen draper, he held a share in the Massachusetts Bay Company."5

In 1638, at about age 35, Joseph and Rose immigrated to New England with their five surviving children. Hills Family in America says that Joseph Hills was the "undertaker" [sponser and organizer] of the voyage of the ship "Susan and Ellen," which landed her passengers and cargo at Boston, in New England, on 17 July of that year [according to an entry in Governor Winthrop's journal.5] The Hills first abiding place was where the settlement of Charlestown was located by Governor Winthrop, between the Charles and Mystic rivers. The family dwelling was "near the market place," but they were soon residents of that part of the town north of the Mystic river, establishing their home at "Mystic Side" on a farm of considerable size."2 The town records say, "(July 30, 1638) Mr. Joseph Hills was admitted a Townsman, & granted 25 Acres of Land on mistickside by Mr. Coitmores Lott, and 50 more after the great Lotts are finished." In New England, two more children, Gershom (1639) and Mehitable (1640), were born to the Hills. Mehitable died when she was 13.

Joseph was admitted to the church on 2 February 1640/41.9 He "soon became active in public affairs, was selectman [member of the city council] of the town in 1644, and in 1646 represented Charlestown in the General Court as the colonial assembly was named. Re-elected in 1647, he was chosen speaker of the House of Deputies. When "Mystic Side" was set off as a separate town about 1649, it was doubtless named "Malden" by Joseph Hills for the place where he last dwelt in Old England.2

"While a resident of Mystic Side and Malden Joseph was captain of its training band [the militia which protected the town]. At his death he willed his "buffe coate" [military coat made of leather] to his son, Samuel, and his "backsword" [a sword with only one sharp edge and a basket hilt as used in fencing] to Henry Lunt, his stepson. He was Malden's first deputy [representative to the legislature of the Massachusetts Bay Colony], and the town had no other representative until after 1664.2

"In 1645 Joseph Hills was the first named on a "committee to set out lots to the settlers of Nashaway plantacion." In 1648 he was first of a committee of four to change the location of the highway "between Winnesemet and Redding." In 1650 he was second of a committee, of which the governor was the chairman, appointed to draw up instructions for the Massachusetts delegates to a gathering where "the commissioners of all the colonies shall meete." In 1653, he was one of a committee of six to consider the question, "if the Vnited Collonjes haue power by the articles of Agreement ... to ingage the Collonjes" "in warre." In 1654, with Captains Hawthorne and Johnson, and the treasurer of the Colony, he was appointed to frame a reply to the home [English] government, which had demanded an explanation of certain facts. Three times, in 1650, 1653 and 1661, he was on committees to audit the treasury accounts; but his greatest public service was that of the leading member of the committee that in 1648 reported to the General Court the codification of the laws of the Colony. The story of his part of the work is well told by one of his descendants, Mr. D. P. Corey, in his history of Malden, published in that city in 1899. Joseph Hills was the actual compiler of the laws. He prepared the copy for the press and supervised their printing. The colony recognized the great value of his work not only by a money payment but by a grant of five hundred acres of land on the Nashua river, now a part of Southern New Hampshire, and the remission of his taxes in his old age. But now laws were from time to time enacted and old ones changed, and "the Courte finding by experience the great benefitt that doth redound to the country by putting of the lawes into printe," in 1649-50, 1653, 1654, and 1661 appointed committees as stated in the vote of the last-named year "to peruse such lawes as are vnprinted & vnrepealed & committ them to presse."

"For this work Joseph Hills had such prominence that his appointments to these committees were three times as numerous as those of any of his colleagues except Governor Bellingham who, notwithstanding his official position, was outranked by his less distinguished associate in the number of times he was designated for such service." This code of laws. became the foundation for all the laws of New England, and later, of the United States.

"Rose (Cleerke or Clarke) Hills, the first wife of Joseph Hills, died at Malden, March 24, 1650,6 and he married, June 24, 1651, Hannah (Smith)6 widow of Edward Mellows, of Charlestown. Hannah had 6 children by her previous marriage, and Joseph used his legal expertise to help her secure their inheritance. Joseph and Hannah had three more children, Samuel (1652), Nathaniel (1653) and Hannah (about 1655). (For more information about Hannah Smith Mellows Hills, see the appendix at the end of this biography.)

Hannah died about 1655 and in January 1656, Joseph Hills married Helen Atkinson. "In connection with this [3rd] marriage to Helen Atkinson, a noteworthy incident occurred. In the early days of the Colony all marriages were solomnized by magistrates, the clergy having no part in the ceremony. In 1641 Governor Bellingham, as magistrate, married himself to Penelope Pelham, and when called to come down from the bench and plead to a complaint against him for the act, refused to do so. Joseph Hills was a magistrate "for the trial of small causes," and followed the Governor's example in his marriage of January 1656, but unlike the Governor, did not escape public censure. The records of the Court of Middlesex County show that, April 1, 1656, "Mr. Joseph Hills of Maldon being presented by the Grand Jury for marrying of himself, contrary to the law of this Collony page 38 in ye old Booke. He freely acknowledged his offence therein, and his misvnderstanding the grounds whereon he went which he now confessed to be vnwarrantable, and was admonished by the Court."7

Joseph and Helen had two daughters, Deborah and Abigail. Helen died on 6 January 1662,2 and both Deborah and Abigail died in October of that same year.6

Helen was the sister of Elizabeth Atkinson Dunster, the second wife of Henry Dunster, the first president of Harvard University. In his will, Dunster mentioned his "sister, the wife of Joseph Hills of Malden" meaning Helen, his siter-in-law. An early family historian noted this and thought he was referring to Joseph’s first wife, Rose, whose maiden name was not known at that time. Therefore, many family histories show her as "Rose Dunster." The marriage record of Joseph and Rose Cleerke was later found, establishing her correct name, but the error persists.1

On 8 October 1665, Joseph married, at Newbury, Anne the widow of Henry Lunt of that town, who had died in 1662.8 He moved from Malden, which sent no Deputy to the Court the following year, to her home in Newbury. In his will, he speaks of his "solitary sojourning under her roof."5 Newbury elected him their Deputy to the General Court in 1667 and 1669.2

Over the years, Joseph had experienced the deaths of three wives and eight of his children. But 1774 was an especially hard year in the Hills Family as seven of Joseph, Sr.’s children and grandchildren died. It must have been a heatbreaking time for him. His petition to the General Court, dated 24 May 1682, recites that "in the latter part of his pilgrimage" he was "totally" bereaved of "the sight of his eyes for more than 4 years now past." He died 5 February 1688. [86 years old]"2 and was buried in Newbury.

Sources:

  1. The History of Malden Massachusetts, 1633-1735, published in 1899 by Deloraine Pendre Corey

  2. Hills Family in America by William Sanford Hills p 255, (The dates shown in this source may not take into account the shift from the Julian Calendar to the Gregoria Calendar, and may not, therefore, be accurate.)

  3. England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975. Database. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : 3 March 2017. Index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City.

  4. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/105954250/marie-wayte says Marie "Mary" HILLS was baptized 13d 11m 1625 in Great Burstead, Billerica, Essex, England. If this is an accurate quote of the parish records, this would probably be 13 January 1625/26.

  5. The Ancestry of Abel Lunt 1769-1806, of Newbury Massachusetts pp. 7-8

  6. Vital Records of Malden, Massachusetts

  7. Homes and Places and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of Middlesex County, Massachusetts edited by William Richard Cutter

  8. Newbury Massachusetts Vital Records.

  9. https://www.geni.com/people/Capt-Joseph-Hills/6000000006444704015

Appendix A - Hannah (Smith?) Mellows Hills

As we started working on the family group sheets for the Hills Family, we noted that Joseph Hills Sr. (1601/02 – 1688) married, as his second wife, Hannah Smith Mellows (b. abt. 1616), widow of Edward Mellows, in 1651; and that his son, Joseph Hills Jr. (1629 – 1674) married Hannah Smith (b. abt. 1633) in 1654. We assumed that "Smith" was the maiden name of Hannah Smith Mellows, and it seemed improbable that both father and son, who had the same name, should have married women of the same name. We thought someone had made a mistake and assigned the same wife to both father and son. However, we found documentation for both marriages.

An old pedigree chart showed the parents of Hannah Smith (b. abt. 1633), the wife of Joseph Jr., as Samuel Smith and Mrs. Hannah Smith. That made it seem possible that Hannah's mother, Mrs. Hannah (?) Smith, had later married Mr. Mellows, and after his death, married Joseph Hills Sr.; and that their namesake children by their first marriages had then also married. That would mean that Hannah (?) Smith Mellows Hills is also our ancestor. There was, however, no source given for this information.

An article, Some Connections Bethween the Hills, Mellowes, Smith and Bulkeley Families, by J. Gardner Bartlett in The Genealogical Magazine Vol. 1 (April 1905 - March 1906) published by Eben Putnam, Boston, comes to the same conclusion. It says:

"There are several published accounts of relationship between the above families which seem to the writer to be erroneous;... The maiden name of Hannah (wife of Edward Mellows and later of Joseph Hills, Sr.) has generally been stated to be Smith because in the will of one Nathaniel Smith in 1650 he mentions his "sister Hannah Mellowes in New England." (See Waters' Gleanings, p. 78.) The writer claims that Hannah wife of Edward Mellowes was not a sister by blood of Nathaniel Smith, but that she had married a brother of this Nathaniel Smith before she married Edward Mellows, and was termed "sister" by Nathaniel Smith for that reason. The evidence for this follows: Edward Mellowes and Hannah ____ were married about 1635, and had, with others, a daughter Hannah Mellowes, born in 1636, who married, in 1655, John Bunker of Charlestown and had five children. John Bunker died in 1672, and in his will of that year, parcelled out the care of these children among his wife's relatives in extra-ordinary fashion. A son, Edward Bunker, was assigned to 'cousin Mr. Edward Bulkeley' [this means Rev. Edward Bulkeley, own cousin of Edward Mellowes, the father of Hannah Mellowes, wife of the testator], and a daughter Hannah Bunker was assigned to "sister Hills." There were but two persons named Hills at this time whose wives could be the 'sister Hills' referred to, viz., the wife of Gershom Hills and the wife of Joseph Hills, Jr. The wife of Gershom Hills was Elizabeth Chadwick who was not related either by blood or marriage to the testator John Bunker. Joseph Hills, Jr., however, married in 1653 Hannah Smith, born about 1633, died in 1674. She was evidently the 'sister Hills' of Bunker's will. Her parentage has never been given, but was she not a daughter of Hannah ____, who married first a brother of Nathaniel Smith, second, Edward Mellowes, and third, Joseph Hills, Sr.?

"If so, Hannah Smith, wife of Joseph Hills Jr., was the latter's stepsister, and she was also half-sister of Hannah Mellowes the wife of John Bunker, which would give the latter good reason for terming her 'sister Hills' in his will. Hannah Mellowes (wife of John Bunker) had another half-sister named Hills living in 1672, viz., Hannah Hills, born in 1655, daughter of Joseph Hills, Sr., and his second wife Hannah (formerly widow of _____ Smith and also of Edward Mellows); but this half-sister Hannah Hills was a young unmarried girl of seventeen years. It is unlikely that the testator Bunker would have suggested so young a person to care for his daughter of nearly the same age.

"Some have supposed that Hannah Smith (wife of Joseph Hills Jr.) was a niece of Hannah, wife of Edward Mellows, but this is disproved by Bunker's will which would have termed her "cousin Hills" instead of "sister Hills" it this were so.

"The annexed pedigree suggests that the name of the brother of Nathaniel Smith who married Hannah _____ was Samuel Smith; there is no evidence for this except that Joseph Jr., and Hannah (Smith) Hills had a son Samuel HIlls, possibly named for his mother's father; also that Hannah (widow of Edward Mellowes), when she married Joseph Hills, Sr., named her first child by him Samuel Hills, perhaps for her first husband Samuel (?) Smith.

"From the above notes it appears that Hannah, the wife successively of (Samuel?) Smith, Edward Mellowes, and Joseph Hills Sr., had a daughter named Hannah by each of her three husbands."

It seems likely that the names "Samuel and Hannah Smith" listed on the old pedigree chart as the parents of the Hannah Smith who married Joseph Hills Jr., came from the speculations in this article.

We have found copies of the wills of Nathaniel Smith in which Hannah (?) (Smith) Mellows is called both "sister" and "cosin." Significantly, Edward Mellows is named executor in Nathaniel Smith’s first will, and both Edward and Abraham Mellows (probably the sons of Edward and Hannah Mellows), receive legacies in addition to the property bequeathed to Hannah. This seems unlikely if Edward were merely the second husband of the widow of Nathaniel’s deceased brother, but we realize that there are circumstances which could have created this situation. We are still trying to determine whether Hannah (? Smith) Mellowes Hills is the mother of the Hannah Smith who married Joseph Hills Jr, and is, therefore, our ancestor.