Research by Rue Lynn Galbraith
(Much of the following is taken from an article on The English Ancestors of Joshua and Anthony written by Myrtle Stevens Hyde and John Plummer for the NEHGS Register Vol. 151 [April 1997] pages 171 – 191 (www.americanancestors.org ). The article corrects some errors in The Fisher Genealogy by Phillip A. Fisher (the most widely cited source of Fisher Family information); and it traces the Fisher line another five generations back into England.)
St. Margaret's church in Syleham dates back to Saxon times. The following was taken from a plaque inside the church:
“1591 Antonius Fysher
bapt erat 23rd Aprilis Anno Dom. Dicto”
- Syleham Parish Registry2
Anthony Fisher is the third of eight children of Anthony and Marie or Mary Fiske Fisher of Sylham, Suffolk, England. The Fishers were a well-to-do yeoman class family with educated children. He married Alice _____ about 1615. They lived at Sylham until at least 1623. In 1626 and 1629, the Parish records of Denton, which is about six miles from Sylham, record the births of
ffisher Nathaniel [Parents] Anthony & Alic [Baptized] 22 Oct 1626
ffysher Cornelius [Parents] Anthony & Ales [Baptized] 16 Aug 16292
According to the will of his brother, John, Anthony was still in Denton in March of 1636. Anthony and his older brother, Joshua, who was a blacksmith, decided to take their families to New England. Anthony’s family emigrated first, taking Joshua’s 16-year-old son, Joshua, with them. Phillip Fisher speculates that they sailed probably from Yarmouth in the ship Rose, arriving in Boston 26 June 1637. Anthony was the 36th person to sign the Dedham Covenant. The first record of him in the colonies is 18 July 1637.
Anthony was a member of the committee appointed to build a meeting house in Dedham, and on 28 July 1638, he was assigned his house lot. His wife was admitted to the church on 27 March 1642. The church records show "_____ Fisher, ye wife of Anthony Fisher." She died in Dedham of 12 January 1662/3. However, because of "his rash cariage & speaches sauoring of selfe confidence," Anthony was not admitted until 14 March 1645.
Apparently not everyone found Anthony Fisher’s conduct offensive, because he was chosen Selectman in 1645 and 1647; County Commissioner 3 September 1660; Deputy to the General Court 2 May 1649; and woodreeve 1653-55, 1657-58 and 1661-62.
Alice died in Dedham of 12 January 1662/3. Her daughter in-law Leah, wife of Cornelius, died the same day.
Anthony remarried in 14 November 1663, in Dorchester, Isabel (_____) (Rigby) Breck - widow of both John Rigby and Edward Breck. In Dorchester, he was again elected Selectman 1664-1666. 3
Anthony died 18 April 1671, in Dorchester, Norfolk, Massachusetts. He was 80 years old. Isabel died: 22 June 1673, in Dorchester, Suffolk, Massachusetts
NEHGS Register Vol. 151 [April 1997] pages 171 – 191 - The English Ancestors of Joshua and Anthony written by Myrtle Stevens Hyde and John Plummer (www.americanancestors.org
Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of Boston and Eastern Massachusetts by William Richard Cutter p 256
Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Original data: Town and City Clerks of Massachusetts., Massachusetts Vital and Town Records. Provo, UT: Holbrook Research Institute (Jay and Delene Holbrook).