Person Page - 733

       Eldad Kingsley, of Rehoboth, MA, married, as her 1st husband, 9 May 1662 "or shortly thereafter" at Providence, RI, Mehitabel/2 Mowry, daughter of Roger/1 Mowry and Mary Johnson, with whom he had 6 children.^1,2 With six others he was an organizer of the Baptist Church of Rehoboth (at Swansea).³ On a list of men who made advances of money to sustain the government during Philip's War, his sum being £0.9.4.⁴ His father's will, 2 Nov 1677, left his entire estate to his widow, and then to Eldad upon her death, and left John French, a grandson who had served the elder Kingsley for six years, out of the will.⁵
     I look that Eldad and his to be a staffe to us in our old Age for John ffrench hath left mee in my old Age when I had most need of him whom according to nature and condition and my Just espectation should have stayed with me until death yett I give him five Shillings in Silver to Receive of my son Eldad and I desire therebe noe swearing about my will or estate
     John French, having been by his father dispatched into the service of his grandfather Kingsley of Rehoboth at the age of about 15, had married, 8 Mar 1678/79, upon reaching the age of 21. By leaving his father's service for that of his grandfather, he had previously forfeited his first son's right to a double portion. Eldad Kingsley, recognizing that six years of service deserved proper reward, agreed with John French, 8 Mar 1678/79, that French should have 50 acres of upland in the North Purchase, which sometimes was the land of the said John Kingsley, and the meadow and one half the common belonging to said upland, in full satisfaction for his service.⁵
     Eldad Kingsley died in 1679.^6,3

       John Russell married Elizabeth (–?–). He was both witness to and overseer of the will of Lambart Sutton, dated 8 Nov 1649 at Woburn, MA.¹ "A prominent Baptist," Cutter tells us.²
     "The struggle to establish the church on a firm footing faced one final challenge from the standing order in the years that followed, as the authorities responded vigorously to the apostasy of yet another deacon. John Russell, Sr., was probably the most substantial Massachusetts sectarian convert during this period. Following his son and namesake into the church, Russell became a member around 1670 and quickly assumed a leading role in the beleaguered congregation. His conversion respresented a boon to the little church. As one member described the situation, The Lord has given us another elder, one John Russell, senior, a gracious wise and holy man that lives at Woburn, where we have five brethren near that can meet with him; and they meet together first days when they cannot come to us on Noddles Island, and I hear there are some more there looking that way with them.
     "This windfall for the dissenters was greeted by the establishment with approbation, dashing—as it did—hopes to contain the sect. The grand jury indicted Russell for his Baptist activities, and he was tried and convicted by both the county court and the Court of Assistants. In a related attempt to break up the movement in the Woburn area, the authorities fined numerous other Anabaptists at the same time. The harassment of Russell and the others proved ineffective.
     "The campaign against the Baptists declined in intensity for the last time in the wake of the aborted attempt to crush Anabaptist sentiment in Woburn. Six years of arguments and punishments had had no appreciable impact on the 'pretended church.' If the scandalous way John Farnum had left Boston's Second Church had encouraged the proponents of intolerance to attack the sect with renewed vigor, Russell's respectability ultimately worked the opposite effect. The specter of the highly regarded, aged, and ailing Russell in Boston jail did nothing to further the case against the sect. No colonist was incarcerated for belonging to the antipedobaptist church after Russell's release in June 1671…."³
     Dec 1671, "John Russell, Senior, was in Court for renouncing communion with the church of Christ…absenting himself from the Public ministry of God's word on the Lord's dayes and turning his back on the holy ordinance of Baptisme and refusing to partake with the Church in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, joining himself to the Schismatical assembly of the Anabaptists, and taking office power among them, casting out John Johnson who was a member with them…the Court considering the…former endeavors legally used for his conviction and reformation and…his obstinacy ordered him to give bond to appear at the next Court of Assistants.—Middlesex County Court Records, Vol. III, p. 14."⁴
     Jun 1675, "Thomas Fo[we]r, John Russell, Senior, John Russell, Junior, are fined for not attending Public worship of God and for contempt and ordinary frequenting the meetings of the Anabaptists, on Lord's dayes.—Ibid, p. 127. John Johnson, John Wilson, Senior, and his wife, Henry Somers and his wife, John Wilson, Junior, Caleb Farly and Hopestill Foster are fined for absenting themselves from Public Worship on the Lord's days.—Ibid, p. 128. See Sewall, Hist. of Woburn p. 153 et seq. and notes under Cleveland and Farley.
     "Sewall is mistaken (Ibid, p. 157) in concluding that those persons in Woburn of Baptist sentiments remained quiescent after the troubles in 1671. They continued their agitation and heresies in spite of the admonitions and penalties of the courts."⁴
     John Russell died at Woburn 1 Jun 1676.⁵

       Mary/3w Brooks, 2d so-named, was born 15 Dec 1670 at Billerica, MA and there died 14 Jan following.¹

       Hepsibah/3w Brooks was born 23 Feb 1673/74 at Billerica, MA.¹ Removed with her family to Swansea, where she married, 22 May 1694, Pelatiah/2 Mason.^2,3 Brother-in-law Palatiah Mason and sister Hepsabeth Mason of Swansea are mentioned in the will of her brother John/3w Brooks, 9 Apr 1713.^4,5 She died 24 Aug 1727 at age 53.⁶

       Lydia/3w Brooks was born 8 Jan 1677 at Billerica, MA.¹ Could she be the Lydia Brooks of New Haven who married, by 1697, Thomas/1 Drakely of Woodbury, CT?²

       Rebecca/3w Brooks was born 5 Oct 1679 at Billerica, MA.¹ She married, as his 1st wife, 6 Nov 1696 at Swansea, Dea. Melatiah/4 Martin of Swansea, son of John/3 Martin and Joan(na) ?Enstance.^2,3 Brother-in-law Melatiah Martin and sister Rebecca Martin of Rehoboth are mentioned in the will of her brother John/3w Brooks, 9 Apr 1713.^4,5

       Elizabeth/3w Brooks, born say 1669 at Woburn, removed with her family to Swansea, MA, where she married, 10 Apr 1689, Thomas Lewis Jr. of Swansea, son of Thomas Lewis and Hannah (–?–).^2,3 Sister Elizabeth Lewis and her children James and Mary are mentioned, 9 Apr 1713, in the will of her brother John/3w Brooks of Swansea.^4,5