John Lovett

Listed as one of the 8 admitted inhabitants of Salem, MA on July 25,1639 and received a grant of 2 acres of marsh ground lying near theold planter's meadow in the vicinity of Wenham Common. He came earlyto Beverly probably in the 1630's and was at different periodssurveyor of highways, constable and selectman. His will dated11/8/1686 he held large real estate and his heirs were children John,Joseph, Abigail, Mary & Bethiah and grandson George Standley.

The first record found of John Lovett in Essex Co., MA, was on 8August 1639, when "John Lovett is receaved to be an Inhabitant withinthis jurisdiction [Salem] & there is graunted unto him ten acres ofland neere Macrell Cove."[1] The land along the edge of Mackerel Coveis now part of Beverly. In January of 1640 "John Luvet Daniel Rays[Rea's] servant desireth accommodation."[2] This is the only referencefound to a relationship between Lovett and Rea. Lovett was cooper andmay have had an arrangement with Rea regarding services performedperhaps in exchange for his passage to Massachusetts, which probablywas not long before if not in 1639. The Town of Salem gave John fivemore acres near Mackerel Cove in 1640.[3] In 1645 he was given twoacres of marsh near the "Old Planters Meadow near Wenham Common"[4]and in 1650, twenty acres in "the swamp and upland."[5]
..... John first appears in court records on 29 June 1641, when it isrecorded that John Kettle, a boy apprenticed to "Jno. Lovett ofMackerell Cove" is to be severely whipped and to serve his master 40sworth of time to cover Lovett's expense of paying a fine after Kettlebroke into John Ward's house, stole milk ("though he had eat milk thatsame morneing") and for his "willfull breach of ye saboth."[6]
..... John was chosen to be a juryman in 1669.[7] He doesn't appearthereafter in found court records. The Town of Beverly was establishedabout this time, but roughly the first two decades of town records ofBeverly have been lost. John wrote a will in which he left his sonJohn his cooper's tools. He mentions his wife Mary and children John,Abigail, Randall, Joseph, Mary Patch and Bethiah Standley. His deathrecord in The Early Records of the Town of Beverly says "John Lovettsenior Departed this Life on the fifth Day of November being Agedaboute seaventy 6 years Anno: Do: 1686.”[8]
..... No records have been found that are proven to be for this familyin England, including John's marriage to Mary Lighthassel or Mary"Motyer" (the name is "Mote" in the marriage record). The latter twoEnglish Lovett families were found by researchers in the Mormon IGIand assumed to be the same as the one in New England as a matter ofconvenience.
..... Mary appears in several court cases. She witnessed an odd eventat the (Beverly?) meetinghouse in which two women had a battle ofwills over where they wanted to sit. One ended up sitting in theother's lap (see a fuller account in the biography forfellow-ancestor Anna (Palgrave) Woodbury). It created a bit of aspectacle in the meetinghouse. Tamsin Taply said that she "would nothave seen it had not Goodwife Lovett pulled her by the arm to show toher." Mary (Lovett) also gave a deposition, but what she said wasn'trecorded.[9] What she said is also not recorded when she deposed inthe case brought by Elizabeth, maid of Mr. Hubbard (Hobart) againstfellow-ancestor Elizabeth Woodbury (wife of Humphrey) for hittingher.[10]

They had the following children (ordered according to will):

i. John
ii. Abigail, bap. 18 March 1654/1655 (First Church, Salem record, "ofSister Lovett")
iii. Randall
iv. Joseph
v. Mary
vi. Bethiah, bap. 13 June 1652 (First Church, Salem, record "ofJohn").

vital records sources: His death date comes from The Early Records ofthe Town of Beverly.

[1] Essex Institute Historical Collections, "Town Records of Salem,1634-1659," vol. 9, second series, vol. 1 (Salem: 1869), pg. 89.
[2] Ibid, 21 January 16 39/1640, pg. 98.
[3] Ibid, 30 March 1640, pg. 105.
[4] Ibid, 29 October 1645, pg. 138.
[5] Ibid, 21 January 1650, pg. 163.
[6] Essex County Quarterly Courts, vol. 1, pg. 27,
[7] Ibid, 30 November 1669, vol., pg. 187, Salem Quarterly Court.
[8] The Early Records of the Town of Beverly
[9] 1 September 1673, Essex County Quarterly Courts, vol., pg. 217,Salem Quarterly Court.
[10] 30 November 1664, Ibid, vol., pg. 224. .
Online source:http://dougsinclairsarchives.com/lovett/johnlovett1.htm

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