Weymouth New England Genealogy

With respect to the Newbury Aquila, there is record of adeposition filed in the Quarterly Court at Ipswich, MA inSeptember 1666 which states him to be "aged about 48 years".This would make the year of his birth about 1618. This isapparently the only record which has ever been found thatprovides any clue to his birth. The only record that apparentlyexists linking Aquila to Thomas as brothers is a reference in a1667 land sale document by Aquila to Thomas that refers toThomas as his brother. No record apparently exists that givesany information about Thomas's birth. He is presumed to havebeen older based upon peripheral evidence.Aquila was a mariner. He had grants of land in Hampton, NewHampshire in 1640. He was induced to abandon Hampton elevenyears after the first settlement of Newbury upon the banks ofthe Parker River and about a dozen miles away. He took up hisresidence in Newbury by the offer of certain grants of lands inwhat is now the city of Newburyport, "on condition that he go tosea and do service in the towne with a boate for four years". That he was a seafaring man goes without saying. There is a wellestablished fact that he was the first person to pilot a vesselacross the bar at the mouth of the river. His "house lott at thenewtowne" was sold in 1609 and appears on the county records.The "six acres of upland for a planting lott" were laid out"beyond the newtowne" and this is thought to be the spot wherehe ended his days in 1670. Aquila was probably buried in theFirst Parish Yard at Oldtowne as that and the original yard atthe river were the only ones in use at the time of his death. By the terms of his will the place passed into the hands of hisoldest son Aquila, who died in 1720. Will - 10 DEC 1670; Will (proved) - 28 MAR 1671Aquila Chase settled in Newbury, Mass. (that part which is nowNewburyport.) His wife, Ann Wheeler, was a daughter of JohnWheeler, who came from Salisbury, England in Sept. 1646.According to the county records, Aquila Chase and his wife andher brother, David Wheeler, were presented and fined "forgathering pease on the Sabboth." Mr. Chase died 27 Dec 1670,aged 52 years. His widow married 14 June 1672, DanielMussiloway, and died 21 Apr 1687. Children: Sarah, AnnPriscilla, Mary, Aquila, Thomas, John, Elizabeth, Ruth, Danieland Moses.