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Descendants of John SCRIBNER, Sr., Son of John and Mary SCRIVEN

Generation No. 1

1. JOHN¹ SCRIBNER, SR. (JOHN^A SCRIVEN, THOMAS^B, EDWARD^C, THOMAS^D, THOMAS^E, ROBERT^F, JOHN^G, JOHN^H, REGINALD^I, RICHARD^J, DAVID (EDWARD)^K) was born 1657 in Dover, Strafford, NH ¹, and died Bef. 31 May 1738 in Exeter, Rockingham, NH ^2,³. He married ELIZABETH CLOYES Abt. 1688 in Dover, Strafford, NH^3,⁴, daughter of JOHN CLOYES and MARY LONG. She was born Abt. 1665 ⁵, and died Abt. 02 March 1735/36 in Exeter, Rockingham, NH ⁶.

Notes for JOHN SCRIBNER, SR.:
ELIZABETH'S PARENTS: John Cloyes was born 26 August 1638 in Watertown, Suffolk County, Massachusetts (WATERTOWN RECORDS, 1 [Watertown: The Historical Society of Watertown, 1984], p. 6), the son of John and Abigail Cloyes. When he was small, the family moved to Falmouth (Portland), Maine (William Wells, THE HISTORY OF PORTLAND FROM 1632 TO 1864 [Portland: Bailey & Noyes, 1865], 140 (other interesting information about the Cloyes family in Portland is found on pages 173-174 of Wells' book).
After a few years, they moved to Charlestown, Massachusetts. Mary Long was born 24 February 1646/47 in Newbury, Essex County, Massachusett (VITAL RECORDS OF NEWBURY, MASSACHUSETTS, TO THE END OF THE YEAR 1849, 1 [Salem, MA: Essex Institute, 1911], 286), the daughter of Deacon Robert and Alice (Stevens or Short) Long of Newbury (Savage, page 109. See also Torrey, NEW ENGLAND MARRIAGES PRIOR TO 1700 [op. cit.], 471). John and Mary were married in 1664 at Charlestown, Massachusetts (Savage, page 412).
A few years later [1681], John (then living in Wells, Maine, and apparently divorced from Mary Long) married his second wife, Mary Mills of Saco, Maine, the daughter of Thomas and Mary (Wadleigh) Mills (Noyes, pages 152, 483. See also Torrey, page 163). In 1681,Thomas Mills deeded land to both John and his brother, Nathaniel (who had married Mary's sister, Sarah), referring to each one as his "beloved sonn in law" (YORK DEEDS, Book III [Portland: John T. Hull and B. Thurston & Co., 1888], Folio 105).
It seems that Mary [Long] Cloyes married her second husband, Jonathan Griffin of Newbury,Massachusetts, 25 October 1676 (VITAL RECORDS OF SUDBURY, MASSACHUSETTS TO 1850 [Boston: NEHGS, 1903], 231).
John Cloyes was a ship's captain, sailing up and down the Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts coasts, carrying cargo and passengers. He died about 1713.

John Scribner was a blacksmith. He and his family moved from Dover to Exeter in 1698, after selling the Dover holdings inherited from his father. In 1698 he received 60 acres of land from the Town of Exeter. Also that year of 1698, he united with the newly-formed Congregational Church at Exeter. Then, in 1725, he received another 50 acres of land from the Town (Bell, HISTORY OF EXETER [op. cit.], 141-143). At the same time (12 April 1725), his sons John, Jr., Joseph, Edward and Samuel received grants of land from the Town.
We learn the names of John and Elizabeth's children (at least, those who were living on 2 March 1735/36) from John's will. In the will he speaks of sons John, Edward, Samuel and Joseph (whom he named as Executor, leading us to suspect that Joseph was the oldest), and daughters Elizabeth Moody, Mary Gadon [Gordon], Abigail Young, Susanna Mudget and Sarah Moody.

John and his son John Jr. are mentioned as part-purchasers of King's Falls Saw Mill in Exeter on 7 August 1723, along with Nathaniel Glidden, Henry Wadleigh, Daniel Ladd and others (N. H. Provincial Deeds, 14:179, quoted by G. W. Chamberlain in his book, THE DESCENDANTS OF CHARLES GLIDDEN OF PORTSMOUTH AND EXETER, NEW HAMPSHIRE [op. cit.], 77).

Of much interest is the fact that John and his siblings chose to change their name from Scriven to Scribner. While we have no recorded explanation of this name-change, we might advance some possible reasons, as follows:

One possibility is that, by continuing to be known as Scrivens, they would forever be linked to the legacy of the disgraced King Charles I, to whom their grandfather, Thomas, had given his loyalty and for whom he had given his life. Add to this the hatred they must have felt toward King Charles' son, Charles II, who was ruler of England when their brother, Edward, was taken from them and impressed into the English Navy, never to be heard from again.

Another possibility is that they did not want to be mistaken for the family of the Rev. William Scriven (1629-1713). Rev. Scriven (of no relation to John) was a well-known Baptist minister in New England, especially Boston and Kittery, Maine. The prominent (indeed, state-sponsored) form of religion was Congregationalism (of which John and family were adherents). Therefore, Rev. Scriven and his followers left New England and moved to South Carolina, where they exercised an incredible formative influence upon Southern Baptists (Noyes, GENEALOGICAL DICTIONARY OF MAINE AND NEW HAMPSHIRE [op. cit.], 615).

Yet another possibility is that they strongly felt the need to establish a new identity in this new land of Colonial America.

Children of JOHN SCRIBNER and ELIZABETH CLOYES are:

2.	i.	JOSEPH² SCRIBNER, b. Abt. 1689, Exeter, Rockingham, NH; d. 25 October 1757, Exeter, Rockingham, NH.
3.	ii.	JOHN SCRIBNER, JR., b. Abt. 1691, Exeter, Rockingham, NH; d. September 1756, Exeter, Rockingham, NH.
4.	iii.	EDWARD SCRIBNER, b. Abt. 1693, Exeter, Rockingham, NH; d. Aft. October 1754, Brentwood, Rockingham, NH.
5.	iv.	SAMUEL SCRIBNER, b. Abt. 1695, Exeter, Rockingham, NH; d. October 1730, Exeter, Rockingham, NH.
6.	v.	ELIZABETH SCRIBNER, b. Abt. 1698, Exeter, Rockingham, NH; d. Bef. 1758.
7.	vi.	MARY SCRIBNER, b. Abt. 1703, Exeter, Rockingham, NH; d. 16 October 1756, Brentwood, Rockingham, NH.
	vii.	ABIGAIL SCRIBNER, b. Abt. 1704, Exeter, Rockingham, NH ⁷; m. ??? YOUNG; b. Abt. 1695, Exeter, Rockingham, NH.
8.	viii.	SUSANNAH SCRIBNER, b. Abt. 1707, Exeter, Rockingham, NH; d. Aft. 1763, Brentwood, Rockingham, NH.
9.	ix.	SARAH SCRIBNER, b. Abt. 1709, Exeter, Rockingham, NH.

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