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About John and Mary SCRIVEN

Generation No. 1

1. JOHN¹ SCRIVEN (THOMAS^A, EDWARD^B, THOMAS^C, THOMAS^D, ROBERT^E, JOHN^F, JOHN^G, REGINALD^H, RICHARD^I, DAVID (EDWARD)^J) was born 27 October 1623 in Wem, Shropshire, England ¹, and died 02 October 1675 in Dover, Strafford, NH ². He married MARY ??? Abt. 1655 in Dover, Strafford, NH ^3,⁴.

Notes for JOHN SCRIVEN:
The birth of John Scriven is recorded on page 51 of Part 1 of the Parish Register for Wem, Shropshire County, England [op. cit]. The original entry reads : "1623, Oct. 27. John, s. of Thomas [Skeinen?], sawyer bap." The question about Thomas' last name is answered on page xvi. of Part 2 (one of the pages where corrections are noted), where it is stated: "Page 51, Line 18. For 'Skeinen,' read 'Skriven.'"
In that Wem Register, the mothers' names are not listed, so we do not know the name of John's mother, which is another of the important but unanswered questions about John.
Among those important but unanswered questions are these: If his mother had been Margaret Corbett, wouldn't that mean that John was the rightful heir to the Lordship of Frodesley? But, he didn't follow his father in that position. His younger half-brother, Richard did. Why was that so, and was that the reason for John's departure for the New World?
If John was illegitimate (as we claim that he was), wouldn't that mean that he was ineligible to follow his father as Lord of Frodesley Manor? Also, with his half-brother as the Lord, wouldn't that have been an intolerable situation for John to be in, causing him to leave England forever?
In 1644, England was in the midst of its Civil War (see below), and John, at age 21, was of age to be a soldier. Did he leave England in order to avoid having to fight in the War?
Why would John have had a sword in his possession [see the account of the inventory of his property taken at his death]? It's understandable that an average citizen would have a musket [as John had], but A SWORD! Wouldn't that give stronger evidence to the claim that John was the son of a knight and colonel in the King's Army, namely, Sir Thomas Scriven?
And, of course, the central question of all: Was the John Scriven born in Wem in October 1623 the son of Sir Thomas Scriven AND the founder of our Scribner family in America? We believe that he was, although, we admit, it is impossible to provide conclusive proof of this claim.

John Scriven came into this world at a time when his homeland--England--was undergoing enormous social and political upheaval.
To begin with, that small group of religious Separatists (better known as Pilgrims) had left for the New World and had, in 1620, landed at Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts Colony. Many more English families would soon follow, taking from England many of its citizens and future leaders.
At the same time, England was about to endure its first-ever Civil War, a war that would change the way of life in England forever, and affect the Scriven family in a very personal way.
James I, King of England at the time of John's birth, died in March 1625. James' last years as ruler had been marked by continual dissension, and quarreling over many issues with the elected Parliament. Also, England was on the brink of war with Spain, and the kingdom's finances were shattered. It was hoped that the new king, James' son, Charles I (who was 25 when he became king), would ease the tensions and turn England toward better and brighter days. But, it was not to be.
Within two years of his ascending to the throne, Charles was on very bad terms with Parliament (continually quarreling over the questions of who held the authority to raise taxes and muster armies, etc.), the kingdom was in serious financial trouble, and England was at war with both Spain and France! Charles dissolved one Parliament after another (1625, 1627, 1628, 1629) and ruled on his own authority.
The making of peace with France in 1629, and with Spain in 1630, provided but a brief respite from armed conflict. In 1641, quarrels with Scotland and uprisings in Ireland led England to again prepare for military action. Leaders of the so-called Long Parliament (assembled in 1640) said that troops could only be raised under officers approved by Parliament. King Charles vehemently disagreed, and set about to raise his own army. As sides began to form in this dispute, the king was generally supported by the nobility, the landed gentry (such as the Scrivens of Frodesley and the newly-knighted Thomas Scriven, who was given the rank of colonel), and the Catholics. The Parliament was supported by merchants, the middle classes and the lower order of the great towns. Thus, the struggle for power began, pitting the Parliament and their army against the king and his army, in a Civil War that would last until 26 April 1646, when the defeated Charles left England and was imprisoned in Scotland. However, it wasn't long before Charles returned to England, where he was essentially under house arrest. He escaped to the Isle of Wight. Then, a much shorter Civil War was waged throughout 1648. After that, the English leaders and their armies came to the conclusion that permanent peace would be impossible as long as Charles was alive. On 30 January 1649 Charles I, King of England, was executed.

It was at about this time that John Scriven--The Immigrant--came to the Colonies. We don't know when, or on which ship, he made that historic journey across the Atlantic Ocean (Existing records list hundreds of persons who, for one reason or another, left England for the Colonies. However, there are other hundreds [John among them] who made that trip but for whom no record of passage exists). It's possible that he came by way of Barbados. Several persons did, for the reason suggested by the following quote:

"In those days emigrants to New England and Virginia from England had to take an oath of allegiance and [religious] conformity, before they were allowed to leave. In going to Barbadoes or Bermuda, these oaths were not required, consequently many emigrants shipped to Bermuda and Barbadoes and from there came to Virginia and New England" (Frederick Sylvester Stevens [comp.], GENEALOGY OF THE STEVENS FAMILY FROM 1635 TO 1891 [Bridgeport, CT: J.H. Coggswell, Printer, 1891], 7).

John was accepted as an inhabitant of Dover on 5 April 1662 (Alonzo Hall Quint [contrib.], "Extracts From Dover Town Records," NEHGR, 4 [Boston: Samuel G. Drake, Publishers, 1850], 249). He settled in an area just to the northeast of Dover Town known as "Cocheco," where he had a small farm of 20 acres. It was in September of 1662 that he paid his first taxes (John Scales, COLONIAL ERA HISTORY OF DOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE [1923. Reprint. Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, Inc., 1977], 242). According to the Inventory of his possessions, listed following his death, John owned a hay barn with 20 acres of land, a few animals (2 oxen, 4 cows, 1 calf, 3 sheep, 1 lamb, 1 mare, a yearling colt and 6 hogs), farm implements and household goods (Inventory of John Scriven's Property, dated 8 October 1675). Of much interest is the fact that there is also listed 1 musket and sword! Most likely these had belonged to John's father, Sir Thomas Scriven, and John had brought them with him to the Colonies.

We have no record of Mary's maiden name or the dates of her birth and death. It had been commonly believed that she was a daughter of Edward Hilton of Dover. However, that assumption has been shown to be incorrect. Edward Hilton had two daughters, neither of whom was named Mary. One of the daughters, Susannah, married Christopher Palmer. The other daughter, Sobriety, married Henry Moulton (Noyes, GENEALOGICAL DICTIONARY OF MAINE AND NEW HAMPSHIRE [op. cit.], 332). One historian, Rev. J. Woodbury Scribner, states that "The Widow Mary lived on for 25 years after the death of her husband" (Sinnett, SCRIBNER FAMILIES [op. cit.], 18).
Their son, Edward, was impressed into the English Navy in 1679 (Noyes, 615). No further information about Edward is known.

Child of JOHN SCRIVEN and MARY ??? is:

JOHN² SCRIBNER, SR., b. 1657, Dover, Strafford, NH ⁵; d. Bef. 31 May 1738, Exeter, Rockingham, NH ^6,⁷; m. ELIZABETH CLOYES, Abt. 1688, Dover, Strafford, NH^7,⁸; b. Abt. 1665 ⁹; d. Abt. 02 March 1735/36, Exeter, Rockingham, NH ¹⁰.

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.

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