The history of the town of Dorchester, Massachusetts, By a committee of the Dorchester antiquarian and historical society ...

HISTORY OF DORCHESTER. 71
thers of William, whom they probably accompanied
to Windsor. There was also a Richard Phelps, a
son to one of the preceding. The name ceases at
Dorchester from that time.
John Pierce (spelt Pears), admitted freeman in
1631; selectman in 1633,'36 and'41; proprietor
of lands in 1656.
There were two of this name in Dorchester, both
early. One was a cooper. His first wife, that we
have any account of, was Mary; his second, Rebecca.
His children were-Nehemiah, born February 17,
1631-32; Samuel, probably older, as he is mentioned
first; Mehitable, who married Jeremiah Rogers;
Mary, born March 6, 1638; Mercy, and one other
child, probably Exercise. About 1642 he removed
to Boston, and sold his house in Dorchester to
Richard Curtis. He died in Boston in 1661. His
son Nehemiah was a cooper also.
John Pierce and Parnell his wife had a son Joseph, born in Dorchester October 30, 1631; Abigail,
born July 17, 1633; John, born 1634, and died the
same day; Nehemiah, born July 12, 1637, and died
in October, 1639. Parnell, wife of John, died in
October, 1639. This John, it is supposed, is the
one designated mariner, and was of Stepney, county
of Middlesex, in England.
John Phillips, one of the first settlers; freeman
in October, 1630; grantee of land in 1634; held
property in Dorchester in 1656, but removed to Boston in 1645; one of the founders of the Old North
Society in 1649. He was styled "Biskett Maker."
By his wife Johanna he had a daughter Mary, born