Bradley Family Tree - Anthony Colby, Sawmill Owner, and his wife Susannah

 Anthony Colby, Sawmill Owner, and his wife Susannah

8th Great-Grandfather and Great-Grandmother of Ruth Ann Hazen

Macy-Colby House in Amesbury, MA

Anthony Colby was born in 1605 and was baptized is the town of Horbling in Lincolnshire, England on September 8, 1605. He immigrated to Boston in 1630 on a ship with the Winthrop Fleet. He was admitted to the church in Boston in the winter of 1630-1631. 

In 1633, he married Susannah Waterman, the widow of a Mr. Waterman. Her maiden name and  is unknown. Anthony and Susannah had seven children:

            

                John            b. 1633        d. 1674

                Sarah           b. 1635        d. 1663

                Samuel        b. 1639        d. 1716

                Isaac            b. 1640        d. 1684

                Rebecca       b. 1643        d. 1672

                Mary            b. 1647        d. 1672

                Thomas        b. 1650        d. 1691

In 1632, Anthony moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 1637 he moved to Ipswich, then to Salisbury in 1640. In 1645, he lived in Amesbury, which split from Salisbury. 

When Anthony and Susannah married, he sold the land owned by Mr. Waterman, and began purchasing land in Cambridge. While he lived in Cambridge, he accumulated five parcels of land, totaling seventeen acres and including two houses. 

When he moved to Salisbury (later Amesbury), he became the part owner of a sawmill. By the end of his life, he held over 132 acres of land in Amesbury. 

In 1654, Anthony purchased the house shown above from its original owner, Thomas Macy. Macy was forced to flee the area to avoid arrest after he was accused of harboring Quakers. The Macy-Colby house was originally much smaller, just two rooms on the ground floor with a loft above and a "keeping room" in the cellar. It was enlarged and modified by descendant Obadiah Colby in the 1740's. The house remained in the Colby family until Moses Colby donated it in 1899 to the Bartlett Cemetery Association. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2008. 

As a side note, Amesbury became a separate precinct from Salisbury in 1654, which allowed the residents to have their own church - before that, they needed to cross the Merrimac River to attend church. They were officially incorporated as a Town in 1665. 

Anthony Colby was active in town life. He served on at least six juries, and served as a land and highway surveyor for the town. 

Colby died without a will on February 11, 1660. He was buried in an unmarked grave in the town cemetery named Golgotha. In later years, a stone was added to commemorate Colby and the other early settlers of Amesbury, 

His widow Susannah married William Whitridge in 1663. It was the third marriage for each of them. He died on December 8, 1668. 

Susannah lived until July 8, 1689. By the fall of 1682, the selectmen (town council) of Amesbury went to the court on her behalf. They described her as "an ancient and helpless widow" with a "comfortable and competent maintenance" but "attended with so many infirmities of body and mind, is utterly incapable of doing anything that may contribute to her livelihood or comfortable sustenance". The Court ordered her sons Samuel, Isaac, and Thomas to "provide" for her - most likely to find and pay a live-in companion to care for her - by selling parts of the Colby estate. Susannah's burial site is unknown.

Anthony Colby  and Susannah ____ > Thomas Colby > Hannah Colby > John Tewksbury > Henry Tewksbury > Henry Tewksbury > Meriam C. Tewksbury > Charles Sydney Babcock > Jessie Louise Babcock > Charles Stuart Bradley > Ruth Ann Bradley     Charts B-C and B-Main