Individual Details

Contents

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1 Potential Confusion
2 Note about location
3 Biography
4 Did she marry Benjamin Norton?
5 Sources
Potential Confusion

This Hannah Boulter, born in Hampton, is a different person than the Hannah Boulter (Bolter-3), born in Weymouth. The two have already been merged once, and then separated. Please do not attempt to repeat the mistake.

Note about location

During the time of Hannah’s birth, New Hampshire did not yet exist. The Province of New Hampshire was formed circa 1680. Before that Hampton, Exeter, and other towns were part of Norfolk County of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. (Note that old Norfolk County has no relationship to the existing Norfolk County, Massachusetts.) [1]

During the time of Benjamin Norton’s marriage, Dukes County, i.e. the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, was part of New York; it was joined with Massachusetts in 1691, at which time Nantucket was split into its own county. [2]

Biography

Hannah Boulter was born to Nathaniel Boulter and his wife, Grace Swain, on 27 Jun 1665 in Hampton, Norfolk, Massachusetts Bay Colony [3] [4] [5] although one source gives the same date in the year 1667. [6]

Little more is known of her life. Noyes briefly mentioned her in his sketch of her father. He wrote: “Hannah, b. 27 June 1667, liv. 1703. Portsm. carried one Hannah Boulter to Hampton in 1723.” [7] Perhaps this means that in 1703, she resided in Portsmouth; and then returned to Hampton in 1723.

Did she marry Benjamin Norton?

Opinions differ on this. The consensus in Wikitree seems to be that it was the Weymouth Hannah who married Norton; the reverse seems to be the case on FamilySearch. The evidence is sparse. Torrey’s index to marriages cites two sources—Banks Genealogy of Martha’s Vineyard and Chamberlain’s History of Weymouth.

Banks wrote: “BENJAMIN NORTON b. 1659; res. Edgartown, farmer. He m Hannah ____ of whose identity nothing is known nor the date of her birth or death.” [8]

Chamberlain wrote: “Hannah Bolter, dau of Thomas Bolter and Experience Aldrich, b 30 Nov 1662, m ___ Norton.” [9]

From these two sources, Torrey renders a qualified claim: “NORTON, Benjamin (-1659) & Hannah [?Bolter]; by 1685; Edgartown .” [10] He regards it as uncertain that the bride was named Bo(u)lter at all.

Some have cited an article by Rutherford as proof that Benjamin Norton married the Weymouth Hannah. However, the credibility of the article is undermined by a serious factual mistake. He states his understanding that "Bolter" and "Boulter" are variant spellings of the same name. He then asserts that Richard Bolter of Weymouth, made a freeman in 1653, “is the earliest member of this family found in Massachusetts.” [11] This claim ignores the fact that Nathaniel Boulter of Hampton, Norfolk County arrived in 1642 and owned property by 1644. This suggests that Rutherford was unaware of the Hampton Bolters, rendering it impossible for him to exclude the Hampton Hannah as the wife of Benjamin Norton. On the other hand, his claim that the Weymouth Hannah married Benjamin Norton [12] is phrased in the context of her father’s will. Further investigation into the text of the will might be fruitful. It is cited as “(SCP, 8:44)”.

It is notable that the marriage of Benjamin Norton to whatever Hannah occurred in Edgartown, Dukes County, a substantial journey from either Hampton or Weymouth. Accordingly, one has to provide some plausible reason for the connection between the two. In the case of the Hampton Hannah, the connection would be property. Her grandfather, Richard Swain, was one of the ten original shareholders in the purchase of Nantucket from Thomas Mayhew. On 6 July 1663, Swain deeded a portion of his shares to Nathaniel Boulter, Hannah’s father. [13] Nathaniel never moved to Nantucket and there seems to be no record of the disposition of his shares. It is possible that the share was passed through Hannah in the form of a dowry.

Sources

↑ “Norfolk County, Massachusetts Colony,” Wikimedia Foundation, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norfolk_County,_Massachusetts_Colony : viewed 11 April 2017).
↑ “Dukes County, Massachusetts,” Wikimedia Foundation, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dukes_County,_Massachusetts : viewed 11 April 2017).
↑ Joseph Dow, History of the town of Hampton, New Hampshire, from its settlement in 1638 to the autumn of 1892: Volume II Genealogical and Biographical (Salem, MA: L. E. Dow, 1893), pp 612-614, genealogical sketch of Nathaniel Boulter; online page images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/historyoftownofh02dowj : viewed 23 March 2017).
↑ William Prescott, The Prescott Memorial, or, A genealogical memoir of the Prescott families in America, in two parts, two volumes (Boston: H. W. Dutton & Son, 1870), footnote, pp. 229-230; online page images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/prescottmemorial00pres : accessed 8 April 2017); summary of the ancestry of Mary Boulter, the wife of the founder of the Prescott family in America.
↑ George Freeman Sanborn Jr. & Melinde Lutz Sanborn, Vital Records of Hampton, New Hampshire to the end of the year 1900, 2 volumes (Boston, MA: The New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1992), vol 1, p 97, "Hannah ye Daughter of Natt Boulter & of Grace his wife borne ye: 27:4 mo:65"; online page images, The New England Historic Genealogical, AmericanAncestors.org (https://www.americanancestors.org/databases/hampton-nh-vital-records-to-1900/about/ : accessed 8 April 2017; (The same record with minor differences also appears in Vol 1, p 553).
↑ Sibyl Noyes, Charles Thornton Libby, and Walter Goodwin Davis, Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire, single volume reprint (Portland, ME: The Southworth-Anthoensen Press, 1928; reprint, Boston, MA: The New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2012), p. 100, in genealogical sketch of Nathaniel Boulter.
↑ Noyes, Libby, and Davis, Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire, p. 100, in genealogical sketch of Nathaniel Boulter.
↑ Banks, p. 374
↑ Chamberlain, vol. 3, p. 124.
↑ Torrey, vol. 2, p. 1101.
↑ Rutherford, p. 255.
↑ Rutherford, p. 257
↑ Anderson, vol. 6, p. 612.
Anderson, Robert Charles, The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England 1634-1635, 7 volumes (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society,
Banks, Charles Edward, The History of Martha’s Vineyard, vol. 3, Family Genealogies (Edgartown, MA : Dukes County Historical Society, 1925)
Chamberlain, George Walter, History of Weymouth, Mass., 4 vols. ([Boston: Wright & Potter], 1923).
Dow, Joseph. History of the town of Hampton, New Hampshire, from its settlement in 1638 to the autumn of 1892: Volume II Genealogical and Biographical. Salem, MA: L. E. Dow, 1893. Online page images. Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/historyoftownofh02dowj : 2017.
Noyes, Sibyl; Charles Thornton Libby; and Walter Goodwin Davis. Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire. Single volume reprint. Portland, ME: The Southworth-Anthoensen Press, 1928. Reprint, Boston, MA: The New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2012.
Prescott, William. The Prescott Memorial, or, A genealogical memoir of the Prescott families in America, in two parts. Two volumes. Boston: H. W. Dutton & Son, 1870. Online page images. Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/prescottmemorial00pres : 2017.
Rutherford, Homer V., “The Bolter Family of Weymouth, Braintree, Boston, and some Connections,” New England Historic Genealogical Society Register, 133:255ff.
Sanborn, George Freeman Jr. & Melinde Lutz Sanborn. Vital Records of Hampton, New Hampshire to the end of the year 1900. 2 volumes. Boston, MA: The New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1992. Online page images. The New England Historic Genealogical. AmericanAncestors.org. https://www.americanancestors.org/databases/hampton-nh-vital-records-to-1900/about/ : 2017.
“Dukes County, Massachusetts,” Wikimedia Foundation, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dukes_County,_Massachusetts : viewed 11 April 2017).
“Norfolk County, Massachusetts Colony,” Wikimedia Foundation, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norfolk_County,_Massachusetts_Colony : viewed 11 April 2017).
"Torrey's New England Marriages to 1700." Database index. New England Historic Genealogical Society. AmericanAncestors.org.

Birth	27 Jun 1665	Hampton, Norfolk, Province of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, British America
Birth	27 Jun 1667
Living	1703
Death	1723	maybe
Miscellaneous		never married?

Father	Nathaniel BOULTER (1625 - 1693)
Mother	Grace SWAIN (1627 - 1693)
Sibling	Joseph BOULTER ( - 1661)
Sibling	Mary Swain BOULTER (1648 - )
Sibling	Temperance BOULTER (1651 - )
Sibling	Nathaniel BOULTER (1653 - 1689)
Sibling	Joshua BOULTER (1655 - 1657)
Sibling	Joshua BOULTER (1657 - 1661)
Sibling	Rebecca BOULTER (1659 - 1661)
Sibling	Grace BOULTER (1662 - 1663)
Sibling	Elizabeth BOULTER (1669 - )
Sibling	John BOULTER (1672 - )