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Job Tyler

Job Tyler was born in 1619 perhaps in Cranbrook, Kent. He married Mary whose last name may have been Horton. He was in Rhode Island about 1638 and in 1639 was in Andover as a solitary squatter. He went to Roxbury and then returned to Andover and in 1642 went back to Roxbury where he bought land in 1646, and his wife joined the church in 1665, then he went to Mendon and clashed with the church authorities in 1669. In 1650 he mortgaged a house and land with three cows in Andover to John Godfrey of Newbury so he apparently was not financially secure. He was involved in a long legal controversy with Thomas Chandler, to whom his son Hopestill Tyler was apprenticed as a blacksmith at Andover in 1658, that is detailed in the History of Andover. He died in 1699. There is a memorial stone erected beside that of his son Moses as the first settler of Andover. A story. 

Their children were:

1.  Hannah Tyler
   +James Lovett

2.   Moses Tyler Abt 1641 - 1727
   +Sarah Hasey - 1718
   *2nd Wife of Moses Tyler:
   +Widow Martha Fisk Abt 1649 - 1734/35
   *3rd Wife of Moses Tyler:
   +Prudence Blake 1647 - 1688/89

3.   Mary Tyler Abt 1644 - 1706/07 (tried for witchcraft at Salem, sentenced, then reprieved)
   +Richard Post Abt 1627 - 1675
   *2nd Husband of Mary Tyler:
   +John Bridges Abt 1647 -

4.  Hopestill Tyler Abt 1646 - 1733/34
   +Mary Lovett 1652/53 -

5.   John Tyler 1650 - 1742
   +Hannah Parker

6.   John Tyler 1653 -

7.   Samuel Tyler 1655 - 1695
   +Hannah ?

main page      table  

JOB AND MARY TYLER

Somewhere in England about 1619 a baby boy was born and given the name of Job Tyler. Nothing is known of his youth, but some authorities claim he was a native of Shropshire, England and emigrated about 1635 or shortly thereafter and is said to be living at Newport, Rhode Island in 1638. He later removed to Portsmouth and thence to Mendon, Roxbury, Rowley, and finally to Andover, Massachusetts.
 

Job’s wife’s name was Mary but there are no dates of her birth or death. There is proof that she lived for she was the mother of Job’s eight children:
Moses, Mary, Hopestill, Child, Hannah, John, John, and Samuel.

They lived in the time of witchcraft and superstition. Job had much legal trouble in Andover and Roxbury. On one occasion in 1658 the charge of witchcraft was brought against one John Godfrey, of whom they, Job and Family were very bitter saying they saw a thing like a bird to come in at the door of their house with John Godfrey in the night, about the bigness of a blackbird or as big as a pigeon and did fly about, John Godfrey laboring to catch it and the bird vanished as they conceived through the chink of a jointed board.

They were cited into court for this.
Another legal trouble arose in connection with Thomas Chandler of Andover, to whom Job had apprenticed his son Hopestill and which bargain for some reason, Job desired to dissolve. He went to the house of Nathan Parker, where the signing instrument was kept and took it from the house in the absence of Mr. Parker, thus giving rise to much hard criticism. The matter was a cause of long controversy for over ten years and was carried from court to court. Finally Job lost the suit and the decision or award was that as Job was poor he should not be fined above six pounds but the following penalty was imposed:
 

We do order that Job Tyler shall nail up or fasten upon the posts of Andover and Roxbury meeting houses in a plain legible hand the acknowledgement to remain so fastened for the space of fourteen days. This confession and acknowledgement was as follows: whereas it doth appear by sufficient testimony that I, Job Tiler, have shamefully reproached Thomas Chandler of Andover by saying he is a base, lying, cozening, cheating knave’, that he hath got his estate by cozening in a base reviling manner and that he was recorded for a liar and that he was a cheating, lying, whoreing knave fit for all manner of bawdery, wishing that the Devil had him.

Therefore I, Job Tiler, do acknowledge that I have in these expressions most wickedly slandered the said Thomas Chandler and that without any just ground, being no way able to make good these or any of these my slanderous accusations of him and therefore can do no less but express myself to be sorry for them and for my cursing of him, desiring God and the said Thomas to forgive me and that no person would think the worse of this said Thomas Chandler for any of these my sinful expressions, end engaging myself for the future to be more careful of my expressions both concerning him and otherwise and desiring the Lord to help me to do as.

In these old records we thus have a word-picture of this ancestor of a long line of Tyler, such as hardly has been found of any other American Immigrant. Professor Henry M. Tyler has said of him: He was a rude, self- asserting striking personality. Not to be left out on account in the forces which were to possess the land. He did not learn prudence very fast, but he was himse1f.... had a good deal of individuality and he gave utterance to it at times with more vigor than grace. He did not shape his words to suit sensitive ears. He resented dictation and found it hard to restrain himself from what he wanted to do through any prudential policy.

Yet, when you shall read hereafter what manner of men his sons and grandsons were and what they stood for in all the places where they lived; as you come down through the years, generation by generation and see what thousands of his descendants have stood for in their homes and before the public, in peace and in war, as pioneers and as dwellers in the cities, you will realize that they must have been good stock in the ole man; and he trained a family to be useful and honored in the communities where they dwelt. Superstitious, willful, hot-tempered, independent and self-reliant, Job Tyler lives and breathes in this record nearly three centuries after his time.

It has been suggested that the first progenitor to settle upon Andover soil should be honored by some fitting monument. The memorial was dedicated the 4th of September, 1901 at the sixth Tyler Reunion. The address was given by Professor Henry M. Tyler of Smith College. The spot selected was beside the grave of the immigrant’s oldest son, Moses, whose ancient slate slab, with its legend of 1727 has survived with wonderful completeness.

Here, under a giant evergreen, upon a cubic yard of cement and cobble stones which were brought just to the surface of the ground, was placed a large, hard-grained boulder, brought from the old Tyler home, four miles distant in West Boxford; a homestead which has known Tyler blood and heir-ship uninterrupted from the first generation, when it was acquired from the Indians, to the present day (1912).
Upon the boulder was securely riveted a bronze tablet cast in Boston, which bears the following legend:

IN Memoriam
JOB TYLER
Immigrant First Settler
Andover about MDCCXXXIX
Born MDCXIX Died MDCC
The town of Andover having been burned and the records destroyed, only tradition, which is rather vague, is known of the early history. Enough is known to show that several eminent lawyers, ministers, officers and soldiers of the war of the Revolution were among them.

Home page of Professor Phil Tyler with interesting articles:

http://www.emich.edu/public/geo/gen/genealogy.articles.html

To see photos of Job Tyler's home please follow the links provided:

http://www.tylersterritory.com/travel/atlantic-canada/massachusetts/boxford/boxford-01.html

http://www.tylersterritory.com/travel/atlantic-canada/massachusetts/boxford/boxford-03.html

And to see an article about the Ghost of Mary Tyler and the Job Tyler homestead follow the next link:

http://www.neghostproject.nstemp.com/whats_new.html