The Ancestors of My GrandchildrenPetitions against Impost
Source: NEHGR 1855 (vol 9), pg 81-91.
The General Court ordered in the session of October 1668 that there should be an custom imposed on all imports into the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and exports of same, namely 2% on all goods, provisions and merchandise (money, plate, bullion, gunpowder and salt excepted). For imported cattle and corn the rates are 5 shilling a piece for horses, mares and meat cattle, and three pence a bushel for wheat and other grains. The petitions resulted in a slight decrease of the rate set in the May session.
There are lists of people who signed the petition for the towns of Marblehead, Salem, Springfield, Northampton, and Hadley. Only Springfield has a sizable number of direct ancestors, but some collaterals are also in Northampton and Hadley (links go to direct ancestors).
| Springfield (pg. 87) | ||
| Elizur Holyoke | Jonathan Taylor | James Cornish |
| Samuel Chapin | Thomas Mirack | Thomas Dewey |
| Benjamin Coley | Joseph Crowfoote | Jonathan Ashley (son of Robert) |
| John Bagg | Richard Exell | Fra: Pepper |
| John Matthewes | Henry Chapin | Tim Cooper |
| William Warriner | John Petty | John Lamb |
| William Branch | Samuell Terrey | Grifith Joanes |
| George Colton | David Ashley (son of Robert) | Jonathan Burt |
| Tho Stebbin sen: | John Clarke | Samuell Ely |
| Miles Morgan | Samuel Ball | John Hitchcock |
| Charles Ferry | Thomas Miller | John Bliss |
| John Dorchester | Laranes Bliss | Simon Lobdell |
| Rowland Thomas | Rice Bedortha | Sam Bliss |
| Edmund Primidayes | Robert Ashley | Beniamin Parsens |
| Thomas Stebbin ju: | Benis: Mun | Richard Sikes |
| Nathaneel Ely | John Harman | John Keepe |
| Obadiah Miller | James Tailer | John Lumbard |
| Thomas Day | Edward Foster | James Wariner (son of William) |
| Anthony Dorchester | William Brooke | Samuel Marshfield |
| Abell Wright | William Hunter | Thomas Noble |
| Nathannell Burt | Jerimiah Hunter | |