Capt. Andrew Newcomb (1779-1870)
The following biography is (edited) from Bethuel M. Newcomb’s 1923 Andrew Newcomb and His Descendants.
The name of his first wife and date of his marriage is unknown. He may have married first in England or Virginia. He m. second, 1663, in Boston, Grace Ricks, b. about 1620-1625, the widow of William Ricks who was the son of Robert Ricks of Kenninghall, Co. of Norfolk, Eng. John Davys in 1641 agrees to build a house in Boston, 16 x 14 ft., for this William Ricks, for the sum of £21.
John Bearse Newcomb of Elgin, III., the author and compiler of Genealogical Memoir of the Newcomb Family, 1874 says: “Of the early history of Capt. Andrew Newcomb comparatively little is known; but from the records information has been obtained by which some idea may be formed of the man who appears to have been the progenitor of the largest branch of the Newcomb family in America. That he was born in England is quite certain; that he emigrated from the west of England, perhaps Devonshire or Wales, nearly all traditions declare. Beside tradition, however, there are other reasons that make it probable that such was the case. The date of his arrival in this country is not definitely known, but it is quite probable that he was among the earliest settlers of New England. First mention of him is made in 1663, in Boston, Mass., when and where he married his second wife, Grace; he was at that time a mariner or sea captain, and it is quite probable that this had been his occupation from youth, although there is no record to show it.”
Later research inclines to the opinion that Capt. Newcomb came to America as captain of a sailing vessel, making his first landing perhaps at Barbados and from thence to Virginia. Absence of records in Virginia makes it impossible to verify this opinion.
Records indicate that Capt. Newcomb had not obtained a residence in Boston until after his second marriage, but that soon thereafter he, with his wife, occupied the former residence of William Ricks. The latter had children, born in Boston 1645-1656: Elisha, Mary, John, Thomas and Ezekiel. Suffolk Deeds, Vol. 8, p. 64-5, contain a copy of Agreement, dated Feb. 14, 1672, in which Andrew Newcomb and wife, Grace, are to enjoy during life the old dwelling-house, “now in the tenure and occupation of the said Newcomb,” formerly of William Ricks, deceased; John and Thomas Ricks, sons of William, to have the new dwelling-house adjoining the same, etc., near the water-mill in Boston, half of land to each, they to pay Newcomb £20. July 13, 1672, he employed Samuel Bridge, carpenter, to build him a “Leantow one foote wider than now it is and the length of his house and shingle it and the back side of his house and find shingles and shingle nayles for the work”; consideration £5: 15s: 0d; work to be finished by the last of July, 1672. (From Suffolk Court files No. 1157.)
The old dwelling-house, where Capt. Newcomb lived 1663 to 1681, was built in 1641 and was located upon the lot now numbered 182 Hanover street; the new dwelling-house, where John and Thomas Ricks lived, was upon the lot which is now No. 184; and the new house, built by Capt. Newcomb upon land which he bought 13 April 1681 and where he lived from 1681 till his death, 1686, was located where is now No. 166 Hanover street, Boston. Hanover street in a very early day was known as the “Way to the New Meeting House” 2d Church), afterwards Middle Street.
New York Col. MSS. at Albany, Vol. 29, page 13, date 28 Aug. 1679, show “Andrew Newcombe” to have been “Master of ye Sloope Edmund and Martha,” then in the port of New York and bound for “Boston in New England” — probably from Virginia, a part of his lading being tobacco.
Suffolk Court files at Boston contain depositions of Philip Foxwell in which the statement is made that Andrew Newcomb was with his (Newcomb’s) vessel in Saco River from Boston, Oct. 1684.
The signature of Andrew¹ Newcomb may be found upon several documents on file in Boston, and, while there is considerable difference in penmanship and also in spelling, his signature is readily distinguished from that of Andrew². There is a family resemblance in the forming of letters in the word Andrew but a difference in spelling of Newcomb; Andrew¹ usually spelled the name Newcombe, but at other times he has dropped the final e. In one document where he witnessed a deed, 20 Sept. 1686, Matt Mayhew to John Boult, both of Martha’s Vineyard, the name is written Andrew Nucombe. This signature is evidently that of Andrew¹, as it corresponds closely to his signatures upon other known documents. He was appointed administrator of the estate of his daughter, Susannah Blague, 13 Oct. 1681, and upon this document he wrote his name Andrew Newcombe, while upon a bond with his daughter Susannah, in settling the estate of her first husband, Philip Blague, he wrote Andrew Newcomb. (Both bonds are on file.)
That Capt. Newcomb was a man of education is shown from the specimens of his writing, still extant, that exhibit facility with the pen in times when it was a common occurrence for men of property and respectability to sign their wills and deeds with a cross. And, since it appears that he was a shipmaster for so many years on the Atlantic coast, it is clear he must have been possessed of nautical skill. Nor would he have become a mariner if he had not been a person of courage, for in those days, even more than at present, it was necessary for one to be brave to “go down to the sea in ships.” That he was a man of vigor and enterprise, like all the New England pioneers, needs no proof, and that he was characterized by something of the same uprightness that the author trusts still belongs to those who bear the name of Newcomb seems absolutely certain. Finally, that he was a peaceable citizen, a good husband and father, occupied with the common interests of mankind, as his descendants of to-day, is no mere conjecture, but a reasonable certainty.