Descendants of Thomas & Mary Treadwell of Ipswich, Massachusetts

The early settlers of Ipswich, MA, Thomas Treadwell, and Edward Treadwell, are believed to have been brothers, the sons of Thomas Tredwell of Oxfordshire, England. 

Edward Treadwell

Edward Treadwell’s name appears on the Ipswich records in 1637, just 3 years after the town of Ipswich was founded. Several records state that he was granted a planting lot in 1637 and a house lot on the lower side of High St in 1637-38, south of the “Reedy Marsh”. The marsh was a wetland between Washington St. /Linebrook Rd. and High Street. A section of the marsh still exists behind the Shaw’s store on High Street. Edward Treadwell’s lot was probably near the present Ipswich Middle/High School. John Hanchet’s deed mentions Edward Treadwell and the Reedy Marsh: “John Hanchet had granted to him six acres of planting ground, 1638, Nov. 19, towards the reedy marsh, having a planting lot of Mark Symons southeast, a planting lot of Edward Treadwell northwest.” (The Hammatt Papers).

No record exists of a house being constructed by Edward Treadwell, who moved on to Connecticut and Long Island after a short time in Ipswich. The Pequot War (1636-1638) opened more territory to settlement, and Ipswich residents were among those who moved to towns like Saybrook, New Haven, and Fairfield. The English began to establish settlements on the eastern end of Long Island, such as Southold, in 1640. Edward Tredwell was living in New Haven, CT, by 1646, along with his wife, Sarah (nee Howes, 1609-1684). They then moved to Southold, on the North Fork of Long Island, and in the year 1660, when he died, he was living in Huntington, Long Island, as a successful farmer, with real estate valued at 285 pounds sterling. All of their children were born in Connecticut or Long Island.

Thomas & Mary Treadwell, Ancestors of the Ipswich Family

The extensive Treadwell family in Ipswich almost certainly descends from Thomas Treadwell, who was thirty years old when he arrived on the ship Hopewell with his wife, Mary Wilson, along with their one-year-old son Thomas. He first settled at Dorchester but moved to Ipswich in 1638. He was assigned a lot on High St., but built a home at his planting lot on today’s Island Park Road, on the road to Jeffreys Road, where he owned two farms. Goodman Treadwell received a license to open a tavern in 1639, but there is no documentation that he did so.

Wikitree: “The Parish Records of Epwell, Oxfordshire, England contain baptism records for both this Thomas and Edward and name their father Thomas Tredwell^[1]. Thomas’s wife Mary was the sister of Theophilus Wilson and Martha (Wilson) Bachelor, the wife of Henry Bachelor.”

Thomas Treadwell died in Ipswich on June 8, 1671. His wife Mary died on December 1, 1685.

The Will of Thomas Treadwell

The will of Thomas Treadwell Sr., which he signed with his mark on June 1, 1671, is preserved in the files of the Registry of Probate, proved in Ipswich Court, on September 26, 1671. (Docket 28, 115). The inventory appraised the home farm with 30 acres of upland and meadow at £210, and the Island farm with 40 acres of upland and meadow at £160. It apportioned:

• To Thomas Jr., “the Land where he now dwells in with the meadows and appurtenances belonging thereto, and half the commonage belonging to my house.” He bequeathed to the junior Thomas his property on Treadwell’s Island between Labor in Vain Creek and Fox Creek.
• To Nathaniel, his homestead with house, barn, upland, and meadow.
• The use of the house was provided for his wife for the rest of her life, and remembrance was made of the three daughters. He also gave his wife “the benefit of the keeping of four Cows and six sheep upon the pasture, also the Wintering five head of Cattle and six sheep, “plus the firewood from the pasture, “Also, I give to my wife all my household goods to be at her own disposing…..And if Nathaniel fails of anything he is to do for my Wife, my will is that he shall forfeit ten pounds every year he fails.”

The Island Farm

The Island Farm continued in the Treadwell line for nearly two hundred years. The road divided the farm into two parts: The east side, including 29 acres, and the west side, having 37 acres. Generation after generation had dwelt in the old farmhouse and worked its fields. On Feb. 26, 1824, the seven heirs of Lieut. Moses Treadwell sold the farm to Nathaniel Scott. (236:11).

Nathaniel Treadwell

Nathaniel Treadwell, the second owner of the Island Farm, was born February 13, 1638-9. He married Abigail Wells on June 19, 1661, who died June 10, 1677. He married, second, Rebe Titcomb on March 25, 1678. His children were:

• Abigail, was born on Feb. 2, 1602.
• Mary, born Oct. 22, 1665; married Stone.
• Nathaniel, born Jan. 15, 1667; died June 3, 1672.
• Hannah, born Feb. 7, 1669; married Jo. Adams, Jr., May 22, 1690.
• Thomas, born May 25, 1672; died July 11, 1672.
• Sarah, born Aug. 15, 1674; married Brown.
• Nathaniel, born June 13, 1677; died Aug. 17, 1723.

Three days after Nathaniel Jr.’s birth the mother died. Nathaniel Treadwell’s second wife, Rebecca Titcomb faced the heroic task of the mother’s place before a year had passed, and the family grew again. The children of Nathaniel Sr. and Rebecca were Charles, Samuel, Ann, and Martha, whose birth dates are not recorded, but who were all living when the father divided his estate.

Nathaniel Treadwell acquired land on the opposite side of the way. He conveyed land from his farm to his son, Nathaniel, and sold a field to his nephew, Thomas. The homestead was bounded south by Capt. Matthew Perkins’s land on the east, and north by his son, Nathaniel’s. The Island Farm continued in the Treadwell line for nearly two hundred years.

Jacob and Perkins and Sarah Treadwell

The Jacob Perkins House still stands at the intersection of Jeffreys Neck Rd. and East Street. After his first wife Elizabeth, died, he married on April 10, 1692, his neighbor, Sarah Treadwell, daughter of Thomas Treadwell of the Island Farm. Perkins’ lot abutted the land of Nathaniel Treadwell, which included the land of today’s Sisters of Notre Dame. Jacob Perkins died Nov. 12, 1705, in his 44th year. In Perkins’ will, which he signed Nov. 10, 1705, he bequeathed to his children by the earlier marriage, John, Jacob, and Elizabeth, his new house with an acre of land adjoining, his new barn at the upper end of his pasture.

Treadwell’s Island

William White received from the Town a 20-acre grant, and on April 27, 1638, he exchanged this grant with Thomas Treadwell, receiving land and money. Surrounded by marsh on every side, at high tide it becomes an island, and came to be known as Treadwell’s Island. He bequeathed to his son, Thomas, “the Island he now dwells in with the meadows and appurtenances belonging thereto.” It included 40 acres of upland and meadow, double the size of the original grant. Unfortunately for the owners of this Island farm, access to it could be had only by boat or over the land of others during low tide.

Thomas Treadwell, the second owner, married Sarah Titcomb in 1664, and the children, born on the Island, were: Thomas, born March 3, 1665, John, born Nov. 28, 1670, Sarah, born Jan. 10, 1672; married Jacob Perkins, Mary, born Aug. 9, l675 who died May, 1682, and Anna who died the same year. Thomas² had a son named Nathaniel. The rear wing of the Treadwell-Wainwright House on East St. may have been built by Nathaniel. 

The Seafaring Treadwell Family

The Treadwell family became famous for sea-faring and ship ownership. The sloop, “Endeavorer,” under Capt. Thomas Treadwell was listed in the fleet in 1716. His home is still standing at 7 Summer Street. The 1748 home of Captain Jabez Treadwell, the son of innkeepers Nathaniel and Hannah Treadwell, is on Old England Road.

Capt Moses Treadwell, Jr. was commander of the brigantine “Adventure,” 105 tons, in 1807, and was reported at Trinidad and St Lucie in 1808 and 1809. He married Mary, the daughter of Capt. Ephraim Kendall in 1805, and formed a partnership with her brother Jonathan, together owning the “Adventure” and the schooner “Hannah,” 74 tons, of which Aaron Sweet was master. Capt. Treadwell was the sole owner of the “pinky” schooners, “Alert,” 25 tons, “Fame,” 24 tons, and the larger 90 ton schooner, “Richmond”. He was master of the “Richmond” on a trip to Martinique in 1818, returning with a load of molasses. Yet another Captain Treadwell, probably Daniel or Nathaniel, captained that ship on West India voyages in 1820 and 1822.

The ships “Friendship”, “Adventure”, and “Eliza” were commanded by Capt. Charles Treadwell, son of Jacob Treadwell and Elizabeth White, who reported from Lisbon and London in 1808. When President Jefferson declared an embargo, these vessels were idled in their home ports, raising great consternation in New England.

Nathaniel Treadwell was master of the sloop “Packet” in 1805. Two sailors with the Treadwell name were lost at sea in 1821 and 1825. Nineteen-year-old Jabez Treadwell, son of Capt. Jabez died at Havana, in 1806, and Joseph Grafton Treadwell died at sea on board the ship “Mary Ellen,” bound for Canton in July 1844 in his twenty-first year.

Captain Charles Treadwell’s brother, Captain John White Treadwell moved to Salem early in life and began a career in merchant shipping. A part-owner of several large merchant ships, he was a privateer during the War of 1812. Giving up that profession, he worked his way up from being a cashier at the Merchants’ Bank of Salem, where he eventually became the president of the bank. He was a co-founder of the Eastern Female School in Salem and the Recording Secretary for the Essex Historical Society. He married first, Susanna Kendall Farley (1787-1818), and second, Harriet Kendall Farley (1791-1852), both being daughters of Major Robert Farley. He had six children by each sister.

Treadwell’s Inn

Nathaniel² had a son named Nathaniel³. When the 1774 Essex County Convention was held in Ipswich, delegates from all the towns, 67 in number, arrived at Treadwell’s Inn on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 1774, and the Ipswich Convention began two days of deliberations. Resolutions were unanimously adopted, binding themselves to stand together in opposition to the Crown, demanding the resignation of officials holding office by Royal appointment, and declaring the Provincial Congress, soon to assemble, absolutely necessary for the common safety.

Daniel Treadwell

Daniel Treadwell was born on October 10, 1791, in Ipswich, MA. In 1820, he invented the first powered printing press in America. In 1822, he co-founded the Boston Journal of Philosophy and the Arts and was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1823. In 1826, he devised a system of turnouts for railway transportation on a single track. He invented a machine for spinning hemp for cordage in 1829 that was capable of spinning 1,000 tons a year, which he furnished in 1836 to the Charlestown Navy Yard for making cordage. From 1834 to 1845, he occupied the chair of Rumford Professor at Harvard University. The Ipswich Public Library received a large endowment from Professor Daniel Treadwell, whose family homestead sat at that location on North Main St.

The estate of Daniel Treadwell at his death was valued at $55,764. In his will, dated November 7, 1863, he bequeathed “to my native Town of Ipswich,… all my real estate situated in the said town, to have and to hold the same forever, the income whereof, together with the sum of four thousand dollars, which I hereby give and bequeath to the said town for the same purpose, shall be appropriated by the said town to found a Library, to contain a collection of the standard works of the best authors, ancient and modern, but to the exclusion of the cheap literature and party newspapers of the day, for the use of the inhabitants of Ipswich and the neighboring towns; and it is my wish that the building for the said library shall be erected upon the land purchased by me near the Stone Bridge which I purchased a few years since.” He further bequeathed paintings and all his papers and documents to be deposited in the library. Read: The Memoir of Daniel Treadwell.

Early Gravestones of the Treadwell Family at the Old North Burying Ground

C-143 Hear lies the body of Mr. Elisha Treadwell, son of Mr. John Tredwell, how died September the 24th, 1732, in the 22 year of his age. Findagrave: Elisha Treadwell 24 Mar 1710 – 24 Sep 1732

C-149 Here lies the body of Mr. John Tredwell who died December 16, 1727, in the 58th year of his age. (Findagrave: John Treadwell 28 Nov 1670 – 16 Dec 1727

C-148 “Here lies the body of Mrs. Martha Tredwell, the daughter of Mr. John Tredwell, who died October 27, 1727, in the 22nd year of her age. Findagrave: Martha Treadwell 1705 – 27 Oct 1727

C-207 Here lies the body of Mr. Nathaniel Treadwell who died August 17th, 1723, in the 47th year of his age

D-3 Erected in memory of Capt. Nathaniel Treadwell who was born Sept.10th, 1700, and having acquir’d and supported the Character, of a prudent upright and serious Christian, died Feb. the 1st, 1777, aged 77 years. Nor wealth, nor Friends, nor Piety can save, One mortal from the all-devouring Grave. Yet Faith and hope in Christ who rose, may sing, Grave! where’s thy conquest! where O death they sting. (F.S.) Capt. Nathaniel Treadwell. Capt Nathaniel Treadwell 10 Sep 1700 – 1 Feb 1777

View all Treadwell gravestones at the Old North Burying Ground

Download a PDF copy of “Descendants of Thomas and Mary Treadwell of Ipswich, Massachusetts”

Sources and further reading:

• Jeffreys Neck and the Way Unto by Thomas Franklin Waters
• Thomas Treadwell of Ipswich, Mass., and Some of His Descendants, By William A. Bobbins
• Descendants of Edward Tre(a)dwell Through His Son John
• Descendants of William Titcomb of Newbury, Massachusetts, 1635 by Titcomb, Gilbert Merrill
• The Family of John Perkins of Ipswich
• Treadwell-Wainwright House
• 1740 Thomas Treadwell House
• 1852 Treadwell House
• Agawam House (2nd Treadwell’s Inn)
• Treadwell History
• Wikitree page for Thomas Treadwell
• Hammatt Papers: Early inhabitants of Ipswich, Mass. 1633-1700 by Abraham Hammatt
• Nutfield Genealogy: Treadwell of Ipswich, Massachusetts
• Nutfield Genealogy: Treadwell
• Memoir of Daniel Treadwell
• Ipswich In the Massachusetts Bay Colony Vol. II by Thomas Franklin Waters