Henry's Daughters: The Bodwell Women and the Families They Joined

When Henry Bodwell made his will in January 1744, he left the farm, the cattle and "all my upland & meadow" to his son Henry. His other sons got five shillings each. But most of the will is about women: his daughters Bethiah Barker, Judith Harris, Ruth Huse and Abigail Ladd, and the children of four more daughters who had already died. Those eight daughters, more than his sons, are the reason so many Americans today have a Bodwell somewhere in their family tree, often without knowing it.

Pen-and-ink drawing of a great spreading tree, its single trunk dividing into many branches that reach out in every direction. — One trunk, many branches. The Bodwell name has come down through Henry's sons, like the trunk of a tree. But most of his family spread outwards through his daughters, into branches with other names, reaching further than any one family history can follow. Pen-and-ink tree drawing; image supplied for this site

Why this site follows one line

This website has mostly followed the Bodwell name: father to son, from Henry down through the generations in Methuen, Lawrence and beyond. That is a choice made out of necessity, not because the other lines matter less.

Every person has two parents, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents, and so on, doubling with each generation. Count back roughly twelve generations from a Bodwell alive today to Henry's time, and the numbers become enormous.

12generations, roughly, from Henry's arrival to today

4,096direct ancestors in the twelfth generation alone

8,190direct ancestors in all twelve generations combined

And that is only direct descent: parents, grandparents and great-grandparents. It doesn't count a single uncle, aunt, cousin or in-law. (In practice the number is somewhat smaller, because in small New England towns cousins often married cousins, and the same ancestors turn up in a family tree more than once. Genealogists call this "pedigree collapse.") No family website could trace them all.

So this page takes a narrower path. It follows just one generation sideways: Henry's daughters, and the families they married into. Those few marriages are enough to show how the Bodwells are woven into the fabric of early New England, and through it, into families now spread across America.

A family of daughters 1682–1701

Henry and Bethia (Emery) Bodwell had at least thirteen children between 1682 and 1701, first at Newbury and then at Andover. Twin boys born in January 1686 lived only a few days. Three sons, Henry, James and Daniel, grew up to carry on the Bodwell name. And eight daughters married into the families around them.

Daughters in colonial New England did not usually inherit land, but they were given their "portion" when they married, often household goods, cattle or money. Henry's will makes this clear: each daughter's small legacy was "in full, with what she hath had of me before." Their real inheritance had already gone with them into their new families.

About the dates

Birth dates come from the Newbury and Andover vital records. Marriage details come from Henry's will and from published compilations of New England families, and a few still need checking against the original town records. Where a husband's first name is not known, the page says so.

The eight daughters

Bethia Bodwell

born 2 June 1682, Newbury · died 24 April 1760, Andover married Nathan Barker, 28 May 1711, Andover

The eldest, named for her mother. She married into the Barkers, one of the founding families of Andover: Richard Barker was among the town's first settlers in the 1640s. The Barkers had suffered in 1692, when Abigail Barker was accused at the Andover touch test. Bethia outlived her father by fifteen years and is named in his will as "Bethiah Barker."

Mary Bodwell

born 1 April 1684, Andover · died before 1744 married Nathan Simons, about 1706, Haverhill

Named, perhaps, for Henry's own mother, Mary Tiffin. She had died before her father, and her share of his estate went to her daughter, Mary Hazzeltine, who received twenty-five shillings, the largest legacy to any grandchild. Through her, Henry's line ran into the Haseltines (spelled many ways), whose founders, the brothers Robert and John Haseltine, came from England in the 1630s and helped settle Rowley and Bradford.

Sarah Bodwell

born 1 December 1694, Andover · died 4 February 1737, Methuen married Abiel Merrill, 15 November 1714, Haverhill

Sarah married into the Merrills, one of the largest of all New England families. The brothers John and Nathaniel Merrill were among the first settlers of Newbury in the 1630s, and their descendants spread through every New England state and far beyond. Sarah died at about forty-two; her daughter Sarah Merrill received her share of Henry's estate.

Hannah Bodwell

born 1 September 1696, Andover · died before 1744 married Henry Hills, 3 September 1715, Haverhill

Hannah married into the Hills family of Haverhill. She too died before her father, and her son Ezekiel Hill inherited her share. The Hills family of the Merrimack valley is thought to descend from Joseph Hills of Malden and Newbury, who served as Speaker of the Massachusetts House and helped compile the colony's first printed code of laws in 1648, though that connection needs confirming.

Judith Bodwell

born 4 April 1698, Andover · died 5 October 1777, Methuen, aged 79 married John Harris, 28 September 1721, Haverhill

Judith outlived all her brothers and sisters as far as we know, and lived long enough to see the start of the American Revolution. Her husband John Harris, born in Rowley in 1695, was the son of Timothy Harris and Phebe Pearson, of old Rowley families. They had at least six children, Judith, John, Hannah, Samuel, Phebe and Peter, and lived out their lives in Methuen, close to the Bodwell homestead.

Ruth Bodwell

born 2 December 1699, Andover married Israel Huse, 1716, Newbury

Ruth married back into Newbury, her parents' first home, and the Huse family, descended from Abel Huse, an early settler there. Their son Israel Huse Jr. was born in 1719. Later the family seems to have moved north into New Hampshire. Her father's original will names her as "Ruth Huse." (A clerk's copy misread it as "Ruth Stone," a reminder of why original records matter.)

Phebe Bodwell

born 10 July 1701, Andover · died before 1744 married Samuel Stevens, about 1730

The youngest daughter. She married into the Stevens family, which, like the Barkers, goes back to the founding of Andover, where John Stevens was one of the first settlers. Phebe died young, before her father, and her son Samuel Stevens received her share.

Abigail Bodwell

birth not yet found married ___ Ladd

Named in her father's will as "my dear and well beloved daughter Abigail Ladd." Her birth and her husband's first name are still to be found. The Ladds were one of the original families of Haverhill: Daniel Ladd was among the first settlers there in the 1640s, and his descendants later moved up the Merrimack into New Hampshire and beyond.

A web of founding families

Look at those names together and a pattern appears. Henry Bodwell arrived in New England as a young man with no family at all. Within one generation, through Bethia and their daughters, the Bodwells were bound by marriage to many of the oldest families in the Merrimack valley.

Family	Bodwell daughter	Roots in New England
Emery	(Henry's wife, Bethia)	Newbury, from the 1630s
Barker	Bethia	Founders of Andover, 1640s
Simons, then Haseltine	Mary	Rowley and Bradford, 1630s
Merrill	Sarah	Founders of Newbury, 1630s
Hills	Hannah	Malden and Newbury, 1630s–40s
Harris	Judith	Rowley
Huse	Ruth	Newbury, 1630s–40s
Stevens	Phebe	Founders of Andover, 1640s
Ladd	Abigail	Founders of Haverhill, 1640s

These were not famous families in the way of the Winthrops or the Adamses. They were the backbone families of Essex County: farmers, millers, soldiers, selectmen and deacons, who cleared the land and built the towns. And because they were large families who moved often, their descendants are now everywhere.

From the Merrimack to the Pacific

In the century after Henry's death, the children and grandchildren of these marriages followed the great migrations of New England. Many went north first, up the Merrimack into New Hampshire and Maine, where land was cheaper. After the Revolution, others went west into Vermont and New York. In the 1800s their descendants joined the flood of New Englanders into Ohio, Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin, and later to the Plains and the Pacific coast.

So a Merrill in Oregon, a Ladd in Illinois, a Haseltine in California or a Barker in Texas may well share Henry Bodwell's blood without ever having heard his name. Every one of Henry's daughters started a branch of the family that this website, following the Bodwell name, has never been able to trace.

From Henry Bodwell's will, 5 January 1743/4

I give and bequeath unto my Daughters viz. Bethiah Barker, Judith Harris & Ruth Huse my three feather beds & furniture belonging to them, which together with what they have before Received of me is their full Share & portion in my Estate.

Are you one of Henry's daughters' descendants?

Do you have Barker, Merrill, Haseltine, Hills, Harris, Huse, Stevens or Ladd ancestors from Essex County?
If any of your family lines run back to Andover, Haverhill, Methuen, Newbury or Rowley in the 1700s, you may descend from Henry Bodwell through one of his daughters.
Can you help fill the gaps?
We're still looking for Abigail Bodwell's birth date and her husband's first name; for the dates of death of Mary, Hannah and Phebe; and for the later lives of Ruth and Israel Huse.
Family stories travel down the female line too
The tales of Henry's London boyhood, the wicked stepfather and the lost Welsh estate may have survived in a daughter's family as well as a son's. If your family has a Bible, letters or an old account mentioning Henry Bodwell, and especially his birthday, we'd love to hear from you.

Henry Bodwell crossed the Atlantic alone. He had no father to help him, no brothers, no cousins in the colony. Within seventy years, through one marriage and eight daughters, he had become kin to half the families of the Merrimack valley. The Bodwell name came down through his sons. But much of his legacy went out through his daughters, in names like Barker, Merrill, Harris and Ladd, to places Henry never imagined.