Hannah James
Descent: Meghan Jane Leineweber ← Catherine Raye Lobb ← Patricia Jane Loomis ← Edward Byron Loomis ← Isaac Hayes Loomis ← Juliette Cordelia Hayes ← Nelson Hayes ← Rhoda Slaughter ← Lois Carpenter ← Benjamin Carpenter ← Elizabeth Wilson ← Benjamin Wilson ← Hannah James
Family
Children
- b. Abt. 1652 in England · d. February 1, 1734[1735], in Bedford, Massachusettsm. Johanna Carter around 1672 near Woburn, Massachusetts; Rebecca ____, May 25, 1713, in Rehoboth, Massachusetts
- Sarah Wilsonb. Abt. 1653 around Salem, Massachusetts · d. June 15, 1686, in Woburn, Massachusetts one week after childbirthm. Samuel Snow
- ____ Wilsonb. Abt. 1655
- Death: Struck by Lightning
- Dorcas Wilsonb. January 29, 1657, around Salem, Massachusetts · d. November 29, 1714, in Cambridge, Massachusettsm. Aaron Cleveland, September 26, 1675, in Woburn, Massachusetts
- Samuel Wilsonb. December 29, 1658, in Woburn, Massachusetts · d. November 21, 1729, in Woburn, Massachusettsm. Elizabeth Peirce, February 24, 1681[1682] in Woburn, Massachusetts
- Francis Wilsonb. Abt. 1660 around Woburn, Massachusetts · d. August 15, 1724, in Rehoboth, Massachusettsm. Ruth Duntlin, March 6, 1683, in Woburn, Massachusetts
- James Wilsonb. Abt. 1663 around Woburn, Massachusetts · d. Around Killingly, Connecticutm. Deborah Peirce, January 19, 1687, near Woburn, Massachusetts; Margaret Russ, April 17, 1704, in Andover, Massachusetts
- Abigail Wilsonb. August 8, 1666, in Woburn, Massachusetts · d. November 27, 1747, in Chelmsford, Massachusettsm. Joseph Hildreth, February 25, 1683[1684] in Woburn, Massachusetts; Jonathan Barrett around 1708
- b. August 6, 1668, in Woburn, Massachusetts · d. January 4, 1743, in Chelmsford, Massachusettsm. Isaac Hildreth, November 12, 1685, in Chelmsford, Massachusetts
- Hannah Wilsonb. May 31, 1672, in Woburn, Massachusetts · d. February 27, 1726, in Woburn, Massachusettsm. Jonathan Peirce, November 19, 1689, in Woburn, Massachusetts; James Proctor around 1695
In brief
Born Abt in Woburn, Massachusetts. Abt. She married Abt and worked as midwife.
Life story
A Washerwoman's Testimony
Hannah James arrived in Salem, Massachusetts, around 1652 with her husband, John Wilson, and their infant child — family tradition holds that John fled England to avoid a second call-up to fight the Scots, and that Hannah, undeterred by the danger, insisted on following him even after their ship struck a rock in Boston Harbor and sank, the women and children reaching shore by lifeboat. Hannah took up work as a washerwoman despite never having done domestic labor before, and later served as a midwife, giving testimony in several Massachusetts court cases through the 1660s involving disputed paternity, property damage, and gossip about a neighbor's pregnancy. As Baptists, she and John were repeatedly fined for failing to attend the town's Puritan services. In 1697, fearing she might be swept up in the Salem witch trials for lacking strong local ties, Hannah left her husband and moved in with her daughter in Woburn without the town's permission; her sons and sons-in-law posted an eighty-pound bond guaranteeing the town against any costs of harboring her.
At a glance
Sources (2)
- Ken Stevens, Wilsons from New England: Volume J, Descendants of John Wilson of Woburn, Massachusetts (Walpole, New Hampshire: Ken Stevens, 1991); digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/descendantsofjoh00stev : accessed 10 August 2026).
- William Utermohlen, “Elizabeth Fuller of Salem and Woburn, Massachusetts; Rehoboth, Rhode Island; and Ashford, Connecticut – Probable Wife of Benjamin Wilson,” New England Historical and Genealogical Register 178 (Spring 2024): 169-188; image copy, American Ancestors, (https://www.americanancestors.org/DB202/i/82242/169/97028178 : accessed 10 August 2026).