The following is quoted from Mansfield Genealogy by Daland and Mansfield:
JOSEPH2 MANSFIELD (Robert1) was born in or before 1628 (de Forest, 1930), died 22 April 1694 at Lynn (Lynn V.R.). He Married before June, 1652, ELIZABETH NEEDHAM, who died 25 Feb. 1662 at Lynn (Lynn V.R.), daughter of Edmund and Jone Needham of Lynn.
Jospeh2 was sworn as a freeman at a court held in Salem, 27: 4: 1649. He was a soldier in the Narragansett War in 1675 (Mass. Colonial Records 5: 70). He was listed as in Capt. Samuel Appleton's company, 10 Dec. 1675 (N.E. Hist. Gen. Reg. 38: 441). In 1685 he was one of 25 Lynn residents who signed a petition to the Massachusetts General Court for remuneration for their service in the 1675 war (Lynn Town Records 27 May 1685). On 8 Jan. 1691 a Lynn Town Meeting voted "yt Matthew ffarington, senr., Henry Silsbee, and Joseph Mansfield, senr., should sit in ye Decons seats." (Records of Town Meetings of Lynn, 1691-1701, published by Lynn Historical Soc., 1949). At a meeting of Lynn selectmen, 29 Feb. 1692, Joseph Mansfield was chosen one of five surveyors of the highways, and at a meeting 7 March 1693/4 he was chosen one of three Tithing Men (pp. 10,22).
The will of Edmund Needham, Joseph's father-in-law, dated 26: 4th mo.: 1677, and proved 29: 4th mo.: 1677 (Quarterly Courts of Essex County, VI: 303) makes bequests to Joseph's four children: "First, (to) his son Joseph Mansfield, one yo (young) sheep, and to his next son, John Mansfield, whom I have brot up ever since his childhood till now he is about 15 years old, to him, the said John Mansfield I give one cow and on you sheep not exceeding 4 years old, and to his daughter, Elizabeth Wheat, on yo sheep, and to Deborah Mansfield on yo sheep."
The will of Joseph2 Mansfield, dated 4 Apr. 1694 and proven 2 July 1694 (Probate Records Essex Co. 3:166) gave to his son Joseph "my now dwelling house and my lot with my housing upon it, and the orchard." These were the premise Joseph had received by gift from his father, Robert1, 16 Jun 1652; also several parcels of salt and fresh marsh. To son John "that piece of land I bought of Mr. Ruck, adjoining to the land that was Andrew Townsend's:" also upland in Ramsdell's Neck, and salt marsh. He mentions that John had been gone to sea about five years, and "I knoe not whether he be dead or alive; if he is dead or never comes home to new England, then son Joseph is to have all (that was) bequeathed to John. If John have occasion to sell, then Joseph is to have refusal, giving as much as another would give. To daughter Elizabeth 20 pounds in corn, cattle or goods; or if she claims land, then to have three acres of fresh meadow in the great meadow in the country, in lieu of the 20."
Elizabeth's husband Joshua Wheat, died in 1692, in his 94th year. Essex Court records give his name as Joshua Witt, and in Lewis and Newhall's History of Lynn it is "J. Wait." Their children were Moses, b. 30 May 1676, d. 15 June 1676, and Mary.
The Children of Joseph2 and Elizabeth (Needham) Mansfield:
i. John3, b. 1662 who probably died at sea, unmarried. Mentioned in his father's will, 1694, as his "oldest child, gone to sea about five years". ii. Deborah, died unmarried, 14 Feb. 1677 (Lynn V.R.). iii. Elizabeth, b. June 1659, m. 10 Jan. 1675, JOSHUA WHEAT (Lynn V.R.). iv. Joseph, b. 20 March 1661: d. 2 June 1739; m. 1 April 1678, ELIZABETH WILLIAMS (Lynn V.R.).
©All information on this page is quoted directly from and remains the property of "Mansfield Genealogy", Complied by Geneva A. Daland, a descendant of Andrew, and James S. Mansfield, M.D., a descendant of Joseph 1980.
Please contact Bob Anderson for additions or corrections.
©Copyright G. Robert. Anderson, 1996 - 2009