John Washer b. circa 1710

[jrcarleton]

I am researching an ancestor, John Washer, who emigrated from England to the US, Boston specifically, around 1720. The story is that his mother was friends or neighbors with a ship’s captain, and signed him up as a cabin boy for a voyage to America. When they landed in Boston, he ran away and started a new life. There were various pockets of Washer families all over England at the time, so it’s hard to say for certain where he came from. My assumption is that it was somewhere coastal, near a shipping port, and in an area without a lot of prospects for a young man. Initial searches in the usual places online turn up a John Washer, son of John, baptized in Brighton in early 1712. Many researchers stop here and assume this is the one they are looking for. The problem is, there was another John Washer, son of John, who was baptized in the same parish in 1716. So maybe the first one died. I decided to comb through the digitized Brighton record books and piece the Washer family together, and I found that the two John Washers were likely born to different families- their fathers, both named John, were cousins. So, still a possibility that 1712 John Washer is the one I’m looking for. His mother had died when he was small, and his father had remarried. Perhaps he didn’t get along well with his stepmother, and was eager to get away. It also seems that Brighton was a fairly destitute place in the early 1700s, and had been ravaged by devastating storms. What I am hoping to determine is, how likely is Brighton (or Newhaven, or someplace nearby) to have been a place where ships might depart, on trade or other business, and travel to Boston, in the early 1720s? From looking at the record books, I know that there were a lot of people listed as mariners, ship carpenters, etc. at this time. Any insight or help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Little Nell]

Welcome to RootsChat.

Brighton has a very stony beach and no harbour.  Very unlikely that transatlantic voyages began there.  It had been a successful fishing town, although I expect that you have found that already.  The boats could easily be beached to land the catch.

Newhaven was far too small in the early 18th century to be considered a port - it only developed with the arrival of the railways in the 1840s.

I don't think any Sussex coastal town was the sort of place where transatlantic voyages began.  The biggest ports on the south coast were Southampton, Portsmouth (very much a naval port), Plymouth, Falmouth (home of the packet service).

John may have come from Sussex, but I don't think that's where his voyage to Boston began.  He may have been employed on a fishing boat, although they were often family businesses.  He might also have signed on a coastal vessel and then joined a bigger vessel to go to America.

Nell

[jrcarleton]

Thank you Nell, this is helpful context. What I was going by in my assumption that perhaps some shipping in and out of Brighton was occurring at the time, other than fishing, was the following excerpts from Elizabeth Grover's chronology of Brighthelmstone:

• My Brother John's new Vessell was Built and went first to sea in the 10th mounth . . 1723
• A french Vessell Ship wrecked at Brighthelmstone the 1st day of 11 th month . . . 1723/24
• Mary Grover went hence for Pensilvania 10 of 1 mo. . 1723/24
• Brother John stopped with his Vessell in Brighthelm Road the first time, being then bound to the Canarys ye 2nd of 6th mo. 1724
• He stopped againe there in his passage from Stockholm to Opporto the 7th of the 6th month . 1725
• Brother John stopped again in this Road in his Passage home from the Canaryes the 17 of 2nd mo. 1726
• Brother John stopped again in this Road being on his passage from Stockholm to Opporto the 26 of 6 mo. 1726
• Brother William went to France in the 5th mo. and came home again in the 6th mo. being gone between 5 and 6 weeks 1726
• A vessell from Portsmouth loaded with salt lost at Brighthelmstone whith several persons all Drowned except one on the 26th of the 7th month . . . 1725
• About the same time the King in his return from Hanover landed at Rye in Sussex.

Also from C.E. Clayton's notes on the same:

• At this time it would seem possible that the old haven marked on very early maps still existed (Andrew Borde speaks of "Bryght-Hempston among the noble ports and havens of the realm")

And this note from J.A. Erredge's History of Brighthelmston:

• The “Magna Britannia,” of 1737, says:—“About 90 years ago, this Town was a very considerable place for Fishing, and in a flourishing Condition, being then one of the principal Towns of the County, containing near five hundred Families; but since the beginning of the Civil Wars it hath decayed much for want of a Free Fishery, and by very great Losses by Sea, their shipping being often taken from them by the Enemy...

And finally from the Ancient and Modern History of Lewes and Brighthelmston:

• 1708. This year the French burnt some shipping at Newhaven.

And also just the fact that the early church records from St. Nicholas around this time list several persons as "Mariners" as opposed to others who were "Fishermen".

I would definitely appreciate any further insight into this though! I could definitely be barking up the wrong tree here. There are not a lot of records from this time period in Brighton, and I know the major storms of the time caused major changes to the coastline, which likely had great impacts on how accessible Brighton and the surroundings were by ship over time.

[jrcarleton]

Also this excerpt was pulled from My Brighton and Hove, where it was cited as coming from an unnamed reference work written in 1990:

“It has been suggested that a small creek once extended northwards from Pool Valley , and even that the area in East Street in front of the Sussex Tavern was the site of a wharf, but there is no direct evidence for either of these suggestions. Nevertheless, Brighton was always considered to be a port, forming part of the Port of Shoreham, and was named in the official lists of English sea-ports as early as 1301 and again in the mid sixteenth century when it was required to send ships and men for war fleets. In 1766 the limits of the Port of Brighton were officially marked for customs purposes by two four-foot-high stones set in the cliff top. The eastern stone, near the bottom of Ship Street , bore this inscription: ‘This and the other pillar at a distance of 600 feet westwards were erected to ascertain the boundaries of the Port of Brighthelmstone, anno 1766 by order of Sir William Musgrave, Bart, Samuel Mead, Edward Hooper and Henry Banks Esquires, Commissioners of the Customs’; it was removed when the sea-wall was constructed, but the western stone near the bottom of West Street remained until the late nineteenth century. As late as 1860 official notices referred to the Port of Brighthelmston.“

[Little Nell]

That's interesting.  Obviously more to Brighton than I thought.

An ancestor of mine from Sussex made the journey to Massachusetts in the early 17th century but he went from London.  Unfortunately he died almost as soon as his ship arrived.

Nell

[jrcarleton]

I just found another piece of information- the will of the other John Washer from Brighton, who was born in 1716 and was the second cousin of the John Washer I believe was my ancestor. His will was made in 1758 while at sea, and proved in 1762. This John Washer was a mariner on the HMS Salisbury, which was in action in the East Indies during the Seven Years’ War. Maybe wanting to go off to sea ran in the family!

[RobertHauteville]

It could also be an assumed name; ships crews often "Ran" from ships when they reached the US rather than face the journey home and they weren't likely to keep their real names.