Capt. William Marston

Biography

William Marston was already the father of several children when he came from England to New England. Hampton, on the coast of present-day New Hampshire, granted him land by June 1640, and he became one of the town's early householders. Later in life he married Sabina, with whom he had a daughter, Tryphena, born in December 1663.

William encountered the colony's restrictions on religious literature. The county court fined him fifteen pounds for possessing two Quaker books and a paper. He petitioned the General Court for relief, acknowledged that he had transgressed the law, and obtained remission of five pounds on condition that he pay the remaining ten immediately.

His will, made on June 25, 1672, reveals a sharp distinction between the provisions for his older children and his young daughter. Thomas, William, John, and Prudence were each left five shillings. The rest of the estate was assigned to Tryphena, while Sabina was appointed sole executrix.

William died five days later, on June 30. His final arrangements placed responsibility for the estate in Sabina's hands and made their eight-year-old daughter its principal beneficiary.