SIMON WILLARD CHRONOLOGY

1605 --Simon Willard was born in 1605 Baptised April 7, 1605 in Hormsmond in the county of Kent, England. He was the son of Richard (18 Mar 1569 - 20 Feb. 1616) and his second wife Margery (25 May, 1572 - Dec. 1608). He had a sister Margery Davis, two half brother, Richard and Thomas and a half sister Mary Elizabeth Tyboul by Richards first wife Catherine. His will shows that Richard was a man of very good landed estate. He gave all the real estate to his three children by his second marriage - Margery, Simon and Catherine: to Margery and Catherine the messauge (a dwelling house with outbuildings and land assigned to its use), barn, two gardens and orchards. It was the clear intention to preserve the estate at Horsemondon to Simon and his heirs. This was broken when Simon came to the New World.

Simon married in England Mary Sharpe, of Horsmonden, who bore him before leaving England (probably) three children, and six in New England

1634 -- Simon came to New England on the ship with Dolor Davis, his brother-in-law who married Margery Willard. He settled first at Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he lived for one year, receiving a grant of land on August 4, 1634, a thousand acres of land along the Charles river and Boston town line, adjoining the farm of Dolor Davis. He had many grants of land from time to time.

1635 -- He was one of the founders and first settlers of Concord. The area which became the town of Concord was originally known as "Musketaquid", situated at the confluence of the Sudbury and Assabet rivers. The name was an Algonquian word for "grassy plain", fitting the area's low-lying marshes and kettle holes. Native Americans had cultivated corn crops there; the rivers were rich with fish and the land was lush and arable. The area was largely depopulated by the smallpox plague that swept across the Americas after Europeans arrived. A group of settlers from Britain led by Rev. Peter Bulkeley and Major Simon Willard received a land grant from the General Court and negotiated a land purchase with the remnants of the local tribe. Bulkeley was an influential religious leader who "carried a good number of planters with him into the woods"; Willard was a canny trader who spoke the Algonquian language and had gained the trust of Native Americans. They exchanged wampum, hatchets, knives, cloth, and other useful items for the six-square-mile purchase from Squaw Sachem of Mistick, which formed the basis of the new town, called "Concord" in appreciation of the peaceful acquisition.

1636 -- He was the first deputy to the Plymouth General Court, elected in December, 1636, serving every year thereafter until 1654 with the exception of 1643-47 and 1648. He was elected in 1654 but declined to serve. He was a member of the council fifteen years, and for twenty-two years an assistant.

1637 -- He was commissioned as the Lieutenant-Commandant of the first military company in Concord.

1641 -- He was given a patent by the General court in 1641 for trading with the Indians and collecting tribute from them.

1654 -- He was appointed magistrate, and during his life attended between seventy and eighty terms of the County court, his first term beginning November 28, 1654, his last April 4, 1678.

1646 -- He was chosen Captain of the military company which, as Sergeant and Lieutenant, he had commanded from its organization.

1652 -- For many years he was a celebrated surveyor, and was appointed on the commission sent to establish the northern bound of Massachusetts, at the head of Merrimac River, and the letters S W upon the famous Bound-Rock (discovered many years ago near Lake Winnepesaukee) were doubtless his initials, cut at that time.

1653 -- He was chosen Serjeant-Major, the highest military officer of Middlesex County.

1654, He was appointed commander-in-chief of the military expedition against Ninigret, Sachem of the Nyanticks.For forty years be was active in military life, and rose to the rank of major, commanding the provincial troops against the Indians. In both military and civil life he became one of the most famous men of the province.

1655 -- It was he that led the expedition against the Narragansetts in 1655. He was also at Brookfield and Hadley in King Philip's war, leading the Middlesex regiment.

1658 -- The town of Lancaster invited him by a personal letter, dated February 7, 1658-9, to make his home in that town, promising land and privileges. He decided to locate in Lancaster and sold his Concord estates to Capt. Thomas Marshall of Lynn in 1659. His first home in Lancaster was bounded on two sides by the Nashua River, and commanded a superb view of the valley and surrounding country. He lived there twelve years, and in

1670-71 -- He removed to the large farm in the south part of Groton, where in 1671-2 he served as chairman of the committee to seat the meeting-house.

1673 -- He was chairman of the Groton selectmen. He had asplendid farm at Still River (now Harvard), and doubtless moved to Groton to be nearer his property. He left Lancaster enjoying peace and good order, but King Philip's war was soon to devastate the country. He was one of the most conspicuous and honored men of his day.

1676 -- died April 24, 1676

At the close of King Philip's war, after having reaped his greatest triumphs. He was a stalwart Puritan, conscientious and of sound understanding, of brave and enduring spirit. He had wealth as well as honor, bringing to this country an ample patrimony, giving large amounts of land to his children and leaving 1300 acres, besides other property, at his death. He was buried April 27, 1676, and the inventory of his estate was filed later by his widow.

He married (first) Mary Sharpe, born 1614 at Horsemonden in England, daughter of Henry and Jane (Field) Sharpe, died before 1651

Major Willard married (second) Elizabeth Dunster, baptized April 26, 1619, at Baleholt in the Parish of Bury, County Lancaster, England, daughter of Henry Dunster of that parish and sister of Henry Dunster, first president of Harvard college. Elizabeth (Dunster) Willard died about six months after her marriage.

Mr.Willard married for his third wife, in 1652, Mary Dunster, daughter of Robert and Mary (Garrett) Dunster, baptized December 15, 1630, at Bury, Lancashire, England, who had come to New England in 1652, and is believed to have been a niece or cousin of Elizabeth (Dunster) Willard, the second wife of Major Simon.
(See N. E. H. G. Reg., Vol. 80, p. 93.) By his third wife Major Willard had eight children.

After his death, the widow, Mary (Dunster) Willard, married July 14, 1680, Deacon Joseph Noyes of Sudbury, Massachusetts, and died December, 1715. She is burried in Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts

Charles Henry Pope's "Pioneers of Massachusetts" says this:

WILLARD
Simon, Cambridge, propr, 1634. Removed to Concord, Sergeant; appointed to exercise the military company 13 (8) 1636. "A Kentish soldier;" Was either deputy or Assistant for about 40 years. Major. Had a patent, with associates, in 1641, for trading with the Indians and collecting tribute from them. Removed to Lancaster. Signature in inv. of Thomas Atkinson in 1646. A man of unusual energy, sagacity and character.