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ORIGIN: Yealmpton, Devonshire
MIGRATION: 1632
FIRST RESIDENCE: Richmond Island
REMOVES: Scarborough by 1643
OCCUPATION: Fisherman
EDUCATION: Signed petition of 21 October 1645 by mark [ MPCR 1:88]. Signed his will by mark.
OFFICES: Trial jury, Saco court, 8 September 1640, and Casco court, 1 October 1667 [ MPCR 1:65, 67, 70, 327]; constable for Scarborough, 1661 [ MPCR 2:108]; grand jury, 15 September 1668 [ MPCR 2:169]; culler of fish for Black Point, 2 July 1672 [ MPCR 2:238].
ESTATE: Some years before 1659 Andrew Alger and his brother Arthur Alger had purchased from the Indians a large tract of land at Blue Point (later part of Scarborough), and named this tract of land Dunstan [ NEHGR 29:270-71].
In his will, dated 23 March 1669-70 and proved 30 June 1676, Andrew Alger Sr. of Scarborough, County of York, New England, fisherman, bequeathed to wife Agnes entire estate which she could distribute among the children as she wished if she remained his widow (except interest at Black Point Neck, which should go to son John as his inheritance), to each of his children five shillings (John, Andrew, Mathew, Elizabeth & Joanna); if wife should remarry, then to wife her thirds, to son John as above [interest at Black Point Neck], to other two sons "house & land to be equally divided" between them, and to two daughters "an equal portion of the remainder, my intent being that the two-thirds of the estate shalbe equally divided among my aforesaid five children, although I express it as my will, that all my sons shalbe thus seated as above"; wife to be sole executrix, and "my dear brother Arthur Alger & my loving neighbor Andrew Brown sen. both of" Scarborough to be supervisors. The inventory, presented at court 30 June 1676, totalled £8 16s. 10d., but this did not incorporate the cattle and land abandoned "at the Eastward," including land and marsh, £40, and house and land upon Black Point Neck, £30 [ EQC 6:183-84].
On 6 March 1719/20 John Milliken & Elizabeth his wife sold to their son John Milliken Jr., sadler, of Boston, fifty acres in "Dunston in the County of York... which said tract or parcel of land is to be laid out between the land of Andrew Alger Sr. & the lot of land of John Palmer & is part of a tract of land formerly belonging unto our father John Alger Junr." [ YLR 12:327]. On 17 June 1727 "Joanna Mills of Boston... widow & one of the coheirs of Andrew Alger late of Scarborough in the County of York yeoman deceased" quitclaimed to John Millican Jr., sadler, Benjamin Millican, mariner, and Samuel Millican, sadler, all of Boston, her right in a tract of land at Scarborough "known by the name of Dunstun" [ YLR 12:150]. On 21 June 1727 "Jane Davis of Boston... widow, late wife & relict of Andrew Alger Junr. late of Casco Bay now named Falmouth... deceased & Matthew Collins of Boston... & Dorcas his wife which said Dorcas is the only surviving child of the said Andrew Alger" quitclaimed to John Millican, sadler, and Benjamin Millican, mariner, their interest in the same tract of land [ YLR 12:150-51].
BIRTH: About 1610 based on presence at Richmond Island as caretaker in 1632.
DEATH: About 10 October 1675 as result of Indian attack of that date at Scarborough [ YLR 13:21].
MARRIAGE: By about 1640 (assuming she was the mother of all the children) Agnes _____; she was born about 1620 (deposed 26 November 1668 aged about 48 [ GDMNH 23, citing Court Files Suffolk Case #1046]); she survived him and probated his will at Salem on 30 June 1676 (having been driven from Scarborough by the Indian attacks).
CHILDREN:
| i JOHN, b. about 1640 (deposed 6 July 1670 aged about thirty [ GDMNH 23, citing SJC Case #1046]); m. by about 1665 Mary Wilmot, dau. of Nicholas Wilmot (in his will of 27 September 1684 Nicholas Wilmot of Boston bequeathed to "my two grandchildren John Aulgar and Elizabeth his sister" [ SPR 6:477]). |
| ii Daughter, b. say 1642; m. as his first wife John Ashton; she d. soon without issue. |
| iii ELIZABETH, b. say 1644; m. by 1662 John Palmer of Scarborough and Boston [ GDMNH 525-26]. |
| iv JOANNA, b. say 1650; m. (1) by 1680 Elias Oakman [ BVR 152]; m. (2) by 1686 John Mills [ BVR 170]. |
| v MATTHEW, b. say 1655; m. by 1680 Martha _____ [ BVR 150]; secondary sources say she was widow of Robert Carver of Boston [ GDMNH 61; NEHGR 29:272], but no record has been found of a Robert Carver of the right age with wife Martha of whom she could be widow. |
| vi ANDREW, b. say 1660; m. by about 1688 Jane Andrews, b. 17 January 1664, dau. of James and Dorcas (Mitton) Andrews [ TG 3:66]; Andrew d. 21 September 1689 and she m. (2) Boston 19 February 1693[/4] Robert Davis [ BVR 209 (date in TG 3:67 is incorrect)]. |
ASSOCIATIONS: Brother of Arthur Alger (named as supervisor in will), who is probably the Arthur Alger baptized at Yealmpton, Devonshire, 29 August 1622. Since Dunstan, the name which the Alger brothers gave to their tract of land at Blue Point, was also the name of part of Yealmpton, this is assumed to be the parish of origin of both brothers. Andrew and Arthur were probably related to THOMAS ALGER of Richmond Island, and to Tristram Alger, also briefly of Richmond Island.
COMMENTS: Andrew Alger was one of the three men John Winter "left here [Richmond Island] in possession the first year [winter 1632-3]" [ Trelawny Papers 245].
On 2 February 1643/4, in a letter to John Winthrop and Edward Gibbons, George Cleeve requested that "Andrew Algar of Stratton's Island" be one of those required to appear at a sitting of the court [ WP 4:438]. Stratton's Island was one of the locations eventually included in Scarborough, and was only a short distance south of Richmond Island.
At court on 21 October 1645 Andrew Alger repudiated the inclusion of his name on the petition of George Cleeve [ MPCR 1:88].
The "Andrew Aalger" of "Shipcot" who took the oath of allegiance at Sheepscot Court on 17 September 1665 was a different man [ MPCR 1:245; GDMNH 61].
The family of Andrew Alger presents in extreme form the problem found with so many of the early families - statements made about marriages, landholding, and other activities which are repeated with great authority, and have all the appearance of being correct, but for which the documentation is not evident. Essentially identical treatments of the family have been published in two places, with full agreement as to the list of children and the spouses of those children, but without the full evidence [ NEHGR 29:270-72; GDMNH 60-61]. Where the supporting evidence has been found, these accounts are seen to be correct, and so they are followed in all other places as well. But further research must be undertaken to bring forth the records which were clearly known to the authors of the above-named articles. Much of the information will probably come from the sale of the Alger interest to the Millicans in the eighteenth century, which is in unpublished deeds, and the long dispute over marsh land, Foxwell v. Alger, in SJC Case #1046.
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