By Marie Fort Withrow
John Garland was born in England around 1621, the son of Peter Garland, a mariner, who was admitted to the Massachusetts Bay in 1637. By 1653, John was living in Hampton, New Hampshire where he was listed in the tax records of the town. He married first, Elizabeth Chapman, and 2nd the widow, Elizabeth Chase, daughter of Thomas Philbrick. John’s house was located in the eastern part of town and many generations of Garland’s lived on this land which was eventually part of Rye. John died on Nov. 4th, 1671 in Hampton.
One of the difficulties when researching the Garland ancestry is the number of families who named their children John, Peter, and Jonathan. It seems this has caused a lot of confusion and some errors in published Garland trees.
Many of the generations of Garlands were farmers, and other occupations included mariners, tanners, blacksmiths, shoemakers, and a well-known inn keeper. One of John’s sons, Peter Garland (1659 – 1705) became a mariner like his Grandfather Peter. He married Sarah Taylor (1688 – 1714) and for years sailed the sloop the Sara Taylor from New Hampshire to the south and back.
One of Peter Garland’s sons was John Garland born 13 Apr 1692 in Hampton and died in Rye in 1741. This John Garland is the first reference of a Garland in Parson’s history. John married Elizabeth Dearborn (1692 – 1770) and they had 9 children. He was one of the Sandy Beach citizens who signed the petitioned in 1721 to separate from Newcastle. When the 2nd petition of 1726 was successful in creating the Parish of Rye, John was elected as one of the 9 selectmen. John died in 1741 and was buried near Breakfast Hill.
In 1756 three of John’s sons, Simon, Peter, and Benjamin purchased a tavern in rye. A few years later, Benjamin bought out his brothers and ran the tavern for forty years. The Inn, located in the center of Rye, became the most popular meeting place in town and, in 1776, held a modest place in Rye history as the gathering point for townsmen volunteering to fight for the northern army during the Revolutionary War.
