Genealogy Data Page 74 (Notes Pages)

Note: Joseph Weld was a significant figure in early Massachusetts and except for his early death--apparently from cancer, as the Reverend John Eliot reported that he was suffering torments from a sore on his tongue shortly before his death--it is likely that he would have been even more prominent in later years.

He came to Massachusetts in 1635 with his first wife and settled in Roxbury, where he was made a freeman on Mar 3 1635/6. he served several terms as deputy in the General Court of Massachusetts. In 1637, after Mrs. Anne Hutchinson was tried in the General Court for her antinomianism--the great theological and political dispute of early Massachusetts--she was committed to his care by the General Court, and lived with his family, until it decided what to do with her. She was afterwards exiled to Rhode Island. This indicates as clearly as possible that he was regarded not only as a substantial citizen, but as a thoroughly trustworthy one as well.

He was made ensign of the Roxbury training band--the local militia--as early as Mar 1637/8 and soon became its first captain. He was also a member of the Boston Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company (see No. 3840).

Following in his father's trade, Joseph Weld was a mercer and carried on a considerable trade in cloth with England. He returned more than once to England on business. He also owned over two hundred acres of farm land. By the standards of the time, he was a very prosperous man. The inventory of his estate shows that he held a very large and varied amount of cloth in his shop at the time of his death. This inventory is an invaluable historic document as it shows not only the contents of a store in the early days of New England but also the prices of the goods involved and the contents of the house of a prosperous merchant. The total value of his estate is given as 2028 pounds 10 shilling and 3 pence, a very large sum for that time.

Joseph Weld was one of the founders of the free school of Roxbury and his will established a scholarship for poor students at Harvard.

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Weld
Title: Charles Frederick Robinson, Weld Collections (Ann Arbor, Michigan: priv
ately printed, 1938)
ately printed, 1938.