Rediscovered: The 1929 Hinchman Genealogy Letters — Primary Source Research by Mortimer L. Hinchman

A Remarkable Primary Source from 1929

Among the most valuable items in the Hinchman Heritage Society's archive is a 66-page genealogical manuscript compiled by Mortimer L. Hinchman of Brooklyn, New York, and submitted to the Boston Public Library in June 1929. The document — addressed formally to the library's genealogy department — represents one of the most thorough early-20th-century efforts to document the Henchman/Hinchman family lineage using primary sources.

The manuscript is organized across fifteen numbered data pages covering multiple generational lines, supplemented by extracts from colonial court records, New York State manuscripts, Massachusetts probate files, Long Island histories, and heraldic visitations. It closes with the author's signature: "Yours very truly, Mortimer L. Hinchman."

The Immigrant Ancestor: Edmond Henchman, 1637

The document identifies Edmond Henchman (or Hinchman, or Hincksman), born approximately 1600, as the family's American immigrant ancestor. Edmond arrived in Charlestown, Massachusetts in 1637 with his wife Elizabeth and three sons, traveling with the Reverend John Fiske of Chelmsford — who served as assistant to the pastor of the First Congregational Church in Salem, Massachusetts. Edmond later settled at Marshfield (1652) and then Chelmsford (1657), where he died on October 27, 1668. He was buried in Forefathers Cemetery, Chelmsford.

His wife Elizabeth, born 1605, married secondly on 1 August 1672, the Reverend John Fiske himself — a detail corroborated across multiple sources cited in the document.

Children of Edmond Henchman

Mortimer documents six children of Edmond and Elizabeth:

• Daniel (born c. 1627, died 15 October 1685) — Captain; had nine children across two marriages (Sarah Woodward, then Mary Poole)
• Thomas (born c. 1629, died 18 July 1703) — Major; Brigade Major of Middlesex County Militia; no children. Left a will; buried in Forefathers Cemetery, Chelmsford.
• William (born c. 1631, alive 1672) — Married Mary Philberd/Philbird in Boston, 1653; nine children.
• Elizabeth (born c. 1633) — Married George Vaughan of Scituate, Mass., 1652; five children.
• John, Major (born c. 1635, died 1688 at Fort Merrymac) — A pivotal figure discussed at length below.
• Bridget (born c. 1636–1637, alive November 1703) — Married Lieutenant James Richardson (1660, eight children) and later William Chandler (1679, three children).

Major John Hinchman: Merchant, Magistrate, and Military Commander

The most extensively documented individual in the manuscript is Major John Hinchman, son of Edmond. John's career spanned colonial New England, Long Island, and New York in the turbulent decades between 1657 and 1688.

Court records from New Amsterdam (1664) document John as skipper of the bark "Return," involved in a complex maritime wages dispute with defendant Francis Douty — adjudicated at the Mayor's Court in New York as late as October 1666. He appears in Probate records at East Cambridge as a creditor in 1659–1660, is listed as a resident of Oyster Bay, Long Island that same period, and by 1667 is recorded as Schepen (Magistrate) of Flushing, Queens County.

He was appointed patentee of Flushing in 1666 and 1668, Constable of Flushing by Governor Andros (15 February 1674), and Lieutenant of a foot company of the Militia (c. 1680). The Massachusetts Historical Society records describe him as "Major of a company at the Maine Plantations, Merrimac River, 1687–1690, and all the militia of that river, 50 men." He died in 1688 at Fort Merrymac (the fort at the mouth of the Merrimac River) and was possibly buried at Charlestown, Massachusetts.

John married twice: first on 10 August 1660 to Elizabeth Emmons, daughter of Thomas Emmons of Boston; and secondly in 1669 to Sarah Clarke, daughter of Daniel Clarke of West Farms, Westchester County, New York.

The Long Island Branch: John Hinchman of Flushing

The document traces a second John Hinchman — son of Major John — who became one of the foundational settlers of Flushing, Long Island. An 1698 census list records "JOHN HINCHMAN & SARAH his wife" along with their children John, James, Mercy, Mary, and Sarah. His wife Sarah was a daughter of Samuel Harrison, whom he married while on Long Island.

John's son Thomas Hinchman of Flushing (born 1675, proven by a 1719 affidavit) married Meriam Bloodgood. Thomas's 1733 will — recorded in Vol. 16 of New York Wills, pages 153–155 — names his wife Meriam, sons Obadiah, Joseph, and John, and daughters Sarah Lawrence, Anne Powers (of New Jersey), and Mary Marsh. A notable family connection is revealed by the 1719 will of William Bloodgood of Flushing, which mentions Thomas Hinchman as his brother.

English Origins: The Crosborough-Henchman Line

A striking section of the December 1929 data pages (page 15 of the compilation) reproduces material from Harleian Manuscript No. 1476, Folio 311B — from the Visitation of London, 1633 & 1634, held at the Heralds' Office and Ashmolean Museum. It traces the family back to the Crosborough or Henchman family of Dedington Magna, Northamptonshire, in the time of Henry VII.

The manuscript records: Richard Henchman of Wellingboro, Northampton (married Alice, daughter of Pindar, Esq.); his son Thomas Henchman of Wellingboro, M.P. for Whitchurch, Hants in 1601; and a celebrated relative Captain Henry Henchman, favorably mentioned in Motley's Netherlands for patriotic behavior following the traitorous surrender of Deventer by Sir William Stanley.

The most prominent figure in the English line was Humfry Henchman, Bishop of London and King's Almoner, who married Ellen, daughter of Bishop Robert Tounson of Salisbury. His brother Edward Henchman (the American immigrant ancestor) is distinguished from Humfry here — Edward going first to Marshfield, Massachusetts, while Humfry rose to become one of the most powerful ecclesiastics in Restoration England.

Why This Document Matters

The 1929 Hinchman manuscript is remarkable for its reliance on original primary sources — colonial court minutes, probate records, New York colonial manuscripts, Massachusetts Historical Society papers, the Register of New Netherland, Long Island histories, heraldic visitations, and Middlesex County records. Mortimer L. Hinchman cross-referenced dozens of published genealogies and state archives to produce what remains a foundational research document for the family.

The original was donated to the Boston Public Library (catalogue number H339a 149) and is available in full in the Resources section of this website as a digitized PDF. Researchers tracing the Henchman, Hinchman, Hincksman, Hinksman, or related spelling variants are strongly encouraged to consult it alongside the later Hinchman Family in America by Mary Wilhelm Hinchman and the 1929 Mortimer Hinchman genealogical compilation.