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• Abigail Smith (1744 – 1818, wife of the 2nd American President John Adams and mother of the 6th American President John Quincy Adams) wrote that she had seen in the possession of her grandmother, the wife of John Quincy (1689 – 1757) a parchment genealogy of the Quincy family from the time of William the Conqueror.

• Eliza Susan Quincy (1798 – 1884) wrote in a letter dated June 17, 1844: “Edmund Quincy who landed in Boston September 4, 1633 . . . brought with him a genealogical account of his family, which traced their descent from the time of the Norman Conquest. This remained extant within the family more than a century but was then unfortunately borrowed and never returned and has now been lost for more than 50 years.”

• Author Thomas de Quincey (1785 – 1859) implied strongly that his ancestor was a follower of Duke William in 1066. He also states (without providing any documentation) that his family was of Norwegian or Norse origin and that they settled in Normandy where they adopted their name from the district or village of Quincy. (The Works of Thomas De Quincey, vol. 2, London : Pickering & Chatto, 2000, p. 271 ff). There seems to be some truth in the origin of the Quincy name; The Complete Peerage, Volume XII/2 page 745 states: “Saher de Quincy or Quency (died probably circa 1156 – 58) . . . was the tenant of Anselm de Chokes at Long Buckby, co. Northhampton in (probably) 1124 - 1129. He presumably derived the Quincy or Quency name from Cuinchy, near Béthune, on the border of Artois and Flanders, which is less than 10 miles from Chocques, the original home of his Northhampton overlord.”

• {Reverend} Henry Doyle Sewell (1806 – 1886) wrote in a letter to his sister Fanny (Frances Georgina Sewell, 1816 – 1885) dated February 3, 1858: “. . . we could show on our Fathers side, a descent from Saher de Quincy one of the 250 Barons who accompanied William in A.D. 1066 whose descendants were made Lords of Bucklely Henry II  — and Earls of Wilton or Winchester by King John — & one of whom is found among the 25 Barons who compelled John to sign Magna Charta.”

• {Professor} E. E. Salisbury (1814 - 1901) wrote in his Family Memorials (1885): “In the various versions of the Roll of Battle Abbey we find the name given as Quayncy, Quinci and Quincy” However, no such names appear on the Falaise Roll, Battle Abbey Roll or Dives-sur-Mer List. The only names even remotely related to “Quincy” appear to be those of Osberne du Quesnai and Raoul du Quesnai on the Dives-sur-Mer List.

    Cousins Sewell V. Sample and Robert J. Sewell have established a descent from Magna Charta Surety Saher de Quincy, but the line goes through the Livingstons of Callendar, and not through the Quincy family.  See our De Quincy Page for details.

   Professor Theodore P. Wright, Jr. has kindly provided information for the 12th to 16th centuries.  Professor Wright states:  “... the pamphlet ‘Descendants of Edmund Quincy 1602-1637 who settled in what is now Quincy, Massachusetts in 1635’: compiled by H. Hobart Holly, Historian, Quincy Historical Society (8 Adams St, Quincy MA 02169 USA). 1977, on p.1 the list of his ancestors is given with the notation ‘above is from Quincy and Wendell family records complied by Arthur Wendell.’”  The list of Quincy ancestors is as follows:

• William living 1130, of King's Sutton, Northamptonshire;
• his grandson William, born about 1165 of Biskel, County Norfolk;
• his son william of Brampton County York, living 1219;
• Geoffrey, Constable of Framlingham castle, County Suffolk, born about 1290;
• Henry of Earl Soham, County Suffolk, born about 1310, living 1352; ;
• Henry of Ashfield, county Suffolk, living 1385;
• John of Ashfield, born about 1370 living 1424;
• John of Ashfield died before 1461;
• Edward of Ashfield died before 1482;
• William of Moneweden, County Suffolk and Whittlesey, County Cambridge, born about 1465, living 1523;
• William of Deepingate and Aldwinkel (county Northampton?), born about 1490, died 1550;
• John of Aldwinkle and Lilford died 1575;
• John of Lilford, County Northampton; died 1597,
• Edmund of Wigsthrope in parish of Lilford, County Northampton, baptized 1559, died 1627/8 married Ann Palmer Oct. 14, 1593.

Other sources include:

• Robert Winslow Sewall:  Letter, January 15, 2001.
• W. Darcy McKeough: The McKeough Family Tree, Section 42, Quincy
• Massachusetts Historical Society: Pride of Quincy's
• Prof. Edward Elbridge Salisbury, Family Memorials, published privately in 1885, pages 295 - 371
• Charles Randolph Montgomerie Sewell:  Journal (1850)
• Sewell Vincent Sample:  Letters
• Carma Kathleen Wallace:  Sewall / Sewell Genealogy
• Chris Collman: Descendants of Edmund Quincy (unpublished) and Letters.
• Robert James Sewell: Sewell Family Records
• Appleton’s Cycolpædia of American Biography, V. 5, p. 150 & 151 (New York, 1894)
• Richard Thomson:  An Historical Essay on the Magna Charta of King John (London, 1829)
• Fredrick Lewis Weis:  The Magna Charta Sureties, 1215. (Baltimore, 1991)
• Carol Berkin:  Jonathan Sewall:  Odyssey of an American Loyalist (New York, 1974)
• James H. Stark:  The Loyalists of Massachusetts (First Edition 1910)

The Arms of Quincy The arms claimed by the Quincy Family of Massachusetts is described as “Gules, seven mascules conjoined, three, three, and one, or”;  which means “a red shield with seven gold hollow diamond shapes joined together and arranged 3, 3 and 1.” These arms were first used by Roger de Quincy (died without male heirs on April 25, 1264; son of Magna Charta surety Saher de Quincy) and were apparently passed on through Roger’s daughter Margaret who married circa 1238 to William de Ferrers, 5th Earl of Derby, and then through one of  their younger sons to Ferrers of Groby. It is unclear how these arms ended up in the posession of the Quincy family of Massachusetts. {Professor} Edward Elbridge Salisbury (1814 - 1901) suggested in his Family Memorials (1885) that during the late middle ages “. . . the lands and property were divided, they (the Quincy family) went into different employments, and became part of the yeomanry of England, but yet carefully retained the arms, and the tradition of their Norman descent.”

Generation One
William de Quincy of King's Sutton, Northamptonshire.
William is the first of our line of Quincys; and it is with him that we will begin this genealogy. Family tradition and undocumented stories suggest that William was a relative of Saher de Quincy of Long Buckby which is located about 20 miles NNE of King's Sutton. All we can say for sure is that William was a contemporary of Saher de Quincy and that he lived in the same general area.
Living:  1130
William de Quincy had a grandson:

• William de Quincy
  

Generation Two
Missing.  “World Family Tree V704_01” states this is “William de Quincy, died after 1179”.

Generation Three
William de Quincy of Biskel, County Norfolk. “World Family Tree V704_01” states that “William was a cousin of Magna Charta Surety Saher de Quincy”.  Click on Saher de Quincy.
Born:  about 1165
William de Quincy had a son:

• William de Quincy

Generation Four
William de Quincy of Brampton, County York
Living:  1219

Generation Five
Missing.  “World Family Tree V704_01” states this is “Roger de Quincy, born about 1225”.

Generation Six
Missing.  “World Family Tree V704_01” states this is “William de Quincy, born about 1255 died after 1304”.

Generation Seven
Geoffrey Quincy, Constable of Framlingham Castle, County Suffolk
Born: About 1290
Geoffrey Quincy had a son:

• Henry Quincy

Generation Eight
Henry Quincy of Earl Soham, County Suffolk
Born: About 1310,   Living: 1352
Henry Quincy had a son:

• Henry Quincy

Generation Nine
Henry Quincy of Ashfield, County Suffolk
Living: 1385
Henry Quincy had a son:

• John Quincy

Generation Ten
John Quincy of Ashfield, County Suffolk
Born: About 1370,  Living: 1424
John Quincy had a son:

• John Quincy

Generation Eleven
John Quincy of Ashfield, County Suffolk
Died: Before 1461
John Quincy had a son:

• Edward Quincy

Generation Twelve
Edward Quincy of Ashfield, County Suffolk
Died: Before 1482
Edward Quincy had a son:

• William Quincy

Generation Thirteen
William Quincy of Moneweden, County Suffolk and Whittlesey, County Cambridge
Born: About 1465,  Living: 1523
William Quincy had a son:

• William Quincy

Generation Fourteen
William Quincy of Deepingate and Aldwinkle, County Northampton
Born: About 1490,  Died: 1550
William Quincy had a son:

• John Quincy

Generation Fifteen
John Quincy of Aldwinkle and Lilford
Died: 1575
John Quincy had a son:

• John Quincy

Generation Sixteen
John Quincy of Lilford, County Northampton.  Robert Winslow Sewall mentions in a letter dated January 15, 2001  “... the family notes of my grandfather, Joseph Sewall Sewall (1827-1917). He shows a John Quincy (1535-1597), father of Edmund (1559-1627/28)”.
Born: 1535,  Died: 1597
John Quincy had the following children:

• Edmund Quincy, continued next.

• John Quincy who had a son:
• Thomas b. 1600 who had a son:
• Thomas b. 1623;  his son Thomas b 1649;  his son Thomas b 1679;  his son William b 1702;  his son John b. 1734;  his son Thomas b. 1760;  his son James b. 1810;  his son Christopher b. 1836;  his son George James b. 1859;  his son John Thomas b. 1890;  his son Victor Philip b. 1913 whose descendants reside in the north of England to this day. Click to visit Victor de Quincey's Genealogy Site. 

Generation Seventeen
Edmund Quincy of Wigsthrope in parish of Lilford, County Northampton
Born:  1559
Died:  1627/28
Married:  October 14, 1593 to Anne Palmer
Edmund Quincy and Anne Palmer had the following children:

• Anne Quincy who married John Hills.
• Elizabeth Quincy who married James Holditch.
• Helen or Ellen Quincy who married Boniface Bing.
• Alice Quincy who married  firstly Edward Rooding and secondly {Rev} Thomas Lewis.
• Edmund Quincy continued next.
• Denis Quincy, a daughter who died an infant.
• Francis Quincy who married Elizabeth Andrew.
• Christian Quincy who married Gabriel Munnes.
• John Quincy who married Ann.
• William Quincy who is known to have married.
• Thomas Quincy about whom little is known.

• Judith Quincy (1626 – 1695) who married {Hon} John Hull, a goldsmith and principal merchant of Boston,  In 1676, he was the Treasure of the colony of Massachusetts. Their daughter, Hannah Hull (1657/58 - 1717) married {Judge} Samuel Sewall in 1675/76.

• {Col} Edmund Quincy

Generation Nineteen
{Col} Edmund Quincy who was magistrate and representative of Braintree (Quincy) Massachusetts in the general court, and lieutenant-colonel of the Suffolk regiment.
Born:  1627, Died:  January 8, 1698

{Judge} Samuel Sewall wrote on June 28, 1697: "I visit my sick languishing Unkle Quinsey; who is oppressed with Difficulty in voiding his Urine."
Judge Samuel wrote for January 8, 1697/98: ". . . Unkle Quinsey died between 7 and 8 last night."

Married 1st on July 26, 1648, to Joanna Hoar, sister of Margery Hoar and {Rev.} Leonard Hoar, third president of Harvard College, and  whose grandfather was Charles Hoar of Gloucester, England, who probably died in 1636. Charles Hoar's father was "Sheriff Charles Hoare of the Cittie of Gloucester". Joanna died on May 16, 1680.

{Col} Edmund Quincy and Joanna Hoar had the following children:

• Mary Quincy who married Ephriam Savage.
• Daniel Quincy whose great X2 grandson was John Quincy Adams as shown in the following table:

• John Quincy who died young.
• Joanna Quincy who married David Hobart.
• Judith Quincy who married {Rev} John Rayner, Jr.
• Elizabeth Quincy who married in 1681 {Rev} Daniel Gookin, whose sister Elizabeth Elliot (née Gookin)  had married in 1680 to {Colonel} Edmund Quincy. Thus Elizabeth Quincy's husband was her step mother's brother.
• Edmund Quincy who died an infant.
• Ruth Quincy who married John Hunt.
• Ann Quincy who died on September 3, 1676 at aged 13.
• Experience Quincy who married William Savil.

Married 2nd on December 8, 1680, to Elizabeth Elliot née Gookin who was the daughter of {General} Daniel Gookin and widow of {Rev} John Elliot, Jr. The ancestry of Elizabeth Gookin has been traced back to Robert de Dene, a Norman who held large estates in Sussex and Kent as well as in The Duchy of Normandy.  He was "pincerna", the household official in charge of wines and beverages, to King Edward the Confessor (1042 - 1066).  For further details on the ancestry of Elizabeth Gookin, please click on Denne Genealogy.
{Col} Edmund Quincy and Elizabeth Gookin had the following children:

• {Judge} Edmund Quincy continued next.
• Mary Quincy who married {Rev} Daniel Baker.

Generation Twenty
{Judge} Edmund Quincy who was a judge of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts from 1718 until his death.  He graduated from Harvard College in 1699. A controversy having arisen as to the boundary between Massachusetts and New Hampshire, he was appointed agent for Massachusetts, and embarked for England in December, 1737.  Soon after his arrival in London he fell a victim to small-pox.
Born on October 14, 1681
Died on February 23, 1738
Married: November 20, 1701 to Dorothy Flynt
Dorothy was born on May 11, 1678 in Dorchester,  Massachusetts; she was a daughter of {Rev.} Josiah Flynt and granddaughter of {Rev.} Henry Flynt and Margery Hoar, a sister of Joanna Hoar who was {Col.} Edmund Quincy's first wife. There is nothing "illegal" here; Dorothy's husband was a son of {Col.} Edmund Quincy and his second wife Elizabeth Elliot née Gookin. Dorothy died on August 27, 1737 in Braintree, Massachusetts, at the age of 59.

{Judge} Edmund Quincy and Dorothy Flynt had the following children:

• {Justice} Edmund Quincy, continued next.

• Elizabeth Quincy (October 17, 1706 – March 2, 1746) who married on November 10, 1724 to John Wendell of Boston (brother of the wife of her brother Edmund Quincy) and by whom she had sons and daughters.

• Dorothy Quincy (1709 – 1762) who married (1738) Edward Jackson (1708 – 1757) Boston merchant and manufacturer; Harvard 1726; their daughter Mary Jackson married {Judge} Oliver Wendell, whose daughter Sarah Wendell married {Rev} Abiel Holmes and was the mother of {Dr} Oliver Wendell Holmes , father of {Justice} Oliver Wendell Holmes. Dorothy Quincy is the "Dorothy Q." of the poet {Dr} Oliver Wendell Holmes, whose verses were addressed to her portrait:
"Grandmother's mother; her age, I guess
Thirteen summers, or something less;
Girlish bust but womanly air;
Smooth, square forehead with uprolled hair,
Lips that lover has never kissed,
.      .      .      .      .      .     .
                                                          from Poems of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Boston, 1879, pg. 243
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• {Colonel} Josiah Quincy (1710 – 1784) who married (1733) Hannah Sturgis (1712 – 1755) and had three sons, Edmund, Samuel, Josiah, and one daughter, Hannah.  {Colonel} Josiah Quincy’s son Samuel Quincy (1735 – 1789) was a loyalist, and left Massachusetts in 1775 or 1776, never to return. He was appointed attorney-general of Antigua. His wife, Hannah Hill, daughter of Boston distiller Thomas Hill, was not pleased with her husband's course in the politics of the times, and when he left Boston, a refugee, she preferred to remain with her brother Henry, and never met her husband again.  Descendants of Josiah Quincy reside in Massachusetts to this day.

Samuel Quincy Solicitor General of Massachusetts {Colonel} Josiah Quincy's second son Born at Braintree, Massachusetts April 23, 1735. Died at sea in 1789.   "Samuel Quincy was a Loyalist and remained true to his oath of office, wherein he swore to support the government." Please see: James H. Stark:  The Loyalists of Massachusetts

Generation Twenty-one
{Justice} Edmund Quincy was graduated at Harvard in 1722, and was a Justice of the Peace.  He was a partner in the family firm whose ship Bethell in 1748 captured a Spanish treasure vessel and made all the partners rich.  He suffered financial reverses and declared bankruptcy in 1757.  He is the author of a “Treatise on Hemp Husbandry”, published in 1765.
Born:  1703
Died:  1788
Married:  1725 to Elizabeth Wendell (1704 – 1769) daughter of Boston merchant Abraham Wendell, formerly of Albany.  Elizabeth Wendell's great great grandparents may have been Jochem and Gertrude Wessels.  Click on Jochem and Getrude Wessels for full details of this very interesting couple.
 

portraits courtesy of Sewell V. Sample

{Justice} Edmund Quincy (1703 - 1788)	Elizabeth Wendell (1704 - 1769)

{Justice} Edmund Quincy and Elizabeth Wendell had the following children:

• Edmund Quincy, b. 1725/26, d. 1782. According to Prof. Edward Elbridge Salisbury, Family Memorials, page 317, Edmund married Ann Husk and they had children Edmund and Mary. According to Massachusetts Historical Society: Pride of Quincy's, Nine Generations of the Quincy Family, Edmund was "of Boston and Shoron; business man and land developer; married thrice and had issue by each marriage."
• Henry Quincy (January 20, 1726/27 - May 27, 1780) who married first probably before 1749 to Mary Salter by whom he had:
• Mary Quincy who died in infancy.
• Elizabeth who married Dr. Nathaniel Greene.
• Mary Quincy (b. December 11, 1752) who married first to Dr. John Stedman by whom she had three sons, and secondly to {Col} William Donnison (or Dennison) by whom she had six children, the youngest of whom was:
• Elizabeth Quincy Donnison (b. April 17, 1795)  who married {Rev} Richard Manning Hodges, by whom, beside other children, she had:
• Sarah Hodges. Prof. Salisbury wrote:  " Sarah, who married {Rev} Joshua Augustus  Swan of Kennebunk, Me.,  and who now resides, his widow, in Cambridge, Mass., with four children. To this lady I am indebted for most of my record of the descendants of Edmund and Henry sons of Edmund and Elizabeth (Wendell) Quincy . . .."
Henry married secondly on December 31, 1759 to Eunice Newell by whom he had:
• Eunice Quincy who married M. Joseph Dupas de Valnais, Consul-General of France in the United States from Louis XVI.
• Henry Quincy who married Sarah Robbins.
• Ann who died in infancy.
• Ann (or Nancy) Quincy who died young.
• Catharine Quincy who died young.
• Edmund Quincy who married Elizabeth Jarvis.
• Dorothy Quincy who married first to Charles Clement and secondly to Jabez Bullard.
• Abraham Quincy who married Elizabeth Murray Casey.
• William Salter Quincy who married Sally Holland.
• Nancy (or Ann) Quincy, (b. June 1, 1780) a posthumous child, who married Matthew Stanley Parker of Boston, Mass. Their great X3 grandson is Chris Collman whose records added immensely to this genealogy.
• Abraham Quincy, unmarried, who died by drowning when swept off a ship in Germantown.
• Elizabeth Quincy (1729 – 1770) who married Samuel Sewall, a grandson of {Judge} Samuel Sewall.  Their great X3 grandson Robert Winslow Sewall and great X4 grandson Professor Theodore P. Wright, Jr. have been of immense help in preparing this genealogy.
• Katharine Quincy who died unmarried.
• Jacob Quincy who married Elizabeth Williams
• Dorothy Quincy who died in infancy.
• Sarah Quincy who married {General} William Greenleaf.
• Esther Quincy continued below.
• Dorothy Quincy who married first to John Hancock, a signer of the American Declaration of Independence and secondly to {Capt} James Scott.

Generation Twenty-two
Esther Quincy married Jonathan Sewall, the last attorney general of the Province of Massachusetts before the American Revolution.  The Sewall family home in Cambridge, Massachusetts was wrecked by a revolutionary mob, consisting of some fifty men and boys, on September 1, 1774.  Jonathan was in Boston at the time, and a very frightened Esther struck a bargain with the mob of “patriots”.  She exchanged the contents of  her husband's wine cellar for the mob's dispersal.  This terrifying event had a life-long impact on the eight-year-old Jonathan, Jr. who was to become the Chief Justice of Quebec.
    Jonathan, Esther and their children Jonathan, Jr., Elizabeth and Stephen moved to Boston within a week of the sacking of their Cambridge home; and were forced to flee what was to become the United States in 1775, never to return.  They changed the spelling of our name from “Sewall” to “Sewell”.
Born:  November 27, 1738
Died:  June 21, 1810
Married:  January 21, 1764 to {Attorney General} Jonathan Sewall / Sewell.
Esther Quincy and Jonathan Sewell had the following children:

• Mary Sewell (August 10, 1764 – August 16, 1764)

• {Chief Justice} Jonathan Sewell For the continuation of this line, please click on:

• Elizabeth Sewell (1768 – November 1776)

• {Solicitor General} Stephen Sewell (June 8, 1770 – June 21, 1832)

• Benjamin Sewell (August 5, 1771 – January 1772)

Click to Contact Robert Sewell