Nicholas PUTNAM

                       JOHN PUTNAM, SEN., it is known, was resident in Aston Abbotts, England, as 
    late as 1627, as the date of the baptism of his youngest son shows, but  just
    when he came to New England I am unable to state.  Family tradition  is
    respon- -sible for the date of 1634, and we know that the tradition has  been
    in the family for over 150 years.  In 1641, new style, we find the  following
    entry on the Town Records of Salem:

    "At a meeting the 20th of the 11th month (1640 old style)...... "Granted  to
    JOHN PUTNAM 100 acres of land at the head of Mr. Skeltons farm between  it and
    Elias Stileman the elder his farm, if there be an hundred acres  of it.  And
    it is in exchange of 100 acres which was granted to the  said JOHN PUTNAM
    formerly & if it fall out that there be not so much there  then to be made up
    near Lieutenant Davenports hill be laid out by the  town.  And ten acres of
    meadow in the meadow called the pinc meadow if  it be not there formerly
    granted to others.

    "Granted fifty acres of land unto THOMAS (PUTNAM) and five acres of  meadow
    both to be laid (out by) the town."

    "John Putnam was a farmer and exceedingly well off for those times.  He  wrote
    a fair hand as deeds on record show.  In these deeds he styles  himself
    "Yeoman;" once, in 1655, "husband man."

    Note:  It is known that John Putnam and his family who immigrated with him  to
    Salem, Massachusetts, had all been baptized in the established Church of 
    England.  His wife Priscilla was admitted to the church of Salem  (Puritan) in
    1641 and John in 1647.  We are not positive of the date of  their arrival in
    Mass., so we cannot tell now long they had been in the  colony before they
    were "converted" to Puritanism, or whether a leaning  toward the Puritan faith
    had been a factor in their migration.  Their  children, too, were admitted to
    the church in Salem before the  establishment of the church in Salem Village.

CHRISTENING:
    Putnam, Eben, "A History of the Putnam Family in England and  America," Recording the Ancestry and Descendants of John Putnam of  Danvers, Mass., Jan Poutman of Albany, New York, and Thomas Putnam of  Hartford, Conn. Salem, Mass., Salem Press Publishing & Printing Co., 1891.

DEATH:
    Putnam, Eben, "A History of the Putnam Family in England and  America," Recording the Ancestry and Descendants of John Putnam of  Danvers, Mass., Jan Poutman of Albany, New York, and Thomas Putnam of  Hartford, Conn. Salem, Mass., Salem Press Publishing & Printing Co., 1891.