Pane-Joyce Genealogy
John Williams.
Born ca 1600.
Otis and Deane claim that John came to Scituate in 1632, but the earliest record of him in New England is on 5 Mar 1638/9 when he was propounded for a freeman of Plymouth Colony. The likely time of arrival for John is late in the 1630s.16
From Deane’s History of Scituate:53
John Williams came, we believe, with Mr. Hatherly from London 1632, and took up a farm on the north side of Scituate Harbour, very early. In 1646 he was one of the Conihasset partners, when his farm was included in Mr. Hatherly’s 400 acres, which he accepted as his quarter of the purchase. The house which was erected by John Williams as early as 1634, has been built upon since, and if tradition is be true, there is one part of the original building preserved. The massive beams, the wooden walls, interlined with brick, and the port holes, witness that it was a garrison house, as we know from records that it was. It is the oldest house in Scituate, if this be the original house. The Stockbridge house was built 20 years later. We think there are few if any older houses in New England than these.
It is sometimes said that John Williams was a son of a Nathaniel Williams.