"There is some confusion over whether the second wife of Daniel Wing was the daughter of Thomas Ewer (Sr.) and Sarah Learned, or if she was the widow of Thomas Ewer (Jr.). The probate record of Thomas Ewer (Jr.)(7100) stated that his inventory was "aprised the 31 of May 1667." "Hannah the Relect of the aforsaid Thomas Ewer tooke her oath to this Inventory before mee Thomas Hinckley Assistant." As this record did not indicate that she was then remarried (Daniel Wing married Anna Ewer JUN 1666,) it appears that Anna was a sister to Thomas (Jr.) not his widow. "

According to the reference book, "THE GREAT MIGRATION, only four children are mentioned that were born to Thomas Ewer & Sarah Learned;

1. John Ewer, baptized at Strood, England on January 14, 1627/28, m. by 1652 Mary _____ (on 29 June 1652, "Mary Ewer widow" presented the inventory of the estate of "John Ewer deceased" [MD 11:10-11, citing PCPR 1:1:108; PCR 3:15]).

2. Sarah Ewer, bp. Strood 10 May 1629; m. (1) Barnstable 18 June 1645 Thomas Blossom, son of THOMAS BLOSSOM {1629, Plymouth} [NEHGR 9:286; TAG 63:238-39; GMB 1:183]; (probably) m. (2) 1651 Nicholas Davis of Barnstable and Newport [TAG 64:113-18, and the arguments presented there]; (if the second marriage took place) m. (3) by 1676 Dr. JOHN CLARKE {1637, Boston} of Newport [TAG 64:113-18, and the arguments presented there].

3. Elizabeth Ewer, bp. Strood 2 October 1631 (aged 4 in 1635 [Hotten 88]); bur. Barnstable 9 April 1641 ("Elizabeth Ewer daughter of my daughter Lothropp" [NEHGR 9:285]).

4. Thomas Ewer, bp. Strood 6 February 1633/4 (aged 1½ in 1635 [Hotten 88]); m. by 1667 Hannah _____ (on 31 May 1667, the estate of Thomas Ewer was appraised, and "Hannah the relict of the aforesaid Thomas Ewer took her oath" [MD 17:24, citing PCPR 2:2:44]).

The senior Thomas Ewer was married twice. His first marriage was to Bridget Hipsley on September 13, 1614 at Strood. Bridget was buried at Strood on August 2, 1623. Thomas Ewer & Bridget Hipsley had three children, all of which appear to have died before reaching adulthood.

Thomas Ewer took for his second wife, Sarah Learned, the daughter of William Learned and Goodith Gilman (THE GREAT MIGRATION: MARRIAGE: (1) St. Olave, Southwark, Surrey, 22 April 1606 Goodith Gilman; she died after 1632. "(Goodith" was a distinct given name, not to be confused with "Judith," and not to be interpreted as "Goodwife," as has been done.)."
(2) St Mary Magdalene, Bermondsey, Surrey, 13 January 1623/4 Sarah Learned, daughter of WILLIAM LEARNED {1630, Charlestown} [GMB 2:1165], born about 1607 (aged 28 in 1635 [Hotten 88]). She married (2) "in the Bay" 11 December 1639 Thomas Lothrop, son of Rev. JOHN LOTHROP {1634, Scituate} ("My son Tho[mas] and Brother Larnett's daughter, widow Ewer" [NEHGR 9:286]).

On June 14, 1635, "Tho[mas] Ewer," tailor, aged 40, "Sara Ewer," aged 28, "Elizabeth Ewer," aged 4, and "Tho[mas] Ewer," aged 1½, were enrolled at London as passengers for New England on the James [Hotten 88]. There are no clear reasons why the two older children, John and Sarah were not included with their parents on the James, but they did eventually arrive in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and remained there for the rest of their lives.

Thomas Ewer would not live long after his arrival in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He died sometime in 1638 at Charlestown, Massachusetts, the place where he first moved his family after their arrival in New England. "On 4 December 1638, "[blank] Ewar was allowed executrix of her husband, Thom[as] Ewar, deceased" [MBCR 1:248]. However,his short years in the colony were exciting ones.

On August 3, 1637, Thomas Ewer was accused of speaking treason against the King of England. According to a man by the last name of Brooks, who testified before the Governor, John Winthrop, that Thomas Ewer had, about twelve months prior, said; "that, if the King did send any authority hither against our patent, he would be the first should resist him" The matter was resolved after Governor Winthrop called all of the persons involved and bound them over to the General Court. The poor, hapless Brooks brought his wife with him and her testimony did not agree with his. Likewise, the other three witnesses that Brooks named disagreed with his story about Thomas Ewer. It was finally agreed and written down accordingly that Thomas Ewer had said, "that, if there came any authority out of England contrary to the patent, he would withstand it." This statement was substantially different from the first statement, primarily because the King was not mentioned and because it was determined that Brooks "did bare malice" towards Thomas Ewer, the authorities could rest easy that Thomas was not the rebel he had been reported to be.

Less than a year later, on June 5, 1638, Thomas Ewer would be fined 40s "for leaving his pit or well open, in which a child was drowned" [MBCR 1:233]; in the general amnesty of 6 September 1638, this fine was reduced to 10s. "[MBCR 1:245].

It was in November of 1635 that Thomas and his family located at Charlestown; " On 12 November 1635, "Tho[mas] Ewar [was] admitted & granted to plant next to Mr. Palmer's on this side Wenotomie River upon the line by New Towne bounds" in Charlestown "[ChTR 17]. On March 3. 1636/37, "Goodman Tho[mas] Ewar" was granted "one cow's hay ground" near Goodman Hutchinson "if he have not Goodman W[illia]m Larnet's in the salt marsh against the oyster bank in Mistick" [ChTR 26]. On March 6, 1636/37, "Goodman Ewar [was] to have Goodman Larnett's haylot which he left in exchange for some marsh by his house if Mr. Pratt require not the grant" [ChTR 26]. And it was also noted that on the same day; On 6 March 1636/7, "Tho[mas] Ewar" held five acres of land Mysticside [ChTR 27]. In 1637 "Tho[mas] Ewar" held 6¬ cow commons [ChTR 32]. In the 23 April 1638 accounting of Mystic lands, "Tho[mas] Ewer" held parcels of twenty-five, sixty and five acres [ChTR 37].

Thomas Ewer was appointed to to various responsiblities as well; Charlestown highway surveyor, 17 February 1636/7 [ChTR 25]. Committee to stint the common, 17 February 1636/7 [ChTR 25]. Committee to lay out bounds between Charlestown and John Winthrop's farm, 1 May 1637 [ChTR 28]. Constable, 3 February 1637/8 [ChTR 34; MBCR 1:220]; on 20 August 1638, "Willi[am] Brankenborow being chosen constable of Charlestowne, in the room of Thom[as] Ewar, did take his oath to that place" [MBCR 1:230].

It is generally believed that Thomas Ewer died after June 5, 1638 and before August 20, 1638. It may very well have been a direct result of the tragic incident of the well being left open, resulting in the death of a child that hastened his demise, perhaps by his own hand. We may never know but it seems likely that it was that incident that precipitated his death. It was on December 30, 1638 that "Sarah Ewar" held 6¬ cow commons [ChTR 42]. In the 1638 Charlestown Book of Possessions, "Sarah Ewer late wife of Tho[mas] Ewer of Charltowne deceased" held eleven parcels: "dwelling house with a garden plot, situate in the middle row"; "three rood of ground ... in the East Field"; "one acre and half of arable land ... in the High Field"; "two acres of meadow ... in the South Mead"; six and a quarter milch cow commons; "eight acres of arable land ... in the Line Field"; "five acres of meadow ... in Mistick Marshes"; "five acres of woodland ... in Mistick Field"; another "five acres of woodland ... in Mistick Field"; "twenty and five acres of woodland ... in Mistick Field"; and "sixty acres of land ... in Rock Field" [ChBOP 29-30].

In 1639, "Sarah Ewer, widow, sole executrix of Thomas Ewer, deceased, bargained and sold unto Francis Willoughby of Charltowne, one dwelling house, with a garden plot, situate in the middle row, butting south and west upon the market place" [ChBOP 93].

Like many women of her time, Sarah Learned Ewer found herself in a wretched situation. She was left a widow, with five children under the age of ten to support by herself. It was no doubt a blessing that her father, William Learned and his second wife, Jane Unknown, were also living in Charlestown at the time. The times being what they were left widows and widowers with little time to contemplate life without a mate. Courtship and love were often confused with survival and a helpmate, so it was that on December 11, 1639, Sarah Learned Ewer married for the second time to Thomas Lathrop, the son of Rev. John Lathrop.

I think that it must be impossible for us to imagine what the lives of our ancestors were like. How precious our freedom is when we think of the fear they must have lived in. Thomas Ewer just barely managed to get away with his life for treasonous remarks, the very colony that they all lived in was founded because of their persecution in England, and so it comes as no surprise that Thomas Lathrop's father, Rev. John Lathrop was imprisoned in 1632 in England because of his religious practices. When his wife died in 1634, Rev. Lathrop was released from prison to care for his family and he immediately made plans to set sail for the Bay Colony. It has been suggested that in fact a part of Rev. Lathrop's release was conditional upon his leaving England. Whatever the case may be, Rev. John Lathrop and his family arrived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in September of 1634 on the ship, Griffin, which docked in Boston, Massachusetts and by 1639, they were living at Barnstable, Massachusetts.

There is conflicting reports about when Thomas Lathrop and Sarah Learned were born. According to most sources, Sarah Learned was born about 1607/08. According to Hotten88, she was born in 1607, citing herself twenty-eight years old in 1635.  That would have made her about seventeen when she married the first time to Thomas Ewer. There is some small controversy about what year her second husband, Thomas Lathrop was born according to the records of his baptism, about 1612, although he himself claimed that he was about eighty years of age on April 4, 1701 in a deposition. The problem with that is that he would have been only thirteen years old when he sailed with his father for New England and just eighteen when he took on a wife and five children. This is not impossible however. My own ancestor, Matthew Wing, son of Stephen Wing and Sarah Briggs, was fifteen years younger than his wife, Elizabeth Mott Ricketson, although he was twenty-three years of age when they married. It is not a question of whether or not Thomas Lathrop was younger than Sarah Learned Ewer Lathrop, but how much younger is the question. Whatever the case may be, they would live together for the rest of Sarah's life and they would have five of their own children. Thomas would never remarry.

While all of this was going on, Anna Ewer was was going through her most formidable years. Very likely born on New England soil, losing her father before the age of four and finding herself with an adopted father by the age of five, must have been major events in her young life. It is almost a certainty that children of that era were weaned on the religious and political beliefs of their elders. Her own father had been suspected of uttering treasoneous words against the King of England and now she inherited a step-grandfather who had been imprisoned in England for his religious beliefs. The Rev. John Lathrop, after leaving England, was welcomed as the minister at Scuitate. The good Reverend noted in his diary that "No. 51. My Sonn Thomas Lothropp joyned May 4, 1637." It is very likely that Sarah Learned Ewer Lathrop and her children joined the church around the same time as Thomas Lathrop did. On October 11, 1639, after asking for removal from his position at Scuitate, the Reverend Lathrop arrived in Barnstable with a considerable number of followers...among them, Thomas Lathrop and his family. The first Thanksgiving in the town of Barnstable, Massachusetts was celebrated on December 22, 1636. "Beginning some half an hour before nine, and continued until after twelve o'clocke, ye day being very cold, beginning with a short prayer, then a psalm sung, then more large in prayer, after that another psalm, and the WORD taught, after that prayer, and then a psalm. Then making merry to the creatures, the poorer sort being invited by the virtue." ( A Genealogical Memoir of the Lothrop-Lathrop Family )

To give myself and those interested a glimpse into the men that influenced the young Anna Ewer, I offer these words written about Rev. John Lathrop by Amos Otis, from the book A Genealogical Memoir of the Lothrop-Lathrop Family ;

In No. 230 of his articles, he says: "John Lothrop and his followers were held by the people to be martyrs in the cause of Independency. No persecutions, no severity that their enemies could inflict, caused him, or one of his followers to waver. They submitted without a murmur to loss of property, to imprisonment in loathsome jails, and to be separated for two years from their families and friends, rather than subscribe to the forms of worship that Charles and his bigoted prelates endeavored to foree on their consciences."

In No. 245, he says of him and his sons: "Mr. Lothrop was as distinguished for his worldly wisdom as for his piety. He was a good business man, and so were all of his sons. Wherever one of the family pitched his tent, that spot soon became a center of business, and land in its vicinity appreciated in value. It is the men that make a place, and to Mr. Lothrop's in early times, Barnstable was more indebted than to any other family."

From No. 231, we take the following: "Whatever exceptions we may take to Mr. Lothrop's theological opinions, all must admit that he was a good and true man, an independent thinker, and a man who held opinions in advance of his times. Even in Massachusetts, a half century has not elapsed since his opinions on religious toleration have been adopted by the legislature."

According to the papers written by Amos Otis, Thomas Ewer Jr., with his wife Hannah and their children were living in Spring Hill and Sandwich, Massachusetts area aound 1658 and 1659. Thomas Ewer Jr., was a Quaker and was taxed and treated unfairly like most of the Quakers were treated at that time in that area. By now his mother, Sarah Learned Ewer Lathrop had died and the rest of his siblings were either married or dead, except for Anna, his younger sister. It could be very likely that Anna was living with her brother and his family at this time.

Thomas Ewer Jr., became embroiled in a argument with George Barlow over cloth and other items that were confiscated from him for fines that were due for refusing to take the Oath of Fidelity. In 1658, Thomas and many of the leading Quakers were asked to leave Sandwich, Massachusetts. (It was in December of 1658 that Daniel Wing had all of his estate confirmed to his children in order to escape the heavy fines that were levied against him for his militant Quakerism). By 1661, Thomas had relocated his family to Barnstable where they bought a farm and Thomas took up the trade of his father and became a Tailor.

Since we do not know anything at all about Anna Ewer during this period of time, we can only conjecture that she was living with her brother and his family. If she wasn't living with her brother and his family, chances are very likely that she visited with them occasionally and that may have been how she knew Daniel Wing and probably his wife and children...from meeting them at the Quaker gatherings. Even if Anna was born in 1638, by the time that Hannah Swift Wing died in 1664, Anna was about twenty-six years old. By the time that Anna Ewer married Daniel Wing, in June of 1666, she was fast approaching the age of thirty, if she hadn't already. It was after her marriage in 1666 to Daniel Wing that Anna's brother, Thomas Ewer Jr., died in 1667. Thomas Lathrop, Anna & Thomas Ewer's stepfather and Shubael Ewer, their Uncle, were both appointed guardians of Thomas Ewer's children. "Mr. Thomas Clarke, sometimes of Boston, now of Barnstable" sued in 1667 Daniel Winge of Sandwich, administrator to the estate of Thomas Ewer, late of Barnstable, for a debt, but the jury did not understand the case, and Clarke desired to present the case again, but reconsidered and withdrew 28 October 1684 [PCR 7:279].

When Anna Ewer married Daniel Wing on June 2, 1666, she inherited a ready made family. Daniel Wing Jr., was not quite two years old, his sister, Deborah was only about six years old. Beulah Wing was about eight, and John Wing was about ten. Samuel Wing was about fourteen and the two oldest sisters, Lydia and Hannah Wing were approaching marriageable age, being nineteen and twenty-three years old respectively. Daniel Wing did not remarry in haste and he had two grown daughters at home that were more than capable of caring for Daniel and the younger children. Evidently the marriage between Daniel Wing and Anna Ewer was one of affection not a union formed out of desperation.

On August 4, 1668, Anna Ewer gave birth to her first child, Experience Wing. By now Anna was between the age of thirty or thirty-three and Daniel Wing was over fifty years of age. Two more children would be born to Daniel and Anna; Bachelor Wing on December 10, 1671 and Jashub Wing on March 30, 1674. The marriage between Daniel Wing and Anna Ewer would span twenty-eight years by the time that Daniel died on August 3, 1694 in Sandwich, Barnstable Co., Massachusetts. It is believed that Anna Ewer died around 1720 because Daniel Wing's legacy to three of his sons were not payable until after Anna;s death; John Wing, four years afterward, Daniel Wing, eight years afterward and Bachelor, twelve years after Anna's death. Hannah Bourman (Bowerman), daughter of said John (who was of Rochester) with her husband Benjamin Bourman (Bowerman) receipted for John's legacy which had been given to Hannah by John's will 23d day of "first month called March" 1723-4; Daniel receipted for his legacy December, 1729; and Bachelor (then of Hanover) receipted for his legacy January 31, 1732-3. Inventory shows personal estate valued at £68, 10s; real estate £200.

Anna Ewer Wing, who presumably died about 1720 was buried at Spring Hill Cemetery in Sandwich, Massachusetts where her husband Daniel Wing and his first wife, Hannah Swift Wing were both buried. By the time she died, she would be the grandmother of twenty-three of her own grandchildren and she would be a step-grandmother of about forty step-grandchildren. In fact, many children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews and other family members probably gathered around her grave on the day of her burial. Anna Ewer was the last surviving relic of another time and age. Her death finally closed a chapter in the early lives of the Wing family. As such, it was probably a very poignant occasion. Without taking any credit and regard away from Hannah Swift, the elusive Anna Ewer took on a large task and she handled it very well. She survived to live beyond eighty years and may have lived as long as eighty-five years. She had survived in a harsh enviornment and like her husband, Daniel, had stood helpless while people she loved had been persecuted for their religious beliefs.

Thomas Lathrop & Sarah Learned