1. John¹ Ramsdell was born in England 1602. John died 27 October 1688 in Topsfield, Essex, MA, at 86 years of age.

He married Priscilla 1640 in Lynn, Essex, MA. Priscilla was born about 1604 in England. John was among the first settlers of Lynn, Massachusetts, arriving in Boston in the summer of 1632 with the Winthrop Fleet and going shortly to Lynn. He was an indentured servant of Captain Nathaniel Turner and was probably unmarried when he emigrated. On 30 April 1657, John Ramsdell "age 55" deposed at Salem Court that "twenty five years ago, when he was a servant of Captain Turner, his master and other inhabitants of Lynn, before it was a town, fenced in Nahant" (Records and files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County) John was a husbandman or farmer, owning property in the "Rumney Marsh" area of the part of Lynn that is now Saugus. As early as 1641, John was serving as a juror for both the General Court and on the Grand Jury. He was called as a witness in a number of cases. One of particular interest was the case against "Robert Burgis of Lin" for "bad and course grinding of both English and Indian corn". On 25 June 1650, John Ramsdell and Jenkin Davis were sworn as constables for Lynn.