When James Priest was born on 7 September 1715, in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America, his father, Joseph Priest, was 37 and his mother, Margaret Child, was 28. He married Hannah Lawrence on 8 September 1750, in Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America. They were the parents of at least 3 sons and 1 daughter. He died after 1762, in Marlborough, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States, and was buried in Maplewood Cemetery, Marlborough, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.
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Thomas Jefferson's American Declaration of Independence endorsed by Congress. Colonies declare independence.
"""At the end of the Second Continental Congress the 13 colonies came together to petition independence from King George III. With no opposing votes, the Declaration of Independence was drafted and ready for all delegates to sign on the Fourth of July 1776. While many think the Declaration was to tell the King that they were becoming independent, its true purpose was to be a formal explanation of why the Congress voted together to declare their independence from Britain. The Declaration also is home to one of the best-known sentences in the English language, stating, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."""""""
English (mainly West Midlands): nickname from Middle English pr(i)est ‘minister of the Church’ (Old English prēost, from Latin presbyter, Greek presbyteros ‘elder, counselor’, comparative of presbys ‘old man’). It may have denoted someone with a pious manner or possibly for someone who had played the part of a priest in a pageant. It may occasionally have been used to denote someone suspected of being the son of a priest but evidence for this is lacking.
History: A John Priest is recorded as being in Woburn, MA, as early as 1675. The Mayflower Pilgrim Digory Priest of the Netherlands died the first winter at Plymouth in 1620, leaving behind a widow who remarried and two daughters, who did not pass on the surname.
Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.
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