John Borowe Barrus - Barrows (1609 - 1692)
BIRTH 12 JUNE 1609 • Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England, UK
DEATH 18 FEBRUARY 1692 • Plymouth, Plymouth County, Massachusetts
9th great-grandfather to Jordan Smith Saalfrank
John was listed as a cooper for his trade. Coopers in Great Yarmouth endured seasonal, backbreaking labor, driven entirely by the town's booming herring and fishing industry. They crafted and maintained the watertight wooden barrels used to salt and export catches worldwide. Life was highly stressful in the autumn, as they labored in high-demand, high-salt environments alongside the migrant "herring girls" who gutted the fish.
Here is a breakdown of what the profession and daily life entailed in this Norfolk port town:
The Boom & Bust Cycle: The herring season (or the "autumn fishery") ran roughly from October to December. During these peak months, Yarmouth swelled with thousands of seasonal workers. Coopers worked grueling, round-the-clock hours building "half-cran" barrels (which held about 37.5 gallons) and kept existing casks in repair to survive the rigorous journeys to export markets.
Harsh Working Conditions: Coopers faced severe occupational hazards. Handling wet timber caused splinter injuries, but the real menace was the salt. The brine used to preserve the herring invariably found its way into any cuts on the hands, leading to permanent scars and painful infections.
The Off-Season: When the herring migrated, the intense demand for barrels plummeted. During the winter and spring months, coopers had to diversify, manufacturing wooden tubs, churns, and crates, or taking on general box-making jobs.
Maritime Legacy: The importance of this trade to the region’s economy is deeply embedded in Great Yarmouth's history. The old curing works are now commemorated at the award-winning Time and Tide Museum, which is housed in the original Tower Fish Curing Works.
The idea of moving to Salem, Massachusetts, would have been presented to a 26-year-old cooper in Great Yarmouth during the 1630s Great Migration not as a wild adventure, but as a deeply structured, spiritually righteous, and highly profitable business opportunity.
For a young cooper in his prime, the pitch for New England would have arrived through specific channels:
1. The Pulpit Pitch: "A City Upon a Hill"
The idea would first reach him through Puritan sermons. East Anglia, including Norfolk, was a hotbed of Puritan dissent against the strict rule of King Charles I and Archbishop Laud. Local ministers, like the prominent Jeremiah Burroughs who preached near Yarmouth, framed immigration as a divine rescue mission.
The young cooper would be told that England was facing God’s imminent judgment for its corruption, and that Salem was a blessed refuge where he could worship freely and build a "pure" Christian society.
2. The Economic Guarantee: "The Fishery Needs Casks"
As a cooper, his trade was indispensable. Promoters of the Massachusetts Bay Company would actively recruit skilled craftsmen rather than just random laborers.
Salem was explicitly founded as a maritime and fishing outpost. Representatives would pitch Salem as a land with an infinite supply of old-growth timber (which was becoming scarce and heavily regulated in England). He would be promised immediate, high-paying work. The booming New World cod industry desperately needed tightly sealed wooden barrels to salt and export fish, mirroring his work with herring in Yarmouth.
3. The Property Promise: Free Land
In Great Yarmouth, a 26-year-old artisan faced high rents, heavy taxes, and strict town guild regulations. Company promoters and letters sent back from early settlers promised that any freeman who migrated would be granted immediate land ownership. The idea was presented as a chance to instantly elevate his social status from a landless tenant artisan to a land-owning estate holder—a feat nearly impossible in Norfolk.
4. Literal Promotion: The Ship in the Harbor
The idea would become a physical reality right at his doorstep. Great Yarmouth was one of the primary departure ports for the Great Migration fleets. In 1630, Governor John Winthrop himself sailed to the New World from Yarmouth aboard the Arbella.
Every spring, the young cooper would watch ships loading provisions and neighbors boarding vessels. Broadside flyers and word-of-mouth news in the taverns near the quayside would make the Salem colony feel like a tangible, accessible extension of the Norfolk maritime network.
John, and his first wife, Anne Thompson (1598-1639)
were married 31 August 1634 in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England. John was 25 and Anne was 35. In May of 1635, Anne is pregnant with their first child and it seems that John Barrows may have made his way to Salem May 15th of 1635 at the age of 26 as a ships cooper:
John Barrows makes his way to Salem
"(I) Copying from the Rolls Office, Chancery Lane, London, a large volume bound in vellum, contains among the names of some of the early immigrants bound for Virginia, under date May 15, 1635, "Jo: Barrowe aged 26 years, embarked in the "Plaine Joan" the portico having brought attestation of their conformities to orders and discipline of the Church of England." (2)
John returned back to England
(timing of return and the ship is unknown at this time). September 21, 1635 John and Anne have their first child, a daughter, Dionys Barrows. Unfortunately it is recorded that Dionys passed away two days later.
10 of May 1637, the book of passage notes again that John Barrows has been approved for passage to New England, along with his wife, Anne (Thompson) Barrows.
John Barrus/Barrows and his wife Anne made their voyage over to America, landing in Salem, Massachusetts.
“One John Borowe of Yarmouth, cooper, aged 28, with wife Anne, aged 40, was permitted to go to New England on 10 May 1637.”
"(I) Copying from the Rolls Office, Chancery Lane, London, a large volume bound in vellum, contains among the names of some of the early immigrants bound for Virginia,….May 10, 1637, is recorded in the examination of John Borowe of Yarmouth, Copper, aged 28 years and Anne his wife aged 40 years -- desirous to pass to Salem in New England, there to inhabit." "The ship on which they reach Salem, was probably the "Mary Ann, " Captain WIlliam Goose, master. The records of Salem, August 14, 1637, state: "Jno. Barows is received an inhabitant of Salem, and is allowed five acres of land" and on November 9: "Jno Barrowes is allowed ten acres, with his former five." Subsequently we find "Jno. Burroes is allowed one half acre of marsh and salt meadow land." This is the usual allowance for two persons, and probably was for himself and his first wife whom he married in England and brought to America, and by whom he had one child, Robert…”
Land in Salem
In 1637 it is recorded that John “received grants of land in Salem”, and he was an habitant of that “town for twenty-eight years.”
Jo: Burroes’ with a household of two was listed in the land grants in Salem dated 25 December 1637.
Birth of Robert John Barrows
November 05, 1639, John and Anne gave birth to their second child, a son named Robert John Barrows. It seems Anne died during childbirth or shortly after, as her date of death is also November 05, 1639.
The last record placing John Barrows in Salem was in 1644 when he was chosen as a fence viewer. There are no probate records for him in Essex County, nor any land records for him as a grantor or grantee.”3
“On March 25th 1644, he is made surveyor of fences in place of Thomas Weeks. We find no further records in Salem of his name, which is in each place spelled differently”5
“We next find him in Plymouth records, March 6, 1665-66, where he is fined by the court ten shillings for refusing to give evidence in the grant inquest. February 15, 1668, the list of townsmen include John Barrow and the record of voters in town meeting June 16, 1668 gives the names of John Barrow and Robert Barrows (no doubt father and son). April 9, 1684 the town laid out to John Barrow ten acres of upland against his meadow on the northeast side of the river. The will of John Barrow executed January 12, 1691-91, and on record in Plymouth, names his eldest son Robert, and other son’s Benajah, Joshua and Ebenezer, not then of age, and mentions two daughters and his loving wife whom he appoints sole administratrix of the will. He signs the will with an S mark, and it is witnessed by John Gray and the T mark of John Barrows, the eldest son of his, Robert, who at that time twenty four years of age.”
I was not able to find any death records from ancestry.com for Anne, but Find A Grave has her death date listed as November 5, 1639. If that date is correct, it is likely that Anne, at the age of 41 yrs, died during the birth of her son Robert John, as his birth date matches her death date.
Their children:
Dionys Barrows (1635-1635) born in Great Yarmouth, England. Died at two days old.
Robert John Barrows (1639-1707) m.
Move to Plymouth, Massachusetts
John moved to Plymouth, Massachusetts before 1665 with their living son, Robert.
John Barrows (1609-1692) and his second wife, Deborah C. Doten (1645-1718)
m. 1666 in Plymouth, Massachusetts. They had five children:
Joshua (1666-1750)
Deborah (1667-1708) - of Sandwich
Mary (1673-1711)
Benajah (1683-1754) - lived in Attleboro
Ebenezer (1685-1736) - lived in Cumberland, RI
Death of John Barrows
When John died in 1692, it is documented he died in Plymouth and left a younger wife, (Deborah), and four sons: Robert; John; Benajah (Attleboro); and Ebenezer (Cumberland, RI), and two daughters: Mary and Deborah. The inventory of the estate, made by John Gray and John Sturtevant, included 14 lbs of cotton yarn, 2 cows, 3 swine, books and 17 shillings in silver money. The 30 acres of land at Monponset {Plympton} was valued at 5 lbs and the house and land at home and all the meadow at Carver belonging to it valued 25 lbs. In his will, he left his son Robert, all of his land, providing that Johns' wife Deborah be allowed use of the land as long as she remained his widow.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
RESOURCES
“The New England Historical and Genealogical Register 166 (April 2012): 119-31.
Genealogical and Memorial History of the State of New York, Vol. II.; pg 510.
“The Founders of New England,” Register 14 (1860): 297-346 at 327. “This record is repeated in various compilations of passenger lists for this time period. The age disparity between John and Anne (he being 12 years younger) is rare for this time period. That being said, Charles Edward Banks, must have changed the age of John to 48 in his work, Planters of the Commonwealth (Boston: Houghteon Mifflin, 1930; rear. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1961), 182. All other sources agree with the Register that John was 28, including Charles Boardman Jewson, Transcripton of Three Registers of Passengers from Great Yarmouth to Holland and New England, 1637-1639, Publications of the Norfolk Record Society 25 (1954): 29, entry #154.”
Genealogical and Memorial History of the State of New York, Vol. II.; pg 510.
“Representative men and old families of southeastern Massachusetts” Vol II. Southeastern Massachusetts, pg 611.
Ibid, 1:462.
Town records of Salem, October 1634 to November 7, 1659, Vol. 1, p 128.
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