ORIGIN: Unknown
MIGRATION: 1630
FIRST RESIDENCE: Dorchester
REMOVES: Windsor 1635
FREEMANSHIP: Requested 18 October 1630 [MBCR 1:79].
EDUCATION: His inventory included books valued at 10s. Ann Hoskins made her mark to her will.
OFFICES: Jury "for the trial of Walter Palmer, concerning the death of Austin Bratcher," 9 November 1630 [MBCR 1:81]. Dorchester fence~viewer, 24 May 1634 [DTR 6].
ESTATE: On 3 April 1633 "John Hoskeins" was assigned the erecting of sixty feet of rails in the common fence for his three cows (also "Goodman Hoskeins" [DTR 2, 3]. On 2 June 1634 "John Hoskeins seinor" was granted four acres of meadow "in the neck where the dog was killed" [DTR 6] which he presumably sold in or about 1635, upon his departure for Windsor.
   In the Windsor land inventory on 16 November 1640 "John Hoskins the father and Tho[mas] Hoskins the son have granted from the plantation an homelot with the additions whereon the dwelling house stands eighteen acres," seventeen acres in the Meade, "over the Great River next the said river in breadth eighteen rods in length, to the east three miles," "towards Pine Meadow twenty-seven acres" and "in the Pine Meade fourteen acres"; this entry was followed by later instructions on the divisions of these parcels between the father and the son [WiLR 1:4].
   In his will, dated 1 May 1648 and proved on an unknown date, "John Horskins" bequeathed to "the Church £3 to be distributed by the deacons unto the poor"; to "my servant Sammuel Rockwell if he be willing to serve in my house one quarter of a year after his covenant is out which he hath formerly made, my will is that at the end of his service he shall have £6 of me; if not willing, then he shall receive £4 at the completion of his term of service already covenanted"; list of debtors; to "my wife and son Thomas" residue [ CCCR 1:483-84; Manwaring 1:18].
   The inventory of John Hoskins was taken 29 June 1648 and totalled £338 6s. 8d., including £161 15s. in real estate: "the house and two barns, with the homelot of 12 acres of land," £52; "21 acres of meadow," £42; "a great lot, 27 acres," £6 15s.; "at Pyne Meadow, 14 acres," £30; and "a parcel of swamp, 3 acres," £3 [CCCR 1:484-85; Manwaring 1:18].
   In her will, dated 17 August 1660 and proved on an unknown date, "Ane Hoskins, widow, wife of John Hoskins of Windsor," bequeathed to "my son Thomas Hoskins ... my part of the housing & land which was half of all that was my husband's ... & after his decease I give it to his son John Hoskins"; if John die before "he come to his age to possess & enjoy this estate, then my will is that this whole estate that was mine shall be distributed equally amongst the children of my daughter Wilton's daughter Mary Marshall"; a featherbed and furniture to "my son Thomas Hoskins & after his decease I give it to his son John Hoskins all to be kept for him till the age of one and twenty years and in case he die before that age, then this as the housing & land shall be to Mary Marshall's children"; household goods to "my son Thomas" and after him to "his son John"; "my wearing apparel" to "my daughter Wilton"; "for my overseers I desire John Strong Sr. & my son David Wilton" [ Hartford PD Case #2880].
   The inventory of the estate of Ann Hoskins, taken 1 June 1663, totalled £113 4s., of which £102 10s. was real estate: "half the housing, half the orchard and half the homelot," £45; "her half of meadow in the great meadow six acres," £30; "her half in pine meadow seven acres," £21; and "her half in a woodlot thirteen acres," £6 10s. [Hartford PD Case #2880].
 

BIRTH: By about 1588 based on estimated date of marriage.
DEATH: Windsor between 1 May 1648 (date of will) and 29 June 1648 (date of inventory) [Grant 80].
MARRIAGE: By about 1613 Ann _____ (assuming she was mother of all three of the children listed below). The language of the wills of John Hoskins and Ann Hoskins and the bunching of the estimated ages of the three possible children suggest that both Ann and John may have been married previously. "Old widow Hoskins" died at Windsor 6 March 1662[/3] [CTVR 21; Grant 83].
CHILDREN:
 

COMMENTS: Given his presence at Dorchester in 1630 and his likely West Country origin, Hoskins presumably sailed on the Mary & John. Several sources state that Hoskins came from Beaminster, Dorset, but this remains only a suggestion. There were Hoskins families in Beaminster, and David Wilton, who married Hoskins's daughter (or stepdaughter) was from Beaminster, but as yet no solid evidence for this origin has been discovered [NEHGR 143:117-19].
   Older sources claim that John Hoskins's wife was Ann Filer sister of Walter Filer, and that there were two more children: Anthony Hoskins, who married in 1656, and Rebecca, who also married in 1656. There is, however, no evidence for the identity of Hoskins's wife, and Anthony and Rebecca are more likely his nephew and niece, or even totally unrelated. Genevieve Kiepura presented the arguments for excluding Anthony and Rebecca [TAG 30:191-92], and her conclusions were supported by Coddington a few years later [TAG 38:1-4].
   Thomas and Katherine were clearly both children of Ann (_____) Hoskins, but it is not clear whether Katherine was daughter of John Hoskins; and these two children and the probable John were all born in the second decade of the seventeenth century, while Anthony and Rebecca would have been nearly a generation younger. See also the more recent work of Gerald J. Parsons [NEHGR 143:117-19], which is in agreement with Kiepura and Coddington on these points.
   On 30 November 1630 "Bartholomewe Hill is adjudged to be whipped for stealing a loaf of bread from John Hoskins, which himself confesseth" [MBCR 1:82].