Innes, Alexander

Published: 16 Dec 2014
Updated: 24 Jan 2023
Researchers: Andrew Millard, Teresa Rust, Jonathan Tucker
Editors: Teresa Rust, Toni Rome

First Generation in the New World

1. ALEXANDER² INNES, was born in Scotland about 1632 and died at Block Island in 1679. He began his indenture at the Lynn Iron Works, then moved to Braintree, and thereafter Taunton. He met at Braintree, Massachusetts, CATHERINE (BRIGGS?)³, an Irish bondwoman who died probably between 1664 and 1679, as she was not mentioned in Alexander’s will. It is thought that she was captured and transported to New England as a result of Cromwell’s campaigns in Ireland, possibly arriving on the ship Goodfellow in 1653. Alexander and Catherine were married⁴ before 1656 at Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Biographical Notes:
IMPORTANT UPDATE! (Jul 2018)
According to, Christopher Gerrard, Pam Graves, Andrew Millard, Richard Annis, and Anwen Caffell, in, Lost Lives, New Voices: Unlocking the Stories of the Scottish Soldiers at the Battle of Dunbar 1650, (England: Oxbow Books, 2018), on page 247, Alexander is categorized as: Definite [that he is a Dunbar prisoner transported on the Unity]

Innes/Ennis/Evans/Evins/Enos/Innis/Aines/Alexander. Appears: 1653. D.aft.1665. [Exiles; Banks; DR; SPOWS; Ch.8] For explanations of the category, abbreviations and references see List of Dunbar prisoners from Lost Lives, New Voices.

Children of Alexander and Catherine (Briggs?) Innes:

2. MARY INNES/ENOS (possible child)⁵ , b. abt 1652 in Massachusetts.
2. WILLIAM INNES/ENOS (possible child)⁵ , b. abt 1653 in Massachusetts.
2. ELIZABETH INNES/ENOS⁶, b. at Taunton in 1658.
2. THOMAS INNES/ENOS (possible child)⁵ , b. abt 1660 in Massachusetts or Rhode Island.
2. CATHERINE INNES/ENOS (possible child)⁵ , b. between 1669 and 1679 at Block Island, Rhode Island.

Second Generation

2. ELIZABETH² INNES/ENOS, (Alexander¹), b. at Taunton, 1658. She married at Block Island, Rhode Island on 24 Jul 1672, WILLIAM HARRIS⁵ . She married second bef. Feb 1694/5, RICHARD SMITH⁵ of Lyme, Connecticut. He d. 8 Mar 1701. She married third in 1711/12, widower ROGER ALGER⁵ of Lyme. He d. 1725. Elizabeth died at Lyme in Jul 1729.

Third Generation

3. WILLIAM HARRIS JR., (Elizabeth Innes², Alexander¹), b. 10 Feb 1675⁴, Block Island, Rhode Island, d. 1762, Connecticut⁴. He married ELIZABETH BROCKWAY (b. 24 May 1676⁷, Lyme, CT, d. July 6, 1729), Nov. 30, 1697⁸⁴, New Shoreham, Rhode Island.

Children of William and Elizabeth (Brockway) Harris:

4. HANNAH HARRIS, (William³, Elizabeth Innes², Alexander¹), b. abt 1698-1700, New Shoreham, Rhode Island
4. ELIZABETH HARRIS, (William³, Elizabeth Innes², Alexander¹), b. 11 Oct 1699, New Shoreham, Rhode Island⁹
4. MARY HARRIS, (William³, Elizabeth Innes², Alexander¹), b. abt 1700-1, Rhode Island
4. MARGARET HARRIS, (William³, Elizabeth Innes², Alexander¹), b. abt 1700-1, Rhode Island
4. TABITHA HARRIS, (William³, Elizabeth Innes², Alexander¹), b. 9 May 1702, Lyme, CT¹⁰
4. SARAH HARRIS, (William³, Elizabeth Innes², Alexander¹), b. 17 Feb 1704, Lyme, CT¹¹
4. ESTHER HARRIS, (William³, Elizabeth Innes², Alexander¹), b. 11 Aug 1706, Lyme, CT¹²
4. THANKFUL HARRIS, (William³, Elizabeth Innes², Alexander¹), b. 23 Feb 1707, Lyme, CT¹³
4. EUNICE HARRIS, (William³, Elizabeth Innes², Alexander¹), b. March 1, 1710, Wethersfield, CT¹⁴

Fourth Generation

4. THANKFUL HARRIS, (William³, Elizabeth Innes², Alexander¹), b. Feb. 23, 1707, Lyme, CT ¹³, d. after 1748, Colchester, CT. She married RICHARD BEBEE, March 23, 1730, New London, CT¹⁵

Children of Richard and Thankful (Harris) Bebee:

5. SAMUEL BEBEE, (Thankful⁴, William³, Elizabeth Innes², Alexander¹), b. 5 Jun 1733, Colchester, Connecticut¹⁶
5. TIMOTHY BEBEE, (Thankful⁴, William³, Elizabeth Innes², Alexander¹), b. 1736, d. 2 Sep 1740 Colchester, Connecticut¹⁷
5. THANKFUL BEBEE, (Thankful⁴, William³, Elizabeth Innes², Alexander¹), b. abt 1737, Colchester, Connecticut
5. ELIZABETH BEBEE, (Thankful⁴, William³, Elizabeth Innes², Alexander¹), b. 1738; d. 1752, Colchester, Connecticut¹⁷
5. ROSEL (ROSWEL) BEBEE, (Thankful⁴, William³, Elizabeth Innes², Alexander¹), b. abt 1742-3, Colchester, Connecticut, m. (1) DORCAS BABBITT, 5 Mar 1763, Colchester, Connecticut¹⁸, m. (2) ABIGAIL DOUGLAS, d. 3 Jan 1833, Gill, Massachusetts¹⁹
5. NATHANIEL BEBEE, (Thankful⁴, William³, Elizabeth Innes², Alexander¹), b. 1746; d. June 13, 1752, Colchester, Connecticut¹⁷
5. OLIVE BEBEE, (Thankful⁴, William³, Elizabeth Innes², Alexander¹), b. 1747; d. Nov. 13, 1752, Colchester, Connecticut¹⁷

Sources and Notes:
Bart Saxbe is a family historian. His research interests are (1) nineteenth-century Ohio, and (2) colonial southeastern New England. The latter concentrates on the Bowen family of Rehoboth, Mass.; the Walling family of Providence Co., R.I., and the Innes/Ennis family of Block Island, R.I., and Kingston, N.Y. He is happy to receive correspondence concerning these families, but does not take clients.

Alexander Innes died in 1679 at the home of his supposed daughter Elizabeth “Enos”, the wife of William Harris, on Block Island, Rhode Island. He made a nuncupative will⁵ in the presence of Robert Guthrie and two others from Block Island, naming William Harris as his heir (New Shoreham Town Book 1:52). Catherine most likely died between 1664 and 1679.⁵

“Alexander Ennis was evidently among those who remained at Saugus. He was listed on an inventory of the iron works dated November 1653. The inventory was a result of lawsuits resulting from financial difficulties. The Scots were valued at £10 each, though Giffard protested that they were worth twice that amount and some of the Scots more than that.”

On 16 April 2018, Janice Buss wrote, “Here’s another for your list: Alexander Innes (Battle of Dunbar; Saugus Ironworks)/ Katherine Briggs “an Irish woman” (Third Supplement to Torrey’s New England Marriages Prior to 1700, p. 159)²⁰”

In the court records in Taunton, Massachusetts:
Saxbe, William B., Jr., CG, FASG. “Who Was the Mother of James Paule (1657-1724) of Taunton, Massachusetts?” The American Genealogist, Vol. 73 (October 1998): 312-315.

Alexander and Catherine Innes by Michelle Boyd.

Regarding Mr. and Mrs. Alexander INNES and fellow SPOW William PAUL from Miner Descent:

“Life in Taunton – The Irish Catherine and Scottish Alexander clashed with the Puritans of Taunton on at least one occasion. Saxbe writes, “‘an Irish woman named Katheren Aines’ was brought before the court at Plymouth in February, 1656/57, ‘vpon suspision of comiting adultery.’ The trial was the following month, and justice was swift and harsh:

‘Att this Court, William Paule, Scotchman, for his vnclean and filthy behauiour with the wife of Alexander Aines, is centanced by the Court to bee forthwith publickly whipt…which accordingly was p(er)formed…Katheren Aines, for her vnclean and laciuiouse behauior with the abouesaid William Paule, and for the blasphemos words that shee hath spoken, is centanced by the Court to bee forthwith publickly whipt heer att Plymouth, and afterwards att Taunton, on a publicke training day, and to were a Roman B cutt out of ridd cloth and sowed to her vper garment on her right arme [for blaspheme]; and if shee shalbee euer found without it soe worne whil shee is in the gou(vern)ment, to bee forthwith publickly whipt…Alexander Anis, for his leauing his family, and exposing his wife to such temptations, and being as baud to her therin, is centanced by the Court for the p(re)sent to sitt in the stockes the time the said Paule and Katheren Ainis are whipt, which was p(er)formed…’

Understandably, the Innes family moved sometime within the next few years. In 1659, Alexander is found in the records buying land in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, fifteen miles south of Taunton (Clarence S. Brigham, Early Records of the Town of Portsmouth (Providence: E.L. Freeman & Sons, 1901), pg. 379). In 1664, Block Island became part of Rhode Island and a group of Scots settled there.”

1. George S. Stewart’s list, 35 Scots at Lynn, 1653, Iron Works Inventory [↩]
2. Descendants of Alexander Innes, David Thaler [↩]
3. Alexander Ennis, Prisoner of War from the Battle of Dunbar, Indentured Servant of Saugus, and Resident of Block Island, and his wife, Catherine, Originally of Ireland, pg. 73, by Michelle A. Boyd, 2021 [↩]
4. Third Supplement to Torrey’s New England Marriages Prior to 1700, p. 129, by Clarence A. Torrey (ancestry.com requires subscription) [↩] [↩] [↩] [↩] [↩]
5. Alexander Ennis and Catherine, by Michelle A. Boyd [↩] [↩] [↩] [↩] [↩] [↩] [↩] [↩] [↩]
6. Alexander Ennis, Prisoner of War from the Battle of Dunbar, Indentured Servant of Saugus, and Resident of Block Island, and his wife, Catherine, Originally of Ireland, pg. 81, by Michelle A. Boyd, 2021 [↩] [↩] [↩] [↩] [↩]
7. “Connecticut Births and Christenings, 1649-1906”, database, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F7WX-LB4 : 7 January 2020), Elizabeth Brockway, 1676.(requires account) [↩]
8. “Rhode Island Marriages, 1724-1916”, database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F8KL-5ZB : 22 January 2020), William Harris, 1697. (requires account) [↩]
9. Rhode Island, U.S., Vital Extracts, 1636-1899, pg. 27 (ancestry.com requires subscription) [↩]
10. “Connecticut Births and Christenings, 1649-1906”, database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F77K-7VQ : 7 January 2020), Tabitha Harris, 1702. (requires account) [↩]
11. “Connecticut Births and Christenings, 1649-1906”, database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F77K-7V4 : 7 January 2020), Sarah Harris, 1704. (requires account) [↩]
12. “Connecticut Births and Christenings, 1649-1906”, database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F77K-7VY : 7 January 2020), Easter Harris, 1706. (requires account) [↩]
13. “Connecticut Births and Christenings, 1649-1906”, database, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F77K-WXH : 7 January 2020), Thankfull Harris, 1707. (requires account) [↩] [↩]
14. “Connecticut Births and Christenings, 1649-1906”, database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F7WJ-CML : 7 January 2020), Eunice Harris, 1711. (requires account) [↩]
15. Diary of Joshua Hempstead [↩]
16. “Connecticut Births and Christenings, 1649-1906”, database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F74X-RG6 : 7 January 2020), Samuel Beebe, 1733. (requires account) [↩]
17. Connecticut, U.S., Church Record Abstracts, 1630-1920, Vol. 18, pg. 15 (ancestry.com requires subscription) [↩] [↩] [↩] [↩]
18. Connecticut, U.S., Town Birth Records, pre-1870 (Barbour Collection), Colchester Vital Records 1699-1850, pg. 11 (ancestry.com requires subscription) [↩]
19. Massachusetts, U.S., Compiled Birth, Marriage, and Death Records, 1700-1850, pg. 82 (ancestry.com requires subscription) [↩]
20. Third Supplement to Torrey’s New England Marriages Prior to 1700, p. 159, by Clarence A. Torrey (for purchase on Amazon) [↩]