King Philip's War
John Colby was born November 19, 1656 and he took the oath of
allegiance and fidelity in December of 1677.
He was a soldier in King Philip's War, at the Falls Fight
under Capt. William Turner, 18 May 1676. He was a Sergeant of the
Amesbury train band, 1680. He died 6 Apr 1717. Administration on the estate of John
Colby was granted to his only surviving son, Joseph Colby on 21
April 1719.
King Philip's War was a New England war that began in 1675. King Philip, whose Native
American name is Metacomet. He was chief of the Wampanoags and a
brilliant soldier. He led attacks against several frontier towns
in Massachusetts. But Metacomet was killed in 1676, and his people
were sold as slaves.
SOURCES: (1) Old Families of Salisbury and Amesbury, pg. 106, by
David Hoyt, Compiled 1897 - 1919. Reprinted by New England History
Press Somersworth, NH 03878. Reprinted 1981,1987, 1990. ISBN
0-89725-026-5; (2) Ancestral File (TM), data as of 2 January 1996,
Family History Library, 35 North West Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah
84150; (3) Essex County Vital Records to 1850, Salisbury,
Massachusetts. Listed as Colby. Death, Amesbury; (4) "The Colby
Family in Early America" by Frederick Lewis Weis, Caledonia, The
Colonial Press, pub 1970.