According to Threlfall’s GMC50,849 “JOHN HEALD was of Concord, Massachusetts, about 1637. In the parish register of Alderly, Cheshire, is recorded the marriage of one John Heald and Dorothy Royle, on 3 December 1636, and also the baptism of John Heald, son of John and Dorothy Heald, 26 March 1637. This surely must be the same as John of Concord.

“He was made a freeman 2 June 1641. He lived in Concord, apparently in the north quarter of town. He wrote his own will, signed it on 19 April 1662, and died five weeks later on 24 May 1662. The will was proved 16 June following. The will commences: ‘I John Heald of Concord in the County of Middlesex in Massachusetts Collony being sick in body butt of perfect mind and memory, doe make this my Last Will and Testament...’. He names his three eldest children only, John being ‘my eldest son’. Hannah was named only by her given name altho she was then married. These three had already received their portion of the estate. To each of his five younger children, he bequeathed the sum of thirteen pounds, six shillings and eight pence to be paid to them by ‘my loving wife Dorothy’ when they reached twenty one or at their marriage. He left one suit of clothes to John, his great coat to Timothy, and a waist coat to Hannah. The rest of the estate was to go to his wife. The net value of the estate was £140.1s. His will is unusual for that time in that the handwriting, his own, is clear and graceful and the spelling and punctuation are that of an extremely literate man. In light of the lack of specific evidence that he was from Alderley, it is interesting to note that at Alderley, a few yards from the parish church, is an ancient school house which was built around 1628. This would explain how John Heald learned to read and write with skill as great as any university trained clergyman. This school house was used until 1908.

“Dorothy, ‘the widow Heald’, was listed as a land holder in 1665 with 6 lots of about 161 acres total in the north quarter of Concord. She died 29 October 1694 at Dedham. How she happened to die in Dedham is hard to explain. None of her children are known to have lived there. The record [p. 200] would seem to apply to her, as no other persons of similar name have been identified. Usually deaths were recorded where the person lived so it would seem she must have been living there during her last days.” A transcript of John Heald’s estate inventory follows.

The entry on the Heald family in Shattuck’s Concord850 reads as follows: “HEALD. This name is sometimes erroneously spelled Hale or Held. John here in 1635, came from Berwick, Eng.; d. May 24, 1662; had John, Timothy, Dorcas, Gershom, Dorothy, Israel, and perhaps other children. Gershom m. Ann Vinton 1673, and removed to Stow.

“John, jr., above mentioned, m. Sarah Dean 1661, and had Elizabeth, John, Gershom, Sarah, and perhaps others; of whom, John m. Mary Chandler 1690; d. Nov. 25, 1721, a. 55; had Mary, m. John Parling; John, deacon in Acton; Timothy, great-grandfather of John, Esq. of Carlisle; Josiah, Elizabeth, Samuel, Amos, deacon in Concord, in Lincoln, and in Townsend; Ephraim, and Dorcas.”

The discrepancy in arrival dates between Shattuck and Threlfall is unexplained.