Father may be John b. 1565, Surrey, John's father was Robert, b. 1540, Bermondsey, Surrey?
William Learned, the emigrant, was admitted freeman in the colony, May 14, 1634. On Apr. 26, 1638, he was chosen one of a committee of six who were desired to consider of some things tending toward a body of Lawes. Dec. 18, 1640, he signed at Charlestown the Town Orders for Woburn and was one of the first seven members of the church in Woburn, gathered Aug. 14, 1642. He was one of the first board of selectmen chosen Apr. 13, 1643, and again Feb. 9, 1644-5. At the same time he was elected constable (that official being, at that time, also tax-collector), and remained in office until his death, Mar. 1, 1646-7.
The following is from "The Great Migration Begins" by Robert Charles Anderson
WILLIAM LEARNED
ORIGIN: Bermondsey, Surrey
MIGRATION: 1630
FIRST RESIDENCE: Charlestown
REMOVES: Woburn 1640
CHURCH MEMBERSHIP: "William Learned and Goodith his wife" were admitted to Charlestown church on 6 December 1632 [ChChR 8].
FREEMAN: 14 May 1634 [MBCR 1:369].
EDUCATION: Charlestown committee "to consider of some things tending towards a body of laws &c.," 26 April 1638 [ChTR 38].
OFFICES: Charlestown selectman, 1636 [ChTR 16].
ESTATE: Surrendered five acres Mystic Side, 1635 [ChTR 14]. Allotted two shares of hayground, which was increased to three, 1635 [ChTR 19, 20]. Had five acres of land Mystic Side, 1637 [ChTR 27]. "W[illia]m Lernett" had three and three-quarter cow commons, 1637 [ChTR 32]. In the Mystic Side allotments of 23 April 1638 he had portions of fifteen, forty and five acres [ChTR 37]. Had three and three-quarter cow commons, 30 December 1638 [ChTR 42].
On 13 January 1636/7 Charlestown selectmen "agreed to allow Goodman Learned a portion of marsh by his house agreed upon by Goodmaan Richeson & Goodman W[illia]m Baker for his haylot by Mr. Gibbons's which he yieldeth up to the town" [ChTR 24].
In the Charlestown land inventory of 1638 "William Lernett" held seven parcels of land: "three acres of arable land and meadow ... with a dwelling house"; "four acres of arable land ... in the East Field"; three and three-quarters cow commons; "two acres of meadow ... in Mystic Marshes"; "five acres of woodland ... in Mystic Field"; "fifteen acres of woodland ... in Mystic Field"; and "forty acres of land ... in Rock Field" [ChBOP 25].
When Gardy James sold land to Rowland Layhorn on 28 March 1649 James recited that the five acre lot had been bought by him from John Power, hosier, "who had it of William Mirable, and he had it of Georg. Michel, who had it of William Learned, which was the first proprietor" [ChBOP 101].
BIRTH: By about 1581 based date of marriage.
DEATH: Woburn 1 March 1645[/6].
MARRIAGE: (1) St. Olave, Southwark, Surrey, 22 April 1606 Goodith Gilman; she died after 1632. ("Goodith" was a distinct given name, not to be confused with "Judith," and not to be interpreted as "Goodwife," as has been done.)
(2) Jane _____ ("Sarah [sic] Learned, widow," died at Woburn on 24 January 1660[/1]; in March following the "inventory of the estate of the widow Jane Learned deceased in Malden" was taken, and administration was granted on 2 April 1661 to Ralph Shepard [MPR Case #13856; William Law Learned, The Learned Family ... Being Descendants of William Learned ... (Albany 1882), pp. 8-10]).
CHILDREN:
i SARAH, b. about 1607 (aged 28 in 1635 [Hotten 88]); m. (1) Bermondsey, Surrey, 13 January 1623/4 Thomas Ewer; m. (2) 11 December 1639 Thomas Lathrop, son of Rev. John Lathrop ("My son Tho[mas] and Brother Larnett's daughter, widow Ewer, in the Bay" [NEHGR 9:286]).
ii BETHIA, bp. Bermondsey, Surrey, 29 October 1612; no further record.
iii MARY, bp. Bermondsey 15 September 1615; bur. there 26 July 1625.
iv ABIGAIL, bp. Bermondsey 30 September 1618; no further record.
v ELIZABETH, bp. Bermondsey 25 March 1621; m. by 1645 John Hall (b. of child at Charlestown 21 September 1645 [ChVR 1:9]).
vi ISAAC, bp. Bermondsey 25 February 1623/4; m. Woburn 9 July 1646 Mary Stearns, daughter of ISAAC STEARNS.
COMMENTS: Admitted an inhabitant of Charlestown in 1630 [ChTR 6]. In lists of Charlestown inhabitants of 9 January 1633/4 and January 1635/6 [ChTR 10, 15]. Signed petition of 10 February 1634/5 establishing office of selectman in Charlestown [ChTR 13].
On 16 November 1637 "Will[iam] Larnet acknowledged his fault in subscribing the seditious writing [in favor of Rev. John Wheelwright], & desiring his name to [be] crossed out, it was yielded him, & crossed" [MBCR 1:208].
Some sources state that a Sarah "Leonarde" baptized on 30 September 1604 at Ware, Hertfordshire, was the first daughter of the immigrant, but the date of this baptism precedes the only known marriage of William Learned by two years, and the surname in the Ware baptism is not one of the usual variants of Learned.
Because there was a JOHN HALL in Charlestown with wife Bethia some years earlier than the marriage of Elizabeth Learned to a John Hall of Charlestown, the suggestion has been made that one John Hall married successively the sisters Bethia and Elizabeth Hall. This hypothesis has two fatal flaws. First, marriages between a widowed man and his first wife's sister were considered incestuous in seventeenth-century New England, and only one or two instances are known. Second, the JOHN HALL with wife Bethia had moved to Cape Cod before the marriage between John Hall and Elizabeth Learned; these were two different John Halls.
