{{Short description|Early American gunsmith, blacksmith, and landowner (c. 1607 – c.1656)}} thumb|Petition by Harmon Garrett for Old Jethro's land along the Elizabeth River (Assabet) near what is now Maynard, Massachusetts {{about||a Native American leader who possibly adopted his name|Harmon Garrett}} '''Herman Garrett''' (also known as '''Harman Garrett''') (c. 1607 – c.1656/57) was an early American gunsmith, blacksmith, and landowner in colonial Massachusetts.
Herman Garrett was from Wickham Market in England. In 1628, he married Susan Tofts in Ipswich.<ref name="JJHoward">{{Cite book |last=Howard |first=Joseph Jackson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B-gKAAAAYAAJ |title=Visitation of England and Wales: Notes |last2=Crisp |first2=Frederick Arthur |date=1906 |publisher=Priv. print. |language=en}}</ref> Garrett immigrated to Massachusetts by 1638 and worked as a gunsmith and blacksmith in Charlestown, Boston, until 1652 when he moved across the Charles River to Boston.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Society |first=American Antiquarian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U_JJAQAAIAAJ |title=Transactions and Collections of the American Antiquarian Society |date=1885 |publisher=American Antiquarian Society |language=en}}</ref> In 1640, Garrett hired John Edwards as an apprentice gunsmith in Charlestown, with an agreement for Edwards to purchase Garrett's shop, but in 1642 Garrett received Edwards' property after a complaint was filed by Edwards alleging an inflated valuation of Garrett's property.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lechford |first=Thomas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_posAAAAIAAJ |title=Note-book Kept by Thomas Lechford, Esq., Lawyer: In Boston, Massachusetts Bay, from June 27, 1638, to July 29, 1641 |date=1885 |publisher=J. Wilson and Son |language=en}}</ref> In 1643 Garrett removed to Concord, Massachusetts<ref name=Pope>Charles Henry Pope, ''The Pioneers of Massachusetts: A Descriptive List, Drawn from ...'' (1991), pg. 182 https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1556133987</ref> to the house of Robert Hethersay who had previously granted Garrett a mortgage on his house in Concord as security for a loan which Hethersay failed pay.<ref>Suffolk Deeds, Book I, p. 47</ref> By 1643 Garrett was a member of the Nashaway Company which settled the area around what is now Lancaster, Massachusetts, and due to his profession, he may have been involved because of the iron ore deposits in the area.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Massachusetts |first=Colonial Society of |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iL0MAAAAYAAJ |title=Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts |date=1932 |publisher=The Society |language=en}} </ref><ref name=Pope /> By 1650, the Garretts were living in Boston, as Susan Garrett signed a petition by the women of Boston to allow Alice Tilly to work as a midwife.<ref>2043: RECORDS: GENERAL COURT http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ArchivesSearch/RevolutionarySearch.aspx </ref> In 1651 Garrett, was a sometimes resident of Watertown, and he received from the Court 1,000 acres along the Assabet River which may have included parts of what is now Maynard, Massachusetts, when a Native American leader, Tantamous, defaulted on a mortgage for a debt due to Garrett for a mare and a colt.<ref name=Gutteridge>{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/briefhistoryofto00gutt |title=''A Brief History of the Town of Maynard, Massachusetts'' |last=Gutteridge |first=William H. |year=1921 |pages=12–16 |website= |access-date=2 June 2019}}</ref> Tantamous' property was laid out by Simon Willard, Garrett's partner in the Nashaway Company, and then sold to the town of Watertown.<ref name=Gutteridge /> Garrett returned to England and died and was buried at Wickham Market in 1657.<ref name=JJHoward />
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Garrett, Herman}} Category:Date of birth unknown Category:Date of death unknown Category:17th-century English landowners Category:People from colonial Boston Category:American gunsmiths Category:Blacksmiths from the Thirteen Colonies Category:English blacksmiths Category:English emigrants to the Thirteen Colonies Category:1650s deaths