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REYNOLDS  HISTORICAL 
GENEALOGY  COLLECTION 


ALLEN  COUNTY  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 


3  1833  00726  7484 


CHARLES    WHITING    MACNAJ 


Maternal  Ancestry  of 
Charles  Whiting  MacNair 


By 
Hannah  Louise  MacNair  Crawford 


BOSTON 

privately  printed 
1912 


If3:<0928 
Steface 

The  late  Charles  Whiting  MacNair,  through  his  mother, 
Hannah  Whiting,  was  the  descendant  of  six  passengers  of  the 
Mayflower,  John  Alden,  William  Bradford,  William  Mullins 
(Moulines,  Mullines),  his  wife  Alice  Mullins,  his  daughter 
Priscilla  (afterward  Alden),  and  Thomas  Rogers;  of  three 
Governors  of  Colonies,  William  Bradford  and  William  Brad- 
ford, Jr.,  and  John  Alden,  all  of  Plymouth ;  of  a  Colonial 
Founder,  William  Pynchon,  founder  of  Roxbury  and  Spring- 
field, and  Treasurer  of  Massachusetts ;  of  a  Revolutionary 
patriot,  Gamaliel  Whiting,  and  of  a  veteran  of  the  war  of  1812, 
Horatio  Whiting.  He  was  descended  from  Lieutenant  Colonel 
John  Allyn,  Connecticut's  famous  "Fighting  Secretary,"  whose 
royal  descent  was  published  by  Browning  in  his  "Americans 
of  Royal  Descent"  and  by  Charles  Knowles  Bolton  in  "The 
Ancestry  of  Margaret  Wyatt."  Through  this  ancestry  Charles 
Whiting  MacNair  is  a  lineal  descendant  of  many  of  England's 
oldest  Norman  families,  among  them  the  Chichesters  of  Arling- 
ton, Devon,  who  trace  their  descent  from  Henry  I  of  England, 
and  from  Charlemagne. 

In  this  little  work  I  shall  give  a  brief  sketch  of  the  Whiting, 
Bradford,  Alden,  Pynchon,  and  Allyn  families,  showing  their 
connection  with  the  early  history  of  this  country  and  some 
patriotic  services  of  certain  members  of  these  families  to  the 
Commonwealth,  in  which  their  descendants  may  take  a  pardon- 
able pride.  I  shall  also  give  a  brief  account  of  the  Norman 
ancestry  of  Charles  Whiting  MacNair  through  his  descent  from 
Lieutenant  Colonel  John  Allyn,  using  as  sources  Mr.  Bolton's 

3 


well-known  chart  and  the  pedigree  given  by  Mr.  Browning  in 
his  "Americans  of  Royal  Descent." 

It  has  been  to  me  a  work  of  distinct  pleasure,  not  only  be- 
cause I  naturally  feel  a  keen  interest  in  my  father's  ancestry, 
but  because  the  research  has  lead  me  into  many  pleasant  fields 
of  English,  Puritan  and  Colonial  history,  and  re-acquainted  me 
with  many  historic  characters  whose  picturesqueness  is  in  no 
way  lessened  by  the  knowledge  that  their  blood  flows  in  my 
veins.  The  early  days  of  Plymouth  Colony,  fraught  with  so 
much  hardship,  heroism  and  sacrifice,  when  the  little  band  of 
Pilgrims  under  the  wise  administration  of  such  men  as  Wil- 
liam Bradford  and  John  Alden,  founded  a  new  nation  with  new 
ideals  of  democracy  and  religious  liberty;  the  thread  of  ro- 
mance woven  into  the  dark  fabric  of  the  times  in  the  courting 
of  John  Alden  and  Priscilla  Mullins ;  the  desperate  raids  upon 
Indian  foes  so  often  led  by  Major  William  Bradford  of  Plym- 
outh and  by  the  gallant  Colonel  John  Allyn  of  Connecticut; 
the  burning  of  William  Pynchon's  "heretical  book"  by  the 
public  hangman  in  Boston  Market,  all  this  has  for  me  a  new 
interest,  delightful  and  intimate. 

I  hope  that  this  little  volume  will  be  of  value  and  inspira- 
tion to  all  descendants  of  Charles  Whiting  and  Elizabeth 
Bradford,  in  whose  children  the  blood  of  these  five  families 
was  united. 

The  lines  of  descent  have  been  passed  upon  by  the  Society 
of  Colonial  Dames,  the  Mayflower  Society,  the  Society  of  Colo- 
nial Governors  and  the  Society  of  Americans  of  Royal  Descent. 
The  coats  of  arms  are  taken  from  Burke  and  Crozier.  The 
Alden  and  Bradford  arms  have  been  disputed,  and  for  these 
I  claim  no  authority  except  Crozier. 

I  wish  to  thank  Mrs.  John  J.  Stubbs,  registrar  of  the  Soci- 
ety of  Colonial  Dames  of  the  state  of  Nebraska,  who  has  helped 


materially  in  the  preparation  of  this  book.  My  thanks  are  also 
due  Mr.  Charles  Knowles  Bolton,  of  the  Boston  Athenaeum, 
for  his  kind  interest  and  advice. 

Hannah  Louise  MacNair  Crawford. 
April,  1912, 


To 

John  Seckerson  Knox,  2d, 

ONLY  Grandson  of  Charles  Whiting  MacNair, 
This  Book  Is  Affectionately  Inscribed. 

H.  L.  MacN.  C 


Whiting=Susannah?  Matthew  Allyn=*Margaret  Wyatt  VVm.  Pynchon=Anne  Andrew  Wm.  Cradford=Alice  Soiithworth  John  Alden=rriscilla  Miillii 

:  1  I  I  I 

Henry  Smith=Anne  Pynchon  |  Wm.  Paybodie=Elizabeth  Alden 

1  I  Wm.  Bradford=AIice  Richards  | 

John  Whitin!r=Sybil  G.lhns  John  Allyn         =         Anne  Smith  John  Roger.-i=Elizabeth  Paybodie 


Wm.  Wliiting        =         Marv  Allyn  Samuel  Bradford 

I  

I  I 

Charles  Whiting  =         Elizabeth  Bradford 

I 
Gamaliel  Whiting=.Annc  Gillette 

I 
Wm.  Whitin£;=r.ois  Andrews 


Horatio  Whiting=Clarissa  Miller 

I 
J.  MacNair=Hannah  Whiting 

I 

Charles  Whiting  MacNair=F.lizabeth  M.  von  Rnehler 


ooo 


WHITING    ARMS 


OTfjiting  jFamilp 

ARMS 

The  arms  of  William  Whiting  of  Hartford  are  given  by 
Crozier  as  Azure,  two  flaunches  ermine,  a  lion's  head  erased 
or,  in  chief  three  bezants. 

Burke  gives  the  Whiting  arms  as  Azure,  a  leopard's  face 
or  between  two  flaunches  ermine,  in  chief  three  plates.  Crest, 
a  demi-eagle  displayed  with  two  heads  ppr. 

CHART  n 
William  Whiting=  Susannah 

I 

John  Whiting=  Sybil  Collins 

I 

William  Whitings  Mary  Allyn 

I 

Charles  Whiting=Elizabeth  Bradford 

I 

Gamaliel  Whiting=Anne  Gillette 

I 

William  Whiting=:Lois  Andrews 

I 

Horatio  Whiting=Clarissa  Miller 

I 

Andrew  Jackson  MacNair^^Hannah  Whiting 

I 

Charles  Whiting  MacNair=r:Elizabeth  M.  von  Buehler 
9 


WILLIAM   WHITING 

In  "Suffolk  Emigrants"  by  Joseph  Hunter  (Massachusetts 
Historical  Collections,  series  iii,  volume  x,  p.  171)  it  is  stated 
that  the  Whiting  family  came  from  Suffolk  in  the  vicinity  of 
Boxford.  William  Whiting  is  mentioned  in  the  history  of  this 
country  as  early  as  1632  or  1633.  He  was  one  of  the  first 
settlers  of  Hartford.  In  Goodwin's  Genealogical  Notes,  pub- 
lished in  Hartford  by  F.  A.  Brown,  we  read  many  good  ac- 
counts of  him.  He  was  "one  of  the  most  respectable  of  the 
settlers  in  1636,"  one  of  the  "civil  and  religious  fathers  of 
Connecticut,"  a  "man  of  wealth  and  education."  He  is  always 
styled  in  the  records  "William  Whiting,  Gentleman."  Alice 
Morse  Earle,  in  her  "Colonial  Dames  and  Goodwives,"  re- 
marks "that  the  brass  utensils  in  the  home  of  William  Whiting 
at  Hartford  were  worth  twenty  pounds,  a  remarkably  large 
sum  for  those  days." 

In  1646  "a  plot  was  laid  by  Sequasson,  Sachem  of  the 
Naticks,  to  kill  Governor  Haynes,  Hopkins  and  Mr.  Whiting 
on  account  of  the  faithful  protection  they  had  afforded  the 
Uncas.  The  plot  was  made  known  by  friendly  Indians  and  the 
danger  averted."  William  Whiting  bore  the  title  of  Major  in 
1647.    He  died  in  July,  1647. 

Mainwaring's  "Hartford  Probate"  gives  quite  a  deal  of 
data  regarding  William  Whiting,  and  in  volume  i,  page  40, 
we  find  his  will.  William  Whiting's  inventory  was  taken 
20  April,  1647.    Amount  £2854.00.0. 

WILL   OF    WILLIAM    WHITING   OF    HARTFORD 

I  William  Whiting  of  Hartford  do  intend  a  voyage  pres- 
ently unto  sea.    I  give  to  my  wife  halfe  my  household  stuff e 
10 


of  all  kinds  and  one  fourth  part  of  my  personal  estate  and  her 
widdowes  estate  in  my  now  dwelling  house  and  lands  at  Hart- 
ford until  my  son  William  be  21  years  of  age;  and  after  if 
she  continue  a  widow,  I  give  her  the  halfe  of  my  sd  house 
and  land  for  life.    I  give  to  my  sonne  William  ioo£  more  than 

1  give  to  either  my  sonne  John  or  Samuel  I  give  to  John  and 
Samuel  looi  more  to  each  than  I  give  to  my  daughter  Sarah 
or  Mary.  I  give  2o£  to  Mr.  Hooker  io£  to  Mr.  Stone,  5£  to 
mending  the  Highway  betwixt  my  house  &  the  meeting  house, 
also  5£  to  some  godley  poore  of  the  towne.  I  desire  Mr.  John 
Haynes,  Mr.  Edward  Hopkins,  Mr.  John  Webster  with 
Mr.  Hooker  and  Mr.  Stone  to  be  overseers.  I  give  my  father 
and  mother  2o£. 

William  Whiting 

2  Apr.  1646 

Intending  another  voyage,  my  will  is,  my  son  Joseph  shall 
have  an  equal  portion  with  son  John  and  Samuel.  I  give 
William  5o£  more,  to  Mary  loi  more,  to  my  sister  Wiggin 
5£,  and  to  each  of  her  children  3i.  I  give  to  Margery  Parker 
io£/my  former  Will  to  remain  in  force. 

William  Whiting 
In  presence  of  Edward  Hopkins. 

William  Whiting  upon  his  death  bed.  It  is  my  mind  that 
the  children  which  God  has  given  me  since  the  Will  was  made 
wch  I  have  in  Mr.  Hopkins  hands,  shall  have  an  equal  portion 
in  all  my  estate  together  with  the  rest  of  my  children  as  I  have 
to  these  devised.  Also  I  confirm  io£  given  to  Mr.  Hopkins, 
io£  given  to  Mr.  Webster,  io£  to  Mr.  Hooker's  children,  io£ 
to  Mr.  Stone's  children,  io£  to  the  poor  /£$  to  Hartford  and 


£5  to  the  other  two  town  Wyndsor  &  Wethersfield,  and  $£  to 
Mr.  Smith  children  of  Wethersfield. 

William  Whiting. 
In  presence  of  Henry  Smith 

James  Cole. 
24  July  1647. 

colonial    records    of    WILLIAM    WHITING 

"Major  William  Whiting,  1647;  Assistant  and  second 
Colonial  Treasurer  of  Connecticut,  1641-47;  Major  in  Colonial 
Forces." 

(Society  of  Colonial  Wars,  1899-1902,  p.  809.) 

William  Whiting,  1633-1647.  (Conn.)  Committee,  1637; 
Treasurer  and  Magistrate,  1641-1647. 

(Register  Mass.  Society  of  Colonial  Dames  of  America, 
1905,  p.  400.) 

Also  see  Society  Colonial  Wars,  Missouri,  1900,  p.  32 ; 
Colonial  Records  of  Conn.,  Vol.  i,  p.  496;  New  England  Hist, 
and  Gen.  Register,  1893,  P-  4^^'>  Savage's  Gen.  Diet.,  Vol.  iv, 
p.  521. 

SUSANNAH    V^HITING 

On  page  329  of  Goodwin's  Genealogical  Notes  we  find 
further  mention  of  William  Whiting's  widow  Susannah,  who, 
following  the  custom  of  all  good  widows,  remarried.  Her 
second  husband  was  Mr.  Samuel  Fitch  of  Hartford,  by  whom 
she  had  two  sons.  Mr.  Fitch  died  in  1659  and  the  good  lady 
married  still  another  time.  Her  third  husband  was  Alexander 
Bryant  of  Mil  ford.  She  died  at  Mil  ford,  Conn.,  at  the  home 
of  her  daughter,  Mrs.  Collins,  and  was  buried  there  July  8, 
1673. 


13 

CHILDREN    OF    WILLIAM    WHITING   AND    SUSANNAH 

William,  born ?;  died  1699,  in  London,  England. 

John,  born  1635 ;  died  1689,  in  Hartford,  Conn. 

Samuel,  born ? ;  died ?. 

Sarah,  born  1637;  died  1704;  married  first,  Jacob  Nygatt, 

second,  John  King. 
Mary,  born ?;  died  October  25,  1709;  married  August 

3,  1664,  Rev.  Nathaniel  Collins.    (See  Savage,  Vol.  i, 

P-  434-) 
Joseph,  born  1645  ;  died  1717. 


JOHN   WHITING 

William  Whiting  left  six  children,  of  whom  the  second 
son  John  was  my  father's  ancestor.  He  was  born  in  London, 
England,  in  1635,  and  died  in  Hartford,  Conn.,  in  1689. 

In  Goodwin's  Genealogical  Notes,  p.  330,  we  find  that 
"John  Whiting,  second  son  of  William  Whiting,  was  born  in 
1635,  was  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1653,  preached 
several  years  at  Salem,  Mass.  He  was  there  in  1659,  on 
March  9,  when  the  selectmen  together  with  the  deacons  and 
Mr.  Gedney  are  desired  to  treat  with  Mr.  Whiting  to  know  his 
mind  about  staying  with  us  (Salem  Town  Records).  He  re- 
moved with  his  family  'from  the  Bay'  to  Hartford  and  was 
ordained  over  the  first  church  in  1660. 

"In  consequence  of  the  discussion  which  agitated  the  church 
at  the  time,  Mr.  Whiting  and  others  presented  a  petition  to  the 
assembly  for  their  approbation  for  distinct  walking  in  Con- 
gregational Church  order,  which  was  granted,  and  in  1670  a 
new  church  was  formed,  of  which  Mr.  Whiting  was  chosen 
pastor  and  so  continued  till  his  death,  September  8,  1689."    He 


had  the  distinction  of  serving-  the  Hartford  forces  as  chaplain 
in  King  Philip's  War. 

COLONIAL   RECORDS    OF    REV.    JOHN    WHITING 

"Rev.  John  Whiting,  1635-1686,  Chaplain  Hartford's 
Forces,  King  Philip's  War." 

(Society  of  Colonial  Wars,  1899-1902,  p.  809.) 

"Rev.  John  Whiting,  1635-1689  (Conn.).  Preached  at 
Salem,  Mass.,  until  1659;  Pastor  First  Church  in  Hartford 
1660;  Chaplain  in  King  Philip's  War." 

(Register  of  Mass.  Society  Colonial  Dames,  1905,  p.  399.) 

Rev.  John  Whiting  was  married  twice.  His  first  wife  was 
Sybil  Collins,  daughter  of  Deacon  Edward  Collins  of  Cam- 
bridge, Mass.,  a  man  of  prominence  in  the  church  and  in  the 
political  life  of  the  colony.    Seven  children  were  born  to  them. 

CHILDREN    OF   JOHN    WHITING   AND    SYBIL   COLLINS    WHITING 

Sybil,  born  1656. 

John,  born  1657;  died ?. 

William,  born  1659;  baptized  February  19,  1660. 
Martha,  born  1662. 
Sarah,  born  1664. 
Abigail,  born  1666. 
Samuel,  born  1670. 


DEACON    EDWARD   COLLINS 

Edward  Collins,  whose  daughter  Sybil  married  Rev.  John 
Whiting,  appeared  first  at  Cambridge,  Mass.,  in  1638,  when  he 
was  deacon  of  the  first  church  and  was  Freeman,  May  13,  1640. 


IS 

From  1654  to  1670,  with  the  exception  of  the  year  1661, 
he  was  a  Representative  in  the  General  Court.  He  lived  many 
years  on  the  plantation  of  Governor  Craddock  at  Medford. 
and  at  last  purchased  it,  selling  off  a  considerable  portion  of  it. 
He  died  at  Charlestown,  Mass.,  April  9,  1689,  aged  86  years. 
(New  Eng.  Hist,  and  Gen.  Register,  July,  1907,  p.  281.) 

Edward  Collins  was  the  eldest  son  of  John  Collins  of 
London,  who  was  buried  at  Brampton,  County  Suffolk,  Eng- 
land. He  married  Abigail,  daughter  of  Thomas  Rose  of 
Exmouth,  County  Devon,  buried  at  Braintree,  County  Essex, 
England.  The  other  children  of  this  marriage  were :  Daniel 
of  London,  merchant,  1632,  married  Sybil,  daughter  of  Thomas 
Franklin  of  London ;  John  of  Boston,  Mass.,  emigrated  in 
1634;  Samuel,  vicar  of  Braintree,  County  Essex;  Abigail,  who 
married  William  Thompson  of  Braintree,  Mass. 

CHILDREN   OF  EDWARD   COLLINS  AND    MARTHA,    HIS   WIFE 

John,  born  1633 ;  died  December  3,  1687. 

Samuel,  born  1636;  died  January  10,  1696. 

Sybil,  born  1638 ;  married  first.  Rev.  John  Whiting ;  second. 
Rev.  John  Russell. 

Martha,  born  September,  1639 ;  married  Rev.  Joshua 
Moody. 

Nathaniel,  born  1642;  died  December  28,  1684;  married 
Mary  Whiting  (daughter  of  William  Whiting  of  Hart- 
ford). 

Abigail,  born  September  20,  1644 !  married  John,  son  of 
Captain  Thomas  Willitt. 

The  Collins  family  seems  to  have  been  very  pious,  at  least 
in  this  generation.  Deacon  Edward  Collins  was  always  spoken 
of  as  a  very  pious  man.    Two  of  his  daughters  married  minis- 


ters.  My  ancestress,  Sybil,  married  twice,  both  her  husbands 
being  prominent  divines.  Martha  Collins,  who  married  Rev. 
Joshua  Moody,  relates  that  her  father  was  careful  in  cate- 
chising her,  and  at  the  age  of  nineteen  she  began  to  seek  the 
Lord  for  herself. 

In  the  Riverside  Cemetery  in  Middletown,  Conn.,  is  the 
gravestone  of  Samuel  Collins,  elder  brother  of  Sybil  Collins 
Whiting.    It  bears  the  following  inscription: 

Here  Leys 

The  Body  of 

Mr.  Samuel  Collins 

Who  died  the 

lo  January  1696 

Being  in  the  60th 

Year  of  his  age. 


COLONEL    WILLIAM   WHITING 

William  Whiting,  third  son  of  John  Whiting  and  Sybil 
Collins,  was  born  in  1659.  Goodwin's  Genealogical  Notes, 
p.  331,  gives  the  following  account  of  him: 

"William  Whiting  represented  Hartford  in  the  General 
Court  from  1710  to  1715  and  speaker  in  17 14.  In  1693  he 
went  as  Captain  of  a  company  of  whites  and  Indians  to  Maine. 

"In  1705  he  held  the  title  of  Major. 

"In  1709  he  bore  the  rank  of  Colonel  and  led  a  body  of 
horse  and  infantry  into  the  county  of  Hampshire  to  repel  the 
French  and  Indians.  In  1710  he  was  in  command  of  the  troops 
at  Port  Royal  and  in  1711  in  the  expedition  against  Canada. 

"Colonel  Whiting  was  sheriff  of  Hartford  County  in  1722. 


17 

He  removed  to  Newport,  R.  I.,  late  in  life  and  probalily  died 
there." 

William  Whiting  married  October  6,  1686,  Mary  Allyn 
(1657-1724),  the  daughter  of  Colonel  John  Allyn  and  the 
great-granddaughter  of  William  Pynchon. 

CHILDREN   OF   WILLIAM   WHITING  AND   MARY  ALLYN 

Mary,  born  April  i,  1689;  died  November  6,  1714. 
Charles,  born  July  5,   1692 ;  died  at  Montville,  March  7, 

1780. 
William,  born  February  15,  1694. 

COLONIAL   RECORDS   OF    WILLIAM    WHITING 

"Col.  William  Whiting,  1659-1724;  Deputy  1710-1715; 
Speaker  1714,  Captain,  Major  and  Colonel  in  the  French  and 
Indian  Wars,  1693-1709;  Commanded  expedition  to  Port 
Royal  1 7 10." 

(Sons  of  Colonial  Wars,  1899-1902,  p.  809.) 

(See  Mass.  Register  of  Colonial  Dames,  1905,  p.  400.) 


CHARLES   WHITING 

The  second  child  of  Colonel  William  Whiting  and  Mary 
Allyn  was  born  July  5,  1692,  and  was  christened  Charles.  This 
is  the  first  time  the  name  "Charles"  appears  in  the  Whiting 
family.  The  name  was  seldom  bestowed  upon  Puritan  chil- 
dren. This  may  have  been  due  to  the  antipathy  felt  through- 
out New  England  to  the  Stuart  kings  who  played  with  the 
destinies  of  the  New  England  colonies  as  with  pawns  in  a 
game  of  chess.  It  became,  however,  a  popular  name  with  the 
Whitings,  and  after  this  one  child  in  each  generation  was  called 


i8 

"Charles."    This  Charles  Whiting  bore  the  title  of  Lieutenant. 
(Goodwin,  p.  334). 

He  married  January  10,  1716,  Elizabeth  Bradford  (1696- 
1777),  daughter  of  Samuel  Bradford  of  Duxbury,  Mass.,  and 
great-granddaughter  of  Governor  William  Bradford  of  Plym- 
outh. Her  mother,  Hannah  Rogers,  was  the  descendant  of 
John  and  Priscilla  Alden.  In  the  children  of  these  two  the 
blood  of  the  Bradfords,  Aldens,  Rogers,  Mullins,  Whitings, 
Pynchons  and  Allyns  was  united. 

CHILDREN   OF   CHARLES   WHITING   AND   ELIZABETH    BRADFORD 

Mary,  born  January,  1717;  married Gardner  of  Hing- 

ham,  Mass. 

John,  born  August  3,  1719. 

Sybil,  born  July,  1722. 

Charles     1       .       ,  . 

-r^,.     ,     ,    Uwms,  born  August,  172s. 

Elizabeth  j  &  /   o 

Gamaliel,  born  September   17,   1727;  died  November  2j, 

1790. 

William  Bradford,  born  April  15,  1731  ;  died  1796. 

Berenice,  born  March,  1733. 

Ebenezer,  born  May,  1735. 


GAMALIEL    WHITING 

Gamaliel  Whiting,  the  sixth  child  of  Charles  Whiting 
and  Elizabeth  Bradford,  was  born  September  17,  1727.  "He 
held  a  commission  in  the  Revolution  from  John  Hancock  and 
commanded  a  company  in  the  neighborhood  of  Boston  soon 
after  the  battle  of  Lexington.  Two  or  three  of  his  sons  who 
were  old  enough  to  carry  a  musket  served  in  the  Army."    In 


1780  Lieutenant  Whiting  was  a  member  of  the  committee  to 
investigate  the  poHtical  character  of  new  comers  to  the  town. 
He  married,  June  18,  1752,  Anne  Gillette,  daughter  of  Jona- 
than Gillette,  an  early  resident  of  Canaan,  Conn.  This  very 
prolific  lady  became  the  mother  of  eleven  children: 

Elizabeth,  born  May  19,  1753;  died  November  11,  1772. 

Anna,  born  November  8,  1754;  married  Rev.  Mr.  Hopkin- 
son  of  Great  Harrington,  Mass. 

William,  born  February  16,  1757;  died  March  11,  1838. 

Mary,  born  December  11,  1758. 

Ebenezer,  born  July  30,  1760;  died  1836. 

Sarah,  born  April  26,  1762;  died  1838. 

Gamaliel,  born  February  7,  1764;  died  1844. 

Charles,  born  January  6,  1766;  died  1816. 

Berenice,  born  April  14,  1769;  died  1845. 

John,  born  January  3,  1771 ;  died  1845. 

Elizabeth,  born  March  17,  1773:  died  1848:  married  Rev. 
Mr.  Wheeler. 

(Goodwin's  Genealogical  Notes,  pp.  337-38.) 

REVOLUTIONARY    RECORD    OF    GAMALIEL    WHITING 

*' Lieutenant  Gamaliel  Whiting,  Great  Barrington,  Ensign 
in  Captain  William  King's  Company,  Colonel  John  Fellows's 
regiment,  list  of  officers  dated  Roxbury  camp.  May  31,  1775, 
ordered  in  Provincial  Congress  at  Watertown  June  7,  1775,  that 
commissions  be  delivered  said  officers ;  a  receipt  for  the  com- 
missions is  dated  Camp  at  Roxbury,  June  10,  1775,  and  signed 
by  Colonel  Fellows,  also  Lieutenant  Captain  William  King's 
(ist)  Company.  Colonel  John  Fellows's  (8th)  regiment. 
Muster  roll  dated  August  i,  1775;  engaged  May  8,  1775." 

(Massachusetts  Soldiers  and  Sailors  in  the  Revolution, 
volume  17,  page  169.) 


WILLIAM   WHITING 

William,  the  eldest  son  of  Gamaliel  and  Anne  Gillette 
Whiting,  continued  my  father's  line.  He  was  born  February 
i6,  1757,  and  was  one  of  those  sons  of  Gamaliel  who  "was 
old  enough  to  carry  a  musket  and  served  in  the  army."  He 
served  in  the  company  which  marched  to  Saratoga  under 
Captain  Goodrich.  He  married  May  4,  1779,  Lois  Andrews, 
daughter  of  Elisha  Andrews  of  Great  Harrington,  Mass.,  and 
was  the  father  of  eleven  children.  To  one  of  his  numerous 
daughters  he  gave  the  name  "Wealthy,"  not,  I  imagine,  to 
indicate  the  condition  of  the  family  exchequer,  but  perhaps 
as  a  mild  hint  to  Providence  that  he  felt  himself  sufficiently 
rich  in  "female"  children  and  could  dispense  with  further 
favors  from  her  hand. 

CHILDREN  OF  WILLIAM   WHITING  AND  LOIS  ANDREWS 

Sophia,    born   July    10,    1780;    died    September   2,    1816; 

married  Eleazer  Valentine. 
Horatio,  born  September  7,  1782;  died  August  11,  1820; 

married  Clarissa  Miller. 
Charlotte,  born  August  8,  1784;  married  Joseph  Mills. 
Polly,  born  March  12,  1787;  married  William  S.  Smith. 
Wealthy,  born  January  27,  1789;  married  first,  Seth  Judd, 

second,  Joseph  Belcher. 
Lois,  born  March  16,  1790;  married  Eleazer  Valentine. 
Gamaliel,  born  July  31,  1793. 
Berenice,  born  April  14,  1796. 
Sally,  born  December  9,  1798. 
Betsy,  born  July  23,   1801 ;  died  April  23.   1804;  married 

James  Whiting. 
William,  born  December  18,  1803  ;  died  October  5,  1804. 
(Goodwin's  Genealogical  Notes,  p.  340.) 


HORATIO   WHITING 

The  eldest  son  of  William  Whiting  and  Lois  Andrews 
was  called  Horace,  or  Horatio,  as  the  name  is  given  in  the 
1 812  war  records.  At  this  point  in  the  family  history  there 
begins  a  run  of  classic  names,  such  as  Berenice,  Orphee,  etc. 
This  Horatio,  my  father's  grandfather,  was  a  soldier  in  the 
war  of  1812.  He  was  born  September  7,  1782,  and  died 
August  II,  1820. 

Horatio  Whiting  married  Clarissa  Miller,  descendant  of 
William  and  Patience  Miller,  who  founded  Northampton, 
Mass.  Six  children  were  born  to  them,  of  whom  the  youngest 
daughter,  Hannah,  was  the  mother  of  Charles  Whiting 
MacNair. 

Goodwin's  Genealogical  Notes  states  that  they  lived  at 
Mount  Morris,  N.  Y.,  but  the  children  were  born  at  Lenox, 
Mass.,  where  the  family  had  an  earty  residence. 

CHILDREN    OF    HORATIO    WHITING    AND    CLARISSA    MILLER 

Orphee,  born  April,  1806;  married,  1826,  Alfred  Adams. 
WilHam,   born   May    11,    1808;   married,    1832,   Catherine 

Standly. 
Nancy,   born    February    17,    1809;    married,    1835,    Moses 

Gregory. 
Charles,  born  March  27,  1811. 
Hannah,   born   March  20,    1821 ;  married,   1838,  Andrew 

Jackson  MacNair. 

HANNAH    WHITING 

Hannah  Whiting,  the  youngest  daughter  of  Horatio 
Whiting  and  Clarissa  Miller,  was  born  in  Lenox,  Berkshire 


County,  Mass.,  March  20,  1821.  Her  father,  who  had  fought 
in  the  war  of  1812,  died  before  her  birth.  Her  mother,  with 
the  aid  of  relatives,  brought  up  the  family  in  comfort,  and  the 
daughters  made  "  fair  matches  "  for  those  days.  Clarissa  Miller 
herself  was  of  excellent  Puritan  stock.  Her  ancestor,  William 
Miller,  had  been  one  of  the  founders  of  Northampton  in  1654, 
a  member  of  the  first  board  of  townsmen  in  1665  and  a  founder 
of  Northfield,  Mass.,  in  1672.  Patience,  the  wife  of  William 
Miller,  and  ancestress  of  Clarissa,  was  famed  as  the  first 
woman  physician  in  that  region.  In  1910  the  descendants  of 
William  and  Patience  Miller  erected  a  monument  in  their 
honor,  which  stands  in  the  cemetery  at  Northampton. 

Hannah  Whiting  married  Andrew  Jackson  MacNair,  a 
native  of  Dansville,  N.  Y.,  son  of  a  well-known  western  New 
York  family,  and  one  that  had  been  in  this  country  for  gener- 
ations.* At  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  Mr.  MacNair  sought 
to  enlist,  but  was  refused  because  of  his  eyesight.  He  would 
not  be  cheated  of  his  service,  however,  and  became  a  nurse, 
serving  in  that  capacity  during  the  four  years  of  the  war. 
Throughout  his  life  he  was  a  student  and  writer,  having  pub- 
lished articles,  chiefly  in  theological  journals,  and  in  his  later 
years  spent  his  leisure  in  active  philanthropy.  He  was  a  "local 
preacher"  in  the  Presbyterian  Church.  His  death  in  Omaha, 
Neb.,  January  21,  1902,  was  cause  for  grief  to  many  of  the 
city's  poor,  who  had  learned  to  look  to  him  for  much  that  made 
life  endurable.  He  was  characterized  by  a  simple  kindliness, 
a  large  benevolence,  and  a  steadfast  religious  faith. 

Hannah  Whiting  MacNair  died  in  the  winter  of  1867,  at 
Woodville,  N.  Y.,  of  pneumonia.  Her  life  had  been  one  of 
sacrifice  and  devotion  to  a  sometimes  rather  quixotic  sense 
of  duty.    In  fact,  the  illness  which  caused  her  death  was  the 

*  See  note  on  MacNair  genealogy  which  follows. 


HANNAH    WHITING    MAC  NAIR 


ANDREW    JACKSON     MCNAIR    AND    HIS    SON, 
CHARLES    WHITING    MAC  NAIR 


23 

result  of  overdoing  at  a  time  of  domestic  stress  in  order  to 
spare  a  servant  whom  she  considered  to  be  ill  at  the  time. 
Tales  of  her  goodness  and  charity  abound  among  those  who 
knew  her. 

To  Andrew  Jackson  MacNair  and  Hannah  Whiting  were 
born  two  sons,  Charles  Whiting  MacNair  and  John  Bradford 
MacNair. 

CHARLES    WHITING    MacNAIR 

Charles  Whiting  MacNair,  whose  ancestry,  on  his 
mother's  side,  is  the  subject  of  this  book,  was  born  March  20, 
1847,  at  Woodville,  N.  Y.  He  received  his  education  at  the 
Dansville  Academy.  The  years  spent  in  school  were  but  a  small 
part  of  his  education,  for  he  followed  from  boyhood  a  rather 
strict  curriculum  of  his  own,  which  resulted  in  a  scholarliness 
and  breadth  of  view  rarely  met  with  in  one  who  had  taken  no 
university  degrees.  He  taught  in  the  Dansville  Academy  for 
several  years,  and  then,  finding  the  work  distasteful,  went  West, 
lured  perhaps  by  that  romantic  desire  to  seek  fortune  in  the 
picturesque  trans-Mississippi  country,  which  has  continued  to 
stir  the  imagination  of  the  youth  of  the  East  since  the  days 
of  '49.  He  did  not  find  a  pot  of  gold  at  the  end  of  the  rainbow, 
but  there  awaited  him  a  Walpurgis  night  of  struggle,  dis- 
appointment, and  meager  financial  reward. 

The  city  of  Omaha  was  at  that  time  a  "boom  town." 
Those  who  have  seen  the  quick  rise  in  value  of  city  property 
in  towns  of  the  West  which  have  had  the  misfortune  to  be 
"boomed" — the  inflation  of  prices  and  consequent  sudden  col- 
lapse— will  understand  that  it  was  not  a  difficult  matter  for  a 
"schoolmaster,"  untrained  in  the  corrupt  methods  of  Western 
speculation,  to  lose  his   savings.    With  it  went  the  "stake" 


24 

given  him  by  his  father  and  my  mother's  small  fortune,  for  in 
1876  he  had  married  Elizabeth  Murphy  von  Buehler,  widow 
of  Theodore  von  Buehler,  Colonel  of  the  67th  Indiana  Volun- 
teers, a  gallant  soldier  of  German  birth  who  had  lost  his  life 
in  the  last  days  of  the  Rebellion.  She  was  the  daughter  of 
Samuel  Murphy  of  Lynchburg,  Va.,  member  of  a  family  of 
North-Ireland  Protestants  who  came  to  Virginia  from  Ulster 
County,  Ireland,  and  Elizabeth  Warner.  Samuel  Murphy 
was  a  Methodist  "preacher"  and  a  veteran  of  the  Civil  War, 
in  which  he  fought  on  the  side  of  the  Union,  and  was  called  the 
"fighting  parson"  of  his  regiment. 

My  father  found  his  best  source  of  income  in  life  insur- 
ance, and  he  occupied  at  different  times  important  posts  in 
several  of  the  large  insurance  companies  of  the  country.  The 
last  ten  years  of  his  life  were  spent  in  Wyoming,  where  busi- 
ness and  some  private  investments  occupied  his  attention  until 
his  death,  October  15,  1900. 

My  father's  love  of  outdoor  life  amounted  to  a  passion, 
and  perhaps  his  happiest  years  were  those  spent  in  the  "open 
country"  of  Wyoming.  He  made  several  essays  into  literary 
fields,  and  his  children  take  pride  in  a  small  collection  of  very 
creditable  verse,  the  output  of  his  leisure  and  the  result,  per- 
haps, of  that  literary  tradition  which  we  have  found  to  be  a 
part  of  the  Whiting,  Pynchon,  and  Bradford  heritage. 


ELIZABETH    M.  VON    BUEHLEK,    WIFE    OF 

CHARLES    WHITING    MAC  NAIR 

From  an  old  portrait 


iWci^air  Jfamilp* 

CHART  III 

John  McNairt=  

I 
John  McNair=:Christian  Walker 

I 
William  McNair^: Margaret  Wilson 

I 

I 

John  McNair=$Mrs.  Peggy  Lattimer  nee 

I  Margaret  Culbertson 

Andrew  Jackson  McNair= Hannah  Whiting 


Charles  Whiting  MacNairr=Elizabeth  M.  von  Buehler 

In  Scotland,  the  McNairs  belonged  to  a  gathering  of  clans, 
of  whom  the  Earls  of  Lenox  were  the  hereditary  chieftains. 
Their  gathering  place  was  at  the  head  of  Loch  Lomond. 
The  family  was  first  known  in  this  country  as  members  of 
the  "Scotch-Irish  Settlement,"  a  settlement  of  Scotch-Irish 
Presbyterian  families  who  "with  thrifty  foresight  chose  the 

*  My  father  returned  to  the  old  Scotch  spelling  of  the  name,  MacNair. 
The  name  has  also  been  written  McNaire  and  McNear. 

t  Removed  from  River  Dee  in  Scotland  to  "  Blanket  Nue  "  Farm  in  the 
parish  of  Taboyne,  County  Donegal,  in  the  north  of  Ireland,  about  1690. 

X  See  Culbertson  Genealogy,  by  Lewis  R.  Culbertson,  M.D. 
25 


26 

rich  limestone  fields  along  the  Monocacy  and  Calasaqua,  in 
what  is  now  Northampton  County,  Pennsylvania,  as  the  place 
from  which  should  spread  the  faith  of  the  followers  of 
John  Calvin."* 

The  original  settlers  of  the  "Scotch-Irish  Settlement,"  or 
"Irish  Settlement,"  as  it  was  called  for  convenience,  were 
Thomas  Craig,  John  Boyd,  Hugh  Wilson,  Robert  Gregg, 
James  Kerr,  John  McNair,  Arthur  Lattimer,  James  Ralston. 
These  men  "carried  the  gospel  with  them  into  the  wilderness." 
The  "Irish  Settlement"  exists  now  only  in  memory.  In  1750 
it  extended  from  what  is  now  Bath  to  Weaversville,  and  had 
a  church  and  school.  This  church  is  yet  used  on  alternate 
Sundays.  There  is  also  an  old  burying  ground  with  its  old 
tombstones,  many  of  them  recording  the  deaths  of  members 
of  the  McNair  family. 

"The  McNairs  are  characteristically  Presbyterians,  many 
in  each  generation  being  officers  of  the  church."  From  a  tax 
Hst  for  1780  we  find  the  name  "Wm.  McNair  Esq."  and  his 
financial  rating  at  £2,360.  It  was  this  William  who  later  in 
life  freed  his  negro  slaves  and  became  a  strong  convert  to  the 
doctrines  of  Abolition,  which  was  then  just  beginning  to  be 
preached  in  Pennsylvania,  at  that  time  a  slave  state.  This  was 
the  William  McNair,  my  father's  great-great-grandfather,  who 
with  his  family  and  other  enterprising  members  of  the  "Irish 
Settlement"  started  for  the  "Genesee  Country,"  as  western 
New  York  was  then  called,  the  "El  Dorado"  of  those  seeking 
new  homes  in  the  wilderness.  They  moved  in  covered  wagons, 
driving  their  herds  and  flocks  with  them,  encamping  wherever 
night  overtook  them,  as  they  journeyed  through  the  almost 
trackless  forest.  After  some  weeks  they  arrived  at  their  desti- 
nation, the  Genesee  Valley,  which  extends  from  Lake  Ontario 

*  Clyde's  "  The  Irish  Settlement." 


27 

some  sixty  miles  southward.  It  was  in  this  peaceful  valley  that 
the  little  band  of  Scotch-Irish  folk  settled,  and  western  New 
York  is  filled  with  their  descendants,  the  McNairs,  Wilsons, 
Culbertsons,  and  Lattimers. 

The  following  sketch  of  the  McNair  family  by  the  Rever- 
end Theodore  McNair  of  Tokio,  Japan,  is  given  in  full: 

A  BRIEF  HISTORICAL  SKETCH 

by  rev.  theodore  mcnair 

Of  That  Branch  of  the  McNair  Family  Whose 
Genealogy  Is  Given  in  Chart  III 

It  is  said  that  in  the  year  1690  or  thereabouts  the  father 
of  a  certain  John  McNair  left  his  home  on  the  banks  of  the 
River  Dee  in  Scotland,  and  went  with  his  family  to  seek  a  new 
home  in  the  North  of  Ireland.  Local  persecution  of  some  sort 
is  given  as  the  cause  of  this  removal.  They  settled  in  Parish 
Taboyne,  County  Donegal,  on  what  was  known  as  the  "  Blanket 
Nue"  farm,  of  which  they  had  secured  a  "three  lives'  lease." 
It  happened  soon  after  the  death  of  John  McNair's  father  and 
the  expiration  of  the  "first  life,"  that  the  parish  schoolmaster 
was  called  in  to  regulate  the  family  accounts.  It  was  house- 
cleaning  time,  and  so  the  chest  (the  identical  iron-bound  chest, 
full  of  very  old  family  papers,  is  still  preserved  at  "Elmwood," 
Sonyea,  N.  Y.)  containing  the  papers  to  be  examined  was 
set  out  under  a  tree  in  the  garden.  After  looking  over  the 
accounts,  the  "treacherous  school-master  Hooked  and  stole 
the  deed"  which  secured  the  farm  to  the  family  during  the 
lives  of  John  McNair  and  his  son  William.  The  chest  was 
relocked  and  taken  to  its  place  and  the  theft  passed  for  a  time 
without  detection.  The  schoolmaster  then  "slipped  over  to 
London  in  England,  forged  a  new  deed  and  sold  the  same  to  a 


28 

Squire  Howard  who  soon  sent  an  Agent  to  Ireland"  requiring 
the  surrender  of  the  property  or  else  the  procurement  of  a  new 
lease.  Of  course  the  original  deed  was  sought  for  and  not 
found;  and  therefore  to  avoid  a  "tedious,  vexatious  law-suit," 
John  McNair  set  sail  with  his  family  for  America.  It  was  in 
the  year  1738. 

His  widowed  mother,  who  was  blind,  and  two  of  his  four 
children  died  on  shipboard  and  were  buried  at  sea.  The  rest 
landed  in  Philadelphia  and  after  spending  some  time  in  Bucks 
County,  Pennsylvania,  settled  finally  at  Bath  in  Northampton 
County.  There  they  lived  for  many  years,  and  there  John  and 
his  wife,  Christiana,  died  and  were  buried. 

The  two  daughters,  Margaret  and  Ann,  were  married  and 
their  numerous  descendants,  the  Wilsons  and  the  Culbertsons, 
are  scattered  mostly  over  eastern  Pennsylvania  and  western 
New  York.  The  two  sons,  William  and  John,  were  also 
married  and  for  a  time  lived  quietly  with  their  families  at 
Bath,  Pa. 

In  1798  William  and  his  sons  started  out  to  find  new  and 
uncrowded  homes  for  them  and  for  their  children  in  the 
"wilderness  of  Western  New  York,"  in  the  valley  of  the  Gen- 
esee. They  settled  in  Sonyea,  near  Mt.  Morris,  Livingston 
County,  N.  Y. 

John  and  his  sons  and  daughters  came  in  1804  and  settled 
in  what  is  now  West  Sparta,  near  Dansville,  Livingston  County, 
N.  Y.  From  these  points  as  centers  the  lines  of  descendants 
have  gone  out  in  many  different  directions,  so  that  now  the 
members  of  the  connection  are  scattered  over  a  score  of  states, 
though  leaving  a  goodly  representation  in  the  fair  valley  which 
their  fathers  had  chosen  as  a  home  for  those  who  should  come 
after  them. 


29 


A  COPY  OF  THE  LAST  WILL  OF  JOHN   MCNAIR,  SR.,  TAKEN   FROM 
THE  RECORD  BOOKS  AT  EASTON,  PA. 

In  the  name  of  God,  Amen,  the  20th  day  of  March  1762, 
I,  John  McNair  of  Allen  Township,  and  Northampton  Co. 
being-  very  sick  and  Weak  in  Body,  but  of  perfect  mind  and 
memory,  thanks  be  given  unto  God,  therefore  calling  to  Mind 
the  Mortality  of  my  Body  and  knowing  that  it  is  appointed 
for  all  men  once  to  die,  do  make  and  ordain  this  my  Last  will 
and  testament  and  as  touching  such  worldly  estate  wherewith 
it  has  pleased  God  to  bless  me  in  this  life,  I  give,  devise  and 
dispose  of  the  same  in  the  following  manner  and  form: 

I  give  and  bequeath  to  Christian,  my  dearly  beloved  wife, 
the  third  of  my  estate,  together  with  the  third  of  the  moveable 
effects  while  she  lives  and  at  her  decease  that  third  to  fall  into 
the  hands  of  my  two  sons  William  McNair  and  John  McNair 
to  whom  I  give  my  whole  estate. 

I  give  to  my  son  William  one  hundred  and  forty  acres  of 
land  and  the  half  of  all  the  Household  Goods,  moveable  effects 
and  Debts.  I  also  give  to  my  son  John  McNair  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  acres  of  land  and  the  other  half  of  all  my 
moveable  effects  and  debts,  and  each  of  my  two  sons  William 
and  John  to  be  equally  engaged  in  in  paying  the  Debts  on  the 
place,  and  the  following  legacies.  And  I  give  to  my  Daughter 
Ann  McNair  the  sum  of  Thirty  Pounds  Lawfull  Money  of 
Pennsylvania  to  be  paid  within  three  years  from  the  date 
hereof,  to  be  paid  equally  by  my  two  sons  William  and  John, 
and  I  do  give  to  my  two  Grand  Children  Sarah  Wilson  and 
Christian  Wilson  five  pounds  each,  Lawfull  money  of  Penn- 
sylvania to  be  paid  by  my  two  sons  William  and  John. 

I  constitute  and  ordain  John  Walker  and  James  Craig  to 
be  my  sole  executors  of  this  my  Last  will,  and  I  do  hereby 


30 

confirm  this  and  no  other  to  be  my  Last  will  and  testament 
in  witness  whereof  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand  and  seal  the 
day  and  year  above  mentioned. 

John  McNair. 

Signed  and  delivered  by  said  John  McNair  as  his  Last  will 
and  testament  in  the  presence  of  us,  the  subscribers. 

Charles  Wilson 
John  Hay 
William  Walker. 


¥¥M 


JRADFORD    ARMS 


Praliforb  jFamilp 

ARMS 

Argent  on  a  fess  sable  three  stags' 
heads  erased  or. 

CREST 

(i)  A  stag's  head  of  the  shield. 

(2)  A  double-headed  eagle  displayed. 

MOTTO 

Fier  et  sage. 

— Crozier. 


CHART  IV* 

William  Bradford=:Alice  Carpenter  Southworth 
(Governor  of  Mass.)    | 

William  Bradford=:Alice  Richards 
(Governor  of  Mass.)    | 

Samuel  Bradford=:Hannah  Rogers 

I 

Charles  Whiting= Elizabeth  Bradford 

*  In  each  of  the  smaller  charts  I  have  traced  the  line  to  the  marriage  of 
Charles  Whiting  and  Elizabeth  Bradford. 
31 


32 


GOVERNOR   WILLIAM    BRADFORD, 
THE    ELDER 

William  Bradford,  first  governor  of  Plymouth  Colony 
and  founder  of  the  Bradford  family  in  America,  was  born  in 
Austerfield,  Yorkshire,  England.  In  the  Parish  Register  of 
St.  Helen's  Church  in  that  place  is  preserved  the  following 
record  of  his  baptism: 

"William  sone  of  Willia  Bradfurth  baptized  the  XIX  day 
of  March,  Anno  Dom.  1589." 

The  historian,  John  Fiske,  gives  the  following  account  of 
William  Bradford's  early  alliance  with  the  Puritans : 

"From  Austerfield  to  these  meetings  came  a  contingent, 
among  whom  was  a  lad  of  unusual  strength  and  purity  of 
character,  a  fine  linguist  and  an  accomplished  scholar,  named 
William  Bradford." 

"When  eighteen  years  old,  William  Bradford  proceeded 
to  Amsterdam  and  served  his  time  until  he  became  of  age. 
He  became  a  man  of  industry  and  converted  the  estate  he  had 
in  England  into  money,  and  behaved  with  great  prudence 
among  those  religious  people  with  whom  he  continued  until 
the  church  at  Leyden  agreed  to  transport  themselves  to 
America  in  the  Mayflower.'"  (Eliot's  Biographical  Dictionary 
of  New  England.) 

The  marriage  intention  of  William  Bradford,  which  has 
been  preserved,  shows  that  he  was  married  in  Amsterdam  to 
Dorothy  May,  a  young  Puritan  girl.  She  set  out  with  him 
on  his  voyage  to  America,  but  never  reached  Plymouth,  for  she 
was  drowned  on  the  7th  of  December,  1620,  while  the  May- 
flotver  remained  in  Cape  Cod  harbor,  and  during  the  absence 
of  her  husband,  who  had  gone  on  an  examining  expedition  to 


".uAvivu;  f ,  t  I  Av  r.  v^^.  Z v,'./r\)(„ 


:^\^--^r ' 


,:>,ri   -^v>->' 


•I'llK    KKCURU    Ol     l.U\l'.K.N01v    IJRADl  i  iKl )  S    i;AI'll.sM 
Reprinted,  by  permission,  from  "The  Mayflower  Descendant" 


>^  .jaf,^'   -S-r,--  t^i,, 


,1,,  CXI- ,.->.e,-«._,^f  ^rtf5.,.,v„n,ije-  q„M ,«, 


-{    W-^ 


,.\^.^ , 


L>' 


GOVEKXOR  Bradford's  marriage  intention  at  Amsterdam 

Reprinted,  by  permission,  from  "  Tlie  Mayflower  Descendant" 


33 

Massachusetts  Bay.  She  was  the  first  EngHsh  woman  to  die 
at  Plymouth,  and  the  first  whose  death  was  recorded  in  New 
England.* 

The  following  is  a  translation  from  the  Dutch  of  the 
marriage  intention  of  Governor  Bradford: 

"Then  appeared  also  as  before  William  Bradford  from 
Austerfield,  fustian  weaver,  23  years  old,  living  at  Leyden 
where  the  bans  have  been  published,  declaring  that  he  has  no 
parents  on  the  one  part,  and  Dorothy  May,  16  years  old,  from 
Wisbach  in  England,  at  present  living  on  the  New  Dyke, 
assisted  by  Henry  May,  on  the  other  part,  and  declared  that 
they  were  betrothed  to  one  another  with  true  covenants,  re- 
questing their  three  Sunday  proclamations  in  order  after  the 
same  to  solemnize  the  aforesaid  covenant  and  in  all  respects 
to  execute  it,  so  far  as  there  shall  be  no  lawful  hindrances  other- 
wise. And  to  this  end  they  declared  it  as  truth  that  they  were 
free  persons  and  not  akin  to  each  other  by  blood — that  noth- 
ing existed  whereby  a  Christian  marriage  might  be  hindered ; 
and  their  bans  were  admitted." 

August  14,  1623,  William  Bradford  married  a  second  time, 
Alice,  daughter  of  Alexander  Carpenter  of  Wrington,  Eng- 
land, and  widow  of  Edward  Southworth,  one  of  the  religious 
exiles  who  followed  Rev.  John  Robinson  to  Leyden.  The 
Southworth  genealogy  (page  10)  contains  an  ode  to  her 
memory  written  by  her  nephew,  Nathaniel  Morton.  She  had 
been  Governor  Bradford's  early  choice,  but  because  of  his 
humble  origin  and  uncertain  prospects  her  father  had  opposed 
the  match.    Later,  when  Governor  of  a  Colony,  he  was  looked 

*  Dorothy  Bradford's  tragic  death  is  now  thought  to  have  been  suicide. 
It  would  not  be  strange  if  it  were  so,  as  she  had  left  behind  in  England  her 
infant  son  John,  and  the  coast  of  Massachusetts  in  December  offered  little 
compensation  for  this  sacrifice  of  maternal  love  to  religious  devotion. 


34 

upon  with  more  favor.  A  letter  in  which  he  seeks  the  hand  of 
the  virtuous  widow  has  been  preserved.  He  naively  states  that 
he  is  not  "that  Bill  Bradford  that  was,"  and  comments  upon 
his  rise  to  fame  and  fortune. 

During  the  thirty  years  that  William  Bradford  served 
Plymouth  Colony  as  governor,  he  was  called  upon  to  make 
many  decisions  of  great  importance  to  the  colony,  and  to  direct 
its  affairs  in  the  most  trying  situations.  He  was  a  man  of  great 
tact,  shown  in  his  success  in  freeing  the  colony  from  a  charge 
of  dissembling  against  the  King  of  England.  His  policy  of 
individual  ownership  of  property,  instead  of  communal  owner- 
ship, has  probably  had  an  effect  upon  the  subsequent  economic 
history  of  Massachusetts, 

Alice  Morse  Earle,  in  "Home  Life  in  Colonial  Days,"  has 
this  to  say  on  the  subject:  "The  first  fields  and  crops  were 
communal,  and  the  result  was  disastrous.  The  third  year,  at 
the  sight  of  the  paralyzed  settlement,  Governor  Bradford  de- 
cided that  'they  should  set  corne,  every  man  for  his  owne 
particular,  furnishing  a  portion  for  public  officers,  fishermen, 
etc.,  who  could  not  work  and  in  that  regard  trust  to  them- 
selves.' Thus,  personal  energy  succeeded  to  communal  inertia. 
Bradford  wrote  that  women  and  children  worked  in  the  fields 
to  raise  corn  that  should  be  their  very  own." 

Throughout  his  life.  Governor  Bradford  was  a  prolific 
writer.  I  quote  again  from  John  Fiske :  "Afterward  Governor 
of  Plymouth  for  nearly  thirty  years,  he  became  historian  of 
that  colony,  and  to  his  picturesque  account,  written  in  pure 
and  vigorous  English,  we  are  indebted  for  most  that  we  know 
of  the  migration  that  started  from  Scrooby  and  ended  in 
Plymouth." 

He  prepared  in  1650  a  "History  of  Plymouth  People  and 
Colony,"  in  which  he  gives  a  list  of  the  Mayflower  passengers 


35 

and  the  changes  that  had  come  to  them  and  their  children  in 
thirty  years.    He  writes:  J  9i?09XH 

"These  being  about  a  hundred  sowls  came  over  in  this  first 
ship,  and  began  this  worke  which  god  of  his  goodnes  hath 
hitherto  blesed ;  let  his  holy  name  have  ye  praise ;  and  seeing 
it  hath  pleased  him  to  give  me  to  see  .30.  years  compleated 
since  these  beginnings ;  and  that  the  great  workes  of  his  provi- 
dence are  to  be  observed,  I  have  thought  it  not  unworthy  of 
my  paines  to  take  a  veiw  of  the  decreasings  &  increasings  of 
these  persons  and  such  changs  as  hath  pased  over  them  &  theirs 
in  this  thirty  years.  It  may  be  of  some  use  to  such  as  come 
after,  but  however  I  shall  rest  in  my  owne  benefite." 

He  sums  up  in  the  following  quaint  statement:  "Of  these 
100  persons  which  came  over  in  this  first  ship  together;  the 
greater  halfe  dyed  in  the  generall  mortality,  and  most  of  them 
in  .2.  or  three  monthes  time.  And  for  those  which  survied, 
though  some  were  ancient  &  past  procreation ;  &  others  left 
ye  place  and  cuntrie;  yet  of  those  few  remaining  are  sprunge 
up  above  .160.  persons  in  this  .30.  years,  And  are  now  living 
in  this  presente  year  .1650.  besids  many  of  their  children  which 
are  dead  and  come  not  within  this  account. 

"And  of  this  Old  stock  (of  one  &  other)  ther  are  yet  liv- 
ing this  presente  year  .1650.  near  .30.  persons.  Let  the  Lord 
have  ye  praise ;  who  is  the  High  Preserver  of  men." 

This  simple  statement  of  Governor  Bradford,  that  the 
"greater  halfe"  of  the  Mayflozver  party  died  in  two  or  three 
months  after  the  landing  at  Plymouth,  is  sufficient  commen- 
tary upon  the  horrors  of  early  Pilgrim  days.  Many  deaths 
were  due  to  starvation.  Alice  Morse  Earle,  in  "Home  Life  in 
Colonial  Days,"  tells  us  that  "the  stores  brought  over  by  the 
Pilgrims  were  poor  and  inadequate  enough ;  beef  and  pork 
were  tainted,  the  fish  rotten,  the  butter  and  cheese  corrupted. 


36 

European  wheat  and  seeds  did  not  mature  well.  'Soon,'  as 
Governor  Bradford  says  in  his  now  famous  Log  Book  in  his 
picturesque  and  forcible  English,  the  'grim  and  grizzled  face 
of  starvation  stared.'  Famine  and  pestilence  had  left  Massa- 
chusetts comparatively  bare  of  native  inhabitants  at  the  time 
of  the  settlement  of  Plymouth,  and  the  vacant  cornfields  of 
dead  Indian  cultivators  were  taken  and  planted  by  the  weak 
and  emaciated  Plymouth  men,  who  never  could  have  tilled 
new  fields.  Says  Governor  Bradford:  'In  April  of  the  first 
year  they  began  to  plant  their  corne,  in  which  service  Squanto 
stood  them  in  good  stead,  showing  them  both  ye  manner,  how 
to  set  it  and  after,  how-  to  dress  and  tend  it.'  From  this  plant- 
ing sprang  not  only  the  most  useful  food,  but  the  most  preg- 
nant industry  of  the  colonists." 

Apropos  of  Governor  Bradford's  account,  there  is  an  idea 
in  the  minds  of  many  people  that  the  Puritan  emigrants  to 
America  were  all  of  very  humble  origin  in  England,  and  that 
all  the  "better  blood"  came  to  America  during  Cromwell's 
regime,  when  the  Cavaliers  found  England  no  pleasant  abiding 
place.  John  Fiske,  in  his  "New  England  Theocracy,"  has  this 
to  say  on  the  subject: 

"Since  the  development  of  the  despotic  tendencies  of 
Charles  the  First  in  church  and  state,  the  Old  Country  party 
had  come  to  be  known  as  the  Puritan  party,  and  their  oppo- 
nents, the  Court  party,  as  the  Cavaliers.  It  is  a  common  but 
very  gross  error  which  supposes  that  there  was  any  marked 
difference  in  social  position  between  the  members  of  these  two 
parties.  Members  of  the  nobility  and  gentry  and  persons  hold- 
ing public  office  were  to  be  found  among  the  Puritans  as  often 
as  among  the  Cavaliers,  and  among  all  the  colonists  who  came 
to  America  from  England  there  are  none  with  more  respect- 
able pedigree  than  the  members  of  the  Puritan  party  who  came 
to  New  England." 


'"•r  '-."  ^^    -f^ — '■'■^.4^'^  £^j^,Y^j;,^ 

*^  v^„-.w  .-^,,,^^..  -^j^  ^<Ar^  '  ^-^  ^^   ^"T«--~  .— -  T--— *-• 
'■"V*^'"' J^A^  1-^— ^  "- -"«•*-♦  ^' ''<-  -  '^-^  ^'<^ '-^vl^!! 


r^»^ 


-1  >;««*</  »«.«r  ^^^-A 


GOVEK^'OR    BRADFORD'S   LETTER   TO    GOVERNOR    WIXTHROP 
Reprinted,  by  permission,  from  "  The  Majrflovrer  Descendant  " 


37 

Governor  firarltord  kept  a  "f.etter  Book/  v/hich  has  been 
only  recently  discoverer!,  and  which  throws  light  on  conditions 
existing  in  the  colony.  Some  of  the  letters  are  to  him  as 
governor,  from  Puritan  well-wishers  in  England.  They  are 
full  of  praise  of  his  administration  and  confidence  in  the  colony. 
The  "Letter  Book"  preserves  several  examples  of  his  own 
correspondence,  which  would  be  ormsidtrtd  good  letters  even 
today,  and  show  that  for  those  times  he  was  no  mean  scholar. 
In  fact,  his  scholarly  attainments  were  commented  upon  in 
all  accounts  of  him.  He  was  schooled  in  Latin,  Greek  and 
Hebrew,  and  understood  French  and  Dutch.  Contemporar>- 
v/riters  speak  of  his  being  "conversant  with  theology,"  a  sub- 
ject of  prime  importance  in  that  serious  and  religion-ridden 
age.  He  studied  Hebrew  while  in  Leyden,  wishing,  as  he  said, 
to  "see  with  his  own  eyes  the  ancient  oracles  of  God  in  all  their 
mature  V^eauty."  He  also  essayed  poetry,  and  wrote  what  he 
was  pleased  to  call,  "A  Descriptive  and  Historical  Account 
of  Xew  England  in  Verse."*  It  contains  many  quaint  lines, 
but,  as  a  whole,  we  are  glad  that  Mr.  Bradford  made  statecraft 
and  not  poetry  his  chief  calling.  I  have  room  for  only  the 
last  verse  of  this  remarkable  poem : 

"To  you  therefore  that  are  for  to  succeed, 

L'nto  this  fair  precedent  give  you  good  heed, 
.\nd  know  that,  being  wam'd  if  you  do  not, 

But  fall  away:  God's  wrath  'gainst  you'll  be  hot: 
For  if  he  spared  not  those  that  sinned  of  old. 

But  into  the  hands  of  spoilers  them  sold : 
How  can  you  think  that  you  should  then  escape. 

That  do  like  them  and  will  no  warning  take. 
O  my  dear  friends  and  children  whom  I  love, 

To  cleave  to  God.  let  these  few  lines  you  move, 

•  Printed  in  the  Mayficwer  Descendant. 


38 

As  I  have  done,  and  now  will  say  no  more, 
But  remember,  God  punished  them  sore. 
Melius  est  peccatum  cavere  quam  emendare." 

The  old  governor  lived  to  see  the  colony  well  established 
and  to  see  his  four  children  honored  in  Plymouth.  He  died 
May  9,  1657,  ^t  the  age  of  sixty-nine,  lamented  by  all  the 
colonies  of  New  England,  "as  a  common  father  to  them  all." 
His  widow  survived  him  some  thirteen  years. 

WILL   OF   GOVERNOR    BRADFORD'S   WIDOW 

The  will  of  "Mistris  Allice  Bradford  senir  of  Plymouth, 
deceased,"  is  found  in  Plymouth  Colony  Wills  and  Inventories. 
In  it  she  expresses  the  desire  "that  my  body  may  be  Intered 
as  neare  unto  my  Deceased  husband,  Mr.  Willaim  Bradford: 
as  conveniently  may  be." 

She  "deposes  to  a  friend  one  of  the  bookes  that  were  my 
deare  husband's  Library ;  which  of  them  he  shall  choose." 

To  a  son  she  bequeaths  "my  paire  of  working  oxen  and  the 
white  Heifer." 

To  a  "servant  maide,  Mary  Smith,  a  Cow  Calfe,  to  be 
delivered  her  the  next  springe  if  I  decease  this  winter." 

She  disposes  of  a  good  deal  of   furniture  in  the  "New 
Parlour  Chamber,"   in  the  "Outward  Parlour  Chamber,"  in 
the  Old  Parlour  Chamber"  and  in  the  "Old  Parlour,"  includ- 
ing the  following  articles : 
"Item — I  feather  bed  i  bolster  2  ruggs  and  a  blankett 

"        A  court  Cubbert 

"        I  great  leather  Chaire 

"        2  great  Wooden  Chaires 

"        I  great  Winscott  Chist  and  a  Cubbert 

"        2  guns  and  a  paire  of  Bandoleers." 


HO.ME    UF    GOVERNOR    BRADFORD    AT    I'LVMdlTH 


39 

Among-  the  "plate": 
"Item — the  great  beer  bowle 

"        a  Wine  Cupp 

"        a  salt 

"        a  nother  paire  of  Pillowbears." 

The  list  of  "bookes  in  the  studdy"  contains  treatises  on 
various  subjects,  largely  theological. 

Mistris  Alice  Bradford  had  a  sister  whose  death  is  men- 
tioned in  the  Plymouth  church  record  of  March  i6,  1667: 

"Mary  Carpenter,  sister  of  Mrs.  Alice  Bradford,  wife  of 
Governor  Bradford,  being  newly  entered  into  the  91st  year 
of  her  age.  She  was  a  godly  old  maid,  never  married." 
Spinsters  were  hard  to  find  in  early  New  England.  Theodore 
Parker  could  not  have  found  there  the  "glorious  phalanx  of 
old  maids"  which  formed  so  large  a  part  of  the  feminine 
population  of  the  Massachusetts  of  his  day. 

CHILDREN    OF    GOVERNOR    BRADFORD    AND    MISTRESS 
ALICE    BRADFORD 

William,  born  June  17,  1624. 
Mercy,  born  1627. 
Joseph,  born  1630. 

(New  England  Historical  and  Genealogical  Register,  1850. 
p.  41- ) 

COLONIAL   RECORDS   OF   GOVERNOR    BRADFORD 

Governor  of  Plymouth  Plantation,  1621,  1633-35,  37~39- 
1642,  1644,  1645-47;  Commissioner  to  United  Colonies,  1647- 
48,  1649-56;  President  of  the  United  Colonies,  1648;  Council 
of  War,  1643-53;  Assistant,  1633-34,  1636,  1638,  1644;  one  of 
the  founders  of  Plymouth  and  Massachusetts,  1640. 

(Society  of  Colonial  Wars,  1899-1902;  Massachusetts  Soci- 
ety of  Colonial  Dames,  1905.) 


40 

WILLIAM    BRADFORD,  THE   YOUNGER 

The  elder  son  of  Governor  Bradford  and  his  wife  Ahce, 
William,  born  June  17,  1624,  was  my  father's  ancestor.  He 
was  usually  called  Major  Bradford,  to  distinguish  him  from 
his  father,  and  had  been  married  to  Alice,  daughter  of 
Thomas  Richards  of  Weymouth,  before  the  death  of  his  father, 
as  we  know  from  his  marriage  settlement  which  has  come 
down  to  us  with  the  date  April  23,  1650.  It  is  interesting  to 
know  what  a  man  of  the  prominence  of  Governor  Bradford, 
and  possessed  of  fair  means,  felt  it  necessary  to  settle  on  his 
elder  son  at  the  time  of  his  marriage. 

The  old  governor  engages  himself  to  "Instate  my  sonne 
William  in  the  one  halfe  of  that  my  farme  att  Stony  brooke, 
to  give  him  4  or  5  cowes.  I  ame  to  leave  him  four  younge 
bullockes ;  and  after  myne  and  my  wifes  Decease,  he  is  wholly 
to  have  the  said  farme  To  him  and  his  heires  forever;" 

"pened  by  Wm.  Bradford,  Esq'',  Gov""  of  the  Jurisdiction 
of  Plymouth  aforsaid,  his  owne  hand." 

Major  Bradford  was,  next  to  Myles  Standish,  the  chief 
military  man  of  the  colony.  In  Philip's  War  he  was  com- 
mander-in-chief of  the  Plymouth  forces.  At  the  Narragansett 
Swamp  Fight,  he  received  a  musket  ball  in  his  body  which 
he  carried  to  his  death.  John  Fiske,  in  his  "Colonization  of 
the  New  World,"  gives  the  following  description  of  this  fight 
with  Indians : 

"Who  has  not  heard  of  the  Narragansett  Swamp  Fight? 
It  well  deserves  its  reputation.  Nothing  that  happened  in  that 
century  enables  one  more  vividly  to  realize  the  hardy  stuff  of 
which  these  men,  true  brothers  of  Cromwell's  Ironsides,  were 
made.  What  a  wonderful  day's  work  was  that  of  the  'Crown- 
ing Mercy'  of  Sunday,  December  19,  1675.    The  little  army 


41 

had  slept  the  previous  night  in  an  open  field  under  a  thin 
blanket  of  lightly  falling  snow.  At  five  in  the  morning  they 
began  their  march  of  fourteen  miles,  over  rugged  hills  and 
through  deep  drifts,  until  they  came  in  sight  of  a  palisaded 
stronghold,  situated  in  the  midst  of  a  treacherous  bog,  which 
was  only  made  passable  by  the  freezing  of  its  surface.  The 
only  bridge  to  the  fort  was  a  huge  tree  trunk,  slippery  with 
frost,  and  well  guarded  by  loopholes  alive  with  muskets,  for 
these  men  of  the  stone  age  had  now  become  expert  with  fire- 
arms. There  were  two  thousand  of  them  within  the  strong- 
hold, stalwart  and  sturdy  warriors,  nerved  with  desperation. 
It  makes  one  thrill  today  as  one  reads  how,  in  repeated  charges 
and  in  spite  of  heavy  slaughter,  the  men  of  Massachusetts  and 
Plymouth  fought  their  way  across  the  slippery  trunk,  while 
the  men  of  Connecticut,  crossing  the  bog  in  the  rear,  ascended 
a  steep  bank  and  made  a  breach  in  the  walls.  These  attacks 
were  superbly  conducted  by  three  majors,  whose  names  deserve 
commemoration,  Samuel  Appleton  of  Ipswich,  the  younger 
William  Bradford  of  Plymouth,  and  Robert  Treat  of  Connecti- 
cut. Within  the  fortress  the  fight  went  on  until  probably  the 
number  of  Indians  slain  exceeded  that  of  all  the  white  men 
engaged.  By  sunset,  Canonchet,  with  such  followers  as  could 
get  away,  had  escaped.  Their  fortress,  with  its  stores,  was 
consumed  by  fire,  and  the  victors  entered  upon  another  march 
of  a  dozen  miles  in  the  midst  of  a  blinding  snowstorm.  Two 
hours  after  midnight  they  reached  their  appointed  place  of 
shelter,  leaving  one-fourth  of  their  number  dead  and  frozen 
behind  them.  It  was  a  terrible  piece  of  work,  but  necessary, 
and  very  thoroughly  done." 

In  the  war  with  the  Indians,  William  Bradford  held  the 
rank  of  major,  and  was  assistant  treasurer  and  governor  of 
Plymouth  from  1682  to  1686  and  from  1689  to  169 1.    In  later 


42 

years  he  was  one  of  the  Council  of  Massachusetts.  He  died 
February  20,  1703,  aged  eighty  years. 

The  will  of  Major  Bradford  is  found  in  Plymouth  County 
Probate  Records.  He  divides  his  property  among  his  seven 
sons  and  six  daughters,  giving,  besides  other  things,  to  each 
one  of  his  daughters  a  "goode  booke  which  they  may  choose 
out  of  my  liberary."  To  his  son  Samuel,  ancestor  of  Charles 
Whiting  MacNair,  he  leaves  "all  my  Lattin  bookes,  to  en- 
courage him  in  bringing  up  one  of  his  sons  to  Learning,"  and 
he  provides  that  "the  rest  of  my  bookes  be  safely  keept  by  my 
Executors  &  in  Case  my  son  Samuel  shall  bring  up  one  of  his 
sons  to  Learning,  to  be  by  sd.  Executors  delivered  to  him 
when  he  Comes  of  age."  Samuel  must  have  been,  of  all  his 
sons,  the  most  promising  material  from  the  viewpoint  of  letters. 

Of  all  his  daughters-in-law,  he  mentions  in  his  will  only 
one,  and  she,  curiously  enough,  is  my  ancestress,  Hannah, 
born  Rogers,  wife  of  Samuel  Bradford.  To  her  he  bequeaths 
"Mr  Burroughs  upon  the  eleventh  of  Matthew."  We  hope 
that  she  was  properly  edified  by  the  study  of  her  legacy.  This 
Hannah  Rogers  Bradford,  as  Chart  V  indicates,  was  the 
granddaughter  of  John  and  Priscilla  Alden,  and  also  of 
Thomas  Rogers,  who  came  over  in  the  Mayflower,  and  in  her 
children  the  Bradford,  Alden,  Mullins  and  Rogers  blood  is 
united. 

In  a  room  of  the  Essex  Institute  in  Salem  is  preserved 
a  pathetic  reminder  of  Major  Bradford's  infancy,  a  tiny  shirt 
and  mittens.  The  stiff  little  linen  mittens  have  been  mended 
by  patches  of  red  and  white  calico. 

COLONIAL   RECORDS   OF    MAJOR    WILLIAM    BRADFORD 

William  Bradford,  1624-1704:  Deputy  from  Plymouth  to 
General  Court,    1657;  Assistant,    1658-81;   Council  of  War, 


43 

1657-58 !  Captain  Troop  of  Horse,  1650;  Deputy  Governor, 
1682-86,  89-92 ;  Councilor  named  in  Charter  of  1692 ;  Major 
Commandant  of  Plymouth  Colony,  1673  5  Treasurer  Plymouth 
Colony,  1679-86,  89-92;  Commissioner  of  United  Colonies, 
1682-86.  (Register  Massachusetts  Society  of  Colonial  Dames 
of  America,  1905,  p.  185.) 

CHILDREN   OF  WILLIAM    BRADFORD   AND   HIS   WIFE, 
ALICE   RICHARDS 

John,  born  February  20,  1653;  died  December  8,  1736; 
married  Mercy,  daughter  of  Joseph  Warren  of  Plym- 
outh. He  was  a  major  and  deputy  to  the  General  Court 
from  1689-91. 

William,  born  March  11,  1655 ;  died  1687 ;  married  Rebecca 
Bartlet  of  Duxbury. 

Thomas,  born ;  died  1703 ;  married  Anna  Fitch. 

Samuel,  born  1668;  died  April  11,  1710,  aged  46  years; 
married  July,  1682,  Hannah  Rogers. 

Alice,  born ;  died ;  married  first.  Rev.  William 

Adams;  second,  Major  James  Fitch. 

Hannah ;  married  Joshua  Ripley. 

Mercy ;  married  Samuel  Steele  of  Hartford. 

Meletiah ;  married  John  Steele  of  Hartford. 

Mary ;  married  William  Hunt. 

Sarah;  married  Kenelm  Baker  of  Marshfield. 

(New  England  Historical  and  Genealogical  Register,  1850, 
p.  46.) 

LIEUTENANT  SAMUEL  BRADFORD 

Samuel  Bradford,  fourth  son  of  Major  William  Bradford 
and  Alice,  his  wife,  was  born  in  1668  and  died  in  17 14,  aged 


44 

forty-six  years.  He  lived  at  Duxbury,  where  he  had  a  grant 
of  land  adjoining  his  house  lot.  He  served  as  lieutenant  of 
the  Colonial  Forces  from  1688  to  17 14.  His  name  appears 
on  the  records  of  Duxbury  as  early  as  1700,  when  he  was 
chosen  as  a  juryman;  constable,  1701 ;  selectman,  1702;  and 
was  appointed  in  1703  one  of  the  three  men  to  divide  the 
common  lands.  He  married  Hannah  Rogers  of  Duxbury, 
great-granddaughter  of  John  and  Priscilla  Alden.  To  them 
were  born  seven  children.  One  of  their  daughters,  Elizabeth 
Bradford,  married  Charles  Whiting  of  Hartford,  great-great- 
great-grandfather  of  Charles  Whiting  MacNair.  (New  Eng- 
land Historical  and  Genealogical  Register,  1850,  p.  46.) 

COLONIAL    RECORD    OF    LIEUTENANT    SAMUEL    BRADFORD 

(See  Society  of  Colonial  Wars,  1899-1902,  page  573;  and 
Mass.  Society  Colonial  Dames,  page  284.) 

CHILDREN    OF    SAMUEL    BRADFORD    AND    HANNAH    ROGERS 

Hannah,  born  February  14,  1690;  married  Nathaniel 
Gilbert. 

Gersham,  born  February  21,  1691 ;  married  Priscilla, 
daughter  of  Rev.  Ichabod  Wiswell  of  Duxbury. 

Percy,  born  December  28,  1694;  died  January  17,  1746. 
He  married  Abigail  Belsh  and  resided  at  Attleboro, 
Mass.    He  was  a  member  of  the  Council  of  Mass. 

Elisabeth,  born  December  15,  1696;  married  Charles  Whit- 
ing of  Hartford. 

Jerusha,  born  March  10,  1699 ;  married  Rev.  Eleazer  Gay 
of  Hingham. 

Weltha,  born  May  15,  1702 ;  married  Mr.  Eane  of  Hingham. 

Gamaliel,  born  May  18,  1704;  married  Abigail  Bartlett  of 
Duxbury. 


ALDEN    ARMS 


laiben,  Rogers!,  anti  iHuUmsi  Jfamilieg 

ALDEN    ARMS 

Gules,  three  crescents  within  a  bordure  engrailed  ermine. 

CREST 

Out  of  a  ducal  coronet  per  pale  gules  and  sable,  a  demi- 
lion  or. 

— Crosier,  page  ii. 

CHART  V 

William  Mullins= Alice  ? 

Thomas  Rogers  j^j^^  Alden:=Priscilla  Mullins 

John  Rogers=Frances  

William 

Paybodie= Elizabeth  Alden 

I 

John  Rogers       =       Elizabeth  Paybodie 

I 

Samuel  Bradford    =    Hannah  Rogers 
(Grandson  of 
Governor  Bradford) 

Charles  Whiting=Elizabeth  Bradford 
45 


46 

JOHN   ALDEN 

Mr.  John  Alden,  a  magistrate  of  the  Plymouth  Colony, 
from  whom  Charles  Whiting  MacNair  is  ninth  in  descent, 
came  to  America  in  1620  in  the  Mayflower.  He  is  described 
in  Governor  Bradford's  list  of  Mayflower  passengers  as  a 
"hopeful  young  man"  and  "was  much  desired,"  for  the  Puri- 
tans were  very  anxious  that  he  remain  with  them  at  Plymouth. 
He  had  embarked  with  the  emigrants  in  a  spirit  of  adventure, 
and  was  not  sure,  when  he  reached  Plymouth,  that  he  wished 
to  follow  their  fortunes  on  that  bleak  and  inhospitable  shore. 
However,  the  fair  young  daughter  of  Mr.  William  Mullins. 
Priscilla,  who  found  him  more  to  her  liking  than  her  elderly 
suitor,  the  gallant  Captain  Standish,  was  a  deciding  factor  in 
his  destiny,  and  he  threw  in  his  lot  with  the  Pilgrims.  He 
attained  to  a  position  of  great  honor,  and  served  the  colony 
as  acting  deputy  governor,  a  position  even  more  important  in 
that  day  than  in  ours. 

"John  Alden  was  an  original  proprietor  who  bought,  in 
1649,  of  the  good  chief  Orisamiquim,  all  the  territory  which 
took  the  name  of  Bridgewater."  (Edward  Alden,  Bridge- 
water,  Mass.) 

John  Alden  lived  to  be  a  very  old  man.  His  death  in  1687, 
mentioned  in  Sewall's  Diary,  was  sincerely  mourned  by  the 
colony,  as  two  eloquent  memorial  poems  which  have  come 
down  to  us  prove. 

Broadside  No.  i  is  owned  by  one  of  John  Alden's  descend- 
ants, and  has  been  reprinted  in  the  Mayflozver  Descendant. 
It  was  printed  in  1687,  the  year  of  Alden's  death.  It  is  equally 
interesting  and  valuable  as  a  specimen  of  early  American 
poetry,  and  furnishes  a  distinct  addition  to  memorials  of  the 
famous  Pilgrim. 


upon    the      rjF.ATn    d  t\nt  y'^ed,    Pmi,    Sincers-heurted     CHRlSTlANy 

JOHN  ALDEN  -- 


l..,:f    MA  iJI  ST  RAT  E  cf  New-Plimouth  CoionV,  itho  dyed  Sept  iii'fi.  ifiJJ. 
being  about  eighty  nine  year:  of  age.  -"■' " 


T^ 


He  ftr!flc  of  bread,  and  water  ckc  the  ftay,;  His  walk  was  i>oly,  himhic,  -nd  f!"crre, 

ling  j«rf^(j  God  will  take  away;  His  heart  was  filled  wiih'  Jl"J-t'JVAH's  rca:. 
"iic  pixdcnt  C;M7,Jlllonr,  the  HmourMe,  ■    ^^Hz  hauouf^A  GOU   with  nmch  integrity, 
Vhoin  Grace  and  Holinefs  makes  dikcl.ible,    .God' therefore  did  Inm  truly  magnify- 
[;^!   1  iic  7«.V.;f,  the  r>-'iphc!  and  the  ancient  S^iwr,     The  hearts  of  faints  intircly  did  him  love, 
"''  The  dcithsViffuch  caufe  forrowfiil  complaint..  His  Uprif;htncrs  fo  highly  did  appro.c 


The  Eartl;  and  its  Inhabitants  do  fall. 
The  af;i:d  S.:wt  bears  up  its  pillars  all. 

i,;  nch',^,yh,:,i  v:  w.y  of  R:7h-t  .:[«■{, 
Ac-cm:.'  r,.^,  VvTiccn  Cvprefs 

1Ii'    :     -,'     ■  ■     ,:  nsby  Ditciplcs  old 
'i    ■      ■'  ,'l  111. ,   re  iDorc  tiir 
1  ni;-ti»irc  tis  of  a  wanton  gen 
'i'o  Hfiih  the  aged fton  might  qi 


That  whilft  tochoofe  they  had  ihcir  iibcrf/   g;^ 

Within  the  Limits  of  this  Culuny  V- 

Their  Civil  Leaders,  him  thev  ever  chofc   _     j" 

His  faithfulmf-mide  hearts  wiih  hnr  to  clofe    .jl 

With  'ill  the  Govcrnoars  he  did  A  J',:  ; 

can  be  told.  "His  Name  recorded  is  within  tlic  Lift 

arion  Of  f/ivTOMffo's  Pillars  to  his   .'.,■:' ii;- 

their  Ration,  His  Kame  is  precious  to  eternal  A 


rli  It  be,  The  Lord  ourGod  does  fro^t'i^  He  fct  his  Love-on  God    and 
lints  dy  death  do  nim'jle  down.  f,od  therefore  gives  1 


W  ii.-it  !i!->  i!:^;rc  be  not  luch  .Ailivity, 
'•'•-!  II  i::,;r  I'rayers  there's  i<u'.)  i-^rvc 
As  daih  L'/eat  mercy  for  a  pljce  nlir.iin 
Aid  gracious  prcfcnce  of  th.:  Lord  min 


For  deatli  of  iliis  dcir  fcrva:,: 

■i.  Wliofe  life  God  did  to  us  fo  i 

God  lent  his  life  to  grcatcft  /•  - 

In  which  h^liv'd  tohislUl.i 

n  youthful  tinit  he  m.idi'  •". 

Hisfoulohcin-iT.  >:    W,'/' 

:■;.,.    Freely  forf"ok  ll'o  v.^ri.t    lo.- 

"  '5  In  His  Houf;  with  Hh  ^    " 

g;''  He  followed  GOD   i,  - 


So  ;;  )od  and  hcav'rl 
C.,>.lgaveA.^-/i/f,  ;.■ 
(  His  work  now  fn:: 
freeing  the  death  ot  ' 
His  gracious  Lcfrd  fn 


y  Saying  to  fome.  The  work  \ 
He  would  prefervc  f 
His  niontli  wnsf  iM  - 
ToMiniflcisan.i  . 
Was  very  fwect  '/ , 
He  uttcr'd  frcn-the " 
He  liv'd  in  Chhjl, 


m 


.CD,- 

r-.bodC. 
fs; 


"'•*    '%+*.i&idli'f'.rl.,Vor.«nno.c.;n.U„/;,.  H""»»l'"' 
*'  Hccameoncofihefirft  into  this  La'bd,        . 
?S  And  here  was  kept  by  6(/s  moll  gracious  halid 

t  Years /?j:rr /ifi/iTT,  which  time  he  did  (>ch 
To  poor  U-n-En^Lwd  merries  M.miloli 
All  God's  great  works   to  this  His /y^-/ 


And  his  Weft  foul  the  Led  ia  fafctyi.ecp  . 

JOh:^-  ALDliX.    Anagram  E^dMoil.Y. 
Death  pnts  an  F^d  to  .'/.'  this  ^orld  eninycs, 

«f9i*fe«»t4s^i;.«i>;<:nd  of  all  ,       -^ 
perfeftions.   -Now  his Ixird  docs r/ij 

to  alfcnd   from  ciriii  lo  heaven   high,    ' 
Where  he  is  blcfl;  to  all  Eternity.   ■ 
Whowa'k        ■   '     ■ 


THK    ORIGI.NAL    BROADSIDE    BY   J.    C.    ON    THE    DEATH    OF    JOHN    ALDEN 
Reprinted,  by  permission,  from  "The  Mayflower  Descendant" 


mmm 


imtMm 


I 


j.  Small  Tcllimony   of  that  great  HONOUR   due   to  that  Eionourablc 
Servant  ot  GOO  ar.d  his  Generation 

John  Aid  en  Efq. 

Who  changed  this  li.'c  for  j  better,  Sept..  121:1.    A'tno  Lnnnd   ic! 
Annoq"    '^izAV'.     S?. 
Tte  !)JC))io>j  of  the  jiul  is  blcjjcd. 
The  jitjl  P)all  bu  had  tn  cvcrlaftiag  renicwb:  r.iicc. 


GOD  bteupln  3  <» 
And  hrtdxip^ni 
And  fftm  th?  licailic- 
The  vvl'.ich  ■;5r..!.!r 
This  prtcious  Samt  v. 
And  lie  in  JefJS  tiofon 
A  branch  was  0!  tliis 
Ptoit«,  defend,  and  v 
A  man  to  Gcd's  comn 


t  wiih  his  own  ri^htbml, 

MC-  did  It  dcU-rd. 
11  c:ilt  :avvcll  d,d  lirJ. 

u  be  idelf, 

ns,  God  did  remove, 
ter  from  above. 
i-Js  ihat 


tfpcf), 


he  did  his  couif;  diitU. 


N. 


ft 


the  Will  of  God, 
».:!ld  he  hid  abode 
nto  God  was  I.e, 
Vce  an  enemy, 
mbk-,  tijl!  "1  Faiih.K  I.ove 
carih,  10  God  «  Cliiill  above 
irs  did  feivc  ihis  Coiony, 


And  by  H 
A  lover  oi  God's  i 
A  fcivant  of  hi,G 
Hewa-  iccotding 
While  .!>  tl''^  '="' 
Sinctfcat  faithful  un 
True  Venue's  friend, 
,„d  hui>iiiU-,  t^l 

Admiinll.i.-sJ^ll--^""P-'"'-''l/' 
He  in  this  dcfJit  many  changes  fivr, 
Vet  clrfcly  V.pt  unto  Jehovah's  Law. 
H;  SerTcd  God  heiirr.cs,  tven  fn  m  his  youth. 
And  cnnftanily  did  clcive  unto  his  Truth. 
Oi  f:fi'b'i  mount  he  H'^od,  and  Cj/ijj/i  vicw'd 
Which  ia  hii  heart  and  lilc  be  tnoH  purfu'd. 
On  rtbcr'i  mount  he  law  transiiguted 
^lell  Jefus,  nhich  within  his  bofom  bred 
T  at  kvi  that  tnadc  him  fay,  T,s iocd btinthcrc, 
Jl\  guod,  yea  i«(«r  than  to  bs  elfewhctc. 
He  'ov'd  on  earth,  to  be  with  Chtift  on  high  .• 
Ht  did  on  wings  ot  Corttemplaiion  fly. 
To  G  id  in  hMven  be  font  up  many  a  dart. 
Which  iffucdfrotii  »  truly  bt<,lien  heart; 


-fu'ii,  a')d  foch  Return 


Wliicb  reach  d  ihc  ear 
Ficmheaien  bro'^rhr  ivhich  rnjdc  his  hcaii  to 
Wiih  tHMh  he  wirh  God  en  fir..-  i.J  n  .,?;  turr 
Wiih.iirjfflhedidwirh  JKhU.    ,!1  lal^ 
VVirh  M/:s  he  did  on  the  mounr  js:.:.d. 
And  to  reccltve  God's  micd  himl-.!t  d;d  :.-,d 
That  hsiuch  nedjiitions  iisd  divi,  c 
Which  in  Saints cyti  did  cjtifo  his  fac;  to  fldne. 
With  Ulrsib  ofd.,)!  Gt.d  did  hiiT;  fa:i3ty, 
Hcliv'd  r.,  long,  that  he  drrfit'd  to  die. 
n-  with  cM  Smeo'i  had  of  Cl:t:li:  a  !icht. 
Who  was  picpat'd  [■,  be  the  fiC;,iilrs  i  .    ■ 
Which  mads  him  w.llii  g  herrcefor  tod-r-'- 
To  be  with  Hi.m  il  at  sm  (d  had  Lis  li>;jit. 
He  with  good /.•«4:r,  hisaged  Hate 
Did  earnertly  'or  Gcd's  Salvation  wait. 
He  with  Barz^lhi,  being  neat  his  ef.d, 
Kis  thoughts  •bovcfJ'-'i.'.t  comforts  did  afcend. 
He  with  St.  Piul,  his<r.i,//f  new >■■■.''/;/, 
Unclothed,  is  quietly  puttobtd. 
His  Family  and  ChiiBran  friends  he  1  left 
Before  he  did  betake  himfelf  to  i eft. 
He  to  Religion  was  a  icil  fiicnd 
.And  JuHite,  till  death  brought  himtohheni]. 
A  man  for  God,  and  for  his  Countries  Good, 
In  all  Relations  whctcin  he  Itood. 

texALDtX'i  all  their  Father  imitate. 
And  follow  him  till  they  come  to  death's  Itatc; 
And  he  will  them  moR  heartily  embrace. 
When  he  fhill  meet  them  in  that  blelTcJ  place. 
And  let  AVto-  hnihrJ  never  want  a  Race 
Of  fuch  as  may  be  hlld  with  Mi'r.-%  Grics. 
MDCLXXX  vir 


k         HJilllLinUJ 


,y 


A    RARE    KKi 

Reprinted,  b; 


THK    DEATH    OK    JOHN    AI.DEN 
om  "  The  Mayflower  Descendant  "_ 


47 

Alice  Morse  Earle,  in  her  "Customs  in  Old  New  England," 
tells  us  that  "when  a  Puritan  died  his  friends  conspired  in 
mournful  concert  or  labored  individually  to  bring  forth  as 
tributes  of  grief  and  respect  rhymed  elegies,  anagrams,  epi- 
taphs, acrostics,  etc.,  and  singularly  enough  seemed  to  reserve 
for  these  glowing  tributes  their  sole  attempt  at  facetiousness. 
Ingenious  puns  and  complicated  jokes  (printed  in  italics  that 
you  may  not  escape  or  mistake  them)  bestrew  these  funereal 
verses.  The  publication  of  mourning  broadsides  and  pam- 
phlets, black-bordered  and  dismal,  was  a  large  duty  of  the  early 
colonial  press." 

The  other  poetical  tribute  to  John  Alden  by  J.  C,  men- 
tioned in  Mr.  Bowman's  article  in  the  Mayflozver  Descendant, 
is  well  known  on  account  of  its  publication  at  various  times. 
A  copy  of  this  broadside  is  preserved  in  the  library  of  the 
Boston  Athenseum.  It  is  bound  in  with  an  early  file  of  the 
Boston  Nezvs-Letter. 

On  the  back  of  this  sheet  appears  this  inscription  in  an 
unknown  hand:  "Jno.  Alden,  Esqr  7-12-1687." 

Rev.  Timothy  Alden,  in  his  "American  Epitaphs,"  Vol.  iii 
(1814),  ascribes  the  authorship  of  these  verses  to  Rev.  John 
Cotton  at  Plymouth,  and  this  identification  has  been  accepted 
by  Justin  Winsor  in  his  history  of  Duxbury ;  but  the  produc- 
tion is  overlooked  by  John  Langdon  Sibley  in  the  list  of  the 
writings  of  John  Cotton.  It  is  a  fortunate  circumstance  that 
both  tributes  to  John  Alden  have  been  preserved. 

CHILDREN    OF    JOHN    AND    PRISCHXA    ALDEN 

Elisabeth,  born  1624. 
John,  born  1626. 
Joseph,  born  1627. 


48 

Sarah,  born  1629. 
Jonathan,  born  1632. 
Ruth,  born  16 — . 
Mary,  born  16 — . 
David,  born  1646. 

Zachariah,  born . 

Rebecca, 
Priscilla. 
(Alden  genealogy,  1909,  page  12.) 


ELIZABETH    ALDEN* 

John  Alden's  eldest  daughter  Elizabeth,  from  whom 
Charles  Whiting  MacNair  traces  descent,  was  married  on 
December  26,  1644  (old  style),  to  William  Paybodie,  who 
was  for  many  years  Town  Clerk  of  Duxbury.  While  hold- 
ing .this  ofhce  William  Paybodie  entered  on  the  town  records 
his  own  marriage  and  the  births  of  his  children.  Governor 
Bradford  in  his  account  of  the  Mayflower  passengers,  refer- 
ring to  the  family  of  William  Mullins,  makes  this  state- 
ment: "Only  his  doughter  priscila  survied  and  maried  with 
John  Alden  who  are  both  living  and  have  .11.  children  and 
their  eldest  dougter  [Elizabeth  married  to  William  Pay- 
bodie] is  maried  &  hath  5  children."    (Mayflozver  Descendant.) 

*The  Boston  News-Letter  has  the  following  account  of  the  death  of 
Elizabeth  Pabodie,  born  Alden  : 

"  Little  Compton  May  the  31,  1717,  This  morning  died  Mistress  Elizabetli 
Paybodie,  wife  of  William  Paybodie  in  the  93rd  year  of  her  age.  She  was  the 
daughter  of  John  Alden  Esquire  and  Priscilla  his  wife.  She  was  exemplary, 
virtuous,  pious,  and  her  memory  is  blessed.  Her  granddaughter  Bradford 
[Elizabeth  Bradford  married  to  Charles  Whiting]  was  a  grandmother.  She  is 
buried  in  Compton  Cemetery." 


.     49 

CHILDREN    OF    WILLIAM    PAYBODIE    AND    ELIZABETH    ALDEN 

John,  born  October  4,  1645. 
Elisabeth,  born  April  24,  1647. 
Mary,  born  August  7,  1648. 
Mercy,  born  January  2,  1649. 
Martha,  born  February  25,  1650. 
Priscilla,  born  January  15,  1653. 
Sarah,  born  August  7,  1656. 
Ruth,  born  June  27,   1658. 
Rebecca,  born  October  16,  1660. 
Hannah,  born  October  15,  1662. 
WilHam,  born  November  24,  1664. 
Lydia,  born  April  3,  1667. 
(Alden  genealogy.) 


ELIZABETH    PAYBODIE 

The  second  of  these  twelve  children,  a  daughter,  also 
called  Elizabeth,  married  John  Rogers,  grandson  of  Thomas 
Rogers,  a  Mayflower  passenger.  Their  daughter  Hannah 
Rogers,  as  I  have  shown  above,  became  the  wife  of  Samuel 
Bradford,  grandson  of  Governor  William  Bradford.  Their 
daughter  Elizabeth  Bradford  married  in  1716  Charles  Whiting 
of  Hartford. 

THOMAS    ROGERS 

Thomas  Rogers,  whose  grandson  John  Rogers  married 
John  Alden's  daughter  Elizabeth,  was  one  of  the  Mayflower 
passengers  and  is  mentioned  in  Bradford's  list  as  follows : 

"Thomas  Rogers  dyed  in  the  first  sicknes  but  his  sone 


5° 

Joseph    is    still    living   and    hath    .6.    children.     The    rest    of 
Thomas  Rogers  came  over  &  maried  &  have  many  children." 


WILLIAM    MULLINS  (MULLINES, 
MOULINES) 

William  Mullins,  whose  daughter  Priscilla  married 
John  Alden,  is  mentioned  in  Bradford's  list: 

".  5  .  Mr  WilHam  Mullines  and  his  wife  and  .  2  .  children 
Joseph  &  priscila;  and  a  servant  Robart  Carter." 

He  was  one  of  the  few  passengers  considered  by  Bradford 
of  sufficient  importance  to  warrant  the  title  "Mr."  before  his 
name. 

Governor  Bradford  supplies  this  information  in  his  "Veiew 
of  the  decreasings  &  Increasings  of  these  persons." 

"Mr  Molines  and  his  wife,  his  sone  &  his  servant  dyed  the 
first  Winter.    Only  his  dougter  priscila  survived." 

The  will  of  William  Mullins  was  communicated  to  the 
New  England  Historical  and  Genealogical  Register,  Vol.  xlii, 
page  62,  by  Henry  F.  Waters,  A.M.,  in  his  "Genealogical 
Gleanings  in  England,"  and  the  text  there  given  has  been  fol- 
lowed. It  was  made  after  the  arrival  of  the  Pilgrims  in  New 
England,  then  considered  a  part  of  Virginia. 

The  probate  record  made  the  23d  of  July,  1671,  proves  that 
the  former  residence  of  William  Mullins  was  Dorking,  in  the 
County  of  Surrey. 

From  the  will  we  learn  that  his  wife's  name  was  Alice  and 
that  his  eldest  son  William  was  left  in  England;  also  that  his 
wife  Alice  and  his  son  Joseph  were  alive  when  the  Mayflower 
returned  to  England,  otherwise  Governor  Carver,  in  forward- 


SI 

ing  a  copy  of  the  will  to  be  probated,  would  have  mentioned 
their  death.* 

WILL    OF    WILLIAM    MULLINES 
2   APRIL,    1 62 1 

In  the  name  of  God  Amen:  I  comit  my  soule  to  God  that 
gave  it  and  my  bodie  to  the  earth  from  whence  it  came.  Alsoe 
I  give  my  goodes  as  followeth  That  fforty  poundes  wch  is  in 
the  hand  of  goodman  Woodes  I  give  my  wife  tenn  poundes, 
my  Sonne  Joseph  tenn  poundes,  my  davighter  Priscilla  tenn 
poundes,  and  my  eldest  sonne  tenn  poundes.  Alsoe  I  give  to 
my  eldest  sonne  all  my  debtes,  bonds,  bills  (onelye  yt  fforty 
poundes  excepted  in  the  handes  of  goodman  Wood)  given  as 
aforesaid  wth  all  the  stock  in  his  owne  handes.  To  my  eldest 
daughter  I  give  ten  shillinges  to  be  paied  out  of  my  sonnes 
stock.  Furthermore  that  goodes  I  have  in  Virginia  as  follow- 
eth To  my  wife  Alice  halfe  my  goodes  &  to  Joseph  and  Priscille 
the  other  halfe  equallie  to  be  devided  betweene  them,  Alsoe  I 
have  XXI  dozen  of  shoes  and  thirteene  paire  of  bootes  wch 
I  giue  into  the  Companies  handes  for  forty  poundes  at  seaven 
years  end  if  they  like  them  at  that  rate.  If  it  be  thought  to 
deare  as  my  overseers  shall  thinck  good.  And  if  they  like  them 
at  that  rate  at  the  devident  I  shall  have  nyne  shares  whereof 
I  give  as  followeth  twoe  to  my  wife,  twoe  to  my  sonne  William, 
twoe  to  my  sonne  Joseph,  twoe  to  my  daughter  Priscilla,  and 
one  to  the  Companie.  Allsoe  if  my  sonne  William  will  come 
to  Virginia  I  give  him  my  share  of  land,  furdermore  I  give  to 
my  twoe  overseers  Mr  John  Carver  and  Mr  Williamson 
twentye  shillinges  apeece  to  see  this  my  will  performed,  desir- 
inge  them  that  he  would  have  an  eye  over  my  wife  and  children 
to  be  as  fathers  and  freindes  to  them,  Allsoe  to  have  a  speciall 

*  See  Mr.  George  Ernest  Bowman's  article  in  the  Mayflower  Descendant. 


eye  to  my  man  Robert  wch  hathe  not  so  approved  him  self  e  as 
I  would  he  should  have  done. 

This  is  a  coppye  of  Mr  Mullens  his  will  of  all  particulars 
he  hathe  given.    In  witnes  whereof  I  have  sett  my  hande. 
John  Carver,  Giles  Heale,  Christopher  Joanes. 

Vicesimo  tertio  die  mensis  Julii  Anno  Domini  Milessimo 
sexcentesimo  vicesimo  primo  emanavit  commissio  Sare  Blun- 
den  aes  Mullins  filie  naturali  et  legitime  dicti  defuncti  ad  admin- 
istrand  bona  jura  et  credita  ejusdem  defuncti  juxta  tenorem  et 
effectum  testamenti  suprascripti  eo  quod  nullum  in  eodem  testa- 
mento  executorem  de  bene  et  cetera  iurat. 

Probate  Act  Book  1621-22. 


PYNCHON    ARMS 


Cfje  J^pncton  Jfamilp 


Per  bend  argent  and  sable  three  roundles  within  a 
border  engrailed  counterchanged. 


A  tiger's  head  erased  argent. 

— Burke,  804. 
— Crosier,  109. 

There  are  slight  differences  in  description  in  Burke 
and  Crozier,  the  latter  giving  a  lion's  head  instead  of 
a  tiger  and  omitting  the  word  ''engrailed." 


CHART  VI 

William  Pynchon=:Anne  Andrew 

I 
Henry  Smith=Anne  Pynchon 

I 

Colonel  John  Allyn=Anne  Smith 

I 

William  Whiting=Marv  Allyn 

I 
Charles  Whiting=Elizabeth  Bradford 

53 


54 

WILLIAM    PYNCHON 

William  Pynchon,  founder  of  Roxbury,  Mass.,  and 
Springfield,  Mass.,  and  Governor  of  Springfield  Colony,  came 
to  America  in  1630  under  very  auspicious  circumstances.  He 
with  Governor  Winthrop  had  been  chosen  to  carry  the  charter 
of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony  to  America.  He  had  been  in 
England  one  of  the  original  patentees,  and  was  named  by 
Charles  I,  "Assistant."  He  had  been  most  active  in  the  organ- 
ization of  the  company,  present  at  all  the  meetings  in  London. 
He  with  the  other  "assistants,"  at  the  "great  meeting"  in 
Cambridge,  England,  August  26,  1629,  agreed  to  remove  to 
New  England  "in  case  the  whole  government  together  with 
the  patent  were  legally  transferred  and  established  to  remain 
there."  March  29,  1630,  a  fleet  of  three  vessels  put  out  to  sea 
from  the  Isle  of  Wight  and  brought  the  charter  over. 

William  Pynchon  was  born  in  Springfield,  England,  the 
eldest  son  of  John  Pynchon  and  grandson  of  John  and  Jane 
(Empson)  Pynchon  of  Writtle.  He  was  educated  at  Oxford 
University,  matriculating  at  Hart  Hall,  afterward  Hertford 
College,  October  14,  1596,  w^hen  he  was  eleven  years  old.  PTe 
married  Anne,  daughter  of  William  Andrew  of  Twiwell, 
County  Northampton,  England;  and  she  with  their  four  chil- 
dren, Anne,  my  father's  ancestress,  Mary,  Margaret,  and  John, 
accompanied  him  to  New  England.  There  he  became  "one  of 
the  principal  projectors  of  the  colony  of  New  England."  In 
1630  he  founded  Roxbury.  In  1636  he  founded  Springfield. 
The  town  of  Springfield  was  on  the  direct  Indian  trail  leading 
from  the  Narragansett  and  Pequot  country  by  way  of  West- 
field  River  to  the  Mohawk  country  above  Albany,  so  that 
parties  of  Indians  were  constantly  passing  the  settlement  in 
every    direction.    Pynchon    had    the    greatest    influence    with 


i 


54 

WILLIAM    PYNCHON 

William  Pynchon,  founder  of  Roxbury,  Mass.,  and 
Springfield,  Mass.,  and  Governor  of  Springfield  Colony,  came 
to  America  in  1630  under  very  auspicious  circumstances.  He 
with  Governor  Winthrop  had  been  chosen  to  carry  the  charter 
of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony  to  America.  He  had  been  in 
England  one  of  the  original  patentees,  and  was  named  by 
Charles  I,  "Assistant."  He  had  been  most  active  in  the  organ- 
ization of  the  company,  present  at  all  the  meetings  in  London. 
He  with  the  other  "assistants,"  at  the  "great  meeting"  in 
Cambridge,  England,  August  26,  1629,  agreed  to  remove  to 
New  England  "in  case  the  whole  government  together  with 
the  patent  were  legally  transferred  and  established  to  remain 
there."  March  29,  1630,  a  fleet  of  three  vessels  put  out  to  sea 
from  the  Isle  of  Wight  and  brought  the  charter  over. 

William  Pynchon  was  born  in  Springfield,  England,  the 
eldest  son  of  John  Pynchon  and  grandson  of  John  and  Jane 
(Empson)  Pynchon  of  Writtle.  He  was  educated  at  Oxford 
University,  matriculating  at  Hart  Hall,  afterward  Hertford 
College,  October  14,  1596,  when  he  was  eleven  years  old.  He 
married  Anne,  daughter  of  William  Andrew  of  Twiwell, 
County  Northampton,  England ;  and  she  w'ith  their  four  chil- 
dren, Anne,  my  father's  ancestress,  Mary,  Margaret,  and  John, 
accompanied  him  to  New  England.  There  he  became  "one  of 
the  principal  projectors  of  the  colony  of  New  England."  In 
1630  he  founded  Roxbury.  In  1636  he  founded  Springfield. 
The  town  of  Springfield  was  on  the  direct  Indian  trail  leading 
from  the  Narragansett  and  Pequot  country  by  way  of  West- 
field  River  to  the  Mohawk  country  above  Albany,  so  that 
parties  of  Indians  were  constantly  passing  the  settlement  in 
every    direction.    Pynchon    had    the    greatest    influence    with 


Skyggesand     of 


m 


n  and  heir.    Probably  b.ili 


^:ilSi' 


Es,.,  LL.D.    Married  15  July 
I576,atTerIing(P.  R.).    VVill 


and  r!f"fto'da".  ElPiXtb 


perhaps     I  Elizabeth  =;  Geoffrey  Gates  or  Gatts 
these  two  _  of  Bury  St.  Edmunds. 

Redding  of  Pinner  Springfield  gets  |  ....  Brett  and  gels  Skygges  & 

6  sons  and  s'dau"*  h.'s'f?t'her""lni.  p?  m  who'i'wiinVTS*' 

(Epiuph.)    Will  Anno  IX  JacoK.         I  names  ber  &  her 

pro.  liTApril  1599  Will  1610  orders  children. 

anyeWhiren.""  ' 


:;i^^ssi 


William  Pinohon 

^!,?r''Sf!ti''ESfaSd 
Retijrned  to  England. 


55 

Indians  of  any  man  who  ever  came  to  New  England  in 
those  early  days.  The  Mohawks  called  all  New  Englanders 
"Pynchon's  Men."  He  invested  the  money  which  he  had 
brought  with  him  from  old  England  to  good  advantage,  and 
was  for  those  days  a  wealthy  man.  He  was  governor  of  the 
colony  from  1641  to  1650.  Being  of  a  literary  turn  of  mind 
and  rather  skeptical  in  his  views,  he  felt  impelled  to  publish 
a  book  entitled,  "The  Meritorious  Price  of  Our  Redemption," 
which  being  of  anti-Calvinistic  flavor  aroused  so  much  adverse 
criticism  in  the  colony  that  it  was  ordered  to  be  publicly 
burned  and  the  author  cited  to  appear  before  the  General  Court. 
Rev.  John  Eliot's  "Record  of  Church  Members  in  Roxbury," 
page  I,  gives  an  account  of  Mr.  Pynchon's  book: 

"Afterwards  he  wrote  a  Dialogue  concerning  Justification 
w"^*'  was  Printed  anno  1650  stiled  The  meretorious  price,  a  book 
full  of  error  &  weakens  &  some  heresies  w*^*'  the  General  Court 
of  ye  Massachusetts  Condemned  to  be  burned  &  appointed 
mr.  John  Norton  then  Teacher  at  Ipswich  to  confute  ye  errors 
contained  therein."* 

In  the  market  in  Boston,  in  the  year  1650,  the  book  was 
burned  publicly  by  the  hangman,  and  the  author,  after  being 
summoned  to  court  a  second  time,  fled  the  colony ;  he  returned 
to  England,  where  he  purchased  lands  near  his  "Bulstrode 
relations"  in  the  adjoining  parish  of  Horton,  and  directly 
opposite  Magna  Charta  Island,  Wraysbury,  Bucks.  He  died 
October  29,  1662,  and  was  buried  in  Wraysbury  Churchyard. 
Plis  only  son,  John  Pynchon,  and  his  three  daughters  remained 
iDehind  in  New  England. 

Waters,  in  his  "Genealogical  Gleanings,"  gives  all  the  wills 
of  the  Pynchon  family  that  prove  the  pedigree,  and  on  page  859 
the  will  of  William  himself. 

*  A  copy  of  this  book  is  in  the  Lenox  Library,  and  another  is  owned  by 
the  present  head  of  the  Pynchon  family  in  America. 


S6 


WILL   OF    WILLIAM    PYNCHON=^ 

William  Pynchon  of  Wrasbury  alias  Wyrardisbury  in  the 
County  of  Bucks  Gentleman,  made  Will  4  Oct.  1662.  Proved 
8  Dec.  1662  by  John  Wickens  Special  Executor  under  the 
limitations  specified  in  said  Will. 

"My  chief  executor  is  at  present  absent.  To  Elizabeth, 
Mary  and  Rebecca  Smith  daughters  of  my  son  Master  Henry 
Smith  and  to  his  son  Elisha  Smith  twenty  pounds  apiece  to 
be  paid  by  my  son  Mr.  Henry  Smith  at  the  time  of  their 
marriage  as  he  did  unto  Martha  Smith  out  of  a  Bond  which 
he  owes  me  of  two  hundred  and  twenty  pounds.  To  my 
daughter  Anne  Smith  the  rest  of  the  said  bond  (of  220  li) 
with  the  overplus  of  interest.  To  the  children  of  my  daughter 
Margaret  Davis  of  Boston  in  New  England  deceased  videlicet, 
unto  Thomas,  Benjamin  and  William  David,  ten  pounds  apiece 
to  be  paid  by  my  son  Mr.  Henry  Smith.  To  my  son  Master 
John  Pynchon  of  Springfield  in  New  England  (a  sum)  out 
of  the  bond  which  he  owes  me  of  one  hundred  and  six  pounds 
dated  15  April  1654.  Whereas,  my  son  Mr.  Henry  Smith 
hath  promise  to  pay  unto  me  his  debts  which  have  been  long 
due  to  him  in  New  England  and  a  horse  of  his  at  Barbadoes, 
for  the  satisfaction  of  an  old  debt  that  he  owes  me  in  my 
quarto  Vellum  Book  in  page  112,  I  bequeathe  them  to  the 
children  of  my  son  Master  Elizure  Holioke  in  New  England 
etc.  To  the  poor  of  Wraysberie  three  pounds.  Son  Mr.  John 
Pynchon  of  Springfield  in  New  England  to  be  executor  to 
whom  the  residue,  provided  he  pay  to  Joseph  and  John 
Pynchon  and  to  Mary  and  Hetabell  Pynchon  20  pounds  apiece. 
Mr.  Wickens,  citizen  and  girdler  of  London  and  Mr.  Henry 

*  The  Pynchon  wills  which  prove  the  pedigree  are  found  in  the  April 
number  of  the  New  England  Historical  and  Genealogical  Register  for  1894, 
Volume  48. 


^^w 


WILLIAM    PYNCHON 


57 

Smith  of  Wraysbery  to  be  overseers.  Friend  Mr.  John  Wick- 
ens  to  be  my  executor  touching  the  finishing  of  my  adminis- 
tration business  concerning  the  estate  of  Master  Nicholas  Ware 
in  Virginia  whose  estate  is  thirty  pounds  in  a  bill  of  exchange 
to  Capt.  Pensax  and  about  180000  of  tobacco  in  several  bills 
made  over  by  Mr.  Nicholas  Ware  to  Capt.  John  Ware  of 
Virginia  etc.  To  beloved  sister  Jane  Tesdall  of  Abington 
twenty  pounds.  To  sister  Susan  Piatt  twenty  pounds  as  a 
token  of  my  cordial  love.  Certain  clothing  to  Mary,  Elizabeth 
and  Rebecca  Smith." 

"The  Msitation  of  Buckinghamshire,"  page  13  (Harleian 
Society  58),  gives  this  account  of  his  "Bullstrode  relations": 

"Jane,  the  wife  of  John  Pinchon  of  Writtle  (see  pedigree), 
was  the  daughter  of  Sir  Richard  Empson  of  Northampton- 
shire, who  was  beheaded  at  London  on  Tower  Hill,  August  17. 
15 10.  From  this  date  the  Pynchon  Arms  are  quartered  with 
the  Empson  on  the  monuments  in  Writtle  Church.  Mary, 
another  daughter  of  Sir  Richard,  married  for  her  second 
husband  Edward  Bullstrode  of  Bulstrode  Park,  Bucks,  not  far 
from  Windsor  and  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  Horton 
and  Wraysbury.  Thus  William  Pynchon  was  cousin  to  the 
children  of  Edward  Bullstrode." 

Blanche  Nichols  Hall,  in  the  Connecticut  Magazine,  has 
an  excellent  article  on  ''William  Pynchon,  an  Immigrant  to 
the  New  World  in  1630."  She  gives  a  brief  account  of  the 
family  in  England  and  America,  which  I  use  in  the  follow- 
ing sketch: 

"The  name  'Pynchon'  is  one  of  the  oldest  in  England, 
and  as  far  back  as  1277-78,  in  the  sixth  year  of  King  Edward 
First,  Richard  Pinchon,  citizen  of  London,  bequeaths  his 
property  to  his  daughter  Agnes.  The  will  of  Nicholas  Pynchon 
made  February  15.  1528.  is  also  extant.    He.  too  a  citizen  of 


S8 

London,  seems  to  have  had  none  of  the  heretical  tendencies 
of  which  his  kinsman  William  was  later  accused,  for  he  'be- 
queaths and  recommends  my  sowl  unto  Almighty  God,  my 
maker  and  redeemer  and  to  the  Glorious  Virgin,  his  mother 
and  to  all  tholy  and  blissid  Company  of  Saintes  in  Hevin.'  " 

Another  member  of  the  family,  Wyllyam  Pynchon  of 
Writtle,  in  his  will  proved  July,  1551,  bequeaths  "20  shirts 
and  20  smocks  and  40  bushels  of  wheat  to  be  given  and  divided 
among  the  poor  of  Writtle  and  Roxwell."  This  Wyllyam 
Pynchon  was  buried  at  Writtle,  in  the  beautiful  little  church 
whose  chancel  is  nearly  filled  with  monuments  and  memorials 
of  the  Pynchon  family.  His  grandson,  John  Pynchon  of 
Writtle,  he  himself  grandfather  of  the  William  Pynchon  who 
emigrated  to  America  and  is  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  married 
Jane,  daughter  and  co-heir  of  Sir  Richard  Empson,  a  famous 
barrister  and  statesman  in  the  time  of  Henry  VH  and  VHI, 
and  speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons,  who  was  beheaded  on 
Tower  Hill,  August  17,  1510.  The  "Dictionary  of  National 
Biography,"  Vol.  vi,  page  782,  says  of  him : 

"Sir  Richard  Empson  (died  1510),  statesman  and  lawyer, 
son  of  Peter  Empson  of  Towcester,  Northamptonshire,  and 
Elizabeth,  his  wife.  The  father,  who  died  in  1473,  is  invariably 
described  as  a  sievemaker,  in  order  to  emphasize  the  son's 
humble  origin ;  but  Peter  Empson  was  clearly  a  man  of  wealth 
and  influence  in  Towcester.  Richard  was  educated  for  the  bar 
and  became  distinguished.  He  purchased  estates  in  North- 
amptonshire. Representative  in  Parliament  17  October,  1491, 
chosen  speaker  and  served  until  Parliament  dissolved.  Col- 
lector of  subsidies,  1491.  Recorder  of  Coventry.  Knighted 
18  February,  1503-04,  and  in  1504  high  Steward  of  Cambridge 
University  and  Chancellor  of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster.  From 
the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  Henry  VH  he  was  associated 


59 

with  Edmund  Dudley  in  exaction  of  taxes  and  penalties  due 
from  offenders  to  the  Crown,  and  his  zeal  and  vigor  raised  up 
a  host  of  enemies.  Henry  VII  always  treated  him  with  special 
favor  and  made  him  an  Executor  under  his  Will,  but  the  death 
of  Henry  VII  left  him  without  a  protector;  and  Henry  VIII, 
yielding  to  the  popular  clamor,  committed  both  him  and  Dudley 
to  the  Tower.  First  brought  before  the  Council  and  charged 
with  tyrannizing  over  the  King's  subjects  as  collector  of  taxes 
and  fines,  Empson  defended  himself  in  a  temperate  speech. 
A  charge  of  constructive  treason  was  subsequently  drawn  up 
against  him  and  Dudley.  It  was  asserted  that  they  had  com- 
passed Henry  VII's  death  because  their  friends  had  been  under 
arms  during  his  illness.  Empson  was  tried  and  convicted  at 
Northampton  i  October,  1509,  was  attainted  by  Parliament 
21  January,  1509-10,  and  was  executed  with  Dudley  on  Tower 
Hill  17  August,  1 5 10.  He  was  buried  in  Whitefriars  church. 
His  wife  Jane  survived  him.  His  estates  were  restored  to  his 
eldest  son,  Thomas,  by  act  of  Parliament,  4  Henry  VIII.  His 
younger  son  was  named  John. 

"Of  his  daughters,  Elizabeth  married  (i)  George  Catesby, 
(2)  Sir  Thomas  Lucy ;  Joan  married  ( i )  Henry  Sothill,  (2)  Sir 
William  Pierrepoint ;  a  third  married  Tyrrell ;  and  Jane  mar- 
ried (i)  John  Pinshon,  (2)  Sir  Thomas  Wilson,  who  was 
Queen  Elizabeth's  well-known  Secretary  of  State. 

"Sir  Richard  is  said  to  have  resided  in  St.  Swithin's  Lane, 
next  to  Dudley." 

"The  Speakers  of  the  House  of  Commons,"  by  Arthur 
Irwin  Dasent,  gives  this  account  of  Sir  Richard  Empson: 

"A  new  House  of  Commons  was  summoned  to  meet  on 
17  October,  1491,  and  it  chose  for  its  Speaker,  or  rather  it  had 
forced  upon  it.  Sir  Richard  Empson,  Knight  of  the  Shire  for 
North  Hants,  and  by  repute  the  son  of  a  sievemaker  at  Tow- 


6o 

cester  in  that  county.  Parliament  opened  with  alarums  and 
excursions  of  war.  Empson  and  his  fidus  Achates,  Dudley, 
par  ignobile  fratrum,  lived  in  adjoining  houses  in  Walbrook, 
and  according-  to  Stow  they  had  a  'door  of  intercourse'  from 
the  garden  which  now  belongs  to  Salter's  Hall. 

"The  notorious  Dudley,  a  Gray's  Inn  lawyer  with  an 
Oxford  education  and  an  assumed  name,  filled  the  Chair  in 
Henry  VK's  sixth  Parliament.  Empson  was  Chancellor  of  the 
Duchy  at  the  same  time,  and  these  'two  ravening  wolves,'  as 
they  have  been  called  by  an  old  chronicler,  acting  in  concert, 
practised  extortion  and  intimidation  to  an  extent  hitherto  un- 
known in  England.  By  browbeating  the  sheriffs  they  were  able 
to  nominate  whom  they  pleased  at  elections ;  every  infraction 
of  the  law,  however  antiquated,  was  punished  by  a  heavy  fine. 
The  unscrupulous  policy  pursued  by  Dudley  and  Empson 
between  1504  and  the  King's  death  brought  an  immense  sum 
of  money  into  the  royal  treasury,  whilst  the  'wolves'  and  their 
friends  reaped  no  inconsiderable  share  of  the  spoil. 

"At  the  accession  of  Henry  VHI,  the  only  concession  made 
to  popular  opinion  was  the  condemnation  of  Dudley  and  Emp- 
son, who  expiated  their  crimes  on  Tower  Hill  in  the  following 
August.  Assuredly,  this  was  the  only  occasion  in  Parliamen- 
tary history  when  two  former  Speakers  died  on  the  same  day." 

Sir  Richard  Empson  is  the  first  Speaker  of  the  House  of 
Commons  of  whom  there  is  an  oil  painting.  This  painting  is 
in  the  possession  of  the  Duke  of  Rutland  (see  plate).  There 
is  this  note  on  the  illustration :  "  Sir  Richard  Empson  and 
Edmond  Dudley  with  Henry  VHI."  In  the  preface  to  "The 
Speakers  of  the  House  of  Commons"  is  the  following: 

"It  must  be  owned  that  the  piece  de  resistance  of  our  entire 
collection  of  illustrations  is  the  wonderful  picture  at  Belvoir, 
which  the  Duke  of  Rutland  has  most  kindly  allowed  us  to 


SIR    RICHARD    EMPSUN,    I4OI,    AND    EDMOND    DUDLEY,    I  503-O4 

WITH    HENRY    VII 

From  a  painting  in  the  possession  of  the  Duke  of  Rutland 


reproduce,  of  Henry  VII  with  Empson  and  Dudley  on  either 
side  of  him.  This  extraordinary  picture  is  on  panel,  37^  by 
29!  inches,  but  unhappily  the  master  who  painted  it  is  un- 
known, though  there  can  be  but  little  doubt  that  it  is  the  work 
of  an  English  artist.  It  is,  of  course,  the  earliest  and  finest 
representation  of  the  painter's  art  in  our  Valhalla." 

In  the  church  at  Springfield,  England,  not  far  from  Writtle, 
there  is  a  tablet  in  the  wall  of  the  vestry  room  upon  which  is 
inscribed  the  name  of  William  Pynchon  as  one  of  the  church 
wardens.  This  is  the  William  Pynchon  with  whom  we  are 
concerned,  one  of  the  original  patentees  of  the  Massachusetts 
Bay  Colony,  founder  of  Roxbury  and  Springfield. 

As  the  pedigree  shows,  the  first  cousin  of  William  Pynchon, 
Elizabeth,  married  an  earl.  She  became  the  wife  of  Richard 
Weston,  first  Earl  of  Portland  (1577-1605).  He  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  son  Jerome,  the  second  earl  (1605-33),  who  had 
one  son,  Charles,  who  succeeded  as  third  earl  and  was  killed 
by  the  Dutch,  June  3,  1665,  unmarried.  The  earldom  devolved 
upon  his  uncle,  Thomas  Weston,  who  was  unfortunate  and 
died  in  poverty  in  the  Netherlands  in  1688,  without  issue. 
About  this  time,  Hans  William  Bentinck,  a  Hollander  who  had 
become  high  in  the  favor  of  the  King  (William),  settled  in 
England.  So  the  earldom,  rendered  extinct  by  the  death  of  the 
fourth  earl  without  issue,  was  conferred  upon  Bentinck  on 
April  9,  1689,  and  he  became  the  fifth  Earl  of  Portland  and 
first  earl  of  the  Bentinck  line. 

The  American  branch  of  the  Pynchon  family,  descended 
from  this  William  Pynchon,  has  been  identified  with  the  intel- 
lectual and  scholastic  life  of  the  country.  This  is  to  be  ex- 
pected, for  we  find  in  the  pedigree  that  John  Pynchon  of 
Writtle,  who  died  in  1573,  was  bailiff  for  lands  owned  by  New 
College  Oxford,  and  Richard  Empson,  great-grandfather  of 


62 

William  Pynchon,  founder  of  Springfield,  was  high  steward 
of  Cambridge  University;  while  William  Pynchon  himself, 
the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  an  Oxford  man.  His  descend- 
ants have  been  sons  of  Harvard,  Trinity  and  Yale.  One  of 
these.  Rev.  Thomas  Ruggles  Pynchon,  was  president  of  Trinity 
College  from  1874  to  1883. 

The  name  "Pynchon"  is  familiar  to  most  Americans 
through  Hawthorne's  use  of  it  in  the  "House  of  the  Seven 
Gables"  (Hawthorne  spelled  the  name  with  an  "e,"  "Pyn- 
cheon,"  whereas  the  family  had  long  since  omitted  it).  The 
Pynchon  family  were  indignant  at  the  use  of  their  name  even 
with  the  changed  spelling,  and  one  of  the  family  wrote  to 
Plawthorne,  accusing  him  not  only  of  having  used  the  name, 
but  of  bringing  the  memory  of  his  grandfather,  Judge  Pynchon 
of  Salem,  a  Tory  in  the  time  of  the  Revolution,  into  an  un- 
desired  publicity.  The  Pynchon  family  treasure  among  their 
heirlooms  a  letter  of  apology  from  Hawthorne,  who  referred 
to  the  incident  in  a  letter  to  his  sister  Louisa,  dated  Lenox. 
May  20,  185 1.  He  writes:  "I  pacified  the  gentleman  with  a 
letter." 

There  is  also  preserved  a  letter  from  William  Pynchon  to 
Governor  Winthrop,  bearing  the  indorsement  of  the  latter. 
A  piece  is  torn  from  the  blank  space,  and  tradition  has  it  that 
the  governor,  with  true  Yankee  thrift,  saved  the  scraps  for 
future  use.  Paper  was  a  valuable  commodity  in  the  early  days 
of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony. 

One  of  the  streets  of  Roxbury,  Mass.,  was  named  Pynchon 
Street  in  honor  of  William  Pynchon,  "a  gentleman  of  learn- 
ing &  religion,  the  principal  founder  of  the  town  of  Roksbury 
and  the  first  member  who  joins  in  forming  the  Congregational 
church  there."  This  street  has  since  been  included  in  Colum- 
bus Avenue,  and  so  has  gone  out  of  existence. 


63 

The  city  of  Springfield,  of  which  we  know  WiUiam  Pyn- 
chon  would  be  very  proud  were  he  to  see  it  today,  honors  the 
founder  of  the  city  by  giving  him  first  place  in  the  historic 
pageant  which  is  the  event  of  the  annual  celebration  of  the 
Fourth  of  July.  There  is  also  a  beautiful  mural  painting  by 
Robert  Reid,  occupying  the  rear  of  the  stage  in  the  assembly 
hall  of  the  Central  High  School  on  State  Street;  it  is  an  alle- 
gorical scene  which  represents  William  Pynchon  bringing  the 
light  of  education  to  the  Connecticut  valley.  The  old  Pilgrim, 
who  under  the  dreadful  stigma  of  heresy  had  been  forced  to 
flee  from  the  little  city  in  the  New  World  he  loved  so  well, 
plays  today  a  part  in  her  civic  life,  while  those  who  judged 
him  and  his  book  so  harshly  have  long  been  forgotten. 

COLONIAL    RECORDS    OF    WILLIAM    PYNCHON 

Governor  William  Pynchon,  1 590-1662;  Treasurer  of 
Springfield,  1632-34;  Governor  of  Springfield,  1641-50; 
Governing  Magistrate  of  Connecticut,  1637-38. 

(Sons  of  Colonial  Wars,  1899-1902,  page  740.) 

One  of  the  founders  of  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony ;  named 
as    assistant    in    charter,    1628-29;    Assistant,  1630-36,  1642, 
1650;  Treasurer  from  August  7,  1631,  to  May,  1634;  Commis- 
sioner to  govern  the  settlement  on  Connecticut  River,  1641. 
(Massachusetts  Society  of  Colonial  Dames,  1905,  page  366.) 

Also  see  History  of  Springfield,  Mass.,  by  Mason  A. 
Green. 

ANNE  PYNCHON  AND  HENRY  SMITH 

William  Pynchon,  as  I  have  stated  above,  left  behind 
him  in  New  England  his  four  children:  Anne,  Mary,  Mar- 
garet and  John.    Anne,  from  whom  my  father  is  descended. 


64 

married  Henry  Smith,  the  son  of  "Mistres  Sanford,"  William 
Pynchon's  second  wife,  by  her  first  husband.  Rev.  John  Eliot, 
in  his  "Record  of  Church  Members  in  Roxbury,"  page  i  of 
the  record,  gives  this  account  of  William  Pynchon  and  his 
son-in-law,  Henry  Smith : 

"Mr  William  Pinchon  he  was  chosen          he  came  in 
an  Assistant  yearely  so  long  as  he  lived          the  first  com- 
among  vs:  his  wife  dyed  soon  after  he         pany  1630,  he 
landed  at  N.  Eng:  he  brought  4  children          was  one  of  the 
to    N.    E.     Ann,    Mary,   John,    Margret.         first  founda- 
After  some  years  he  married  M"^  Francis         tion  of  the 
Sam  ford,  a  grave  matron  of  the  church          church  at 
at  Dorchester.    When   so  many   removed         Rocksbrough. 
fro   these   parts   to    Plant   Conecicot    riv'' 

he  also  w'''  oth''  company  went  thith''  &  planted  at  a  place 
called  Agawam  &  was  recomended  to  the  church  at  Windsor 
on  Conecticott  vntil  such  time  as  it  should  please  God  to  pvide 
yt  that  they  might  enter  into  church  estate  among  themselves, 
his  daughter  Ann :  was  married  to  mr.  Smith  sone  to  Mr.  Sam- 
ford  by  a  former  husband,  he  was  a  Godly  wise  young  man 
&  removed  to  Agawam  w*^^  his  parents,  his  daughter  mary 
was  married  to  mr.  Hollioke,  the  sone  of  m'"  Hollioke  of  Linn  : 
m""  Pinchon's  ancient  freind." 

This  "Godly  wise  young  man"  had  come  to  New  England 
in  the  fleet  with  Governor  Winthrop  in  1630.  In  1636  he  aided 
his  father-in-law  in  the  founding  of  Springfield  and  settled 
there. 

In  his  later  Hfe  he  returned  to  England  and  died  in  Wrays- 
bury,  Bucks.  He  and  Anne  Pynchon  were  the  parents  of 
eleven  children,  of  whom  the  eldest,  Anne,  married  Lieutenant 
Colonel  John  Allyn  of  Hartford,  the  "famous  fighting  secre- 
tary" of  Connecticut,  son  of  Matthew  Allyn  of  that  colony. 


6s 

This  Colonel  John  Allyn  I  shall  speak  of  at  greater  length 
in  my  account  of  the  Allyn  family. 

Mary  Allyn,  the  daughter  of  Colonel  John  Allyn  and 
Anne  Smith,  married  Colonel  William  Whiting  of  Hartford, 
and  their  son,  Charles  Whiting,  married  Elizabeth  Bradford. 

In  Waters's  "Genealogical  Gleanings,"  page  723,  we  find 
an  abstract  of  the  will  of  Henry  Smith  of  Wraysbury,  Bucks, 
England,  made  August  16,  1681.  and  proved  October  24,  1682: 

My  body  to  be  buried  in  a  decent  manner ;  I  do  give  unto 
my  daughter,  ]\'Iartha  Camock,  5  s. ;  to  my  daughter  Mary 
Lord  5  s. ;  to  daughter  Rebecca  Lee  5  s. ;  to  son  Elisha  Smith 
5  s. ;  to  my  daughter  Elizabeth  Smith,  not  yet  disposed  of  in 
marriage  I  do  give  with  50  pounds  to  be  paid  at  the  time  of 
her  marriage  if  she  survives  after  her  mother.  I  do  out  of  that 
dear  and  tender  love  I  bear  my  beloved  wife  Mrs.  Anne  Smith 
give  all  my  substance  whatever  and  appoint  (her)  to  be  my 
only  executrix. 

It  is  hard  to  understand  why  there  is  no  mention  in  the  will 
of  the  eldest  daughter,  Anne,  married  to  Colonel  John  Allyn. 
I  account  for  it  by  the  fact  that  John  Allyn  was  one  of  the 
richest  men  in  Hartford,  and  Anne  had  probably  received  her 
portion  of  her  father's  estate  at  the  time  of  her  marriage. 

COLONIAL    RECORDS    OF    HENRY    SMITH 

Smith,  Henry,  1630-52.  Commissioner  appointed  by  Mass. 
General  Court  to  govern  Connecticut,  1635-36;  Magistrate 
Hartford  General  Court,  1638;  Deputy  from  Springfield  to 
Mass.  General  Court.  165 1 ;  Lieutenant  at  Springfield,  1645; 
Magistrate  of  County  Court  of  Springfield. 

(Mass.  Society  of  Colonial  Dames  of  America,  1905, 
page  378.) 

Also  see  Mason  Green's  "  History  of  S])ringfield,"  for 
Henry  Smith's  part  in  the  founding  of  that  city. 


^Upn  Jfamilp* 

(Allied  by  Marriage  of  Matthew  Allyn  and  Margaret  Wyatt 
to  Chichester  of  Arlington,  one  of  the  oldest  of  Devonshire 
families  and  descendants  of  Charlemagne  and  Henry  I  of 
England.) 

CHICHESTER   ARMS 

Chichester  (ancient)  of  Devon. 

Chequey  or  and  gules,  a  chief  vair.        — Burke. 

CREST 

A  heron  rising  with  an  eel  in  the  beak.  ppr. 

MOTTO 


Firm  en  Foi. 


CHART  Vn 


Matthew  Allyn=Margaret  Wyatt  (granddaughter  of 

Amias  Chichester 
of  Arlington,  Devon) 
Lieut.  Col.  John  Allyn=Ann  Smith,  granddaughter 

I   of  William  Pynchon 
William  Whiting=Mary  Allyn 

I 

Charles  Whiting=  Elizabeth  Bradford 

*  The  Allyn  family  did  not  boast  of  Arms.  I  have  given  the  Arms  of 
Chichester  (Ancient)  of  Devon,  instead  of  the  present  Arms  of  the  Chichester 
family  in  England,  which  show  many  quarterings.  The  Wyatt,  or  Wiat,  Arms 
are  given  in  the  "  Visitation  of  Devonshire  "  as  per  fess  gules  and  azure  a 
pair  of  barnacles  argent. 

66 


CHICHESTER    ARMS 


ii^ 


'■iX 


67 
MATTHEW    ALLYN    OF   CONNECTICUT 

Matthew  Allyn  was  born  in  Braunton,  Devonshire, 
England,  in  1605.  He  was  of  old  yeoman  stock  of  excellent 
standing  in  the  county,  which  is  proved  by  the  alliance  of  the 
Allyn  family  with  the  Chichesters,  one  of  the  most  prominent 
of  Devonshire  families.  The  will  of  his  father,  Richard  Allyn, 
has  been  recorded  by  Waters,  page  12 12,  and  is  summarized 
as  follows : 

Richard  Allyn  the  elder  of  Branton,  Devon,  29  Nov.  1647, 
proved  10  May  1652.  To  my  son  Thomas  Allinge  5  i.  To 
my  son  Mathew  Allinge  5i  To  Mary  Allinge  daughter  of  son 
Thomas  20s.  To  son  Mathew's  three  children  to  John  20  s, 
to  Thomas  20s  and  to  Mary  his  daughter  20s.  To  grand  child 
Mary  Tamling  ^i.  To  grandchild  Elianor  Tamling  4  i,  to 
grandchild  Obedience  Garland  20  s  and  to  grandchild  Eliza- 
beth Tamling  20s.  To  daughter-in-law  Elizabeth  wife  of  son 
Richard  20s  in  gold  to  buy  her  a  ring,  to  grandchild  John 
Ailing  son  of  son  Richard  3  i.  To  grandchild  Margaret 
daughter  of  son  Richard  3  i.  To  John  Rice  of  Barnstaple  20s. 
To  the  poor  of  Branton  3  i.  To  Walter  Cutt  5  s.  To  every 
servant  in  the  house  at  time  of  death  2  s  6d.  Son  Richard 
Ailing  to  be  Executor  and  Residuary  legatee. 

Matthew  Allyn  was  married  at  Braunton  to  Margaret 
Wyatt,  daughter  of  Frances  Wyatt,  the  daughter  of  Amias 
Chichester  of  Arlington,  Devon,  and  of  John  Wyatt,  who 
was  born  in  Devon,  November  27,  1558.  This  John  Wyatt 
had  been  admitted  to  the  Inner  Temple  in  1576,  and  was  a 
son  of  Philip  Wyatt,  Steward  and  Town  Clerk  of  Barnstaple, 
Devon,  who  died  in  1592.  The  Wyatts  were  a  well-known 
county  family. 

In  1632  Matthew  Allyn  sailed  with  his  wife  and  children 


68 

for  the  new  world.  We  find  him  first  in  Charlestown  with  the 
original  Braintree  Company.  He  held  several  offices  in  that 
colony.  In  1636  he  removed  to  Hartford,  where  he  held 
numerous  public  offices.  He  was  representative  from  1648  to 
1658;  magistrate,  1657  to  1667.  He  was  then  made  Commis- 
sioner for  the  United  Colonies  of  New  England,  serving  in 
that  capacity  from  1660  to  1664.  In  the  Charter  of  Connecti- 
cut, granted  by  Charles  II,  Matthew  Allyn  is  named  as  one  of 
the  grantees.  He  was  excommunicated  by  the  Church  of  Hart- 
ford because  of  his  progressive  ideas  on  religious  subjects,  and 
removed  to  Windsor,  Conn.,  where  he  continued  to  reside  until 
his  death,  February  i,  1671. 

The  "History  and  Genealogies  of  Ancient  Windsor,"  by 
Henry  R.  Stiles,  gives  a  lengthy  account  of  Matthew  Allyn 
and  his  life  at  Hartford  and  in  Windsor,  part  of  which  follows : 

"The  Hon.  Matthew  Allyn  from  Brampton,  Co.  Devon, 
Eng.,  emigrated  with  the  original  Braintree  Company,  1632, 
to  Charlestown,  Mass.,  where  in  1633  he  had  45  acres  divided 
to  him  at  the  'common  Pales,'  much  the  largest  share  of  any 
settler,  had  an  acre  for  cow  and  three  for  planting  ground 
'on  the  neck.'  In  1635  he  had  by  grant  or  purchase  5  acres 
at  Wigwam  Neck,  six  acres  meadow  near  Watertown,  5  acres 
near  Charlestown  Lane;  owned  5  houses  on  Town  Plot  of 
Cambridge  1635.  He  resided  near  the  meeting  house  and  was 
the  largest  landholder  in  Cambridge  (Cambridge  Record, 
fol.  i,  24).  Was  made  freeman  of  Mass.  March  4,  1635;  was 
a  representative  at  Mass.  Gen.  Court,  March  session,  1636 ; 
removed  next  year  to  Hartford,  where  he  was  an  original 
proprietor;  his  house  lot  was  on  the  road  to  the  Neck  (now 
Windsor  Street),  and  he  owned  no  acres  in  that  and  other 
lots  and  the  first  mill  at  Hartford,  at  foot  of  present  W.  Pearl 
St.    In  May,  1638,  he  was  lodging  with  Roger  Williams ;  was 


69 

a  proprietor  at  Windsor  in  1640,  as  also  a  large  owner  at 
Killing-worth  and  at  Simsbury.  He  was  a  member  of  Rev. 
Mr.  Hooker's  church  at  Hartford,  but  for  some  difference 
therewith,  probably  of  a  doctrinal  nature,  was  excommunicated 
and  June  3,  1644,  he  appealed  to  the  General  Court  for  re- 
dress ;  the  records  do  not  show  fully  how  the  matter  was 
settled,  but  it  may  have  been  one  cause  of  his  removal  to 
Windsor,  in  which  plantation  he  had  previously  been  inter- 
ested, having  purchased  in  1638  all  the  lands,  'house  servants, 
goods  and  chattels'  of  the  New  Plymouth  Company  at  Wind- 
sor, a  purchase  which  'extinguished  the  last  right  and  vestige 
of  Plymouth  right  and  title  upon  the  Connecticut  River.'  His 
Windsor  homestead  was  close  by  the  site  of  the  Company's 
old  trading  house. 

"Mr.  Allyn  was  representative  to  the  General  Court  every 
year  (except  1653)  from  1648  to  1658  inclusive;  a  magistrate 
of  the  Colony,  1657-1667  inc.;  commissioner  for  the  United 
Colonies  of  New  England,  1660-64.  When,  in  1649,  the  Gen- 
eral Court  desired  to  initiate  hostilities  against  the  Indians, 
Mr.  Allyn  was  the  first  named  of  the  three  deputies  to  order 
the  raising  of  troops.  In  1657  he  and  Joseph  Gilbert  were 
to  go  to  Pocomtuck  to  announce  to  the  Indians  the  decision  of 
the  Commissioners;  in  1659  he  and  his  son  John  were  of  the 
committee  appointed  to  divide  the  Indian  lands  at  Podunk, 
and  at  the  same  court  were  placed  on  a  committee  with  power 
to  treat  with  Mr.  Fenwick  in  behalf  of  Hartford,  Windsor 
and  Wethersfield.  In  1661  he  was  moderator,  and  of  the  com- 
mittee to  petition  for  the  charter,  in  which  document,  granted 
to  Connecticut  by  Charles  II,  he  was  named  as  one  of  the 
grantees.  He  was  again  moderator  in  1662,  chairman  of 
the  committee  to  treat  with  New  Haven  for  a  union  in  1662, 
and  in  October  of  1663  he  was  chairman  of  a  committee  to 


70 

treat  with  the  Dutch  envoys  from  New  Amsterdam ;  also  with 
Air.  WilHs  to  settle  the  government  of  the  English  towns  on 
the  west  of  Long  Island,  which  committee  was  renewed  in 
1664  with  authority  to  establish  courts,  etc.  The  same  year 
he  was  of  a  committee  to  settle  bounds  between  the  'Bay'  and 
Rhode  Island  and  the  south  bounds,  and  with  three  others 
'Mr.  Allyn  Senior  or  Junior'  was  desired  to  accompany  the 
Gov.  to  New  York  to  congratulate  his  Majesty's  commission- 
ers and  if  opportunity  offered  to  'issue  the  bounds  between 
the  Duke's  patent  and  ours.'  In  1665,  under  the  union  of  the 
Connecticut  and  New  Haven  colonies,  Mr.  Allyn  and  his  son, 
Lieut.  John,  were  chosen  Assistants,  again  in  1666  and  1667. 
In  1666  both  were  of  the  committee  empowered  in  case  of 
danger  of  invasion  to  levy  troops,  commission  officers,  etc. 
He  was  entered  on  the  Killingly  land  records  as  a  large  land- 
owner and  first  settler,  though  it  is  improbable  that  he  ever 
lived  there. 

"The  Hon.  Matthew  Allyn,  as  we  have  thus  seen,  was 
eminently  a  man  of  affairs  and  an  active,  public-spirited  citi- 
zen. 'Few  men,'  says  Hinman,  'had  more  influence  or  received 
more  honors  from  the  people  than  Mr.  Allyn.'  Energetic, 
willful  and  persistent  in  all  his  projects,  he  was  yet  a  just, 
high-minded  man  and  one  of  the  props  of  the  infant  colony. 
Though  he  fell  under  the  ban  of  the  Hartford  church,  prob- 
ably because  he  entertained  sentiments  on  baptism,  church 
membership  or  church  discipline  at  variance  with  the  ideas  of 
the  other  members,  there  are  many  evidences  that  he  was  held 
in  high  esteem  at  Hartford ;  and  Mr.  Hinman  hints  that  the 
Hartford  church  encouraged  him  to  remove,  fearing  his  'influ- 
ence with  the  settlers.' 

"Mr.  Allyn  died  Feb.  i,  1670-71.  His  will,  dated  Jan.  30, 
1670-71,  makes  his  wife,  Margaret,  his  sole  executrix.    He 


gave  her  the  use  of  his  estate  and  desired  his  sons  and  son-in- 
law  Newberry  to  improve  it  for  her.  To  his  son  John  he  gave 
his  Killingly  lands  and  confirmed  to  him  those  lands  that  he 
had  previously  given  him  in  Hartford  as  a  marriage  portion. 
His  Windsor  house  he  had  already  given  to  his  son  Thomas, 
subject  to  life  use  by  himself  and  wife.  He  gave  him  also  a 
large  estate  and  provided  liberally  for  his  daughter,  Mary  New- 
berry, and  granddaughter,  Mary  Maudsley." 

(Hinman's  Puritan  Letters,  Sceava's  Hartford  in  the  Olden 
Time ;  Mass.  Historical  Society  Collections,  VI ;  Memorial 
History  Hartford  County,  Vol.  i,  pp.  227,  228;  Candee  Gen- 
ealogy, pp.  121-146.) 

COLONIAL   RECORDS    OF    MATTHEW    ALLYN 

Freeman,  1635 ;  Representative,  1636 ;  removed  to  Hart- 
ford, Conn.,  and  was  Representative,  1648-58;  Magistrate, 
1657-67;  Commissioner  for  United  Colonies  of  New  England, 
1660-64;  one  of  the  Grantees  named  in  the  charter  to  Con- 
necticut granted  by  Charles  H. 

For  above  data  see  Register  of  The  Society  of  Colonial 
Daughters  of  the  Seventeenth  Century,  p.  83 ;  Register  of  the 
Society  of  Colonial  Dames  of  Mass.,  1905,  p.  274;  also  see 
Society  of  Colonial  Wars,  1899-1912,  p.  549. 

CHILDREN    OF    MATTHEW    ALLYN    AND    MARGARET    WYATT 

John. 

Thomas. 

Mary. 


72 


LIEUTENANT  COLONEL   JOHN   ALLYN 

POPULARLY    CALLED    THE    FIGHTING    SECRETARY 
OF    CONNECTICUT 

The  elder  son  of  Governor  Matthew  Allyn  and  Margaret 
Wyatt  was  John,  my  father's  ancestor.  He  was  born  in  Braun- 
ton,  Devonshire,  England,  and  was  brought  when  a  boy  to 
Charlestown,  Mass.,  by  his  father,  in  1632,  and  to  Hartford 
in  1636.  He  early  showed  an  interest  in  public  affairs  and  a 
desire  for  service  to  his  colony,  especially  in  military  affairs. 

He  was  a  townsman  in  1655  ;  chosen  cornet  of  the  Hart- 
ford troops,  March,  1657-58;  town  clerk  of  Hartford,  1659- 
96;  deputy  to  the  General  Court,  1661  and  1662.  He  was  a 
magistrate  of  Particular  and  General  Court  twice  in  1662 ; 
magistrate  in  1662  and  Secretary  of  the  Colony,  1663-65  and 
1667-95  inclusive ;  one  of  the  custodians  of  the  charter  in  1662  ; 
often  a  commissioner  of  the  United  Colonies;  member  of  the 
Council;  principal  judge  of  Court  of  Common  Pleas  in  Hart- 
ford County ;  clerk  of  the  courts ;  clerk  of  the  First  Ecclesi- 
astical Society  in  Hartford ;  appointed  Lieutenant  Colonel  by 
Governor  Andros,  October,  1688,  and  by  the  General  Court 
in  1689  to  the  same,  then  the  highest  military  office  of  the 
colony.  "During  the  latter  portion  of  his  life  probably  no 
individual  in  Connecticut  possessed  more  influence  in  the  public 
affairs  of  the  colony  than  he." 

November  19,  1651,  he  married  Anne,  daughter  of  Henry 
Smith  of  Springfield,  and  granddaughter  of  William  Pynchon 
of  that  colony.  To  them  were  born  six  daughters,  of  whom 
five  were  living  at  his  death.  His  father,  upon  his  marriage, 
bestowed  upon  him  his  entire  Hartford  estate,  of  which  John 
Allyn  made  such  good  use  that  at  his  death,  in  1696,  he  was 


73 

possessed  of  large  means  according  to  the  standards  of  the 
times. 

Mainwaring's  Hartford  Probate,  Vol.  i,  p.  395,  gives  an 
inventory  of  the  estate  of  Colonel  John  Allyn  of  Hartford, 
filed  November  12,  1696.  Administration  of  the  estate  was 
granted  to  Joseph  Whiting,  his  son-in-law,  William  Whiting 
and  Aaron  Cooke.  He  divided  among  his  widow  and  children 
cash  and  plate  to  the  amount  of  206  pounds,  15  shillings 
and  sixpence,  and  real  estate  to  the  value  of  1220  pounds  and 
5  shillings. 

Colonel  John  Allyn  died  at  Hartford,  November  11,  1696, 
according  to  the  town  record,  but  on  November  6,  according 
to  a  tombstone  in  the  old  First  Church  burying  ground. 

COLONIAL   RECORDS  OF   LIEUTENANT    COLONEL  JOHN   ALLYN 

Cornet  first  troop  of  Horse  in  Connecticut,  1637,  under 
Major  John  Mason;  Captain  of  the  Hartford  Militia,  1673; 
Lieutenant  Colonel,  1689 ;  Secretary  of  the  Colony  for  thirty- 
four  years;  Assistant,  1662-1696;  Commissioner  of  the  United 
Colonies,  1674-81 ;  member  of  Governor  Andros's  Council, 
1687. 

(Society  of  Colonial  Wars,  1899-1902,  p.  549.) 

CHILDREN    OF   JOHN    AND   ANNE    SMITH    ALLYN 

Anna,  born  August,  1654. 

Mary,  born  April  3,   1657;  married  William  Whiting  of 

Hartford. 
Margaret,  born  July  29,  1660;  married  William  Southmayd 

of  Middletown,  Conn. 
Rebecca,  born  March  2,  1664. 
Martha,  born  July  27,  1667;  married  Aaron  Cooke. 


74 

Elizabeth,  born  December  i,  1669;  married  (i)  Alexander 
AUyn  of  Windsor,    (2)   John  Gardiner  of  Gardiner's 
Island  or  Manor,  Long  Island. 
(Conn.  Colonial  Record,  Vol.  iv,  p.  190;  ii,  pp.  263,  333, 
569-74,  578-86,  etc. ;  Hartford  County  Memorial  His- 
tory, Vol.  i,  p.  228.) 
The  second  daughter  of  Colonel  John  Allyn  married  Wil- 
liam Whiting  of  Hartford,  and  their  son,  Charles  Whiting, 
married  Elizabeth  Bradford.    (See  Chart  VII.) 


i^orman  ^ncesitrp  of  CljarlejS  l^fjiting  jHaci^air 

tfiroust)  W^  Besicent  from 

ILieutenant  Colonel  5of)n  ^llj>n 

Charles  Whiting  MacNair  was  seventh  in  descent  from 
John  Allyn. 

Margaret  Wyatt,  who  married  Matthew  Allyn  and  was  the 
mother  of  John  Allyn,  was  of  illustrious  descent,  and  num- 
bered among  her  ancestors  King  Henry  I  of  England  (through 
two  lines)  and  Charlemagne,  King  of  France.  She  was  the 
granddaughter  of  Amias  Chichester,  of  one  of  the  oldest  and 
most  prominent  of  Devonshire  families.  The  connection  of 
Margaret  Wyatt  with  this  family,  as  Mr.  Bolton's  chart  shows, 
is  proved  by  the  will  of  Bartholomew  Chichester,  Gentleman, 
son  of  Amias  Chichester,  which  mentions  his  niece,  Margaret 
Wyatt  Allyn.  This  will,  proved  February  17,  1635,  is  given 
in  The  New  England  Historical  and  Genealogical  Register  of 
April,  1896,  and  reads  as  follows: 

"I  give  and  bequeath  to  my  kinswoman,  Margaret  Allyn, 
wife  of  Matthew  Allyn,  ten  pounds ;  to  my  cousin,  John  Chi- 
chester, Esquire,  of  Arlington,  a  silver  bowl  with  five  pounds 
sterling  etc.  etc." 

Burke's  "Peerage  and  Baronetage"  has  this  to  say  of  the 
Chichesters : 

"The  family  formerly  called  Cirencester  is  one  of  the  most 
eminent  in  the  County  of  Devon.  It  was  founded  by  Sir  John 
Cirencester,  who  in  1433  was  returned  among  the  principal 
75 


76 

gentry  of  Devonshire  by  the  King's  commissioners.  He  mar- 
ried (1402)  Thomasine,  daughter  and  heiress  of  Sir  William 
Raleigh,  Knight  of  Raleigh,  and  with  her  acquired  the  estate 
of  Raleigh.  He  was  succeeded  by  John  Chichester  of  Raleigh, 
high  sheriff  of  the  County  of  Devon  in  the  third  year  of  the 
reign  of  Edward  HI." 

Amias  Chichester,  Esq.,  of  Arlington,  my  father's  ancestor, 
fifth  in  descent  from  Sir  John  Cirencester,  was  born  in  the  time 
of  Edward  IV,  and  had  issue  nineteen  sons  (Burke's  Landed 
Gentry,  Vol.  i),  of  whom  Bartholomew  Chichester,  whose  will 
is  given  above,  was  of  the  number.  The  fourth  daughter  of 
Amias  Chichester,  Frances,  married  John  Wyatt,  who  was 
in  1576  admitted  to  the  Inner  Temple.  "Their  daughter, 
Margaret  Wyatt,  married  Matthew  Allyn  of  Braunton,  after- 
wards of  Connecticut,  in  America.  John  Allyn,  the  son  of  this 
marriage,  achieved  for  himself  a  notable  and  distinguished 
name  in  that  Colony." 

Browning,  in  his  "Americans  of  Royal  Descent,"  gives  the 
lineage  of  Lieutenant  Colonel  John  Allyn,  showing  his  descent 
from  Charlemagne  and  other  royal  personages.  It  is  brought 
down  to  Charles  Whiting  who  married  Elizabeth  Bradford. 

Mr.  Bolton,  of  the  Boston  Athenaeum,  has  published  a 
pedigree  chart  of  the  ancestry  of  John  Allyn,  giving  all  the 
ancestral  families,  and  tracing  them  back  to  their  Norman 
founders.  Through  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Bolton  I  am  able  to 
give  this  chart  in  full.  Since  the  chart  is  so  explicit,  it  is  not 
necessary  for  me  in  this  brief  sketch  to  go  into  great  detail. 
It  will  be  seen,  however,  that  John  Allyn  was  a  descendant  of 
many  notable  Norman  families,  among  them  the  Plantagenets 
(descent  from  Henry  I),  the  Earls  of  Cornwall,  the  Earls  of 
Devon,  the  Earls  of  Gloucester,  the  Raleighs  of  Devon,  from 
whom   Sir  Walter  Raleigh  was   descended ;   from   Prouz  or 


76 

gentry  of  Devonshire  by  the  King's  commissioners.  He  mar- 
ried (1402)  Thomasine,  daughter  and  heiress  of  Sir  William 
Raleigh,  Knight  of  Raleigh,  and  with  her  acquired  the  estate 
of  Raleigh.  He  was  succeeded  by  John  Chichester  of  Raleigh, 
high  sheriff  of  the  County  of  Devon  in  the  third  year  of  the 
reign  of  Edward  IH." 

Amias  Chichester,  Esq.,  of  Arlington,  my  father's  ancestor, 
fifth  in  descent  from  Sir  John  Cirencester,  was  born  in  the  time 
of  Edward  IV,  and  had  issue  nineteen  sons  (Burke's  Landed 
Gentry,  Vol.  i),  of  whom  Bartholomew  Chichester,  whose  will 
is  given  above,  was  of  the  number.  The  fourth  daughter  of 
Amias  Chichester,  Frances,  married  John  Wyatt,  who  was 
in  1576  admitted  to  the  Inner  Temple.  "Their  daughter, 
Margaret  Wyatt,  married  Matthew  Allyn  of  Braunton,  after- 
wards of  Connecticut,  in  America.  John  Allyn,  the  son  of  this 
marriage,  achieved  for  himself  a  notable  and  distinguished 
name  in  that  Colony." 

Browning,  in  his  "Americans  of  Royal  Descent,"  gives  the 
lineage  of  Lieutenant  Colonel  John  Allyn,  showing  his  descent 
from  Charlemagne  and  other  royal  personages.  It  is  brought 
down  to  Charles  Whiting  who  married  Elizabeth  Bradford. 

Mr.  Bolton,  of  the  Boston  Athenaeum,  has  published  a 
pedigree  chart  of  the  ancestry  of  John  Allyn,  giving  all  the 
ancestral  families,  and  tracing  them  back  to  their  Norman 
founders.  Through  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Bolton  I  am  able  to 
give  this  chart  in  full.  Since  the  chart  is  so  explicit,  it  is  not 
necessary  for  me  in  this  brief  sketch  to  go  into  great  detail. 
It  will  be  seen,  however,  that  John  Allyn  was  a  descendant  of 
many  notable  Norman  families,  among  them  the  Plantagenets 
(descent  from  Henry  I),  the  Earls  of  Cornwall,  the  Earls  of 
Devon,  the  Earls  of  Gloucester,  the  Raleighs  of  Devon,  from 
whom   Sir  Walter  Raleigh   was   descended;   from   Prouz  or 


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le  Proux  of  Eastervale,  Devon,  called  the  "clarous  family  of 
Prouz"  (see  Westcote's  "Devonshire  Pedigrees,"  p.  431)  ; 
from  the  Pawlets  of  Somerset,  Boys  of  Halberton,  Devon,  the 
Wottons  of  Widvvorthy,  Devon,  the  Valletorts  (also  descended 
from  Henry  I,  King  John  and  Richard  Plantagenet)  ;  from 
the  Fortescues,  whose  founder,  Richard  Fort  or  Fort  Escu, 
protected  the  Conqueror  at  Hastings ;  and  from  the  Beau- 
champs  and  the  Champernownes,  from  whom  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh  and  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert  were  descended.  Another 
famous  family  in  this  pedigree  are  the  Giffards,  of  whom 
Burke  says : 

"The  family  of  Giffard  is  of  great  antiquity  in  Devon, 
where  it  flourished  as  early  as  the  reign  of  Henry  H." 

Lord  Halsbury,  Lord  High  Chancellor  of  Great  Britain,  is 
a  descendant  of  these  Giffards. 

John  Allyn's  descent  from  Charlemagne  was  through 
Richard  de  Redvers,  first  Earl  of  Devon,  who  married 
Adeliza,  daughter  of  the  Earl  of  Hereford.  This  Richard 
de  Redvers  was  the  son  of  Baldwin  de  Brion,  who,  as  the  chart 
shows,  accompanied  his  relative,  William  the  Conqueror,  to 
England  and  became  high  sheriff  of  Devonshire.  Baldwin 
de  Brion  was  tenth  in  descent  from  Charlemagne,  as  is  shown 
in  Pedigree  IV,  in  "Americans  of  Royal  Descent,"  a  "Collec- 
tion of  Genealogies  Showing  the  Lineal  Descent  from  Kings 
of  Some  American  Families,"  by  Charles  H.  Browning, 
published  in  Philadelphia,  191 1: 

Charlemagne,  King  of  France  and  Emperor  of  the  West, 
had  by  his  third  wife,  Hildegarde,  died  783,  daughter  of 
Childebrand,  Duke  of  Suabia; 

Pepin,  King  of  Lombardy  and  Italy,  second  son  who  m. 
Lady  Bertha,  daughter  of  William,  Count  of  Thoulouse,  and 
had; 


78 

Bernard,  King  of  Lombardy,  who  had  by  his  wife 
Cunegonde ; 

Pepin,  Count  of  Vermandois  and  Peronne,  a  lay  abbot,  840, 
father  of ; 

Pepin  de  Senlis  de  Valois,  Count  Berengarius,  of  Bretagne, 
father  of ; 

Lady  Poppa  de  Valois,  who  m.  (his  first  wife)  Rollo  the 
Dane,  founder  of  the  Royal  House  of  Normandy  and  England, 
first  Duke  of  Normandy,  912,  died  932,  also  of  Royal  Descent 
(see  Anderson's  "Royal  Genealogies"),  and  had; 

William  the  Longs  word,  second  Duke  of  Normandy, 
father  of ; 

Richard  I,  third  Duke  of  Normandy,  father  of ; 

Godfrey,  Count  of  Eu  and  Brion/in  Normandy,  father  of; 

Gislebert-Crispin.  Count  of  Eu  and  Brion,  father  of ; 

Baldwin  de  Brion,  who  accompanied  his  kinsman,  William 
of  Normandy,  to  England  and  became  High  Sheriff  of 
Devonshire.  He  m.  Lady  Albreda,  daughter  of  Richard-goz 
d'Abrancis,  Viscount  d'Auveranchez  (who  accompanied  the 
Conqueror  and  was  granted  the  Earldom  of  Chester,  in  1086), 
and  his  wife,  Lady  Emme,  half-sister  of  King  William  the 
Conqueror,  and  had ; 

Richard  d'Auveranche  de  Redvers,  Baron  of  Oakhampton, 
created  Earl  of  Devon,  d.  1137;  m.  Lady  Adeliza,  daughter 
of  William  Fitz-Osborne,  Count  of  Bretoille,  lieutenant  and 
steward  in  Normandy,  created  Earl  of  Hereford,  and  had; 

Baldwin  de  Redvers,  second  Earl  of  Devon,  d.  11 55;  m. 
Lady  Lucia,  daughter  of  Dru  de  Balm,  and  had ; 

William  de  Redvers  de  Vernon,  who  succeeded  as  sixth 
Earl  of  Devon,  d.  1216.  He  had  by  his  wife.  Lady  Mabel  de 
Bellomont,  also  of  Royal  Descent,  daughter  of  Robert  the  Con- 
sul, Earl  of  Mellent  and  first  Earl  of  Gloucester,  d.  1147; 


79 

Lady  Mary  de  Redvers  (widow  of  Robert  de  Courtenay 
of  Oakhampton,  d.  1242),  who  m.,  secondly,  Peter  Prouz  of 
Eastervale,  Devonshire  (see  Vivian's  "Devonshire  Visita- 
tions"), and  had; 

WilHam  Prouz,  father  of ; 

Walter  Prouz,  who  had  by  his  wife,  a  daughter  of  Baron 
Dinham ; 

William  Prouz,  who  had  by  his  wife,  daughter  and  heiress 
of  Giles  de  Gidley,  in  Devonshire ; 

Sir  William  Prouz,  Knight,  Lord  of  Gidley,  m.  Alice, 
daughter  and  heiress  of  Sir  Fulke  Ferners  of  Throwleigh, 
and  had ; 

William  Prouz  of  Orton,  Devonshire,  m.  Alice,  daughter 
of  Sir  Hugh  de  Widworthy,  and  had  (see  Vivian's  "Devon- 
shire Visitations")  ; 

Lady  Alice  Prouz,  who  m.  Sir  Roger  Moels,  Knight,  and 
had; 

Lady  Joan  Moels,  who  m.  John  Wotton  of  Widworthy,  in 
Devonshire,  and  had ; 

John  Wotton  of  Widworthy  (see  Westcote's  "Devonshire 
Pedigrees"),  who  m.  Engaret,  daughter  of  William  Dymoke, 
and  had; 

Alice  Wotton,  who  m.  Sir  John  Chichester,  Knt.,  b.  1385, 
who  was  in  the  retinue  of  le  Sieur  de  Harrington  at  Agin- 
court,  son  of  Sir  John  Chichester  of  Treverbin,  Cornwall,  and 
had; 

Richard  Chichester,  b.  1424,  sheriff  of  Devonshire,  1469, 
1475,  d.  25  December,  1496,  m.  Margaret,  daughter  of  Sir 
Nicholas  Keynes  of  Winkleigh,  and  had ; 

Nicholas  Chichester,  b.  1447,  who  m.  Christian,  daughter 
of  Sir  WilHam  (or  Nicholas)  Pawlet,  and  had; 

John  Chichester  of  Rawleigh,  Devon,  b.  1472,  d.  22  Febru- 


ary,  1537-38;  m.,  secondly,  Joan,  daughter  of  Robert  Bright 
or  Brett,  and  had ; 

Amias  Chichester  of  Arhngton,  Devon,  b.  1527,  d.  4  July, 
1577;  m.  Jane  Giffard,  will  proved  16  April,  1596,  daughter 
of  Sir  Roger  Giffard  of  Brightley,  d.  i  May,  1547,  and  had; 

Frances  Chichester  (see  N.  E.  Hist.  Gen.  Reg.,  April, 
1897),  who  m.  John  Wyatt,  bapt.  Braunton,  Devon,  27  Novem- 
ber, 1558;  admitted  to  the  Inner  Temple  in  1576;  son  of  Philip 
Wyatt,  steward  and  town  clerk  of  Barnstaple,  Devon,  1562-63, 
d.  1592,  and  had; 

Margaret  Wyatt,  who  m.  at  Braunton,  2  February,  1626, 
Matthew  Allyn,  bapt.  Braunton,  17  April,  1605;  came  to  New 
England,  resided  at  Cambridge  1632,  at  Hartford  1637,  at 
Windsor  1648.  He  was  a  representative  to  the  General  Court 
of  Massachusetts,  1636;  was  excommunicated  at  Hartford;  was 
deputy  and  assistant  in  the  Connecticut  Colony,  1648-67;  a 
commissioner  to  the  United  Colonies,  1660,  1664;  d.  i  Febru- 
ary, 1670-71,  and  had; 

Lieutenant  Colonel  John  Allyn,  bapt.  Braunton,  24  Febru- 
ary, 1630;  came  to  New  England  with  his  father;  was  cornet 
of  troop,  1657-58;  town  clerk  of  Hartford,  1659-96;  deputy, 
1661 ;  magistrate,  1662 ;  Secretary  of  Connecticut,  1663-65, 
1667-95;  d.  16  November,  1696.  (See  the  pedigree  chart  of 
his  ancestry,  compiled  by  Messrs.  Waters,  F.  Olcott  Allen, 
Jeremiah  Allyn,  and  Bolton,  1898.)  He  m.,  19  November,  1651, 
first,  Ann.  daughter  of  Henry  Smith  and  granddaughter  of 
Colonel  William  Pynchon,  treasurer  of  the  Massachusetts  Col- 
ony, etc.,  and  had; 

Mary  Allyn,  1657-1724;  m.  6  October,  1686,  William  Whit- 
ing, b.  1659,  and  had; 

Charles  Whiting,  1692-1738;  m.  10  January,  1716-17, 
Elizabeth  Bradford,  1696-1777. 


tlTiie  4lentle  iiloob  of  Bebon 

(Extract  from  "Westward  Ho!"  by  Charles  Kingsley) 

Charles  Kingsley,  in  "Westward  Ho!"  Chapter  H,  describes 
a  "  thanksgiving "  in  Devonshire  for  a  victory  at  sea.  He 
mentions  among  other  Devonshire  families  the  Chichesters  and 
the  Fortescues,  who  appear  so  prominently  in  John  Allyn's  pedi- 
gree. Kingsley  introduces  into  the  scene  Amias  Chichester  of 
Arlington  and  his  nineteen  sons  and  also  his  four  daughters, 
one  of  whom  was  the  grandmother  of  John  Allyn. 

"Along  the  little  churchyard,  packed  full  with  women, 
streams  all  the  gentle  blood  of  North  Devon, — tall  and  stately 
men,  and  fair  ladies,  worthy  of  the  days  when  the  gentry  of 
England  were  by  due  right  the  leaders  of  the  people,  by  per- 
sonal prowess  and  beauty,  as  well  as  by  intellect  and  education. 
And  first,  there  is  my  lady  Countess  of  Bath,  whom  Sir  Richard 
Grenvile  is  escorting,  cap  in  hand  ( for  her  good  Earl  Bourchier 
is  in  London  with  the  Queen)  ;  and  there  are  Bassets  from 
beautiful  Umberleigh,  and  Carys  from  more  beautiful  Clovelly, 
and  Fortescues  of  Wear,  and  Fortescues  of  Buckland,  and  For- 
tescues from  all  quarters,  and  Coles  from  Slade,  and  Stukelys 
from  Afifton,  and  St.  Legers  from  Annery,  and  Coffins  from 
Portledge,  and  even  Copplestones  from  Eggesford,  thirty  miles 
away ;  and  last,  but  not  least  ( for  almost  all  stop  to  give  them 
place),  Sir  John  Chichester  of  Ralegh,  followed  in  single  file, 
after  the  good  old  patriarchal  fashion,  by  his  eight  daughters, 
and  three  of  his  five  famous  sons  (one,  to  avenge  his  murdered 
brother,  is  fighting  valiantly  in  Ireland,  hereafter  to  rule  there 
8i 


82 

wisely  also,  as  Lord  Deputy  and  Baron  of  Belfast)  ;  and  he 
meets  at  the  gate  his  cousin  of  Arlington,  and  behind  him  a 
train  of  four  daughters  and  nineteen  sons,  the  last  of  whom 
has  not  yet  passed  the  Town-hall,  while  the  first  is  at  the  Lych- 
gate,  who,  laughing,  make  way  for  the  elder  though  shorter 
branch  of  that  most  fruitful  tree ;  and  so  on  into  the  church, 
where  all  are  placed  according  to  their  degrees,  or  at  least  as 
near  as  maybe,  not  without  a  few  sour  looks,  and  shovings,  and 
whisperings,  from  one  high-born  matron  and  another ;  till  the 
churchwardens  and  sidesmen,  who  never  had  before  so  goodly 
a  company  to  arrange,  have  bustled  themselves  hot,  and  red, 
and  frantic,  and  end  by  imploring  abjectly  the  help  of  the 
great  Sir  Richard  himself  to  tell  them  who  everybody  is,  and 
which  is  the  elder  branch  and  which  is  the  younger,  and  who 
carries  eight  quarterings  in  their  arms,  and  who  only  four, 
and  so  prevent  their  setting  at  deadly  feud  half  the  fine  ladies 
of  North  Devon ;  for  the  old  men  are  all  safe  packed  away  in 
the  corporation  pews,  and  the  young  ones  care  only  to  get 
a  place  whence  they  may  eye  the  ladies.  And  at  last  there  is  a 
silence,  and  a  looking  toward  the  door,  and  then  distant  music, 
flutes  and  hautboys,  drums  and  trumpets,  which  come  braying, 
and  screaming,  and  thundering  merrily  up  to  the  very  church 
doors,  and  then  cease ;  and  the  churchwardens  and  sidesmen 
bustle  down  to  the  entrance,  rods  in  hand,  and  there  is  a  general 
whisper  and  rustle,  not  without  glad  tears  and  blessings  from 
many  a  woman,  and  from  some  men  also,  as  the  wonder  of 
the  day  enters,  and  the  rector  begins,  not  the  morning  service, 
but  the  good  old  thanksgiving  after  a  victory  at  sea." 


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