Category Archives: Fellows

Fellows

English Origins of William Fellows, 1600s, Ipswich, Essex, MA

Leave a comment

My genealogical cup truly hath runneth over recently with articles in the NEHGS journal, The Register, providing the third colonial family in my tree whose English origins have been proven in a short period of time.

The English Ancestry of Brothers William Fellows of Ipswich, Mass., and Richard Fellows of Hartford, Conn., and Springfield, Northampton, and Hadley, Mass. by Clifford L. Stott, CG, FASG was published in the Summer 2023 issue (Volume 177: 234-244)

I am very grateful for Mr. Stott for his continued research because he has authored a number of articles that connect to my family tree.

Quite a bit of information has already been documented about William Fellows, my line, in The Great Migration. He was a shoemaker in England and called husbandman in Massachusetts. “Shoemaker William Felloe” aged 24, was named as a passenger in London bound for New England on The Planter. He signed his name in 1664, but made his mark on a 1668 petition.

Mr. Stott’s research has now identified the parents of William Fellows plus his paternal grandfather and a paternal great grandfather.

Thomas Fellows, born c1516, probably Foxton, Leicestershire, England is now the earliest known progenitor of this Fellows family. He married Unknown (MNU), possibly c1540. Thomas was buried on 9 August 1564, Foxton, Leicestershire, England. It is thought that his first wife died c1545. He married (2) Alice (MNU), c1550. She was born c1528 and died after Thomas.

Children of Thomas Fellows with his first unknown wife:

  1. Joan, born c1542
  2. William, born c1544; buried 17 August 1630, Foxton, Leicestershire, England, married Unknown (MNU), c1573

Children of Thomas Fellows with Alice (MNU):

  1. Thomas, born c1552; married Unknown (MNU)
  2. Edward, born c1554
  3. John, born c1558
  4. Robert, born c1563

William Fellows was the son of Thomas Fellows and his first unknown wife. He was born c1544; buried 17 August 1630, Foxton, Leicestershire, England and married Unknown (MNU), who predeceased him.

William Fellows was the father of probably ten children:

  1. William, born c1575; died Laughton, Leicestershire, England; married Unknown (MNU)
  2. Richard, born c1577; married Unknown (MNU)
  3. Grace, born c1579; died after 1649; married Mr. Allan
  4. Elizabeth, born c1581; died 25 August 1650, Roxbury, Suffolk, Massachusetts; married John Morricke
  5. Thomas, born c1582; buried 26 June 1630, Foxton, Leicestershire, England; married Grace (MNU)
  6. Margaret, born 30 May 1584, Foxton, Leicestershire, England; died after 19 March 1630
  7. John, born c1586; buried 24 April 1634, Gumley, Leicestershire, England; married Alice (MNU), c1608
  8. Luke, born c1588; married Agnes Crane, 30 April 1612, Foxton, Leicestershire, England
  9. Alice, born c1592; married John Colman, 13 November 1613, Foxton, Leicestershire, England
  10. Leonard (possibly), born c1598; buried 4 April 1654, Great Bowden, Leicestershire, England; married Jane Morbey, 3 November 1624, Great Bowden, Leicestershire, England

My line continues with John Fellows, born c1585; buried 24 April 1634, Gumley, Leicestershire, England; married Alice (MNU), c1608.

John and Alice (MNU) Fellows were the parents of ten children:

  1. Richard, baptized 28 June 1609, Foxton, Leicestershire, England; buried 7 August 1609, Foxton, Leicestershire, England
  2. Thomas, baptixed 8 November 1610, Kibworth Beauchamp, Leicestershire, England
  3. William, baptized 14 February 1612/13, Gumley, Leicestershire, England; died after 27 march 1696, Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts; married Mary (MNU), c1636
  4. Richard, baptized 22 October 1615, Gumley, Leicestershire, England; died before 10 September 1663, Hadley, Hampshire, Massachusetts; married Ursula (MNU), c1639
  5. Abigail, baptized 15 March 1617/18, Gumley, Leicestershire, England; married Thomas Harper, 12 October 1644, probably Great Bowden, Leicestershire, England
  6. Mary, baptized 22 January 1619/20, Gumley, Leicestershire, England; died after 1630
  7. Ann, baptized 12 May 1623, Gumley, Leicestershire, England; no further record
  8. James, baptized 23 January 1624/25, Gumley, Leicestershire, England; no further record
  9. Jonathan, baptized 20 May 1627, Gumley, Leicestershire, England; buried 8 February 1682/83, Gumley, Leicestershire, England
  10. Samuel, baptized 28 February 1628/29, Gumley, Leicestershire, England; buried 6 March 1702/03, Gumley, Leicestershire, England; married Jane Marshall, 18 December 1655, market Harborough, Leicestershire, England

My Fellows line:

  1. Thomas Fellows = Unknown (MNU)
  2. William Fellows = Unknown (MNU)
  3. John Fellows = Alice (MNU)
  4. William Fellows = Mary (MNU)
  5. Josiah Brown = Mary Fellows
  6. Josiah Brown = Susannah Goodwin
  7. Abiel Brown = Sarah Green
  8. William Hay = Phebe Brown
  9. Joses Bucknam = Abigail Hay
  10. Oliver Scripture = Mary Goddard Bucknam
  11. George Rogers Tarbox = Mary Elizabeth Scripture
  12. Calvin Segee Adams = Nellie F. Tarbox
  13. Charles Edwin Adams = Annie Maude Stuart
  14. Vernon Tarbox Adams = Hazel Ethel Coleman
  15. George Michael Sabo = Doris Priscilla Adams
  16. Me!

For further information about the Fellows family, the article can be accessed on AmericanAncestors.org by subscription.

Fellows

William Fellows, England to Massachusetts, 1635

1 Comment

This is part of a series about my New England colonial ancestors who arrived by during the Great Migration. If you have early Massachusetts ancestry, be sure to check out AmericanAncestors, as the Great Migration Study Project can be viewed there with a membership to the New England Historic Genealogical Society.

William Fellows was born c1610 in England. His origins haven’t been proven, but he may have come from Leicestershire. One Elizabeth Moricke of Roxbury, Suffolk, Massachusetts, wrote her will on 14 March 1649/50, naming one Leonard Fellows of Great Bowden, Leicestershire, England as one of her excecutors. She also left bequests to William Fellows of Ipswich, Richard Fellows of Connecticut and Samuel Fellows of Salisbury, which strongly suggests that all these people were related.

Like my extended Tuttle family, William Fellows arrived in  Massachusetts in 1635 aboard the ship Planter.

William married Mary (MNU), c1636, not long after settling in Massachusetts. Some say her maiden name was Ayres, which is possible per the Great Migration Study commentary, but has NOT been proven.

William was a shoemaker by trade in England.

William died between 29 November 1676, the date of his will, and 21 December 1676, when it was accepted in court. It was not proved because William neglected to name an executor. The court appointed his three sons to divide the estate according to “the mind of their father.”

Children:

  1. Isaac, born c1637, probably Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts; died 6 April 1721, Ipswich, Massachusetts; married Joanna Boreman, 29 January 1672/73, Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts.
  2. Ephraim, born c1641, probably Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts; married (1) Mary (MNU), who died 23 February 1671, Ipswich (2) Ann Cross, widow of Thomas Marshall, by 1683.
  3. Samuel, born c1643, probably Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts; died between 14 April 1712-11 December 1713, Rowley, Essex, Massachusetts; unmarried. He left his estate to his sister Abigail and her children.
  4. Mary, born c1645, probably Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts; died after 1688, probably Reading Middlesex, Massachusetts; married Josiah Brown, 23 February 1666/7, Reading, Middlesex, Massachusetts.
  5. Joseph, born c1650, probably Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts; married Ruth Frail, 19 April 1675, Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts.
  6. Elizabeth, born c1653, probably Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts; died after 29 November 1676, when William wrote his will; no further record.
  7. Abigail, born c1655, probably Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts; married Samuel Ayres, 16 April 1677, Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts.
  8. Sarah, born 26 July 1657, Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts; died after 3 February 1722/23, unmarried at that time; no further record.

William and Mary (MNU) Fellows are my 10X great grandparents.

My line of descent:

1. William Fellows & Mary (MNU)
2. Josiah Brown & Mary Fellows
3. Josiah Brown & Susannah Goodwin
4. Abiel Brown & Sarah Green
5. William Hay & Phebe Brown
6. Joses Bucknam & Abigail Hay
7. Oliver Scripture & Mary Goddard Bucknam
8. George Rogers Tarbox & Mary Elizabeth Scripture
9. Calvin Segee Adams & Nellie F. Tarbox
10. Charles Edwin Adams & Annie Maude Stuart
11. Vernon Tarbox Adams & Hazel Ethel Coleman
12. George Michael Sabo & Doris Priscilla Adams
13. Linda Anne (Sabo) Stufflebean – Me!