Category Archives: Whipple

Whipple

Thomas Whipple – A Documented Ancestor Born in the 1400s!

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It isn’t often that one is able to document a line back to and ancestor born in the 1400s. However, thanks to terrific Massachusetts records and the survival of records from Essex and Hertfordshire in England, it appears I am able to do just that.

Thanks to an article by William Wyman Fiske, FASG, published in The Genealogist (the journal of The American Society of Genealogists) in Fall 2006 (Volume 20, No. 2) by Picton Press, significant research has been done into early English records.

Those records lead directly to the Whipple family who left Old England for New England in the 1630s.

Last month, I wrote about Matthew Whipple, a 12X great grandfather who died in Bocking, Essex, England not long before 16 January 1617/18.

Dr. Fiske’s research into the ancestry of Matthew Whipple appears to identify both the father and grandfather of Matthew. I use the word “appears” because Dr. Fiske himself describes his work as a “proposed ancestral origin” of the family.

Matthew Whipple is now thought to be the son of Thomas Whipple born c1510, and his wife, Margaret (MNU). Margaret was buried in Bocking, Essex, England on 13 June 1577.

Thomas and Margaret were the parents of three known children:

1. Matthew, born c1557; died before 16 January 1617/18, Bocking, Essex, England and who married Joan (MNU), c1582. Joan was born in 1561 and died in 1619.

2. Margaret, born c1565; she was buried 19 January 1627/28, Bocking, Essex, England. Margaret married Richard Rathbone.

3. Robert? – A Robert Whapple, a clothier of London, has ties to the Whipples and Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire, England, home to Matthew Whipple’s proposed grandfather, another Thomas Whipple.

The earliest Whipple found in the Essex and Hertfordshire records is the proposed father of Thomas, who was born c1510.

Thomas Whipple, a clothier, was born c1475 and died between 1535 and 1537. He married (1) Unknown, who was buried in 1506 at the church in Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire, England and (2) Isabel/Elizabeth, who survived him and was buried in 1557.

It appears that Thomas’s son, John, was a children by his unknown wife. John married Winifred Pylston and died after 1545.

It appears that Thomas’s namesake, Thomas, was born c1510 and was a child of Isabel/Elizabeth. He is the man who married Margaret (MNU), described above.

Because there are no extant birth or baptismal records for John or Thomas, it can’t be said with any real certainty which wife was the mother of which of Thomas’s children.

The article is a lengthy 26 pages long with a huge amount of documented history about the family up to the time when they began to leave for a new life in Massachusetts.

Because this article is relatively recent and back issues of the magazine are readily available, I will leave it up to those interested to track down a copy of this issue of The Genealogist. (It is in the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.)

Although Picton Press closed with the death of its owner, back issues of The Genealogist can be ordered on The American Society of Genealogists website. The $15 I paid for the issue is worth its weight in gold!

 

 

Whipple

Elder John Whipple & Susannah Clarke, Ipswich, MA 1600s

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My Whipple line does not come down very far through my family tree, as Elder John Whipple’s eldest daughter, Susannah is my ancestor.

John Whipple was baptized on 29 August 1596 at St. Mary’s Church in Bocking, Essex, England, the son of Matthew Whipple. Matthew’s wife was named Joan, but the church register is silent as to the name of John’s mother.

Essex County is on the southeastern coast of England, bordered by Suffolk to the north, Kent to the south and Hertfordshire and London to the west. That area of England was home to many Puritans unhappy with the direction of the Church of England.

John married (1) Susannah Clarke on 28 August 1621 at St. Andrew by the Wardrobe, London, England. She was baptized on 11 January 1595/96 at Theydon Garnon, Essex, England, the daughter of Stephen and Elizabeth Clarke. (2) Jennet Dickenson, who survived him and is mentioned in his will. She died 1 February 1686 in Rowley, Essex, Massachusetts.

Ten of the eleven children of John and Susannah were baptized in Bocking.

Children:

1. Susanna, baptized 1 July 1622; died 10 August 1692, Newbury, Essex, Massachusetts; married (1) Lionel Worth, c1648 (2) Moses Pillsbury, c1668.
2. John, baptized 11 January 1623/24; died 4 August 1625
3. (Captain) John, baptized 21 December 1625; died between 2 August 1683, when he wrote his will, and 25 September 1683, when it was entered into the Essex County Court records; married (1) Martha Reyner, who died 24 February 1679, Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts (2) Elizabeth (Burr) Paine, widow of John Paine, 28 June 1680, Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts
4. Elizabeth, baptized 1 November 1627; reportedly died on 15 December 1648, Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts; married Anthony Potter, c1647. Her father left 40 shillings to “Antony Potter my son-in-law sometimes.”
5. Matthew, baptized 7 October 1628; died 12 October 1634, Bocking, Essex, England.
6. William, baptized 2 October 1631; died 4 June 1641, Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts
7. Ann, baptized 2 June 1633; died 4 May 1634, Bocking, Essex, Massachusetts
8. Mary, baptized 20 February 1633/34; died 2 June 1720, Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts; married Simon Stone, c1656.
9. Judith, baptized 4 August 1635; died 27 June 1637, Bocking, Essex, England.
10. Matthew, baptized 17 February 1636/37; died 30 March 1638, Bocking, Essex, England.
11. Sarah, baptized 3 November 1641, Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts; died 23 July 1683, Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts; married Joseph Goodhue, 13 July 1661, Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts.

Will of John Whipple, 1669
Essex County Probate File #29490, Page 2
Source: American Ancestors

In the name of God Amen: I John Whipple Senior of Ipswich in New England, being in this present time of perfect understanding and Memory though weake in body, committing my Soule into the hand of Almighty God, and my body to decent buryall in hope of Resurrection unto Eternal life by the Merit and power
of Jesus Christ my most mercyfull Saviour and Redeemer, doe thus dispose of the temporall Estate wch God hath Graciously given me.

Imprimis. I give unto Susanna Worth of Newbery my eldest daughter thirty pounds, and a silver (?) (?), and a silver wine cup.

Item. I give unto my daughter Mary Stone twenty pounds, and one silver wine cup,

Item. I give unto my daughter Sarah Goodhue twenty pounds,

And all the rest of my household Goods; my will is that they shall be equally divided betwixt my three daughters afore sayd: But for their other Legacyes my will is that they should be payd them wth in two yeares after my decease: and if it should so fall out, yt any of my daughters above said should be taken away by death before that time of payment be come, my will is that the respective Legacyes be payd to their Heijres when they come of age.

Likewise I give unto Antony Potter, my son in law (sometimes?) fourty shillings.

Moreover I give unto Jennet my beloved wife ten pounds, which my will is yt it should be paid her besides the fourscore pounds, and ye Annuity of six pounds a yeare Engaged unto her in the Articles of Agreement before our Marryage. Commencing the fourscore pound, which is to be Riturned back to her after my decease, mu will is yt it should be payd (both for time and manner of Pay) avoiding to ye sayd Agreement, viz. one third paid in wheat, (Mault?) and Indian Corne in Equall proportions, the other two thirds in near Cattle under seaven years old. Further my will is yt no debt should be charged upon my sayd Wife as touching any of her daughters, untill it be first proved to wife from the Account of (Mercy?), Sarah, or Mary.

I doe appoint my loving friends Mr. William Hubbard and Mr. John Rogers of Ipswich, the overseers of this my last will and Testament, and I doe hereby give them power to determine any difference about ye payments aforesayd yt may arise betwixt my Executors and any of the Legatees afore sayd.

Lastly I ordayn and Appoint my son John Whipple the sole executor of this my last will and Testament, To whom I give all the rest of my estate, both houses, Lands, Cattle, Debts from whomsoever due, and to his heijres for ever, In Confirmation whereof, I have hereunto Set my hand and Seale, this 10th day of May 1669.

The marke of John Whipple

In the presence of
William Hubbard
Robert Day
The marke of Edward Lummas?

John’s death isn’t recorded in the Ipswich town records. However, his will was recorded in Essex County Court on 25 September 1683, so he likely died during the summer of that year.

The inventory of his estate includes over £2 in books, so it seems was able to read and write, but perhaps too weak at the time he made his will to sign his name.

This ends the Whipple line in my family tree.