STJOHN-L Archives

From: "Jim St. John" <>
Subject: Matthias St. John's Ancestry
Date: Sat, 11 Jul 1998 19:47:10 -0700

I have been trying to track Matthias St. John's ancestry for several years.
The information I have gathered is given below. At this time, I tend to
agree with those who say Oliver and Sarah (Bulkeley) St. John are not his
parents. Note toward the end of this e-mail, Matthias's wife and some of
her ancestors are presented for scrutiny.

The St. Johns are of Norman-French origin, and took their name from a parish
called St. John, near Rouen. William St. John was in the train of William
the Conqueror, and was called grand quarter of artillery and supervisor of
the wagon and carriages. His sons and grandsons distinguished themselves in
the wars of William Rufus and Henry I. A daughter of the house of St. John
married Adam de Port, the great feudal baron of Baring, near Southampton.
Her son inherited the possessions of both families and assumed the maternal
name. The St. Johns of olden time were good fighting men, crusaders, many
of them , and gallant knights in the days of chivalry. They were royalists,
and many sons fell fighting for their king. Thomas St. John was a crusader.
He fought under King Richard, Couer-de-Lion, at the siege of Acre, in 1191.
His son Thomas was killed in the battle of Evesham, Worcestershire, in 1265.
Thomas St. John, who fought at Acre, is said to have been one of a number of
knights who received from King Richard a leather thong, bound about the leg,
as a token of superior courage. This is believed to have suggested the
Order of the Garter.

Lydiard Tregoze, one seat of the St. Johns, came into the family in the
reign of Henry VI, and the little church there is full of monuments to the
St. Johns. The older branch of the St. Johns is now represented by Lord St.
John of Bletro, or Bletshoe, of Melchbourne. The barony of Bletro was
brought into the St. John family in 1558 by Margaret Beauchamp, the
grandmother of King Henry VII.

Matthias St. John came to Dorchester, Massachusetts in 1630's. In some
records his first name is given as Matthew since Matthias is the Latin form
of Matthew. The St. John family name was spelled Sention and Sension as
well as St. John before 1700. About 1700 the spelling was uniformly changed
to St. John.

Genevieve Wilson Bartlett in her book "Forefathers and Descendants of
Willard and Genevieve Wilson Bartlett" gives a Baronial descent of Matthias
on his maternal side. She states he was the son of Oliver and Sarah
(Bulkeley) St. John of Keysoe, County Bedford. In this listing she states
he was born in 1603, died in 1699, and married Elizabeth ______. The year
of his death does not agree with what she later states or other sources.
She also gives the following information: Matthias St. John was the earliest
settler of Dorchester, Massachusetts in 1631. He removed to Windsor,
Connecticut in 1649, and lived in Wethersfield for a time between 1636 and
1655. He settled permanently in Norwalk in 1654, and became prominent in
the affairs of the town government. His married first Elizabeth. His
second wife was Anna Whitney. He died in November, 1669.

Charles A. Virkus in his book "The First Families of America, The Abridged
Compendium of American Genealogy, Volume 3" (Also know as "the Standard
Genealogical Encyclopedia of the First Families of America" also states
Matthias is the son of Sir Oliver and Sarah Buckley of London, England
(different town than that listed by Mrs. Bartlett). He provides essentially
the same information as Genevieve Wilson Bartlett: Matthias to Dorchester,
Mass. 1631/32, settled at Norwalk 1634, Windsor, Conn. 1640, Hartford, 1650;
freeman 1699; m. Elizabeth ______.

Robert Leigh Ward states in his article "Two Contemporaries named Matthias
Sension" in The American Genealogist that there were two Matthias Sensions
in London during the early 1630s. One was a shoemaker, had a wife named
Sarah, and lived in the St. Botolph's Bishopsgate parish. The other was a
chandler, had a wife Mary, and lived in the St. Nicholas Cole Abbey parish.
He provides the parish records for each one. The St. Botolph's Bishopsgate
records list three children of Matthias and Sara. None of the children's
names match those known for the Matthias who came to America. The St.
Nicholas Cole Abbey records list two children (Thomas baptized on 24 Oct.
1631 and Marke baptized on 10 June 1633). Since the Matthias who came to
America had a son named Mark born in 1633/4, Mr. Ward believes that this was
the one who came to America. He explains away the lack of a son Thomas
coming to America by saying he may have died young. He does not address the
lack of Matthias, Jr. being in the parish records but he could have been
born/baptized elsewhere. In order for either of these Matthias's to have
come to America in 1631/2 as stated by Mrs. Bartlett, Mr. Virkus, and Orline
St. John Alexander in his extensive book "St. John Genealogy" he would have
either had to return to England for the baptizing of his children or not to
have come to America until late 1633.

The New England Historical and Genealogical Register states Matthias came
from St. Botolph, Bishopsgate, in London.

Frederick Lewis Weis in his book "Ancestral Roots of Sixty Colonists who
came to New England between 1623 and 1650" states that Elizabeth St. John
was the daughter of Sir Oliver and Sarah (Bulkeley) St. John of Keysoe,
County Bedford. Elizabeth was born on 12 Jan. 1604/5 and married Rev.
Samuel Whiting. Samuel was a minister at Lynn, Massachusetts from 1636 to
1679. He gives 10 generations of Sir Oliver's ancestors on the paternal side
but he does not mention any of Elizabeth's brothers or sisters.

In the mid-1970's James Churchyard commissioned J. P. Brooke-Little, then
Richmond Herald of Arms, to search through the records to find any
connection between Matthias and the other St. Johns. His reports and
research notes run to many pages. But no evidence of the connection was
found. Mr. Churchyard stated his personal conclusion is that it does not
seem likely that Matthias St. John was connected with the families of the
nobility or gentry. The reasons for this conclusion are as follows:
a.These families appear to be well documented and no evidence of such a
connection has been found despite repeated, thorough, searches by himself
and many others.
b.Matthias was never referred to by the honorific title of "Mr." in the
colonial records. If his family were of the gentry class he most likely
would have been accorded this notice.
c.All the early records known to be of Matthias, both in England and in
America, spell the name Sension or Sention.

If he were to undertake further researches, they would concentrate on two
mutually exclusive speculations concerning Matthias's origin.
a.Perhaps he was of Huguenot origin. A great many of these French
Protestants fled to England and engaged in various trades to support
themselves. "St. John" is a very common parish name in France, and would
probably sound like Sension.
b.Perhaps he was descended from servants of one of the above gentry
families, and his ancestors took the name of their masters. This is what
happened with many freed slaves in the South, and the same process in
England led to servitors having noble surnames.

Mr. Churchyard pointed out to me that the NEGHS Register July 1995 & October
1995 give Matthias's wife as Mary Tinker. Her parents were Robert Tinker
(b. ca. 1565 Bershire, England) and Mary Mervin (b. ca. 1575 Amersham,
Bucks, England). They were married 26 Jan 1600/1. Mary Merwin's father was
Thomas Merwin. Thomas's parents were John Merwin (b. ca. 1490, marr. ca.
1514, d. late 1552 Amersham, Bucks, England) and Isabel Bartlett (d. 23 Jan
1556 Amersham, Bucks, England). I have not sight check the NEGHS articles
yet. They may give additional references.

If I had the opportunity to check records in England, I would tend to look
in the St. Nicholas Cole Abbey records since that Matthias had a wife named
Mary and the Bershire and Amersham area records since that is where Mary
Tinker's ancestors came from.

If anyone every finds proof of Matthia's ancestry, please post it to this
St. John rootsweb mailing list.

Jim St. John

This thread:

• Matthias St. John's Ancestry by "Jim St. John" <>