WHITNEY-L Archives

From: "Lynda J. McLaughlin" <>
Subject: Re: John & Elinor
Date: Sat, 09 Nov 1996 22:46:23 -0500

Dear Allan,

Thank you for posting that info to the group. I was very happy to recieve it
as it added detail to the story of John and Elinor.

I really like to record the personals as much as possible.

Thanks again.. is there more where that came from?

Lynda McLaughlin

At 10:32 PM 11/9/96 -0500, you wrote:
>Dear Edward:
>
>John & Elinor, and their sons, John2, Richard, Nathaniel, Thomas and
>Jonathan, sailed initially from London in the "Elizabeth and Ann", Roger
>Cooper, Master, sometime in May of 1635 (Lloyds might have some record of
>this). I think they stopped in one or more other ports to pick up other
>passengers - possibly Plymouth or Falmouth, but I'm not sure. Elinor was
>very pregnant with Joshua at the time, and he was born in Watertown on 5 Jul
>1635, so the ship probably took five to six weeks on this passage. I
>certainly don't envy Elinor the journey in a small, cramped ship (I've been
>in the reconstructed versions of the three Jamestown [VA] ships, and the
>small size of the spaces available for the passengers and crew absolutely
>amazed me, even if the people were smaller at that time than we are today).
>
>John Whitney certainly must have brought with him a moderate "treasure", as
>he was able to secure property in Watertown very quickly, and became a
>"freeman" of that town in a short time - he later was Town Clerk. In England
>he had been a member of the *Merchant - Taylor's (Tailor's) Company, having
>served an apprenticeship to one of their members (I've got all of this on
>paper if you want dates, apprentice master, etc.). This did not mean that he
>sat and sewed garments, but more likely that he was in business as a
>merchant, buying and selling cloth and possibly some finished goods. After
>finishing his apprenticeship and time as a journeyman, he became a full
>member of the Company, and soon took his younger brother, Peter, as an
>apprentice. Peter later also became a member of the Company, lived and died
>in the parish of St. Peter Cornhill in London.
>
>I have speculated that John came to America because of his perception of the
>lack of economic opportunity for his five sons. Certainly by 1634/5 the
>solidity of the Massachusetts Bay Colony had been made clear, and there had
>been time for news of the economic opportunities available there to have
>circulated. With five sons, and a pregnant wife, it may have well looked
>like a better place than London of that time. Remember, the civil/religious
>unrest that led to the rise of Cromwell and the establishment of the
>Commonwealth was getting started by then. He must have had a business to
>sell to raise the money to buy passage for himself, his wife and five sons,
>and to establish the family quickly in Watertown.
>
> * * * * * * *
>I began this as a direct response to Edward, and then thought that it might
>better be posted to the whole group, especially after the messages today from
>Jim Whitney and Sue Rood. So, while I am addressing the whole WRG, - yes,
>Peg Sanborn, you made it to the right spot. I sent you a direct message
>earlier tonight, inviting you to join the group, and then found out you
>already had.
>
>Yes, Jeanne, I was aware that Edward lived in England. We had already had
>some brief correspondance prior to his finding the group, and discussed
>mutual preferences for eating places, etc. in Herefordshire. I know that we
>might get some help from him on some of our *English Whitney Problems*, but I
>have not yet had the time to explore his penchant for travel and freedom to
>pursue various avenues of research. Since he is in Hereford, perhaps he
>could get to Bangor fairly easily and explore the *cache* of Whitney records
>stored there at the University (Ros Dunnico, Jon Aston's *not-on-line*
>English friend, identified these for me when we met this past summer). I
>wouldn't yet know where else to send him for Henry after I pretty well
>exhausted my own ideas in that direction last summer. We need to wait for
>Arvy to get to the GLRO and check out my idea for identifying the parents of
>Thomas Whitney, John's father, in the parish records of Lambeth St. Mary. If
>that turns up something pertinent, then we can try to figure out where to go
>from there. AND, I guess we are going to have to follow up on exploring the
>Cheshire lines of the Whitney family, but I have never looked in that
>direction and haven't a clue about how to start (except for what I know about
>Cheshire resources from working there following my wife's lines). It will
>have to wait for me until I can get back to the Library of Congress next
>summer.
>
>Peg, Thomas Whitney was born (supposedly) in 1563 in Lambeth Marsh, Surrey
>(the LDS CD series called Ancestral File says Lambert Marsh, but there is no
>such place as far as I can find in Surrey, and there is a Lambeth Marsh just
>across the river (Westminster Bridge) from St. Margaret Parish, Winchester,
>which was that of his wife, Mary Bray, and which was where most (all? I'm
>going from memory here) of his children were christened. I've seen the
>original parish registers in the Library of Westminster Abbey, where they are
>stored (St. Margaret's is on the grounds of the Abbey and is the *local*
>church for the people of that area). Mary Bray was christened on 24 Dec
>1564, daughter of John Bray and Margaret Haslonde. I haven't said anything
>about Thomas's parents because there has recently arisen a serious challenge
>to the long-held idea of his parentage. I'll tell you (and anyone else who
>wants to know) more about that problem later in a private (or public, if
>enough ask) message. Note the comment above about Arvy going to the Greater
>London Record Office - he's going in late November, and after he looks there,
>we'll have a better idea about how to proceed.
>
>Well, folks, as usual, I've started a simple little note and just kept
>going... and going... and going. Leave it to a teacher to find several
>hundred words where a few dozen should suffice.
>
>Happy Hunting :-) Allan
>
>

This thread:

• Re: John & Elinor by "Lynda J. McLaughlin" <>