| Notes |
- RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. Henry R. Stiles, "The History and Genealogies of Ancient Windsor, Connecticut," 1892, v. 2, pp. 621-622: " 'John Porter, Sr., came from Engl. and settled here in Windsor in 1639.' - O.C.R. According to statements furnished by Henry D. White, Esq., of New Haven, Conn., he came to New England with wife and nine children from Felsted, County Essex, England, probably in the ship 'Susan and Ellen,' 17 Jul 1638, and in company with his borther-in-law, Joseph Loomis - see 'Loomis.' In the Parish Register of Messing, County Essex, Engl, is the following rec. of mar.: '1620, Oct. 18. John Porter of Felsted and Anna White of Messing.' Anna, as we find from the Messing Parish Register, was bp. 13 Jul 1600 and was the dau. of Robert White of M., by his wife, Bridget (dau. of William) Allgar of Shalford, County Essex, and was probably the sister of Mary White of M., who m. Joseph Loomis, the emigrant ancestor of the Windsor family of that name (see 'Loomis,' p. 432). Another sister, Elizabeth White, m. 7 Nov 1616, William Goodwin of Hartford, and the three are thought to have been the sisters of Elder John White, though this is not yet proven. Both the Loomis and Goodwin marriages are from the 'Shalford Parish Register.' "
2. Mentioned in father's will of 17 Jun 1617:
Daniel, co-administrator of will with Robert's wife Bridget.
Sarah, eldest dau. and wife of James Bowtell of "little Salinge."
"Marie, wife of Joseph Lummis of Branetree."
Elizabeth, wife of "Willm Goodinge or Goodings of Bockinge."
Bridgett, unmarried.
Anna, unmarried.
Nathaniel
John, minor under age 20.
Also mentions a kinsman: Ralph Bett, the younger.
3. The following partial excerpt concerning the three immigrant sisters of John White is found in the biographical sketch for John White in "The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633," Volumes I-III (see his notes for full transcript):
"JohnWHITE
Origin: Messing, Essex
Migration: 1632 on Lyon [Hotten 150]... Birth: About 1597, son of Robert and Bridget (Allgar) White of Messing, Essex [NEHGR 55:22-31]...
Associations: Three of John White's sisters came to New England with their husbands: Mary, wife of Joseph Loomis; Elizabeth, wife of William Goodwin; and Anne, wife of John Porter [NEHGR 55:22-31]... Bibliographic Note: In 1901 "A Descendant" published an excellent article on the White family in England, and the connections to other New England immigrants [NEHGR 55:22-31]. In 1915 Frank Farnsworth Starr prepared the best account in print of the immigrant and his children [Goodwin Anc 2:395-419]."
4. NEHGS Register, Vol. 55, pages 22-31, 1901, see notes of Robert White for full transcript of article from which the following partial excerpt is taken:
"The children of Robert White of Messing, Co. Essex, England, Who Settled in Hartford and Windsor. By a Descendant.
Robert White of Messing, yeoman, died in 1617. He was a rich man. He seems to have lived in Shalford in Essex most of the time from June 24th, 1585, the date of his marriage to Bridget Allgar, until a few months before his death. The baptisms of nearly all his children are there recorded, and also the marriage of his daughters - Mary in 1614 and Elizabeth in 1616. It was the home of his wife, where she was baptized March 11, 1562, and where her father, William Allgar the elder, was buried Aug. 2, 1575. Shalford is about two miles south of Wethersfield...
According to his will, hereinafter given, he left surviving a wife Bridget; three sons - Daniel, Nathaniel and John who was his youngest Child; three married daughters - Sarah, Mary and Elizabeth; and two unmarried daughters-Bridget and Anna. As he makes his son Daniel joint executor with his wife, it may be inferred he was his eldest son, and possibly by a former wife. His wife Bridget was the mother of his other children, of whom Sarah, wife of James Bowtell of Little Sailinge in Essex, was the first born.
It is believed that three of his daughters came with their husbands to New England, namely: Mary White, wife of Joseph Loomis of Braintree; Elizabeth White, wife of William Goodwin of Bocking; and Anna White, wife of John Porter of Felsted.
Matthew Grant's Old Church Record (in Stiles's Ancient Windsor) records the death in 1647 of "John Porter, Sen's wife," and also the death in 1652 of "Joseph Loomis, Sen. his wife." This is valuable information, but it would have been more satisfactory had the record contained the Christian names of these wives. Nor does the entry in the Windsor Town Records of the birth of John Porter's two children, Nathaniel in 1640 and Hanna in 1642, give the mother's name. In the same town records is this entry: "John Porter, Sr., came from England and settled in Windsor in 1639." Mr. Porter was present as a member of the "Committee" of the General Court in Hartford, August 8th, 1639. He died in Windsor 21st April, 1648, leaving a will, an abstract of which is hereinafter given, and it is to be noticed that two of the beloved friends made supervisors of his will were "Mr. William Goodwin of Hartford and Goodman White of Hartford."...
The baptism of Elizabeth White, 5th March, 1591, is recorded in the Parish Register of Shalford, as is also her marriage, 7th November, 1616, then a singlewoman of that parish, to William Goodwin of Bocking, then a singelman. There is a bequest to her in her father's will, which is dated May 27, 1617, and she was probably present at her father's burial, 17th June, 1617. No mention of her has been found later than June, 1632.
John Tallcott and William Goodwin came over in the ship "Lion," which sailed June 22d, 1632, from London for Boston. A few days before she sailed John Tallcott and his wife Dorothy, and William Goodwin and his wife Elizabeth, join in a conveyance of messuages, land, etc. in Braintree and Bocking, to Martin Holbeach, gentleman, Adrain Mott, Richard Skynner, Robert Aylett and Robert Morrys. John Tallcott was of kin to Richard Skynner and his wife Dorothy Mott was related to Adrain Mott. Whether William Goodwin and his wife Elizabeth were related to or connected with any of the parties does not appear; but it may be remembered that Elder William Goodwin's nephew, William, son of his brother Osias, mentions in his will in 1689 "land in Hartford which formerly belonged to his uncle John Morrice."
It is plain that John Talcott and William Goodwin were disposing of their property in England because they were going to find new homes across the ocean.
That John Talcott came from Braintree, England, and that his wife Dorothy Mott came with him to Hartford, are facts well known and long ago established.
This sale of "Fine," an abstract of which is given below was sent some time ago to Mr. James Junius Goodwin of Hartford, who has very kindly permitted its present use. It is of great genealogical value. Before the finding by Mr. Waters of Robert White's will, which is printed in Mr. Goodwin's book, the "Goodwins of Hartford, Conn.," page 68, there was no reason for believing that William Goodwin's wife Susanna was his second wife. But this will, with a bequest to "my daughter Elizabeth, wife of William Goodinge of Bocking," and the discovery afterwards of the record in the Parish Register in Shalford of their marriage in 1616, and the conveyance of land in Braintree and Bocking by John Talcott and wife Dorothy, and William Goodwin and wife Elizabeth, made in June, 1632 (just as the "Lion" was about to sail, in which these men are known to have been fellow passengers), make it highly probable that William Goodwin's wife Elizabeth came with him to Hartford, and lead irresistibly to the conclusion that Robert White's son-in-law, William Goodwin of Bocking, and Elder William Goodwin of Hartford, were the same person.
The date of the decease of William Goodwin's wife Elizabeth has not been ascertained, but it must have been before January, 1669-70, for at this date William Goodwin sold land in Hadley, Mass., and the name of his wife who then joined in the deed of it is Susanna - "the first and only record of his wife yet discovered in America."
William Goodwin and his wife Elizabeth left but one child, a daughter Elizabeth, who married John Crow, an early settler of Hartford. The date of her birth is not known, but it could not have been earlier than 1617, nor has the date of her marriage been found.
It is very plausibly supposed that the John White who came over in the "Lion" in 1632 and settled first in Newtown, now Cambridge, in Massachusetts, and then came with the Rev. Thomas Hooker and his church to Hartford in 1636, was the son of Robert White of Messing. The record of his baptism has not been found. He was not of age in 1617, when his father made his will, in which it was provided that if should marry without the approbation and consent of his mother, and of Joseph Loomis of Braintree and William Goodwin of Bocking, his legacy of 200 pounds should be reduced to 100 pounds. In the list of thirty-three passengers of the "Lion," given in Drake's Founders of New England, page 12, his name follows next after the name of William Goodwin. [Footnote included after the work "Lion": "We know the name of the vessel from Gov. Winthrop's Hist. N.E., vol. I, p. 107."] His wife's name was Mary, as appears from an unexecuted lease in the handwriting of his son Nathaniel White (now in the possession of one of his descendants), dated March 28, 1666, the lessors being John White and Mary his wife, the lessee their son Nathaniel; the premises, his house and garden, etc., in Hartford, reserving the use of two rooms therein for the term of the lives of said John and Mary, and of the longest liver, whether said John or said Mary...
It deserves to be mentioned that family genealogies have been printed of all the members of Robert White's family who are known to have emigrated to New England, namely:
Elder John White and his descendants, in 1860.
The Loomis Genealogy, in 1875.
Loomis Genealogy, female branches, in 1880.
The Goodwin's of Hartford, Conn., in 1891.
John Porter and his descendants, in 1893.
Memorials of Roderick White and descendants, in 1892.
From these books some of the preceding facts have been taken, and to these genealogies the reader is referred for full and interesting memorials of these families.
"Essex to wit:} This is the final agreement made in the court of the lord king at Westminster, In three weeks from the day of the Holy Trinity, In the year of the reign of Charles by Grace of God of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, King, defender of the faith, etc., from his accession the eighth, before Robert Heath, Richard Hatton, Francis Harvey and George Vernon, justices, then and there present, between Martin Holbeach, gentleman, Adrian Mott, Richard Skynner, Robert Aylett and Robert Morrys, complainants, and John Tallcott and Dorothy his wife, and William Goodwyn and Elizabeth his wife, deforciants, of three messuages, one barn, three gardens, two orchards, two acres of meadow and there acres of pasture with their appurtenances in Brayntree and Bocking... And for this fine and agreement the said Martin, Adrian, Richard, Robert and Robert have given to the aforesaid John and Dorothy and William and Elizabeth a hundred pounds sterling.
"(Feet of fines twenty (seven) 8, Charles I. (1632) Essex.)"...
Extracts from Parish Registers of Shalford and Messing, Co. Essex, transcribed by Mr. Frank Farnsworth Starr.
From Parish Register of Shalford.
Marriages...
1616, Nov. 7, William Goodwyn of Bocking singleman and Elizabeth White of this parish singlewoman.
Baptisms...
1591, Mar. 5, Elizabeth Whighte dau. of Robert Whighte..."
5. FHL book "Various Ancestral Lines … Goodwin and … Morgan …," by Frank Farnsworth Starr (1915; Hartford), pp. 395-399: "The Family of Robert White.
Shalford, a small parish of Essex County, England, is located in the north middle section of the county, four and a half miles northwest of Braintree, the nearest railroad town, and has a population of about 700.
The writer visited this parish in August 1891, made an examination of the Church Register which begins in 1558, and found many interesting items. In the record of baptisms are found:
1560 Sept. 9, Mary Allgar daughter of William Allgar
1562 Mar. 11, Brydgette Allgar daughter of William Allgar
1565 Apr. 6, Jdhn Allgar son of William Allgar
1567 Oct. 5, John Allgar son of William Allgar
1583 May 5, Elizabeth Allgar daughter of William Allgar
In the record of burials:
1565 Aug. 1, John Allgar son of William Allgar
1575 Aug. 2, William Allgar the elder
The following entries were found in the record of marriages:
1575 Oct 16, Henry Bette son of John the elder and Anne Allgar
1582 Sept. 27, Ralfe Bette and Marye Allgar
1585 June 24, Robert Whighte and Brydgett Allgar
The last entry gives us the marriage of Robert White and Bridget Allgar; the daughter of William Allgar of Shalford. Of White's parentage and earlier history we have no knowledge. He seems to have resided at Shalford until after November 7, 1616, the date of the marriage of his daughter Elizabeth to William Goodwin then of Bocking, Essex County, later of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and other towns in New England.
In May 1617, he was a resident of Messing in the same county when he made his will, and where he was buried on the 17th of June following.
Thus far, there has not been discovered any record of the death of his wife Bridget, but she is supposed to be the person of that name, to whom one Nathaniel White of Faring, Essex County, in his will made June 9, 1623, left a life annuity of £ 10. (Commissary Court of London for Essex and Herts., vol. for 1623-4, 158.)
The following is a copy of Robert White's will, as entered in the records of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, volume Weldon, 40... [Article transcribes will; however, I do not copy it since I already have a transcript of it in a separate note.]
It will be interesting to note that of the daughters mentioned in this will, three with their husbands, became residents of New England, as follows:
Mary, wife of Joseph Loomis of Windsor, Connecticut Elizabeth, wife of William Goodwin of Cambridge, Massachusetts; Hartford, Connecticut; Hadley, Massachusetts, and Farmington, Connecticut
Anne, wife of John Porter of Windsor, Connecticut. We have no knowledge of his son Daniel, except that he was made one of the executors of the will; possibly, he was the child of a previous marriage.
Child of Robert and ___ White:
-Daniel bap. ___ legatee and executor of the will of his father; nothing further known about him.
Children of Robert and Bridget (Allgar) White (Church Register, Shalford, Essex County, England):
-Sarah, bap. Mar 8, 1585, mar. James Bowtell of Little Sating, Essex County, England and was living in May, 1617 (Robert White's will, Prerogative Court of Canterbury, London).
-Nathaniel, bap. "Laste day of April," 1587; he is supposed to have lived at Feering, Essex County, and to have died in 1623.
-Mary, bap. Aug. 24, 1590; mar. June 30, 1614, Joseph Loomis, who emigrated to America and settled in Windsor, Conn.
-Elizabeth, bap. "fyfte March", 1591; mar. Nov. 7, 1614 William "Godwyn of Bocking singleman." He emigrated to America in 1632 and became one of the settlers of Hartford, Conn.
-Bridget, bap. Aug. 18, 1594; mar. Sept. 28, 1618, John Christmas.
-John, bap. ___, mar. Dec. 26, 1622, Mary (Lev ?)it.
-Anne, bap. July 13, 1600; mar. Oct. 18, 1620 John Porter of Felstead, Essex County, who emigrated to America and settled in Windsor, Conn."
[Sources in footnotes;]
-Will of Nathaniel White of Feering, Essex County, in Commissary Court of London for Essex and Herts, vol. for 1623-4, 158.
-Parish Register, Messing, Essex County, England."
6. The book, "Ancestors & Descendants of Clark Proctor Nichols and Sarah (Sally) Stoughton in England and America, 1620-2001, by Clara Pierce Olson Overbo (2002), pp. 160-61:
"WILLIAM GOODWIN, born probably at Braintree, co. Essex, England about 1591; died at Farmington, Massachusetts 11 March, 1673; married (I) ELIZABETH WHITE, daughter of Robert White of Messing, co. Essex, England; (see White Family) (2) SUSANNAH HOOKER, widow of Reverend Thomas Hooker.
Certainly William Goodwin's early life was spent at Braintree in co. Essex where he was living at the time he became the leader of the company which migrated to the New World. It is not known just how William Goodwin and Thomas Hooker became such close friends. Some have conjectured that Hooker may have lived with the Goodwins at Braintree for a time after he was evicted from his clergy position and before he found it necessary to flee to Holland to save his life. Hooker was an ardent and eloquent orator, well known throughout the entire area, and drew crowds to hear him speak. Naturally the Braintree group would wish for Hooker to come to New England and be their preacher which he did a year later.
The Braintree group of twenty-four, under the leadership of William Goodwin, arrived in New England September 1632 aboard The Lyon. They settled in a spot that they called Wollaston, but were soon ordered by the General Court of Massachusetts to remove to Newtown, which later became known as Cambridge.
Elder Goodwin, as he was called, became their church leader in the months that followed. Hooker and Stone arrived a year later amidst much rejoicing.
Reverend Thomas Hooker was then ordained as their pastor and Samuel Stone as their teacher. William Goodwin remained as the elder, which was a very important position in the church. At least he made it an important position.
Goodwin and his family were among the hundred or so people who left Newtown and trudged the long distance to their new home in Connecticut. There he assumed leadership in the establishing of the Hartford church and the body politic.
After Hooker's death in 1647, Reverend Stone became the clergyman of the Hartford church. Stone's ideas were somewhat different than Hooker's, and by 1659, a group under the leadership of Goodwin had moved back to Massachusetts and settled in the town of Hadley.
By 1670, the Goodwin family was living at Farmington where Samuel Hooker was the minister. Sometime after the Reverend Thomas Hooker's death, his widow, Susannah, married William Goodwin, becoming his second wife. This was probably in 1670 as Goodwin's wife had died in 1669/70. The reason for William and Susannah moving to Hadley may very well have been that Susannah's son, Samuel, was the minister of the church there.
William Goodwin died at Farmington 11 March 1673 after a life well spent in doing what he felt was right for him and for the colony of which he was a part.
Child of William Goodwin and Elizabeth (White) Goodwin:
i. ELIZABETH GOODWIN (Lineal Ancestor. See #2 below)
"ELIZABETH GOODWIN, born at Braintree, co. Essex about 1620; died at Farmington, Connecticut; married at Hartford about 1640, JOHN CROW, becoming his second wife. (See Crow Family for children.)
References:
Anderson, The Great Migration
Boltwood, Genealogies of Hadley.
Goodwin, The Goodwins of Hartford, Connecticut
Olney. Passengers on The Lion.
Starr, Ancestral Lines of James Goodwin and Lucy Morgan Goodwin.
Starr, Various Ancestral Lines of James Goodwin & Lucy (Morgan) Goodwin of Hartford, Connecticut."
7. The book, "Ancestors & Descendants of Clark Proctor Nichols and Sarah (Sally) Stoughton in England and America, 1620-2001, by Clara Pierce Olson Overbo (2002), p. 163:
"ROBERT WHITE, born at Shalford, co. Essex in 1588; buried at Messing, co. Essex June 1617; married at Shalford 24 June 1585, BRIDGET ALGAR, born at Shalford, co. Essex, England 11 March 1562.
Robert was a yeoman and lived most of his life in Shalford, but moved to Messing before his death. He left a long and complete will at Shalford.
Children of Robert and Bridget (Algar) White:
i. Sarah White, born at Shalford 8 March 1585/6.
ii. Nathaniel White, baptized at Shalford 30 April 1587.
iii. Mary White, born at Shalford, co Essex, England, 24 August 1590; died at Windsor, Connecticut 21 August 1652; married at Messing, co. Essex 30 June 1614, Joseph Loomis.
iv. Bridget White, baptized at Shalford 18 August 1594.
v Anna White, baptized at Shalford 13 July 1600.
vi. ELIZABETH WHITE (Lineal Ancestor See #1a below)
vii. JOHN WHITE (Lineal Ancestor See #1b below)
ELIZABETH WHITE, baptized at Shalford 13 July 1600 [an apparent typo by the author]; died at Windsor Connecticut; married in England, WILLIAM GOODWIN (See Goodwin Family.)
8. The book "Colonial Ancestors. Four lineal genealogies of eastern Connecticut families…," by Bernice Andrews (Livingston) Rieg (Camden, Maine; Penobscot Press, 1991), pp. 183-87 [Note: I neglected to copy the source list.]:
"Some productive inquiries into the English origins of John White were made by one of his descendants around the year 1900. John is understood to be the youngest child of ROBERTA WHITE, yeoman, well-to-do, born possibly in Messing, county Essex; he died there in 1617. Robert married in Shalford, county Essex, 24 Jun 1585, BRIDGET ALLGAR, where also she had been baptized on 11 Mch 1562, the daughter of William Allgar. Robert and Bridget seem to have lived in her native town or parish, Shalford, most of their married life.[1]
Robert White was buried at Messing, 17 Jun 1617, less than three weeks after making his will, which provided for daughters Sarah (called the eldest; mar. James Bowtell), Mary (mar. Joseph Loomis), Elizabeth (mar. William Goodwin), Bridget White and Anna White, in that order; he then names sons Nathaniel and John, the latter being a minor and believed to be the youngest child; finally, he names his wife, Bridget, and his son, Daniel as joint executors.[2]
Subsequently, Anna White married at Messing, 18 Oct 1620, John Porter; and John White married at the same place, 26 Dec 1622, Mary (Lev).[3]
A sizeable portion of the White family moved from the Old World to New England in the Great Migration, and stayed near to one another in the new land.[4] Moreover, there clearly existed within the family, and with its in-laws, a sense of closeness, mutual support, and common interest. This is apparent from the respect and trust implied in assigned responsibilities, as illustrated in several legal instruments in which members of the family partook. For example, Robert White, wishing to assure sensible marriages for his children, Bridget, Anna and John, by his will conditioned receipt of their full inheritance upon approval of the intended spouse not only by his wife Bridget, but also by his "sonnes in law" Joseph Loomis and William Goodwin.[5] The father's high opinion of these two young men was well substantiated by their later careers as leaders in Windsor and Hartford in Connecticut.
In the same vein, it is worth noting that the White children tried to stay together when they settled across the Altantic: when Joseph Loomis and John Porter occupied adjacent home lots in Windsor in 1639, their wives, Mary (White) Loomis and Anna (White) Porter, became next door neighbors.[6]
The English shire of Essex was one of the prime centers for nonconformist preachers, and of course most of those who came to New England in the two decades after Robert White's death were following their inspiring preachers, often making the move as congregations. It's not surprising, then, to find in Robert White's will an early bequest for "...Mr. Richard Rogers preacher of gods word at Withersfield in Essex...,"[7] and study of the ecclesiastical jurisdictions of Essex discloses that the parish of Wethersfield adjoins that of Shalford, in the north central part of Essex. For Robert White to attend a lecture by Mr. Rogers, he may have had to travel no more than ten miles.
Out of this moderately wealthy English family, comfortably settled in the shire of Essex, but imbued with nonconformist fervor, came the hard working, well liked and increasingly respected man who was to become an early, founding settler of no less than three new towns: Newtown (later Cambridge, Mass.), Hartford, and Hadley."
CHRISTENING:
1. NEHGS Register, Vol. 55, pages 22-31, 1901, see notes of Robert White for full transcript of article from which the following partial excerpt is taken:
"The children of Robert White of Messing, Co. Essex, England, Who Settled in Hartford and Windsor. By a Descendant.
Robert White of Messing, yeoman, died in 1617. He was a rich man. He seems to have lived in Shalford in Essex most of the time from June 24th, 1585, the date of his marriage to Bridget Allgar, until a few months before his death. The baptisms of nearly all his children are there recorded, and also the marriage of his daughters - Mary in 1614 and Elizabeth in 1616. It was the home of his wife, where she was baptized March 11, 1562, and where her father, William Allgar the elder, was buried Aug. 2, 1575. Shalford is about two miles south of Wethersfield...
It deserves to be mentioned that family genealogies have been printed of all the members of Robert White's family who are known to have emigrated to New England, namely:
Elder John White and his descendants, in 1860.
The Loomis Genealogy, in 1875.
Loomis Genealogy, female branches, in 1880.
The Goodwin's of Hartford, Conn., in 1891.
John Porter and his descendants, in 1893.
Memorials of Roderick White and descendants, in 1892.
From these books some of the preceding facts have been taken, and to these genealogies the reader is referred for full and interesting memorials of these families...
Extracts from Parish Registers of Shalford and Messing, Co. Essex, transcribed by Mr. Frank Farnsworth Starr.
From Parish Register of Shalford.
Marriages.
1570, Nov. 11, Richard Bette and Alice Smythe.
1575, Oct. 16, Henry Bette son of John the elder and Anne Allgar.
1582, Sept. 27, Ralfe Bette and Marye Allgar.
1585, June 24, Robert Whighte and Brydgette Allgar.
1614, June 30, Joseph Loomis and Mary White.
1616, Nov. 7, William Goodwyn of Bocking singleman and Elizabeth White of this parish singlewoman.
Baptisms...
1585, Mar. 8, Sara Whighte dau. of Robert Whighte.
1587, last day of April, Nathaniel Whighte son of Robert Whighte.
1590, Aug. 24, Mary Whighte, dau. of Robert Whighte.
1591, Mar. 5, Elizabeth Whighte dau. of Robert Whighte.
1594, Aug. 18, Bridget Whight dau. of Robert Whighte.
1600, July 13, Anne Whighte dau. of Robert Whighte..."
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Chris & Julie Petersen's Genealogy
1592 - Bef 1669 (~ 77 years)