Capt. John Jenney

Captain John Jenney (- 1643), died on 25 May 1643 at Plymouth, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. He married Sarah Carey. They emigrated to the Colonies from Leyden in 1623 aboard the Little James, accompanied by the Anne. Their daughter Sarah was born 23 July 1623, at sea. The original Jenney gristmill was built in Plymouth Colony by John Jenney in 1636, and was run by him until his death in 1644. After his death, his wife Sarah and son Samuel continued to run the mill until Stockbridge took over the mill for legal reasons. The mill burned down in 1837.

Notes

• Some sources state that the Jenney family were passengers on the Anne, not the Little James.

Sources and Further Information

• Howell Family Genealogy
• Passengers of the Anne and Little James 1623
• To learn more about John Jenney visit this interesting site: http://www.jenney-jenne-family.org/index.html

Disputed Parents

Claims have been made that John was the son of Henry Jenney and Mary Smythe but this couple's son John stayed in the village of Great Cressingham (not far from Norwhich, England) where he had a family.[1]

Another theory, put forth by Matthew Hovious (see below), is that John Jenney was the posthumous son of Christopher Jenney by Avis Homberston.

John Jenney's marriage record indicates he was from Norwich, England, and the following summary is quoted from aHovious's 2008 article in The Genealogist:

"In summary, the documents mentioned so far indicate that a man named John Jenney, probably the son of a Mrs. Avis Jenney, lived in the Lakenham area of Norwich, where he operated a mill until around 1600. This information clearly suggests a connection with John Jenney who arrived in Leiden after 1600, stated that he was from Norwich, and settled later in Plymouth, where he named his farm Lakenham and operated a mill. I believe that the first solid proof of the Norwich origins of John Jenney of Plymouth has now been found."[2] Hovious refers to a 1588 subsidy list for Lakenham, an outlying neighborhood of Norwich, which "shows that John Jenney was taxed on L5 in goods, the precise amount that Avis Jenney, who previously had no taxable goods, inherited from Francis Southwell.... On 17 July 1591, John Jenney also paid tax on 100s in land, the precise amount once owned by Avis Jenney."[3] This land could have been the house in which Avis lived as a widow. "The only real estate that was left to Avis free and clear was the house in an unnamed location where Christopher [Jenney, the executor of the will of Avis's deceased husband by the same name] was apparently paying a man or woman named Bardwell to raise Avis's children by her first marriage. It is certainly possible that this house could have been in Norfolk rather than in the vicinity of Dunwich..."[4] It appears that Avis gave her bit of land and personal property to young John Jenney in the 1580s as she moved to London with her elder sons (by her first marriage to Thomas Crathorne), where she died in 1597.[5]

Biography

John Jenney in Lakenham (Norwich), co. Norfolk[7]

John Jenny, in Plymouth Colony, received a grant of land in March 1637/8. "The record states that 'one hundred and fifty acres of lands are graunted unto Mr. John Jenney, lying on the east side of the Six Mile Brooke...to be called by the name of Lakenhame.' Lakenham was and is a part of the English city of Norwich, the city already given by John as his place of origin in his 1614 marriage record." (Hovious, p. 6)

"In 1576 a citywide subsidy was raised in Norwich, and in the section for 'Brakendell cum Carrow' we find a woman named Avis Jenney, who paid 13s. 4d. in tax on land valued at 100s. (or £5). Bracondale... was the hamlet immediately adjacent to Lakenham and part of the same ward of Norwich." (Hovious, pp. 7-8.) "Avis Jenney appears there [Bracondale] again in a subsidy taken the following year, though her net worth is given as £5 1s. 3d. At Easter 1578, she is listed again in Bracondale, paying 1 s. 8d. in tax on an even £5 in lands; no taxable value is assigned to any household goods she may have had." (Hovious, p. 8) "The next, and final, known mention of Avis Jenney in Norwich, occurs in the four-page-long will of Francis Southwell, Esq., made out on 6 October 1581.... by far the wealthiest man in the surrounding area.... In one of only two bequests made outside his immediate family, Southwell gave 'unto Mrs. Jenney fyve poundes to be paid her owte of suche howshold stuffe as remais at Norwiche or Lakenham." (Hovious, p. 8) "The same year that Francis Southwell made his will, a combined muster roll and view of arms was taken in the city. The heading is dated 23 June 1581. Under the section dealing with Lakenham, we find the following entry: "Cn. John Jenne myller a Bille [shaft with hooked cutting edge and spike at end] and Sallet [light helmet]." (Hovious, pp. 8-9) Hovious later cautions: "The 1581 assessment of arms and list of able-bodied men is not definitive as a tool for determining the possible birth date of John of Lakenham, because it merges three lists having uncertain dates, and it is not clear which date pertains to John. (Hovious, pp. 11-12; in his footnote to this he mentions the "arbitrary arrangement" of the "undated and disorganized papers among these records"; "the dates ascribed to them later are, in at least some cases, provably wrong." "The next surviving records date to 1588, and in Lakenham the list shows that John Jenney was taxed on £5 in goods, the precise amount that Avis Jenney, who previously had no taxable goods, inherited from Francis Southwell. That same year John Jenney is listed in an assessment of arms made on 20 July 1588 as the owner of a calyver [light musket]. "(Hovious, p. 9) "In September 1589/90, John Jenney is listed as the city's constable for Lakenham, apparently a substitute for someone else unable to complete his appointment." (Hovious, p. 9) "John appears again armed with a calyver in lists made in 1591." "On 17 July 1591, John Jenney also paid tax on 100s in land, the precise amount once owned by Avis Jenney." (Hovious, p. 9) "He posted £10 in recognizances when appearing before the court [of Quarter Sessions] on an unspecified matter on 29 March 1592 and was bound to appear at the next session. In fact he did not appear at the session held on 11 July 1592 but did on 25 September of that year, when it is recorded that 'Johanes Jenny de Lakenham myler' appeared to ask that his indictment be quashed. No mention of John was made in any subsequent Quarter Sessions records..." (Hovious, p. 9) "On 1 February 1594/5... Jenney is listed again with one corslet on the arms list, and he also appears on a separate list of able-bodied men aged 16 to 60 taken on 10 August of that year." (Hovious, p. 10) "At the June 1595 view of arms he presented a corslet." (Hovious, p. 10) He was taxed on 20s of land in Lakenham in 1596, 1597, 1598 and 1599. (Hovious, p. 10) "The record made on 10 November 1599... is the last documented reference to John Jenney in the Lakenham area." (Hovious, p. 11) John Jenney in Leiden and Plymouth Colony[8],[9],[10]

"The first reference to a John Jenney in Dutch records of the Leiden pilgrims seems to be his having served as a witness to the marriage of Robert Peck and Jennie Marit in November 1609, John Jenney himself, it will be remembered, married Sarah Carey in the Dutch city of Leiden on the first day of November 1614. Crucially, the 1614 record identifies him asa "Jongman" [i.e., single man] from Norwich. Little is known of John's life in the Netherlands. He seems to have worked as a brewer's apprentice, according to his marriage record and his contemporary, Edward Winslow, who would eventually witness John Jenney's will.... Winslow wrote that 'as for the Dutch, it was usual for our members that understood the language and lived in or occasionally came over to Leiden to [take communion] with them, as one John Jenny, a Brewster [i.e., brewer], long did.'"[11]

He emigrated in 1623 in the Little James, settling in Plymouth. He was a brewer and miller (but apparently not a very good one). [PCR 1:118, 2:76] He also served as a translator for Dutch immigrants.

He married in Leiden 1 Nov 1614 Sarah Carey, of Monk's Soham, Suffolk [Leiden 135]; she died at Plymouth between 18 August 1655 (codicil to will) and 5 Mar 1665/6 (probate of will).

For trading with the Indians, against the law, John Jenney was presented at Court, on January 6, 1636/7, in the following manner:

"Whereas John Jenney Thomas Willett and George Watson did, contrary to the auncient lawes of this colony, trade wth the Indians for corne, and therby boththe quantitie of corne & the value thereof was forfaited to the collony, and that there upon the corne so traded contrary to law was seized to the use of the collony, and that afterwards, by a publicke order made in Court, it was referred to the bench, the said bench doth now order, that thone (the one) halfe of the said corne, and the forfaiture besides, shalbe freely given to them againe, and thother (the other) halfe of the corne shalbe delivered to the Treasurer for the use of the collony, to be disposed as the bench shall think fit." [12] He died in Plymouth between 28 December 1643 (date of will) and 25 May 1644 (date of inventory). [13]

The name Jenne changed to Jenney somewhere in the time between father and son. Documentation has been found for both father and John that show both spellings of the last name. It appears that he adopted the spelling "Jenney" around the time he was first elected Assistant to the Governor.

Public Service[14][15]

Date: AFT 1633 Place: Plymouth, Plymouth Co., MA Note: Plymouth Assistant, 1637, 1638,1639, 1640 Deputy for Plymouth to General Court, 1 June 1941 Committee to assess colony, 2 January 1633/4; 2 March 1635/6 Committee to lay out highways, 1 October 1634 Committee to control wages & prices, 5 January 1635/6 Committee on reuniting Plymouth and Duxbury, 14 March 1635/6 Committee on revising laws, 4 October 1636 Committee to apportion haygrounds, 20 March 1636/7 Committee to survey meadows, 5 May 1640 Committee on providing soldiers against the Indians, 27 September 1642 Plymouth Colony list of men able to bear arms, 1643 Children

Samuel, b Leiden abt 1616, apprenticed 4 years 1633; m1 aft 1637 Susanna Wood [NEHGR 69:188-89; TAG 35:70-72]; m2 by 1657 Anne Lettice... [MD 14:64, citing PCPR 4:2:11] child, bur Leiden 1618 [Dexter 619] Abigail, b abt 1621; m in Plymouth 28 Apr 1644 Henry Wood [PCR 2:79] Son, b 1623 aboard Little James; d bef 1627 Sarah, b abt 1625; m Plymouth 29 May 1646 Thomas Pope [PCR 2:98] John, b by 1627; named in father's but not mother's will; no further record [i.e., likely died btw 1643 and 1655] Susanna, b abt 1634; m by 1654 Benjamin Bartlett, son of Robert Bartlett "At just the time John Jenney died [1644], a great exodus from Plymouth to points southward was setting in "by reason of the straitness and barrenness of the place" [1], and John's son Samuel, then about twenty-eight years old, joined in the migration, going to Portsmouth, where he bought land of Thomas Hazard [2], married a daughter of John Wood [3], and on July 10, 1648, together with his father-in-law, was admitted of Portsmouth [4]."[16] John Jenny's Will & Testament & Inventory[17],[18],[19],[20]

The last Will and Testament of John Jenney of Plymouth gent lately Deceased exhibited to the genrall Court the fift of June in the xxth yeare of the now Raigne of our Sovraigne Lord Charles Kinge of England &c. I John Jenney of New Plymouth in New England being sick and weake in body but through Gods speciall goodnes in pfect memorie Do thinke meete to settle that estate the Lord in mercy hath bestowed on me according as I conceive hee requireth at my hands. And therefore Do ordaine this my last will and testament. And therefore haveing bequeathed my soule to God that gave it and my body to the earth whereof it is I do give unto my eldest Sonne Samuell Jenney a Double porcon of all those lands I stand possessed of or have right unto wthin the Goverment of new Plymouth my will being pformed next of all I give unto Sarah my loveing wyfe whom I ordaine my Executrix my Dwelling house and Mille adjacent together wth all the lands thereunto belonging, my will being that shee freely and fully enjoy it together wth all other my moveables goods and chattells so long as God shalbe pleased to continue her life except such as I shall after Dispose of or shee shall willingly and freely part wth to any our children according to my will and Desire Alsoe whereas Abigaile my eldest Daughter had somewhat given her by her grandmother and Henry Wood of Plymouth aforesaid is a suter to her in way of marriage my will is that if shee the said Abigaile will Dwell ye full yeare wth mr Charles Chauncey of Scittuate before her marriage (pvided he be willing to entertaine her) that then my said Daughter Abigall have two of my cowes and my full consent to marry wth the said Henry Wood And in case mr Chauncey be against it then I would have her dwell wth mrs Winslowe of Careswell the said terme of one yeare ffurther as I have given to my eldest sonn Samuell a double porcon of all my lands whatsoever after the death of his said mother so also I give him a Double porcon of my whole estate wth the rest of my children vizt John[,] Abigall[,] Sarah and Susann[,] My will being that after the death-of my said wyfe my house and mill and other my lands and goods be sold or valued to the utmost they are worth and that the estate be equally Distributed amongst my said children Samuell[,] John[,] Abigall[,] Sarah and Susan as followeth: Samuell to have a double peon and the rest of them eich a single & equall porcon of the same Last of all I do ordaine my worthy frends mr Wm Bradford now Goveror of Plymoth and mr Thomas Prence of the same the Ovrseers of this my last will and testament and Dv give eich of them a paire of gloves of five shillings price And in witnes that this is my Will I have hereunto sett my hand & seale the xxviiith of December Anno Dm 1643. Witnesses hereunto John Jenney (seale); Edward Winslowe; Thomas Willett; William Paddy.

Related Lines[21]

"The Jenney family of Plymouth in its second and third generations had close relations with Rhode Island; but, perhaps largely because of distorted spellings of the name, the relationship seems not to have been discovered by family historians. Gene, Jene, Geine, Gennie, Gennings, Jeninges, are only a few of name spellings found in Rhode Island records. Savage thought the Samuel who appeared in Portsmouth "perhaps" a brother of Thomas Jennings of that town. Austin enters Samuel and Samuel's son Job both as sons of the said Thomas; and Samuel's daughter "Susannah Ginney" he misreads as Susannah Grimes." Those who are keeping a list of corrections for Austin's book should: On p. 114 cancel the names of Samuel and Job as sons of Thomas Jennings. On p. 400 change Susannah Grimes to Susannah Jenney or Ginney.

Prospective Magna Carta Ancestry

Wikitree's Magna Carta Project has identified a likely but unproven descent from Magna Carta surety baron William de Huntingfield to John Jenney.

There are two weak links in this lineage. First of all is the parentage of John Jenney himself. Circumstantial evidence indicates that he was the post-humous son (that is, born after his father died) of Christopher Jenney of Dunwich, Suffolk (a town that got eaten up by the sea) by Christopher's second wife Avis, who relocated to the Lakenham neighborhood of Norwich, where John Jenney became a miller before leaving England. [This is discussed at length in Matthew Hovious's "Norwich Revisited: The Origin of John Jenney, Plymouth Colonist," in The Genealogist, vol. 22, no. 1 (Spring 2008).]

The second weak link is the mother of Nicholas Wychingham, the great-grandfather of John Jenney's presumed great-grandmother Katherine (Boys) Jenney. Nicholas was the son of William Wychingham by his wife Margaret. Margaret appears to have been the daughter of Sir John de Brewes, who in his 1370 will bequeathed a silver cup to "the lady Margaret, wife of Sir William de Wychingham."

Sir John de Brewes's descent from William de Huntingfield is covered in Douglas Richardson's Magna Carta Ancestry and Royal Ancestry.

Sources

↑ Matthew Hovious, "Norwich Revisited: The Origin of John Jenney, Plymouth Colonist," in The Genealogist, vol. 22, no. 1 (Spring 2008), p. 11. ↑ Matthew Hovious, "Norwich Revisited: The Origin of John Jenney, Plymouth Colonist," in The Genealogist, vol. 22, no. 1 (Spring 2008), p. 9. ↑ Matthew Hovious, "Norwich Revisited: The Origin of John Jenney, Plymouth Colonist," in The Genealogist, vol. 22, no. 1 (Spring 2008), p. 23 ↑ Matthew Hovious, "Norwich Revisited: The Origin of John Jenney, Plymouth Colonist," in The Genealogist, vol. 22, no. 1 (Spring 2008), p. 16. ↑ Matthew Hovius, "Norwich Revisited: The Origin of John Jenney, Plymouth Colonist," in The Genealogist, vol. 22, no. 1 (Spring 2008), p. 11. One potential problem with this is that apparently in 1581, the year that Avis Jenney received a legacy worth L5, there was a "John Jenne, myller" on a muster roll. However, as Hovious writes: "The 1581 assessment of arms and list of able-bodied men is not definitive as a tool for determining the possible birth date of John of Lakenham, because it merges three lists having uncertain dates, and it is not clear which date pertains to John. (Hovious, pp. 11-12; in his footnote to this he mentions the "arbitrary arrangement" of the "undated and disorganized papers among these records"; "the dates ascribed to them later are, in at least some cases, provably wrong." Hovious goes on to refer to "the undated muster list found in Case 13a/4, p. 145, on which John Jenney is listed with 1 calyver. Someone, perhaps during microfilming, has penciled in the date "1580" at the top. But John's companions on this list include Roger Godsalve, gent.... [who] was aged 'twenty years four weeks and four days' when his father died on 12 Aug. 1588. In that case he would not have appeared on a list actually taken in 1580. In any event Roger Godsalve never appears in any subsidies or other records from Lakenham before 1591, which is probably closer to the actual date of this list.") ↑ Matthew Hovious, "Norwich Revisited: The Origin of John Jenney, Plymouth Colonist," in The Genealogist, vol. 22, no. 1 (Spring 2008) ↑ Robert Charles Anderson, Great Migration Begins, Boston, MA: NEHGS 1995, pp 1089-1093; Anderson placed his references in [brackets] ↑ James Savage, Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England, Place: Publisher (Year), v.2, p.546 ↑ Judith Jenney Gurney, Jenney Book - John Jenney of Plymouth and his Descendants, Baltimore, MD: Gateway Press, Inc. (1988), pp.1-20 ↑ Matthew Hovious, "Norwich Revisited: The Origin of John Jenney, Plymouth Colonist," in The Genealogist, vol. 22, no. 1 (Spring 2008), p. 5 ↑ Plymouth colony records, Court Orders, vol. 1: 50; also Plymouth Colony Records, Laws, 1623-28: pt. 1: 25, 26 ↑ Meredith B Colket, Founders of Early American Families - Emigrants from Europe 1607-1657, Cleveland, OH: General Court of the Order of Founders and Patriots of America (1975), p.161 ↑ Anderson, GMB, vol 2, p. 1090 ↑ Nathaniel B. Shurtleff & David Pulsifer, Records of the Colony of New Plymouth in New England, Boston, MA: 1855-1861, pp. 1:48, 79, 116, 140; 2:16; 1:26, 38; 1:31; 1: 36; 1:39; 1:41; 1:44; 1:55; 1:162; 2:45; 8:188 ↑ Judith Jenney Gurney, Jenney Book - John Jenney of Plymouth and his Descendants, Baltimore, MD: Gateway Press, Inc. (1988), pp.1-20 ↑ Mayflower Descendant, 8:171-172, citing Plymouth Colony Probate Records 2:1:18-21, fol. 50, 1644; entered by Brian McCullough; see also Plymouth Colony Wills and Inventories. 171 ↑ Mayflower Descendant, vol. 6, pp. 169-74 ↑ Nathaniel B. Shurtleff & David Pulsifer, Records of the Colony of New Plymouth in New England, Boston, MA: 1855-1861, vol. 2, pp. 38-39, 57; vol 7, pp 33-34 ↑ Plymouth Colony Probate Records, vol. 1, p. 50 ↑ Judith Jenney Gurney, Jenney Book - John Jenney of Plymouth and his Descendants, Baltimore, MD: Gateway Press, Inc. (1988), pp.1-20 See also:

___, Colonial Records of Rhode Island, 1:300. ___, The Mayflower Descendant, 10:71-72. ___, NEHGR, 69:188-9. ___, Plymouth Colony Deeds, vol. 1: 5,13.) ___, Plymouth Colony Records, Court Orders, vol. 1: 24, 16, 21, 40, 56, 50; vol. 2: 26, 31 ___, Plymouth Colony Records, Laws, 1623-28, pt. 1: 26 ___, Portsmouth Early Records, pp. 37-38. ___, Portsmouth [RI] Deeds, 1:48. ___, Town Records of Plymouth, 1889, vol. 1: 11, 15, 167, 168 Baylies, New Plymouth, 2:250. Bertha W. Clark, "Jenney of Plymouth and Rhode Island," in The American Genealogist, 35(Apr 1959):70-72 Davis, Landmarks of Plymouth, 1889: 251 Dexter, England and Holland of the Pilgrims, 1904 or 1905: pp. 506, 552, 608, 619, 623, 648, 649. Nathaniel Morton, New-England's Memorial, Plymouth, MA: Author (1826) Winslow, Hypocrisie unmasked, London, 1646, p 95, 509, 510. Lora Altine Woodbury Underhill, Descendants of Edward Small of New England, Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Co. (1934) Alexander Young, Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers of the Colony of Plymouth, Baltimore, MD: Author?, Edward Small and his Descendants, Vol, I, John Jenney Section, Cambridge, The Riverside Press, 1910, p. 488-522 The Blue Laws (Case, Tiffany & Co., Hartford, 1838) Page 43 1636: "It is concluded upon by the Court, that Mr. John Jenney shall have liberty to erect a milne for grinding and beating of corne upon the brooke of Plymouth,..." The Genealogist periodical, Spring 2008, Vol. 22, no. 1. Jenney History Great Migration Begins Mayflower Descendant The Plimoth Grist Mill