John Clapp

• Birth: April 06, 1609 in Sale ombe Regis Devonshire, England.
• Sailed from Plymouth for New England, March 20, 1630, and arrived at Nantasket, May 30, 1630. He came in the ship Mary and John* Captain Squeb. Two learned non-conformist ministers, Rev. John Maverick and Rev. John Warhain, came in the same vessel, also other persons of distinction. The passengers of this ship were the first settlers of Dorchester, and they arrived there about June 17, 1630.
• Clapp Family Coat of Arms

References

• The Pioneers of Massachusetts: A Descriptive List, Drawn from Records of the ... By Charles Henry Pope. Page 100. GoogleBooks John Clap.
• The Pioneers of Massachusetts: A Descriptive List, Drawn from Records of the ... By Charles Henry Pope. Page 155. GoogleBooks John Ellis. History of the town of Medfield, Massachusetts. 1650. 1886; with genealogies of families that held real estate or made any considerable stay in the town during the first two centuries by Tilden, William Smith, 1830-1912; Monks, John A. S Page 374. Archive.Org
• The descendants of John Scott of Roxbury, by Holman, Mary Lovering, 1868-1947 pg 230.
• The Clapp Memorial. Record of the Clap Family in America

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John Clap

• Death: July 24, 1655 in Dorchester, Norfolk, Massachusetts Bay, British Colonial America.

The Clapp Family in England

Page 3, The " Mary and John" was the second of sixteen vessels which left England with p sengers, in 1630, under the patronage of the Massachusetts Bay Co. The patent of this coA- • pany, previously granted by King James I., was confirmed by Charles I., March 4, 1629, sa\ seems to have held out new inducements to emigration among those who could not con-_ form to the ecclesiastical requirements of the time. Capt. Roger Clapp, in his " Memoirs," speaks thus of this Patent : " Was it not a wondrous good Hand of God to incline the heart of our King so freely to grant it, with all the Priviledgcs which the Patent expresseth !" The number of passengers onboard the "Mary and John" was 140; which, with those who came in the fifteen other vessels during the year, and on board another for Plymouth sent out by a private merchant, amounted to nearly 1000 persons. " These seventeen ships," says Dudley in his letter to the Countess of Lincoln, " arrived all safe in New England, for the increase of the Plantation here this year 1630, but made a long, a troublesome, and costly voyage, being all wind-bound long in England, and hindered with contrary winds after they set sail, and so scattered with mists and tempests that few of them arrived to- gether. Our four ships which set sail in April arrived here [Salem] in June and July, and found the Colony in a sad and unexpected condition, above eighty of them being dead the winter before; and many of those alive weak and sick; all the corn and bread amongst them all hardlv sufficient to feed them a fortnight." Capt. Roger thus alludes to the desti- tute condition of the emigrants in Dorchester, before the time came to gather the fruits of the next season :—-" Oh the Hunger that many suffered, and saw no hope in an Eye of Reason to be supplied, onlv by Clams, and Muscles, and Fish. We did quickly build Boats, and some went a Fishing. But Bread was with many a very scarce thing; and Flesh of all kinds as scarce." It is recorded of the Pilgrims of the Mayflower at Plymouth, that on the return of that vessel to England the next spring, no one of the survivors through that terrible winter went back in her. So of those in the " Mary and John," at Dorchester, we do not read of one emigrant who returned in her to Old England. This, however, was not the case with other companies of emigrants. Dudley says of those at Salem and else- where, "The ships being now [August, 1630] upon their return, some for England, some for Ireland, there was, as I take it, not much less than a hundred, some think many more, part- ly out of dislike of our government, which restrained and punished their excesses, and parti v through fear of famine, not seeing other means than by their labor to feed themselves, which returned back again ; and glad we were so to be rid of them."

Page n31, Listing document, yet discovered, in this country, is his father men _ Honed by name. Roger, in his " Memoirs," speaks of him as " a , ...an fearing God," and whose "outward estate was not great." 115e also alludes to his final consent to the emigration of his son to New England, and of his generous answer to an appeal for pro- visions, shortly after the arrival of the Dorchester Company at their new home. These meagre, incidental facts are probably all that we shall ever know about the father of one who filled so conspicuous a place in the early history of Dorchester. That Roger had a nephew John, son of John Clapp, living in Colyton, co. Devon, Eng., in 1680, is shown by a power of attorney from him to his uncle, in that year, the original of which may be seen in the Massachusetts archives.

Page n12, The Clapps were among the early band of Puritans that settled in New England, and who helped to establish a government, the effects of which will be felt throughout all time. Under its fostering care and protection, unlike the creation of new kingdoms or states ir the old world, states are settled and organized among us after v fashion of our own ; the coming in of a new commonwealth is regarded with as little note as the advent of an additional youngstei in a growing family. The "far West," where many of our nam , reside! and which for years have been shifting and changing, is fixe \ at last; it lies along the shores of the Pacific. A few years ag J the Alleghany Mountains were its borders; then, the Mississi, became its western boundary ; it travelled up the Missouri wi such rapidity, that the points exhibiting its progress seem like the spots that mark the nightly encampment of an ar £ on its march. Compare this with the experience of Ca £ , Ivoger Clapp, the first pioneer of our name, and those v £ f came with him. They had come in that "great ship' b; Mary and John, which, as another says of it, was "rocker , mighty billows, fanned by stormy gales, but overwatched by mar* than maternal guardianship, until it laid its precious charge withi the rude lap of these western shores." He first met to join in puW worship with his one hundred and forty fellow voyagers in Dorchc lear the ocean, in June, 1630; "the sun in its golden H« j down through the young summer's swaying foliage upon th Ltly bared and bending heads," with no white person betwe, \ and the Pacific Ocean. L

Page n29 John Clapp died there, July 24, 1655. The Christian name , oi his wife was Joan, who, after his death, m. John Ellis,* of Med- field. He had no children. The town ot Dorchester had reason to remember him with gratitude, as he left land to the town lving at the Neck (now South Boston) . For more than ico years this land brought but little income to the town, but in the year 183,- it was old for $1000 per acre. The number of acres was between thirteen and fourteen, and the land was situated in close proximity to that connected with the ) House of Correction and other city institutions.!

Will of John Clap

1655. John Clap of Dorchester.

To my wife, my new dwelling house with all my lands both in ye necke & in the woods wch to me doth appertayne, dureing hir naturall life, & after my wife's decease I giue my said house & land to the maintenance of the ministry, & a Schoole in Dorchester foreuer; to Brother Ambrose Clap what is due me still from brother Richard Clap in England, wch is three pound or there about; to brother-in-Law, Edward Clap, three pounds of ye wch is in his owne hands; unto Cousins Richard and Elizabeth, Children of my brother Richard Clap, one platter which I have at my brother Richards aforsaid; to Cousene deborah Clap, daughter of ye brother aforsaide, one Silver Spoone wch Spoone is in his fathers hand; to Couseins Nathaniell, Ebenezer, Sarah & Hannah Clap, brother Nicholis Children, ten shillings a piece; to Couseins Elizabeth Prudence & Saueull Clap, Children of my brother Thomas Clap, eight Shillings a piece; ye rest of his childrne each of them fiue shillings' to Cousins Prudence, Exra, Nehemiah & Susannah Clap, each of them eight shillings a piece; all ye rest of my goods; my funerall discharged, & just debts being payd; I giue to my deare wife whom I make my sole Executrix. postcript

Allso I giue to my Couseine John Capen 2s 6d, to Couseine Roger Clap's children, one shilling a piece; I desyer my brother Nicholas, Brother Edward, and my cousin Roger Clap, to be my overseers for the performance of this my will.

                                                                                                         '''John Clap'''

witnesses
Edward Clap At a meeting of the Gov. M Nowell & Record
Sarah Clap 30 Aug 1655
Jone Clap Roger Clap deposed

An inventory of the goods Chattells of John Clapp of Dorchester deceased, 24th July, 1655. Taken by Edward Clapp, Nicholas Clapp, Roger Clapp, l140.04.10.30 Aug. 55. Jone Clapp widow of the deceased deposed.

Notes on Family Tree - "per Savage's Dictionary freeman in 1647
came to Dorchester 1636 had wife, Joan, and no children !THE CLAPP MEMORIAL by Ebenezer Clapp, 1876 (see my files) "The town of Dorchester had reason to remember him with gratitude, as he left land to the town lying at the Neck (now South Boston). For more than 150 years the land brought but little income to the town, but in the year 1835 it was sold for $1000 per acre. The number of acres was between 13 and 14, and the land was situated in close proximity to that connected with the House of Correction and other city institutions." copy of will in above book