John Dingley, of Marshfield

concerns

This John is not a son of Francis Dyneley/Dineley of Charlton and Elizabeth Bigge. Stirnet's "Dyneley1" page does not mention him.

brief biography

From genforum: John Dingley 1, the ancestor of the Dingley family in America was born about 1608. he came from England to Lynn, Mass. with accompany of immigrants in 1637. The company soon removed to Sandwich (Cape Cod) whence he, with two associates, came to Marshfield, Mass. in 1640. Soon after, that town and Duxbury, Mass. were erected out of parts of old Plymouth. John was admitted a freeman on June 5, 1644 and a lot of land was granted him by the town. This farm has ever since been known as the Dingley Homestead and is now occupied by one of the descendants.

John is named on the first Book of the Marshfield records as paying rates in 1643 and is styled Goodman Dingley. He was often chosen to fill offices in town. He died in 1658, aged about 50 years.

DINGLEY, JOHN – John Dingley may have resided earlier at Lynn (Moore Families, p.227), but he first appears in Plymouth records at Sandwich on 4 December 1638, when he was fined ten shillings for being defective in arms, and was also presented for keeping two hogs unringed (PCR 1:107). On 16 April 1640 he was granted five and one-half acres of meadow lands allotted at Sandwich (PCR 1:149). On 5 June 1644 he was chosen constable of Marshfield (PCR 2:72). Since he was on the 1643 ATBA for both Sandwich and Marshfield, it would seem that he moved from the former to the latter about this time. He also served as grandjuror (PCR 2:84, 116, 3:78, 4:37, 91, 148, 5:91), and as a highway surveyor (PCR 2:102, 4:124), and on grand and trial juries (PCR, passim). He became a freeman on 5 June 1644 (PCR 2:71). On 22 October 1650 Richard Church sold Dingley some land in Marshfield, and Dingley was described as a smith (blacksmith) in the deed (PCR 12:197). On 1 November 1679 John Dingley and his fourteen-year-old servant Arthur Loe appeared in court and Arthur convenanted to live with Dingley and his wife as an apprentice and servant until he became twenty-one (PCR 6:25). Administration of Dingley’s estate, dated 18 March 1689/90, shows that he was survived by son Jacob, and Jacob’s son Joseph; Sarah, the wife of William Ford; and Hannah, the wife of Josiah Keane (PN&Q 5:92).

John Dingley. Born ca 1610. John died bef 13 mar 1689/90.John was an associate of Thomas Chillingsworth, with whom he came to Lynn in 1637. He afterwards went with a colony to Sandwich and finally, with Chillingsworth, about 1644, settled in Marshfield where he held many town offices.There are apparently no contemporary records for John Dingley being in Lynn in the 1630s. There is a record for him in Sandwich in 1638, and he moved to Marshfield around 1643. He was constable in Marshfield in 1644, a member of a grand jury in 1645 and six more times through 1672. He was made a freeman on 5 Jun 1644.There are no primary sources for the name of John Dingley's wife. She certainly was not Sarah Chillingsworth since Sarah Chillingsworth was married to Samuel Sprague at the time. There is also no evidence that John Dingley was the John Dingley baptized at Cropthorne in 1594, son of Francis and Elizabeth (Bigge) Dingley.

family

His wife was Sarah. Her maiden name as well as date of marriage and death is unknown. They had five children.

• 1. John 2 -died in boyhood 1655
• 2. Jacob- born 1642, died 1691
• 3. Mary - who married Josiah, son of Capt. Miles Standish, and died in 1655 seven months after her marriage.
• 4. Sarah - married William Ford in 1658 and died in 1727
• 5. Hannah - married Josiah Keen

notes

Much mistaken ancestry has been given to John and Sarah. Most recent and well-documented data is in "John Dingley of Marshfield (MA) and what the Navy Diver Saw," by Eugene A Stratton, The American Genealogist, Vol 61, No 4, p 234f. Mrs Sarah Dingley was not a Chillingsworth. (Page 237, attached)

His wife has been called Sarah _____________. The accounts of John Dingley’s origins as the son of an armigerous family of Cropthorne, Worcestershire, with several fairly recent royal lines, as given by Edward N. Dingley, Ancestors of Edward N. Dingley (1954), are colourful, but unsupported by evidence and not very logical. Some of the reasons for doubting this Dingley ancestry are given by Eugene A. Stratton, “Search for the English Ancestry of John Dingley”, TAG 56:207; however, this article gives an incorrect surname for Dingley’s wife and the author fell into the mistake made by others, such as Savage and Arthur Adams, of thinking that Dingley died some thirty-one years earlier than he actually did.

An updated article by Stratton, “Another Look at John Dingley of Marshfield”, will appear in TAG, 61:234. Moore Families, p. 227-32, gives a well-documented narrative of Dingley’s life and some of his early descendants, and shows that he also had two sons named John who died young, and a daughter Mary, who married Capt. Myles Standish’s son Josiah, but died without issue.

References

• Plymouth Colony: Its History and People, Eugene Aubrey Stratton.
• http://aleph0.clarku.edu/~djoyce/gen/report/rr01/rr01_107.html#P6006
• http://www.jimsancestry.net/Dingley.htm#John
• FamilySearch AFNs: 8P1T-LC, 966L-3B, Z4RW-8Q, 126F-MV7
• http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Dingley-10 see also:
• http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?action=printpage;topic=421... (Dingley family of Cropthorne)
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/21993273/john-dingley (has errors)
• American Genealogist, The. RECORD : 1985 VOLUME : 61 (1985) PAGE : 234-237. < AmericanAncestors >