John White, of Sheepscot

ii. JOHN WHITE, d. Bef. 1722

Sheepscot sent in William Dale, William Dyer, Christopher Dyer, Nathaniel Draper, Thomas Gent, William James, William Marks, John Mason, Thomas Mercer, Walter Phillips, Moses Pike, Robert Scott, A. Stolger, John Taylor, John White. (Ancient Dominions of Maine - Sewall)

"John White, and John Lee his son in law, sowed 10 bushells of wheat, planted 2 bushells of Indian corne, 5 bushells of peas, 17 hed of Cattell, 16 swine, one horse." Indian losses for attack of August 13, 1676. (Pioneers on Maine Rivers)

"John White, planter on the east side of the Sheepscot River; the records of Scituate, where they took refuge in 1676, described the conditions of the abandoned farms of himself and neighbors at the Eastward. John Lee was a son in law and Lydia, his only grandchild, married Thomas Leaworthy." (Pioneers on Maine Rivers)

"Benjamin Bullivant, albeit a hostile commentator by virtue of his pro-dominion views, described in his journal an incident that took place within a few days of Phips's baptism. The background was the arrest several weeks earlier of Daniel Turrell and John White, a joiner and the younger half-brother of Phips, for debt at the behest of Joseph Smith. By 30 January 1690, Turrell and White had already escaped once from prison and had then been brought before the Massachusetts council to 'Shew Cause (if any there be) why they should not be remanded to Prison'. Although they successfully requested a two-day deferral, the two were subsequently returned to jail, whence they petitioned in March for a further hearing. The representatives were willing to agree, but the council refused, as Bullivant noted: The Northend men headed by Sir William Phips, Milbourne and Way, apply to the Deputies for the discharge of Turrell and White in Execution for a Just Debt the Deputies vote for theyr discharge the magistrates Opposed, as being in custody under their Commitment. Sir William Phips, etc. not Contented with the opinion of the magistrates go personally to the prison, proffer the keeper 3000 pounds verrily to bear him harmless if he would put them at large, the Keeper refused and gives as hard Language as he receives."

"Bullivant's account carries a number of significant implications, especially since his journal found its way into the papers of the Lords of Trade. It is hardly surprising that Phips intervened on behalf of his younger half-brother, and Turell was also known to him. Daniel Turell (or Turill) was a name shared by a father and son - the son being the one imprisoned in 1690 - who had extensive real-estate transactions in Boston in this period, particularly in the North End. In 1687, when Mary Spencer Phips had heard of her husband's success, the property she bought as the site for their house had been part-owned by the elder Daniel Turell. Presumably, the purchase meant that an amicable settlement had been reached in the dispute of 1677 in which the younger Turell had successfully sued William Phips for 13 pounds/9/_.

The imprisonment of White and Turell had its origins in a venture of 1684 that corresponded closely with the treasure-seeking activities being pursued by Phips at the time. Turell and White had formed a company - with Richard Wharton, Hezekiah Usher, Joseph Smith, Thomas Mitchell, and 'several others' - for a voyage to a wreck off the Bahamas. Wharton's kinsman Goodwin Wharton was an active treasure seeker in England, described by Keith Thomas as 'continuously engaged in a treasure quest for which he enlisted spirits, fairies and the latest resources of contemporary technology'. Although Richard Wharton was not known to share Goodwin's talent for speaking to angels and disembodied spirits, his many commercial and speculative ventures showed that he was equally zealous for treasure and profit. That Richard Wharton was also an investor in Phip's Caribbean activities and that Turell witnessed the agreement of 11 January between Phips and Robert Bronson are strands of evidence that strongly suggest a relationship between the Phips and White-Turell voyages in 1684. Indeed, on 14 January 1684, Turell sold a one-eight share of the sloop Rosebud to Hezekiah Usher, presumably as part of the undertaking.

Some treasure had been raised by the White-Turell company by March 1684, when Thomas Mitchell received a doughboy worth 120 pounds from an individual named John Hand. By December 1684, Mitchell had returned to Charlestown and a series of legal proceedings had begun over the doughboy and the venture as a whole. Mitchell sued Joseph Smith, who sued Turell and White. The matter was still in the courts in March 1686 when Turell and White (as defendants in the civil case against Smith) pleaded guilty to charges of making an illegitimate approach to the foreman of the jury. Apparently this faux pas had no serious consequences, and Turell and White obtained a judgement against Smith in vindication of their claim that they were the injured parties. Smith's petition for a writ of scire facias was then dismissed, to all appearances bringing the affair to an end. However, under what Turell later described as 'the Unjust and Arbitrary Government of Sir Edmund Andros,' Smith made another application for the writ, and eventually obtained a judgement in his favor of 200 pounds. After the fall of the dominion, with Turell and White refusing to pay, Smith had them imprisoned for debt. Thus, six years after they had begun a venture that had links with Phips, the two North End residents found themselves in jail for charges that seemed symbolic of the evils of the Andros regime. That a crown led by Phips would descend on the jail is understandable in this context. The 'Way' referred to by Bullivant was undoubtedly Richard Way, an attorney and merchant who was a neighbour of the Phips and Turell families in the North End. A member of the North Church, Way had well-established links with the Kennebec region and with associates of Phips. He had served at one time as attorney for John Hornibrook, a Kennebec fur trader who was later interpreter for Phips at the English-Wabanki peace conference of August 1693." (The New England Knight)