Owen Phippen

Owen Fitzpen (also known as Owen Phippen) was an English merchant taken captive by Barbary pirates and sold into slavery. He later mounted a heroic escape and is memorialised on a plaque placed in St. Mary's Church at Truro, Cornwall, England.

Burial: St. Mary's Church, Truro, Cornwall, England

Occupation: Merchant / Sailor

Religion: Anglican

Owen Fitzpen (son of Robert Fitz Pen Phippen and Cecily Jordan) was born 1582 in Melcomb, Dorset, England, and died 17 Mar 1635/36 in Lamorran. He married Anne Coiniers on 03 Jul 1603 in England. Children of Owen Fitzpen and Anne Coiniers are:

+ 12 i. John Fitzpen, born Abt. 1604 in Melcomb, Dorset, England; died July 2, 1644 in Ireland.

13 ii. Anne Phippen Fitzpen, born Abt. 1606 in Shannon, Ireland. 14 iii. Roger Phippen Fitzpen, born Abt. 1608 in Shannon, Ireland; died August 2, 1636. Includes NotesNotes for Owen Fitzpen: Name Suffix: (Thigpen) CHAN10 May 2004

More About Owen Fitzpen and Anne Coiniers: Marriage: 03 Jul 1603, England. In early years, taking a new surname was common practice among the

gentry. This could be accomplished by Act of Parliament; warrant under the

King's Sign-Manual (writing therein the substituted name),or by ecclesiastical

concent. By 1650 the name Fitzpen had disappeared from English records,

descendants adopting other spellings, although they appeared to adhere to the

sound. Arms were granted, in addition to Fitzpen, to families of:Thickpenny,

Tipping, Tippen, Tipper, & Tippet, probably more. Some of the well known

Antiquarians stated that in many ancient families there were as many as a

hundred different spellings. Phippen came from Thickpenny.

GEDCOM Note

Captured by Turks Note: The old record says Owen Phippen who most Valiantly freed himself from the Turks - This relates to his rescuing himself and companions after seven years bondage on board an Algerine Corsair, the

Life Sketch

Owen Fitzpen (also known as Owen Phippen) was an English merchant taken captive by Barbary pirates who later mounted a heroic escape. He is memorialised on a plaque placed in St. Mary's Church at Truro, Cornwall, England.
Owen Fitzpen was born at Weymouth or Melcombe Regis, Dorset, in 1582, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. He was the son of Robert Fitzpen (1555–1589) and Cecily Jordon (born 1559). With the English victory over the Spanish Armada in 1588, England became the major naval power in the world and, as a result, her merchant trade thrived. With the death of his father when Owen was 7 years old, it was natural that he, the eldest son and second child of the family, would take to the newly found opportunities in seafaring and merchant trade and he attained a high degree of success in the business. His sister Cecily, only two years his senior, worked with the mother to hold the family together, by then consisting of his brothers Robert, age 6, David, age 4 and George, age 2. While it is not known at what age Fitzpen became an apprentice seaman, it is known that he left home not many years after his father's death and worked his way up quickly in the business. He was married to Annie Coinie on July 3, 1603 in a wedding ceremony said to be lavish for his time and reflective of the status of a young merchant seaman. His family benefited from his wealth, George becoming first Master of the Truro Grammar School (1621–1635) and then a Rector at St. Mary's Church in the same town, where he served for the next 26 years. David went to America and settled at Hingham, Massachusetts, where he became an ancestor of several veterans of the American Revolution through which the Daughters of the American Revolution trace their ancestry. The most famous chapter in Owen's life, however, began when he was taken captive by Turkish pirates on March 24, 1620, while on a trading voyage in the Mediterranean Sea. More than likely, these were Barbary pirates, as historical accounts of the time considered any of the Muslims in the Mediterranean region to be Turks. For seven years, Owen and a number of other Christian captives served as slaves to the Turks near present-day Algiers. Their chance for freedom finally came when Owen and 10 other Christian captives (Dutch and French) were herded aboard a corsair with 65 Turks to set sail for their next assignment. Owen and the 10 other captives fought against the Turks for three hours and suffered five of their number slain before the surviving Turks surrendered the ship. Owen and his crew sailed the ship to Cartagena, Spain, where news of the mutiny reached the King. Owen was summoned to Madrid where the king offered him a captain's position and great favor if he would convert to Catholicism. Owen respectfully declined, sold the ship for 6,000 pounds sterling and made his way back to England, where he settled near his brother George in Cornwall. Owen died at the village of Lamorran on March 17, 1636 at age 54. George had the memorial put in St. Mary's Church shortly thereafter.

It is not known when the family name was changed from the old English form Fitzpen to Phippen, but it is generally believed this was done by his brother David to coincide with the move of his family to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. A number of David's descendants fought in the American Revolutionary War. Owen and his wife, Annie, had at least three children born in Ireland before Owen's capture, one son of whom changed the spelling of the family name to Thigpen, yet a third variation. His grandson, James Thigpen, would be the first of his direct descendants to settle in America, this time to North Carolina. Thigpen's descendants would include two famous athletes, NFL great Yancey Thigpen (through slaveholders of the same name) and Major League Baseball's pitching sensation Bobby Thigpen. Owen is also a first cousin (many times removed) of three U.S. presidents through his paternal grandfather-- Zachary Taylor, Rutherford B. Hayes and John F. Kennedy.

Owen Fitzpen taken captive by Turkish pirates

http://smithyga.tripod.com/id41.html

8. Owen Fitzpen married Anne Coiniers July 3, 1603 in England, daughter of Roger Coiniers. She was born 1582 in Melcomb, Dorset, England, and died in England.
Owen Fitzpen (also known as Owen Phippen) was an English merchant taken captive by Turkish pirates who later mounted a heroic escape. He is memorialized on a plaque placed in St. Mary's Church at Truro, Cornwall, England. With the death of his father when Owen was only 7 years old, it was natural that he, the eldest son and second child of the family, would take to the newly found opportunities in seafaring and merchant trade and he attained a high degree of success in the business. His sister Cecily, only two years his senior, worked with the mother to hold the family together, by then consisting of his brothers Robert, age 6, David, age 4 and George, age 2. The most famous chapter in Owen's life however, begin when he was taken captive by Turkish pirates on March 24, 1620 while on a trading voyage in the Mediterranean Sea. For seven years, Owen and a number of other Christian captives served as slaves to the Turks near present day Algiers, Algeria. Their chance for freedom finally came when Owen and 10 other Christian captives (Dutch and French) were herded aboard a corsair with 65 Turks to set sail for their next assignment. Owen and the 10 other captives fought against the Turks for three hours and suffered five of their number slain before the surviving Turks surrendered the ship. Owen and his crew sailed the ship to Cartagena, Spain where news of the mutiny reached the King. Owen was summoned to Madrid where the king offered him a captain's position and great favor if he would convert to Catholicism. Owen respectfully declined, sold the ship for 6,000 pounds sterling and made his way back to England, where he settled near his brother George in Cornwall. Owen died at the village of Lamorran on March 17, 1636 at age 54. George had the memorial put in St. Mary's Church shortly thereafter.

Children of Owen Fitzpen and Anne Coiniers are: + 12 i. John Fitzpen, born Abt. 1604 in Melcomb, Dorset, England; died July 2, 1644 in Ireland. 13 ii. Anne Phippen Fitzpen, born Abt. 1606 in Shannon, Ireland. 14 iii. Roger Phippen Fitzpen, born Abt. 1608 in Shannon, Ireland; died August 2, 1636.

GEDCOM Note

GEDCOM Source

9VGD-RPJ Find A Grave https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=65280640

GEDCOM Source

GEDCOM Source

911W-HN5 Owen Phippen in entry for Annis, "England, Dorset, Parish Registers, 1538-2001" "England, Dorset, Parish Registers, 1538-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QJDH-N1NH : 7 December 2017), Owen Phippen in entry for Annis, 11 Jan 1609; Burial, citing Melcombe-Regis, Melcombe-Regis, Dorset, E https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QJDH-N1NH

GEDCOM Source

References

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_Fitzpen
• http://www.southern-style.com/Jordan.htm
• http://maps.thefullwiki.org/Owen_Fitzpen
• http://genforum.genealogy.com/thigpen/messages/255.html