unknown mother of Benjamin Harrington

unknown (F) (NOT Ann Clinton/ Fiennes) [b. ABT 1598 prob. England]

Family (1):

1. (4244) John Harrington (M)

Children

• i. Robert Harrington of Southwald, Sfk Eng & Watertown, MA QCM7H
• ii. Benjamin Hearnden/ Harrington
• iii. Abraham Hearndon of Smset Eng & Charleston, MA
• iv. John Harrington/ Hearndon of St. James, Smset
• v. Rebecca Harrington/ Hearndon of Smset Eng & Cambridge MA

Links

• http://www.pcez.com/~bigshoe/dt/Blan/edmunds.html
• http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/GEN-MEDIEVAL/1997-01/...

History of Benjamin Harrington/Hearnden (1618 - 1688) Contributed By: Garry Bryant · 9 October 2014 · 0 Comments by Garry Bryant

Benjamin Harrington/Hearnden Freeman (1618 - 1688)

Benjamin Harrington/Hearnden was born in 1618, in Bath, Somerset, England., son of John Harrington and Ann Clinton,. Benjamin died 18 April 1694 in Providence, Providence County, Rhode Island.

“. . . Benjamin, went to live with his Uncle. (Charles Clinton-Fiennes of Lynn MA.). When Benjamin was about 15 years of age he embraced the Baptist faith, then under ban in Massachusetts. The uncle remonstrated with him but without effect, and then punished him severely, but the spirited lad was not to be thus conquered and as a final resort hhis uncle tied him to a post and administered a most unmerciful flogging, and then threatened to turn him over to the authorities if he persisted in his heretical opinions.

    “Soon thereafter, the lad arranged to escape, stealing away from his uncle’s house, penniless and alone, and with his Bible, a fishing line, a few articles done up in a handkerchief, and a scant supply of food for a few days, he started for Roger William’s settlement in Rhode Island.

    “When hungry, foot sore and weak from exertion, Benjamin fell in with a family of Quakers traveling toward the same goal. They welcomed him to their midst, gave of their simple fare, and cared for him in his enfeebled condition. In a short time he was strong and vigorous as before and was able to repay his benefactors in labor, caring for the team which was always overburdened and helping to load and unload the wagon, and carrying household chattles over logs, steep banks and other impassible portions of the trail. At times a more pleasing task befell him, that of carrying Elizabeth, the oldest daughter, across streams and bog holes. On account of the excessive load on the wagon, the family was required to travel mostly on foot. The acquaintance thus begun, with Elizabeth White, ripened into love and not long after their arrival in Providence, R.I., in about 1642, she became his wife.”

    Personally I believe the account of living with his Uncle Clinton. However it appears that the story of how he met the White’s and Elizabeth would appear a family tale. 

    Benjamin Herendeen appeares on the earliest list of “25 acre men” recorded as inhabitants of Providence, Rhode Island, on 19 Janusary 1645/46.

    Marriage between Benjamin and Elizabeth White (b: 1628, Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts; d: 25 December 1701, Providence, Providence County, Rhode Island) occurred before March 1647/48, daughter of William and Elizabeth White. For the court records give their name as “Hearndale;” “Elizabeth, wife of Benjamin Herenden,” stood in court for stealing clothes of Mary Pray and was charged to make double restitution as stated in Essex Court File 1:137. In later years, Elizabeth married Mary Pray’s widowed husband Richard.1  [1  Hearnden File. (Daughters of the American Revolution National Society Library, Washington D.C.); Holman, The Hearnden/White Lines. (Syracuse University, 929.2 H3487.); Genealogies of Rhode Island Families. Volume I, Adams-Slack. (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1983) (FHL-USA/CAN 974.5 D2g v. 1.)]

    The Hearnden family moved to Providence Plantation, Rhode Island, where they are given a homelot of twenty-five acres on 25 March 1651, the street was called Harrington Lane (now Roch-ambeau Ave.). 

    Benjamin Herendeen appeared on the earliest list of “25 acre men” recorded as inhabitants of Providence on 19 Jan 1645/6.

    A son of Hearnden was apprenticed to a family in Massachusetts but the boy appears to have ran away and returned back to his parents. An order from Providence’s Constable was issued to Hearnden on 19 March 1654:

“In answer to a Letter from the Mas- sachusets Colony touching the re- turning of an Aprrentice to his Master in the Bay: I is ordered that if the said Apprentice his ffather Benjamin Hernden, in whose keep- ing the said Apprentice is. do not reutrne the said Aprentice speedly unto the Bay, that the Constable shall forthwith apprehend him, & convey him to his master.”

    It would appear that the Hearnden family conducted themselves well at Providence, because Benjamin was made a ‘Freeman’ of the town on 18 March 1656. Having been made a Freeman he was entitled to serve on jury’s etc., which he did the following month, and two years later on a grand jury. [%E2%80%9CHarrington, DeWolfe and Tremaine Families” by Charles Tremaine Harrington, published in 1938]

    In this same year that Hearnden was made a Freeman, it appears that his in-laws, the Whites, moved to Providence and tried to get a home-lot next to Hearnden, but were not successful.

    Hearnden’s good nature and example finally dissolved and he was hauled into court in February of 1659, for fighting with his in-laws.

“Beniamine Hernden you dos acknow- ledge yourselfe to be indebted to the estate of England 10 £.The condition is that if you shall appeare at our next Court held for this Towne of Providenc, which wilbe on the first second day of arch next, to answer the breach of peace and fright, Comitted on the fam- ily of william white, of the TOwne, and in the meane while to be of your good behaviour: then this Bond shabe void and of no effect, otherwise to stand in full force and vertue. Providence Taken by me THomas Olney This 17 of February 1659.”

    During the summer of 1659, Hearnden was again taken into court by Samuel Bennett, on the charges that Hearnden’s swine had damaged his property. But in a later hearing Hearnden was cleared of all wrong doing.

    More trouble came upon the Hearnden family in 1661. In Holman’s manuscript, he relates that an Indian, hiding in some barberry bushes, attacked John Clawson with a tomahawk, splitting open Clawson’s chest. It appears that Hearnden and Clawson, who were neighbors, didn’t get along well. For Clawson accused his neighbor of the surprise attack. Benjamin and Elizabeth Hearnden came to his aid and tried to comfort Clawson. But as the man lay dying, Clawson pronounced a curse upon Hearnden’s posterity, “That they might be marked with Split Chins and haunted by Barberry Bushes.” Interestingly enough, several Hearnden generations were marked with dimples in their chins.2  [2  Gertrude Selwyn Kimball, Providence in Colonial Times. (Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1912) Pp.  70-71. (FHL-USA/CAN 974.52 H2k.)]

    A year later, William White was able to have granted to him some land with a house that bordered next to his son-in-law. This took place on 9 May 1662. During the summer, the Whites returned to the Boston area, and their daughter, Elizabeth Hearnden bought the land in October. Benjamin is tied to his wife’s family through a deed 16 October 1662, when he bought of William and Elizabeth White of Boston 25 acres and a house (described above) for £20. The money was payed by his wife [173 Austin, John Osborne. The Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island. (Orig. 1887; Reprinted 1969 Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing).]

    On 31 May 1666, the “Oath of Allegiance” to the King of England was given and sworn to by “Benjamin Hearnton senr.”  [Savage, James. A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England: Showing Three Generations of Those Who Came Before May, 1692, on the Basis of Farmer’s Register. (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co, 1860-1862).]

    But in the following year, the temperment of Hearnden got him into trouble again on 6 May, for “assaulting Resistinge with force and voyalance the cunstable.” Hearnden was arrested, taken to court and found guilty and fined 50 shillings; he turned around and brought suit against the Constable and his kin a year later, of which he was sued by the court for not appearing in October and November 1668.

    Some of the property that belonged to the late John Clawson, was sold to Benjamin Hearnden in 1669 by Rev. Roger Williams who was the trustee. The bill read, “the full Summe of Eleaven pounds of Currant Courntrey pay.” This debt wasn’t paid until the spring of 1675.3 [3  Kimball, p. 75.]

    Benjamin Hearnden served as surveyor of highways in 1670, 1673, 1679 and 1681.

    The records of Providence are filled with reference to Hearnden in various land transactions. On some of these records he made his mark, showing that he could not read or write. 

    A Will was made by Hearnden on 1 February  1686, and presented for probate on 4 April 1688. He probably died during the winter of 1687. Eliz- abeth (White) Hearnden remarried before the pro- bate for it gives her second husband’s name of Richard Pray.

    From 1688 to 1701, Elizabeth Pray’s name is found in multiple land transactions concerning the various holdings of her first husband. Some of these are with several of her children. It appears that she died after 1701.

    Benjamin and Elizabeth (White) Hearnden had nine children.  (Supposedly all children born at Providence, Providence County, Rhode Island.) [Austin, John Osborne. The Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island]

CHILDREN

1. Benjamin Hearnden, Jr. - Born c. 1649. Married

    to Lydia Wells. He died on 18 April 1694, Pro-

    vidence, Providence County, Rhode Island. 2.  Joseph Hearnden - Born c. 1651. Married to 

    Sarah ???. He died on 19 April 1694, Provid-

    ence, Providence County, Rhode Island. 3.  Alice Hearnden - Born c. 1654. Married on 25 

    December 1669, to Daniel Browne. She died aft

    1718. 4.  Sarah Herndon - Born 28 September 1656. Mar-

    ried 15 May 1675, David Whipple. She died 3 

    April 1677. 5.  Mary Hearnden - Born 1658. Married on 14 

    October 1675, to Capt. Andrew Edmonds. 

    (Please see Edmonds family history.) 6.  William Hearnden - Born c. 1659/1660. Married

    1st Esther ???; 2nd to Deliverence ???. He died 

    on 27 August 1727, Providence, Providence 

    County, Rhode Island. 7.  John Hearnden - Born c. 1662. Married Lydia 

    Cranston. He died in 1736.  8.  Thomas Hearnden - Born c. 1665. Married to 

    Hannah ???. He died 1722. 9.  Isaac Hearnden - Married Sarah ???. He died in 

    1727, Norwich, New London County, Connecti-

    cut.

ENDNOTES

“Records and Traditions of the Family of Harrington, Handed Down Through Capt. Henry Harrington of Providence, Rhode Island, and later of Whte Creek, New York, and who married his cousin, Freelove Harrington.” [Ancestral Line of John Harrington & wife, Ann Clinton, who arrived in Boston Harbor about 1630 Compiled by Geo. H. Harrington, Austin, Texas.]

James Savage’s: Hearndon, Benjamin

http://www.genealogy.org/~bryce/Harrington/Benjamin/Benjamin.html

Posted by: William Harrington (ID *****8289)Date: June 09, 2011 at 15:12:52 of 4725 Genforum

WHO WERE BENJAMIN HARRINGTON’S PARENTS? Benjamin Harrington/Herrington (1618–1694) ( aka ‘Benjamin of Rhode Island’) has probably been the most written about, vilified and controversial Harrington since the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. Because he provides a vital connection within my own family lineage I have focused my attention on Benjamin’s English background. After all about the only issue not in dispute about the man is that he had to have been of British descent.

English family records show that Benjamin was the second son of James Harrington. James was the seventh son of Sir John Harrington of Kelston, Somerset, England. Pedigree documentation reveals that the second daughter of the Earl of Lincoln, Anne Clinton-Fiennes, married James Harrington of England and they produced four children named respectively; Robert (b 1616) Benjamin (b 1618) Abraham (b 1622) & Rebecca (b 1625). Both Clinton and Harrington records confirm the same children of the marriage. Anne Clinton-Fiennes was born at Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, England about 1595/96. She was the second daughter of Thomas Clinton-Fiennes, (3rd Earl of Lincoln) and Elizabeth Knyvett. (The Earl was a prominent Puritan involved in the formation of the ‘The Massachusetts Bay Company’). Her family record shows she married James Harrington in 1615 and that she died at Charlestown, Middlesex, MA on 25th December 1632. She was later buried at the Burying Ground, Cambridge, and Middlesex MA. James Harrington (b.abt. 1592) was the ninth child of Sir John Harrington (1561 - 1612) and Lady Mary Harrington (nee Rogers d. 1634) of Kelston, Somerset, England. Harrington family records show that James died at Watertown, Middlesex, MA in January 1630. Sir Johns wife, Lady Mary was also a person with long standing Puritan leanings. Their first born son was named James but it seems he died at an early age. As was often the case in those days they named a subsequent son with the same Christian name. Their first surviving son, (and by convention their heir) was called John. Some American family historians insist John Harrington was the father of Robert Harrington (of Watertown) and was the one who drowned in 1630. English historian Ian Grimble (‘The Harington Family’ – Jonathan Cape – London) clearly shows that Sir John Harrington of Kelston’s eldest son John married the daughter of the Ist Earl of Marlborough and they both remained in England. This John Harrington (III) actually became a Member of the English Parliament. . Benjamin Harrington is believed to have accompanied his father, mother and the two younger siblings (Abraham and Rebecca) to Massachusetts sometime during 1630. They travelled not with ‘Winthrops Great Fleet’ but aboard an accompanying cattle ship named ‘Prosperous’. (James was probably a farmer – hence their mode of travel). Thus, though family legend would have it that the first Harrington to arrive in Boston Bay was named John Harrington the evidence now clearly shows it was more likely to have been James, husband of Anne and father of Benjamin, Robert Abraham and Rebecca.

Eldest sibling Robert didn’t arrive in America until after his mother died. During those crucial years Robert enjoyed an education and the home comforts of his English grandmother. Benjamin was only 12 years old when he lost his father, Abraham was eight and Rebecca five. The loneliness, privation and sheer terror imposed upon widowed Anne and her three young children isolated on the shores of a barren unfamiliar land is something critics of Benjamin perhaps fail to understand. The family were without a male leader, adequate food, shelter or proper protection. They were almost certainly without basic education. Following his mother’s death Benjamin lived briefly with an uncle, Charles Clinton-Fiennes of Lynn MA. That man was said to be a strict uncompromising Puritan. Benjamin finally escaped to Rhode Island with a family of Quakers, named White. They too had some major personality hang-ups. In spite of all this he later married their youngest daughter Elizabeth. Life could never have been easy for Benjamin.

The evidence clearly indicates that Benjamin Harrington/Herrington/Errington/Herndell/Harnden/Herinqton et al were all colonial descriptions of the same man. Given the circumstances of the times there can be nothing sinister read into this list of perceived ‘aliases’. If, as seems likely, Ben couldn’t spell he would hardly be in a position to correct someone else. His ancestral name probably meant little to him anyway. His link was broken the day his mother died. The ancestors of Robert, Benjamin, Abraham and Rebecca were, none the less, prominent people in medieval and Tudor England. The Clintons are of Norman origin. The family settled in England at about the time of the conquest by William I. Harrington’s are believed to be of even earlier origin. They arrived with the Vikings. Harrington is one of the oldest family names in the English language. It derives from the name of an ancient Celtic coastal village in the north of England called Haefertun – ‘The Place of The Cattle People’. (It is nowadays the Cumbrian village of ‘Harrington’) Our earliest known ancestor was a local chief called Osulf of Fleminby. Osulf settled one of his sons, Robertus, at nearby Haefertun. Thereby Robertus became known as Robertus de (of) Haefertun. Over the years the name of Haefertun corrupted to Hafrinctuna (Romans), de Hafrinctuna and de Haveringham (Normans), de Haverington (Anglo Saxon) and finally to its present form of Harrington (English Middle Ages). Since those early times there have been numerous variations to the surname. One branch of the English family spells its name with only one r. i.e. ‘Harington’. Consider also the different interpretations of Benjamin’s family name. Rhode Island records report that in 1665 his father in law, William White, was “granted a house lot adjoining his son-in-law Benjamine Herndell”. White’s will, made 13th October 1673, described his daughter Elizabeth as “Elyzabeth Harnden”. Benjamin and Elizabeth Harrington’s son, Isaac made his last will on 3rd September 1727. It was filed in the name of Isaac Herinqton. It must be realised that very few of those early generation New England settlers could spell their own name. The early records were usually compiled by simple scribes, who themselves transcribed largely on the basis of hand-me-down phonetic interpretation. (There were no dictionaries or phone books to check the spelling!) The first Harrington to adopt the name as we know it today was Lord John Harrington of Aldingham. (1281 – 1347). He was the eldest son of Sir Robert de Haverington (1262 – 1298). John deleted the Norman prefix and thus became the namesake of our modern clan of Harrington’s. John was created a Baron, by his peers, in 1324. He then became known as John First Lord Harrington of Aldingham, thereby securing the family name within English nobility. It was his son (Sir John Harrington) who introduced the family name to Ireland around 1350 AD. The Harrington families of the period became riddled with eldest sons called John. (A genealogists nightmare!) Benjamins grandfather, Sir John Harrington of Kelston (b. 1561 – d. 1612) was the son of a John Harrington (b. – d.1582) and, as previously indicated, Sir Johns eldest surviving son and heir was also called John. It is little wonder Harrington folklore assumed the first New England settler’s name could be anything but John. (Thank God for the Puritans!) Sir John Harrington of Kelston was, among other things, godson to Queen Elizabeth I and confidant of Sir Walter Raleigh. He was a renowned wit and became one of the more prominent writers of his age. He was at one time an English spy and at another a prisoner of the English crown. But he is probably best known for his invention of the water closet (appropriately referred to in America as ‘The John”). . Sir John’s father [John] was a poet to the Court of King Henry VIII. To avoid confusion Sir John of Kelston was known as ‘John the Writer’ and his father, ‘John the Poet’. The Poet got as close as any Harrington to introducing royal blood into our line. ‘John the Poet’ was married briefly to Audrey Tudor, (also known as ‘Ethelreda Malte’) one of King Henry VIII’s illegitimate children. Audrey died at childbirth having born him a daughter called Hester. His second wife, Sir John the Writers mother, was Isabella Markham, ‘Gentlewoman companion’ to Queen Elizabeth I The years 1300 AD to 1600 AD cover an important period of English history. During that time Sir John’s forebears actively participated in a number of notable events including ‘The Wars of the Roses’, ‘The Battle of Agincourt’ and ‘The Battle of Bannockburn’. The Harrington’s were among the senior knights and barons of the Middle Ages. During Tudor times they were variously parliamentarians, prosecutors, pirates and priests. There is even to be found a family ‘curse’, occasional villain and an alleged traitor. My family history is work in progress. Discussion, criticism and correction are welcome. June 2011

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