Great Puritan Migration: Wiltshire Origins

Project Objective

To trace the family and other affiliations of colonists to New England with County Wiltshire origins. Please add those profiles to the project and use discussions. Add research sites to the reference list. Ultimately we may be able to build a “super tree” showing the connections.

People of Interest

• Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset
• Deacon Peter J. Noyes, Sr., of Sudbury “ ... came from a family long involved in nonconformist activities in England’s southwest.”
• Lt. William Palmer, of Plymouth, Yarmouth & Newtown, LI Link “There are no records, at least yet located, that reveal what ship and when William Palmer took to America. However, it is known that on May 10, 1639, Sergeant William Palmer of Yarmouth and Judith, his wife, along with Lt. Robert Feake, of Watertown, Massachusetts, guardian of Tobias Feake, age 17, executed a power of attorney. This was regarding property on Lombard Street in London, belonging to the recently deceased James Feake, a goldsmith. Judith Bowers and Tobias Feake were the “sonne & daughter”of James Feake, Jr. (Lechford’s Manuscript Notebook, 1885, pp 228-9). Since there is no question the Feake family was from London, at the time, it is quite possible Lt. William Palmer was as well.”
• Jeffrey Ferris, of Greenwich
• wife of George Hunt sister or sister in law of wife of N.N. Stevens - the unidentified link between two prominent families
• N.N. Parker Rev Robert Parker, Parents unknown, Brother of Ann Parker wife of Rev William Noyes, was born say 1564 Wilton, Wiltshire, England

Clergy

• Rev. George Hunt, M.A.
• Rev. Henry Scudder
• Rev. Robert Parker, Rector of Patney A P Baggs, Elizabeth Crittall, Jane Freeman and Janet H Stevenson, 'Parishes: Patney', in A History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume 11, Downton Hundred; Elstub and Everleigh Hundred, ed. D A Crowley (London, 1980), pp. 203-208. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/wilts/vol11/pp203-208 [accessed 9 February 2019]. “Robert Parker [Patney] rector 1591–3, was afterwards forced to live abroad because of his extreme puritan views. (fn. 103)”
• Rev. William Noyes
• Rev. Nathaniel Stephens

Clothiers

From "Capital in the Countryside: Social Change in West Wiltshire, 1530-1680," John Gaisford (2015), Appendix 2, p. 263 Prominent west Wiltshire clothiers, 1530-1680link “This large work-force, and the dramatic expansion of cloth-making, was led by a small number of clothiers working together in close-knit family groups, working in distinct geographical areas. On the Frome, Clevelods, Baylies, Hortons and Langfords; on the Semington and Bulkington Brooks, Longs and Baylies; on the Biss in Westbury and Trowbridge, Longs and Langfords; and on the streams under the Plain in the south, Whitakers and Adlams.” (Page 68)

• William Dauntsey “was probably the key connection between west Wiltshire and the City. He was of the same generation as his fellow Mercer William Lock to whom Thomas Long’s brother obert was apprenticed at about that time: perhaps it was Dauntsey who provided the contact. By 1533, when Robert Long was made free of the Mercers, Dauntsey was one of the most wealthy and experienced merchants in London ....”
• Thomas Horton II “had inherited his uncle’s operation at Bradford and his manor house at Westwood. His leasehold mill nearby at Iford had four fulling stocks so he was well- placed to meet demand for his own cloths, but by combining with other clothiers he could also influence the development of the market. Having married a clothier’s daughter – Margery Barkesdale of Keevil – he encouraged his own children to do likewise, and so created a remarkable commercial network. His daughter Maud married Christopher Baylie, their neighbour at Stowford; his son William married Baylie’s sister Joan; his daughter Alice married Thomas Yerbury, Thomas Long’s brother-in-law; his daughter Mary married Henry Long, younger brother of Thomas; and his daughter Agnes married Henry Winchcombe, son and heir of John Winchcombe of Newbury in Berkshire, the greatest kersey clothier in the country.”
• Baylie, Christopher, d 1559 Stowford Mill Second son of Thomas Baylie; married Maud Horton.
• Baylie, Marion, fl 1536 Baldham Mill Kinswoman of Baylies of Keevil.
• Baylie, Nicholas, d 1597 Baldham Mill Kinsman of Baylies of Keevil.
• Baylie, Thomas, d 1543 Trowbridge; Stowford Mill Noted by Leland as 'Old Baylie', a rich clothier.
• Baylie, William, c1514-52 Bulkington and Hurst Mills Eldest son of Thomas Baylie

Colonists

Please note Ship, if known; Freeman Year, if known

• Rev. James Noyes, of Newbury, “Mary & John” (1634); Freeman 1634
• Rev. Nicholas Noyes, of Newbury, “Mary & John” (1634); Freeman 1642
• Rev. Thomas Parker, of Newbury, “Mary & John” (1634)
• Richard Brown, of Newbury, “Mary & John” (1634)
• George Brown, of Newbury, “Mary & John” (1634)
• Lieut. Thomas Hurlbut w/Lion Gardiner (1635)
• Thomas Brown, of Newbury “James of London” (1635)
• John Bailey, Sr., of Bromham & Newbury & his son John Bailey, Jr., of Newbury, “Angel Gabriel” (1635)
• Deacon Peter J. Noyes, Sr., of Sudbury, “Confidence” (1638); Freeman 1640

Landowners

From http://bbktheses.da.ulcc.ac.uk/143/1/cp_Finalversion-2015GaisfordJp... page 62: “The rise of these men, as servants first of the Seymours and subsequently of the Crown, created a lasting shift in the social structure of west Wiltshire, as will be evidenced throughout the current study. The descendants of Hyde, Brounker, Thynne and Sharington maintained close links with the Seymours and Paulets for generations, strengthening their ties with each other well into the early Stuart era.”

• William Dauntsey came from a wealthy gentry family in West Lavington, beyond Edington
• his elder brother Ambrose Dauntsey was the substantial landowner who by 1535 was aulnager for Wiltshire and Somerset

Members of Parliament

From History of Parliament

ElectionsDate, Candidate

• 17 Jan. 1559 SIR JOHN THYNNE, JOHN ERNELEY
• 1562/3 EDWARD BAYNTON, JOHN EYRE
• 1571 SIR JOHN THYNNE, JOHN DANVERS
• 22 Apr. 1572 SIR GEORGE PENRUDDOCK, JAMES MARVYN
• 17 Nov. 1584 CAREW RALEGH, ANTHONY MILDMAY
• 18 Oct. 1586 WILLIAM BROUNCKER, CAREW RALEGH
• 15 Oct. 1588 JOHN THYNNE, WILLIAM BROUNCKER
• 1593 SIR WALTER LONG, (SIR) WILLIAM BROUNCKER
• 4 Oct. 1597 SIR WILLIAM EYRE, HENRY BAYNTON II
• 29 Sept. 1601 EDMUND CAREY, SIR EDWARD HUNGERFORD

Towns

• “First Settlers of Newbury”
• Early Stamford Settlers link
• “First Settlers of Salisbury”
• Sudbury
• “Families of Ancient Wethersfield”

References

• Anderson, Virginia Dejohn. “Migrants and Motives: Religion and the Settlement of New England, 1630-1640.” The New England Quarterly, vol. 58, no. 3, 1985, pp. 339–383. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/365037.
• The Great Puritan Migration. Blog by Rebecca Beatrice Brooks May 24, 2017 link “... Other family migrations most likely linked eastern Kent to the South Shore of Boston (Scituate, Plymouth, Sandwich), the Wiltshire/Berkshire area to the Merrimack Valley (Salisbury, Newbury, Amesbury), and southwest Dorset to the South Shore (Dorchester) and the Connecticut Valley (Windsor.) The migrations from London and Devon were much different. Although both sent families to New England, the migrations appear to have been weighted toward single, young men, comprising perhaps a third of total male migrants.”
• The Puritan Migration: Albion's Seed Sets Sail by Claire Hopley | @brit_heritage Jun 12, 2006 link “As historian David Hackett Fischer explains in Albion's Seed, Massachusetts immigrants were atypical, and not just in their religious faith and material prosperity. 'To a remarkable degree,' he wrote, 'the founders of Massachusetts traveled in families -- more so than any ethnic group in American history.' Thus, while immigrant groups elsewhere were made up mostly of young, single men, in Massachusetts 40 percent of newcomers were mature adults, many with children. Noting that more women than men fulfilled the stringent requirements for church membership, Fischer points out that 'It would be...statistically correct to say that many Puritans led their husbands to America.'”
• Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre, your passport to the past. link
• Wiltshire Online Parish Clerks (OPCs) link
• Browse collection: Victoria County History - Wiltshire link to search screen
• 'Calne: Protestant nonconformity', in A History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume 17, Calne, ed. D A Crowley (London, 2002), pp. 109-111. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/wilts/vol17/pp109-111 [accessed 17 February 2019].
• Wiltshire Community History - Chirton Search Results link
• The visitation of Wiltshire 1565 by Harvey, William, fl. 1565; Marshall, George W. (George William), 1839-1905 Publication date 1897 Archive.Org
• The visitation of Wiltshire 1623 by Saint-George, Henry, Sir, 1581-1644; England. College of Arms; British Museum. Mss. Harleian 1165; Lennard, Samson, d. 1633; Marshall, George W. (George William), 1839-1905 Archive.Org
• Noyes wills link
• Migration and the Origins of the English Atlantic World By Alison Games, Associate Professor of History Alison Games. Page 244. “Notes to pages 7 - 9. GoogleBooks
• Salerno, Anthony. “The Social Background of Seventeenth-Century Emigration to America.” Journal of British Studies, vol. 19, no. 1, 1979, pp. 31–52. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/175681. “110 passengers from Wiltshire between 1635-1638 ...”
• Games, Allison. “Migration and the Origins of the English Atlantic World.” Harvard University Press, 1999 - History - 322 pages. Page 57. GoogleBooks. “England's seventeenth-century colonial empire in North America and the Caribbean was created by migration. The quickening pace of this essential migration is captured in the London port register of 1635, the largest extant port register for any single year in the colonial period and unique in its record of migration to America and to the European continent. Alison Games analyzes the 7,500 people who traveled from London in that year, recreating individual careers, exploring colonial societies at a time of emerging viability, and delineating a world sustained and defined by migration. ...”
• "Capital in the Countryside: Social Change in West Wiltshire, 1530-1680," John Gaisford (2015) link