Isaac Stearns (c1600-1671) (52 Ancestors 2020 Week 15) Theme: "Fire"

So many family researchers hit brick walls when records they seek were burned in some long-ago fire. Irish records in the Dublin courthouse and the 1890 American census are among the best known losses, but any time only one copy of a record is in existence, it is in peril of this fate. Fortunately for our family, there was a solution for the court records lost to a fire in the matter of the estate of my 10X great grandfather Isaac Stearns (sometimes spelled Sterns or Stearnes).

Isaac was born between 1597 and 1600 at either Nayland or nearby Stoke-by-Nayland, Suffolk, England to William and Emma (Ramsford) Stearnes. No birth or baptism records have yet been located (not because there was a fire, at least not so far as we know).

Stoke-by-Nayland, Suffolk, England
Photo by Elinor Bardahl 1998

St. Mary's Church, Stoke-by-Nayland, Suffolk 1998

Isaac was a tailor. Clothing in the 17th century was much more elaborate than a simple suit might be today. (For examples of the styles that Isaac might have been expected to make, check out this link.) However, Puritan dress tended to be much less elaborate and perhaps Isaac's clientele were mainly Puritan sympathizers.

Isaac married Mary Barker 20 May 1622 in St. Mary's Church at Stoke-by-Nayland, Suffolk. Four children were born to them in Suffolk during the 1620s. The family were Puritans who took part in the Great Migration from England to the Massachuetts Bay Colony in the summer of 1630. Eleven ships, including the Arabella, made up the Winthrop Fleet carrying between 700 - 1000 passengers to America.

Included in the list of the passengers on the Arabella, embarking from Yarmouth on 8 April 1630 and arriving Salem 12 June 1630 were the following:
Stearns, Isaac of Stoke Nayland, Suffolk to Watertown
Stearns, Mrs. Mary Barker
Stearns, John, son
Stearns, Abigail, daughter
Stearns, Elizabeth, daughter
Stearns, Hannah, daughter

Replica of the Arabella Produced in 1930 for the 300th anniversary of Salem

Public Domain Image

Isaac was in Watertown (Boston area) in 1630 and was admitted as a freeman there on 18 May 1631.  He served as Selectman for several years and was on the first jury trial for a civil case in New England; this pertained to an assault by a man named Endicott on Thomas Dexter in May 1631. Isaac was a surveyor of highways, but on 4 December 1638, he and John Page were fined 5 shillings at the Boston Court for "turning the way about" (changing the highway). No further information could be found but one might assume they had changed it in such a way as to perhaps benefit themselves at the expense of some neighbours!

In 1647, he and Mr. Biscoe were appointed  to determine how a bridge over the Charles River should be built and to arrange workmen for its construction. This was probably the first bridge over the Charles at Watertown.

Isaac and Mary may have been Puritans, but it seems Mary, at least, did not always toe the line when it came to compulsory church attendance. On 23 May 1665 "Goodwife Stearns Senior" was one of several Watertown residents who were called to answer at a town meeting for not "attending their seats in the meetinghouse appointed them by the town." (It is not clear whether they did not attend church  at all or simply chose to sit in seats other than those assigned to them.)

One might gather from his public service that Isaac was a reasonably well-educated man for his times; he signed his own will dated 14 June 1671. He must have known his days were numbered: he died just 5 days later at the age of 71.

In his will proved in October 1671 he bequeathed to his wife Mary his entire rather large estate during her widowhood.  Prior to his death he had already made fairly generous gifts to each of his seven children but provided that, after Mary died or remarried, additional gifts would go to his children and grandchildren as more particularly set out in his will.

The inventory of his large estate was first taken on 28 June 1671 and filed with the court in Cambridge. It was valued at 524 pounds, 4 shillings, and was a lengthy list that included 14 parcels of land, livestock, farming equipment, provisions and household goods.

Unfortunate timing! The first county courthouse in Cambridge was burned in a fire in 1671 (presumably some time between the end of June and October) with all the court records from 1663-1671, including Isaac's estate inventory. Fortunately, all was not lost. A copy had been kept by the sons Samuel and Isaac (my 9th great grandfather) who were their father's executors. They were able to use their retained copy to complete the probate of their father's estate as indicated in the following excerpt from the court records (taken from p.20 Van Wagenen - see below in Some Resources).

 That this is a true coppie of ye orriginall attested in Oct., 1671, and yn put upon Record, and burned in ye fireing of ye court house, is sworn by Isaac Sternes and Samuel Sternes, I, 8, 72, in open court, at Cambridge.

If only duplicate copies could be located for other genealogical records lost to fire over the years!

Some Resources:

• Samuel Adams Drake, History of Middlesex County, Massachuesetts: Containing Carefully Prepared Histories of Every City & Town in the County, Vol. II. Boston: Estes and Laurit Publishers, 1880, p.556 located online at books.google.ca
• Wikipedia Article for Isaac Stearns located at this website.
• James Savage, A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England, Volume IV Boston: Little, Brown and Company 1862 accessed online at Internet Archive
• Genealogy of Isaac Sterns and his Descendants accessed online 10 Sept 2016 at https://archive.org/stream/genealogymemoirs00vanw/genealogymemoirs00vanw_djvu.txt:
• New England, The Great Migration and The Great Migration Begins, 1620-1635. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.
• Robert Charles Anderson, The Winthrop Fleet: Massachusetts Bay Company Immigrants to New England 1629-1630, Boston: The New England Historic Genealogical Society 2012.
• Avis Stearns Van Wagenen, Genealogy and Memoirs of Isaac Sterns and His Descendants, Syracuse, N.Y.: Courier Printing Co., 1901.

Visiting England: The Baxter Family in Kettleburgh, Suffolk

On our recent visit to England, Graham and I found ourselves with a free morning before attending the 50th wedding anniversary party for his sister Stephanie and her husband Roger. The party was to be held at Framlingham College in Framlingham, Suffolk. According to my genealogy place list, Graham had ancestors living within a couple of miles of there back in the 1700's. Kettleburgh, here we come!

With the help of GPS and after only a few wrong turns, we found Kettleburgh, but had a bit more difficulty locating its church. Once off the main road that passes through the small village, we travelled down some lanes and (carefully) through a gaggle of tame geese to find a camping field that we took to be the church parking lot. Our first thought was that the church had been abandoned, but closer examination revealed that it was indeed still in use. (There are probably not a lot of church members as the 2011 census had a total population here of just 231.)

Graham's Read family ancestors who were born, baptised, married and buried in the area were mainly Baxters. Mary Baxter moved to Burg, Suffolk when she married William Ashwell on 3 August 1780. Mary and William's daughter Elizabeth Ashwell grew up to marry Bloomfield Read, Graham's 2X great grandfather.

Mary Baxter had family in Kettleburgh dating back to at least 1700. We can trace her lineage to her grandparents as follows:

• Mary's Parents (Graham's 4th great grandparents): Joseph Baxter (1727-1803) and Mary Sallows (c. 1720-1783)
• Mary's Grandparents (Graham's 5th great grandparents): Joseph Baxter (c.1700-1773) and Elizabeth Wright (c.1705-1788)

Searching the gravestones at St. Andrew's Church, Kettleburgh was not an easy task. The ground was quite rough and the vegetation had been winning its battle with the mower. We did not find any of the Baxter family stones, but finding any surviving 18th century stones is difficult in the best of situations. Nevertheless, we know that many of Graham's ancestors and extended family are buried here. Mary's grandfather Joseph Baxter was buried here in March of 1773. This same Joseph and his wife Elizabeth had lost their first-born son Benjamin shortly before his third birthday in 1728; young Benjamin is also buried here.

The church provides a very informative "History and Guide: St. Andrew's Church, Kettleburgh, Suffolk" prepared by Robert Warner in June of 1998. According to Warner, a church has stood here since at least Saxon times. The existing church dates mainly from the 1300's with the 51 foot western tower from the Decorated Period, 1350. The windows on the south side (as can be seen above) are irregular and date from a couple of centuries later.

photo courtesy Graham Barnard

The octagonal baptismal font dates from the early 1400's with a Jacobean oak font cover (painted yellow when described in 1712). The font can be seen in the lower part of the picture below.

  

This baptismal font (with the cover no doubt still yellow at this time!) would therefor have been used during the baptisms of many members of the Baxter family including:

• Benjamin Baxter 4 April 1725
• David Baxter 30 October 1726
• Elizabeth Baxter 5 July 1730
• Benjamin Baxter 30 January 1731
• Jonathan Baxter 19 March 1733
• Hannah Baxter 19 September 1736
• Mary Baxter 19 February 1737
• Sarah Baxter 13 April 1740

The wedding of Joseph Baxter and Elizabeth Wright occurred here on 16 August 1724. All of the children listed above are theirs. (No record has so far been located for a baptism for their son Joseph born in 1727.)

Because Graham's family were no longer in the area by the late 1800's, we can be reasonably certain it was not a relative of his who caused mayhem in the church in about 1879. A man was charged and fined by the Framlingham magistrates for riotous and indecent behaviour at the church during a Sunday afternoon service in September. Warner describes the situation: "He had seated himself in the gallery, with his dog on his lap and all was well until he urged the dog to 'speak to'em lad', whereupon it broke out into a great commotion of barking. Its master had obviously been drinking, and the Verger and his son had a struggle to eject man and beast, the service meanwhile having been abandoned."

Nor is he likely related to Samuel Hart, listed at Kettleburgh in Whites' Directory of Suffolk, 1844 as "herbalist and poet". His advertisement, again as noted by Warner: "Curer of bunions, Scab heads, Rheumatism, Scrofula and various other complaints incidental to the human frame. Poems and Pieces composed and arranged on any occasion!" Several of the gravestones in Kettleburgh are said to contain verses of his creation, but, sadly, we didn't come upon any of them in our search.

photo courtesy Graham Barnard

Simon Eyre 1588-1658, Lavenham, Suffolk (Week 43) Theme: "Oops!"

The "oops!" to match this week's theme is my having dropped the ball on my 6th great grandmother who was identified in my records for years simply as "Sarah", wife of Major Edward Winslow. While recently browsing through the one big family tree on FamilySearch.org, I noticed that Sarah was identified with the surname "Clark". A bit of investigation convinced me that I had been missing out on a whole branch of my family tree. Oops!

Quickly being able to get back three (and more) generations from Sarah Clark led me to my 9th great grandfather Simon Eyre who will be this week's focus. (As with so many surnames in these times, the variations in spelling of Eyre are numerous including Ayer, Eyres, Eir, Eire.)

Church of St Peter and St Paul, Lavenham, Suffolk
Church completed about 1525

Simon was baptised 21 June 1588 in the Church of St Peter and St Paul in Lavenham, Suffolk, England, one of the most charming unspoiled villages imaginable. His parents had been married in this church on 7 February 1582/83. No doubt many family members were buried in the cemetery here.

I first visited Lavenham twenty years ago while on honeymoon with my second husband, Graham. He had emigrated from Suffolk to Canada several decades earlier, but his siblings had all remained in England, primarily in Suffolk. They insisted that we visit Lavenham to experience its 15th century authenticity with crooked half-timbered medieval buildings - and I fell victim to its charm, not knowing until this week that I had ancestors originating there. (Another "oops!")

The author at Lavenham, Suffolk 1994
Photo courtesy Graham Barnard

Simon married Dorothy Paine in the church at Lavenham in 1616 and it seems that both the Paine and Eyre families were well established in that community. Lavenham had prospered greatly during the 15th and 16th centuries on the basis of its wool and was then one of the wealthiest towns in England. The Guildhall of the wool guild was built in 1529 and continues to stand in the centre of the town square. (The charming ambiance of the town has resulted in its use in several films including "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows".)

The Church was completed in about 1525 with the tallest village church tower in England at 121 feet. During our 1994 visit, Graham climbed the tower to take advantage of the views of the surrounding countryside.

View of Lavenham and surrounding area from Church tower
Photo courtesy Graham Barnard

However, by the time that Simon and Dorothy were married, cheaper European cloth imports had caused a sudden and drastic decline in the fortunes of the town. It is said that the resulting poverty is the reason for so many of the buildings remaining unspoiled - no one could afford to modify or replace them with something more up-to-date.

Crooked descendants of Simon and Dorothy at Lavenham's Crooked Gallery:
My sister Sandy and mother Elinor during 1998 road trip
The crooked buildings in the town are thought to have inspired the poem
"There was a Crooked Man"

Simon and Dorothy started their family in Lavenham, but then moved a few miles away to Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. Simon was a surgeon and physician, and, with the decline in population and wealth in Lavenham, he probably moved to the bigger centre for economic reasons.

At Lavenham, 1994
Photo courtesy Graham Barnard

It seems that the Eyre family was caught up in the religious discontent so prevalent at the time in England (and in Suffolk in particular). This might explain the inability to find baptisms for any of their children at Bury St Edmunds in the established church. On 13 April 1635, "Simon Eire, gentleman, and Dorothy his wife" sold 2 houses, a stable, 2 gardens and an orchard at Bury St Edmunds in preparation for their departure from London for New England two days later aboard the Increase. Included on the passenger list were Symon Ayres, surgeon, aged 48, wife Dorothy aged 38, Marie aged 15, Thomas aged 13, Symon aged 11, Rebecca (my 8th great grandmother) aged 9, Christian aged 7, Anna aged 5, Benjamin aged 3 and Sara aged 2 months. (Coincidentally, other of my ancestors were also passengers on that same voyage - Samuel Morse and his family from the Redgrave and Hinderclay areas of Suffolk.)

They lived first at Watertown, just out of Boston, where Simon became a freeman of the town on 17 April 1637. In order to become a freeman, he would have joined the Puritan church there. Clearly, he was a respected man who was often named to act as deputy to the General Court, Commissioner to end small causes (probably a sort of Small Claims Court), Selectman on council from 1636-1643 and on the committee to lay out farms when it was "ordered that Simon Eire shall write a transcript of the lands in a book and give it to the Court."

He became a large land owner with grants of land in Watertown 1636-1638. The 1644 Inventories show him possessed of some 10 parcels of land, one as large as 1900 acres. On 22 August 1646 he bought a barn and garden in Boston and soon moved his family to Boston, where he was admitted to the Boston church early in 1647.

It was in the performance of his public duties that Simon was thought to have had his own little "oops!" He was the Clerk for writs for Watertown in the 1640's but, when he left for Boston, his successor John Sherman prefaced his 1648 report by saying that "What was taken before was by Mr. Eirs and uncertain in the transmitting - yet in this book transcribed according to the order of the Court so many as came to hand 1648. The year by Mr. Eires as I supposed began the first of March, but from 1648 the 25th of March." (This seems to relate to the confusing period of time when the Gregorian Calendar was replacing the Julian Calendar at different times in different places. The Julian Calendar started the new year in March rather than 1 January as it does now, so perhaps Simon can be permitted a bit of latitude and forgiveness for how he expressed his dates. On the other hand, perhaps the problem was really with his handwriting if it was as notoriously bad as that of some doctors!)

After wife Dorothy's death in 1650, Simon married a woman named Martha (Hubbard) Whittington who is mentioned in his will dated 5 July 1658. He could have had a premonition of death, since he died on 10 November 1658 in Boston, not long after writing his will. He left an estate valued at almost 600 pounds, a large estate for the time. Over half of the value was in his real estate - house and garden in Boston and houses and lands in Watertown. He bequeathed books, manuscripts, mortars, scales and weights, stills, pots and glasses to one son. His inventory included books valued at 30 pounds and 5 Dutch pictures. Compared to many immigrants, Simon Eyre had clearly led quite a comfortable life.

 Sources:

• website www.GreatMigration.org for Simon Eyre accessed 15 October 2015
• Ancestry.com, "Suffolk, England, Extracted Parish Records"; "Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records 1620-1688"; "New England, The Great Migration and the Great Migration Begins"; "England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975"; "U.S. and Canada Passenger Lists Index 1500's -1900's"
• Wikipedia articles on Lavenham and on Church of St Peter and St Paul
• Early Boston cemeteries article located at this link
• Bond, Henry, M.D., "Genealogies of the Families and Descendants of the Early Settlers of Watertown, Massachusetts, Volume II"; Boston: Little, Brown & Company 1855, page 756

Samuel Bullen (c.1622-1692) (52 Ancestors Week 31) Theme: "Easy"

Easy? Yes, it was all far too easy. You never really think before hitting "enter" that one innocent internet search could lead to a life-changing obsession with family history. But that's how it happened.

My uncle Robert W. Anderson had researched and put together a family history of my mother's side of the family back in the 1970's. Every so often I would take a look at it and wonder what names preceded the earliest ancestors that he had found, namely my 8X great grandparents Samuel Bullen and his wife Mary Morse who were in New England in the 1600's. Once while browsing through the stacks in the Calgary Public Library in the mid 1980's I had come upon a book entitled "New England Marriages Prior to 1700" and even found the entry for their marriage on the 10th of August 1641 at Dedham/Medfield.

Sawin - Bullen - Bullard Home, Sherborn, MA
Probably built by Samuel Bullen or son Ephraim, late 1600's
Photo taken 1999

No further developments occurred until June of 1997 when I performed that seemingly innocuous internet search for "Samuel Bullen" "Mary Morse" probably on either AltaVista or Yahoo (yes, my younger friends, there were search engines before Google). The results came tumbling onto my screen faster than I was able to open and read them. So much information! So easy.

New England ancestors are perhaps the easiest of all to research. Records in Plymouth Colony were kept quite meticulously in the early days. It is far easier to find records pertaining to my New England ancestors in the 1600's than it is to find those pertaining to later ancestors in the 1800's in places like Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota or Pennsylvania. And, even though my Scandinavian ancestors came from societies with excellent records, the language and handwriting styles have made those significantly less easy to research.

What I was easily able to learn about Samuel Bullen:

• Born in England and came to Watertown near Boston in 1636
• In Dedham, MA by 1639 where he was one of the signers of the Dedham Compact and took the freeman's oath in 1641
• Married Mary Morse, daughter of Samuel Morse and Elizabeth Jasper 10 August 1641

Marriage record for Samuel and Mary, 1641

• Samuel and Mary had a family of 10 children born between 1642 and 1664 including my 7X great grandfather Ephraim Bullen (1653-1694)
• Owned a house in Dedham by 1646
• One of the 13 original settlers of Medfield, MA when it was established in 1651

Medfield, Massachusetts

• Named as one of those in charge of laying out the line between Dedham and Medfield, laying out highways and house-lots
• His Medfield lot was 10 acres abutting on the waste lands to the south-east, north-east and north-west and to a brook (probably Nantasket Brook) on the south-west
• A portion of the valuation of the town of Medfield for 1652 found on page 55 of Tilden's book lists the following for Samuel Bullin (his name and possessions all spelled as in the original):
• 7 persons . . . . . 70   0   0
• House . . . . . . . .20   0   0
• Brok land . . . . . 36   0   0
• 5 ac unbrok  . . . 7    10  0
• 2 oxen . . . . . . . .14   0   0
• 2 cowes . . . . . . .12   0   0
• 1 3 yearling . . . . . .5   0  0
• 2 2 yearling   . . . . .7   0  0
• 2 yerling . . . . . . . . 2   0  0
• 2 swine . . . . . . . . .2   0   0
•                           175   10  0
• Tilden says that by 1657 the Medfield meeting-house was complete and "Brother Bullen had 2s. 6d. for bringing it up, also 5s. 8d. for drawing timber and seats."

• In 1659 he received a lot of 126 acres in Medfield
• When his buildings were burned by the Indians during King Philip's War, he took his family to Sherborn to live near Mary's brother Daniel Morse.
• While at Sherborn, he was a tenant on Captain Hull's farm and had land assigned to him west of the common and it is thought that he may have built the Brush Hill Road house shown above at that time (son Ephraim had built a house nearby).

A volunteer at the local historical society thought that this house might have
 been the one where Samuel and his family lived when they came to Sherborn
Photo taken 1999

• Upon his return to Medfield, he rebuilt his home and was one of the Selectmen there in 1682
• Chosen Deacon prior to 1689
• Died 16 January 1692 at Medfield and was buried there at Vine Lake Cemetery
• Widow Mary died less than a month later on Valentine's Day.

Vine Lake Cemetery in Medfield, MA
Photo taken 1999

Original stone reads: "Samuel Bullen husband to Mary Bullen
dyed aged 70 Jan 16 1691/2"
Photo courtesy Bill Boyington, Findagrave.com

Memorial marker erected by descendants a century after his death:
"In memory of Dean. Samuel Bullen who died Janry. 16th 1692. Aged 70 years.
He was the First European who Setled in this Town with a family."
(Almost illegible when this photo was taken in 1999)

Not so Easy

There's always a "but", isn't there? Before he is recorded in Watertown in 1636, Samuel remains a mystery. No record can be found for his arrival in America on any particular ship. No record can be found that definitively connects him to parents or a place of birth in England. There has been much speculation over the years on message boards scattered on the internet, but none of it has been proven. Some theories and tantalizing hints:

• A Samuel Bullen, christened in 1618 is listed in IGI records for Carleton-rode, Norfolk, England, son of John Bullen
• Given the common naming practices of the time (where the grandparents' first names were generally adopted for the first children), the fact that Samuel and Mary named the first four of their children Samuel, Mary, Elizabeth and John might indicate that Samuel's father was probably named either Samuel or John (since Mary's father was also called Samuel, the first-born son might have been named for him rather than for either his father or paternal grandfather). Possibly Samuel's mother's name was Mary if the first-born daughter was named for Samuel's mother rather than for his wife; the second daughter was named Elizabeth which was Mary's mother's name. Probably we are looking for Samuel's parents to be named Mary and either Samuel or John Bullen.
• In an email to me dated 24 December 1999, Nic Burns favoured the prospect that Samuel Bullen was from Hoxne, Suffolk which borders Stradbroke, Suffolk. Nic had found a book entitled "Able Men of Suffolk, 1638" in which he found a Samuel Bullen listed along with John Bullen and John Bollen in Hoxne, along with the families of many of the Dedham, Massachusetts settlers. Nic believes that Samuel may have known Mary Morse's Suffolk family in England before emigrating. Nic also had located an index of Suffolk wills that indicated a record for a "Bolen, John, the elder, tailor, Stradbroke, 1661 R68/218, W91/39." (I like Nic's theory since my husband was born in Suffolk and we have a clock that was built in Stradbroke in the late 1700's. We also spent some time in the pub there between a family wedding and reception in the vicinity in 1994.)
• A family tree located at familysearch.org in April of 2013 has Samuel's parents listed as Samuel Bullen b. 1590 and Mary Jeremy or Jermy or Jermyn born 1593. Possible location for this family is given as Redgrave, Suffolk, which would certainly tie in with the Morse family (see my blog post on Mary Morse's grandfather Thomas Morse). Unfortunately no source information was given for this.
• The origin of the name Bullen (variations abound including Boleyn, Bullin, Bullion, Bullan, Bolen, Bolland) is French with the original English holder of that surname coming from Boulogne in France. 
• One bit of family lore that creeps into every discussion of Samuel's origins is his possible family connection to Anne Boleyn (sometimes spelled Bullen), the unfortunate second wife of King Henry VIII. Since most of Anne's close family were executed at about the same time as she was beheaded, it is unlikely that any connection is a particularly close one. Possibly some Boleyn/Bullen cousin of Anne's family was an ancestor of Samuel's. (It is worth remembering that, although the story of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn seems historically remote, it occurred in the 1530's, less than a century before Samuel's birth.) No likely connection has ever been found.

Sources:

• Tilden, William S., "History of the Town of Medfield Massachusetts 1650-1886", Boston: Geo. H. Ellis, Publisher, 1887
• Ancestry.com, "Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988"  for Samuell Bullin (Provo, UT, USA)
• Vital Records of Medfield, Massachusetts to the Year 1850; Boston, 1903
• Todd, Charles E., "Bullen Family", privately prepared and emailed 24 August 1997
• Flynn, Diane Wilson, "Descendants of Deacon Samuel Bullen" family tree provided 4 July 1999
• Gosnold, Flora Bullen compiler, "Genealogy and Work of Rev. Joseph Bullen, Jr., Some Associated Families", 1968, copy provided by Diane Flynn
• "Genealogical Dictionary of New England Settlers Results.htm" obtained online 09/02/99
• Train, May Philips, "Samuel Bullen and Some of his Descendants", Privately printed 1941

Thomas Morse (c 1550-1597) 52 Ancestors #19 Theme: "There's a Way"

Although he died 400 years before I ever heard of  him, my 10X great grandfather Thomas Morse is largely responsible for my obsession with genealogy. In the spring of 1997, we had 3 significant deaths in our family just weeks apart. When my husband went to Suffolk, England to attend a funeral, I stayed home and tried some early internet searches, inputting names from the family tree compiled by my uncle Bob Anderson in the 1970's. The earliest information I had at that time on my mother's line was Samuel Bullen marrying Mary Morse in Massachusetts in 1641. To my amazement, dozens of results showed up on the computer! I learned that Mary Morse had come to New England with her parents Samuel Morse and Elizabeth Jasper and that Samuel's father was named Thomas Morse and had come from the Hinderclay area of Suffolk, England. When I checked a map of England and discovered that my husband was just a few miles from Hinderclay, I asked him to go there and take photographs to bring home.

He called back the next day to tell me about his discoveries: not only had he gone to visit the church at Hinderclay, but he had found my ancestor Thomas Morse listed in the names of the rectors there.

Rectors of Hinderclay - See Thomas Morse left hand column, third from the bottom:

"1583 Thomas Morse (deprived 1595)"

"Deprived 1595?" Apparently Thomas had lost his job. But under what circumstances? What had happened to him and how did he find a way out of this dilemma?

It didn't take long to realize that this time frame would have been during the religious upheavals following King Henry VIII's break with the Roman Catholic Church. After Henry's death in 1547, there were the short but bloody reigns of Edward VI and then Catholic Queen Mary I, followed by the long reign of Elizabeth I from 1558-1603 during which the Protestant Church of England was struggling to define itself. It would have been during Elizabeth's reign that Thomas was deprived of his benefice in 1595. During this time, it must have been very difficult to keep ahead of the tide of religious change, especially for clergymen. Although Elizabeth I was a Protestant supporter, she apparently believed that, next to the Roman Catholics, Puritans were her greatest religious challenge. Protestants in the Church of England at the time continued to wear vestments and retained other "popish" aspects of the Catholic Church. The Puritans wanted to simplify or purify the church even further. Had Thomas found himself on the wrong side of some church issue in 1595?

To begin at the beginning: Thomas Morse was born in about 1550 in Stoke By Nayland, Suffolk, England to Thomas and Agnes Morse. The Morses go back in Stoke By Nayland until around 1492 when Thomas's great grandfather Robert Morse was baptised there. Robert's parents and grandparents are associated with the nearby village of Stratford St Mary so the Morse name was found in this area near the Suffolk/Essex border for many generations.

Stoke By Nayland Church

In 1573 he was presented to the nearby vicarage of Boxted, Suffolk of which the Bishop of London was patron. Thomas married Margaret King there that same year.

However, things did not go smoothly for Thomas in this parish. He had become a part of a secret conference of nonconformist clergymen who met on a monthly basis in and around Dedham, Essex, to discuss matters of local and national interest. He was "called into consistory" by the church on 8 November 1576 and ordered to wear the surplice; he refused on grounds that it would offend his parishioners and hinder his ministry among them. It turned out that Thomas was suspended at Boxted too! Oh, Thomas! On condition that he conform, he was restored on 8 February 1577 by special mandate from the Bishop of London. But later that year, he was again summoned for a personal interview during the primary visitation of John Aylmer and was again suspended. He resigned his position at Boxted on 26 May 1579. Not listed at all in the London diocese in 1580, he was quite possibly preaching privately to fellow non-conformists. It appears that he continued to live at Boxted until 1583 since all four of his and Margaret's children (including my 9X great grandfather Samuel) were baptised there.

Church at Boxted, Suffolk

On 5 March 1583, he was the speaker at the clandestine Dedham conference meeting at Boxted, but nevertheless became rector at Hinderclay, Suffolk on 14 July 1583. The very next year found him among the Suffolk clergy suspended for refusing to comply with Church of England requirements. After the death of wife Margaret, he returned to Boxted where he was described as "mynyster of Hinderclaye" when he married Margery Boggass on 24 November 1585 (and went on to father 5 more children). 

Hinderclay Church

Interior of Hinderclay Church, Hinderclay, Suffolk, England

In the 1580's more than 50 Suffolk ministers were suspended for refusing to conform to the official Protestant Church of England teachings. Many refused to wear the surplice, which was a simplification of the Catholic vestments but still not simple enough for these Puritans who wanted more extreme reform.

In later years, Thomas's eldest son John trained at Cambridge Emmanuel College to follow in his father's footsteps as a clergyman. This college was well-known at the time for being a hotbed of Puritan sentiment. Thomas's son Samuel and other family members moved to Massachusetts as acknowledged Puritans. It isn't hard to determine the religious predilection of the family.

 Entrance at Hinderclay church

His non-conforming ways finally led to his deprivation of his post at Hinderclay in 1595. Deprived of his ability to make a living and with a wife and children to support. What to do?

By the 1590's Puritanism was so prevalent that about 1/3 of the Suffolk clergy had been reported for refusing to wear the surplice. When they lost their positions, they were often fortunate enough to find a Puritan patron for a livelihood at a different church. At first, I thought perhaps this was how Thomas had found a way out of his dilemma since in the same year that he was deprived at Hinderclay, he took up a post as rector of Foxearth, Essex on 28 August 1595.

There was, however, to be no easy way out for Thomas. The same day that he became rector at Foxearth, he appeared before Edward Stanhope "in consistory" and was ordered specifically to subscribe to the 39 Articles. There was to be a follow-up meeting in Braintree on 20 September where Thomas was to show letters of orders and letters dismissory. He was further ordered always to use the prayer book at Foxearth, to wear the surplice, to administer the sacraments to himself kneeling and not to administer the sacraments to anyone who did not kneel, to use the sign of the cross in baptism, to use the ring in marriage and to observe all church requirements strictly. He was required to bring in church wardens' certificates that he had followed all of this and he was required to state under oath that he had adhered to all required church policies. After satisfying all of these requirements, Thomas was finally granted a preaching license. He had found a way but, unfortunately, did not live happily ever after. He was rector there only a few short months until March 1596/7.

List of Rectors Posted Inside Foxearth Church
"Thomas Morse 1595" 3rd from bottom

He wrote his will 10 November 1596 and died 28 October 1597 at Foxearth at the age of only 47. There is no indication of the cause of death - perhaps the religious turmoil of the 16th century had taken its toll.

Church at Foxearth Essex

In his will, he left 20 pounds to each of his 9 living children, his books to his oldest son and "Bybles" to the eight youngest children. The residue of the estate was left to his wife "and she is to bring up my children in learning".

Sources:

• Roberts, Gary Boyd,  "English Origins of New England Families" from New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 1st series, 1984
• Collinson, Craig and Usher, "Conferences and Combination Lectures in the Elizabethan Church: Dedham and Bury St Edmunds 1582-1590", pages 231-232 accessed online 3 May 2015
• New England Historical and Genealogical Register, volume 19, p 264 (Will of Thomas Morse of Foxearth, County of Essex, England, copied by Horatio G Sombersby) accessed online at Google Books on 3 May 2015