The Last Will and Testament of Sarah (Carey) Jenney

The Last Will and Testament of Sarah Jenney via http://www.pilgrimhall.org

Aprill the 4th 1654 Mris Sarah Jeney of Plymouth being sicke and weake in body being otherwise by gods goodnes of pfect memory Doeth think good to Despose of some smale thinges that is my owne proper goods leaveing my husbands will to take place according to the true Intent and meaning thereof; I bequeath to my Daughter Pope my bed and furniture therunto belonging one bolster two pillows and pillowbeers three blanketts one old Rugg one pair of sheets, further I bequeath to my Daughter Sarah Pope all my wearing Clothes to Despose of them to my Daughter Abigaill Wood and to my grandchild Sarah Wood for theire use as they have need excepting two of my petticoats which have not been worne which I give to my Daughter Sarah Pope for her paines furher I bequeath to my son Samuell Jeney and to my Daughter Abigaill Wood my Mare equally to bee Devided between them; further I bequeath to my son Benjamin Bartlett all my pte of Cattle that is in the hands of Josepth Warren att the Eelriver further my will is that my sheep bee kept together till my legacies bee paied; and my will further is to give unto the Teacher Mr John Reyner one ewe lambe further I give to the Elder Mr Thomas Cushman one ewe lambe and the bible which was my Daughter susannas further I bequeath to my loveing frind goodwife Clarke one ewe lambe and alsoe I give one ewe lambe to Thomas Southworth.
Sarah Jeney, her marke
Witnesse, Thomas Southworth
"Att the generall Court held att Plymouth the fift of march 1655 (1656) Leiftenant Thomas Southworth Testifyed upon his oath that the Will abovewritten is all the will of Mis Sarah Jeney Deceased which shee left with him."

"August the 18th Anno: 1655
"An Adition to my late Will left in the hands of Leiftenant Southworth;
"My Will is that That which is my owne since the Death of my husband I give to my two Daughters and the Children of my son Samuell Except in what I give as followeth one Colt I give to the three Daughters of my Children viz Sarah Wood Susanna Pope and Sarah Jeney if shee come hither to abide or ells not to have any pte of this Colt or any thing ells of my estate; morover my will is that if my son Samuell take away his Children that are now heer with mee then my will is that none of them shall have any thinge of myne estate but it shalbee Reserved for the two boyes if they Doe well when they come to age; It I give unto Benjamine Bartlett onely the Starred Cow which is att Thomas Popes Recaling whatsoever ells is mencioned in my former will; alsoe I give unto my Daughter Sarah Pope the bed I now lye on and the two pillows and three blanketts and the Rugg and also two petticoates one being of Turkey Moheire Confeirming whatsoever ells is in my former Will Will In Witnesse wherof I have put to my hand the Day and Yeare above written and I give unto Leiftenant Southworth one ewe lamb.
Sarah Jeney, her marke

In the prsence of William Bradford, Alice Bradford her marke
"And I desire my loveing ffrinds capt: Standish Elder Cushman Thomas Clarke and Thomas Pope to bee the overseers of this my will;
"Att the general Court held att Plymouth the fift of March 1655 (1656) Mr Willam Bradford Senir: and mis alice Bradford Did Testify upon their oathes that this next before rwritten was the last willl and Testament of Mis Sarah Jeney Deceased

Mayflower Descendant, Vol. 8, p. 171-172.
THE INVENTORY OF THE ESTATE OF MISTRESS SARAH JENNEY,
18 February 1655/6

Note: inventories are valued in pounds (L), shillings (s) and pence (d).  There were 12 pence (or pennies) to a shilling and 20 shillings to a pound.

L s d
Impr 2 Cowes 08 00 00
It the halfe of a heifer and a steer of 3 year old att Spring 03 10 00
It the halfe of 2 yearlinges 01 00 00
It beefe in John Rouses hand four hundred grosse 9 pound and of Tallow and suite and 18s in a hyde the halfe of this being mis Jeneys 02 14 02
It one Cow in henery Woods hand & halfe a 2 year old 04 00 00
It one mare 16 00 00
It one horse of 2 year old 06 10 00
It one coult of a year old 04 00 00
It 6 ewes and and an ewe lamb & a young Ram 09 00 00
It a Copper kettle 01 08 00
It one Copper kettle 01 01 00
It 2 large brasse kettle 01 08 00
It 4 smale kettles 00 15 00
It one brasse pan and a old broken skillett 00 12 00
It one brasse ladle and Skimer 00 01 00
It one brasse Candlestick and Skillett 00 02 00
It one warming pan 00 03 00
It one large Iron pott 00 10 00
It one Iron kittle 00 05 00
It one Iron pot and 2 broken ones 00 12 00
It one frying pan 00 02 00
It one Iron posnett 00 02 06
It one paire of tonges and fier shovell 00 01 06
It one Iron Skillett 00 02 00
It one pair of andirons 00 10 00
It 2 paire of pothangers 00 05 00
It 3 old peeces & a pistell & a paire of bandeleers 01 10 00
It an Iron pestle & a wooden Mortert 01 06
It a smothing Iron a paire of sheepsheers 03 06
It a paire of stilliards 06 00
It a Tamy petticoat & a Tallaminko wastocat 01 00 00
It a petticoat & wastcoat 01 16 00
It a petticoat & wastcoat of Phillip & cheney 00 17 00
It an old coat & wastcoat 00 07 00
It an old coat & wastcoat 00 07 00
It an old under petticoat 01 00 00
It one lose coat 00 05 00
It a yard of broad cloth 00 16 00
It 3 petticoates 00 16 00
It one old stuffe gowne 00 08 00
It 2 old wastcoasts 00 04 00
It a new Carsy wastcoat 00 10 00
It a cloth lose coate 01 05 00
It 2 paier of bodies 00 03 00
It 2 old curtaines 00 02 00
It 4 say aprons 00 16 00
It one hatt 00 10 00
It a carpett 00 06 00
It a muffe 00 02 00
It 2 brushes 00 01 00
It yard of teeking 00 02 00
It five fine old sheets 01 05 00
It 9 paire of old sheets & 4 halfe sheets 04 00 00
It a flanell Coat 00 06 00
It 3 silver spoones 00 15 00
It a Dozen of napkins 00 12 00
It twelve pillowveers 00 18 00
It 7 Table clothes & 2 long towels 01 00 00
It 8 sheets 01 10 00
It a salme booke 00 01 00
It old linnin and a shift 00 06 00
It a swath 00 00 06
It 6 white aprones 02 00 00
It 6 Double clouts 00 03 00
It 2 silke capps & a hood and 2 Skarffes 01 00 00
It a Callico apron and an old pillowbeer 00 03 00
It 13 Crosclotehs & Dressings 00 16 00
It 21 handkerchifes 02 00 00
It 6 Dressings 00 04 00
It 12 quoyves 01 00 00
It 13 quoyves 00 08 08
It 48 peeces of linnin as quoyves and Stomengers and other linnin 00 06 00
It 17 peeces of pewter 2 bsons & 4 porrengers 02 19 04
It 2 quart pots & a pint pott 00 06 04
It 5 pewter cupps and beaker & a salt 00 04 00
It a chamber pott & 2 old dishes & 2 sawsers 00 05 00
It 1 bason 00 02 06
It one leten Driping pan & 2 smale leten pans 00 02 06
It a letten Sugar box 00 01 00
It 2 bottomes of frying pans 00 00 06
It 8 peeces of earthen ware & a ston Jugg 00 04 00
It 7 trayes & other wooden dishes & a smale tubb 00 04 00
It a Cheespresse and a paile & an old kimnell 00 02 00
It a smale spitt 00 01 00
It a great Trough & 3 seives 00 08 00
It black bill 00 01 08
Cartwright on the Remise 00 06 00
It Downhams workes 00 06 00
It 4 old bookes 00 00 06
It Mr ainsworth on geneses & Exodus 00 02 06
It a great bible & a smale one 00 11 00
It a Chaire & form & 2 stooles 00 10 00
It 2 whees 00 04 00
It a chaire Talbe 00 04 00
It a brewers slinges 00 02 00
It a Table 00 12 00
It 2 bedsteds 00 12 00
It in old Iron one hundred & six pound neat 00 16 00
It an old axe & spade & other old thinges & a lamp 00 03 00
It 6 sett Cushens 00 10 00
It a bed and bolster pillow & 2 whit blankets 01 12 00
It 11 p ound of sheeps woole & 4 pound of cottenwoole 15 00
It a bed & 2 pillowes 02 00 00
It a bed and bolster 2 pillowes & 2 old blankets & 2 old Rugges 03 00 00
17 08 10
More 6 neckclothes & 2 handkerchifes one course old lyning 12 pcells of lase & yarne & odd thinges 00 07 00
It a paire of kiuves & gloves & paire of sleeves 00 06 00
It yarne linnin & woolen 00 01 06
It a Cotton sheet 00 08 00
It five Chists & a Case 00 18 00
It the land & meddow att Lakenham 07 00 00
It all the land att Strawberry hill and meddow att the salthouse beach 14 00 00
It the purchasers land 10 00 00
It The Mill with the land belonging to it and Dwelling house and all such thinges belonging therto 100 00 00
It a gridiron & 2 paire of Cards 00 03 00
It a Dozen of trenchers & a spanish lether skin 00 04 00
It a paire of stockens & a paire of shooes & 2 old aprons 00 04 00
127 04 06
Summa Totalis

248 05 08
It money one peece of eight & 2 halfe Crownes & more seaven pence in silver
It one sow & 2 piggs 00 10 00
Debts owing to the estate 09 19 06
Thomas Willett; Thomas Southworth

Mayflower Descendant, Vol. 8, p. 173-175.

The Last Will and Testament of John Jenney

The Last Will and Testament of John Jenney via http://www.pilgrimhall.org

"The last Will and Testament of John Jenney of Plymouth gent lately Deceased exhibited to the genrall Court the fift of June in the xxth yeare of the now Raigne of our sovraigne Lord charles Kinge of England &c.
I John jenney of new Plymouth in New England being sick and weake in body but through Gods speciall goodnes in pfect memorie Do thinke meete to settle that estate the Lord in mercy hath bestowed on me according as I conceive hee requireth at myhands. And therefore Do ordaine this my last will and testament. And therefore having bequeathed my soule to God that gave it and my body to the earth whereof it s I do give unto my eldest sonne Samuell jenney a Double porcon of all those lands I stand possessed of or have right unto wthin the goverment of new Plymouth my will being pformed next of all I give unto Sarah my loveing wyfe whom I ordaine my Executrix my Dwelling house and Mille adjacent together wth all the lands thereunto belonging, my will being that shee freely and fully enjoy it together wth all other my moveables goods and chattells so long as God shalve pleased to continue her life except such as I shall after Dispose of or shee shall willingly and freely part wth to any our children according to my will and Desire Alsoe whereas Abigaile my eldest Daughter had somewhat given her by her grandmother and Henry Wood of Plymouth aforesaid is a sute to her in way of marriage my will is that if shee the said Abigaile will Dwell one full yeare wth mr Charles chauncey of Scittuate before her marriage (pvided he be willing to entertaine her) that then mys aid Daughter Abigall have two of my cowes and my full consent to marry wth the said Henry Wood And in case ms Chauncey be against it then I would have her dwell wth mrs winslowe of Careswell the said terme of one yeare ffurther as I have given to my eldest sonn Samuell a double porcon of all my lands whatsoever after the death of his said mother so also I give him a double porcon of my whole estate wth the rest of my children vizt John Abigall Sarah and Susann My will being that after the death of my said wyfe my house and mill and other mylands and goods be sold or valued to the utmost they are worth and that the estate be equally Distributed amongst my said children Samuell John Abigall Sarah and Susan as followeth, Samuell to have a double pcon and the rst of them eich a single & equall porcon of the same Last of all I do ordaine my worthy frends mr Wm Bradford now Goveror of Plymouth and mr Thomas Prence of the same the Ovrseers of this my last will and testament and do give eich of them a paire of gloves of five shillings price And in witnes that this is my Will I have hereunto sett my hand & seale the xxviiith of December anno Dm 1643.
John Jenney (seale)
Witnesses hereunto : Edward Winslowe, Thomas Willett, William Paddy.

From Mayflower Descendant, Vol. 6, p. 169-170.

THE INVENTORY OF JOHN JENNEY’S ESTATE, 1644
"A true Inventory of all the goods chattells and cattells wch were mr John Jenneys lately Deceased taken and apprise by Willm Paddy and Nathaniell Sowther the xxvth Day of May Anno Dm 1644.

Note: inventories are valued in pounds (L), shillings (s) and pence (d).  There were 12 pence (or pennies) to a shilling and 20 shillings to a pound.

L s d
Inpris two cowes 10 06 08
It one three yeres old heiffer 14 13 04
It iiii ewe sheepe 06 00 00
It one ewe sheeps 01 00 00
It three weather sheepe 02 05 00
It i cow calfe 00 12 00
It three oxen 19 00 00
43 17 00
In the chamber ovr the parlor

It i little feather bed & two boulsters 01 00 00
It i pillow 00 02 06
It ii blanketts 00 10 00
It i pere of old sheets 00 05 00
It i old chest 00 02 00
It i new sheete 00 06 00
It 5 fine old sheets 01 05 00
It 5 paire of old sheets at 5s 4d 01 06 08
It 8 pillow beers at 20d 00 13 04
It i halfsheets & a peece of old linnen cloth 00 03 00
It i table cloth 00 04 00
It 9 old napkins at 4d 00 03 00
It a little towell & old linnens 00 02 00
It i old trunck 00 00 08
It a baskett wth Dressed hemp in it 00 02 06
It xlb of feathers 00 06 08
06 12 04
In the Parlor

It vi sett cusheons 00 10 00
It a feather bed and furniture to yt 3 old blanketts i old greene rugg & curtaine 3 10 0
It an old warmeing pann 00 02 06
It a chest 00 02 00
It 9 napkins at 6d 00 04 06
It 4 fine old napkins 00 02 00
It i long towell 00 01 08
It 2 Diap cloths 00 01 04
It 8 course napkins 00 03 04
It old linnen table cloths 00 04 00
It i seeled chest 00 06 08
It a short carpett 00 03 00
It a carpett 00 06 08
It his weareing apparell 03 00 00
It 5 yards cotton Darnix 5s a black hatt 12s 00 17 00
It a chaire table 4s & a featherbed tick 16 01 00 00
It 2 beere barrells & other lumber 00 04 00
It 3 silver spoones 00 15 00
08 04 08
In the Dwelling house

It i smale globe 00 02 06
It Cartwright on the Rhemist testament 00 08 00
It mr Downams workes 00 08 00
It i old bible 00 01 00
It other old bookes 00 04 00
It a kneadeing trough & cover 00 08 00
It 2 joyne stooles i forme and a chaire 00 07 06
It i spinninge wheele 00 04 00
It 3 old peecs a pistoll & a paire of bandeliers 01 10 00
It 3 salts & 2 smale pewter cupps 00 03 00
It 2 quart potts & a pint pott 00 06 04
It x peecs of pewter 32 l & 3 porringers 01 15 04
It x peecs more of pewter 24 l 01 04 00
It 3 smale latten pans 00 01 06
It i larg latten pan 00 01 00
It a pewter bottle 00 00 02
It 3 smaler kettles 00 11 00
It a bras cover 00 00 03
It a smale bras pann 00 12 00
It 2 larg bras kettle 21l at 16 01 08 00
It i copper kettle 21l at 01 01 00
10 16 07
It i larg copper kettle 01 05 00
It i frying pann 00 02 00
It a skimmer and an old bras ladle 00 00 08
It a bras candlestick 00 01 06
It a bras posnett 00 02 00
It a larg iron pott 00 10 00
It 4 other iron potts broken & maymed & a posnet 00 16 00
It i iron kettle 00 05 00
It a fire shovell & a paire of tonges 00 02 00
It 3 paire of pott hooks 00 02 00
It 2 paire of pott hangers 00 05 00
It for trees payles & other lumber 00 05 00
It a black bill 00 01 08
03 17 10
In the Dary house

It 8 earthen panns & potts & tubbs 00 05 00
It 3 trees & a kimnell 00 02 06
It an earthen bason 00 00 02
It a churne 00 02 00
It a cheese presse 00 02 06
00 12 02
In the chamber over the house

It two bed steads 00 12 00
It a feather bed & boulster & two pillowes 02 00 00
It i old rugg and a blankett 00 06 00
It i paire of sheets 00 07 00
It i smale seacanvas feather bed & boulster wth cotton 00 12 06
It iiii old blanketts 00 12 00
It 2 pillowes & pillow beers 00 07 00
It i joyned table 00 12 00
It i longe wheele 00 04 00
It 2 old axes 00 02 00
It i smal adds & other old iron 00 07 00
It 2 old netts 00 05 00
It an old cartrope 00 02 00
It 2 jarrs tubs & old baskets & lumber 00 05 00
It a paire of steeleyards 00 06 08
It 18 bushells of wheate 03 12 00
It vi bushells of barley 01 04 00
11 16 02
Without Doores

It 3 yeokes 00 07 06
It a paire teases for a single oxe 00 02 06
It i old Harrow 00 01 06
It i old weane and wheeles 04 00 00
It 2 cheanes & a broken one 00 14 00
It i old plow an ovrworne coulter & share & hooke 00 09 00
It a broken sith a clevis pin & old saw & a yeoke & fork 00 01 00
It i boate viL xs whereof she hath a third pte 02 03 04
It ii bushells & a peck of wheate 00 09 00
It iii bushells & a half of barley 00 14 00
It 5 pecks of peas 00 05 00
It I bushell of oates 00 02 00
It to receive for the salt panns 08 06 08
It 5 sides at tanning 04 10 00
22 05 06
Sum totall 108 L . o3s . 03d.
Nathaniel Sowther
William Paddy

Debts oweing by the Testator

It To Samuell Chaundler 05 10 00
It To mr Paddy 04
It To Thom Pope 00 07 00
It To John Barnes 03 00 00
It To John Yeonge 01 02 00
It To Richard mr Chanceys man 00 04 00
It To Josias Cooke 00 10 00
It To mr Gray 00 16 00
It To Samuel Jenney 05 00 00
It To James Hurst for John wood 00 04 00
It To Giles Rickett 00 08 00
It To Henry Wood 01 00 00
It To Richard Smyth 02 00 00
It To Richard Sparrow 00 15 00
It To the Apothecary for Phisick 00 10 00
It funerall charges 30s & pbat of the will &c 01 16 00
It for mending the mill & morters & planks 00 12 00
It more to Thomas Pope 00 07 00
It To ffrancis Cooke 01 10 00
From : Mayflower Descendant, Vol. 6, p. 171-174.

Running history of the Sandwich area residents - Native Americans, colonists, etc

The Shawme Indians were Wampanoags, a subset of the Algonquins, and they lived seasonally in the area of present-day downtown Sandwich by the pond.  They farmed the high land during the summer, moving inland to their permanent wigwams during the winter.  The area teamed with fish, eels, and shellfish, ducks and geese by the thousands, and plenty of deer, rabbit, and other game.  Importantly, pure springs fed Shawme Pond.  In November, before they left for their winter wigwams, the Shawme people burned the brush from the woods to provide easy hunting.  In fact, 60% of the Cape was a managed forest of fire-resistant pitch pine and oak with grasslands at the edges for deer and game birds.  They left the low areas wild and tangled with briers.  One percent was farmland.  Their east-west trail followed present day Main and Old Main Street, joining what is now 6A at both ends. Heading south along the east side of the pond, a trail led along present-day Water Street to Nantucket Sound and on the west side of the pond, another path along present-day Grove Street led to Pocasset.

In 1637 the English moved in.  First, the leadership of Plymouth Colony granted the Ten Men of Saugus, as they were known, land in Sandwich, and soon Plymouth Pilgrims joined them.  The center of town was established by the spring, the cleared land, the access to the harbor via the river, the pond, and soon the gristmill (built by Thomas Dexter before 1640), and the church.  Besides the Indian paths, the farmers from all points of the compass had to reach the mill with corn and grain, and their ox- or horse-drawn carts created cartways to the mill, eventually establishing other roads.  The Puritan settlers built their first church here, a small, thatched, barn-like building, a short walk from the mill.  In winter, the baptismal water iced over and had to be cracked to baptize babies.  The church was enlarged and rebuilt over the years.  Its last building stands still on the location, but it's now a private home.

John’s father, Seth Pope, was born January 13, 1648, in Plymouth, MA, the son of Thomas Pope and Sarah Jenney. Sarah had been born on the Little James as her parents sailed to Plymouth in 1623.  John Jenney, her father, was half-owner of the ship, and he soon became one of the most important men in the colony.  He was a brewer, and the malting floor of his house in Plymouth still exists and still sends out the scent of beer, and he was a miller, and his mill, the Jenney gristmill has been rebuilt on its old foundations.  He ran a sort of bank, the corn exchange, a counting house, bake shop, and salt works, a very important commodity before refrigeration.  He was chosen Assistant to the governor and held many important posts.  He died at 47 and his very capable wife carried on his businesses. She was not called Goodwife Jenney, but Mistress Jenney, which
demonstrates her high social position   Eventually, she and her two sons and Thomas Pope and her daughter, his wife, purchased land in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, in present-day Acushnet, where Thomas started a mill.

 Seth’s relationship with Sandwich started in 1670 when he arrived as a traveling salesman, selling wares house to house.  The leaders of Sandwich sent the constable to demand that he leave town.  They feared he would become a “charge upon the town,” (The Genealogy of Thomas Pope of Plymouth by Thomas Leonard Pope, page 10) in other words, they were afraid he would be unable to support himself and they would have to feed and house him.  How insulting that must have been for him, a competent and ambitious young man of 22.  Perhaps, instead of selling his wares, he lingered each day to talk to Deborah Perry, his future wife, giving the impression that he was lazy trouble rather than an ambitious young man in love.  He married her five years later, after he was well established.  Lending credence to this theory is the fact that he left Sandwich at Monument, which is where Deborah lived with her parents Ezra Perry and his wife Elizabeth Burgess Perry.  The Burgess family had a land grant that included the Apucxet Trading Post, no longer used, and Ezra bought part of it from his father-in-law.  They lived in the building that housed the Pilgrim's trading post.  See www.bournehistorical.org.    It was when he left town, certainly shocked and embarrassed in front of everyone, especially, perhaps, Deborah and her parents, that he famously declared that he would “yet buy up the town.” (TLP, page 10)

As the story goes, instead of continuing to peddle his wares, Seth stormed off and procured “a boat at Monument” (the beach on Sandwich’s southwest, now part of Bourne) and “followed the coast to Acushnet, then a part of Dartmouth,” (TLP, page 10) returning to his family’s homestead.  The homestead was a log house built by Thomas Pope on or near Sconticut Neck Road near the Mattapoisett Road.  His father had built a gristmill there about 1652 (Judd, 1896:19).  Were the Popes Quakers?  No, but they were very familiar with them, because many of the families that left Plymouth to settle in Dartmouth were Quakers.  Also Deborah Perry Pope's uncle's family were Quakers (her father's brother and his family).  Seth and Deborah's sons and their families and Deborah's parents were buried with gravestones at the Old Town Cemetery on Shawme Pond, a Puritan congregationalist burying ground.  Seth Pope, Jr., and his family were listed in 1730 by the Minister Fessenden as members of the Puritan Congregational church, as was the Widow Pope, Experience Jenkins Pope, John's second wife.

Seth and Deborah Perry Pope lived in Fairhaven, which was at that time another section of Dartmouth.

In the coming years Seth Pope became one of the wealthiest men in the province.  He had a wharf and warehouse in Acushnet.  He was part owner of two sloops.  He was many times selectman of Dartmouth, chosen representative to the General Court at Plymouth, which was similar to our House of Representatives or Britain’s House of Commons, and chosen a magistrate of Bristol County—being a magistrate was like being in Britain’s House of Lords without the necessity of a title—and he was appointed Justice of the Peace of Dartmouth.

Seth maybe got his feistiness from his father and his self-control and business sense from his mother’s side.  His father was Thomas Pope, born in 1608, who had arrived in America in May 1630, on the Mary and John with a group of Puritans and their ministers, Mr. Maverick (who was the original maverick from whence the word comes) and Mr. Warham for whom the town of Wareham was probably named.  According to Thomas Leonard Pope, speaking of Thomas, “His promptness in resenting a real or fancied injury, and his independent expressions of personal opinion, more than once caused him to be arraigned before the magistrates of New Plymouth."  Reading the old records, one discovers that this was true of many of the Puritans.  They were independent and fought for what they believed was right or rightfully theirs.

After his first wife died, Thomas Pope married Sarah Jenney, daughter of John Jenney and Sarah Carey Jenny, on May 29, 1646, in Plymouth.  Sarah Jenney gave birth to Seth.  Her parents had married in Leiden in Holland, 1614, and were members, like many of the Pilgrims, of the Separatist (Puritan) church there.  Tourists can visit the recreated mill on the original site in Plymouth, Massachusetts directly beside his first house.  It's next door to the 1640 Sparrow House.  www.jenneygristmill.org

At one point Thomas Pope was brought up on charges of slander but both sides were found equally guilty.  Then he was arrested with Gyles Rickard, Sr., for fist fighting.  They were fined and Thomas received an additional fine for striking Gyles’ wife.  Thomas also had to find sureties for his good behavior for “other turbulent carriages in word and deed.” (Thomas Leonard Pope, The Genealogy of Thomas Pope of Plymouth, page 7, GEN. REG. xv. 266)  He was again in court because of another fight over a boundary dispute.  In 1668 he became a freeman, which meant he had land, money, and recommendations.  In 1670 he was fined for “vilifying the ministry.”  He was also appointed constable one year and was on at least a couple of juries.  Vilifying the ministry was very common among the Puritans at this time.

Thomas and his family moved from Plymouth to Dartmouth around 1650, buying a large acreage on the east side of the Acushnet River.  His wife Sarah’s mother and two brothers also each bought land, becoming the Popes’ neighbors.

According to R. A. Lovell in his book Sandwich, A Cape Cod Town, the Pilgrims had treated the Indian Massasoit (Great Chief) Yellow Feather with the honors due an English king, giving him respect and gifts, including a scarlet coat.  Massasoit and Edward Winslow particularly trusted and respected each other. (Sandwich, A Cape Cod Town by R. A. Lovell, Jr, page 54-55)  Reading Bradford and Winslow’s own accounts of their relationship with the Indians, one finds the Indians were frequent visitors.  The Indian men brought their wives and children and would sometimes stay overnight as guests in the Pilgrim’s tiny houses, wearing out their welcome.  The English would feed them food they could little afford to share, and they were nervous around the Indians.  The Indians thought the English smelled horrible since the English seldom bathed, usually only in late May--the reason for June weddings--while the Indians swam frequently to bathe.  They were often naked, even in winter, a shock to the Pilgrims, and even to us, shivering in our layers of winter clothing.

Massasoit Yellow Feather's family lived in Bristol, Rhode Island, and he was the massasoit to the tribes from Rhode Island, the Cape, and southeastern Massachusetts.

Upon Massasoit’s death, his son Wamsutta, also named Alexander, became the massasoit.  Rumors arose that he intended to attack the English, so the new generation at Plymouth demanded his appearance.  Instead of going, he asked for Assistant Governor Thomas Willett to come to him as he had once before.  Willet wasn’t available, and when Wamsutta didn’t appear, Plymouth sent an armed force to drag him to Plymouth, an outrageous act.  He was questioned and released but shortly thereafter died of fever.  There were rumors among the Indians that the indignities heaped upon him had killed him or that he was poisoned.  His brother Metacom became the massasoit.  He was the one the English called King Philip.  Resentful of his brother’s death and the number of English taking over the land and imposing their culture and religion, he turned on the settlers.  Many Indians had long wished they had driven the English off or killed them all when they first arrived.  King Philip gathered angry Indians from many tribes and began ambush attacks on the settlements.

July 1674, the Indians attacked Dartmouth.  Seth Pope’s siblings, 22-year old John and Susannah with her husband Jacob Mitchell “were killed by a party of Phillip’s Indians ‘early in the morning as they were fleeing on horseback to the garrison, whither the Mitchell children had been sent the night before.’” (Thomas Leonard Pope, The Genealogy of Thomas Pope of Plymouth, page 8, GEN. REG. xv. 266).  The settlement at Dartmouth was burned to the ground and for three years the inhabitants lived elsewhere, probably with relatives or friends.

It was on October 23, 1675, at the height of the war, that Seth and Deborah’s son, named John for his slaughtered uncle, was born.

John-num, one of the Indians, confessed to the killing and was executed.  Another whom he accused, Popanooie, and his wife and children, were impressed in “perpetual servitude” with Popanooie being sold out of the country. (TLP, page 9)


It was common for a father to set up his sons with a farm or in business if he had the land and money in the same way that parents today send their children to college or training.  The Puritans believed that God preordained certain favored people to go to heaven.  An indication that one was heaven-bound was his success on earth, so, simply put, everyone strove to be successful.  The Quakers focused on the gentle teachings of Jesus in the New Testament while the Puritans concentrated on the angry and punishing God of the Old Testament.  Since over the years Seth had become “one of the most wealthy and influential members of the old colony,” (TLP, page 16), he and Deborah made sure their children were given a good start--Seth also made sure they spent no years as traveling peddlers such as he had.  He set them up not only with houses and land to farm, but with businesses to run.

It could be speculated that he chose Sandwich for John in gleeful vengeance to prove to the town fathers how wrong they had been, but there were more compelling reasons.  The Indians of Cape Cod had a good relationship with the English settlers, and a very good relationship with Elizabeth Bourne’s family, so Seth could feel his son and his family would be safe here.  Another reason was that his son John’s wife, Elizabeth Bourne, was from Sandwich and may have wanted to live close to her parents and siblings, and a distant fourth was that John’s grandparents, his mother Deborah Perry Pope’s family, lived in Sandwich, although quite a trek from town.

Elizabeth Bourne Pope’s grandfather, Richard Bourne, trained as a lawyer in London and became the ordained minister (1670) to the Indians, which brought him great prestige among the Puritans in England and in the colonies.  Later, his son Shearjashub took over his ministry and helped the local Wampanoags legally register their own land in Mashpee, safe from the colonists’ expansion.  The Bourne’s attentions and protection brought them the respect and affection of the Indians.  Elizabeth was the daughter of Elisha Bourne (brother of Shearjashub) and Patience Skiffe Bourne.

Elizabeth Bourne was born June 28, 1679.   She married John on “January 2, 1699/1700” according to http://aleph0.clarku.edu~djoyce/gen/report.  In the Internet genealogies there is much waffling between the dates.  Did they marry in 1698/99 or 1699/1700?  I chose the 1700 date because the clarku.edu site had more detailed research and because I assumed the old style of starting the year on March 25 may have confused earlier genealogists.

Seth built John’s house at what is now 110 Tupper Road in Sandwich on the rise of a hill overlooking valuable salt meadows.  The marsh hay was harvested and fed to the animals in winter.  The Pilgrims referred to the Cape as "the granary."  The house was beautifully sited and included at least 40 acres of land for John to farm.  From the hill behind the house, the family had inspiring vistas from Plymouth to Barnstable, and on a very clear day, Provincetown.  At that time the road was known as “the road to Town Neck.”  Town Neck was the communal cow pasture.  Mill Creek zigzags through the marsh toward John Pope’s front door before veering off toward the gristmill on Shawme Pond downtown.  Mill Creek spills over the marshes during high tide, so John had boat access to old Sandwich Harbor and Cape Cod Bay from his own land.   There is still evidence of the town boat dock on what had been John's land and is now my neighbor's on the marsh side of the street.  The creek was once a river.  His father Seth Pope bought the Dexter gristmill on Shawme Pond, which had been rebuilt in 1654 and which still grinds corn for tourists today.

John’s brother, Seth Jr., was only 11-years old when John wed at age 23.  Upon Seth Jr.’s marriage in 1710 to Elizabeth Bourne Pope’s sister, Seth appointed Seth Jr. to run the mill.  He either built or bought a beautiful house equal to John’s for Seth Jr. (10 Grove Street) and more acreage, probably 40 acres.  If the houses weren’t built as full upright colonials originally, the brothers and subsequent owners kept an eye on each other's improvements, because they look much the same.  Seth Jr.s’ house was sited with a water view and with a hill rising behind it much like John's.  The hill became known as Pope’s Hill until the Academy was built upon it at which point it became Academy Hill.  Seth Pope acquired a fulling (wool processing) mill and weave shop nearby and appointed Seth Jr. to run them.  According to Thomas Leonard Pope, he left them in his will to Seth with the provision that if Seth didn’t keep things up, the executors were to step in, repair them, and run them until the expenses were repaid.  Pope also mentions that in 1734 a committee met with Seth Jr. to discuss improving his service at the gristmil.  This wasn't unusual.  Both his grandfather Jenney and his grandmother Jenney had been sued over the grinding of corn.

John and Elizabeth Pope named their first child Seth.  He was born January 30, 1700/1 and grew up to marry Jerusha Tobey.  You can see the beautiful 1690 Tobey house on Water Street a bit further on from the Hoxie house.  Five more little Popes were born at 110 Tupper—Deborah on January 6, 1702/3, who married Cornelius Tobey; Sarah on March 35, 1704/5 who married Zaccheus Tobey; Elizabeth on January 3, 1705/6, who married Jethro Delano; Thomas 1708/9 who married Thankful Dillingham in Harwich, and Mary, December, 1712/13 who married David Finney in Barnstable.  (aleph0.clarku.edu~djoyce/gen/report)

Elizabeth Bourne Pope died April,15, 1715, at “age 35 and about ten months,” according to her tombstone, when Mary was a toddler.  She had lived for 16 years in her house.  I often wonder how she felt when she looked out her front door onto the beautiful salt meadows flooded at high tide and lighted by the morning sun or rising moon.  Elizabeth was buried in the old town cemetery, which is on a small peninsula that juts into Shawme Pond very close to her sister Hannah’s house.  You can see her grave, her parents’ graves, and John Pope’s grave there, as well as some of her adult children's.   Go to www.capecodgravestones.com/sandwich.html to see the graves of the people who lived in the house.

After her death, John married Experience Jenkins (her mother was a Hamblin) of Barnstable, age 24, in October, 1717, and three more little Popes were born in the house—Ezra who married Sarah Freeman, Joanna, and Charles.  John Pope died in November of 1725 when his youngest was only a baby.  According to Thomas Leonard Pope, his gravestone in Sandwich cemetery on the pond is probably the oldest gravestone bearing the name Pope in the New World (except Elizabeth’s!)  Now the history of the house becomes clouded.  Did Experience sell the house or did she raise her children here?  She is listed as Widow Pope in Reverend Fessenden's list of Sandwich church members in 1730, so she probably raised the children in the house.  Seth, the son of John and Elizabeth, most likely inherited the house.  If his father made a will, he would have made sure Seth allowed Experience and the children to share the house with him.  In Thomas Pope's book Seth is described as ". . . a respectful citizen of that town, and was frequently chosen to fill positions of public trust."  All his children were born in Sandwich.  In 1749 he moved his family to Connecticut where he bought a large farm.  Did John Pope add the fancy front of the house while Elizabeth was alive?  Or as a widower looking for a new wife?  Or did Experience urge him to build it?  Or did Seth Pope, her stepson, add the front rooms?  When did Joseph Nye, Sr., buy the house?  Was it in 1749 when Seth moved to Connecticut?  Was Nye the one to add the front rooms?  Or did he merely update them with dentil molding in the hall parlor?

The next recorded owner is Joseph Nye, and then his son Joseph Nye, Esquire.  Benjamin Nye married Katherine Tupper (Tupper Road is named after Thomas Tupper and his descendants).  Their son John married Esther (sometimes spelled Easter) Shedd (1653-1726).  (His brother Jonathan inherited the Nye family homestead, which is open to the public in summer, and its gristmill.)  John and Esther's son Joseph (1694-1775) married Mehitable Bourne, who was born in 1700, the daughter of Deacon Timothy Bourne and his wife Temperance Swift Bourne.  So once again we have a descendant of Richard Bourne living in the house.  Joseph and Mehitable had a son named Joseph who was born in 1740 and died in 1796.

This Joseph, who would become Joseph Nye, Esquire, married Catherine Sturgis (about 1751 to 1815), the daughter of Jonathan Sturgis (sometimes spelled Sturges) and Hannah Newcomb.  Her mother Hannah was the daughter of William Newcomb and Bathsheba Bourne.  Once again, a Bourne descendant enters the house.

Joseph Nye, Esquire, was named to the first Committee of Correspondence, as was his brother Stephen, and nine other residents.  He corresponded with Sam Adams, the famous Patriot, cousin to John Adams, and Sam's letter thanking him for gathering money from the Sandwich churches for the Patriot cause still exists.  These committees were set up to protest the British taxes and onerous laws and to advance the Patriot cause.

Dr. Freeman, a local doctor who had been severely beaten by Tories meeting at Newcomb Tavern (beside the Seth Pope house), and Joseph, Esq., were chosen as delegates to the Provincial Congress in July, 1775, during the Revolutionary War.  Joseph Nye requisitioned 60 whaleboats the next year in Buzzards Bay as part of a detachment going to fight the British in Rhode Island.  He served as selectman, during and after the war.  

In 1784 "a group of three well-to-do men,'" which included Joseph Nye, Esquire, were asked to solve the problem of supporting the poor.  R. A. Lovell in his book Sandwich, A Cape Cod Town, suggests that the wealthy, including wealthy selectmen, were voluntarily paying taxes and assigning amounts to the post-Revolution poor.  All my information about Joseph Nye, Esquire's, activities come from this book.  Lovell writes, "There was a weekly rider bringing and taking mail from Sandwich at least by 1775, using as his drop the residence of Joseph Nye Esq. .. " He also writes, "A large purchase at Fairfield, Maine was organized in 1781 by Joseph Nye, Esq., of Sandwich, the Revolutionary leader, and by Joseph Dimmick of Falmouth.

The 1790 census describes the family of Joseph and Catherine as comprised of three males over 16 and four under 16, five females, and two "others," probably servants.

You can also find the Nye gravestones at the above website.

Next, Ezra Tobey bought the house.  He was born September 1, 1796.  He owned a general store in Sandwich, and later bought a farm, which was the John Pope house and land.  He was a Whig, then became a Republican.  He served as Town Clerk for many years.  He and his wife were active in the Unitarian Church which was housed in the church on the site of the first Puritan church.  The original Puritan church split around this time into Congregationalists and Unitarians.  Usually, the Unitarians, having more money and intellectual influence, got the original church building, which is why so many First Parish Churches in Massachusetts are Unitarian-Universalist.  His wife was Elizabeth Basset, daughter of Stephen and Elizabeth Newcomb.  So once again, a Newcomb descendant enters the house.  She was born in 1799 and died in 1866, aged 66.  They had ten children, one of whom was named Charles Nye Tobey, so they must have been related to the Nyes.  When their oldest was 22, they had a newborn.  Ezra Tobey sold some of the land to the new railroad (north of 6A) and he sold land to Captain Stephen Sears who built the house to the left of 110 Tupper Inn with the provision that Ezra would be able to cut through Sears' land to reach the well.  He was quite busy selling parcels of land and marsh.  Ezra died at age 54 in 1849.

William Spring bought it next.  It was sold to Joseph Sargent Moody in 1878 and his family owned the house until 1971.  They ran it as a boarding house for about 30 years, starting in 1913, and then as a beloved vacation home.

John Jenney and Sarah Carey Jenny

Sarah Jenney who married Thomas Pope in 1646, was the daughter of John and Sarah Jenney.  As often happens in old historical records, their last name was spelled both ways - Jenny and Jenney.

JOHN & SARAH JENNEY

John Jenney was from Norwich, England. He had moved to Leyden by 1614, when he married Sarah Carey of Monk Sohan, Suffolk, England.  John Jenney was a brewer and a miller. He and his wife, with their 2 living children, journeyed to Plymouth on the Little James in 1623. Another son was born on board ship. John and Sarah had 7 children in all: Samuel, who was born in Leiden and journeyed with his parents to Plymouth; an unnamed child who died as an infant and is buried in Leiden; Abigail, who also journeyed with her parents to Plymouth; an unnamed son who was born in 1623 aboard the Little James but who died before 1627; Sarah, John and Susanna, all born in Plymouth. Nathaniel Morton characterized Jenney as "a godly, though otherwise a plain man, yet singular for publicness of spirit, setting himself to seek and promote the common good of the plantation of new Plimouth." Jenney was involved in refinancing the Plantation in 1626 and served several terms as an Assistant to the Governor as well as in other positions of resonsibility within the Colony. John Jenney is best known, however, for operating Plymouth Colony’s third (and most successful) corn mill. The earliest corn mill had been located near Billington Sea, a distance from town. Then, in 1632, the General Court authorized Stephen Deane to set up a water-powered corn mill on Town Brook; this mill was only in operation for about 2 years when Stephen Deane died. In 1636, Jenney was authorized to "erect a mill for grinding and beating of corn upon the brook of Plymouth." John operated the mill until his death in 1644. After his death, Sarah operated the corn mill. The mill was then carried on by their son Samuel and then by outsiders, until its demise in 1847. Sarah died in late 1655 or early 1656.

Thomas Pope (1608-1683) Bio

Thomas Pope was born in England and at the age of 22 came to Plymouth Colony in 1630.  He was single and somewhat of a rebel rouser as he has many accounts of having to pay fines(post bonds) for his behavior.
July 28, 1637 He married Anne Fallowell and had a daughter Hannah in 1639.  Anne Fallowell died in 1640.
June 4, 1645 he was chosen as one of two constables.  It seems that it was thought he would cause less problems if he had such position.  Unfortunately that did not curb his behavior enough and he will be eventually kicked out of Plymouth and settle to the south in the Dartmouth area.
May 29, 1646 marries Sarah Jenny (his second wife).
Thomas served many times in different positions usually by appointment.
Jan 13, 1648 Seth is the first child born to Thomas and Sarah.  Thomas has 3 more boys and 3 girls (not sure if this count involves Hannah from his first wife).  I have that his 3rd boy - John, and 4th Issac.  No idea who the 2nd boy is.  First girl is Hannah (so probably Anne's daughter) and 2nd is Sussanah.  No idea who the 3rd is.
1668 - he achieved the label of "Freeman" which meant that he had property, money, and recommendations.
June 1670 - He was fined 10 shillings "for villifying the ministry".  Freedom of speech and action for him must be found elsewhere, so he turned his face to the setting sun, and came to Dartmouth.
Aug 1683 he died.

I have read that many Puritan's were known for their propensity to make sure their rights were not being infringed upon.  They often had erruptions of temper and displays of negative behavior.  At one point Thomas got in an argument with a neighbor(Gyles) and he started wrestling him.  In the process he (accidentally) hit Gyles wife.  He left after that and on his way out took all the cut wood on the front porch.  Then Gyles took him to court.  He paid a minimal fine and was required to return the cut wood.

According to Thomas Leonard Pope(he wrote a biography of Thomas), speaking of Thomas, “His promptness in resenting a real or fancied injury, and his independent expressions of personal opinion, more than once caused him to be arraigned before the magistrates of New Plymouth."  Reading the old records, one discovers that this was true of many of the Puritans.  They were independent and fought for what they believed was right or rightfully theirs.

Seth the Peddler

from "Cape Cod Pilot" by Josef Berger, pub. by M. I. T. Press, 1937, p. 32.

"If you wish to carry further your quest fror homes that have lived long, Old Sandwich [Massachusetts] will reward you on Valley Road, where are more good examples dating back beyond the turn of 1700. Also, there is the 1699 Seth Pope homestead, the story of which is told in a booklet, 'Cape Cod Legends,' which the Cape Chamber of Commerce has published.

'Seth the Peddler,' according to this story, in 1669 was ordered to depart from the town of Sandwich lest he become a public charge. He went, but as he trudged off towards the King's Road, he flung back the boast that he would return and 'buy up the town.'

Seth went to New Bedford, worked and saved, and built himself a wharf and warehouse. He became selectman and representative to the General Court. And, good as his word, 'in 1699 he came back and purchased nearly all the land in the village,' and built a house for each of his sons. Then he turned upon the community that had 'warned him out,' and announced that, although his children could stay there if they chose, as for himself, he 'would not live in the damned town.' And off he went again; but the house known as the Seth Pope House has remained in the family to this day. This house is on Grove Street, across from the cemetery....over the door is the date, 1699."