Captain John Whipple (1617-1685) of Dorchester, Mass. and Providence, R.I.
Two Whipple brothers and a young Whipple indentured servant settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1630s making their descendants among the oldest families in America. There is no known relationship between the brothers and the indentured servant other than the country of origin, England.
The first to arrive was John Whipple, age approximately 15 when he sailed into Boston Harbor 16 September 1632, one of 132 passengers on the 12-week voyage from London on the ship Lyon. They saw no land for eight weeks and weathered five days of east wind and thick fog. When John settled at Dorchester to work off his apprenticeship to Israel Stoughton, the population of the Colony was about 2,000.
Brothers Matthew and John arrived in the fall of 1638 when the population was estimated to be between 16,000 and 20,000. They settled in Ipswich, Essex Co. where they became a part of the hierarchy, assuming leadership roles in church, town, and Colony.
With two of the earliest English settlers in Massachusetts named John Whipple, it became difficult for genealogists in later years to distinguish between them. This has been a problem, continuing even to the present.
The author of this Blog, who descend from Matthew of the Ipswich branch, began a project a number of years ago to resolve this puzzle. He began Whipple family research with the goal of writing a history-genealogy of each family. He spent uncounted hours over many years in research and collecting records of the three families until it became apparent to him that the project was becoming too massive.
During the course of his research, Professor Charles Whipple of Edmond, Oklahoma, a descendant of the first John Whipple to arrive in Massachusetts, had been especially encouraging and helpful so Blaine asked him to assume the responsibility to complete the book on Captain John Whipple and family. He agreed and Blaine shipped all of his records to Charles.
As readers of this Blog know, Blaine authored separate book on the Ipswich Whipple brothers – Elder John in 2003 and Matthew in 2007. Charles also published his book in 2007. It’s title: Captain John and Sarah Whipple A Multigenerational Study of the First Whipple Family in America and is available from Trafford Publishing Co., http://www.trafford.com.
This book includes the history of the first two generations of John (ca 1617-1685) and Sarah which was composed of 13 members, including eight son and spans the years from 1617 to 1746. It includes in-depth chapters on each family member as well as biographies of prominent later generations including Commodore Abraham Whipple, one of the Naval heros of the Continental Navy, Stephen Hopkins, Rhode Island Governor and Signer of the Declaration of Independence, Episcopal Bishop Henry Whipple of Minnesota, Harvard University Astronomer Fred Lawrence Whipple and others.
The narrative is copiously documented with over 600 endnotes, 55 photographs plus maps and drawings. Charles M. Whipple, Jr. is a Ph.D, Ed.D, Litt.D. and an author of over a dozen books in the fields of psychology, education and religion and two previously published Whipple genealogies: Sons and Daughters of Jesse and A History of William Whipple.
The 283-page book is softcover, catalogue #07-1209; ISBN 1-4251-3242-1. The cost is $29.95 plus shipping and handling. This book belongs in the home of every descendant of Captain John and Sarah Whipple.
