Whipple Blog No. 1
English luminaries Elizabeth I (Queen, 1558-1603); Francis Bacon (1561-1626),
philosopher, statesman, essayist; William Shakespeare (1564-1616) poet and playwright; Ben Jonson (1572-1637) renaissance dramatist, poet, and actor; and Christopher Wren (1632-1723) the greatest architect of his time, are better known today than they were in their own time. Only a few then living were rich or well educated enough to relate to what is the first era of really creative science or to acquaint themselves with the enormous literary output of the time. For those few, it was a magnificent century, The best of all places for an Englishman to be. For many, it was pure misery.
My goal in writing 15 Generations of Whipples Descendants of Matthew Whipple of Ipswich, Massachusetts Abt 1590-1647 An American Story and “Elder” John Whipple of Ipswich, Massachusetts His English Ancestors and American Descendants is to share the life and times of the Whipple family beginning during the reign of Elizabeth and these luminaries. The family then lived in Bocking, Essex Co., England. These books include a detailed snapshot of that era, documented evidence of the family, and follows them across an uncharted ocean to an unknown wilderness, and then follows their descendants to the present time as they moved to all sections of the United States
Whipples are recorded in English records as early as 1385. The earliest Whipple that may be connected to Matthew, Sr. is Thomas, parentage unknown, born ca 1475. He was a Blade-smith in Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire County, a community approximately 19 miles east of Bocking. Research by Dr. William Wyman Fiske, a noted genealogist from Cape Cod, Massa-chusetts, leads him to believe that Thomas may have been Matthew’s grandfather.
Fiske emphasizes that written evidence does not confirm the relationship but circumstantial evidence strongly suggests it.
As of the 1630s, we can document four Whipples in the New World. John Whipple left England in 1632, age estimated to be between 14 and 16, as an indentured servant to Israel Stoughton, and settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts. Previous authors have identified his place of nativity as both Bocking and Milford, Wales. However, no evidence has been found placing him in either location and his parents are unknown. Brothers Matthew and John Whipple of Bocking settled in Ipswich, Essex County Massachusetts in 1638. Paul Whipple, a gunner, became a planter on Providence Island in the West Indies in April 1638.
The intent of this blog is to present documented information on one of the oldest families in the American colonies. See you next time.
July 8th, 2010 at 8:18 pm
Very well written article you wrote here. As one blogger to my fellow one, I know how challenging and how much energy it takes to conjure up something substantial. regard.