William Freeborn (1694-1670)
William was my maternal 11th great grandfather and was born in Maldon, Maldon District, Essex, England. At this time, his parents and siblings are not known. If 1594 is the correct date of birth, he was 31 when he married Mary Wilson, unless he was married prior and the record has not been found. He married Mary Wilson in n Maldon on July 25, 1625, at St. Mary’s Church. Mary was seven years younger than William. Mary is my maternal 11th great grandmother. Mary’s parent’s and siblings are unknown. In 1627, daughter Mary was born in Maldon and daughter Sarah was born in 1632 also in Maldon.
William was the owner of the manor of Batisfords, in the County of Essex, in the middle of town on the right side of the road.. This manor was a grant from the hour of Grafton free socage of all rets and service. A "manor" was a large estate, typically encompassing a village and its surrounging lands. On December 20, 1633, William “Freebourne” sold the manor to Dr. George Boseville.
William, Mary, and two daughters were part of the Great Migration to the Massachusetts Bay Colony-1620-1640. The “migration” was also known as “The Puritan Migration to New England”. 1620 was the date the Mayflower arrived in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The Puritans left England mainly due to religious persecution. England was in religious turbulence in the early 17th century, the religious climate was aggressive and frightening, mainly towards religious nonconformists like the puritans. A nonconformist at the time meant that they were against the Church of England, they felt that they church was corrupt.
On April 30, 1634, William and his family left England for New England on the ship Francis of Ipswich. The ship’s log shows “William “Freeborne”, age 40 years, Mary his wife aged 33 yrs; and their children: Mary aged 7 yrs. And Sarah aged 2 yrs., and John Aldburgh age 14 yrs. (Founders of New Egland, P. 53 & 54). William and family settled in Roxbury, Massachusetts.
On September 20, 1637, “by sentence of the Court, William Freeborn and others “because the opinions and revelations of Mr. Wheelwright and Mrs. Hutchinson, have seduced and led into dangerous errors many of the people of New England were ordered to deliver up all guns, pistols, swords, powder, shot, etc. and were excluded and driven out of Massachusetts by the Act of the Assembly of March 12, 1638.
Wheelwright's sermon and his association with the Antinomian views, mainly centered around the question of salvation and the role of human effort versus divine grace. Anne Hutchinson went to trial in 1637 for heresy. However, the real issue was her defiance of the gender roles at this time in history. She presumed authority over men in her preaching. At a time when men ruled and women were to remain silent, Anne Hutchinson declared her right to preach, which her husband avidly supported.
On March 7,1638, William and 18 other planters, (growers of cash crops) signed the following compact, which marked the foundation of the Colony of Portsmouth Rhode Island.
“We whose names are unwritten do here solemnly in the presence of Jehovah, incorporate ourselves into a “Bodie Politck” and as shall help, will submit our persons, lives, and estates unto our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and to all those perfect and most absolute laws of his, given us in his holy word of truth, to be guided and judged thereby.”
The above states that there were 18 planters who signed the Compact, the document actually has 23 signers:
- William Coddington
- John Clarke
- William Hutchinson (husband of Anne Hutchinson)
- John Coggeshall
- William Aspinwall
- Samuel Wilbore
- John Porter
- John Sanford
- Edward Hutchinson, Jr.
- Thomas Savage
- William Dyre (husband of Mary Dyer)
- William Freeborn
- Phillip Shearman
- John Walker
- Richard Carder
- William Baulston
- Edward Hutchinson, Sr.
- Henry Bull X his marke
- Randall Holden
- Thomas Clarke (brother of John)
- John Johnson
- William Hall
- John Brightman
Besides William Freeborn, Randall Holden (husband of one of maternal 9th great aunts is listed above.
On December 10, 1639, William Freeborn received a grant of 140 acres in Portsmouth, conditioned only that he must build a house within a year.
On March 16,1641, William Freeborn and Jeremy Clarke, husband of one of my 10th maternal great grandmothers, were elected Freemen.
On December 1, 1641, at the session held at Portsmouth, William and Jeremy were members of the Grand Jury.
In the year 1642, William Freeborn served as Constable of Portsmouth, and on May 19, 1657, he was elected as a member of the General Court of Commissioners.
William’s daughter, Mary, one of maternal 10th grandmothers died on March 6, 1664, at age 37. There was a smallpox epidemic in Rhode Island this year.
Wiiliam’s daughter, Sarah died on April 23, 1670, at age 38 the year of another epidemic which was thought to be the flu.
William died on April 28, 1670, at age 76 and his wife died on May 3, 1670, at age 69. There was an epidemic in Rhode Island in 1670, people were experiencing pain in head, stomach, and side which followed a fever and people were dying within 3-4 days.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Freeborn_(settler)
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101060072418&seq=93&q1=%22william+freeborn%22 Ancestry of Jeremy Clarke of Rhode Island and Dungan genealogy, comp. by Alfred Rudulph Justice.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Portsmouth_Compact_Original_Document_Image.jpg
https://www.americanantiquarian.org/proceedings/44807204.pdf
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