John Ellis (abt. 1620 - abt. 1677)

Born about 1620 in England

Husband of Elizabeth (Freeman) Ellis — married about 1644 in Sandwich, Barnstable, Massachusetts

Descendants

Died about 1677 at about age 57 in Sandwich, Plymouth Colony

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John Ellis migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Research Note There were (at least?) two contemporary John Ellises in the Puritan Great Migration, this man who settled in the Plymouth Colony and another, John Ellis, who first appeared in Dedham and settled in Medfield. They are now in separate profiles; in future contributions, be sure you have the right John Ellis. Halsey Bullen

Biography

John Ellis was born around 1620, probably in England.^[1]

Disputed Origins

A previous version of this profile claimed, without source, that he was the son of John Brooke (sic) Ellis and Ann "Belinda" (sic) Masterson. The theory may originate with the fact that the marriage banns of Richard Masterson of Leiden were witnessed by his brother-in-law John Ellis on 23 Nov 1619.^[1][2]

Some have speculated this could be the same John Ellis who was later of Sandwich, Massachusetts.^[3] In fact, there is no evidence to link the John Ellis and Belinda (Masterson) Ellis, who were related with Richard Masterson (of St. Peter's parish in Sandwich, Kent, England and Leiden), with John Ellis of Sandwich, Massachusetts.^[1][2] These parents have been detached.

For such an association to be correct, the following conflicting information would need to be resolved. Paulick wrote a published article concerning Richard Masterson, John Ellis and Belinda Masterson of Sandwich, Kent. He noted the following facts:^[2]

1. John Ellis, who married Belinda Masterson, was about 50 years old in 1619.^[4]
2. John Ellis and Belinda Masterson were married 30 Apr 1594.^[5]
3. John Ellis had a son named John Ellis who was baptized on 4 Feb 1598/9 in Sandwich, Kent.^[6]

John Ellis, son of John Ellis and Belinda Masterson, is not a good match for John Ellis of Sandwich, Massachusetts because he was born about twenty years too early. He would have been about 66 years old when his last child was born (about 1665). Brownson and McLean estimated his birth date to be about 1620 and not later than 1627.^[1]

Sandwich, Massachusetts

The first list of settlers in Sandwich, then part of Plymouth Colony, was dated 3 April 1637. No one by the name of Ellis appears on this list. However, John Ellis' name does appear by 1641 among other settlers from Lynn, Duxbury and Plymouth.^[7] A list of men age 16 to 60 able to bear arms dated 1643 also contains the name John Ellis.^[1] This gives us a basis for an estimate of John's birth (not after 1627 and probably about 1620).^[1]

20 Aug 1644, John was accused of fornication, witnesses were called to court to testify in John Ellis and his wife's case. Eventually he was fined 5li for his "long and tediuos delayes occasioning much trouble and charge to the countrey, for that he would not confess the truth untill the present." He was publicly flogged for fornication, as his wife Elizabeth, was sentenced to watch. Apparently, she delivered their child too soon.^[1] The birth of the child which caused this commotion was not recorded.

Married before 20 Aug 1644, Sandwich, Plymouth Colony.

In 1651, John Ellis served on the Grand Enquest. He was part of a group who laid out a convenient way from Sandwich to Plymouth. He was approved as a Lieutenant of the military company at Sandwich 9 Jun 1653.^[1]

Sandwich is on the coast of Cape Cod Bay and in 1653 John and two others made an agreement with the town "to have ye whales yt come up withing ye limits & bounds of Sandwige and for ye sd whales they are to pay to ye town £16 apiese"^[1]

1st of March 1654, John and three others engaged themselves to build a mill. Leftenant Elllis agreed in 1655 to contribute toward building a public meeting house. In Feb 1657/8 he owed the town and was appointed to build and work on the meeting house, which he accepted. He had some trouble "tumultuous carraiage" with a meeting of Quakers at Sandwich, for which he was admonished and fined but later was found no to be as guilty as thought.^[1]

The Proprietors Records in the Sandwich Town Hall contain a land survey listing 17 Jan 1658, that contains 20 acres belonging to John Ellis Junr. bordered by the fence of John Ellis Sr. and 20 acres etc. belonging to John Ellis Senr. Which of these is Lt. John Ellis and who is the other one. Both died intestate and the widow Elizabeth Ellis presented both inventories on the same date. Both inventories had the same appraisers. There are several possible scenarios, the most likely being that John Ellis Jr, was a son to Lt. John Ellis, by a first unknown wife. Logic tell us he was not a son of Elizabeth Freeman.^[1]

1659 and 1660 John Ellis was allowed by the court to keep an ordinary for the entertainment of strangers and travelers. He was to take care that townsmen did not stay drinking unnecessarily at his house. He and some others laid the line between Barnstable and Sandwich (13 Dec 1659) He agreed to contribute 17 pounds of oil. He engaged to train the militia company of Sandwich.^[1]

In the years following, he was to finish the town dock, pay 20s for part of a whale, had his oxen break down the fence and damage the corn of an Indian called William, chosen rater, and was given 20 acres beginning at his cow yard, going down to the beach, etc.^[1]

As Indian attacks increased related to King Philip's War (1675) he was to "make provision for the inhabitants to come to safety into the garrison of Town Neck in times of danger." 10 May 1676, he and some others were empowered to hire scouts to keep watch. There is no documentary evidence, but it is not unlikely that Lt John Ellis Sr and John Ellis Jr. were deceased due to some activity of King Philip's War.^[1]

Lt. John Ellis was dead by 23 March 1676/7 at which time the widow presented two documents to the court. ^[1]

• "An inventory of the Estate of Lieft. John Ellis of Sandwich, deceased, taken by us whose names are underwritten this 23 day of March 1677 and exhibited to the Court at Plymouth the 5th day of June 1677 as foloweth on the oarth of Mistris Elizabeth Ellis, widdow:" consisted of cloths, household good, military weapons etc., bookes, animals, some lumber and timber valued at £46 11s 0d. Taken by Richard Bourne, John Smith and Thomas Tobey.^[1][8]
• "An inventory of John Ellis Junr. at Sandwich exhibited before the Court holden att Plymouth the 5th June 1677 on the Oath of Mistris Elizabeth Ellis, widow." The inventory contained cloths, animals, tools, a boat. The inventory was valued at #46. 08s 0d and taken by the same men that took the Sr's inventory.^[1][8]

Questionable information

b. 14 SEP 1622/3 St Butolph, Bishops Gate, London^{[citation needed]}

Christening 4 Nov 1623 Warbleton, Sussex^{[citation needed]}

Parents ^{[citation needed]}

Children

John Ellis' children. Possibly John by a previous wife. Others by Elizabeth Freeman, daughter of Edmund: ^[9]

• John, b. abt 1637 - not proved - maybe born in England by a prior wife
• Elizabeth, b. c. 1645, m. 1664 Samuel Briggs. He was an original settler of Scippican, held land in common with William Ellis, andnamed two daughter Elizabeth and Bennet, after her mother and grand mother
• Bennet b. 27 Feb 1648/9; m. c 1668 Obadiah Eddy
• Mordecai b. 24 Mar 1650/1
• Deborah b. c 1652; d. Rochester 21 Jun 1711; m. Joseph Dotey
• Joel b. 20 Mar 1654/5; died young.
• Matthaias b. 2 June 1657
• Manoah b. about 1659
• Freeman Ellis, had land which belonged to Widow Ellis first.^[1]
• Gideon Ellis, had land which belonged to Widow Ellis first and is called son of Elizabeth in the town records^[1]
• William, Elizabeth calls him son in a Plymouth County Deed (Vol II p 83)^[1]

Research Notes

June 4, 1645 (PCR 2:85-86) John Ellis, of Sandwich, for abusing himself with his now wife by committing uncleaness with her before marriage, is censured to be whipped at public post, and Elizabeth, his wife, to stand by whilst execution of the sentence is performed; which was accordingly done. And the said John Ellis, for his long and tedious delays, occasioning much trouble & charge to the country, as he would not confess the truth until the present, is fined vli.^[10]

"Lieutenant John Ellis came to Sandwich early with a son John Junior by a previous marriage. He settled in the Sagamore Highlands area near Plymouth line and became active in town affairs, especially in the militia and in construction projects. He made an excellent marriage to Elizabeth Freeman about 1644 and had a large family, descendants of which remain today in Sandwich and throughout the country. His son Mordecai kept the original house, but its location is not yet known. John's son Matthias inherited much of the original Freeman farm. John's other sons left Sandwich for Rochester and Harwich. After the death of Lieutenant John in 1677, his intrepid widow moved to the new settlement of Rochester and became a large landowner in her own right."^[11]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19} Brownson, Lydia B. (Phinney) and McLean, Maclean W. "Lt. John and Elizabeth (Freeman) Ellis of Sandwich, Mass." New England Historical Genealogical Register 119:161. (1965) link at AmericanAncestors ($). Cites Plymouth Col. Records; Sandwich and Bourne Colony Records.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Paulick, Michael R., Richard Masterson, John Ellis, Christopher Verrall and The Sandwich Separatists 1603-1620, The New England Historical & Genealogical Register (NEHGS, Boston, Mass., 2000) Vol. 154, Page 355.
3. ↑ Lay research self-published by Edward Dale Ellis, August 12, 2008, accessed 28 Nov 2020. Available on EllisGen.com.
4. ↑ Dexter, Henry Martyn and Morton. The England and Holland of the Pilgrims. 1978, Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore. p. 612.
5. ↑ England, Kent, Canterbury Parish Registers, 1538-1986, database with images, FamilySearch : 12 March 2020, John Ellys, 30 Apr 1594; from " Kent, Canterbury Archdeaconry Parish Registers Browse, 1538-1913," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d); citing Marriage, Sandwich St Peter, Kent, England, United Kingdom, page , Citing Canterbury Cathedral Archives, England.
6. ↑ England, Kent, Canterbury Parish Registers, 1538-1986, database with images, FamilySearch : 12 March 2020, John Ellis, 4 Feb 1598; from " Kent, Canterbury Archdeaconry Parish Registers Browse, 1538-1913," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d); citing Baptism, Sandwich St Peter, Kent, England, United Kingdom, Citing Canterbury Cathedral Archives, England.
7. ↑ Andrews, H. Franklin, The Hamlin Family, a Genealogy of James Hamlin of Barnstable, MA (Exira, IA: Published by the Author, 1902), p. 12.
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1} "Massachusetts, Plymouth County, Probate Records, 1633-1967," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G97D-V3PP : 13 March 2023), Wills 1633-1686 vol 1-4 > image 439 of 616; State Archives, Boston.
9. ↑ Brownson, Lydia B., Grace W. Held, Doris V. Norton, comp., Genealogical Notes of Cape Cod Families, Vol 19, (Duxbury, Massachusetts: 1966). P. 279, referencing New England Historical and Genealogical Registger. Archive.org
10. ↑ Anna Neuzil, "Women in Plymouth Colony, 1633-1668", The Plymouth Colony Archive Project, University of Virginia, 1998
11. ↑ R.A. Jr. Lovell, Sandwich A Cape Cod Town (Sandwich, MA: Town of Sandwich, MA, 1996), p. 123.

See also:

• "Mayflower Families in the N E H G Register," (n.d.) (Vol. 2. pp. 573-585). n.p.

• S9 Cooke, F. (2000). General Society of Mayflower Descendants, Mayflower Families Through Five Generations. (Vol 12). General Society of Mayflower Descendants

• Otis, A. (n.d.) Genealogical Notes on Barnstable Families, (Vol One, pp. 386). Google Books
• FindaGrave Memorial: 42960891; https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=42960891 Unknown Burial

• New England Marriages to 1700. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2008.) Originally published as: New England Marriages Prior to 1700. Boston, Mass.: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2015. https://www.americanancestors.org/DB1568/i/21174/508/426884859
• NEHGS: The Register, Vol. 174, pg. 109. Spring 2020.
• Savage, New England Register, Vol. 2.
• Genealogy of the Ellis Family, 1641-1913. [n.p., 1913.] Page 2 (unpaginated), cites Frederick Freeman's History of Cape Cod, Vol. 2, p. 72