Edmund Frost (abt. 1609 - 1672)

Born about 1609 in England [uncertain]

Husband of Thomasine (Clench) Frost — married 16 Apr 1634 (to about 1650) in Earls Colne, Essex, England

Husband of Reana (Unknown) Frost — married before 5 Dec 1665 (to 12 Jul 1672) in Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts

Descendants

Died 12 Jul 1672 at about age 63 in Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony

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Edmund Frost migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See The Great Migration (Series 2), by R. C. Anderson, vol. 2, p. 593) Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Biography

His birth and parentage, are unknown or unproven. Please do not attach parents or edit his birth data without prior discussion in profile comments or on G2G.

Parish registers for Earls Colne begin in 1558 and no baptism was recorded there for Edmund Frost (or similar). Marriages often occurred in the parish where the bride resided (rather than the groom).

Edmund Frost was born, almost surely England, about 1609 (age at marriage).^[1] He died 12 July 1672 in Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts.^[2][3]

Edmund married (1) in Earls Colne, Essex, England, 16 April 1634, Thomasine Clench.^[4][5] She was born, surely England, about 1613 (age at married), presumed the child "Tomazin" baptized at St. Peter, Colchester, Essex, England, 1 August 1613, daughter of "John Clinche."^[6] Her father is presumed one and the same John Clench whose wife was Mary Marshall. Thomasine's birth and parentage have been the subject of recent literature, see Research Notes.. Thomasine died before 15 December 1665 (husband married again).

Edmund married (2), by 15 December 1665, Reanna^[7] (______) (James) (Andrews) Daniel, the widow of Edmund James, William Andrews and Robert Daniel.^[8][9] She died by 3 January 1675 when inventory of the estate of "Mrs. Reana Frost deceased" was taken.^[10]

Immigration

Robert Charles Anderson, et al. placed his immigration at 1635 to Cambridge, Massachusetts Bay Colony, from Earls Colone, Essex (he married there, 1634).^[11] He may have come over with Thomas Shepard, who first attempted a crossing in the Great Hope, which floundered off Yarmouth [England]; then completing the passage on the Defence 10 Aug 1635 landing at Boston 2 October. The author accounts for the lack of his being listed among the passengers by claiming Edmund and his family travelled under an assumed name.^[12]

At New England

He resided Cambridge, Massachusetts Bay Colony by 1635.^[13]

• Made a freeman in Cambridge 3 Mar 1636.
• One of the original members of the First Congregational Church of Cambridge and was installed as Elder 11 February 1636.
• He was a deacon.

Edmund's original lands were on the West side of Dunster St. between Harvard Square and Mt. Auburn St.^[14] He sold them and bought a house on the west side of Garden St, which he sold in 1646.

He was admitted freeman on March 3, 1636 and the same year became one of the original members and ruling elders of the First Congregational Church of Cambridge.^[15]

He became on of the first members of the governing body of Harvard, which was established in 1636.^{[citation needed]} In his diary, Col. William Goffe spoke of visiting Edmund and described him as a saint in his poor cottage.^[16]

Will

His will was signed with his written signature and named his children, all but the first born in Cambridge. To his wife Reana, he left the use of his land and 20 shillings a year during her lifetime, to be paid in corn or cattle by sons Ephraim and Thomas; also 20 shillings a year to be paid by son John. There were other cash bequests and the dwelling was left to Ephraim and Thomas.

Will dated 16 Apr 1672, codicil 17 April; proved 1 Oct 1672.

• to my dear wife Reane
• to my son John
• my sons Samuell and Joseph
• my son James
• Ephraim and Thomas
• my two daughters [one Mary, one Sarah]
• [dau] Sarah [unmarried]
• to Jacob French

Family

Edmund Frost and wife Thomasine Clench were the parents of nine children,^[17][18]

1. John Frost, born about 1635; married in Cambridge, 26 June 1666, Rebecca Andrews
2. Thomas Frost, born Cambridge, March 1637, died soon.
3. Samuel Frost, born Cambridge __ Feb 1638; married Cambridge 12 October 1663, Mary Cole
4. Joseph Frost, born Cambridge, 13 January 1639; married Charlestown 22 May 1666, Hannah Miller, daughter of Rev. John Miller
5. James Frost, born Cambridge, 9 April 1643; married (1), Billerica, 7 December 1664, Rebecca Hamlet, daughter of Wm Hamlet; married (2) Billerica 22 January 1666/7, Elizabeth Foster
6. Mary Frost, born Cambridge 24 July 1645; married by the time of her father's will 1672; no further record.
7. Ephraim Frost, born about 1651; married by 1678, Hepzibah _____.
8. Sarah Frost, born Cambridge 1653 (mother's name given incorrectly as Mary); unmarried in 1672; no further record.
9. Thomas Frost, born about 1655; married (1) Sudbury November 1678, Mary (Gibbs) Goodridge, daughter of Mathew Gibbs, widow of John Goodridge; married (2) Sudbury 9 July 1691, Hannah Johnson.

Research Notes

Disputed birth and parentage. Previous merging of duplicates resulted in the following parents being attached: Edward de Frost and Sarah Winthrop. There is no source for such a claim. (Have one? Please discuss it in comment.)

A 1906 Frost genealogy claims, without any discussion of evidence, that Edmund was the son of John Frost of Ipswich, Suffolk, England.^[19]

That he was born on a specific date and place of specific parents is from the 1909 genealogy, which states about Edmund:

"That he was the son of John Frost of Hartest is extremely probable for the following reasons: The records at Hartest show that John Frost of that place had sons Edmund and John. There is no record of John Frost of Bury St. Edmunds having a son Edmund. John Frost of Langham and Bardwell had no son Edmund, but he did have a grandson by that name. So the sound conclusion appears to be that Edmund Frost of Cambridge (Mass.) was the son of John Frost of Hartest and possibly the brother of John Frost, who graduated from St. John's College, Cambridge, in 1635."^[20]

100 years later, Charles Robert Anderson, in his Great Migration series, does not recognize the origins stated here, but simply states he was from Earls Colne.

Some also claim he was a descendent of the Plantaganet King with the title of "Sir".^{[citation needed]}

Unproven Birth. Robert Charles Anderson sayslikely from Earls Colne, Essex, England, but otherwise names no specific birth date, place or parents for Edmund Frost.^[21] A prior version of the profile included, "Date: 28 AUG 1593. This has not been proven.; Place: Hartest, Suffolk, England^[22]

Title. He was referred to with the title "Elder."^[23][24]

Thomasine Clench. In 1999, she was believed to have been the Thomasine Clench baptized Bottisham, Cambridgeshire, 6 October 1608, the daughter of Robert Clench and Joan Webbe.^[25] However, a subsequent, 2021 article refutes this, based largely on her likely age at marriage,^[26] makes a stronger case for Thomasine being baptized in Colchester on August 1, 1613, daughter of John Clench and Mary (Marshall) Clench.

Sources

1. ↑ Robert Charles Anderson, George F. Sanborn, Jr., and Melinde Lutz Sanborn Anderson, The Great Migration, Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volume II, C-F (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001), 593-597 (Edmond Frost) at 596; digital images by subscription, AmericanAncestors.
2. ↑ Frost (1906), p 13.
3. ↑ Frost & Frost (1909), p 50
4. ↑ Citing "NEHGR 153:278-90," Robert Charles Anderson, George F. Sanborn, Jr., and Melinde Lutz Sanborn Anderson, The Great Migration, Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volume II, C-F (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001), 593-597 (Edmond Frost) at 596; digital images by subscription, AmericanAncestors.
5. ↑ Citing "Earls Colne, Essex, Parish Registers," Neil D. Thompson, "The English Ancestry of Thomasine (Clench) Frost, First wife of Edmund Frost of Cambridge, Massachusetts," New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 153 (1999): 278-290, at 289 (Thomasine Clench in child list); digital images by subscription, AmericanAncestors.
6. ↑ Including snippet image of the parish register entry, Perry Streeter, "Thomasine (Clench) Frost of the Great Migration: Her Probable Correct Origins in Colchester, Essex," New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 175 (2021): 5-18 at 10; digital images by subscription, AmericanAncestors.
7. ↑ The 1906 Frost genealogy, p. 11, says that his second wife was Mary ____, but there is no other independent evidence to support such a marriage.
8. ↑ Citing "MLR 4:80-82; GMB 2:1071-72" and "MLR 3:364," Robert Charles Anderson, George F. Sanborn, Jr., and Melinde Lutz Sanborn Anderson, The Great Migration, Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volume II, C-F (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001), 593-597 (Edmond Frost) at 596; digital images by subscription, AmericanAncestors.
9. ↑ Frost (1906), pp 10-11, citing "Genealogical Register, History of Cambridge
10. ↑ Citing "MPR 4:272-274," Robert Charles Anderson, George F. Sanborn, Jr., and Melinde Lutz Sanborn Anderson, The Great Migration, Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volume II, C-F (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001), 593-597 (Edmond Frost) at 596; digital images by subscription, AmericanAncestors.
11. ↑ Robert Charles Anderson, George F. Sanborn, Jr., and Melinde Lutz Sanborn Anderson, The Great Migration, Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volume II, C-F (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001), 593-597 (Edmond Frost) at 593; digital images by subscription, AmericanAncestors,
12. ↑ Frost & Frost (1909), p 8-9, without stating the name of a ship.
13. ↑ Anderson, Great Migration
14. ↑ Frost Family in England and America
15. ↑ Frost Family in England and America
16. ↑ Frost Family in England and America
17. ↑ Robert Charles Anderson, George F. Sanborn, Jr., and Melinde Lutz Sanborn Anderson, The Great Migration, Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volume II, C-F (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001), 593-597 (Edmond Frost) at 596-597; digital images by subscription, AmericanAncestors.
18. ↑ About Edmund's second wife Anderson (1995) wrote, "There is no evidence she had any children by any of her husbands"; see Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Volumes I-III, 3 vols. (Boston, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995), 1071-1072 (Edmund James) at 1071; digital images by subscription, AmericanAncestors.
19. ↑ Charles Sumner Frost, Genealogical Frost record. 1635-1906, (1906), p 12
20. ↑ Thomas G. Frost & Edward L. Frost, The Frost Family in England and America with special reference to Edmund Frost and some of his descendants, Buffalo, NY: Russell Printing Co (1909), pp 7-8
21. ↑ Anderson, p ??
22. ↑ Thomas G. Frost & Edward L. Frost, The Frost Family in England and America with special reference to Edmund Frost and some of his descendants, Buffalo, NY: Russell Printing Co (1909), p 7-8
23. ↑ Frost (1906), p 12-13
24. ↑ Anderson, Great Migration
25. ↑ Thompson, Neil D., "The English Ancestry of Thomasine (Clench) Frost, First wife of Edmund Frost of Cambridge, Massachusetts," New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 153 (1999): 278-290, at 278 and 287-289 (Robert Clench), specifically 289 (Thomasine Clench in child list); digital images by subscription, AmericanAncestors.
26. ↑ Perry Streeter, "Thomasine (Clench) Frost of the Great Migration: Her Probable Correct Origins in Colchester, Essex," New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 175 (2021): 5-18; digital images by subscription, AmericanAncestors.

See also:

• Seward, Josiah. A History of the Town of Sullivan, New Hampshire, 1777-1917 (the author, Keene, NH, 1921) Local and Family Histories: New England, 1600-1900s; FTM Disk #449
• Sharples, Stephen Paschall. Records of the Church of Christ at Cambridge in New England, 1632-1830 (Eben Putnam, Boston, 1906) Page viii & Page 2