John Mansfield (abt. 1601 - 1674)

Born about 1601 in England [uncertain]

Ancestors

Husband of Mary (Shard) Mansfield — married about 1648 in Massachusetts Bay Colony

Descendants

Died 26 Jun 1674 at about age 73 in Charlestown, Suffolk, Massachusetts

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John Mansfield migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See The Great Migration (Series 2), by R. C. Anderson, vol. 5, p. 14) Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Magna Carta Gateway Ancestor Descendant of Magna Carta Surety Baron John Fitz Robert (see text). Join: Magna Carta Project Discuss: magna_carta

Note: John Mansfield was featured in the June 2022 Magna Carta Project Newsletter.

Biography

John was the son of John Mansfield^[1] and his second wife Elizabeth, whose last name at birth is unknown.^[2][3][4] He was said to be 34 in 1635 according to the list of passengers on the Susan & Ellin that year,^[5] pointing to a birth date of about 1601.^[2][3][1] He was the brother of Boston immigrants Elizabeth Mansfield, who married Rev. John Wilson, and Anne Mansfield, who married (1) Robert Keayne and (2) Samuel Cole.^[1][2][3] John's father had interests in London, Oxfordshire and Yorkshire,^[2][3] and his birth county is uncertain.

John's father died in July 1601, and asked that John be placed in the care of David Waterhouse of the Inner Temple, one of the London Inns of Court.^[4]

Immigration

John Mansfield enrolled at London, 13 April 1635, for passage to New England aboard the Susan & Ellin,^[1][5] He settled initially at Boston, Massachusetts.^[2][3] In April 1638 he was awarded a houseplot, having served his brother-in-law Robert Keayne.^[1] He subsequently moved to Charlestown (possibly at the time of his marriage^[1]), where he practised as a goldsmith.^[4]

Life

John claimed in petitions that he had been defrauded of his inheritance by his brother-in-law Robert Keayne. In his 1653 will Robert Keayne told a rather different story: that he, Robert, had done a lot to help John in England, securing his release from prison (presumably for debt), paying for clothing and setting him up in trade, "when he had spent all his owne in taking vp many quarrellsome businesses, which he in his distempered fitts had plunged himself into." Robert went on to say that he had paid for John's passage to New England, paid off debts, and lent him money for clothes and necessaries for his voyage and paid for clothing and food "till for his distempered Carriages [behaviour], I was fayne to putt him out of my house," and that violent threats had then ensued.^[1][4] A court response of 31 December 1660 to one of John's petitions complaining about Robert Keayne said that he should expect sharp reproof if he persisted in "needless & frivolous requests."^[1]

In 1654 John petitioned to be allowed to work minting coins for Massachusetts, referring to his extreme poverty, the dangerous state of his home, and his years of apprenticeship in the coin-producing operation of "Mr Hull and good man Saunders." There is no evidence that this request was ever granted.^[4]

In 1666 Ezekiel Cheever complained that, although he had been told he would be the only authorised schoolmaster in Boston, John was being "suffered to teach and take away his scholars."^[4]

Marriage and Children

John married Mary Shard, widow of John Gove of Charlestown, Massachusetts.^[6] Douglas Richardson says they were married in about 1639^[2][3] but John Gove's will was dated 22 January 1647/8^[7] so this will be an error (possibly a typo). Robert Charles Anderson states that they married in 1648.^[1] They had two children, who were twins, probably born in early 1649 (they were described as eight years old, likely to mean in their eighth year, in the 1656 court order summarised below):^[1]

• Elizabeth,^[2][3] of whom the last record known is dated 30 December 1656^[1]
• John^[1][2][3]

By a Massachusetts court order of 30 December 1656, John's children were taken from him. Elizabeth was put into the care of her aunt Anne, and John was placed in service for ten years with the Rev. Samuel Whiting,^[8] the first three years to be in schooling and the following seven in an honest trade or employment.^[1]

Death

John died at Charlestown, Massachusetts on 26 June 1674. His wife ("old widow Mansfield") survived him, dying at Hampton, Massachusetts on 4 March 1681/2.^[1][2][3]

John's will, co-signed with his wife, was dated 21 August 1665. In it he left a third of the income of £600 from lands allegedly left to him in Yorkshire, England to his wife, together with debts claimed to be due to him in Yorkshire, as well as property in Charlestown and Boston, Massachusetts. The bequests seem to have been fanciful: a 17 July 1674 inventory of his estate showed assets worth less than £20, with no real property.^[1][4][8]

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} Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration, Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volume V, M-P, 2007, pp. 14-17 (John Mansfield), American Ancestors website ($)
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8} Douglas Richardson. Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 4 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham, 2nd edition (Salt Lake City: the author, 2011), Vol. II, p. 130, EURE 13.iii, Google Books
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8} Douglas Richardson. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham (Salt Lake City: the author, 2013), Vol. II, p. 530, EURE 16.iii
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6} Robert Charles Anderson, John C Brandon and Paul C Reed. The Ancestry of the royal-descended Mansfields of the Massachusetts Bay, in 'New England Historical and Genealogical Register', Vol. 155, Jan 2001, pp. 24 and 29-33, American Ancestors website ($)
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} John Camden Hotten. The original lists of persons of quality... who went from Great Britain to the American plantations 1600-1700, published by the author, 1874, reprinted by Empire State Book Co., p. 59 (Jo: Mansfield), Hathi Trust
6. ↑ Torrey's New England Marriages Prior to 1700, Vol. 2, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2011, p. 992, American Ancestors website ($)
7. ↑ Charles Thornton Libby. Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire, Southward Press (Portland, Maine), 1928, Vol. III, p. 278, Familysearch
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1} Thomas Bellows Wyman. The Genealogies and Estates of Charlestown, in the County of Middlesex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1629-1818, David Clapp and Son (Boston), 1879, Vol. II (K-Z), p. 653, Internet Archive

• Pope, Charles Henry. The Pioneers of Massachusetts, published by the author (Boston, Massachusetts), 1900, p. 299, Internet Archive

See also:

• "John Mansfield Poetic Plaintiff" on JSTOR. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.

Acknowledgements

Magna Carta Project

This profile was revised for the Magna Carta Project by Michael Cayley on 10 February 2022 and was reviewed 14 February 2022 by Thiessen-117

John Mansfield is listed in Magna Carta Ancestry, vol. I, pages xxiii-xxix, as a Gateway Ancestor and is in a Richardson-documented trail to Magna Carta Surety Baron John FitzRobert (vol. II, pages 123-130 EURE). John is also the Gateway in a trail to surety baron Robert FitzWalter. Both trails were badged by the Magna Carta Project in March 2022. See the Magna Carta Trails on his father's profile to view the profiles in both trails, as well as the development status of each profile.

See Base Camp for more information about identified Magna Carta trails and their status. See the project's glossary for project-specific terms, such as a "badged trail".