This page introduces the early origins of three groups of Whipples:

1. Those from Bishop's Stortfort and Bocking, England, some of whose descendants migrated to Ipswich, Massachusetts, in 1638
2. Those from Great Waltham, England, one of whose descendants migrated to Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1632, later moving to Providence, Rhode Island
3. Those from Baden-Baden in present-day Germany, some of whose descendants migrated to Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana in 1844

There are other significant groups of Whipples of uncertain origin. Many of them are listed on the Disconnected Whipples page.

Thomas Whipple, earliest known ancestor of today's American Whipples

Thomas Whipple is the great grandfather of brothers Matthew and "Elder" John Whipple, who migrated from Bocking, Essex County, England, to Ipswich, Massachusetts with their immediate families in 1638. Matthew and John were children of Matthew Whipple, Sr., who was buried in the St. Mary's Church Cemetery, Bocking, Essex, England, on 16 January 1618/19.

Thomas's surname was sometimes spelled Whepill, Whepyll, Whippyll, Whepull, Wheppill, Wheppylle (in addition to Whipple) in the records of Bishop's Stortford, England.

Thomas lived in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, 22.8 miles west of Bocking (36 minutes away by car on today's highway A120).

Thomas was added to the Whipple Genweb during the Christmas holidays, 2006, based on research by William Wyman Fiske first published in "The Whipple Family of Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire: Proposed Ancestral Origin of Matthew Whipple of Bocking, Essex, and a Whipple Ancestral Line for Arthur Gary of Roxbury, Massachusetts," The Genealogist, vol. 20, no. 2 (Fall 2006), pp. 191-217. ISSN: 0197-1468.)

William Whaple, earliest known ancestor of Rhode Island Whipples

William Whaple is the great grandfather of the teenage John Whipple who boarded the ship Lyon in London on 22 June 1632, landing in Dorchester, Massachusetts, on 16 September 1632. In Dorchester, John married, had children, and then moved to Providence, Rhode Island, in 1658, where he later received the title of "Captain."

William lived in Margaretting, Essex County, England, about nine miles south of Great Waltham, Essex County. Many of his children, grand children, and great grandchildren were baptized at the St. Mary and St. Lawrence Church in Great Waltham. He died in 1597.

William first appeared in the Whipple Genweb and Database on 9 May 2020, following a telephone conversation between Weldon Whipple and Dr. Charles M. Whipple, who had been actively researching the Rhode Island Whipples for many years. In 1988 and 1990 Charles commissioned studies by Debrett Ancestry Research Limited of Winchester, England, to search for a connection between the Ipswich MA and Providence RI Whipples. (Those studies are now in the possession of the Whipple Website.) While the studies found no connection between the two branches, they succeeded in finding the place of baptism of Captain John of Providence and identifying three generations of his Whipple ("Whaple") ancestors.

See also Charles M. Whipple's "Genetic Antecedents of Captain John Whipple" and the earlier "Seeking the Origins of Captain John Whipple of Dorchester MA/Providence RI" for more information.

George or Mitchell Whipple of Baden-Baden, Germany

Little is known of George Whipple of Baden-Baden. (In fact, his name was recorded as Mitchel Whipple on his son Charles' death certificate.) His son Charles Frederick Whipple was born in Baden-Baden on 20 February 1841.

The family immigrated to the U.S. in 1944. Son Charles was counted in the 6 June 1900 Census of Ward 5, Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana.

Their surname was frequently spelled Wippel in some of the first records in Louisiana.