Captain John Whipple's Two Grandsons Named William Whipple

Captain John Whipple's Two Grandsons Named William Whipple

by Joanne Lahr-Kreischer

Published sources are divided on the identities of two of Captain John Whipple's grandchildren, both named William Whipple. Their lines are as follows:

The first William:

John (Captain)
    David m. Hannah Towers
        William b. 27 May 1685(1) in Providence(1), RI.

The first grandson William lived in Smithfield on the farm that he probably inherited from his father David. He gave a lease of a portion of his farm to Providence for mining purposes, to James Alford (merchant) of Boston, dated Oct. 28, 1715. He m c1713. Elizabeth Sprague(2) b. 26 May 1694(2) and d. c1735(2) dau. of Anthony and Mary (Tilden) Sprague.(3)

They had the following 17 children:

  1. Mary, b 28 Feb 1714/15 Smithfield, RI(4)
  2. Elizabeth, b 26 May 1716 Smithfield, RI(4)
  3. Jamima, b. 1 Oct 1717 Smithfield, RI(4)
  4. Amey, 24 Oct 1718 Smithfield, RI(4)
  5. William, b 11 Oct 1719 Smithfield, RI(4) d 16 Nov 1796 Central Falls, RI(5) and m. Mary (---)(5)
  6. Jeremiah, b 19 May 1722 Smithfield, RI(4)
  7. Marcy. b 15 Mar 1725 Smithfield, RI(4)
  8. Hopey, b 28 Apr 1723 Smithfield, RI(4), m. 22 Apr 1744 Nicholas Bacon(6)
  9. John, b 7 May 1724 Smithfield, RI(4)
  10. Anthony, b 9 Apr 1725 Smithfield, RI(4)
  11. Sarah, b 10 Oct 1726 Smithfield, RI(4)
  12. Benjamin, b 2 July 1728 Smithfield, RI(4) m1) Peck m2) Matteson(5)
  13. Moses, b 21 Jan 1729/30 Smithfield, RI(4) d 3 Sept 14 1807(5) m. 30 Sept 1764 in Glocester, RI Patience Matteson(5)
  14. Joseph, b 18 Apr 1731 Smithfield, RI(4) d 27 Dec 1760(9)
  15. Amey, b 31 May 1732 Smithfield, RI(4)
  16. Eleazer, b 20 Jan 1733/34 Smithfield, RI(4) d 22 Mar 1781 Smithfield, RI(7); m. 1757 Anna Brown2
  17. Hannah, b 2 May 1735 Smithfield, RI(4), d 22 Nov 1825(8); m. 29 Mar 1752(8) Christopher Jenks
 The second William:

John (Captain)
    William m. Mary
        William b. 27 May 1695(9,10).

The second grandson William was a cooper by trade and resided in Attleboro, MA (which is now Cumberland, RI). His will dated Mary 29, 1740 and proved August 16, 1743 mentions all nine children and his wife Mary as executor.(11)

Here are their 9 children:

  1. Peter, b 25 May1709 Attleboro, MA(12)
  2. Jemima, b 1 May 1711 Attleboro, MA(12)
  3. Abigail, 10 Mar 1712/13 Attleboro, MA(12)
  4. John, b 13 Mar 1715/16 Attleboro, MA(12)
  5. Samuel, 26 Sep 17178 Attleboro, MA(12)
  6. Ibrook, b 15 Sept 1720 Attleboro, MA(12); m. 3 Mar 1743/4(12) Mary Perkins
  7. Mary, b 26 Aug 1723 Attleboro, MA(12)
  8. Penelope, b 6 Aug 1726 Attleboro, MA(12); m. 19 Apr 1746(13) David Caswel
  9. Isreal, b 5 Feb 1730-33 Attleboro, MA(12)

As you can, see the similarities between these two men are striking and have often been confused, and many time facts from one have been confused with facts from the other. William's wife Elizabeth's ancestry has been well documented in its connection to Richard Warren who sailed to the new world on the Mayflower and signed the Mayflower Compact.

I've enclosed footnotes not only to document my information, but so that perhaps others will be able to look at the evidence in an effort to help keep the mystery between these two William Whipples clear in the future.

Footnotes

  1. James Arnold, Vital Records of Rhode Island (Providence, R.I.: Narrangansett Historical Pub. Co., 1891- )
  2. National Society of Daughter of Founders and Patriots of America Lineage Book (Baltimore: Genealogical Pub. Co., 1989) 34:174.
  3. Robert S. Wakefield, Mayflower Families in Progress. Richard Warren of the Mayflower and His Descendants for Four Generations. (Plymouth, MA: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1987)
  4. Vital Records of Smithfield, RI, Council Book #1, pp. 445-47.
  5. Dwane V. Norris, Whipple Family Tree through Matthew Whipple of Bocking, England Family, Captain John Whipple of England Family, and Other Whipple families (Jackson, Mich.: D.V. Norris, c1993)
  6. Clair A. Newton Hemmenway, Capt. John Whipple (1617-1685) and His Descendants (Naperville, Ill., 1946.), p. 65.
  7. Representative Men and Old Families of Rhode Island (Chicago: J.H. Beers & Co., 1908), p. 1677.
  8. William B. Browne, Genealogy of the Jenks Family of America (Concord? N.H., 1952), p. 63.
  9. John Whipple Hill, Genealogical Notes of the Whipple-Hill Families (Albany, N.Y.: J. Munsell, 1897), p. 35.
  10. New England Genealogical Register, v. 32, p. 406.
  11. Abstracts of Bristol County, MA: Probate Records 1687-1845, pp. 331-32.
  12. Vital Records of Attleboro, MA, to the End of the Year 1849 (Salem, Mass.: Essex Institute, 1934), pp. 284-85.
  13. International Genealogical Index of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.