Genealogy Report: Descendants of Robert Linnell
Descendants of Robert Linnell
1.ROBERT1 LINNELL was born Abt. 1584 in London, Middlesex, England, and died 23 January 1661/62 in Barnstable, MA.He married (1) PENNIAH HOWSE, daughter of JOHN HOUSE and ALICE LLOYD.She was born 1599 in of Ashford, Kent, England, and died in Barnstable, MA.
Notes for ROBERT LINNELL:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following was taken from ("The Descendents of Robert Linnell", p.1-3)
Robert Linnell, born c.1584, was in his fifty-fourth year when he made the voyage from London, England to America.He was known as "Mr.Linnell" when he arrived at Scituate, a fact that gives some support to the belief that he was known and respected even in England before coming to this land.Mr. Linnell took the oath of allegiance to the King and of fidelity to the colony on 1 Feb. 1638 and was admitted a freeman on the 3rd of December of that same year.(Amos Otis; "Genealogical Notes of Barnstable Families" Vol.2, p.151).It was among the men of Kent that he first settled, men who may have been neighbors at one time before their removal to London and then to America.It is said that their choice of a settlement at Scituate may have been because the cliffs of that seaport reminded them of the cliffs of Dover in Kent.
That Kent was well known to Mr. Linnell is evidenced by the fact that his second wife, Penninah Howes was the daughter of John Howes, the parish clerk of Eastwell, Kent.It is probably that her mother was John Howes' wife Alice.Penninah's sister, Hannah, was the wife of the Rev. John Lothrop whose congregation in London had refused to accept the King as head of the Church.This conflict had resulted in the imprisonment of the Rev. John Lothrop for two years.Upon his release, many members of the congregation made their move to America with him to be able to worship as they chose.That Penninah belonged to the congregation in London can be shown by the report of her being questioned by the Ecclesiastical Court along with others in the congregation in 1632.There she stated that only God was Lord of her beliefs.
It is probable that Robert Linnell had also been in London and a member of Lathrop's congregation.He must have been married to his first wife (unknown name) at this time.His first four children were probably born in England during the years 1627 (Otis's estimate of son David's birth date) to 1633/34.Why Robert did not leave London with the remainder of John Lothrop's congregation is not known.There may have been a connection with the death of his first wife; perhaps they waited for the birth of a son Shubael whom Amos Otis names as a child in this family.Otis states, "I name him (Shubael) as his son and probably born in this country, though there is no record of his birth either in Scituate or Barnstable" (Otis, Gen.Notes, Vol.2, p.152).If, indeed, Shubael was born in this country, we was the son of Penninah; for she had become Robert's wife before the passage to America.Kerry Bate omits Shubael in his listing of Robert's children and names Bethia, bap. 7 Feb. 1640/41, as the only child of Penninah (Kerry William Bate, The Ebenezer Hanks Story, 1962, p.164).Shubael has been retained in this history because there are references to such a person in later events.However, we cannot know which of Robert's wives was Shubael's mother.
Amos Otis also names Sarah as a daughter of Robert Linnell by his first wife (Otis, Gen.Notes, Vol.2, p.151).This I believe to be an error.Otis also notes that James Savage in his Genealogical Dictionary of New England calls Sarah the daughter of William Larnett or Larned of Charleston.The name Larnett is repeated by the Rev. John Lothrop in the account of Sarah's marriage to his son Thomas.The question of Sarah's parentage comes because the Linnell name was sometimes spelled Larnet or Linnet.Sarah has not been included in this work, though, because of the evidence from James Savage that William and not Robert was the father and that he lived in Charleston.A further consideration is that Sarah's date of birth, 1607 from custom house records, is so much earlier than those of the other children, the next being David in about 1627, as to question the possibility of her belonging to his family.
The reunion of the Linnells with the Rev. John Lothrop and his flock in Scituate must indeed have been joyous, especially for Penninah Linnell with her sister, Hannah Lothrop.The sixtieth entry in John Lothrop's records of the church at Scituate was that "My Brother Robert Linnell and his wife having a letter of dismission from the church in London joyned to us September 16, 1638"
Robert Linnell was one of those who petitioned to be granted land in another area of the colony.They wanted to develop their own close knit group, observing their religious practices according to their interpretation.Land was granted to this group first at Sippican; but there seem to have been problems connected to this location and a new grant was given for removal to Mattacheese.On "June 26, 1639, a fast for the presence of God in mercy to go with us to Mattacheese" was held with a Thanksgiving celebration when they had all arrived in that place now known as Barnstable (Frederick Freeman, "History of Cape Cod", Vol.II, p.246).
The list of 45 townsmen and voters in 1640 included Robert Linnet (Linnell was sometimes spelled Linnet or Linnett), and in 1643 those able to bear arms also included David Linnet, by this time 16 years old.Capt. Miles Standish was placed in charge of this militia.They were expecting trouble with the Indians.
At the town meeting in 1641 "Mr. Thomas Lothrop and Bernard Lombard were appointed measurers of the land, "and authorized "to lay out all the lands that the several inhabitants are to have laid out, and to bound them with stakes."The land thus measured to Mr.Linnell ranked him one of those with large holdings."His house lot, Lot #9 of the original town plan, contained ten acres and was bounded northerly by the harbor, easterly by the lot of Thomas Lumbard, southerly by the highway, and westerly by the home lots of William and John Casely.He also owned three acres of planting land in the Common Field, three acres of meadow at Sandy Neck, ine at Scorto, a great lot containing sixty acres, and rights of commonage" (Otis, "Gen.Notes", Vol.2, p.151).It was here that Mr.Linnell lived for twenty-four years until his death in January, 1662.These were years of carving a home and a living out of the wilderness, a quite different life from that in London and Otis notes that he died a poor man.
These twenty-four years in Barnstable saw many changes in the Linnell family.In the records of the Rev. John Lothrop,
"Since our coming to Barnstale, Octob. 11, 1639
(bap.) Bethia daughter of Robert Linnell Febru. 7, 1640
Marryed since my comeing to Barnstable
John David and Hannah Linnett marryed att Nocett by
Mr. Prince March 15, 1648
Richard Childe and Mary Linnett marryed the 15th day of
October 1649 by Mr.Collier at my Brother Linnett's house.
Joshua Lumber and Abigail Linnett marrd by Mr. Prince
May 27, 1651.
David Lynett and Hannah Shelley marryed by Mr. Prince
March 9, 1652" (Arthur Ellsworth Linnell, manuscript notes,
Linnell Famly at New England Historic and Genealogical Society
Library, Boston).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following was taken from ("The Descendents of Robert Linnell", pp.4-6):
Robert Linnell's death on 23 January 1662 completed the first generation of this family in America.
Robert Linnell's will reads as follows:
"The last will of Robert Linell Deceased the 23 of January 1662I give to my wife my house and home lott soe long as shee lives a widdow; alsoe...all my household stuffe and plow and Cart and two Cowes and a calfe for ever;I give my house and home Lott to David and his heires after my wife either Dieth or marrieth alsoe my mersh att sandy necks I give to David and his heirs for ever and my lot by John Casleyes;I give my ground and mersh att the lower end of the pond att Mattakeessett to Abigail;I give to John Davis my two oxen to find my wife wood and to mow my marsh so longe;if she marryeith before the two yeares bee out then to bee free;I give to Bethya one Cow to have it when my Will;It is my will thaat the swamp I bought of Thomas Lewis to goe with my house lott;Robert Linnell"
"The tearme;and a Calfe in the third line in the original was put in since the man Deceased.Thomas Laythrop - Trustrum Hull"
The home lot, dwelling-house, and some articles of personal estate, were appraised by Thomas Lothrop and Thos. Lewis at 55 lbs, 4 shillings, 6 pence.He owed Mr.Thomas Clark 1 lb., 10 shillings, and some other small debts, and the Court ordered March 3, 1662-3, that Joseph Lothrop and Nathaniel Bacon "bee helpful to the Widdow Linnel in seeing the debts payed either out of the whole or pte of the estate."
Amos Otis notes the significant omission of certain names;
"In the will (evidently drawn up by one not accustomed to framing legal instruments) Mr. Linnel only names three of his children, David, Abigail, and Bethia.He names John Davis who married his daughter Hannah then living, but does not call her by name.He does not name his daughter Mary who married Richard Child.He names neither Shubael nor Samuel Linnell, both of whom were then living if the names are not confounded, and supposed to be his sons" (Otis, Gen. Notes, Vol.2, p.153).(Samuel and Shubael were probably interchangeable names for the same person.)
While Shubael is not named in his father's will it is quite possible that he was granted land before his father's death.Shubael Linnell is listed as one of those killed in the first days of King Philip's war.This was an engagement led by the Indian chieftan King Philip in an attempt to halt the acquisition of land by the colonists.Shubael was listed along with his cousin Samuel Child, and these others:Lt.Fuller, John Lewis, Eleazer Cobb and Sam'l Boreman as killed at Rehoboth on 26 March 1675.
Otis goes on to state, "Mr.Linnell had sold his meadow at Scorton and his great lot containing 'three score acres,' or perhaps he had given the sameto his other children by deed as their portion, a common practice in those times, and therefore not named in his will.The appraisement of his homestead, etc. at 55 lbs, may seem a low price.Eight years before Thomas Lumbard had sold his homestead adjoining the Linnels, and fully as valuable for 20 lbs.Very few persons at their time were worth 100 lbs. sterling, or 500 lbs. in silver money."(Otis, Gen.Notes, Vol.2, p.153)
Otis evaluates the Linnell family with a sermon on wealth by stating that "Mr.Linnell died a poor man.His sons had been nursed in the lap of ease, and wanted that energy of character which is indispensable for success in life... The parent may bestow wealth, it is soon dissipated--little will be inherited by the grandchildren.The tax lists exhibit the folly of bequeathing wealth to thriftless children, to those who have not been educated to be temperate, honest, industrious and frugal" (Otis, "Gen.Notes", VOl2, p.153).The inference here is that sons David and Shubael were less than contributing members of society and that they dissipated the estate that was left to them by their father.
On Oct. 20, 1669, Penninah Linnet complained to the Court that "David Linnil had possessed himself of the house and land given to her by her deceased husband, Mr. Robert Linnitt, and had given her no satisfaction for the same.The Court ordered that he give her satisfaction for the same before the next March Court, otherwise the Court order that he shall be disposed of the same.As no subsequent action was taken the presumption is that David did make the required satisfaction" (Otis, Gen.Notes Vol.2, p.153)The date of Penninah's death is not known.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following is taken from ("The Descendents of Robert Linnell", p.13-14):
From the arrival of Robert Linnell in 1638 until the death of the third generation of Linnells, a century had passed.Robert's grandson Jonathan (117) died in 1726 and his grandson John (118) died in 1747.Otis notes that there had been very little immigration to these shores after that first burst of enthusiasm.The communities remained socially and religiously homogeneous.They consolidated their development in the organization of their government and society, and tended to remain in the same location.For this reason Otis could state that Jonathan (117) was the ancestor of those who lived in Eastham and Orleans and that John (118) was the ancestor of those in Barnstable and Yarmouth.During these years the colonist's energy had been devoted to clearing the land, building the houses and the places of worship, raising crops, affirming their religious zeal and developing codes of conduct and government.Much thought and negotiation had gone into relationships with the Indians.The families were large to help with the work to be accomplished; and the young people stayed in close proximity to their parents.
The choice for marriage partners was not large; and movement between communities was not great.Young people married their neighbors and their cousins.
The building of homes and other building progressed rapidly too.The first houses built on the cape were palisade houses, upright poles placed in drilled holes in the earth or in a beam board placed on the earth.The upright poles were then lashed to roof poles that became the foundation for thatched roofs.By the time Robert Linnell moved to Barnstable with John Lothrop there was already a saw mill in operation in Scituate and sawed lumber for building could be shipped from Scituate to Barnstable.This allowed for the design of building to which the people had been accustomed in England.And these homes, weathered by the blowing salt sand, were built to last for generations.
More About ROBERT LINNELL:
Emigration: Abt. 1638, England to America (Scituate)
Linnell Genealogy #: 1
Child of ROBERT LINNELL and PENNIAH HOWSE is:
2. | i. | BETHIA2 LINNELL, d. 25 March 1726, Harwich. |
Children of ROBERT LINNELL are:
3. | ii. | DAVID2 LINNELL, b. Abt. 1627, London, Middlesex, England; d. Bet. 14 November 1688 - 09 March 1688/89. | |
4. | iii. | HANNAH LINNELL, b. Abt. 1629, London, Middlesex, England. | |
iv. | MARY LINNELL, b. Abt. 1631, London, Middlesex, England; d. Barnstable, Barnstable, MA. |
More About MARY LINNELL: Linnell Genealogy #: 13 |
5. | v. | ABIGAIL LINNELL, b. Abt. 1633, London, Middlesex, England; d. Aft. 1662. | |
vi. | SHUBAEL LINNELL, d. 26 March 1676, Battle of Rehoboth. |
More About SHUBAEL LINNELL: Cause of Death: Killed in the Battle of Rehoboth Linnell Genealogy #: 15 |