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Reverend Henry Whitfield (1597–1657)
Dorothy Sheafe (d. 1618)
Henry, the son of Thomas Whitfield and Mildred Fortune Manning, was probably born about the summer of 1590 in Mortlake, co. Surrey. [1]
He died in September 1657 in Winchester, Hampshire, and is buried in Winchester Cathedral. [1] He married Dorothy, the daughter of Edmund Sheafe of Cranbrook, co. Kent in 1618. [2]
Dorothy Sheafe was the daughter of Reverend Thomas Sheafe and Maria Wilson. [3] She died in 1669 in Guilford. [1][3]
Dorothy may be the underage cousin Dorothy Sheafe mentioned in her uncle David Rawson's 15 Jun 1616 will. [4] Her uncle Dr. Edmund Wilson mentions his "cousin (niece) Whitfield" in is his will, proved on 11 Oct 1633. [5] Her father calls her Dorothy Whitfield in his will, proved 2 Mar 1639/40. [5] He left her a pair of fustian blankets. [3]
Henry went to school at Winchester College. [1] On 16 June 1610 he entered New College, Oxford. [1] Upon graduation, Henry began to study law, but soon switched to the ministry. [1] He was appointed to a living in Ockley, co. Surrey in 1616. [6] Henry's sister-in-law's father, Sir Edward Culpepper was lord of the manor of Ockley and had the right to appoint the rector. [1]
On 20 Sepember 1617, Henry Whitfield of Ockley and his father Thomas Whitfield, Esq. of Mortlake entered into a marriage contract with Thomas Sheafe of Wickham, county Barks., Doctor of Divinity, and his daughter Dorothy Sheafe.
By 1639 he had become a nonconformist. He resigned his rectory and sold his estate. [6] In May 1639, Henry and a number of families associated with him sailed for New England, arriving in New Haven in June 1639. On 29 September 1639, six men purchased land at Menuncatuck (later Guilford) from the Indians. [6][7] One of the first houses build there was Henry’s Stone House, seen in the photo. [6]
Henry returned to England in the autumn of 1650, leaving his wife and most of his children behind, and settled in Winchester. [1]
On or about 17 September 1657, Henry of Winchester made his nuncupative will. He bequeathed all his estate to his wife, to be disposed by her and amongst his children as she should see cause. On 29 January 1657, Dorothy Whitfield, Henry’s widow, was appointed administratrix. [8]
Henry's house, built in 1639 in Guilford, is a museum today.
Children of Henry Whitfield and Dorothy Sheafe: Baptisms in Ockley [2][9]
i. Dorothy Whitfield was baptized on 25 March 1619. She died of smallpox in late 1654. She married Samuel Desborough. [1] Samuel, the son of James Desborough of Elltisley, Cambridgeshire, was born in November 1619. [1]
Dorothy returned to England with her father. [1]
ii. Sarah Whitfield was baptized on 1 November 1620. She died on 8 July 1675. [1] She married Reverend John Higgonson. [20] John, the son of Reverend Francis and Anne (Herbert) Higgonson, was baptized on 31 August 1616 in Claybrook, Leicestershire. [20] He died on 9 December 1708. [1] He married second Mary (Blakeman) Atwater after 1676. [20] Mary was the daughter of Reverend Adam and Jane Blakeman and the widow of Joshua Atwater. [20]
iii. Abigail Whitfield was baptized on 1 September 1622 in Ockley, county Surrey. She died on 9 September 1659 in Saybrook or Norwich. She married Reverend James Fitch.
iv. Thomas Whitfield was baptized on 28 December 1624. He may have died young. [2]
v. John Whitfield was baptized on 11 February 1626. He probably married Elizabeth, the daughter of Alexander Waldish. [1]
He returned to England with his father. [2][9]
vi. Nathaniel Whitfield was baptized on 28 June 1629.
He returned to England with his father. [2][9]
Nathaniel and his sister Mary witnessed their father's will. [1]
vii. Mary Whitfield was baptized on 4 March 1631.
Mary is mentioned in the 2 January 1649/50 will of her uncle Grindall Sheafe. [11]
viii. Henry Whitfield was baptized on 9 March 1633. He was buried on 28 February 1634 in Ockley. [2]
ix. Rebecca Whitfield was baptized on 22 December 1635. She probably died young. [1]
References
1. John B. Threlfall, Fifty Great Migration Colonists to New England and Their Origins (Westminster, MD: Heritage Books, c. 1992): 509–21.
2. Henry F. Waters, "Genealogical Gleanings in England," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 52 (1898): 130.
3. John Brooks Threlfall, "An Extension of the Sheafe Ancestry," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 137, 1983, 291-305.
4. Henry Waters, "Genealogical Gleanings in England," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 38 (1884): 301–5.
5. Walter K. Watkins, "Some Guilford, Conn. Settlers and their Relationship, or the Sheafe Family in England and New England, New England Historical and Genealogical Register 55 (1901): 208–20.
6. Leslie Stephen, ed., Dictionary of National Biography, 1921–1922, 22 volumes (London: Oxford University Press, 1921, 1922), vol. 21.
7. “Focus on Great Migration Towns,” Great Migration Newsletter 14 (2005): 27–28.
8. “England and Wales Prerogative Court at Canterbury Wills 1384–1858,” database with images, Ancestry > PROB11: Will Registers > 1655–1659 > Piece 272: Wootton, Quire Numbers 1–51 (1658), image 271.
9. Mary Lovering Holman, "The Sheafe Line," The American Genealogist 22, 1945, 85-93.
10. "The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620–1633, Volumes I-III," digitized book, AmericanAncestors.org, originally published as: Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, 3 volumes (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995), 934.
11. Will of Grindall Sheafe, Item number: 6400486, Catalogue reference: PROB 11/363/93, National Archives (https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk).
Photo: Jay McAnally, Henry Whitfield house
06-Apr-2023