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GABRIEL WHELDEN (say 1590–1653/4)
English Ancestry of Gabriel Whelden [1]
Children of ___ Whelden, order uncertain, born perhaps in Basford, Nottinghamshire.
i. Thomas Wheldon was buried on 11 April 1610 in Basford. He married first Elizabeth ___. She was buried on 13 January 1581/2 in Basford. He married second Christobel ___, who subsequently married Thomas Hewitt on Nottingham on 9 April 1611.
Much of what is known about Gabriel’s family is due to the will Thomas made on 1 February 1618/[9?]. It was proved on 22 April 1619.
ii. Helen Wheldon was buried on 28 August 1616 in Basford. She married first Henry Rogers on 7 May 1581 in Basford. She married second William Stamford on 29 September 1600 in Basford.
iii. Jane Wheldon married ___ Crampton by 8 March 1609/10. She is probably the Jeane Crampton, wife of Hugh, who was buried on 16 April 1627 in Basford.
iv. Henry Wheldon
Henry Wheldon was living on 1 February 1618/[9?], when he was mentioned in his sister-in-law Christobel’s will. Either he, or an unknown brother of Thomas Wheldon, was the father of Gabriel.
Gabriel Whelden (Wheldon) was born say 1590, perhaps in Basford, Nottinghamshire. [1] He died in January 1653/4, probably in Malden, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. [2] He had a wife Jane who was presumably the mother of his children. He left a widow Margaret. Margaret was probably a second wife, and not the mother of his children. [3]
Gabriel first appears in the New England records in 1638. [3] He was licensed to dwell at Mattacheese [Yarmouth] and to have land granted there on 6 October 1639. [2]
On 29 June 1693 Katherine Whelden composed a letter back to England reporting the death of her sister Martha “Weelden” of Dedham, who drowned about 12 days before. This is the only evidence that Gabriel lived in Dedham before moving to Yarmouth. [1]
On 6 October 1639 Gabriel was licensed to live in Yarmouth. [1] He was a surveyor of highways there in 1642 and reappointed on 1 June 1647. [1]
Gabriel was a personal friend of Mr. [Marmaduke] Matthews, minister at Yarmouth. He went to Malden with Mr. Matthews. [3]
Sometime prior to 14 May 1648 he sold property to Edward Sturgis and probably about then moved to Malden. [1]
Gabriel and his youngest son, John, sold four parcels of land in Arnold, county Nottingham to William Crofts on 21 October 1653. [1][2][3]
Gabriel Whelden, being weak and sick, made his will on 1653, 11, 12o. He left ten shillings to the church in Malden and the rest of his estate—consisting of a house, farm, land, cattle, corn, and money due him from William Crofts of Lynn—to his wife Margaret, whom he named his sole executrix. His witnesses deposed on 4 (2) 1654. His inventory amounted to £40-11-08. [4]
Margaret's stepchildren complained that she withheld money from them. In 1655 Henry Whelden, John Whelden, Richard Taylor, and Richard Taylor, husbandman, brought suit against her. [1]
Children of Gabriel and Jane Whelden, all baptized in Basford. [1]
i. Thomas Whelden was baptized on 1 February 1611/2. He was buried on 15 April 1614 in Basford. [1]
ii. Katherine Whelden was baptized on 6 March 1616/7 in Basford. She died after 1679. She married Giles Hopkins.
iii. Henry Whelden was baptized on 21 February 1618/9. He died on 28 October 1649 in Yarmouth. [1] He married Eed ___ on 25 January 1647/[8?] in Yarmouth. [1] She died on 15 May 1682. [1]
iv. Mary Whelden was baptized on 23 December 1621. She was found dead in a boat off Duxbury before 4 December 1673. [1] She married Richard Taylor by 1648. [1] He died before 13 December 1673 in Yarmouth. [1]
Richard was a tailor. [1]
v. Martha Whelden was baptized on 23 December 1621 [the same day as her sister Mary]. She drowned about 17 June 1639. [1]
vi. John Whelden was baptized on 5 November 1623. He evidently died young.
vii. Ruth Whelden was baptized on 5 July 1626. She died on 22 June 1693 in Yarmouth. [1] She married Richard Taylor soon after 27 October 1646. He died between 28 October 1696 and 6 October 1703. [1]
Gabriel consented to Ruth marrying Richard Taylor on 27 October 1646. [2]
Richard was a husbandman.
Two of Gabriel’s daughters married men named Richard Taylor. [1]
viii. John Whelden was baptized on 4 October 1630. He died on 20 November 1714 in Yarmouth. [2] He married Mary, the daughter of Thomas Folland of Yarmouth. [1]
Endnotes:
1 Jan Porter and Dan Stramara, “The Origin of Gabriel Whelden of Yarmouth and Malden, Massachusetts,” New England Historical and Genealogical Register 163 (2009): 253–61.
2. Maclean W. McLean, "John and Mary (Folland) Whelden," The American Genealogist 48 (1972): 4–11
3. David Lines Jacobus, "Austin Bearse and His Alleged Indian Connections," The American Genealogist 15 (1938): 111–8. (This is an amusingly snarky article.)
4. W. B. Trask, "Abstracts of the Earliest Wills from the Records and Files at East Cambridge, Mass.," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 16 (1862): 75.
©a. buiter
07-Sep-2023