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William Wodell (d. 1692/3)
Mary Unknown (d. 1676)
William Wodell died between 8 September 1692 and 2 May 1693. He married first Mary ___. He married second Mary (Tripp) (Wodell) Gatchell, the widow of his son Gershom, in 1692.
Mary Woddle, the wife of William of Portsmouth, died on 23 March 1676. [1, 7: 129]
William and Mary Wodell were of Boston and Portsmouth and Tiverton, Rhode Island. [2]
William first shows up in the Portsmouth records on 2 June 1653 when he was appointed constable for the south side and appointed to a committee to make a rate. Over the years he was a frequent committee member. He was a appointed constable again on 7 June 1675 and 7 June 1686. He was an overseer of the poor 12 times between 20 June 1653 and 4 June 1683. He was appointed the town council 17 times between 20 June 1653 and 7 June 1686, refusing to serve twice. He was a deputy to the general assembly at Newport 21 times between 21 March 1665 and 19 March 1686. He was town treasurer ten times between 3 June 1672 and 5 June 1685. He is frequently referred to as "Mr. William Wodell" in the records. [3]
Thomas Lawton of Portsmouth sold William Wodell of Portsmouth a 50-acre parcel on Portsmouth on 4 August 1653. That same day, William sold Thomas a 30-acre parcel in Portsmouth. Willial sold Tomas another 30-acre parcel on 8 July 1654. [3]
William entered into an indenture between himself and Thomas Ginings and his son Gabriel, apprenticing Gabriel ot Thomas for 14 years, on 1 August 1663. William was to feed and cloth Gabriel and after his service as complete he was to provide him with two suits, a cow, and a mare foal. Thomas also entered into indentures apprenticing an Indian woman Meequapew, her son Peter, and her daughter on 21 April 1677 and 27 April 1678. On 9 January 1677 he purchased an enslaved Indian woman named Hannah from Adam Right of Duxbury for £4-10-00. [3]
William of Pocasset [Little Compton] made his will on 8 September 1692; it was proved on 2 May 1693. He left his daughter Mary Grinnell, the wife of Daniel Grinnell, and her son Richard each five pounds. He left William and Samuel Sanford [the sons of his deceased daughter Sarah] five pounds each. He left his daughter Alice Anthony one shilling. He left Frances Anthony's children Joseph, William, and Susanna five pounds each. He left her daughters Elizabeth and Alice 50 shillings each. He left her son John 40 shillings. He was especially generous to the children of his wife and former daughter-in-law Mary Wodell. He left her daughter Sarah Wodell 15 pounds and his best bedding; he left her daughters Priscilla and Isabel Gatchel ten pounds each and bedding. He left [her sons] Richard and Return Wodell five pounds each. He left [her son] William Wodell one shilling. He left her son Gershom land and his house, but Gershom to share it with his mother and pay his debts and legacies. He named Gershom and his mother his executors. He ends by leaving land to the town of Warwick and saying that some said that he and others wronged Portsmouth when they bought Hog Island from an Indian sachem, but this was not true and he leaves the town the island. Similarly he gave land he bought from a sachem to Rhode Island. [4]
Children of William Wodell: Births recorded in Portsmouth as the children of William and Mary [1, 7: 83]
i. Mary Wodell was born in November 1640 in Boston. She probably died between 1 June 1697 and 8 July 1701. She married Daniel Grinnell.
ii. Gershom Wodell was born on 14 July 1642. He married first Mary Tripp in Portsmouth. [5][6] Mary, the daughter of John and Mary (Paine) Tripp was born on 14 July 1642. [7] She died after 1716. [6] Mary, the widow of Gershom of Portsmouth, married Jonathan Gatchell, late of Marblehead, on 13 March 1682/3 in Portsmouth. [1, 4: 1–24][3][6][8] Jonathan, the son of John and Wybro Gatchell, was born about 1646. [7][8] He died shortly before 11 June 1691, apparently in Rhode Island. [7] Mary married third William Wodell, Gershom Wodell's father in 1692. [6][7]
Gershom was on a petty jury on 28 April 1669 in Portsmough. He was a constable on 7 June 1669. [3]
Jonathan was a resident of Marblehead, where he was accused of fathering Mary William's illegitimate child. He was ordered to appear at the November 1681 Quarterly Court in Salem and his sureties posted bond. Jonathan, however, fled to Rhode Island, leaving his sureties to pay five pounds and four shillings a week for the baby's maintenance. [7]
iii. Sarah Wodell was born in October 1644. [9] She died on 15 December 1680. [9] She married Samuel Sanford, the son of John and Elizabeth Sanford, in 1661 in Portsmouth. [1, 4: 1–35][10]
iv. Alice Wodell was born on 10 February 1650/1. Alice Anthony, the daughter of William Wodell of Portsmouth and wife of Abraham of Portsmouth, died in 1734, age 84, at the home of her son Abraham in Swansea. [1, 7: 129] Alice, the daughter of William, married Abraham Anthony on 26 December 1671 in Portsmouth. [1, 4: 1–5]
v. Frances Wodell was born on 6 July 1652. Frances, the daughter of William Wodell, married John Anthony on 23 November 1669 in Portsmouth. [1, 4: 1–5][3]
References:
1. "Rhode Island: Vital Records, 1636–1850," database with images, AmericanAncestors.org. Originally Published as: James N. Arnold, Vital record of Rhode Island 1636-1850: First Series: Births, Barriages and Deaths: a Family Register for the People (Providence: Narragansett Historical Publishing Company).
2. Edwin A. Hill, "The Descendants of Robert Lay of Saybrook, Conn.," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 62 (1908): 172–8.
3. Librarian of the Rhode Island Historical Society, The Early Records of the Town of Portsmouth (Providence: E.L. Freeman & Sons, 1901).
4. Mrs. Lucy Hall Greenlaw, "Abstracts From the First Book of Bristol County Probate Records," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 63 (1909): 328–9.
5. "New England Marriages to 1700," digitized books, AmericanAncestors, originally published as Clarence Almon Torrey, New England Marriages Prior to 1700 (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2015), vol. 3: 1704.
6. Margaret Buckridge Bock, "Descendants of John Tripp of Portsmouth, R.I.," The Genealogist 4 (1983): 59–128.
7. George Ely Russell, "John Gatchell Familly of Marblehead, Massachusetts," The Genealogist 21 (2007): 3–41.
8. "Great Migration, 1634–1635, G–H," digitized book, originally published as Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration to New England, 1634–1635, Volume III, G–H (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2003), 29–30.
9. G. Andrews Moriarty, "President John Sanford of Portsmouth, R.I., and His Family," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 103 (1949): 208-216, 271-277.
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), 1628.
Last revised: 09-Aug-2023