78. GOVERNOR WILLIAM CODDINGTON(c. 1601–1678)

The origins of the migrant ancestor William Coddington are uncertain. He may be the son of Robert Coddington of Marston, Lincolnshire, a prosperous yeoman, and his wife Margaret. [1]

William Coddington was born about 1601, based on a deposed age of 76 on 27 September 1677. He was buried on 6 November 1678 in Newport. He married first Mary Unknown by 1626. She may have been Mary Burt of Alford. She died in the winter of 1630/1 in Boston. He married second Mary Mosley on 2 September 1631 in Terling, Essex. She was buried on 30 September 1647 in Newport. He married third Anne Brinley. [2]

William came to Boston in 1630. He was admitted to the Boston Church in the winter of 1630/1 as member 92. He returned to England in 1631 and stayed for two years. He was made a freeman on 25 May 1636: a formality as he had been an assistant in England. He was an assistant in the Massachusetts Bay Colony on 18 March 1629/30 and many times thereafter. He was treasurer on 14 May 1634 and for two years thereafter. He was a magistrate on 25 May 1636. He was a deputy for Boston on 17 May 1637 and two times after. He was a selectman in Boston on 1 September 1634. [3]

William went to Portsmouth, Rhode Island in 1638 and to Newport in 1639. He was a signer of the 1638 compact in Portsmouth. He was a judge in Portsmouth on 7 March 1637/8. He was governor of Rhode Island in 1640 to 1642 and in 1678 until his death. He was deputy governor on 5 May 1674. He was an assistant from Newport in 1647. He was president of Providence Plantations on 16 May 1648. He was a judge at Newport on 28 April 1639. [4]

William sailed went back to England at the end of March 1631. He remained for two years and courted Elizabeth (Fones) Winthrop. She married Robert Feake instead and “went on to her notorious career.” [5] Anya Seton wrote a fictionalized account of her life, The Winthrop Woman.

79. ANNE BRINLEY (c. 1628–1708)

Anne Brinley was the daughter of Thomas Brinley of Datchet, county Buckinghamshire. [6] She was born about 1628, based on her age at death. She died on 9 May 1708, age 80, in Newport. [7] She married Governor William Coddington as his third wife.

Thomas Brinley was the Auditor General of the Revenue to Charles I and a noted Cavalier sufferer in the English Civil War. [8]

On 19 February 1673/4 Francis Brinley sold land bounded on the north by his sister Ann Coddington’s land and on the west by his cousin William Coddington’s land. [9]

A portion of Anne’s will survives: she refers to her deceased husband William Coddington and left bequests to her son Nathaniel. [10]

English Ancestry of Anne Brinley

Anne was the daughter of Thomas Brinley of Datchet Buckinghamshire. Thomas died on 15 October 1661. He married Anne Wase. Anne was the daughter of William Wase, who was born in 1580 and died on 19 September 1642.

The slab on the floor of the nave in the church at Datchet says: [11]

Here lieth the body of Thomas Brinley, Esq., who was one of the auditors of the Revenue of King Charles the First and King Charles ye Second. Born in the City of Exeter. He married Anne, youngest daughter of Wm Ware [Wase] of Petworth in Sussex, gent., who had issue by her five sons and seven daughters. He dyed the 15th day of October in the year of our Lord 1661. Here also lieth buried ye body of the above said William Ware [Wase] who died the 19th of Sept. 1642, aged 62 years and 5 months.

Thomas was clerk to Richard Budd, who was living in Datchet by 1625 and whose sister had married into the Wase family. Richard Budd left Thomas his copy of Sir Walter Raleigh's History of England.

Thomas was stripped of office, possibly lost his property and may have gone into hiding. [12] On the restoration of Charles II in 1660 it appears from his tombstone that his position was restored, but he died the next year. Judging from the inventory of his estate, it appears that Thomas was living in the manor house at Datchet at the time of his death. [13]

In his will, dated 13 Sep 1661 with a codicil added 11 Dec 1661, Thomas Brinley of Datchett, Buckinghamshire left one third of his tenements in Newcastle-in-Tyne and two thirds of the manor of Burton in Yorkshire to his eldest son Francis. He left half the township or manor and all his lands and tenements in Wakerfield purchased in the names of William Wase of Durham, Robert Worrall, Michael Lambcroft and John Maddock, to his wife Anne for life and then to Francis. He left other lands to Anne for life and to his second son Thomas and third son William. He mentions his daughter Mary, widow of Peter Sylvester; his daughter Grissell, wife of Nathaniel Grissell, gentleman, of Shelter Island; his brother Lawrence Brinley, merchant of London. His will was witnessed by William and Budd Wase. [14]

Children of Thomas Brinley and Anne Wase:

i. Anne Brinley
ii. Francis Brinley was born in 1632. He went to Barbados, but, not liking the climate he moved to Newport as early as 1652. He acquired considerable property and was a judge in the Court of Common Pleas in Rhode Island. He collected books and by 1713 his library had over 200 works. [15]
iii. Thomas Brinley
iv. William Brinley
v. Richard Brinley was the godson of Thomas's mentor Richard Budd.
vi. Grissell Brinley was baptised on 6 January 1635/6 at St. James Church, Clerkenwell. She married Nathaniel Sylvester in 1653. Nathaniel was the son of Giles and Mary (Arnold) Sylvester. When her older sister Anne and her husband returned to Newport in 1653 they took Grissell with them. After her marriage to Nathaniel, she lived on Shelter Island. Nathaniel and his brother Constant were sugar traders and used Shelter Island as a provisions base for their ships. Grissell and her husband were Quakers and offered sanctuary to the persecuted. Nathaniel signed his will in 1680, among his bequests to his wife and children were 24 African slaves. [16]
vii. Rose Brinley married Giles Baker, who held the manor of Ripple in Kent. [17]
viii. Mary Brinley married Peter, the brother of Nathaniel Sylvester. [18]
ix. Unknown Brinley married Richard Hackle, Esq. [19]

Thomas is said to be the son of Richard Brinley of Willenhall, Staffordshire and Joane Reeve. Richard is said to be the son of Lawrence Brinley of Willenhall and Lawrence is said to be the son of Christopher Brinley or Brindley of Wildgoose House, near Leake, Staffordshire. [20]