William Odell (1601 - 1676)

Born 1601 in Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, England

Ancestors

Husband of Rebecca (Brown) Odell — married 1633 in England

Descendants

Died 6 Jun 1676 at about age 75 in Fairfield, Fairfield, Connecticut Colony

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William Odell migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See The Directory, by R. C. Anderson, p. 244) Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Biography

Disputed Origins

There is a difference of opinion regarding his birthdate and location.

William is said to have been christened in Warleyend, Cranfield, Bedfordshire, England on 24 February 1602. ^[1]

Other birthdates and locations found for this William:

24 Feb 1602 in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, England.^{[citation needed]}

or

about 1601 in Newport Pagnall, Buckinghamshire.^{[citation needed]} [Note that correct spelling is "Newport Pagnell"]

Jacobus^[2] suggested a close relationship to Mary Odell who m. at Salford, Bedford 1630 Benjamin Turney. William was in Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire (close to Salford and Cranfield, Bedford) in 1637.

The Great Migration Directory cites: ^{[citation needed]}

CoVR 2; TAG 14:224-28, 15:55-57, 21:69-83, 26:8-9m FOOF 1:445; NYGBR 44:118; NEHGR 45:7-12, 60:91

Hopefully one of these is a good source for his birth and parents.

Immigration and Removals

William emigrated to New England, being "of Concord", Massachusetts Bay Colony, by 1639. Two children were born there. William and family removed to Fairfield, New Haven Colony, by 1644, possibly traveling via Southampton, Long Island in 1642. ^[3]

Children

William and Rebecca Brown Odell had: ^[4]

1. John, b. England??, d. Stratfield 1707
2. William b. probably abt 1634 (in England), possibly abt 1644 in the New World; founder of the Westchester County Odells
3. James b. Concord 2 Jan 1639/40; buried there 4 Apr 1641^[5]
4. Rebecca b. Concord 17 July 1642;^[6], m. Samuel Morehouse

From: [1]

William Odell was born in 1601 in Newport Pagnall, Buckinghamshire, England. William Odell was the founder of the family in America. He emigrated to New England as early as 1639 in the company with Rev Peter Bulkeley, who was rector of the parish of Odell in Bedsfordshire, England, in 1620 and allied to the Odell family through marriage with Grace, daughter of Sir Richard Chetwood, the last in the line for the Barony of Wahull. They sailed in one of the ships of Winthrop's fleet to Massassachusets. William was an early Massachusetts Bay Company Puritan.

The following is a quote from The Misty Blue Hills: "The O'Dells of the United States trace back to a common ancestor, William O'Dell of Concord, Massachusetts Bay Colony, their Puritan forefather who settled there in 1639. He came from the family seat in Bedfordshire, England, with a group of Puritan friends under the leadership of Reverand Peter Buckeley and Reverand John Jones." Theirs was the first inland settlement in Massachusetts. They purchased their land from the Indians, dealing with the ruler, Squaw Sachem." William Odell had moved to Salem and Concord, MA, briefly to Long Islalnd, NY; then to Fairfield County, CT, in 1644. His name is included on a list of "settlers from Concord in 1644", in the Founders and Settlers of Fairfield (in it's entirety) 1637 - 1648 Participating in Pequannock History, by William Willard Roberts, 1934. A huge amount of research is published and available on William. Either his wife or his daughter participated in the 1654 witch trial of Goody Knapp, a transcript of which is available online. See: geocities.com

In 1660, William O'Dell, with his two sons, William II and John, and his son-in-law, Samuel Morehouse, removed to Fairfield, Fairfield Co, Connecticut. Willliam Odell's name is included in the list of first settlers of Fairfield, CT, with the date 1660. in the Fairfield, Ct, tercentenary, 1639-1939. Wiiliam II's wife's father, Richard Vowels' name is on that same list. William Odell's lot is included in a drawing of the home lots on Pequonnock Flat in the original settlement of Fairfield, CT, in The History of Fairfield: Fairfield County, CT. William Odell, as well as his son, William, were among the first 12 proprietors of Hastings, which became Rye, NY. At the time it was governed by CT. William continued to live at Fairfield, CT, however. William II removed to Rye, NY, and spent his life there.

William Odell married first Agnes Franklin (daughter of William Franklin) at Bromham, Bedfordshire, England , on 4 May 1629.^[7] Agnes died in 1632 in England. William Odell married second Rebecca Brown on May 4, 1633, at Braham, Bedfordshire, England.There is no such place in Bedfordshire. The nearest is Bromham where William's first marriage took place. But there's no such marriage to Rebecca in Bromham, or anywhere else in Bedfordshire

They had the following children:

1. William, b. 14 Nov 1634, at Newport, Pagnall, Buckinghamshire, England. (Our ancestor)
2. James, b. 02 Jan 1638 at Newport, Pagnall, Buckinghamshire, England; d. 1641 at Concord, Middlesex, MA.
3. Rebecca, b.12 Jul 1642 at Concord, Middlesex, MA; d. 1690 at Fairfield, CT.
4. John, b. 1643 at Fairfield, CT; married Mary Walker in 1666; d. 1707 at Stratford, CT.

William ODell died at Fairfield, Conn., in 1676.^[8]

His will is dated 6 June 1676 and his inventory is taken on 12 June 1676.^[9] It names his sons William and John Odell and daughter Rebecca Moorehouse. His son James had predeceased him in 1641.

William Odell had been suspected to have come from Cranfield, co. Beds., where the Parish Registers show a flourishing family of the name, but the following documents refute this and clearly prove the place of his origin and his paternity. Bedfordshire is an adjoining county to Bucks. Cranfield lies about five miles East by South from Newport-Pagnell. While Odell, no doubt the cradle of the race, is about ten miles to the North of both in Bedfordshire. The Parish Register of Newport Pagnell exists from 1558.

Edward Hartley, the aggressor in the fray, seems to have left no record of his presence in New England.

Will of RICHARD ODELL of Newport Pagnell, (Bucks.) miller, dated 21 November, 1636.

To William Odell my eldest son, my freehold land in Cranfield, co. Beds. Mary Odell my daughter £20 at marriage or 21. Elizabeth Odell, daughter of John Odell my brother, 10 shillings. Residue to Martha my wife, whom Extrx. and John Odell and Robert Markes of Newport Pagnell, blacksmith, Overseers. Witnesses: "" Richard Hull, Thomas King, Robert Bitchnoe.

Proved 10 January, 1636-7, by the Extrx. named. (Arch: Bucks:, Bk. 36, fo. 80.)

Archdeacon's Visitation holden in the Church of Newport (Pagnell) Co. Bucks., 17 April, 1637:

NEWPORT : EDWARD HARTLEY (cited) for quarrelling by words with WILLIAM ODELL in the churchyard and stabbinge the seyd William through the arme. (Here follows a list of petty fines imposed for non-appearance in answer to various citations before the Archdeacons' Court.) He was questioned for this at the Assizes and punished. In the margin appear the words :

17 October, 1639. Absunt Nova Anglia.

Beneath are the words WILLIAM ODELL ut supra. (Visitation Books, 1635-8, no folio.)

We note in the above that the Latin verb is in the//#ra/, thus clearly indicating that they are absent or abroad in New England, which is fully confirmed by the line below relating to William Odell and showing that both of the parties to the combat were then in New England. Sources: From "A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Colonial Gentry ... By Bernard Burke on page 821

Death

William died in Fairfield on 6 June 1676.^[10]

Additional information can be found at the Odell Clan website and Our Britton Ancestors Blog

History of Odell name

Last name at birth for William should be Odell, not O'Dell. William and his descendants were all born with the last name of Odell until at least 1860. It wasn't until Irish immigrants started arriving that the name started to be misspelled as O'Dell. Census takers and others started the misspelling thinking that any name that started with an O & D, must be Irish and should have an apostrophe. But Odell is not Irish, it is English and should not be spelled that way. Eventually, some Odells who had their names misspelled, started using the apostrophe version. And their descendants all used O'Dell.

To verify this, I did a last name search for the Census of 1860. There are about 5,000 Odells in that census. I could not find any of them who spelled the name with an apostrophe. Then I checked the 1910 Census, and there were about 800 people who now used O'Dell, the rest still used Odell. Probably more started using O'Dell after 1910.^[11]

Sources

1. ↑ Early Bergen County Families, compiled by Pat Wardell, [email removed], citing Odle, Paul LeRoy, "No time for tears : a history of William Odell, February 24, 1602-June 12, 1676, and his descendants"; 1999, p. 5-6. online At Brigham Young University.
2. ↑ "Families of Old Fairfield Corrections," in The American Genealogist, Vol. 20, pt. 2 pp 24,25: link for American Ancestors subscribers
3. ↑ Families of Old Fairfield: Vol. 1, Page 445
4. ↑ Families of Old Fairfield: Vol. 1,Page 445
5. ↑ "Concord, Massachusetts:Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1635-1850, p. 2: "James the sonne of william Odle"
6. ↑ "Concord, Massachusetts: Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1635-1850, p. 2
7. ↑ "The Parish Rezgister of Bromham 1570-1812. Transcript by Bedfordshire County Record Office 1937. https://archive.org/details/bedfordshirepari16bedf/page/n31
8. ↑ Probate: "Connecticut, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1609-1999"
   Connecticut County, District and Probate Courts
   Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 9049 #1099511624583 (accessed 11 October 2022)
   William Odell probate.
9. ↑ Ancestry.com (Page 1: Ancestry Sharing Link ; Page 2: Ancestry Sharing Link )
10. ↑ Families of Old Fairfield: Vol. 1, Page 445
11. ↑ Added by Thomas Odell 1/6/2019; see also [https://web.archive.org/web/20160902055327/http://gedcom.surnames.com/burgess_jim/gp6753.htm Ancestors of James Anthony Burgess: William Odell Family Group Descendant Tree (archived page from2 September 2016]

See also:

• "Family Tree," database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : modified 14 December 2018, 17:27), entry for William Odell Sr(PID https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:M9WJ-5LN); contributed by various users.
• Jacobus, Donald Lines, MA (compiler, editor), History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield (Fairfield, Conn.: The Eunice Dennie Burr Chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution, Genealogical Publishing Company, 1930)
• Early Bergen County Families, compiled by Pat Wardell, [email removed], citing Odle, Paul LeRoy, "No time for tears : a history of William Odell, February 24, 1602-June 12, 1676, and his descendants";, 1999, p. 5-6. online At Brigham Young University,