Theophilus Whalley (abt. 1616 - 1720)

Born about 1616 in Kirketon, Nottinghamshire, England

Husband of Elizabeth (Mills) Whaley — married about 1668 in English Colony of Virginia

Descendants

Died 1720 at about age 104 in South Kingston, Washington, Rhode Island Colony

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Shirley Becker [send private message]

Biography

Savage states, in volume 4 of First Settlers of New England^[1], that Whalley, Theophilus, Kingstown, R. I. came from Virg with wife Elizabeth around 1676, had Joan, Ann, Theodosia, Elizabeth, Martha, Lydia, and Samuel; but it thought that if not more, the eldest two were born in Virginia. Great uncertainty attaches to almost everything he said or did, as is found often in regard to those who emigrated from a distant country, and lived to great age. Potter says he knew Hebrew, Greek, &c. and d. around 1719 or 20, aged around 104. It would have been strange if more than one myth had not sprung out of his grave. My first exercise of caution would be to examine the means of reducing his years by 20 or near, for his only son it is said, died around 1728, and it is quite improbable that when he was born the f. was much beyond 70. Besides that his wife died 8 or 10 yrs. before her husband. Dr. Stiles in the exuberance of conjecture that the requisite to sustain his credulity, supposes he may have been one of the regicides. But we know the names of all who acted in that tragedy, as well as of those who were nominated and declined to act or withdrew, as did several aft. participated some hours in the mockery of trial, before its end, among all of who is not that of Theophilus Whaley. One of those misguided men would have resorted to any other part of the world sooner than to Virginia.  

Theophilus Whalley/Whaley came to Rhode Island from Rappahannock County, Virginia, where he sold his plantation in 1665. He was university-educated and born of wealthy parents, waited upon hand and foot by servants until the age of 18, by his own reported testimony. He was in Virginia before he was 21, and served there as a military officer. He returned to England to serve in the Parliamentary army under Oliver Cromwell, who may have been a close relative. If his real identity has been deduced correctly (see below), his regiment took part in the execution of Charles I in 1649, and its commander, an officer named Hacker, was later executed. Some sources suggest that Theophilus was actually Robert Whalley - brother of Edward Whalley, one of the two regicide judges who fled England and were concealed for some time in - among other places - Hadley, Massachusetts. If this is true, "Theophilus" was an assumed name, designed to cover his past after the ascension of Charles II to the throne in 1660.

About that time, "Theophilus" returned to VA and bought land there, where he married Elizabeth Mills (1645-1715) and where two or three of their children were born. Sometime between 1665 and 1680, he came to Rhode Island, settling at the head of Pettaquamscutt Pond in Narragansett. He never spoke of his past while living in Rhode Island and made his living there by fishing, weaving, and teaching (he knew Greek, Latin and Hebrew). He seems to have avoided public notice and public office, though he sometimes penned deeds and other legal documents for less literate neighbors. Mysterious visits to his home by distinguished men from Boston and elsewhere enriched the humble life he had chosen to lead. During Queen Anne's War, a warship dropped anchor in Narragansett Bay and its captain, a kinsman of Theophilus Whaley bearing the same surname, sent a boat to Whaley's landing to invite him aboard for dinner. Whaley at first accepted, but changed his mind and did not go, explaining to a friend afterward that he feared a trap had been laid to take him back to England. This story seemed to confirm the suspicions of his contemporaries that he was himself one of the regicide judges - a suspicion that inexplicably persisted long after the movements of fugitive judges Goffe and Edward Whalley had become well known.

On 6 September 1687, Theop Weale is cited on Gov. Andros' tax roll at Rochester (renamed later to Kingstown), Rhode Island owing a “pole” (poll) tax of 1s, and a property tax of 2s 1d, which places him as an adult resident and property landholder in Kingstown, RI on this date. ^[2] This tax roll identifies a sum total of 136 heads of house living in the roughly 22.5 square mile area associated with Kingstown, RI on this date in 1687; one consequence of this sparse population is that he would have been well acquainted with many, if not all, of the individuals identified on this list. Therefore, this tax list is a defacto definition of the people who were available to be his friends, neighbors, and allies; it would be essential to cultivate strong working relationships with these neighbors in order to survive on this frontier landscape. This cross reference tool provides hot links to peruse most of the 136 Wikitree families identified in this tax roll; families who were very frequently interconnected, or became interconnected, by marriage, over the course of their lives and throughout the ensuing generations, further binding a network of neighbors into extended families. ^[3] He acquired 120 acres at East Greenwich on 30 Jan 1710, conveyed to him from the proprietors of the tract of land now comprising West Greenwich. On 20 Feb 1711, he and his wife Elizabeth deeded to their only son Samuel for love, etc., that same 120 acres. He moved, in the latter part of his life, to the house of his son-in-law Joseph Hawkins. He was buried with military honors near the home of that son-in-law in West Greenwich.

Theophilus Whaley's children were Joan, Ann, Theodosia, Elizabeth, Martha (b. 1680), Lydia, and Samuel. Only Martha's birth date is known for certain, but all the children were born after his return to Virginia about 1660.

From the Genealogical Dictionary of First Settlers of New England, V. IV: “Theophilus Whale, Kingston, R. I., came from Virginia with wife Elizabeth about 1676, had Joan, Ann, Theodosia, Elizabeth, Martha, Lydia, and Samuel; but it is thought that if not more, the eldest two were born in Virginia. Great uncertainty attaches to almost everything he said or did, as is found often in regard to those who emigrated from a distant country and lived to great age. Potter says he knew Hebrew, Greek, etc. and died about 1719/20, aged about 104. It would have been strange if more than one myth had not sprung out of his grave. My first exercise of caution would be to examine the means of reducing his years by 20 or near, for his only son, it is said, died about 1782, and it is quite improbable that when he was born the father was much beyond 70. Besides that, his wife died 8 or 10 yrs. before her husband. Dr. Stiles in the exuberance of his conjecture that was requisite to sustain his credulity supposes he may have been one of the regicides. But we know the names of all who acted in that tragedy, as well as of those who were nominated and declined to act or withdrew as did several after participating some hours in the mockery of trial before its end, among all of whom is not that of Theophilus Whale. Some of those misguided men would have resorted to any other part of the world, sooner than Virginia. Samuel Whale, the only son of Theophilus, had two wives, first a Hopkins, then a Harrington, as Potter reports; and his children were seven: Thomas, Samuel, Theophilus, James or Jeremy, John and two daughters, and that he died about 1782."

Parents' Marriage

Date: 1595

London, England

Note: They were married by the Bishop in the Diocese of London.

Husband: Richard Whalley

Sources

1. ↑ A genealogical dictionary of the first settlers of New England, showing three generations of those who came before May 1962, on the basis of Farmer's Register ..by Savage, James, 1784-1873; Farmer, John, 1789-1838. Genealogical register of the first settlers of New England; Dexter, O. P. (Orrando Perry), 1854-1903, Publication date 1860
2. ↑ Roberts, Gary Boyd; Genealogies of Rhode Island Families, Vol. II, Niles - Wilson; Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore 1989. RI Taxes under Gov. Andros pages 592- 594.
3. ↑ Randolph Beebe; Cross Reference: Gov. Andros 1687 Rochester RI Tax Register to Wikitree profile; Wikitree Free Space Profiles, 2024.

• Whaley, Rev. Samuel. English Record of the Whaley Family and Its Branches in America. Ithaca, N.Y: Andrus & Church, 1901). Pages 70-90 et seq
• Goldman, Howard A. “That Good Old Man – Whoever He Was.” Old Rhode Island, vol. 2, Issue 6. July 1992. pp. 32-40.
• Stiles, Ezra. A History of Three of the Judges of King Charles I. Major-General Whalley, Major-General Goffe, and Colonel Dixwell: Who at the Restoration of 1660, Fled to America; and were Secreted and Concealed, in Massachusetts and Connecticut, for Near Thirty Years. Hartford, CT: Printed by Elisha Babcock, 1794.
• Updike, Wilkins. History of the Episcopal Church in Narragansett, RI. New York: H.M. Onderdonk, 1847. Picture of the Whaley home, p. 352.
• Information provided by Robert G. Nohavec, 3 May 2006.
• National biographical publishing co., pub. (1881). The Biographical Cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island. Providence: National Biographical Publishing Co.
• Austin, J. O. (1887). The genealogical dictionary of Rhode Island: Comprising three generations of settlers who came before 1690: with many families carried to the fourth generation. Albany: J. Munsell's Sons." (p. 221)
• Moriarty, G. Andrews. "Theophilus Whaley of Virginia and Rhode Island." The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 66, no. 1 (1958): 76-79. Accessed May 30, 2021.

Acknowledgements

• This person was created through the import of Bwiki.ged on 03 April 2011.
• This person was created through the import of mostrecentforgramps.ged on 13 September 2010.
• This person was created through the import of grant2.ged on 07 February 2011.
• This person was created through the import of Sheppard_Duncan_Bickham_Stroud.ged on 01 February 2011.
• WikiTree profile Whaley-300 was created through the import of Steve Sanders family tree_2011-08-28.ged on Aug 30, 2011, by Steve Sanders. See the Changes page for the details of edits by Steve and others.
• WikiTree profile Whaley-297 was created through the import of Clancy Family 9.ged on Aug 22, 2011, by Shirley Becker. See the Changes page for the details of edits by Shirley and others.
• WikiTree profile Whalley-147 was created by Patrick Barnum through the import of barnum.ged on May 19, 2014.