Jane (Unknown) Cole (abt. 1600 - 1687)

Born about 1600 in England

Wife of Unknown Iggleden — married about 1625 in England

Wife of James Britton — married before 1654 in Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts [uncertain]

Wife of Isaac Cole Sr. — married 1 Feb 1659 in Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts

Descendants

Died 10 Mar 1687 at about age 87 in Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts, New England

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Jane (Unknown) Cole migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Disputed Identities

Because of the presumed rarity of the Iggleden (Igulden, Egelden, Eggleton, Eggleston) surname, Savage and other authors have assumed that Jane was the same person as Elizabeth Bennett, wife of Stephen Igulden, who married second Joseph Patchen—some even going so far as to name her "Jane Elizabeth"! Due to their overlapping timelines, their remarriages to different men in different towns, and no records indicating sibling relationships among their children, the modern consensus is that they were certainly two different women.^[1]

Some early writers suggested Jane might have been a daughter of James Britton, but it was subsequently discovered that she was about 74 years old in 1674, making her too old to be a daughter. It is now accepted that she was likely James' widow, though no record of their marriage has been found.

Biography

The first record of Jane in the colonies is her marriage, as Jane Britton, to Isaac Cole 1 Feb 1659 in Woburn.^[2] James "Britain" had died 3 May 1655 in Woburn.^[3]

Isaac Cole died 10 Jun 1674 in Woburn.^[4]

A petition recorded in 1674 in Middlesex County provides additional information about the widow Jane: she was born about 1600, and she was previously widow of an unknown Eggleton, by whom she had at least two daughters:

The Humble request of Jane Cole ye relict of Isack Cole deceased, & of Samuel Bloghead & John Nutton, yt whereas Isack Cole of Wooburn died intestate and left a one hundred twenty pounds Estate: viz. fforty pounds in moveables and ye rest in house & Lands. Its their request yt their Mother in law Jane Cole may have a competency to maintain her in her old age she being about 74 years old Jf the court See fit to order ye one half of the sd Estate ye aboue mentioned parties are willing to Entertain her & ffree ye town from charges and ye Selectmen of Wooburn doe concur herein.
Cambr 6. 8. 74^[5]

The two petitioners married Jane's daughters, both surnamed Eggleton, in Woburn:

• Sarah Eggleton, m. 28 Aug 1650 John Nutting^[6]
• Ruth Eggleton m. 13 Dec 1655 Samuel Blodgett^[7]

These dates further establish that Jane's daughters were born by the 1630s, and that they and presumably Jane had arrived in New England by 1650.

Jane Cole died 10 Mar 1687 in Woburn.^[8]

Disputed Children

In 1998 three descendants of William Britton conducted an extensive search for his origin and parentage. They found no evidence to support the claim that James Britton of Woburn and his wife Jane were the parents of William, Peter, or any other children.^[9]

The earliest work to make this claim is Edward Britton's 1901 Genealogy Britton. It cites two sources, Savage and Charlestown Genealogies; however, both of those authors named only James and no children. No Britton births were recorded in Woburn, Charlestown, or Boston at that time. There is no evidence that a second son Peter existed at all. All other sources claiming James and Jane had sons William and Peter can be traced back to Genealogy Britton, not before.^[9][10][11]

Unproven Origins

The published passenger list for the ship Hercules, which departed Sandwich for New England in 1634/35, names Thos Besbeech of Ashford, Kent, as head of a family including four members surnamed Egelden: Elzab (Elizabeth), Jane, Sara, and John.^[12] Writing in his Great Migration series in 2001, Robert C. Anderson addressed a claim that these Egeldens could have been related to Jane and her daughters, dismissing it as "muddled".^[13]

In the December 2009 Connecticut Nutmegger, researcher Nancy L. Dodge summarized extensive research attempting to determine the Jane's origin and the identity of her unknown Eggleton spouse. They uncovered a Jane Bennett baptized at Frittenden, Kent, in 1602, daughter of Thomas Bennett. This Jane married Ambrose Iggulden 17 Jun 1622 in Smarden, Kent,^[14] and is named as his wife in her father's 1627 will. Jane's siblings Richard, James, Elizabeth (unmarried), and Alice (under 20) are also named.^[15]

Ambrose was second cousin of the Stephen Igulden who married Elizabeth Bennett 30 Nov 1628 in Biddenden, Kent.^[16] Jane Bennett and Ambrose Iggulden baptized children at Biddenden:^[15]

1. Elizabeth bap. 23 May 1624,^[17] named in Thomas' will, d. young
2. John bap. 19 Feb 1625/26,^[18] named in Thomas' will, bur. 30 Sep 1630^[19]
3. Richard bap. 5 Oct 1628^[20]
4. John bap. 1 May 1631^[21]
5. Elizabeth bap. 17 Nov 1633^[22]

Returning to the passenger list of the Hercules, Dodge revisits the theory that the four Egeldens who traveled with recently-widowed Thomas Besbeech and his daughters may indeed have been Jane with three of her children: Elizabeth and John whose baptisms are listed above, and Sarah whose baptism record has not been found. This leaves Ambrose and Ruth unaccounted for: Dodge suggests that Ambrose died shortly before the sailing of the Hercules, leaving widow Jane pregnant with Ruth, who would thus have been born 1635 at sea or shortly after arrival—consistent with a 1655 marriage. "Since Ambrose's mother was Ruth Fielde, it would have been very appropriate to have named a posthumous child after her."^[1]

The author concludes that the evidence is not yet sufficient to accept as proof: "My file is full of more circumstantial evidence which came to light during our extensive search. We accepted that our scenario included much of this circumstantial evidence. Though we found no primary documents to prove the births of Sarah and Ruth or the death of Ambrose, we were satisfied that we had at least a plausible theory."^[15]

Also worthy of note, Jane's future third husband Isaac Cole and his family were passengers on the Hercules; daughter Ruth's future husband Samuel Blodgett sailed in 1635 on the Increase, with perhaps Jane's future second husband James "Bitton".^[1] All settled in Woburn after its founding.

A 2012 dissertation studying the passengers of the Hercules accepts the Dodge hypothesis and expands upon it, pointing out that Jane's brother James Bennett was on board the Hercules in 1634/35, listed as a servant in the household of Nathaniel Tilden, as was Jane's future brother-in-law Joseph "Pacheing", listed as a servant of Thomas Besbeech. It also references baptism records for Jane 1601/2 and brother James 1604 in Frittenden, for Ambrose 1595 in Biddenden, and the marriage of sister Elizabeth Bennett to Stephen Igulden 1622 in Smarden.^[23]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Dodge, Nancy L. "A Lost Lady and a Missing Man: Jane (_) (Eggleston) (Britton) (Cole)." The Connecticut Nutmegger, Vol. 42 (Sep 2009), p 172.
2. ↑ Woburn Marriages, p 32
3. ↑ Woburn Deaths, p 19
4. ↑ Woburn Deaths, p 37
5. ↑ Loring, Arthur G. "Notes and Queries: Cole, Blodgett, Nutting." New England Historical and Genealogical Register, vol 59 (1905), pp 417-18.
6. ↑ Woburn Marriages, p 88
7. ↑ Woburn Marriages, p 88
8. ↑ Woburn Deaths, p 37
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1} Newcomer, Bill. "Origins of the New England, Westmoreland, NH, Brittons". https://web.archive.org/web/20230310143814/https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~mrbill/genealogy/britton-origens.html, retrieved 29 Jul 2020, archived Wayback Machine March 10 2023.
10. ↑ Britton, Edward E., Genealogy Britton. Brooklyn, NY, USA: n.p., 1901, p 7.
11. ↑ Sewall, Samuel. The history of Woburn, Middlesex County, Mass. from the grant of its territory to Charlestown, in 1640, to the year 1680. Boston: Wiggin and Lunt, 1868, p 594
12. ↑ Putnam, Eben. "Two Early Passenger Lists, 1635-1637." The New England Historical & Genealogical Register, Vol. 75 (1921), p 220.
13. ↑ Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England 1634–1635, Volume 2, C-F. Boston: New England Historical and Genealogical Society, 2001, p 156.
14. ↑ Tyler Collection, Smarden, p 73.
15. ↑ ^{15.0 15.1 15.2} Dodge, Nancy L. "Blodgett/Nutting/Eggleston Mystery Update." The Connecticut Nutmegger, Vol. 42 (Dec 2009), pp 282-3.
16. ↑ Tyler Collection, Biddenden, p 19.
17. ↑ Tyler Collection, Biddenden, p 18.
18. ↑ Tyler Collection, Biddenden, p 18.
19. ↑ Tyler Collection, Biddenden, p 20.
20. ↑ Tyler Collection, Biddenden, p 18.
21. ↑ Tyler Collection, Biddenden, p 20.
22. ↑ Tyler Collection, Biddenden, p 21.
23. ↑ Thomas, Diane. "Motivations for the 'Great Migration' to New England 1628-1640: the Case of the Hercules, March 1634/1635." http://harrisfamilynews.com/DianeThomasThesis.htm, retrieved 31 Jul 2020. (Appendix 1 references passengers' family connections, and Appendix 5c provides a family tree and notes on the Bennett/Iggleden families.)

See also:

• Johnson, Edward F., ed. Woburn Records of Births, Deaths, and Marriages from 1640 to 1873, Part III - Marriages. Boston: Winship, Daniels & Co., Printers, 1891.
• Johnson, Edward F., ed. Woburn Records of Births, Deaths, and Marriages from 1640 to 1873, Part II - Deaths. Boston: Winship, Daniels & Co., Printers, 1891.
• Ancestry.com. Kent, England, Tyler Index to Parish Registers, 1538-1874. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. This collection was indexed by Ancestry World Archives Project contributors. Original data: Tyler, Frank Watt. The Tyler Collection. Canterbury, Kent, England: The Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies.
• French, Elizabeth, transcriber. "Genealogical Research in England: Igolynden, Igleden, Egolynden, Igulden, Iggulden, Iggleden, Igglenden." New England Historical and Genealogical Register, vol 65 (1911), pp 174-87.
• WikiTree Space: Egelden, Iggulden, Eggleton, Eggleston, Children of Massachusetts
• John Brooks Threlfall. The ancestry of Margaret (Brooks) Threlfall. [Madison? Wis.]: J.B. Threlfall. 2002. #718.
• The Connecticut Nutmegger. Glastonbury, CT: Connecticut Society of Genealogists, 1970-. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009.) V.72, p. 172, 282-3. https://www.americanancestors.org/DB59/i/12776/172/144096851