Joanna (Boyse) Bishop (1615 - aft. 1681)

Born 1615 in Halifax, Yorkshire, England

Ancestors

Wife of Peter Prudden — married about 1639 in New England

Wife of Thomas Willett — married 19 Sep 1671 in Milford, New Haven, Connecticut

Wife of John Bishop — married after 25 Oct 1674 in Connecticut

Descendants

Died after 8 Nov 1681 after age 66 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut

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Joanna (Boyse) Bishop migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Biography

Joanna Boyse was probably born in Halifax, Yorkshire, England, where her parents Rev. John & Joanna (Stowe) Boyse lived. Their youngest child, John, was baptized in 1618, in Halifax. Her father's will in 1620, mentions five unnamed daughters, but her mother's 1630 will names Joanna last in a group of daughters. She didn't marry until after 1637, so about 1615 seems a reasonable estimated date.^[1]

She probably came to New England about 1636 with her brother-in-law and sister Silence and settled in Roxbury, Massachusetts, where as "Joanna Boyce, a maide" she was a member of Rev. John Eliot's congregation sometime between 1631 and 1650.^[2]

She married the Rev. Peter Prudden. No record of where or when her marriage occurred has been found,^[3] but it is known that it was in New England, between his arrival (summer 1637) and the 1640 baptism of their first child in Milford, in the year that the New Haven and Milford settlers spent there (summer 1637-spring 1638) would seem likely. An unsourced date of July 2, 1637, is sometimes seen on the internet. ^[4]

During the early years of Peter Prudden's life in New England, he removed to Quinnipiac (later New Haven) with Eaton and Davenport, did some interim preaching in Wethersfield, Connecticut, and began his own town in a place known as Wepawaug by the natives, and later called Milford. In Milford Peter and Joane raised their children.^[3] The Milford church was organized at New Haven 22 Aug 1639. Joannah Prudden, wife of Peter, was admitted 2 Dec 1639.^[5]

The Rev. Prudden died April 1656.^[6] Mris. Joanna Prudden, widow and executrix affirmed the correctness of his inventory.^[7]

She continued to live in Milford for the next 15 years as her children grew to maturity.^[1]

She married (2) Thomas Willett in Milford, 19 September 1671.^[8] (Savage says her gravestone of 1699 calls her his only wife and finds the error peculiar, but Burgess reads the stone to say 1669 and attributes it more correctly to the first wife.) There were no children of her marriage to Willett.^[9] The following day, 20 Sep 1671, her youngest daughter Mildred married Sylvanus Baldwin.^[8]

Thomas Willett, was wealthy, respected and lived at Plymouth. They lived for a while in New York, then went to Rehoboth and Swansea, Massachusetts. She returned to Milford after his death in 1674.^[1]

Mrs. Joanna Willet was admitted, 25 Oct 1674, to the Milford Church from the Church of Christ at Rehoboth, Massachusetts.^[5]

Joanna married (3) John Bishop^[10] after 25 Oct 1674, the date of her admittance to the Milford Church. Rev. John Bishop, a Puritan divine, was chosen minister of Stamford, Connecticut in 1643. It is said he went on foot to Stamford, carrying his Bible under his arm. Joanna was his second wife.^[11]

Mrs. Joanna Bishop's will was dated 8 Nov 1681.^[12] Bequests were made to her eldest son Samuel; second son John; five daughters, Joanna, Elizabeth, Abigail, Sarah, Mildred; two children of the decd daughter Mary Walker; husband Mr. John Bishop.

An inventory was taken 22 Mar 1682/83 in Milford,^[13] and inventory taken in Stamford on 5 May 1683.^[12]

Her husband, Rev. Bishop, requested in his will to be buried between his two wives, who went to Heaven before him.^[14]

No markers have survived and it is unknown precisely where they were buried. There is a Find a Grave memorial located at St Johns and St. Andrews Episcopal Cemetery in Stamford.^[15]This church was not established until 1742, long after the deaths of Bishop and his wives.

Children of Peter and Joanna, bpt. at Milford

1. Joanna bpt. Milford 30 Aug 1640;^[6][13] m Thos. Chittenden^[13]
2. Mary bpt 4 Dec 1641 m. Rev. Zachariah Walker^[13] or bpt 5 Dec 1641^[6]
3. Elizabeth bpt 5 Mar 1642/3;^[6] m. Jehu Burr^[13]
4. Samuel Prudden bpt. 18 Feb 1643/4;^[6][13] d. Milford 1685; m. Grace Judson.^[13] He was adm full com. 5 Feb 1671^[6]
5. John Prudden (Rev.) bpt Nov 1645; d. Newark, New Jersey 11 Dec 1725; m. Grace^[13] He was bpt 1645 and adm. full comm 30 Jan (or Feb) 1675.^[6]
6. Abigail bpt. 13 Feb 1647/8;^[6][13] d. abt Jan 1717/8; m. (1) Joseph Walker; m. (2) Srgt Richard Hubbell. ^[13]
7. Sarah; b. 9 May 1650; bpt the 12th; m. Gideon Allen^[13] or bpt. 12 May 1650^[6]
8. Peter Prudden (1652 - 1652) bpt 30 May 1652; d. 10 June 1652.^[13] or bp 25 Jun 1652; d. June 10 following.^[6]
9. Mildred bpt. 14 May 1653;^[6][13] d. Milford 6 Jan 1711/2; m. Silvanus Baldwin ^[13]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Prudden, Lillian Eliza. Peter Prudden; a story of his life and New Haven and Milford, Conn. New Haven: Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor company, 1901 will p. 105 Joanna p. 54-61
2. ↑ Thwing, Walter Eliot. History of the First Church in Roxbury, Massachusetts, 1630-1904. Boston : W.A. Butterfield, 1908. (p. 54)
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} "Rev. Peter Prudden, Pastor and Founder of Milford, Connecticut, and his English Ancestry." The American Genealogist. New Haven, CT: D. L. Jacobus, 1937-. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009 - .) Vol. 16:8-12
4. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #29448747
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} Connecticut. Church Records Index. Milford First Congregational Church 1639-1926. Connecticut State Library, Hartford, Connecticut, 1950.
6. ↑ ^{6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 6.10} Connecticut. Church Records Index. Milford First Congregational Church 1639-1926. Connecticut State Library, Hartford, Connecticut, 1950.
7. ↑ Hoadley, Charles J, MA. (editor) Records of the Colony or Jurisdiction of New Haven, From May 1653 to the Union. Hartford: Case, Tiffany and Company, 1858. p. 203
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1} White, Lorraine Cook, ed. The Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Vital Records. Vol. 1-55. Milford. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1994-2002.
9. ↑ Robert Charles Anderson, Great Migration Study Project
10. ↑ D.L. Jacobus, Families of Old Fairfield, vol. 1: 77
11. ↑ William Richard Cutter, Genealogical and Family History of the State of Connecticut: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Founding of a Nation, New York, NY: Lewis Publishing Company, 1911.
12. ↑ ^{12.0 12.1} “New Haven Probate Records, Vol. 1-2, 1647-1703”, database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L92K-G9NX-K : 10 March 2021), New Haven, Connecticut, FHL microfilm 007626739, image 203. New Haven Probate Record, 1647-1687, Vol. 1, Part 2, page 108-110.
13. ↑ ^{13.00 13.01 13.02 13.03 13.04 13.05 13.06 13.07 13.08 13.09 13.10 13.11 13.12 13.13} 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, 1930. Prudden p. 494
14. ↑ 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, 1930. Bishop p. 77
15. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #50504127, Find A Grave: Memorial #34716079

See also:

• Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, vols. 1-3, Boston, Suffolk, Ma: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995
• Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, "International Genealogical Index," 1980, 2002, data as of July 2, 2007
• Yates Publishing "U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900," Provo, UT: The Generations Network, Inc., 2004
• The Hon Jonathan Jackson and Hannah (Tracy) Jackson, their ancestors and descendants: North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000 [database on-line]: Ancestry.com
• Houghton, Roy M., Manual of The Church of Christ Congregational in Milford, Connecticut (Milford, Connecticut, 1945) Page 21.