James Penniman (1599 - 1664)

Born 14 Jul 1599 in Chipping Ongar, Essex, England

Husband of Lydia (Eliot) Wight — married 26 Jul 1631 (to 26 Dec 1664) in High Laver, Essex, England

Descendants

Died 26 Dec 1664 at age 65 in Braintree, Suffolk, Massachusetts Bay Colony

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James Penniman migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See Great Migration Begins, by R. C. Anderson, Vol. 3, p. 1426) Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Biography

James was born on 14 July 1599 in Chipping Ongar, Essex, England, the only known child of James Pennimen and Annis Wilcock.

On 26 July 1631, shortly after his thirty-second birthday, he married Lydia Eliot at an unknown location. She bore him twelve children, five sons and seven daughters :

1. Hannah Penniman, b. Braintree 26 May 1648 [ BrVR 632]; m. (1) Taunton 4 February 1671 John Hall; m. (2) Taunton 4 June 1702 Samuel Haskins [ TAG 28:253-54].
2. Abigail Penniman, b. Braintree 27 December 1651 [ BrVR 632]; m. Bridgewater 7 December 1670 John Cary [ TAG 71:18].
3. Lydia Penniman, bp. Boston 22 February 1634/5 [ BChR 279]; m. by 1653 Edward Adams (eldest child b. Medfield 12 July 1653; see COMMENTS below).
4. Joseph Penniman, b. Braintree 1 August 1639 [ NEHGR 3:247], bp. Boston 29 September 1639 [ BChR 283]; m. (1) Braintree 25 September 1666 Waiting Robinson [ [2vBrVR 717]; m. (2) Braintree 10 May 1693 "Sarah Stone, widow of Deacon John Stone of Watertown" [ BrVR 720].
5. Samuel Penniman, b. Braintree 14 November 1645 [ NEHGR 12:107]; m. Dorchester 6 January 1673/4 Elizabeth Parmenter [ DVR 23; BrVR 718].
6. Sarah Penniman, b. Braintree 16 May 1641 [ NEHGR 3:247]; m. Dorchester 19 January 1663/4 Increase Robinson [ DVR 21].
7. John Penniman, bp. Boston 15 January 1637[/8] [ BChR 281]; m. Braintree 24 February 166[4/]5 Hannah Billings [ BrVR 717].
8. James Penniman, bp. Boston 26 March 1633 [ BChR 277]; m. Boston 10 May 1659 Mary Cross [ BVR 71].
9. Bethia Penniman, b. say 1643; m. by 1673 John Allen [ SPR 6:160; TAG 71:1-6].
10. Mary Penniman, b. Braintree 29 September 1653 [ BrVR 632]; m. Braintree 4 April 1678 Samuel Paine [ BrVR 719].
11. William Penniman
12. Mary Penniman

About 1631, James migrated to the colonies.

On 26 December 1664, when he was sixty-five, he died of unknown causes in Braintree, Massachusetts.

James Penniman, the emigrant ancestor of the Penniman family in America, was one of the settlers of the town of Braintree, Massachusetts, having gone there from Boston where he at first lived. He came over in the ship Lion in 1631 with his wife Lydia Eliot (sister of John Eliot, the Apostle to the Indians), and having as fellow passengers, John Winthrop, Jr. (son of the Governor of Massachusetts Bay, and himself first Governor of Connecticut), John Eliot and his brother Jacob Eliot.

The Eliots came from Naseing, Essex, while the seat of the Penniman family was probably in Yorkshire, where the English Pennyman family still live at Marske, in Ormesby Hall (see Pennyman Records).

The connection between the English and the American families has never been satisfactorily established. The statement sometimes made that James, the emigrant was a brother of Sir Wilham Pennyman, the distinguished Royalist is not substantiated by any known record, though it is not impossible that it may be true.

As James was a Puritan it has been suggested that his Royalist relations kept no record of him or that the records were destroyed. (For James, the Emigrant, see Town Records of Braintree, Massachusetts.

For Lydia, his wife, see Town Records of Medfield, Massachusetts where her second marriage as widow of James, is mentioned and she is stated to have been the sister of John Eliot, the Apostle. For Penniman see the Pennyman Records, York 1904, Appendix N, American Pennimans.)

James Penniman, b. in England, came in the Lion, 1631, with John Winthrop, Jr.; admitted as Freeman 6th March, 1631-1632; of Boston at first; of Braintree, 1639; wife, Lydia Eliot; he d. 26th December, 1664. Lydia m. (secondly) 7th December, 1665, Thomas Wright, of Medfield (Medfield Records).

James Penniman's will is dated 18th December, 1664; proved 31st January, 1664-1665; recorded Suff. Prob., 1 : 443. Mentions his oldest son James, son Joseph, youngest son Samuel.

He says, "God hath blessed me with many children." His son James "had been educated into such a way of living, as he is having already had a portion."

Most of the children, he says, were young. Inventory, 31st January, 1664-1665, including dwelling house, £45; barn and stable, old house and orchard, £70; thirty acres of land near the Mill-Pond, £70; fifteen acres near Knight's Neck, (Quincy), £30; eighteen acres "nigh Weymouth ffery," £55, etc. Total, £505, 3s. Sworn to in court by Lydia Penniman, widow of James. (Suff. Prob., 4: 207.)

Note

"Clifford L. Stott has discovered the origin of James Penniman in Chipping Ongar, Essex, and has also provided evidence and careful arguments for the identity of the spouses of James Penniman's daughters."^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ Anderson, Robert Charles. Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-33, Volume: 1-3 (Boston: New England Historical Genealogical Society, 1995). 1426-30

• "Ancestral lineage of Josiah Harmar Penniman and James Hosmer Penniman whose immigrant ancestor was James Penniman, of Massachusetts" REPRINT FROM COLONIAL FAMILIES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Volume VII Copyright, 1920 BY Nelson Osgood Rhoades.

• Anderson, Robert Charles. Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-33, Volume: 1-3 (Boston: New England Historical Genealogical Society, 1995). vol 3. pp 1426-30. American Ancestors (subscription).

• Cary, Jay, ANCESTRY OF CHARLES MERRICK CARY, Ahnentafel Report. URL (Link via Wayback Machine, capture date 10 June 2016.) ("Ancestral lineage of Josiah Harmar Penniman and James Hosmer Penniman whose immigrant ancestor was James Penniman, of Massachusetts" REPRINT FROM COLONIAL FAMILIES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Volume VII Copyright, 1920 BY Nelson Osgood Rhoades.)

• London, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1921 : Guildhall, St Andrew Holborn, Register of marriages by banns, 1787 - 1793, P69/AND2/A/01/Ms 6670/7

• New England Marriages Prior to 1700 (Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co.)

• Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s.