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Ellen (Unknown) Winslow (abt. 1598 - 1681)

Ellen "Eleanor" Winslow formerly [surname unknown] aka Newton, Adams, Worden-unproven
Born about in Englandmap
Daughter of [father unknown] and [mother unknown]
[sibling(s) unknown]
Wife of — married about 1624 in Plymouth Colonymap
Wife of — married Jun 1634 in Plymouth Colonymap
Descendants descendants
Died at about age 83 in Marshfield, Plymouth, Plymouth Colonymap
Profile last modified | Created 26 Mar 2013
This page has been accessed 11,324 times.
The Puritan Great Migration.
Ellen (Unknown) Winslow migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See Great Migration Begins, by R. C. Anderson, Vol. 2, p. 1332)
Join: Puritan Great Migration Project
Discuss: pgm

Contents

Disputed Origins

Lack of agreement exists concerning her maiden name and parentage. See Who was the Wife of Kenelm Winslow (1599-1672) for discussion. Until these theories are resolved, she remains here Ellen Unknown.[1] There are three predominant theories:

Newton

She was Ellen, maiden named Newton. If we abide solely by the records of the time period, this is all we know from contemporaneous documentation. In the list of persons allotted land in 1623, she appears simply as "Ellen Newton."[2][3][4][5] Anderson, in Great Migration Begins, follows this theory.[6]

Widow Newton

She was Ellen, maiden name unknown, young widow of an unknown Newton at the time she arrived in Plymouth. Banks, in 1929, calls her "Mrs. Ellen Newton, widow," without explanation;[7] others have assumed she was a widow because a "maiden" would not have travelled to the New World alone, nor would she have been allotted an acre of land (but instead would have lived with another family).[8] The preceding statements regarding single women have no basis in reality. Marie Buckett arrived on the ship Anne and was granted one acre in the 1623 land division. She probably did live with another family, before her marriage. She married George Soule. There has never been any question that she was anything but a single woman.[9]

Worden

She was supposedly Ellen, daughter of Peter Worden (senior) by his first wife. The earliest record of this claim appears to be the 1868 Worden genealogy, which simply states "It is said" she was daughter of Peter.[10] Over the years, tales ranging from reasonable to ridiculous have been spun, none with any evidence whatsoever, in an ongoing attempt to justify the Worden claim (this is frequently seen with families having an accepted royal ancestry, as the Wordens do).

Peter Worden (senior)'s 1638 will mentions only a son Peter and a grandson William Lewis. The 1868 genealogy hypothesizes that Peter Worden (senior) had daughters who had received their portion earlier, and therefore were not mentioned in his will.

Others have claimed that the will of Ellen's son Kenelm Winslow (junior) referred to his first wife (Peter Worden junior's daughter Mercy) as "my cousin." However, analysis of his will finds no such text: his first wife having died by that time, only his second wife Damaris is mentioned.

One myth asserts that the Worden family were Catholic (and participated in "secret catholic meetings" with "false wall panels and trap doors"!), their nonconformity supposedly accounting for the absence of any evidence of Eleanor's birth. While there is evidence that Peter's mother's family was Catholic,[11] there is none that Peter was.

In any case, no evidence (contemporaneous or otherwise) has ever been found to support the claim that Peter Worden had a daughter named Ellen or Eleanor.

Other claims

  • On the christening record of her daughter, Ellen Winslow, the mother's name is given as Eleanor Newton. See Winslow Family Association, apparently citing Christening record of Ellen Winslow Baker. This needs to be DOUBLE CHECKED.
  • NEHGS does not accept the Worden maiden name for Eleanor.[citation needed]
  • Apparently, there is a christening record in 1599, Hertfordshire, England, for an Eleanor, daughter of John Newton who has been claimed to be this Ellen. See Ellyn Newton, d/o John c. 29 Apr 1599, Stock, Essex, "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975" (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NYGF-M93), courtesy of Gardner-2901.
  • Some source (Worden Family Association?) indicates she migrated to America with her godfather (who?) after the death of her own father in 1622.[citation needed]

Banks (1929) also includes these observations:[7]

  • John Newton and Helen his wife had a son Jeremy baptized 13 May 1621 at St. Nicholas, Colchester, which was an early Puritan [not Pilgrim] centre in Essex.
  • A William Newton married Ellen Jacus, 8 January 1603/4 at St. Botolph's without Aldgate, London, but this combination, right as to names, is too early in date.
  • As she and Mrs. Bridget (Lee) Fuller, wife of Samuel and fellow passenger, were given adjacent lots it is possible that a relationship existed between them.
  • It is stated [but he doesn't say where] that she was a daughter of Peter Worden Sr but this is given with necessary reservation.
  • It seems reasonable to suppose that she was related to one or more of the passengers, as young widows did not travel alone, as strangers, on such voyages in that day.

Biography

When Eleanor/Ellen died in 1681, her age was recorded as 83, suggesting a birth year of 1598, but the recorded age is believed by some researchers to have been inflated.[6]

On the 1623 list of land allotments in the colony, she was identified simply as "Ellen Newton". The passenger lists for the Anne (arrived 10 July 1623) and the Little James (arrived shortly thereafter) are not originals, but rather were derived from these early land records. These two ships brought new settlers along with many of the wives and children that had been left behind in Leyden when the Mayflower departed in 1620.

By the time of the 1627 division of land and cattle in Plymouth, she was married to John Adams who came from England to Plymouth, in the Fortune in 1621.[6] John Adams died in 1633, leaving his widow, Ellen, and at least one son, James Adams. She married again in 1633 to Kenelm Winslow, by whom she had several children. She was buried on December 5, 1681, in Marshfield.[12][6]

"Ellen the widdow of Kenelme Winslow was Buried the 5th : of december. 1681 : being 83 yeares old, in Marshfield, Massachusetts.[13]

Children with John Adams:[14]

  1. James, b bef 22 May 1627; m in Scituate 15 or 16 Jun or July 1646 Frances Vassall, dau of William Vassall.
  2. John, b aft 22 May 1627; m1 in Marshfield 27 Dec 1654 Jane James; m2 by 10 Dec 1666 Elizabeth ----.
  3. Susan, b aft 22 May 1627; no further record

Children with Kenelm Winslow:[15]

4. Kenelm, b abt 1635; m1 by 1668 Mercy Worden; m2 by 1693 Damaris Eames, dau of Mark Eames.
5. Ellen, b abt 1636; m in Marshfield 20 Dec 1656 Samuel Baker
6. Nathaniel, b abt 1639; m in Marshfield 3 Aug 1664 Faith Miller
7. Job, b abt 1641; m by 1674 Ruth _____. (In 1914 Richard henry Greene rejected the claim that she was daughter of Daniel Cole; considered she was related to Stephen Hopkins, but came to no firm conclusion. [16]


Sources

  1. Wikitree's Puritan Great Migration Project normally follows Anderson's Great Migration series (he gives her maiden name as Newton); however, in this case, the dispute is bigger than Anderson, so the PGM Project opts for "Unknown".
  2. James Camden Hotten, ed. The original lists of persons of quality; emigrants; religious exiles; political rebels; serving men sold for a term of years; apprentices; children stolen; maidens pressed; and others who went from Great Britain to the American plantations 1600-1700. With their ages, the localities where they formerly lived in the mother country, the names of the ships in which they embarked, and other interesting particulars. From mss. preserved in the State paper department of Her Majesty's Public record office, England, (1874), xxix-xxx for "List of those who came over in the Ann and Little James" (name "Ellen Newton" appears at page xxx); digital images, Hathi Trust (accessed 2014).
  3. William Bradford, History of Plymouth Plantation, Charles Deane, ed. (1856), 140, 142-148, including reference to Anne and Little James passenger list as "Young, p. 352" at page 142; digital images, Hathi Trust (accessed 2014). Notes "This [passenger list] and that of the passengers who came in the Fortune, in 1621, are obtained from the record of the allotment of lands, in 1624," referring then to "Hazard, I. 101-103." [Note by GeneJ: Hazard is otherwise Historical collections : consisting of state papers, and other authentic documents; intended as materials for an history of the United States of America. By Ebenezer Hazard, A.M. Member of the American Philosophical Society 2 vols (1792-1794), but only vol. 2 seems readily accessible online.]
  4. Alexander Young, Chronicles of the Pilgrim fathers of the colony of Plymouth, from 1602-1625. Now first collected from original records and contemporaneous printed documents, and illustrated with notes (1841), 351-352 (her name appears as "Ellen Newton" at 352); digital images, Hathi Trust (accessed 2014); commenting that, "This list, as well as that of the Fortune, is obtained from the record of allotment of lands, in 1624, which may be found in Hazard's State Papers, I. 101-103, and in the appendix to Morton's Memorial, pp. 378-380" [not found]
  5. Nathaniel Morton, New-England's memorial (1826), 377-370, for "The fales of their grounds which came over in the shipe called the Anne, according to their [lots] were cast, 1623," page 379 for entry "Ellen Newton"; digital images, Hathi Trust (accessed 2014).
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995-), 1:12, 2:1332, 3:2035.
  7. 7.0 7.1 Charles E. Banks, The English ancestry and homes of the Pilgrim Fathers who came to Plymouth on the "Mayflower" in 1620, the "Fortune" in 1621, and the "Anne" and the "Little James" in 1623 (1962), pages 105 (John Adams), 153 (Mrs. Ellen Newton); digital images, Hathi Trust (accessed 2014).
  8. See Martin Holleck, Re: KENELM WINSLOW 1599-1672 & ELEANOR ADAMS in GenForum, 2 Dec 2001
  9. George Soule of the Mayflower and his Descendants for Four Generations. Originally compiled by John E. Soule and Milton E. Terry. Revised by Louise Walsh Throop. Mayflower Families in Progress. Seventh Edition. Plymouth: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 2015.
  10. Oliver Norton Worden, Some Records of Persons by the Name of Worden, Lewisburg, PA: Railway Press/J.R.Cornelius (1868), p 32
  11. Shaw, John. excerpts from Worden's Past family association newsletter archived link, Wayback Machine, captured 30 March 2013
  12. Robert Charles Anderson, "Village Families Sketch: John Adams" or Plimouth Plantation Genealogical Profiles
  13. Massachusetts: Vital Records, 1621-1850 Marshfiled p. 13 (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2016). https://www.americanancestors.org/DB190/i/14517/13/265072783
  14. Anderson, Robert Charles. Great Migration Begins, Boston, MA: NEHGS 1995, pp 11-12 AmericanAncestors.org (by subscription)
  15. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Volumes I-III. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2010), (Originally Published as: New England Historic Genealogical Society. Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Volumes I-III, 3 vols., 1995). pages 2035-6. https://www.americanancestors.org/DB393/i/12107/2035/1415522782
  16. See New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, vol 45, pp 2-8; see also Mayflower Descendant, vol 6, pp 7, 11

See also:

  • Mary G. Churchill and Mary J Coffey, "The Story of Noah Adams", a biography written in manuscript from April 1962, Cavendish, Vermont.
  • Symons Genealogy [more information needed]
  • James Savage, A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England, showing three generations of those who came before 1692, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, (1860-62.), 1:11
  • Hatch, J.H. "Family of John Adams of Plymouth." The New England Historical & Genealogical Register 33 (Oct 1879): pp. 410-11. Digital image at americanancestors.org (subscription required). "She is supposed to have been Ellen Newton, to whom land was granted in 1623, among those who came in the Anne."
  • Sheppard, John H. "Genealogy of the Winslow Family." The New England Historical & Genealogical Register 17 (Apr 1863): p. 159. Digital image at americanancestors.org (subscription required). "m. Ellen, widow of John Adams, 1634."
  • Melinde Lutz Sanborn, Second Supplement to Torrey's New England Marriages Prior to 1700, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co. (1995.), p. 1
  • Samuel G. Drake, Result of some researches among the British archives for information relative to the founders of New England: made in years 1858, 1859, and 1860. Originally collected for and published in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, and now corrected and enlarged (1860); digital images, Hathi Trust (accessed 2014). Contains various reports of emigration to New England from particular research; entries open, page 11, with records about passage "begun at Christmas, 1631," so well after the time of the Ann and Little James passage. Index for "Newton" reports entry at page 113, concerns a Barbadoes passage in 1635.
  • Records of the colony of New Plymouth, in New England / Printed by order of the legislature of the commonwealth of Massachusetts. Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, ed., 12 vols in 10 (1855-1861), 12:6 for entry about "Ellen Newton"; digital images, Hathi Trust (accessed 2014).
  • Charles E. Banks, Planters of the Commonwealth. [Note (by GeneJ): The source is found referenced here, and on some of the devised lists of passengers aboard the Ann and Little James (for example, the list at Geni.com, but no page number is given. The work is not openly accessible, but may be available at Ancestry.com. Digital images at Hathi Trust are available only for limited search, with term "Newton" reported on 5 pages (53, 83, 96, 219 nd 226).]
  • William Bradford, History of Plimmoth Plantation, I:314 [Note (by GeneJ): This reference is not clear. See (a) William Bradford, History of Plymouth plantation, 1606-1646, William T. Davis, ed. (1959, reprint of 1908), 314, for 1635; digital images, Hathi Trust (accessed 2014); and (b) William Bradford, Bradford's history 'Of Plimoth plantation' (1898), 314; digital images, Hathi Trust (accessed 2014).]
  • Clarence A. Torrey, New England Marriages prior to 1700, entry for John Adams and "Eleanor/Ellen? [Newton]/?Worden"; database, AmericanAncestors.org (accessed 2014). Marriage about 1623-4 with Plymouth as a location reference. His death as 1633; she dies 1681, ae 84, having married again to Kenelm Winslow. AmericanAncestors version reports various works Torrey consulted as "Gen. Bulletin 1:61; Curtis etc. 88; Fallass 151; White (,12) 22; Reg. 4:34, 33:410-11, 87:115; Sv. 1:11; Abbe-Abbey 18; Foster 530; Cram 43-4; Pope's Pioneers 10." Details about the various works consulted by Torrey, including links to many online, have been posted on G2G ("Who was the wife of Kenelm Winslow (1599-1672)?")
  • David Parsons Holton, Winslow Memorial: Family records of the Winslows and their descendants in America with the English Ancestry as far as known. Kenelm Winslow, Volume II, New York, 1886.
  • Arthur Meredyth Burke (ed.), The Prominent Families of the United States of America, Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1908 [does not claim a maiden name or parents for her]
  • Kenelm Winslow, Pilgrim Family], New England Historic Genealogical Society AmericanAncestors.org link via WayBack Machine archive, capture date 22 February 2014] or Plimoth Plantation Genealogical Profile.
  • Contains many pictures of homestead, graves/memorials, etc.
  • Rusha Wesley, Our Quaker Ancestry, 1945
  • Nay, Robert Winslow. The Pennsylvania Winslows: The Carpenter Winslow Family of the Pennsylvania Wilds. Clearfield County Historical Society, date unknown. purchase book - author's website
  • Find A Grave: Memorial #34694524 for Eleanor “Ellen” Newton Winslow (1598-1681). Memorial of Early Settlers of Marshfield, Old Winslow Burying Ground Marshfield.
  • http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/prf/individual_record.asp?recid=540341780
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Anne_and_the_Little_James

Acknowledgements





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Comments: 38

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If you go with the theory of Worden for Ellen’s last name…

Kenelm Winslow b 1599 m Ellen Worden b 1598, dau of Peter Worden b 1569

Kenelm Winslow b 1635 m Mercy Worden b abt 1641, dau of Peter Worden b 1609

Ellen and Peter Worden are siblings, both children of Peter b 1569

This would make Kenelm Winslow b 1635 the first cousin of his wife, Mercy Worden.

It gets even more complicated when you travel down 3 generations to Levi Nichols b 1739 (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Nichols-1250). His paternal and maternal great grandmothers were siblings, so his paternal grandparents are also first cousins.

I realize the colonies were sparsely populated, but there were rules at the time about consanguinity.

posted by Cindy (Brown) Croxton
edited by Cindy (Brown) Croxton
Cousin marriages were definitely discouraged within the Puritan and Quaker churches, but not expressly forbidden in Colonial Massachusetts law. It was only illegal to marry one's spouse's sibling. There's an interesting essay written here by a Columbia student in 2009. She dug deeply into the subject.

[Edited to add:] I don't believe that she was a Worden, but the cousin-incest issue, based on the Colony law, is another one that's not correct.

posted by Bobbie (Madison) Hall
edited by Bobbie (Madison) Hall
Very interesting. I never knew that marrying a spouse's sibling was outlawed. It's such a common occurrence in my other lines, but it's true you don't see it in New England.
posted by M Cole
I've never dug into the laws, but it must have changed by 1800 or so, as I see a few of them then in Mass. Ruth (Fuller) (Trowbridge) Trowbridge being one I noticed recently.
posted by Bobbie (Madison) Hall
Following is from Joe Cochoit, copied from profile of Kenelm Winslow-119

"Turns out this is a very complicated problem for which their is no clear solution. [speaking of surname of Ellen - this profile] While there are a number of secondary sources which argue in favor of her being either Ellen/Elinor Newton, or Mrs. Ellen/Elinor Newton widow, there are no primary sources either way. It is not even proven that Ellen Newton of the 1623 land division is the same person as the Ellen who married John Adams and Kenelm Winslow. In view of the uncertainty, I would just leave her Ellen Unknown (which I also think is most likely true)."

Robert, please read the narrative that makes the case For why she was not a Worden.
posted by Jillaine Smith
Worden is a good match.
posted by Robert Richards
Worden-4571 and Unknown-194904 appear to represent the same person because: They seem to be profiles of the same person if their husband's profiles are for the same person as I have now concluded. I have no secret source of information, but I see no good reason for keeping these two pairs of profiles separate.

Theodore W. Palmer Professor Emeritus of Mathematics University of Oregon (Proprietor of T. W. Palmer Books 259 West 23rd Avenue Eugene, OR 97405-2855 (541) 343 6536)

posted by Theodore Palmer
I proposed a merge of Adams-510 and Adams-28455 also; if that's approved, we should merge these too.
posted by George Carr
Worden-4571 and Unknown-194904 are not ready to be merged because: I would say "Merge them" except that Adams-510 needs to be merged with Adams-28455, if this is to be done. I am willing to see this done, but prefer to have someone better informed propose it.

Theodore W. Palmer Professor Emeritus of Mathematics University of Oregon (Proprietor of T. W. Palmer Books 259 West 23rd Avenue Eugene, OR 97405-2855 (541) 343 6536)

posted by Theodore Palmer
Worden-4571 and Unknown-194904 appear to represent the same person because: Married name and dates match, etc.
posted by George Carr
thanks, Al. We already have that. The narrative on this profile explains why we are staying with Unknown until something more definitive surfaces.
posted by Jillaine Smith
John Adams, in Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995).

MARRIAGE: About 1625 ELLEN NEWTON (this identification, long in print, is based on the fact that she is the only Ellen in the 1623 land division, and there was no other known addition to the Plymouth population in the next few years); she married second in June 1634 KENELM WINSLOW [PCR 1:30], and was buried at Marshfield 5 December 1681 "being 83 years old" (probably an inflated age) [MarVR 13]

posted by Al Adams
I'm going on record. I disagree with the statements made (under Widow Newton) regarding the fact that single women would not be given a division of land, therefore she had to be a widow. Mary Bucket, future wife of George Soule was given a division and yes she undoubtedly traveled with and lived with another family, but she was still granted her acre in 1623. There has never been a question that she was not single at the time. Why did Banks call her Mrs. Newton in the first place?
posted by Anne B
I've been working through all the "so called evidence" of the parentage for Ellen Newton (Ellen Newton Adams Winslow) for some time now and am grateful for your indepth information as posted on this page. She is my 11 ggrandmother and I would love to find out more about her, but obviously, that information may not be forthcoming. Thank you again for your very clear, honest, and unbiased comments. Valid primary or secondary evidence would be wonderful, but I'd even take a new "lead" at this point. I'm still very proud of her contributions as a founding father of our country who endured so much hardship to pave the way for us. Thanks again for this information. BTW - I had connected her to Peter Worden and then had to delete everything! What a task that was!

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Categories: Puritan Great Migration | Anne, sailed 1623