John Clapp (1649 - bef. 1726)

Born 25 Mar 1649 in Deptford, Kent, England

Husband of Elizabeth (Channell) Clapp — married 26 Mar 1671 in Deptford, London, , England

Husband of Sibella (Axtell) Clapp — married 9 Apr 1684 in Charleston, Charleston, South Carolina

Husband of Dorothy (Ray) Clapp — married 1689 in , Newport, Rhode Island

Descendants

Died before 18 Feb 1726 before age 76 in Rye, Westchester, New York

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Biography

Captain John Clapp was baptized in Deptford, Kent, England on 1 April 1649, the son of Elias Clapp and Susan Gilson. ^[1] His first marriage was at Saint Nicholas, Deptford, London, England when he was 20 and Elizabeth the daughter of Luke Channell, gentleman, was 16. Their three children were born in England – but only one, Gilson, survived to be an adult.

As a sea captain and merchant, Capt. Clapp may have voyaged to the Americas prior to August 1680, when he arrived in Charleston, South Carolina, with four servants. The first known land warrant bearing his name is dated 18 October 1680. According to another warrant, his wife and child arrived on 9 October 1682.

Several documents identify John Clapp as an early land holder in Charleston, South Carolina, during the 1680s . The first permanent settlement in South Carolina was Charleston founded after King Charles granted a charter in 1663. First settled at Albermarle in 1670, it was moved to its present site at the juncture of the Ashley and Cooper Rivers in 1680. John Clapp owned house lots in Charles Town (Nos. 31, and 71) and, reportedly three plantations, one called "Westpenhea" on the west side of the Ashley River, another on James Island on the east side of the Stono River, and a third on Cooper River .

From Land Records

23 Dec 1681: You are forthwith to cause to be admeasured and laid out unto John Clapp Gentleman three hundred and forty acres of land in the right of himselfe and fower servants namely Peter Cross, George Gibbon, Honour Crawley, and Dorothy Smith arriveing in August 1680 in some place not yett laid out or marked to be laid out for any other person or use…

19 Jan 1685/6: John Clapp to Mr James Torquett both of the province, merchants, for a competent sum of lawful money of England, all that parcel of land commonly known by the name of Capt Clapps Plantation containing about 433 acres situate of the eastern side of Stonoh River bounding Wward on sd river, Nerly on land of Edwd Wilson, Serly on land of Doctor Napper, formerly of Robert George, Eerly on lands of several person.

John’s first wife Elizabeth did not survive long in South Carolina. John Clapp recorded: "April the 9 1684 I maryed Ma[dam] Sebilla Hulton ye widow & [r]elict of Mr. Willm. Hulton Apothicary & ye Eldest Daughter of [La]ndgrave Daniel Axtell: also Deceased: joyned in wedlock by [R]ev. John Lawson." Daniel Axtell had been issued a warrant to lay out 3,000 acres in South Carolina on 13 Dec 1680; in Aug 1681 he was created a landgrave.

Cassiques (junior) and Landgraves (senior) were intended to be a fresh new system of titles of specifically American lesser nobility, created for hereditary representatives in a proposed upper house of a bicameral Carolina assembly. They were proposed in the late 17th century and set out in the Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina. The Fundamental Constitutions were never ratified by the assembly, and were largely abandoned by 1700.

On 14 May 1684, John Clapp was administrator of the estate of William Hulton. Gov. Morton committed Clapp and Sibilla, his wife, to make a full inventory by July to satisfy all debts.

John and Sebilla had a son John, but their marriage was short-lived. "[missing] ary 12th 1685: about ye hours of 6 & 7 p.m. It pleased ye Almig[hty] God to Take from me to himself my Second Dear Tender & loveing [wife] Sebilla."

John Clapp remained in Charlestown as a merchant and planter until about 1688. As part of his maritime or mercantile business, Capt. John probably visited New York and Block Island, Rhode Island, before moving north to Flushing, Queens County, on Long Island, on the opposite side of East River from Manhattan.

His third marriage was to Dorothy Ray in 1689 of Block Island. Dorothy Clapp was a child of Simon Ray, one of the first settlers of Block Island. Born in Hundon, England, Ray came to America with his parents about 1640, settling first in Braintree, Massachusetts, and then on Block Island (which lies off the eastern end of Long Island). Dorothy's mother was Mary, daughter of Captain Nathaniel Thomas of Marshfield, Mass.

Block Island is part of the state of Rhode Island and located in the Atlantic Ocean approximately 13 miles south of the coast of Rhode Island. In the 2000 census, the population of 1,010 lived on a land area of 9.734 square miles

John and Dorothy’s sixth and last child was Elias, our direct ancestor.

New York City was an older settlement than Charleston. Originally purchased by the Dutch in 1626, New York became English when England took all of New Netherland in 1664. During 1673-74, while England and the Netherlands warred in Europe, the Dutch reclaimed New York, but by the terms of the peace treaty New York was returned to the English. Though Capt. Clapp arrived after the Dutch wars (and Indian wars), he was present for another battle. In 1689, while the governor was away, some New Yorkers rebelled against their officials (for some good reasons), and Jacob Leisler took control of the government. It was a time of turmoil and unrest.

In the year 1690, the inhabitants of the towns of Hampstead, Jamaica, Flushing and Newtown on Long Island, directed Captain John Clapp to write a protest to the new monarchs, William and Mary, through their secretary of state, against "the severe oppressions and tyrannical usurpations of Jacob Leisler and his accomplices." This letter has been truly called "telling and bitter."

In his letter of November 1690, John Clapp claims that two of Leisler's men "base villains with their collected Rabble in a barbarous and inhuman manner came over from New York to Long Island, and there did break open plunder and destroy the houses and estates of there Majtes subjects in a most rude and barbarous manner not regarding Age or sex, stripping our wives and daughters of there weareing aparill carrying away with them all that was portable shooting at and wounding divers poore Englishmen (:some deemd mortally wounded:) whose rage and fury yett stoppt not heare: but flew so far as to sequester our estates and expose them to sale, a piece of Tyranny yett unknown to freeborn English subjects, not convicted of crime meritorious of such a punishment giveing no other reason for there soe doeing, but because we woold not take commissions from the pretended Lieut Govr to bee part executioners of his Tyranical will and exorbitant comands; and extort an illegal tax from the subjects, for denying of which there is now 104 persons of us, men of the chiefest and best estates upon Long Island are driven from our beings and dispossessed of our freeholds."

The skillfully crafted letter is designed to appeal on many levels: “wee in a deep sense of our miseries and bad condition doe with all humility presume to acquaint Your Lordship with our present state and on our bended knees implore their Gracious Majties to cast a propitious eye of clemency and grace upon us, and not suffere there poore subjects totally to be ruined and undone by these monsters of men, whoe when they have done their utmost to ruine there Majties faithful people, wee have just cause to beleave will inevitably betray there Majtes City, Fort and province of New York to the French, hee not being able in the least measure to answer to those many and grievous crims he has committed which must be laid to his charge, which will force him to shelter under Cataline’s maxim (:The Ills that I have done can not be safe but by attempting greater:).” The quotation is from Ben Johnson’s play Catiline about a Roman patrician who headed a conspiracy to overthrow the government and obtain all places of power and trust for himself and his followers.

In March 1691, Leisler surrendered to the new governor appointed by the crown, Henry Sloughter. Gov. Sloughter called an assembly and this marked the beginning of representative government in New York. The new governor appointed John Clapp to be clerk of the House of Representatives on April 9, 1691. Clapp served in this capacity until April 1697.

In August 1690, Clapp was in Flushing. By the next February, the Clapps had moved from Long Island to New York. Bowery where he was appointed pound-keeper on March 31, 1693. His location there is recorded in the New York tax lists from 1695 to 1698. He apparently continued there through 1705. In the Bowery he took up a new occupation. Whereas a June 1691 document described Capt. John, while he still resided in Flushing, as a merchant, an April 1695 list of New York Freemen identified Clapp as a victualler. He kept a tavern at the southwest corner of Bowery Lane and the Sand Hill Road. Reportedly, in March 1690, Jacob Leisler described Clapp’s tavern as “a good neat house, about two miles from the city.” Clapp apparently always owned several properties and may have maintained overlapping residences in Long Island and Manhattan.

Clapp owned several lots of land in New York. That he let some property is evidenced by the will of Lucas Stanton of New York, dated June 1692 in which he leaves 10 pounds “to my landlord Captain John Clapp” “to buy him a mourning ring, in consideration of the trouble I have given him.”

In 1697, Clapp issued an Almanack for the Year 1697, published by William Bradford, in which he listed his tavern, the "baiting place where Gentlemen take leave of their friends, and where a parting glass or two of generous wine 'If well apply'd makes their dull Horses feel/One spur i' th' Head is worth two in the heel.'" It states that the distance from New York to Boston over the Forest Path is 274 miles and names the places and distances between them where travelers could find entertainment for man and beast. “From the Post Office in New York to J. Clapp’s in the Bouwery is 2 mile.” The almanac closes with the notice: "At the aforesaid Clapps, about two miles without the City of New-York, at a place called the Bowr'y, any Gentleman Travellers that are Strangers to the City, may have very good Entertainment for themselves and Horses, where there is also a Hackny Coach and good Saddle Horses to be hired." Family tradition tells that Capt. John kept the tavern at the request of the governor who resorted there with his associates "for their amusement in enjoying his company, for he was said to be very amusing."

Clapp’s almanac is weighty evidence of his reputation as a learned man, already manifest to a lesser degree in the Leisler letter. The fact that he produced such a volume would have been impressive in his contemporaries’ eyes. Furthermore, the book has been cited in modern scholarly articles. One noted the earliest known American translation of Dante, albeit only a snippet, in Clapp’s almanac . Others have discussed the cosmology of early almanacs, noting that Clapp’s almanac included a ten-page essay on the Copernican worldview. Regardless of whether the science stands up today, it is evidence that he had studied and could discourse on scientific subjects. There is no documentary corroboration, though, that anyone thought he was possessed of supernatural agency.

Among the land that the Clapps owned in New York was a 5-acre tract originally part of the Stuyvesant lands which John and Dorothy sold on July 27, 1697 to John Hutchins.

In 1703 the Clapps were still in New York and their household appears in the 1703 census, in the Out Ward. The Clapp Family in the 1703 Census: 2 males aged 16-60, 2 males under 16, one female, 2 male negroes and 1 female negro. Likely Capt. John; son Gilson: John, Benjamin or Elias: Dorothy and 3 slaves. It is likely that Capt. John owned slaves on his Carolina plantations as well. A Gillson Clapp (died in 1698) of South Carolina was involved in the slave trade. It is not known what trade Capt. John was engaged in.

By 1704, the Clapps had invested in unsettled land to the north. While Lord Cornbury was governor and perhaps on his advice (as stated in the traditional story), John Clapp moved to Westchester County. The fact that John named a son Cornbury suggests that he knew Lord Cornbury. Lord Cornbury – Edward Hyde (1661-1824), the third Earl of Clarendon, (first cousin to Queen Anne) – was governor of New York and New Jersey from 1701 to 1708, when Capt. John was in his 50s. Unfortunately, Lord Cornbury was not to be a good governor, earning a reputation as a spendthrift, bigot, a drunken and vain fool, and an embezzler.

During the colonial period, life in Westchester was quite primitive. Roads were few and in poor condition. Transportation was heavily dependent on water routes. Nearly everything settlers consumed was raised or made on their farms. They bartered wood, cattle and food for items that they could not produce themselves. Colonial churches not only served as religious centers but also played an important social and political role.

In 1704, John Clapp was one of twenty-nine proprietors of the township of Bedford, in Westchester Co., their patent being granted by Queen Anne, through Gov. Cornbury. Large tracts of Westchester land were established as manors or patents. Manors were held by a single proprietor, while patents were held by groups of associates. The lords of the manors and patents leased land to tenant farmers and provided many essential services to the tenants.

In 1705, John Clapp purchased from the Native Americans a large tract in the neighborhood of Rye Pond in North Castle and another large tract in Rye Township. He again bought land from the Native Americans in 1710. Other land grants were recorded in 1707, 1708, 1709, and 1715. Within the Northcastle grant, Clapp reserved 300 acres for his own family's use. His land bordered and perhaps extended into Greenwich, Connecticut, leading the family into some disputes relative to the boundaries.

The first 1705 purchase from the Indian proprietors on the north side of Rye Pond, in Northcastle, Westchester Co., is described in the deed:

All the land above mentioned, from the said north-west side of said pond, running west northerly three miles, more or less, and from thence running north-eastwardly four miles, more or less, on a run or river called Bruncks's river, and from thence east northerly three English miles, more or less, and then from thence runs south-westerdly to the place from whence it began, taking in and including a small pond called Cranberry pond, unto John Clapp, his heirs, executors, administrators, &c, reserving three hundred acres for our own use, for the sum of £10, that is to say, four pieces of eight, or money, and the other £8 10s. in such goods as are agreed upon by said parties. Signed sealed and delivered in presence of us, Roger Thoryon, The mark of Cj Patthunck, sen. The mark of Daniel The mark of ^ Panridge.Headley. The mark of < Wapeto Patthunck, jun. The mark of O younger Patthunck.

The Native American inhabitants of what would become Westchester County were part of one of the Algonquian peoples whose name for themselves was Lenape ("the people"). The region inhabited by the Lenape—called by them Lenapehoking—consisted of the area around and between the Delaware and lower to middle Hudson Rivers.

Capt. John continued to be a community leader in Westchester. In 1707, he was appointed clerk of the County of Westchester, a position he retained until 1711. In 1710, he made a census of the county for Secretary Clarke. He is described in French's History of Westchester as "leader of the yeoman...a sagacious and energetic man."

Westchester Family: Capt. John may have married a fourth time. A John Clapp married Mrs. Ruth Ferris on 19 Jan. 1707-08 in Stamford, Conn., a town east of Greenwich in Fairfield County. Ruth was the widow of two men, Daniel Weed, by whom she had two children, and Peter Ferris. (While it has been suggested elsewhere that Ruth Ferris married John Clapp Jr., the dates do not seem right. John Jr. was only 17, but Ruth was formerly married to men about the age of Capt. John or older .)

One story from the Westchester era involving the Clapp family is that in 1718 "Samuel Mills, the constable of Greenwich, went to the house of one of the inhabitants of Rye, living close upon the Connecticut line, and demanded of him the rates due to the minister of the parish of Horseneck. Upon his refusal, the constable and his assistant 'took him into safe custody, and put him under keepers, in order to be committed to gaol, there to lye, till said Rates and charges were paid.' Elated by success, the constable was proceeding to the neighbors' houses on the same errand, when, as he relates, 'There did meet us one John Clap, Elias Clap, Benjamin Clap, and Thomas Sutton, all with clubs in their hands; ... and John Clap asked me where I was agoing; and I said, to your house and your neighbours' houses; and he and the other three run across the lots to his house and shut to the doors, and told me if I came in they would knock me in the head; and then I went from them, and was coming home, about a quarter of a mile from the Colony line and within the township of Greenwich; and there came up to me Adam Ireland, Thomas Sutton, John Clap, Elias Clap, Benjamin Clap, all of the Government of Connecticut, and [sundry others] ... and said Ireland asked, Where is the constable of Greenwich? and said he had a warrant to take me prisoner.' Then the said company soon laid hands upon the deponent, and by force and violence pulled him off from his horse, threw away his constable's staff, and carried him and the collector before Justice Budd of Rye." The boundary was not settled by survey until 1731 . (It is not stated whether the John Clap of the story is Capt. John or son John, though it appears they all shared one house and John Jr. was then married.)

According to Baird's History of Rye, in 1718 Capt. John was styled a "reputed Quaker." John Clapp was raised as Anglican. Any conversion to the Society of Friends would probably have occurred in New York. Flushing, Long Island, was the setting of successful missionary efforts among the Friends, many of whom also held meetings in Westchester, where they won converts. In Rye in 1710, there were reportedly "7 families of Quakers and 4 or 5 families inclining to them."

“John died before February 18, 1725/26, when his son, Gilson Clapp of New Rochelle, conveyed land at Greenwich, Conn., ‘that came to me by my honoured father, Deceased.’”

Death

BEF 18 FEB 1726^[2]

Sources

1. ↑ England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975, database, FamilySearch John Clap, 1649, son of Elias Clap.
2. ↑ NEGHS Reg. 1951, Vol. 105 NOTE NEGHS Reg. 1951, Vol. 105. : Death date and middle name of son John come from John G.'s sale of his father's land in Greenwich, CT.

• https://www.westchesterclerk.com/2014-news/348-captain-john-clapp-westchester-county-clerk-1707-1711
• Moriarty, G. Andrews. Early Block Island Families - The Ray Family, The New England Historical & Genealogical Register (NEHGS, Boston, Mass., 1932) Vol. 86, Page 327.
• Scott, Kenneth. The Record of John Clapp, NYGBR (NYGBS, 1981) Vol. 112, Page 135-138.