John Wilbore (1598 - 1656)

Born 1598 in Essex, England

Ancestors

Husband of Joan (Drane) Wilbore — married 6 Aug 1616 in Felstead, Essex, England

Descendants

Died 24 Jun 1656 at about age 58 in Braintree, Essex, England

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Biography

John Wilbur was born about 1592 in Braintree, Essex County, England, one of at least four sons born to Mary and Joseph Wilbore. Not much is known about John, as records are scarce. By the time John was of legal age, his father had died. In 1614, John inherited £10 from his uncle William Wilbore-247, which he probably received when the Will was probated and proved in 1615 or in 1616. On August 6, 1616, John married Joan Drane in the Holy Cross Church in Felsted, Essex County (see Joan’s bio for children). His mother died in 1622, leaving a Will written in 1620. In it she leaves to John, “. . . a brasse pott of a gallon and a kettell of two gallons two pewter dishes a pewte candle sticke and I give to Joan his wie a granny peticoat and my best waist coate.” John also received ⅓ share of his father’s estate, which was transferred to his mother and then to her three surviving sons. The estate included Hollis Grove, which is discussed below.

John was in the textile trade, as were his ancestors before him. Karen Kupperman tells us in her book, Providence Island 1630-1641 the Other Puritan Colony, “By the end of the 1620s, the Essex textile industry had fallen into a disastrous slump; huge stockpiles of unsold cloth meant no work for many.” So, it isn’t surprising that John Wilbore decides to leave Braintree. Benjamin Franklin Wilbour (BFW) in his English Ancestry of Samuel Wilbore, of Boston, and William Wilbore, of Portsmouth, R.I., states that “It was probably this John who, in 1631, signed his name to the agreement with several other Braintree men to join the settlement at the Isle of Old Providence, which is off the coast of South America.” BFW goes on to quote the Essex Records for Misc. papers relating to the Company of Adventurers to the Island of Providence as follows: “At Braintree. We whose names are hear underwritten do promise unto Thomas Barrington to goe with ye next shippe bound for ye Islae of Providence under his name, Signed, Thomas. Maynard. Henry Neale. Martin Cofield, Signed Jany 25, 1631. Signed alsoe the same day by me, John Wilbore.” Wilbur-403 16:39, 23 March 2017 (EDT) [1] Unedited.

Providence Island is in the Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia, and Santa Catalina, off the coast of what is now Nicaragua, but under the government of Colombia. Wikipedia tells us that British ships first visited the Isle of Old Providence, which is one hundred miles east of the Mosquito coast, in 1628. The Providence Island Company was set up because they thought that the island would become the leading Puritan colony in the New World since its climate was far superior to that of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, which was founded the same year. Many English Puritans went there, some as indentured servants, to build new lives. Peter Wilson Coldham in his book, The Complete Book of Emigrants: 1607-1660, states that the November 22, 1630 minutes of the Providence Island Company reads, “Each adventurer is to obtain as many men and boys as are willing to serve and the good ones are to be shipped next January. . . Apprentices over 14 years old are to be taken for a term of years and to be allowed £5 a year wages.” On the February 2, 1631 minutes, Coldham states it read, “Captain William Rudyerd appointed commander of all the passengers in the Seaflower bound for Providence Island.” Seaflower was probably the ship that John Wilbore traveled on to the new colony. It is not known for certain if his wife and five-year-old son, ancestor William, went with him, as until 1635 the company discouraged planters from bringing their wives and children. Alison Games, in her book, Migration and the Origins of the English Atlantic World, tells us that “. . . there were at least some small children traveling with their parents, . . .” Joan could have taken her son with her in 1635 to join her husband, as that year, there was a midwife aboard the Expectation, bound for Old Providence.

Life was difficult in the colony, it was ruled by absentee grandees who kept the settlers totally dependent on them. Besides the usual problems of setting up a new community, they had to build fortifications against possible attack by the Spanish; the tobacco they grew was of inferior quality, but they insisted on growing it against the wishes of the directors; and as the four-year terms of the indentured servants expired, some demanded the right to use slaves, which caused a division in the colony.

When the Spanish heard of the Providence Island Colony in 1635, they began to attack. It took them six years, but on May 25, 1641, they formally took possession and celebrated mass in the church. The Spanish captured the remaining 350 settlers, many others had escaped to the Mosquito Coast. They took the prisoners to Cartagena. The women and children were given passage back to England. It seems probable that the Wilbores fled to the Mosquito Coast and went back to England from there.

The next we hear about John Wilbore is in 1642, when he and his two brothers, Nicholas and William, were admitted to Hollis Grove, which was partly in Braintree and partly in Bocking. Hollis Grove was a grove of trees that John’s grandfather Nicholas left in his Will to John’s father Joseph. John's two brothers, Nicholas and William, had sons who sold off their shares of Hollis Grove by 1667. BFW goes on to tell us that “The name Wilbore disappears from the manor rolls of Braintree in 1667.” Nothing is known of John or Joan after this. There is, however, a Will of a John Wilbore of Black Notley, husbandman, written in 1645 and proved on October 9, 1646, which may be him. This researcher has not seen the contents of the Will, so there is no evidence that this is our John. But it should be pointed out that Black Notley is less than 2 miles south of Braintree and after living in the Old Providence Island Colony, John just may have become a farmer. Wilbur-403 18:45, 29 March 2019 (UTC)

John Wilbore of Braintree, who went to the Isle of Old Providence off South America, was William's father. If John Wilbore returned to Braintree in 1641, after the Spaniards conquered Old Providence, and brought with him our William, it would fit in with his buying the land in Braintree in 1647.

Printed from NEHG Register, Volume 113, April 1959, © New England Historic Genealogical Society & Broderbund Software, Inc., Banner Blue Division, January 13, 2002.

Name

Name: John /Wilbore/^[1][2][3][4]

Birth

Date: 1594, of Braintree &, Hollis Grove, Essex, England^[5]

Marriage

Johannes Wilbore and Johanna Drane were married on August 6, 1616, at Holy Cross Church, Felsted, Essex, England^[6]

Husband: John Wilbore

Wife: @I55055@

Child: @I55042@

Marriage: 06 August 1616, at Felsted, Essex, England^[7]

Death

Date: 24 July 1656, at Braintree, Essex, England^[8]

Burial

Date: July 1656, at Place: Eng^[9]

Reference

Reference: 55066

Note

Note: #H4643

Surname: Wyldbore

Recorded in several spellings including Wildbore, Wildboar, Wildboer, Wyldbore, Wilber, Wilbor, and probably others, this is an English surname. It is of pre-7th century origins, and was originally a personal name "Wyldbar" and does translate literally as - wild boar. This, however, did not refer to a person's attributes or lack of them but was given in the period of history known as The Dark Ages, as a baptismal name of affection. The wild boar being held in high regard for its strength and ferocity, as was recognized in that it was one of the earliest of the heraldic charges which appeared officially upon a knight's armor from about the year 1190. The name both as a personal name and later a surname seems to have been quite specific to the north country of England and particularly the counties of Yorkshire and Lancashire. This is quite appropriate given the long tradition of civil wars between the houses (families) of York and Lancaster. The first known recording is believed to be that of William Wyldbar, recorded in the Assize Court rolls of Lancashire in 1246. Another early recording and clearly one that is not related is that of William Wyldbore in the register of the manor of Wakefield, Yorkshire, in 1307. Finally, we have John Wylbor who may or may not have been related to William. He was recorded in the highly unpopular Poll Tax register for Yorkshire in 1379, although his address is not known.

Notes

In 1622, according to Braintree Manor Rolls, Hollis Grove passed to Mary Wilbore, widow of Joseph, and then to her three sons: Nicholas, John, and William.

In 1631, John Wilbore signed an agreement with other Braintree men to join settlement at Isle of Old Providence off South America.

In 1641, Spaniards drive the English from the two Islands of Providence.

In 1642, John and his brothers, Nicholas and William, admitted once more to the land called Hollis Grove in Braintree/Bocking.

Sources

1. ↑ Source: #S14822
2. ↑ Source: #S15525 Data: Text: Date of Import: 4 Oct 2005
3. ↑ Source: #S14831
4. ↑ Source: #S15526 Data: Text: Date of Import: 4 Oct 2005
5. ↑ Source: #S15526 Data: Text: Date of Import: 4 Oct 2005
6. ↑ https://www.freereg.org.uk/search_records/60e966f6f493fd753dc7bc00/johanna-drane-johannes-wilbore-marriage-essex-felsted-1616-08-06?locale=en
7. ↑ Source: #S15526 Data: Text: Date of Import: 4 Oct 2005
8. ↑ Source: #S15526 Data: Text: Date of Import: 4 Oct 2005
9. ↑ Source: #S15526 Data: Text: Date of Import: 4 Oct 2005

See also:

• https://www.freereg.org.uk/search_records/60e966f6f493fd753dc7bc00/johanna-drane-johannes-wilbore-marriage-essex-felsted-1616-08-06?locale=en

• Note H4643[Phebe Wilbor.ged]

• Ancestral File Number:<AFN> 9KFZ-0S[Phebe Wilbor.ged.FTW]

• Ancestral File Number:<AFN> 9KFZ-0S

• (https://geni.com/people/John-Wilbore/6000000000181192387)

• "Ancestral File", FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:1:MBVQ-FRS, ANCESTRAL FILE NUMBER: 2B7S-HDT

• The Winthrop Fleet of 1630_: (An Account of the Vesselseake, Robert Fien English Homes from Original Authorities) by Charles Edward Banks.

• "England, Essex Parish Registers, 1503-1997," index, FamilySearch : accessed 20 December 2014, William Wilber, 24 Aug 1626, Christening; citing Hedingham-Sible, Essex, England, Record Office, Chelmsford; FHL microfilm 1,472,365.

• "England, Essex Parish Registers, 1503-1997," index, FamilySearch : accessed 20 December 2014, Samuell Wilbart and Anne Smith, 13 Jan 1619, Marriage; citing Hedingham-Sible, Essex, England, Record Office, Chelmsford; FHL microfilm 1,472,365.

• "England, Essex Parish Registers, 1503-1997," index, FamilySearch : accessed 20 December 2014, Sidreake Wilbore, 06 Sep 1631, Christening; citing Hedingham-Sible, Essex, England, Record Office, Chelmsford; FHL microfilm 1,472,365.

Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850 (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2010).

• Source: S14822 Author: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Title: Ancestral File (R) Publication: Name: Copyright (c) 1987, June 1998, data as of 5 January 1998; Repository: #R7

• Repository: R7 Name: NAME Family History Library ADDR 35 N West Temple Street CONT Salt Lake City, Utah 84150, USA

• Source: S14831 Author: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Title: Ancestral File (R) Publication: Name: Copyright (c) 1987, June 1998, data as of 5 January 1998; Repository: #R7

• Source: S15525 Title: Phebe Wilbor.ged NOTESource Medium: Other CONT

• Source: S15526 Title: Phebe Wilbor.ged.FTW NOTESource Medium: Other CONT

• Portsmouth Compact Plaque

Acknowledgments

• Wilbore-21 created 19 Apr 2011 by Wilbur-403

• WikiTree profile Wilbore-29 created through the import of BDM7-7-11.ged on Jul 8, 2011 by Brian McCullough. See the Changes page for the details of edits by Brian and others.

• Thank you to Steve Henkel for creating WikiTree profile Wilbor-36 through the import of Tag 2.ged on May 13, 2013. Click to the Changes page for the details of edits by Steve and others.

• Kathy Fetters, Brian McCullough.

This biography was auto-generated by a GEDCOM import. Wilbore-127 was created by David McKnight through the import of Tracy_A_Beadle_11Generations.ged on Jul 6, 2014.

• Wilbore-155 was created by Laura Scott through the import of wt otis amos.ged on Jun 21, 2015.