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Genealogy: Related
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It is unlikely that we will ever discover a wealth of information about our first ancestors in the New World. It is possible, however, to sketch a faint picture of them by reviewing the few vital records left to us and by studying the Puritan congregation the Doude family was a part of. Parish records for Woodchurch, England, reveal that "The 27th of October was baptized Henrie ye son of Henrie Dowde" (1611). From the same source, we learn that Henry Dowd, about 22, married Elizabeth Dadson, about 22, on 2 May 1635. She was the daughter of Ambrose Dadson, a carpenter." Woodchurch is east northeast of Tenterden, Henry's probable birthplace, in the Vale of Kent. It is not known when the young couple first heard the preaching of Reverend Henry Whitfield, the pastor who was to lead them to the New World. His church was in Ockley, Surrey. It was not unusual for the pious to travel considerable distances to hear the sermons of eloquent ministers, or for ministers to visit other parishes preaching the gospel according to Puritan tenets. The East Anglia region, comprised of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex, was a Puritan stronghold. About 65 to 70 percent of English emigrants to New England at the time of The Great Migration came from East Anglia and surrounding counties (See map). A secondary center of migration was an area where Somerset, Wiltshire, and Dorsett counties come together.
"Clerical companies" had become an important and prominent part of the exodus to New England by 1635. A "Clerical Company" was a grouping of a few dozen families from neighboring parishes who gathered around a strongly charismatic Puritan preacher and chose to go to the New World in his company. The congregations of Thomas Hooker (Hartford, 1635), and John Davenport (New Haven, 1638) were just such enterprises. The act of crossing the "great and terrible ocean" must have been an act of deep faith and personal courage for Henry and Elizabeth. On 20 May 1639, as part of Rev. Whitfield's company, they departed London on the St. John, under the command of a Captain Russel. One of their seven children,Thomas, may have been born in England and made the voyage but his birth date is not known. After a voyage of nearly four months the pilgrims landed at Quinnipiack (now New Haven, Connecticut) on about 10 September 1639. (For more information about the voyage and settlement see The Seed of Albion and Guilford.) By early November of that year, the congregation settled sixteen miles to the east at Menhunkatuck, which they purchased from the Quinnipiac indians. (The purchase agreement between Ruttawo, Sachem Squaw, and Henry Whitfield is transcribed in the Guilford section of the site.) after the shire town in Surrey where some of the emigrants came from, the settlement was named Gilforde. In the History of Menunkatuck, Henry Doude was first listed as a planter among the 26 heads of households who signed the covenant aboard the St. John. He was not a freeman, however. In East Anglia and surrounding counties, where land was divided into towns, freeman were landowners who could vote on public issues. In Puritan New England, the distinction was to take on a broader meaning, encompassing public piety and a testament of faith, as well the measure of worldly attainments. It has been suggested by some researchers that Henry was an indentured servant. I think this is very unlikely. He was probably not a church member or a full shareholder in 1639. (1) The clerical leaders of The Great Migration actively discouraged servants and emigrants of humble means. Most colonists were literate and extraordinary in their occupations, with a high number of craftsmen and tradesmen among them. At the founding of Guilford, Henry received three acres of land. W.W described it this way: He was located on land which lies about one-quarter mile from the northeast corner of the (Green), on the road extended which passes up the east side of the (Green). It is not far distant from the house now occupied by William Dowd, one of his descendants. Whether he lived here at the time of his death or not, and where he is buried, is unknown. New Haven Probate Records state that it was five acres. In the years to follow, Henry and Elizabeth were to add considerably to their landholdings. By 1659, Henry was listed in civil records as a freeman. At the time of his death his estate was valued at 265:17:07. The inventory of his worldly possessions conveys a lot about Henry and Elizabeth's lives, as does Elizabeth's Last Will & Testament , which is poignant in its simplicity and directness. The History of Menunkatunk contains three anecdotes about Henry. |
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