17 Years as Massachusetts Selectman — Robert Burnap

B. 28 Nov 1627 in Hoddesdon Chapel, Hertfordshire, England¹
M. (1) before 6 Nov1653 in (probably) Reading, Massachusetts^2,3
Wife: Ann _____
M. (2) 28 May 1662 in Reading, Massachusetts⁴
Wife: Sarah Brown
D. 18 Oct 1695 in Reading, Massachusetts⁵

During his life, Robert Burnap served his town of Reading, Massachusetts in several roles. He was born on November 28, 1627 to Robert Burnap and Ann Miller, their third child.¹ The family lived in Hoddesdon Chapel, England, a village that today is within the metropolitan area of London, just to the north. It’s also a very short distance to the west of the Prime Meridian.

Robert was still a boy when his family relocated to New England as a part of the Great Migration of Puritans. They settled at first in Roxbury before moving to Reading by 1654.⁶ Robert came of age and at some point he married a woman named Ann,^2,3 with whom he had five children. The youngest was born June 17, 1661, and this must have taken a toll on Ann, because she died just eight days later. Robert remarried to Sarah Brown on May 18, 1662,⁴ and they had six children together.

Robert’s name appears numerous times in records of Reading’s town meetings. Starting in 1654, he became a selectman, and continued in this role through 1672, with just three years when he didn’t serve.⁶ Selectmen were a form of local government officers unique to New England which sprung up out of Puritanism. The men of the community would typically meet once a month, with four of five chosen to function as a council. Someone who held the job for 17 years is an indicator that they were a respected man, which must have been the case for Robert.

Two other positions Robert held were as a keeper of the pound in 1655 (handling animals in the town who had gotten loose), and Sealer of Weights and Measures in 1665.⁶ The sealer was someone who supervised the weighing and measuring of goods traded within the town. Both of these duties gave Robert a certain role of authority as he kept tabs on the members of his community.

Robert made out his will on October 4, 1695,⁸ and he passed away on October 18th.⁵ He signed the will with an X, which is usually means that a person was illiterate, but in his case he may have simply been too weak to hold a pen; his probate inventory does include some books. Also in in the inventory was 120 acres of land, and 12 barrels of cider, which seems like an unusual amount. Robert’s widow Sarah survived him for many years, and died in 1713.⁹

Transcript of part of Robert’s will.

Children by Ann ______:
1. Sarah Burnap — B. 6 Nov 1653, Reading, Massachusetts;² D. 5 Apr 1696, Reading, Massachusetts;¹⁰ M. Abraham Roberts (1654-1731), 1680, Reading, Massachusetts¹¹

2. John Burnap — B. 16 May 1655, Reading, Massachusetts;¹² D. Sep 1725, Windham, Connecticut;¹³ M. Mary Royce (1661-1741), 7 Apr 1684, Connecticut¹⁴

3. Robert Burnap — B. 28 Feb 1657, Reading, Massachusetts;¹⁵ D. 1 Nov 1674, Reading, Massachusetts¹⁶


4. Hannah Burnap — B. (possibly) 2 Mar 1660, Reading, Massachusetts;¹⁷ D. 12 Jan 1722, Newbury, Massachusetts;¹⁸ M. Joshua Boynton (1646-1736), 9 Apr 1678, Newbury, Massachusetts¹⁹

5. Mary Burnap — B. 17 Jun 1661, Reading Massachusetts;⁷ D. 30 Jan 1680, Reading, Massachusetts²⁰

Children by Sarah Brown:
1. Joseph Burnap — B. 24 Mar 1663, Reading, Massachusetts;²¹ D. 19 Aug 1744, Reading, Massachusetts;²² M. Tabitha Eaton (1674-1734), 31 Jan 1690, Reading, Massachusetts²³

2. Elizabeth Burnap — B. 21 Feb 1664, Reading, Massachusetts;²⁴ D. 7 Oct 1688, Reading, Massachusetts;²⁵ M. Jonathan Eaton (1655-1743), 15 Aug 1683, Reading, Massachusetts²⁶

3. Lydia Burnap — B. 8 Apr 1667, Reading, Massachusetts;²⁷ D. 9 Jun 1699, Reading, Massachusetts;²⁸ M. John Dix (1654-1731), 30 Jun 1692, Reading, Massachusetts²⁹

4. Isaac Burnap — B. 29 Apr 1671, Reading, Massachusetts;³⁰ D. 19 Jan 1675, Reading, Massachusetts³¹

5. Sarah Burnap — B. 4 Apr 1672, Reading, Massachusetts;³² D. 25 Dec 1736, Reading, Massachusetts³³

6. Samuel Burnap — B. 15 Sep 1675, Reading, Massachusetts;³⁴ D. 2 Mar 1676, Reading, Massachusetts³⁵

7. Benjamin Burnap — B. 8 Jun 1677, Reading, Massachusetts;³⁶ D. after 1740, Massachusetts;³⁷ M. Elizabeth Newhall (1678-?), 18 Jun 1700, Reading, Massachusetts³⁸

8. Dorcas Burnap — B. 22 Jun 1679, Reading Massachusetts;³⁹ D. about 1760, Reading, Massachusetts;⁴⁰ M. William Sawyer (~1674-~1770), 30 Apr 1700, Reading, Massachusetts⁴¹

Sources:
1    Baptismal record of Robert Burnap, Hertfordshire, England, Extracted Church of England Parish Records, Ancestry.com
2    Birth record of Sarah Burnap, 6 Nov 1653, Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915, FamilySearch.org
3    Death record of Ann Burnap, wife of Robert, Reading Birth Records, Marriage Records, Death Records, FamilySearch.org  
4    Marriage record of Robert Burnap and Sarah Brown, Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001, FamilySearch.org  
5    Death record of Robert Burnap, M., T. C., V. & T. R. 
6    Genealogical history of the town of Reading, Massachusetts, Lilley Eaton, 1874
7    Birth record of Mary Burnap, M., T. C., V. & T. R.  
8    Probate record of Robert Burnap, Middlesex County, Massachusetts Probate Index 1648-1870, FamilySearch.org  
9    Find-a-Grave listing of Sarah (Brown) Burnap 
10  Death record of Sarah Roberts, M., T. C., V. & T. R.
11  Birth record of Mary Roberts (firstborn of Sarah), M., T. C., V. & T. R.
12  Birth record of John Burnap, M., T. C., V. & T. R.
13  WikiTree listing of John Burnap  
14  Marriage record of John Burnap and Mary Royce, M., T. C., V. & T. R.
15  Birth record of Robert Burnap (son), M. B. & C.
16  Death record of Robert Burnap (son), M., T. C., V. & T. R.
17  Birth record of Hannah Burnap, M. B. & C.
18  Find-a-Grave listing of Hannah Boynton 
19  Marriage record of Joshua Boynton and Hannah Barnet, M., T. C., V. & T. R.
20  Death record of Mary Burnap, M., T. C., V. & T. R.
21  Birth record of Joseph Burnap, M. B. & C.
22  Death record of Joseph Burnap, M., T. C., V. & T. R.
23  Marriage record of Joseph Burnap and Tabitha Young, M., T. C., V. & T. R.
24  Birth record of Elizabeth Burnap, M. B. & C.
25  Death record of Elizabeth Eaton, M., T. C., V. & T. R.
26  Marriage record of Jonathan Eaton and Elizabeth Burnap, M., T. C., V. & T. R.
27  Birth record of Lydia Burnap, M. B. & C.
28  Death record of Lydia Dix, M., T. C., V. & T. R.
29  Marriage record of John Dix and Lydia Burnap, M., T. C., V. & T. R.
30  Birth record of Isaac Burnap, M. B. & C.
31  Death record of Isaac Burnap, M., T. C., V. & T. R.
32  Birth record of Sarah Burnap, M. B. & C.
33  Death record of Sarah Burnap, M., T. C., V. & T. R.
34  Birth record of Samuel Burnap, M. B. & C.
35  Death record of Samuel Burnap, M., T. C., V. & T. R.
36  Birth record of Benjamin Burnap, M. B. & C.
37  WikiTree listing of Benjamin Burnap  
38  Marriage record of Benjamin Burnap and Elizabeth Newhall, M., T. C., V. & T. R.
39  Birth record of Dorcas Burnap, M. B. & C.
40  WikiTree listing of Dorcas (Burnap) Sawyer  
41  Marriage record of William Sawyer and Dorcas Burnap, M., T. C., V. & T. R.

Letters to Son and Daughter-in-Law — Arrold Dunnington

B. before 21 Sep 1587 in Great Bowden, Leicestershire, England¹
M. 7 Jun 1612 in Great Bowden, Leicestershire, England¹
Husband: Ryse Cole
D. after 20 Dec 1661 in Charlestown, Massachusetts²

It’s rare to find personal letters written by Puritan men in 17th-century New England, and it’s even rarer to find them from females. But a woman named Arrold Dunnington wrote two letters which have survived at least into the mid-20th century.

Arrold (also spelled Harrald and many other variations) was from Great Bowden in Leicestershire, England. She was baptized there on September 21, 1587 before her parents Edward Dunnington and Margaret Cox,¹ and she was one of their five known children, all girls. Great Bowden is said to be one of the oldest villages in the area, dating back to the Anglo-Saxons; perhaps this is what accounts for Arrold’s unusual first name. Her father died when she was a baby, and her mother remarried.¹

On June 7, 1612, Arrold got married to Ryse Cole,¹ and over the next dozen or so years, she had five children. Arrold and Ryse were followers of Puritanism, so much so that in 1630, when John Winthrop sailed with 700 people to found the colony of Massachusetts, the Coles were among the passengers.^2,3 Although we don’t know which ship they were on, they were in a group who landed at the site of Charlestown.² Most of the settlers moved across the river to establish the town of Boston, but Arrold’s family stayed put. Both were listed as members of the Boston church until being “dismissed” in the fall of 1632 so they could join the new congregation at Charlestown. 

The Winthrop Fleet in Boston Harbor in 1630.

It wasn’t long after arriving at Charlestown that Ryse and Arrold made a decision to “send out” two of their children. This was a Puritan practice where parents gave up their children to the household of another so that they could learn skills and information that they wouldn’t receive at home.⁴ It has to be assumed that as their mother, Arrold supported the arrangement even if it were her husband’s idea. So youngsters Elizabeth and John were sent to live with Samuel Fuller of Plymouth, who was a doctor and former Mayflower passenger. It wasn’t until 1633 that they came home.²

After writing a will dated May 1646, Ryse passed away;² his instructions were that Arrold would maintain their house and farm until she died, then he specified which of their children got what. For this reason, probate on the estate wasn’t done immediately. Arrold didn’t remarry, so in her widowhood, she managed the family’s holdings. By the mid-1650s, her youngest son James had moved back to England, and in about 1655, he got married. Back in Charlestown, Arrold took a pen and paper to send a congratulations to her son and new daughter-in-law, Ruth. In her letter, she wrote that her siblings and their spouses “remember their loves unto you and your wife, though unknown.”⁵ That last bit was a reference to the fact the family never met Ruth, who presumably had never been to America.

Then in 1661, Arrold wrote a second letter just to Ruth because it seemed that James had died and Ruth had remarried. Perhaps this was another congratulations for getting married; she referred to the young widow as “loving daughter Ruth Mood.”⁵ Did Arrold ever meet Ruth? This isn’t evident in the excerpts found in a book written by a researcher who saw the two letters. Unfortunately, the original letters aren’t readily accessible; we just know that they were in a file somewhere in the Middlesex County court records.

On December 20, 1661, Arrold wrote a will of her own.² Her orders to each child or grandchild were quite specific: “my daughter [Elizabeth] is to have the bed on which I lie, and my grandchild John [Cole] an iron pot and his father is not to dispose of it from him [and] I give to my grandchild John Lowden a pair of sheets & to my grandchild Mary Lowden one box and one scarf & to my grandchild James Lowden a pint pot & more to my grandchild Mary Cole a brass kettle.” She also asked that her husband 1646 will be honored, and all of these things were done after she passed away within the week (the exact death date is unknown, but it was before December 26th). Arrold left many descendants, including Franklin Pierce, George W. Bush, Barbara Bush, Jeb Bush and James Spader.⁶

Children:
1. Robert Cole — B. about 1616, (probably) Great Bowden, Leicestershire, England;² D. before 23 Nov 1655;² M. Phillip ______²

2. Elizabeth Cole — B. about 1619, (probably) Great Bowden, Leicestershire, England;² D. 5 Mar 1688, Woburn, Massachusetts;⁷ M. Thomas Peirce (~1608-1681), before 1639, Charlestown, Massachusetts²

3. Mary Cole — B. about 1621, (probably) Great Bowden, Leicestershire, England;² D. 7 Oct 1683, Charlestown, Massachusetts;⁸ M. Richard Lowden (~1612-1700), about 1640, Charlestown, Massachusetts²

4. John Cole — B. about 1623, (probably) Great Bowden, Leicestershire, England;² M. Ursula ______, before 28 Aug 1655⁵

5. James Cole — B. about 1625, (probably) Great Bowden, Leicestershire, England;² D. before 1661, (probably) England;² M. Ruth _______, before 28 Aug 1655, England⁵

Sources:
1    “Colonists from Great Bowden, Leicestershire — Rice Cole of Charlestown, Massachusetts,” Leslie Mahler, The American Genealogist, Vol. 78, July 2003
2    Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, Vols. I-III, Robert Charles Anderson
3    John Winthrop (Wikipedia article)  
4    Albion’s Seed, David Hackett Fischer, 1988
5    The New England Ancestry of Dana Converse Backus, Mary Elizabeth Neilson Backus, 1949
6    FamousKin.com listing for Rice Cole  
7    Find-a-Grave listing for Elizabeth (Cole) Pierce 
8    Find-a-Grave listing for Mary Lowden