Pane-Joyce Genealogy

Family of [----] Cornell (393)

1037. Thomas Cornell. Thomas died ca 1655 in Portsmouth, RI.¹³⁶

“Thomas Cornell came to America about 1638, with his wife and most, if not all, of his children. He is first found in Boston, where by a vote of the Town Meeeting, Aug. 20, 1638, he is permitted to buy ‘William Baulstone’s house, yard, and garden, backside of Mr. Coddington, and to become an inhabitant,’ This property was situated in Washington Street, between Summer and Milk Streets. He sold it in 1643 to Edward Tyng, who had a warehouse, and brew house, and constrcuted a dial there. Sept. 6, 1638, ‘Thomas Cornhill was licensed upon tryal to keepe an inn in the room of Will Baulstone till the next General Court.’ June 4, 1639, he ‘was fined £30 for several offences selling wine without license and beare at 2d. a quart.’ Two days later he was abated £10 of his fine, and allowed a month’to sell off his ware which is upon his hand, and then to cease from keeping intertainment, and the town to furnish another.’”¹³⁶

Thomas resided at Boston, MA, then in Portsmouth, RI, then in Cornell's Neck, New Amsterdam (now Westchester Co., NY), then Portsmouth again.

[Check out TAG 35 (1959): 107 for baptisms and burials of children in Safron Walden, Essex, Eng.]

Various possibilities are given for Thomas Cornell’s ancestry:
I. Thomas, bp. 24 Mar 1595 at Terling, Essex, son of George & Susan (Casse) Cornwell (who m. 25 Sep 1574 at Terling).
II. bp. 24 Mar 1593 at Fairsted Manor, Essex, son of Richard & Mary Cornell.

ca 1620 Thomas married Rebecca Briggs (811) , daughter of Henry Briggs (356) (ca 1580-Aug 1625) & Mary Hinckes (ca 1581-Aug 1625), in Essex, England. Born ca 1600 in London, England. Rebecca was baptized in St James, Clerkenwell, London, on 25 Oct 1600.⁶⁶ Rebecca died on 8 Feb 1673 in Portsmouth, RI.¹³⁶

On 8 Feb 1673 Friend’s Records state ‘Rebecca Cornell, widow, was killed strangely at Portsmouth in her own dwelling house, and twice viewed by the Coroner’s Inquest, digged up and buried again by her husband’s grave in their own land.’ On May 23 her son Thomas was charged with murder. John Cornell, in his Genealogy of the Cornell Family, wrote that the trial “reads like a farce. It appears that the old lady having been sitting by the fire smoking a pipe, a coal had fallen from the fire or her pipe, and that she was burned to death. But on the strength of a vision which her brother John Briggs had, in which she appeared to him after her death and said: ‘See how I was burned with fire.’ It was inferred that she was set fire to, and that her son who was last with her did it, and principally on this evidence Thomas Cornell was tried, convicted and hung for her murder. Durfee in his Legal Tracts of Rhode Island, comments on the strangeness of this trial and the injustice of the execution. The writer of this remarked to a leading lawyer of Newport (who knows much of the history of Rhode Island), that there seemed very little evidence to convict this Thomas Cornell, the lawyer’s answer was simply: ‘There was no evidence.’”¹³⁶

Rebecca Cornell’s will, dated 2 Sep 1664, proved 1673, from the RI Town Records Scrapbook 1639-, as widow to the late Thomas Cornell of Portsmouth, mentions sons Thomas eldest, Richard second, William third, John fourth, Samuel fifth, and Joshua sixth; daughters Sarah eldest, Ann second whose husband is Thomas, Rebecca third, Elizabeth fourth, and Mary fifth. No surnames for spouses of children.¹³⁷

Their children include:

2970	i.	Sarah Cornell (ca 1623-ca 1690)
2971	ii.	Richard Cornell (ca 1625-11 Aug 1694)
2972	iii.	Ann Cornell (ca 1625-)
2973	iv.	William Cornell (Died young) (ca 1625-Jan 1627/8)
2974	v.	Thomas Cornell (ca Oct 1627-23 May 1673)
2975	vi.	Rebecca Cornell (ca 1629-Feb 1713)
2976	vii.	Joshua Cornell (Died young) (ca 1630-bef 1641)
2977	viii.	Kelame Cornell (Died soon) (ca 1630-Oct 1632)
2978	ix.	Elizabeth Cornell (Died young) (ca 1631-bef 1637)
2979	x.	William Cornell (Died young) (ca 1632-bef 1636)
2980	xi.	John Cornell (ca 1634-1704)
2981	xii.	William Cornell (ca 1636-)
2982	xiii.	Elizabeth Cornell (ca 1637-aft 1708)
2983	xiv.	Joshua Cornell (ca 1641-)
2984	xv.	Kent Cornell (ca 1643-)
2985	xvi.	Samuel Cornell (ca 1644-ca 1715)
2986	xvii.	Mary Cornell (ca 1645-)

1038. Sarah Cornell. Sarah died ca 1661 in Portsmouth, RI.

ca 1640 Sarah married John Briggs (813) , son of Henry Briggs (356) (ca 1580-Aug 1625) & Mary Hinckes (ca 1581-Aug 1625). Born in 1609 in Darrington, England. John was baptized in St James, Clerkenwell, London, on 8 Apr 1618.⁶⁶ John died in Nov 1690 in Portsmouth, RI. Buried in Old Commons Burial Ground, Little Compton.

John came to New England in 1635 on the Blessing, living for a short time in Boston before coming to Rhode Island. He was a follower of Anne Hutchinson, who advocated a personal relationshiop with God in guiding one's own conduct, instead of reliance on the Church and State for guidance. The leaders of the Massachusetts Colony were so opposed to this teaching that it became unsafe for Mrs. Hutchinson's followers to remain there. Upon the advice of Roger Williams, John Briggs with some others fled from Massachusetts and purchased Aquidneck Island from the Indians.

John moved first to Newport, then to Portsmouth where he established a family home, living there until the death of his first wife, Sarah Cornell, in 1661. The parentage of Sarah Cornell is not known, though she too was probably born in co. Essex, England. It is quite certain that she is a sister to Thomas Cornell of Portsmouth, whose wife Rebecca, called John Briggs 'brother.'

In 1662 John Briggs purchased a share (140 acres) in Dartmouth, MA, and soon after, married there, Constant (Mitchell) Fobes, Widow. He lived there only a short time, moving back to Portsmouth about the time of his daughter Susannah's marriage to William Palmer in 1663 and spent the remainder of his life there.

John Briggs was a prominent citizen and active in civic and political affairs. He served at various times as juryman, Assistant Commissioner and Deputy to the General Assembly. He died in Portsmouth between 19 April 1690 (date of his will and 16 November 1690 (date of probate). His second wife may have died before he left Dartmouth, as she was not mentioned after that, nor in his will. All his children were by his first wife, Sarah.

John was in Newport 1638, or Portsmouth 1650, freeman 1655.²

Will of John Briggs of Portsmouth, dated 19 Apr 1690, proved 17 Nov 1690, mentions wife Content Briggs; sons Enoch Briggs, John Briggs eldest, Thomas Briggs, William Briggs, and Job Briggs; and daughters Susannah Northway and ____ Momony.¹³⁷

Their children include:

2987	i.	Susannah Briggs (ca 1641-7 Nov 1704)
2988	ii.	John Briggs (1642-2 Jul 1713)
2989	iii.	Ens. Thomas Briggs (1644-12 Jun 1720)
2990	iv.	Job Briggs (1648-1733)
2991	v.	William Briggs (1650-12 May 1716)
2992	vi.	Enoch Briggs (ca 1650/1660-1734)

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