Pane-Joyce Genealogy

2628. Thomas Cornell. Thomas died in Portsmouth, RI ca 1655.247

From The Genealogy of the Cornell Family:247
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 Meeting, 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 entertainment, and the town to furnish another.’
The Antinomians [Quakers] were great disturbers of the religious peace of the people of Boston, and in 1637 Ann Hutchinson and her adherents were expelled from the Colony. Among them we do not find the name of Thomas Cornell, whose vocation as an innkeeper perhaps saved him from doctrinal errors, but among the obnoxious ones were his neighbors, Baulstone and Coddington, and his brother-in-law John Briggs. By the advice of Roger Williams, then settled at Providence, the exiles purchased, March 28, 1638, from the Indians Canonicus and Miantonomi, the island on which Newport now stands, and on the north end of that island they began a settlement to which they gave the name of Portsmouth. Thomas Cornell arrived two years later and was admitted freeman of Portsmouth, Aug. 6, 1640. Feb. 4, 1641, ‘a piece of meadow,’ was granted him to be fenced in at his own cost. The same year he was made constable, and the following year ensign (name spelt Cornill). At the same time Richard Morris was elected captain, and Mr. Baulstone lieutenant. Some suppose this last office to have been held by his son Thomas,^2 as the father may have been in New Amsterdam at that time.
In the autumn, 1642, he went to New Amsterdam, and it has been supposed that Roger Williams and John Throckmorton went with him, and for this reason: the fugitives from Boston, who joined Roger Williams, had formed a sort of colony in Rhode Island, but it was only a self-created government, or squatter sovereignty that they had, and it was thought best by them in 1642, that Roger Williams should go to England and obtain a royal charter for his colony. He could not sail from Boston (which would be the nearest port) because he was banished from Massachusetts, so he went to New Amsterdam for that purpose, as the Dutch were more tolerant. There was not (as today) many steamers departing every week for England from that port, and he did not embark until June, 1643. We know, moreover, that he went to England then, and obtained a charter for his colony and returned. Roger Williams, Throckmorton and Cornell seem to have been much associated together and friends, and this has led to the supposition that they may have come from England in the same ship; at any rate, we know that Roger Williams and Throckmorton did.
About a year after Thomas Cornell’s arrival in New Amsterdam, Governor Winthrop reports ‘Mr. Throckmorton and Mr. Cornell’ established, with buildings, etc., on neighboring plantations under the Dutch. On Oct. 2, 1642, the local Dutch government granted him permission with his associates (thirty-five families), to settle ‘within the limits of the jurisdiction of their High Mightinesses to reside there in peace’ (this was about eleven miles from New Amsterdam). After this general license to settle, Cornell and Throckmorton made examination of the territory, procured a survey and map, and on July 6, 1643. Gov. Kieft granted to John Throckmorton, for himself and his associates, a tract of land in what is now the town of Westchester . A serious Indian war, though of short duration, was caused by Gov. Keift’s unwise attack upon two neighboring camps of Indians on the night between Feb. 25 and 28, 1643, and in retaliation the Indians, within the following month or two destroyed many of the white settlers outside of the city; and many others, who escaped fled panic stricken to New Amsterdam. Roger Williams says: ‘Mine eyes saw the flames of these towns, the flights and hurrying of men, women and children, and the present removal of all that could to Holland.’ Gov. Winthrop says: ‘By the mediation of Mr. Williams who was then there to go in a Dutch ship to England, the Indians were pacified and peace re-established between the Dutch and them.’ Cornell and Throckmorton who were probably in New Amsterdam City limits at that time escaped, but Mrs Hutchinson whose residence was near Throckmorton’s was killed. For, says Gov. Winthrop of this event, under date of Sept., 1643, ‘The Indians set upon the English who dwelt under the Dutch. They came to Mrs. Hutchinson in way of friendly neighborhood as they had been accustomed to, and taking their opportunity they killed her and Mr. Collins her son-in-law, and all of her family and such of Mr. Throckmorton’s and Mr. Cornell’s families as were at home, in all sixteen, and put their cattle into their barns and burned them;’ he also adds, ‘These people had cast off ordinances and churches, and now at last their own people, and for larger accommodation had subjected themselves to the Dutch, and dwelt scatteringly near a mile asunder.’ Some that escaped the Indian attack went back to Rhode Island.
Thomas Cornell it appears during these troublous times, returned to Portsmouth, R. I., and secured a grant of land from that town, Aug. 29, 1644, in company with Mr. Brenton and Mr. Baulstone, ‘Butting on Mr. Porter's round Meadow,’ and on Feb. 4, 1646, a grant of 100 acres was made to Thomas Cornell by the town of Portsmouth ‘on the south side of the Wading River and so as to run from the river towards the land that was laid out to Edward Hutchinson’ (a son of Ann Hutchinson). This may be considered the original Homestead of the Cornell family. Previous grants were made to him in company with other parties and as we will see the grant of Cornell’s Neck was later. This land or the part on which the house and burial plot are situated has never been out of the family. In Sept., 1894, Rev. John Cornell (the writer of this), purchased from Mrs. Ellen Grinnell (Cornell) Smith and others about 80 acres of this grant, and in 1900, 45 acres more; a house has been erected in colonial style on the site of the one that was destroyed by fire, Dec. 21, 1889, and somewhat on its old plan, that is, the plan which it is understood to have had before it was modernized about 50 years before its destruction.
After the restoration of peace in New Netherland, brought about by the mediation of Roger Williams, Thomas Cornell returned to the Dutch Colony, but not, it seems, to restore and rebuild what had been destroyed of his property on Throgg’s Neck. But he asked for a tract adjacent, fronting on the south and west of that of Throckmorton, from which it was separated on the shore by the mouth of Westchester Creek, and extending thence about two miles on the Long Island Sound to the Bronx River and extending back two miles or more from the sound to the westerly edge of the present village of Westchester, formerly and even now known as Cornell’s Neck; this estate was granted by Governor William Kieft to Thomas Cornell by patent, dated July 25, 1646. This was only the third private grant of land of which there is any record in Westchester Co. Jonas Bronck in 1637, and Throckmorton in 1642, being previous, and possibly Adrian Van der Donk in 1646, and this grant of Cornell’s Neck was four years after Thomas Cornell’s first settlement in Westchester Co., in 1642. Thus he was there four years prior to Adrian Van der Donk at Yonkers, in 1646. Thirty-five years before Col. Stephanus Van Cortland, in 1677, obtained from Governor Andros permission to make his first purchase of lands from the Indians in Westchester Co., nearly forty years earlier than the first acquisition of Westchester lands by Frederick Phillipse within the present towns of Greenburgh and Mt. Pleasant in 1681, and thirty years before his first interest in Yonkers, 1672, and fifteen years before the great-grand-father of the illustrious George Washington first settled in Virginia in 1657.
Cornell’s Neck was within the limits of Greater New York. After the death of Mr. Cornell, Thomas Pell set up a counter claim to the land, and litigation ensued between him and Sarah Bridges, in the course of which it appeared in evidence that Thomas Cornell had been at considerable charge in building, manuring and planting, that he was after several years driven off by the barbarous violence of the Indians, who burned his house and destroyed his cattle, that the widow Cornell, sole executrix of the last will and testament of her husband (although neither the will nor a copy was produced), conveyed the land to Sarah Bridges and her sister. The litigation established the validity of the Cornell title and Sarah Bridges was put in possession of the land. A new patent was issued April 15, 1667, for ‘Cornell's Neck,’ setting forth the fact that Thomas Cornell’s interest devolved long since on Sarah Bridges, one of the daughters of Thomas Cornell, deceased, and that said Sarah had conveyed her interest by deed to William Willett, her eldest son, to whom the new patent was issued. The history of this grant and of the litigation respecting it is given at length with the documents in Bolton’s History of Westchester Co. Thus we infer that after several years residence at ‘Cornell's Neck,’ perhaps nine years, Thomas Cornell was again driven by the Indians from his property in New Netherland, and returned to his homestead at Portsmouth, where he lived, and died, and was buried. For we find a record of him as serving on a coroner’s jury in 1653, and in 1654 Thomas Cornell was one of the commissioners of ‘ye foure-towns upon ye re-uniting of ye Colonie of Providence Plantations.’ He probably died the following year.

The Genealogy of the Cornell Family247 has maps showing the locations of Thomas Cornell’s properties between pages 20 and 21. The Cornell Grant in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, is shown to be on the west side of Portsmouth, about a half mile north of the town of Middletown. It’s approximately the area between what’s now the Lawton Valley Reservoir on the east and the bay on the west. It’s primarily residential area now.
Cornell’s Neck in the Bronx is between the Bronx River and Pugsley Creek (Wilkins Creek) on the Long Island Sound. Soundview Avenue (once called The Neck Road) runs down the middle of it. It’s mostly residendential and includes the neighborhoods of Clason Point and Shore Haven, also the Sound View Park and Pubsley Creek Park.
Throgg’s Neck, mentioned several times, lies east of Cornell’s Neck.

[Check out The American Genealogist 35 (1959): 107 for baptisms and burials of children in Saffron 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.

Will: Thomas Cornell’s will no longer exists. From The Genealogy of the Cornell Family:247
An old memorandum made by Stephen B. Cornell of Portsmouth about the beginning of the last century, and still preserved in the family, states that Thomas Cornell, by will dated Dec. 5, 1651, gave to his wife Rebecca all his real estate; also that Rebecca, by will dated Sept. 2, 1664, gave to her son Thomas all her land lying on the west side of Rhode Island, and lying between the farms of Thomas Hazard and John Coggeshall. Neither of these wills is known to be now in existence, nor any copy of them. The records of the Society of Friends at Portsmouth, R. I., have numerous entries respecting Thomas and Rebecca Cornell and their descendants.

Thomas married Rebecca Briggs (2567) , daughter of Henry Briggs (1167) (ca 1580-Aug 1625) & Mary Hinckes (ca 1581-Aug 1625). Rebecca died in Portsmouth, RI on 8 Feb 1673.247

From The Genealogy of the Cornell Family:247
1657, Dec. 10, Rebecca Cornell, widow, was granted 10 acres in lieu of 10 acres granted her husband.
1659, Rebecca Cornell deeded these 10 acres to her son and daughter Kent.
1661, April 30, Rebecca Cornell, widow and executrix of Thomas Cornell, sold Richard Hart for £30, two parcels of land containing 8 acres with house, fruit trees, etc. Confirmed by her son Thomas, 1663.
1663, Oct. 25, Rebecca conveys to her son Joshua one-sixth of a share of land at Coshena and Acookset (part of Dartmouth) in Plymouth Jurisdiction. This he conveyed Nov. 21, 1664, to his brother Samuel; also 20 acres of land he bought of William Earle.
1663 July 27, she deeded to eldest son Thomas, all her housing, orchard, land and fencing in Portsmouth. At her death she held Thomas’ bond for £100.
1669, she conveys to son Samuel land in Dartmouth, one-sixth of a share. (It appears Rebecca ahd three sixths of a share; she conveyed to Samuel, one-sixth, to Joshua, one-sixth, and perhaps one-sixth to John who had lived in Dartmouth. Thomas she gave land in Portsmouth; Richard, her other son, had gone to Long Island 1656, and had probably received his patrimony.)
1673, Feb. 8, 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.’
1673, May 23, her son Thomas was charged with murder, and after a trial that now reads like a farce, was convicted and executed.Among the witnesses of this trial were John Briggs (brother of Rebecca), Mary, wife of John Cornell (her son), Thomas, Stephen, Edward and John, sons of Thomas^2, Rebecca Woolsey (her daughter), etc. 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.’

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.248

Their children include:

6754i.

Sarah Cornell (ca Mar 1623-ca 1690)

6755ii.

Richard Cornell (ca Jul 1624-11 Aug 1694)

6756iii.

William Cornell (Died young) (ca Apr 1625-Jan 1627/8)

6757iv.

Thomas Cornell (ca Oct 1627-23 May 1673)

6758v.

Ann Cornell

6759vi.

Rebecca Cornell (ca Jan 1629/30-Feb 1713)

6760vii.

Elizabeth Cornell (Died young) (ca May 1631-bef 1637)

6761viii.

Kelame Cornell (Died soon) (ca 1632-Oct 1632)

6762ix.

William Cornell (ca 1632-)

6763x.

John Cornell (ca Jun 1634-1704)

6764xi.

Elizabeth Cornell (ca Jan 1637-aft 1708)

6765xii.

Joshua Cornell (ca 1641-)

6766xiii.

Samuel Cornell (ca 1644-ca 1715)

6767xiv.

Mary Cornell (ca 1645-)

2629. Sarah Cornell. Sarah died in Portsmouth, RI ca 1661.

Ca 1640 Sarah married John Briggs (2569) , son of Henry Briggs (1167) (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 1618.105 John died in Portsmouth, RI in Nov 1690. 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 1655.25

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.248

Their children include:

6768i.

Susannah Briggs (ca 1641-7 Nov 1704)

6769ii.

John Briggs (1642-2 Jul 1713)

6770iii.

Ens. Thomas Briggs (1644-12 Jun 1720)

6771iv.

Job Briggs (1648-1733)

6772v.

William Briggs (1650-12 May 1716)

6773vi.

Enoch Briggs (ca 1650/1660-1734)

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