FROM PROBATE RECORDS
(Ralph Dell born 1575):
The Will of RALPH DELL of Bow in Middlesex, citizen and cloth worker [date not given in abstract].
• To Ralph Dell and John Dell, sons of my brother John Dell. To George Dell and Elisabeth Dell, children of my brother John.
• To sister Mary Dell.
• To cousin Ann Barolers, wife of Richard of Harksey.*
• To sisters Ellen, Elisabeth, and Joan.
• To cousin Bull. (1636 Bazzell Bull and Jane Wright 1 September.)
• I give and bequeath unto and among the children of John Wright the sum of 100 pounds.
• To cousin Whitings wife.
• To my wife, Elisabeth Dell.
Proved in 1646. (P.C.C., Twisse, 184.) (71 yrs old)
*Cf. the will of George Dell of Boston mariner, dated 3 Nov. 1653 (Register, Vol 5 p 442), in which the testator names his brother Mr. Richard Barachew, Living at Hackney near London and his brother Ralph Dell. Perhaps Richard Barolers of Harksey may be identical with Richard Barachew of Hackney, the names in one will or the other having been difficult to decipher. (This George Dell appears to be the nephew of Ralph Dell, brother to Ralph, sons of John Dell.)
Ralph Dell stated "I haueing no child" and the bequest to the Children of John Wright was later in the will than those to his brothers and sisters. However, I looked at "London Marriage Licences", edited by Joseph Foster, London, 1887 which you can access free on Google Books, and found the following:
"John Wright, of Waltham Abbey, co. Essex, yeoman, and Mary Dell, spinster, daughter of John Dell, of same, yeoman - at St. Mary Axe, London, 17 Apr 1624. Bishop of London's Office."
Also, "John Wright, of Waltham Abbey, co. Essex, yeoman, and Mary Dell - at Waltham Abbey, aforesaid, 19 Apr 1624. Bishop of London's Office."
The Will of ELIZABETH Bright DELL of Stratford-le-Bow, co. Middlesex, widow [date not given in abstract].
• To my brother, Master Henry Bright of New England, £200, to be paid within twelve months after my decease. In case he should die within that time, the money is to divided amongst his children. To said children £70 to be divided and paid to them at the age of twenty-one years or on the day of their marriage; and their father, Henry, is to give bonds for the payment of the same.
• To cousin Mary Ray of Ipswitch.
• To brother William Forth.
• To my sister, Martha Blowers, and her children.
• To brother Blowers.
• To cousin Robert Forth.
• To nephew Dr. William Forth.
• To my nephew, William Parks.
• To my cousin, _____ [? William] Cawby, esq.
• To my half sister, Mary Barker, daughter of Richard, late of New England. To Mary Barker alias Bright.
• To William Forth of Hadleigh, gentleman.
• To Rev. Mr. Greenhall of Stepney.
• To the poor of Stepney. [To divers, persons legacies of 20s, each, for the purchase of rings.]
Overseers: my brother Blowers and my brother William Forth. Executor: my nephew, Dr. William Forth. Proved at Doctors Commons. London, 6 August 1657. (P.C.C.) **
Note that she makes no bequests to children or grandchildren, to no one named Dell or Wright. Is it even certain that she is the widow of Ralph Dell above?
** The abstract of the will of Elizabeth Dell here given is based on the abstracts of the will published in J. B. Brights The Brights of Suffolk, England, pp.. 270-271, Boston [Mass.], 1858, and in Dr. Henry Bonds Genealogies of the Families and Descendants of the Early Settlers of Watertown, Massachusetts, second edition, p. 715, Boston, 1866 of which were taken from the abstract made by the late Horatio Gates Somerby and preserved in the Somerby Papers), and on the abstract supplied by Mr Wilbour. Master Henry Bright of New England was Henry Bright of Watertown, Mass. the American ancestor of a large family, and the legacies in the will to him and his children paid in 1659. For the Bright family and for the Forth family see the two books in the preceding paragraph of this note.-
[From the foregoing records it appears that John Wright (or Write) of Waltham Abbey, Co. Essex, England, married there, 22 Apr. 1624 Mary Dell, probably the Mary, wife of John Wright of Surestone (Sewardstone), who was buried at Waltham Abbey 23 Feb. 1637/8.
This John Wright was probably the man of that name who was buried at Waltham Abbey 5 July 1643, although when the will of Ralph Dell (vide supra), proved in 1646 but of uncertain date, was made, he was apparently living.
The records show that John and Mary (Dell) Wright of Waltham Abbey had the following children:
1 John, baptized 20 Feb. 1624/5; buried 30 Sept. 1626.
2. Amy, buried 4 June 1638.
3. Susanna, bapt. 5 Aug. 1627; married at Waltham Abbey, 5 May 1642, Richard Pierce (or Pearce), with whom she migrated to New England arriving ther prior to 14 Sept. 1647.
4. Elyn (Ellen), buried 5 Nov. 1632.
5. Ann, baptized 29 Aug. 1633.
6. Ralph, baptized 26 Sept. 1635.
7. Henry, baptized 16 May 1637. (Could have been born in February at the time of Mary Dell Wright’s death)
It is possible that in this list Amy and Elyn have not been in the proper order among the children; one or both of them may even been the children of John Wright by an earlier marriage. (Not likely. They probably died before they were baptized.)
But, since (Wright) Pearce received in 1647 £20 that is, one-fifth of the legacy left by Ralph Dell to the children of John Wright, she must have had four brothers and sisters living in 1647, and therefore there must have been another son or daughter of John and Mary (Dell) Wright whose name has not been in the parish registers of Waltham Abbey. (Unless she was not actually given her fair share or the court took a fee.)
Although there are numerous Wright entries in the parish registers of Waltham prior to 1650 (vide supra), it is difficult, if not impossible, to draw from them alone any satisfactory conclusions about the parentage and more remote ancestry of John Wright, the father of Susanna (Wright) Pearce.
Were abstracts of probate records relating to the Wrights of Waltham Abbey available, it might be possible to discover the parents and perhaps the grandparents of this John.
In regard to the Dells, however, more information is at hand. The Ralph Dell of Bow, Co. Middlesex, citizen and cloth worker, who in his will, proved in 1646 bequeathed £100 to the children of John Wright, was presumably the father of Mary (Dell) Wright and the grandfather of Susanna (Wright) Pearce; and this bequest, therefore, was to the children of the testator’s deceased daughter. (Not necessarily. Unless she was his child by a previous marriage. In that case, birth records should be searched for in Bow, Middlesex.)
But Ralph Dells wife, Elizabeth Dell, who in 1647 paid to Susanna (Wright) Pearce her share in this legacy and who in her own will proved in 1657, bequeathed to her brother, Master Henry Bright of New England and, and to his children, was baptized in the parish of St. James, Bury St. Edmunds, Co. Suffolk, 17 Sept. 1598, a daughter of Henry Bright of Bury St. Edmunds, and was unmarried as late as 1618 (cf. Bright pedigree, in Bonds town, 2d edition, pp. 708-709, with notes); and therefore she could not been the mother of the Mary Dell who was married to John Wright in but must have been her stepmother, (or the sister of Ralph Dell since he names one “Elizabeth”) and Mary must have been a daughter of Ralph Dell by an earlier marriage. (Do we know for sure that Elizabeth Dell who paid the money was the widow or was it the sister of Ralph Dell?)
Ralph Dell was an assessor to the King’s subsidies at Stratford-at-Bow in 1628 (Somerby MSS., book 10, p 257), and perhaps had lived formerly at Waltham Abbey, where his daughter Mary was married and where, as the Parish registers show, children of his brother, John Dell, were baptized and buried. In his will Ralph Dell bequeaths to his sister Mary Dell and his sisters Elisabeth, and Joan, and also to Ralph, John, George, and Elisabeth Dell, children of his brother John Dell.
The Waltham Abbey registers show that John Dell had the following children:
• Ralph, baptized 13 Sept. 1607; buried 1607.
• Ralph baptized 21 Apr. 1611.
• George, baptized 4 Nov.1621, perhaps the George Dell of Boston Mass., mariner, whose will, dated 3 Nov.1653, was brought into court in 1655 (see below)
• Elisabeth, baptized 20 Jan. 1627/8.
• Margaret, baptized in Aug. 1632; buried in Feb. 1634/5.
The baptism of the son John, named in his uncle’s will, has not been found in the registers.
The evidence seems to suggest that the Mary Dell who married John Wright could have been a daughter of Ralph Dell by a first wife. He was living in Stratford-le-Bow, so perhaps there are records there?
George Dell of Boston, Mass., mariner, made his will 3 Nov.1653 being bound on a voyage to sea from England to Ireland and from Ireland to Virginia and from Virginia to New England. He bequeathed one-half of his estate to his wife for life, and one-fourth to his two youngest sons, to be divided equally between them. He appointed as overseers Capt. Thomas Clark, of Boston, merchant, and Mr. Henry Webb, also of Boston, and left ”what Estate I have in England . . . to be overseene by my brother, Mr. Richard Barachew Liveing at Hackney neare London, & my brother Ralph Dell.” (See the will printed verbatim in REGISTER, VOL 5, p. 442, from Suffolk Probate Records, vol. 1, p. 110.)
This will had no witnesses and therefore the Court, on 26 Aug.1655 granted administration to Abigail, late wife of the deceased, with an order to act in reference to this imperfect will. The inventory of the estate of Capt. George Dell, taken by James Everell and John Anderson 6 Sept. 1655, amounted to £1506. 14s. 1 1/2 d., including a considerable amount of silver and gold, one fourth of the ship Goodfellow, and one-tenth of the ship Starr. (Register, vol. 5 p. 443, and Winthrops History of New England, Savages edition, Vol. 22, p 381, footnote 2.)
The references in the will to the testator’s brother (that is, brother-in-law Mr. Richard Barachew, living at Hackney near London (cf. the mention in the will of Ralph Dell of Bow, co. Middlesex, given above, of Cousin Ann Barolers wife of Richard of Harksey) and also to the testator’s brother Ralph Dell, suggest that Capt. George Dell of Boston may have been George Dell named in the will of Ralph Dell of Bow as a son of his (the testators) brother John; and in that case the Boston mariner was Waltham Abbey 4 Nov. 1621.
According to Savage (Genealogical Dictonary, vol. 2, p. 34) he was of Salem, Mass., in 1639, and he was later of Boston where the births of his children were recorded, beginning in Oct 1645. He was admitted a freeman 7 May 1651 (REGISTER, vol. 3, p. 192). On the same day George Dell, ”mr. of the Shipp, took the inventory of Nathaniel Byom” who was probably a sailor. (ib., vol 7 p 337.)
Winthrop (History of New England, Savages edition, vol. 2 pp. 381-382) tells how, in 1647, one goodman Dell of Boston, coming from St. Christophers in a small pinnace, and being put in to Gloucester, and there forbidden to land [because a quarantine had been established by the Massachusetts Bay Colony for vessels coming from the West Indies] “.... yet coming into the Bay, and being hailed by the Castle boat, and after by the captain of the Castle, denied that he came from the West and having taken in three fishermen (whom the captain knew) who joined him in the same lie, they were let pass, and so came on shore at Boston, before was known. As a result of this disregard of quarantine regulations Dell was bound over to the next court to answer his contempt.”
He was living on 10 May 1654, having crossed the Atlantic after making his will, as the following document shows:
Xth of May, 1654. I George Dell master of the Shipp called Goodfellow have sould unto mr Samuell Symonds two of the Irish youthes I brought over by order of the State of England: the name of one [of] them is William Dalton the other Edward Welch --- sum six and twenty pounds in corn merchantable or live cattell at or before the end of October of October next. [Signed] George Dell. (REGISTER, Vol. 8, p. 77.)
Mr. Symonds afterwards Deputy Governor of the Colony, had considerable trouble with these Irish youthes, his servants, whom he calls William Downing and Phillip Welch, and his declaration to the Court in regard to his dealings with Captain Dell and the conduct of the two servants may be found in Register, Vol 19, 55-56.
Abigail, widow of George Dell, married, 8 Nov. 1655, John Hanniford of Boston, mariner, a widower with two children, and had by him two daughters Sarah, born 8 Aug. 1656, and Abigail (posthumous), born 8 Mar 1660/1. (Cf Savages Genealogical Dictionary and Popes Pioneers of Massachusetts. )
The will of John Hanniford, dated 26 Dec. 1657, was brought into Court 5 Feb 1660/1 by his widow, the executrix, to be proved; and it appears that the estate of George Dell had not been finally settled when this will was made. (See the will in REGISTER, Vol. 13, pp. 149-150.) In a statement about the estate of her late husband, John Hanniford, Abigail Hanniford mentioned my Brother, Mark/Marke Hand (ib., vol. 13, p 150) ; and in an invoice, 17 June. 1611 Mark Hands mentioned my sister Hannyford, and in his will dated 15 July 1661. made contingent bequests to ”my Kinsman Joseph Dill, to said Josephs Mother Abigaill Hanniford, and to Samuel Dill and Benjamin Joseph, Samuel, and Benjamin Dill (or Dell) being sons of Abigail Hanniford by her husband, George Dell.” (See will of Mark Hands of Boston and accompanying documents, in REGISTER, Vol. 13, p. 9.) Probably, therefore, Abigail, wife of George Dell and afterwards wife of John Hanniford, was a sister (less likely a sister-in-law) of Mark Hands.
By his wife Abigail George Dell had the following children, whose births were recorded in Boston:
1. John, born in Oct. 1645; already deceased on 26 Dec 1657, when John Hanniford in his will mentions as living the three sons of his Predecessor, George Dill, the will of Mark Hands showing that these three sons were Joseph, Samuel, and Benjamin Dill (or Dell).
2. Samuel, born 31 Aug. 1647.
3. Joseph, born in Feb. 1649/50.
4. Benjamin, born 27 April 1652.
Samuel, Joseph, and Benjamin were living 15 July 1661 (vide supra).
That there were (just a few) Pierces at Waltham Abbey in the middle of the seventeenth century also appears from the parish registers (there seems to have only been a Richard and a Robert and a Martha. Robert owned an inn and died in 1661. He appears to have had two children, John – 1655, and Charity – 1659.); and it seems more likely that the Richard Pierce who married Susanna Wright in 1642 and is found a few years later at Portsmouth, R.I., was a native (relative newcomer to) of Waltham Abbey or of one of the neighboring parishes than that he came from the distant Bristol in Gloucestershire on the other side of England.
