Person:Francis Kendall (2)

Origins

No documentation of his UK origins has yet been confirmed, although it is believed he was of Kendall or at least county Cambridge, England. The Kendall Family in America (1919) claims he was son of John Kendall of Cambridge, England, and brother to Thomas Kendall who settled in Reading, MA.

Is he the "ffrancis Wimball" of Wootton on page 11 of the Bristol Records?

In December 1658, Francis Kendall deposed that his age was about 38 (therefore b 1620); on April 2, 1662, he deposed that his age was about 48 (therefore b 1614), making it most likely he was born in between these two times. (Historic Homes and Places... Middlesex Co., MA, p. 1125.)

Life in New England

By 1640: Francis & Thomas Kimball (brothers) were in Charlestown. Francis settled in Woburn; Thomas settled in Reading. (Historic Homes and Places... Middlesex Co., MA, p. 1125.)

1640: Signed town orders of Woburn at its beginnings.

1644: Married Mary Tidd December 24. (Woburn, Mass. Woburn Marriage Records Pt III p. 136-229 Microfiche Card 8 of 26).

1645: Taxpayer in Charlestown? of which Woburn was a part. [Historic Homes & Places - Mdsx, p. 1125]

1647: Became Freeman, May 26, Wenham [Historic Homes... Mdsx indicates this was 10 May 1648]

1657: Released from all "orginary traynings" [Mdx County Court Records, Volume I, p. 143] [or was this 1675?]

1658: December: Deposed that he was about 38 years of age

1662: Deposed he was about 48 years of age. [Mdx. Files.]

1664: served on a committee to divide the common land in Woburn

1671: 19 Dec: refused communion with the Church of Woburn.

1676: 9 June 1676: chosen tythingman for the Town of Woburn

1700: involved in a court case regarding the estate of his son-in-law Ephraim WINSHIP of Cambridge, Mass. The record is most interesting and reads as follows: "Ephraim WINSHIP, late of Cambridge ffarms, dec'd Ye 19 of Oct. 1696 & adminx being granted to Eliza; ye Relict widow of sd Ephraim WINSHIP, who afterwards married with Joseph PEIRCE of Watertown, who after his Marriage with ye sd admistrix proceeded to a further admistn as to paying debts &c. His Hond ffather in law mr ffrances Kendall at Woburne demands that his son in law Ephraim WINSHIP in the time of the former War called Phillppe War came to his hous for shelter for fear of the Indians, because his living was then in ye woods Remote from Neighbors, and he brought with him his Antient mother in law Reigner a widow of whom he was to take care & that ye sd ffrancis Kendall did keep ye sd widow Reigner for sd Ephraim WINSHIP with provisions more yrs A yeare and halfe and halfe at Eight pounds per Yeare & halfe comes to 121b." Widow Reigner was Mary, widow of Samuel REYNER.

1700: made a statement dated 20 Feb. which reads, "What I give in my will is of nothing worth til I am dead. yet is an antient law, as ould as paul he teaches us so much law -- now it hath pleased God to lengten out my life for more yn Eighty years, much longer yn I expected."

Historic Homes and Places... Middlesex Co., MA, p. 1125-1126: He served the town at different times for eighteen years as selectman, and on important committees such as those for distributing grants to the pioneers, and on building the meeting house. He was tything man in 1676. He was not entirely in accord with the Puritan church, and was fined for some infraction of church rules about infant baptism or attending at communion or attending meetings of Anabaptists. He was a miller by trade and owned a corn mill, which he left to his sons Samuel and John. This corn mill, at Woburn, has been in the possession of the family down to the present time. The mill now, or lately on the Kendall place, is one built by Samuel Kendall soon after 1700 and is some distance from the location of the first mill.

Legacy

Will, dated May 9, 1706, mentions ch. above-named and several gr. ch.; also the 8 ch. of his bro. Thomas K. that were living when Thomas d. [Reg. XXXVI, 17.] (The Pioneers of Massachusetts p. 266)

Historic Homes and Places... Middlesex Co., MA, p. 1126: He died in 1708, at the age of eighty-eight, according to the record, corroborating the affidavit of 1658. His wife Mary died in 1705. His will was dated May 9, 1706. His sons Thomas and John were the executors. Children: 1. John, born July 2, 1646. 2. Thomas, born January 10, 1648-9, mentioned below. 3. Mary, born January 20, 1650-1, married Israel Reed about 1668. 4. Elizabeth, born January 15, 1652-3, married (first) Ephraim Winship; (second) Joseph Pierce. 5 Hannah, born January 26, 1654-5, married William Green, Jr., as his second wife. 6. Rebecca, born March 2, 1657, married December, 1706, Joshua Eaton. 7. Samuel, born March 8, 1659. 8. Jacob, born January 25, 1660-1. 9. Abigail, born April 6, 1666, married, May 24, 1686, William Reed.

Francis Kendall's will is dated 9 May 1706 and was probated 31 May 1708. The will names as the heirs of Francis the following: eldest son John KENDAL; sons Thomas, Samuel, Jacob KENDALL; daus. Mary READ (son-in-law Israel READ), Elizabeth PEIRCE, Hannah GREEN; children of deceased dau. Rebecca EATON; daughter Abigail READ; Eunice, wife of son John KENDALL; grandson Francis KENDALL, eldest son of son John KENDALL; grandson Ralph KENDALL, son of son Thomas KENDALL; granddaughter Mary Peirce; grandson Francis GREEN; grandson Samuell Kendall, son of son Samuel KENDALL; grandson Jacob Kendall, son of son Jacob KENDALL; granddaughter Elizabeth LAMPSON, dau. of my dau. Rebecca EATON deceased; grandson William Read; the eight children of my brother Thomas KENDALL. The document also mentions: Samuel WALKER, Samuel BLODGETT, Thomas CARTER, Jonathan THOMPSON, Joseph WRIGHT sr, John KNIGHT, John BRUCE,Timothy WALKER (these for the most part mentioned in reference to land boundries). The executors of the estate were sons John & Thomas KENDALL - OVERSEERS - Jeremiah SWAYN of Reading, MA & James FOWLE of Wobourne, MA Witnesses were John BROOKS, Daniel BALDWIN & Edward WINN.

See also Ephraim Winship's probate document (excerpt here).

Additional Sources

(incorporate into Sources section)

1. Historic Homes and Places... Middlesex Co., MA, p. 1126:

2. Pioneers of Massachusetts, p. 266

3. WIlliam M. Clemens, The Kendall Family in America; Hackensack, NJ (1919)

4. NEHGS Register, Volume 37, p. 17

(See TALK page for text that was here previously)

1. ↑ Johnson, Edward F. Woburn Records of Births, Deaths, and Marriages . (Woburn, Massachusetts: Andrews, Cutler & Co., 1890-1919).

   KENDALL, Francis, Sen., s. of ___, [died] _____, 1708.

2.   Ullmann, Helen S. (Helen Frances Schatvet). A Mills and Kendall family history: American ancestry and descendants of Herbert Lee Mills and Bessie Delano Kendall. (Boston, Massachusetts: Newbury Street Press, c2002)
   203-47.

   Francis¹ Kendall, miller married Mary Tidd as "Francis Kendall alias Miles." Tradition states that Francis Kendall was stolen from Ralph Miles in England. This theory was supported in Sewall's History of Woburn. However, in his will he remembered his brother Thomas Kendall of Reading. [Who the parents of Thomas Kendall and Francis Kendall are we have not learned. But they were clearly brothers].