Person:Robert Andrews (4)

Capt Robert Andrews
b.Est 1591 England
  1. Mary Andrews1585 -
  2. Capt Robert AndrewsEst 1591 - 1643/44
m. Bef 1618
  1. Alice AndrewsEst 1618 - Bef 1641
  2. Abigail AndrewsEst 1623 - 1665
  3. Corporal John AndrewsEst 1628 - 1661/62
  4. Thomas AndrewsEst 1630 - 1683
Facts and Events
Name Capt Robert Andrews
Gender Male
Alt Birth? 1560 Norwich, Norfolk, England
Birth? Est 1591 England
Marriage Bef 1618 to Elizabeth Unknown
Occupation[4] 1635 Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts, United StatesTavern/Innkeeper
Other[1] 6 May 1635 Ipswich, Essex, MassachusettsMade Freeman
Will[1][2] 1 Mar 1643/44 Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts
Death? Mar 1643/44 Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts
Probate[1] 26 Mar 1644 Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts

Biographical Notes

(1) Capt. Robert Andrews, came from England, and settled at Ipswich, Massachusetts, early in the year 1635. The Andrews Memorial states that Capt. Andrews, came from Norwich, Norfolk County, England, early in 1635, as owner and master of ship Angel Gabriel. Richard Mather, in his narrative of his voyage in the James says, they came in company part of the way, and that many Godly people were on board the ship.

This Capt. Andrews had a sister Mary, who was the wife of Robert Burnham. Their three boys, John, Thomas, and Robert Burnham, it is said, were put in charge of their uncle Andrews, master of the ship Angel Gabriel which was cast away at Pemaquid, in Maine, in a terrible storm, 15 August 1635, after which loss, Capt. Andrews settled with his nephews at Chebacco, in Massachusetts Bay. [5][6]

In a book entitled "Ancient Pemaquid," by J. W. Thornton, 1857, it says:

"On the last wednesday of May in this year (1635), the Angel Gabriel, a strong ship of 240 tons, and carrying a heavy armament of 16 guns swung at her moorings in the King's Road, four or five miles distant from the city. Her destination was Pemaquid. On her deck was a company of many Godly Christians, some from other ships, bound for New England; one of them was Richard Mather, visited there by Sir Ferdinando Georges, but the chief personage in the company was John Cogswell, a London merchant of wealth who with the fragments of his freight, and accompanied by his servants, settled at Ipswich."

In the fury of an easterly storm the ship with her cargo were totally lost; some of the passengers not escaping death, most notably the Blaisdell family. This shipwreck is chronicled as one of the greatest disasters in the annals of Pemaquid.

Robert was "made free 6 May 1635."

The name of Robert Andrews does not appear among those who went to Aggawam in 1633; but it does appear frequently in the public records after that date. Hammatt says that he possessed a houselot on the south side of the river in 1635 and it is said that he lived near the South Church. His name appears several times in the records of grants of lands:

  • 3 Sept 1635 -- Robte Andrews licensed to keep ordinarye (an inn) in the plantacon where he lyves during the pleasure of ye court." This is the earliest reference to a public house in the records of Ipswich.
  • Aprill 20, 1635. Thomas Firman was granted one hundred acres of land, beyond Chebacco Creeke having Robert Andrews land on the north west and a great bare hill on the south west.
  • John Perkins Junr was granted a house lott containing an acre lying by the river, hauing Thomas Hardyes & Robert Andrewes house lotts on the south west side.
  • Granted to John Cross likewise five and Twenty acres in the North Side the Towne haueing the land of Thomas

Dudley Esqur on the North, and Robert Andrews toward the South.

  • 1635 -- Robert Andrews is allowed to sell wine by retail, "if he do not wittingly sell to such as abuse it by drunkenness."
  • 1636 -- Thomas Hardy had a house lot near the river adjoining Robert Andrews and Thomas Howlett.
  • 1640 May 13 -- Robert Andros is granted to draw wine at Ipswitch, with the conditions of the towne.
  • 18 Jan 1641 -- Robert Andrew witnessed a deed from Daniel Denison to Humphrey Griffin of a dwelling house &c near the mill.
  • Richard Scofield conveys the same to Robert Roberts 2:5mo: 1643. in which it is bounded by Robert Andrews, Mr. Bartlemew, John Perkins the younger and Thomas Boreman.

Will of ROBERT ANDREWS

Preface/Summary:

Robert's will, dated 1 March 1643, names his wife, Elizabeth, and his sons, John and Thomas; and his grandchildren, Elizabeth Franklyn and Daniel Hovey; showing that he must have had daughters, naming their husbands. By this means we are able to indentify them in other records and documents.

The fact that he mentions John, son of Humphrey Griffin, as a legatee, strongly suggests that the legatee was a relative. Humphrey Griffin died at Ipswich, 16 September 1662, leaving a widow, Elizabeth; his wife Joan died 17 July 1657; possibly the first wife may have been a kinsman to Robert Andrews, a sister perhaps. He also mentions with certainty his nephews, John, Thomas, and Robert Burnham.

Thomas Howlett, designated as the guardian of his son, John, may have been related, yet he does not so state. Howlett was one of the first settlers who went to Ipswich with Mr. John Winthrop, and his name is frequently mentioned in the early records, from which it appears that Andrews and Howlett resided near each other at Ipswich.


1 March 1643

In ye name of God Amen. I Robert Andrews of Ipswich in New England being of perfect understanding & memory doe make this my last will & testiment.

Imprimis, I commend my soul into the hands of my mercifull Creator & Redeemer and I doe commit my body after my departure out of this world to be buryed in a seemly manner by my friends &c.

Concerning my estate, Imprimis, I doe make my eldest son, John Andrews my executor.

Item. I give unto my wife Elizabeth Andrews forty pounds, & to John Griffin the son of Humphrey Griffin sixteen pounds to be paid to him when he shall be twenty one years & if he shall dy before he comes to that age, it shall return to my two sonnes John & Thomas Andrews.

Item, concerning my son Thomas Andrews my will is that he shall live with his brother John Andrews 3 years, two of which he shall be helpfull to his brother John Andrews in his husbandry, & the last of the 3 years he shall go to scole to recover his learning, & if he shall go to the University, or shall set himselfe upon some other way of living, his brother John shall allow him 10 pounds by the yeer for four yeers & then fifteen pounds by the yeer for two yeers succeeding after.

Item, concerning the fourscore pounds, which is to be paid unto my son in law Franklyn's daughter, Elizabeth Franklyn, my will is that if she dy before the debt is due, it shall be thus disposed of, ten pounds of it shall go to my son in law Daniel Hovey's child, Daniel Hovey my grandchild, & the other seventy pounds shall be divided between my two sonnes John and Thomas Andrews & if those my two sonnes should dy, then thirty pounds of it shall be divided between my 3 kinsmen John, Thomas & Robert Burnam by equal portions & twenty more should go to Humfrey Griffins two other sonnes & the other twenty shall go to Daniel Hovey.

And because my son John Andrews is yet under age, I doe commend him unto Thomas Howlett as his guardian untill he shall come of age.

Witnesses hereof

WILLIAM KNIGHT. JOHN WHIPPLE. THOMAS SCOTT. JOSEPH METCALFE.

The marke of Robert Andrews

This will was proofed in ye court held at Ipswich 26th of ye first month (March) 1644.

Origins

Robert Andrewes' ancestry is noteworthy. He retained the English spelling of Andrews. Robert's aunt, Mrs. Johane Andrewes, widow of Thomas Andrewes, resided in London on Tower Hill. Her son, Lancelot, the Bishop of Winchester, assisted in crowning Elizabeth and James I. Lancelot was 1st in the list of 54 learned men selected to make what is known as the "King James" version of the bible. The Widow Johane Andrewes left one-third part of the ship called "The Mayflower" to her son Thomas, and her brother-in-law, William. William settled in Boston in 1633. Thomas subsequently belonged to the Massachusetts Bay Company. Both names figure frequently on the pages of the "Log of the Mayflower". Captain Robert Andrewes, father of Abigail, was master & owner of the "Angel Gabriel", which was an armed ship that came as consort of the "James", in August of 1635. Both the James and the Angel Gabriel were caught in a terrible storm and had to part company. The James anchored near the Isles of Shoals, and the Angel Gabriel anchored off Pemaquid, on the coast of Maine. The disastrous gale imperiled the James, which finally arrived "rent asunder and split to pieces in the Boston Harbor." (note:The Angel Gabriel was the first vessel which miscarried with passengers from Old England to New. It was built for Sir Walter Raleigh, and sailed from Bristol, Eng., carrying 16 guns).

References
  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Andrews, H. F. (Henry Franklin). History of the Andrews family: a genealogy of Robert Andrews, and his descendants, 1635 to 1890 ; with sketches of distinguished persons of the name, origin of the name, early settlers of the name in America, settlement of Ipswich, Massachusetts; Lovell, Maine. (Audubon, Iowa: William F. Brinkerhoff, Nov 1890)
    pas 41-47.
  2. Robert Andrews, in Anderson, Robert Charles; George F. Sanborn; and Melinde Lutz Sanborn. The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635. (Boston, Massachusetts: NEHGS, 1999-2011).
  3.   Pope, Charles Henry. Pioneers of Massachusetts (1620-1650): A Descriptive List, Drawn from Records of the Colonies, Towns and Churches. (Boston: The Author, 1900).

    Robert, Ipswich, propr. freeman May 6, 1635. Gave security April 2, 1641, to William Franklin of Boston, for the marriage portion of his dau. Alice, late wife of W. F., to be given to her dau, Elizabeth. Refers to Phebe, present wife of W(illiam)F(ranklin). Son Thomas, school master; daus. Abigail m. Daniel Hovey, Elizabeth m. Humphrey Griffin.

  4. Robert Andrews, in The Flagon and Trencher Society: Descendants of Colonial Tavern Keepers. The Flagon and Trencher
    vol xiii pg 1.

    Cites Great Migration reference. Note descendants are eligible to join the Flagon And Trencher Society: Descendants of Colonial Tavern Keepers. See http://www.flagonandtrencher.org/

  5. Great Migration notes "Robert Andrews, in his will, speaks of his "kinsmen John, Thomas & Robert Burnum," without specifying the relationship. People have invented parents for the Burnham boys, making their father one Robert Burnham, and their mother one "Mary Andrews," an alleged sister of Robert Andrews, thereby making the boys nephews of Robert Andrews, all without any evidence whatsoever [Warner-Harrington 17]."
  6. Great Migration notes "Robert Andrews has been placed by various writers as a passenger on the ill-fated Angel Gabriel in 1635 [e.g., Dommerich Anc 43] but this is a physical impossibility. Andrews was admitted to Massachusetts Bay freemanship on 6 May 1635, an event which implies his arrival in New England by 1634 and his presence in New England on 6 May 1635. The Angel Gabriel was riding at anchor near Bristol, England, on 26 May 1635, and did not sail for New England until 4 June [Young's First Planters 450-53]."