Chronology

All dates adjusted to a Gregorian (contemporary) calendar

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Ca. 1616 George Clarke is born. Birth date estimated from his listing on the 1643  List of Men Able to Bear Arms and his colonial land holdings.

Ca. 1620 Richard Bishop is born.

1620 NOV Mayflower arrives at Cape Cod.

1630s Tens of thousands of English, Scots and Irish immigrate to the Americas as settlers, servants and convict labor.

Ca. 1632 Alice Martin arrives to a New England settlement as an indentured servant (hypothesized).

Ca. 1635 George Clarke arrives in Plymouth Colony, possibly via Barbados.

1637 George Clarke brings Edward Dotey to court over land disputes. Dotey was a Mayflower passenger, coming over as a servant. He was frequently brought before the court for criminal and civil matters including a Jan 1638 assault of George Clarke.

1637-1639 George Clarke purchases a home and two adjoining acreages to establish an 18 acre farm.

1637 NOV – 1638 NOV Richard Bishop serves one year indenture to Love Brewster in newly established Duxbury.

1639 JAN Alice Martin marries George Clarke

1639 Plymouth Colony town of Barnstable established

Ca. 1641 Abigail Clarke born

1642 George Clarke pays Edward Dotey in corn to settle a claim

1643 AUG Richard Bishop and George Clarke on List of Men Able to Bear Arms for the specific town of Plymouth. 

 1644 Martha Clarke born

1644 George Clarke dies

1644 5 DEC Alice Martin Clarke marries Richard Bishop

 1645 Damaris Bishop born

 1646 2 MAR Rachel Eaton marries Joseph Ramsden

 1648 22 JULY Martha Clarke murdered

 1648 4 OCT Alice Martin Bishop executed

1649 MAR Richard Bishop presented to court for stealing a neighbor’s spade

1649 MAY 6 John Churchill ordered to sell the lands and home of George Clarke to support the orphaned Abigail Clarke

1651 OCT Rachel Ramsden faces impropriety charges involving socializing with young men.

1652 4 MAY Court order Joseph Ramsden to move out of the woods and into an actual neighborhood.

1656 Joseph Ramsden ordered to move again or his house will be torn down.

Ca. 1661 Rachel Ramsden dies (as Joseph Ramsden marries for second time).

1662 Richard Bishop awarded “ancient freemen” status and given a land parcel.

 

14 thoughts on “Chronology

  1. Hi,

    I really enjoyed your information and thoughts on our mutual ancestor. I am directly related to poor Alice and Martha through my Grandmother, Amanda Read. I was looking at a census of the colony and thinking about probabilities, one being that it might be difficult for a single woman to travel and settle between the colonies. Is that true? Is there a passenger list for the ship Talbot? It’s passengers were servants and it sailed in 1629. Could Alice have been a ten year old indentured servant on the Talbot? If so, she would have been 19 and just marriageable when she wed Clark. I am not well versed in colony history or cultural norms so would appreciate your thoughts. Thanks!

    • Jeanne, we are right there with you on this learning curve. My co-author, Kristin, is spending hours reviewing passenger ship lists. It would be so helpful to find a birth date and emigration date for Alice, but no luck yet! We are thinking that Alice may have not arrived directly to Plymouth town from England as her fist marriage is to George Clarke in Barnstable. We also imagine that she arrived to New England as an indentured servant but have yet to find a family to connect her to which would help with all our date needs. Please come back and see us as we are uploading new materials in the next few days. By the way, do you mind sharing what town you are in? We are hoping to create a descendant map at a future date. Thanks, Erin

      • Thanks for your response. I live in Los Gatos, California. My father, John Read Dobbins, moved here from Arkansas with his mother, Amanda Read Dobbins, in about 1924. My husband and I have three sons and two grandchildren, plus another on the way. We are all located in California. I wondered about the name Damaris then saw it was the name of a nearby cove. All so interesting. How many direct descendants do you speculate she and David Sutton have?

        • Thanks Jeanne! What part of Arkansas? I ask because I’m working on another family murder that took place in 1914 Arkansas. Geez, my family sounds sinister! Congrats on the new grandbaby!

  2. Although I cannot prove it, I see others who claim my Great Grandmother Laura Sutton was a descendant of Damaris Bishop. Laura was born in NE Pennsylvania and died in Oneida County, New York (in 1889 as Mrs. Homer Hillock). I live in Tabernacle, NJ with one child in Silver Spring, MD and the other in Port Byron, NY. My cousins and their children are well scattered across the US.

  3. Thanks for all of your work!! Alice Martin Bishop is my 10X great grandmother (through Damaris and William’s son, Richard). My sister and I just discovered Alice’s story yesterday!! Not something you expect to find in your family’s history!! I would love to know if you have found anything yet in regards to Alice’s arrival in the colonies.

  4. Hello, I am a descendant from Damaris and William’s son John. Alice Martin Bishop is my 8x Great Grandmother. Our line is from Ohio, though I was born in SC and currently reside in TX. My maternal grandmother was a Sutton. Thank you for all the work you have done in researching and producing the website. I look forward to learning more. Do you know if any research has been done into the rate of postpartum depression among Alice’s descendants?

    • Hi Michele- We have a post coming up in which we consider postpartum depression — and the much rarer, postpartum psychosis — but we feel it’s more likely that Alice Martin Bishop and her fellow goodwives had bigger challenges facing them, like good old-fashioned survival. We are thinking about doing one of the DNA tests, and comparing those results with other AMB descendants, but I don’t know how you’d go about doing the kind of study you ask about in your comment. Welcome to the blog! -Kristin & Erin

  5. Damaris Bishop m William Sutton they had a son John Sutton
    John Sutton m Elizabeth Conger they had a son Reverend Sutton
    Reverend Sutton m Elizabeth Cox they had a son Moses Sutton
    Moses Sutton m Susannah Cox they had a son Benjamin Sutton
    Benjamin Sutton m Elizabeth they had a daughter Hannah Sutton
    Hannah Sutton m Richard Phelan they had a son Abijah T Phelan
    Abijah T Phelan m HC Rogers they had a daughter Maud Hannah Phelan

    this is my line which I have every reason to believe is accurate

  6. According to my info, Alice and Richard Bishop also had a son, James Bishop, born about 1646. He married Mary Hudson on December 12, 1665 in Pembroke, Plymouth Co., MA. He died June 30, 1740 the same locale.

    • We are going to look for evidence that James was the son of Alice and Richard. So far, we haven’t found anything that confirms that relationship. What is the best source you’ve found?

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