ROBERT LOVELL 1595-1672

[Ancestral Link: Marguerite Anderson (Miller), daughter of Hannah Anderson (Anderson), daughter of Mary Margaret Edmiston (Anderson), daughter of Martha Jane Snow (Edmiston), daughter of Gardner Snow, son of Abigail Farr (Snow), daughter of Mercy Winslow (Farr), daughter of Rebecca Ewer (Winslow), daughter of Shubael Ewer, son of Elizabeth Lovell (Ewer), daughter of John Lovell, son of Robert Lovell.]


First Lovell's in America
Year: 1635 Age: 40 Estimated birth year:abt 1595 Place: New England Family Members:Wife Elizabeth 35; Son John 8; Daughter Ellyn 1; Son James 1; Son Zacheus 15; Daughter Anne 16 Source Publication Code:8855 Primary Immigrant:Lovell, Robert
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ABOUT THE LOVELLS compiled by Herbert Marlow Lovell
"Robert Lovell, the immigrant ancestor of the 'Cape Cod Lovells' and the 'Weymouth Lovells', was born in 1595, in England, probably in Somersetshire. He was of an ancient Norman family, settled in England since the Conquest. He married in England Elizabeth --------, born in 1600. His social status was that of yeoman, equivalent to our 'freeholder'. In 1635, on March 20th, at the age of forty years, he sailed from Weymouth, England, with 'Hull's Company', in the ship Elizabeth, for America. On the 8th of July, 1635, the General Court of Massachusetts permitted 'Hull's Company' of twenty-one families, with about one-hundred persons, to settle at Wessaguscus, on the south shore of Boston Harbor. On the 2nd of September, the name of the town was changed to Weymouth, which it has since retained. To Weymouth with Robert came his wife Elizabeth, aged thirty-five years, his five children, and his man-servant, name Joseph Chickin. His position in the settlement is best indicated by the fact that at the town-meeting in 1636, when, the first division of land was made, among sixteen men, to him was allotted the fourth largest tract."
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Weymouth to New England 1636
Immigration Ship Hector
20 March 1636List of 106 persons bound for New England from the port of Weymouth.
Joseph Hall [sic] of Somerset, minister, aged 40, Agnes his wife aged 25, seven children and three servantsMusachiell Bernard of Batcombe, clothier, Mary his wife, and two sonsRichard Persons, salter, and servantFras. Baber, chandlerJoseph JoynerWalter Jesop, weaverTimothy Tabor of Batcombe, Jane his wife, three daughters and servantJohn Whitmarck, Alice his wife, and four childrenWm. Read of Batcombe, Susan his wife, two daughtersRich. Adams, his servant, Mary his wife and childZachary Bickwell, Agnes his wife, son, and servantGeorge Allen, Katherine his wife, three sons and a servantHenry Kingman, Joan his wife, five children and a servantWilliam King, Dorothy his wife, and four childrenThos. Holbrook of Broadway, Jane his wife, and four childrenThos. Dible, husbandman, and Frances his sisterRobt. Lovell, husbandman, Eliz. his wife, and five children and servant, Alice KinhamAngell Holland, Katherine his wife, and two servantsRich. Joanes of DinderRobt. Martyn of BadcombeJoan MartynHump. ShepheardJohn Upham, Elizabeth his presumed wife and five childrenRich. Wade, Eliz. his wife, Dinah his daughter, and two servantsJohn Hoble and Robt. Huste, husbandmenJohn WoodcockRich. Porter
Signed by John Porter, Deputy Clerk to Edward Thoroughgood.
Sainsbury, W. Noel, ed., Calender of State Papers, Colonial Series (Volume 9), America and West Indies, 1675-1676, also Addenda, 1574-1674, Preserved in the Public Record Office (Vaduz: Kraus Reprint Ltd., 1964) First Published London: HMSO, 1893. pp. 79-80.
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Robert Lovell Immigrant
Robert Lovell, founder of the family in America, embarked from Weymouth England for Massachusetts Bay Colony on March 20th, 1635. Upon their arrival, he with his family settled at Wessaguscus the name of which was afterward changed to Weymouth. He was set down as 40 years of age. His wife at 35; they brought with them five children.

Robert came with his Somersetshire and Dorset neighbors under the leadership of the Reverend Joseph Hull. After a voyage of forty-six days they arrived in Boston harbor May 6, 1635.
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Descendants of Robert Lovell
1. R OBERT4 LOVELL (JOHN 3, JOHN 2, WILLIAM 1) was born 1595, and died July 25, 1672 in Weymouth, Mass. He married ELIZABETH DUNCKLEY February 02, 1625/26 in Thornbury, Glouchester, England. She was born Abt. 1601. Notes for ROBERT LOVELL :Robert Lovell came over from England in March 1635 in an unnamed vessel under the leadership of the Reverend Joseph Hull. the ship carried 20 families and servants gathered largely from the parishes of Batcombe and Broadway in Somersetshire. The ship arrived May 5 and practically all of the passengers went to the plantation at Wessaguscus which officially changed its name to Weymouth in July 1635. One source notes the ship as the old Do??T. He settled in Weymouth, Mass. He was made a freeman in 1635. _______________________________________________________ Bound for New England. WAIMOUTH, ye 20th of March, 1635. 74. ROBERT LOVELL, husbandman, aged 40 years. 75. ELIZABETH LOVELL, his wife, aged 35 years. 76. ZACHERIS LOVELL, his sonne, aged 15 years. 77. ANNE LOVELL, his daughter, aged 16 years. 78. JOHN LOVELL, his sonne, aged 8 years. 79. ELLIN, his daughter, aged 1 year. 80. JAMES, his son, aged 1 year.Source: The Original Lists of Persons of quality, emigrants, religious exiles etc. who went from Great Britain to the American plantations 1600-1700. From MSS Preserved in the state paper department of her majesty's public record office, England edited by John Camden Hotten. Lonndon, Chatto and Windus, publishers 1874.
________________________________________________ _____ To the Members of the GENEALOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SOCIETIES Colonial America, 1607-1789 MA Census Index Lovell, Robert MA MASSACHUSETTS COLONY 1635 FREEMAN LIST Freemen made at the General Court, September 2, 1635. William Blumfield Joseph Hull William Reade Richard Adams John Upham Robert Lovell (List continues) The men that applied for freemen status were mostly arrived in 1630 with the Winthrop fleet and the Mary & John. However, the earlier arrivals are also represented here, and this list contains many of the surviving settlers from the the Abigail and the Higginson fleet, as well as a few who came before 1628. Source: The entire list is available from The Winthrop Society, Massachusetts Bay Colony. __________________________________________________________ NOTE 138. ROBERT LOVELL,1 b. about 1595; embarked in the Old Do??t, Weymouth, Eng., with Rev. John Hull, 1635; arrived at Boston, and settled at Wessaguscus, now Weymouth. Mass.; freeman, Sept. 2, 1635; wife, Elizabeth; farmer; founder of the Lovell family in New England. He d. Weymouth, about 1672. Children; Ann, Zaccheus, John, Ellen and James. JOHN LOVELL,2 and wife Jane; res. Weymouth. Ch. b. Weymouth: PHEBE, Feb. 19, 1655. JOHN, May 8, 1658. ELIZABETH, Oct. 28, 1660. JAMES, Oct. 23, 1662. WILLIAM, Feb. 24, 1664; m. Mehitable Lumbert. JANE, July 28, 1670. WILLIAM LOVELL,3 b. Weymouth, Feb. 24, 1664; m. Sept. 24, 1693, Mehitable Lumbert. He prob. res. Barnstable, Mass.; and d. 1753. Children: ELI, Aug. 1694. JERUSHA, Sept. 1696. ELENOR, Sept. 10, 1698. ABIA, Sept. 12, 1700. BEULAH, Feb. 7, 1704. ELEANOR, May 17, 1707. JAMES LOVELL,2 (Robert,1) b. England, 1634; 1st wife, Jane; 2d wife, Anna; res. Weymouth, Mass.; a large land owner; he d. Weymouth, 1706. Ch. by 1st wife, b. Weymouth: DEBORAH, Jan. 8, 1664. JAMES, Mar. 7, 1667. HANNAH, Sept. 29, 1668. ENOCH, Dec. 29, 1670; m. Mary Reed. MARY, Jan. 5, 1673. JOHN, Apr. 19, 1775. Also a dau. ANNA, b. Nov. 20, 1697, perhaps by 2d wife. A GENEALOGY OFJAMES HAMLIN OF BARNSTABLE MASSACHUSETTS BY HON. H. FRANKLIN ANDREWS PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR EXIRA IOWA 1902 _______________________________________________________ Thomas Bayley's farm and home of 25 acres was located on the southerly side of King Oak Hill and was bounded on the west by Rockey Hill, Rockey Glen, or Rockey Nook, on the old Indian Trail. leading from East Weymouth to Weymouth Landing, crossing what is now Essex Street, near the town farm. The celler hole of his house and all his farm lands are still traceable today (1899). "In 1644 Thomas Dyer sould unto Thomas Baylie, the 21st of the 3rd month, his dwelling-house, Barne, and Sellar, his garden and yarde, both of them contayning by estimation, one quarter of an acre of land being more or lesse, bounded on the East with the land of Robert Lovell, on the West with the land of Mr. Webb, on the North with the land of saied Thomas Dyer, and on the South a highwaie." This sale of real estate is one of the first records placed on the books of the town of Weymouth. ________________________________________________________ A background of the religious and political background of the immigration to America from ORIGINS OF THE BICKNELL FAMILY IN NORTH AMERICA AS DESCENDED FROM ZACHARY BICKNELL (1589 -1635) By ©Laurence Cook, 1991. Zachry Bicknell and his wife Agnis Lovell were passengers on the ship organized by the Reverend Joseph Hull and probably were neighbors of Robert Lovell and his family in the vicinity of the villiages of Barrington, Bickenhall and Broadway in Somerset England. Both families were passengers on the Hull ship in 1635 (see map). THE REVEREND JOSEPH HULL: The Reverend Joseph Hull was born at Crewkerne, Somerset (six miles southeast of Barrington) in 1594 to Thomas Hull and Joanna Peson Hull.(67) In 1614 he graduated from St. Mary Hall, Oxford.(68) In 1619 he was ordained by the Bishop of Exeter, serving during the next three years as the teacher, curate and minister of Colyton, Devonshire.(69) In 1621 he was appointed Rector for North Leigh, Devonshire (eighteen miles southwest of Barrington) where he served until 1632.(70) His sermons were popular and he appears to have been associated with several other popular preachers of the region. In the 1620's and 1630's there were a number of non-conformist curates who offered a "cure of the soul" under license, but whom later resorted to itinerant preaching due to conflict with the official church. These gadding ministers or preachers did not receive set payment for their independent services and with the pressure mounting from the Church of England chose to leave the country rather than continue such a precarious and combative lifestyle.(71) Hull seems to have somewhat straddled this roll. The first record of Hull's conflict with the Church of England is with respect to his association with the Reverend John Wareham. Hull had graduated from St. Mary Hall, Oxford in 1614, the same year as Wareham. Wareham (and perhaps Hull as well) received his Master of Divinity in 1618.(72) In 1626, Wareham was offered the ministry at Sandford, Dorset, but declined, stating that he preferred to remain as the lecturer at Crewkerne, Somerset. Such a refusal to serve was exceptional.(73) On November 13, 1627 Wareham was accused of stating that certain church practices were undesirable. He was also charged with failure to read authorized prayers before his congregation.(74) That same year, he admitted repeating sermons in his home on Sunday evenings to members of his immediate family and other parishioners. Although he was ordered to cease such activity by Dr. Duck, Chancellor to William Laud the Bishop of Bath & Wells, he claimed the sermons were only for family devotion and perhaps the few persons who dropped by on occasion. He was suspended from his parish and left the diocese to settle at St. Sidwell's in Exeter.(75) In September 1629, Wareham accompanied by Hull and another cleric, John Cox, returned to Crewkerne. Apparently, Wareham sought to make a farewell sermon before leaving for New England. As a result, the wardens of Crewkerne parish were cited for allowing all three to preach without a license and failing to register Wareham, Hull and Cox in the parish's Book of Strange Preachers. Wareham was again expelled from the diocese on November 28, 1629.(76) In March 1630, he was reordained at Plymouth prior to emigrating with his congregation to the settlement at Hull, Massachusetts.(77) I found no record of what action, if any, was taken against Joseph Hull for the Crewkerne affair. However, he resigned his rectorship at North Leigh in 1632. The next year, he became the officiating curate (assistant to the parish priest or temporary replacement due to suspension or incapacity) at Broadway, Somerset.(78) Broadway is located approximately half way between Bickenhall and Barrington (three miles from each) and was part of Pierce's diocese. The Bicknell's undoubtedly became familiar with Hull, and had probably heard him preach, at least by this time. In 1634, during his tenure as Broadway's curate, Hull attended a visitation at Chard (four miles south of Broadway). In January 1635, he was prosecuted for preaching at Broadway without a license. That same month he also allegedly preached at the ancient town of Glastonbury (approximately twenty miles north of Broadway), where he allegedly is quoted as saying that judgment hung over the land and that first it would fall on the clergy and then the laity.(79) He failed to respond to the court's citation and on February 17, 1635 was expelled from the Church of England.(80) Hull had probably already gathered at least part of his company of emigrants, which included the Bicknells, the Lovells (probably related to Zachary's wife, Agnis Lovell), and Richard Porter (whose yet to be born daughter, Mary, would wed Zachary's son John) and was preparing, or prepared, to leave for New England when he was cited for illegal preaching in January 1635. The Hull Company's ship left Weymouth about March 20, 1635. A list of passengers, entitled "Bound for New England", was compiled by John Porter, a Deputy Clerk to Edward Thoroughgood.(81) The voyage took forty-six days. The ship landed at Boston on May 6, 1635.(82) On July 8, 1635, Hull's congregation was granted the right to settle at Wessaguscus, south east of Boston. A short while later, the settlement's name was changed to Weymouth by Hull's congregation after their port of departure in England.(83) Although Hull was a man of "exceptional ability", he was apparently dismissed from his parish once his "liberal views were known".(84) He then moved successively to Hingham (a few miles east of Weymouth) where he served as commissioner and deputy in 1638, then Barnstable and Yarmouth (on the Cape Cod Peninsula).(85) He apparently desired to bridge the gap between Anglicans, Puritans and Separatists.(86) His views lead to conflict with Governor John Winthrop, and eventually resulted in his expulsion from the colony.(87) The fact that Hull, an "excommunicated" and "very contentious" person, was "entertained" as minister of Accominticus (later known as York), Maine was one of the reasons Winthrop gave for denying admission of several northern settlements into the confederation of the four New England colonies in 1643. The people of these settlements around the Gulf of Maine were generally conformists to the Church of England. In contrast to their dour cousins of Massachusetts, they encouraged public merriment, maypoles, morris dances, wassails, drinking in general, and unaustere dress.(88) Hull was said by one account to have settled in Accominticus prior to 1640, and to have made occasional visits to the Isles of Shoals (off the New Hampshire coast)(89) to administer sacraments at Smuttynose Island.(90) Another account states that he actually served on the islands first, then accepted the ministry of Accominticus later, on October 16, 1643, thereafter occasionally returning to the islands.(91) Regardless of the chronology of his service, he apparently cultivated a number of devotees both on the Isle of Shoals and the Maine-New Hampshire mainland between 1640 and 1645. Hull left his ministry at Accominticus and returned to England in 1645. In 1648 he became vicar of Launceston, Cornwall.(92) In April 1656 he became the rector of St. Buryan in Cornwall.(93) With the Restoration of 1660, and the New Act of Conformity passed in May 1662, he was ejected from his parish and returned to New England.(94) In 1662, he became minister at Oyster River (now Durham), New Hampshire. He died on November 18, 1665 at the age of seventy on the Isles of Shoals,(95) apparently having returned to serve his final days as the local minister. THE MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY: On August 26, 1629, the Cambridge Agreement was signed by a number of England's puritan stockholders in the Massachusetts Bay Company, who pledged to emigrate to New England, if government of the colony were permitted to be transferred to and based there. With the approval of Charles I, the Company agreed to a transfer of the charter, shifting control of the company to the signers of the agreement. The charter permitted the Company to settle between the Charles and Merrimack Rivers. As requested, the normal requirement to hold business meetings in England was omitted from the charter. John Winthrop was appointed governor. In 1630, a small flotilla of ships and approximately one thousand settlers arrived in Boston. The "great migration" of puritans to North America began, and would continue for the rest of the decade. In 1640, the puritan revolution in England began in earnest. In 1649, Charles I was beheaded at Whitehall, Westminster. The Massachusetts Bay Colony was originally organized as a compromise between presbyterianism and separatism. With the ascendancy of the Long Parliament in England, a new working relationship was established between the church and state through the Cambridge Platform. Fearing potential interference from Parliament, if they did not align themselves more closely with changes occurring in England, the four colonies jointly adopted the Cambridge Platform in 1648. Through the Platform the colonies adopted a congregational form of church government and mirrored this structure in the civil government. However, the right to vote remained the sole privilege of the 'elect of God'. The Protectorship of Oliver Cromwell came to England along with the execution of Charles I in 1649. But in 1658, Cromwell died and by 1660 the Stuarts were restored to the English throne in the person of Charles II. Over the next five years a watershed was achieved against puritanism. On May 19, 1662, the New Act of Conformity was passed by a Cavalier parliament. It required that many clergymen be screened and reordained, that they unconditionally consent to the Book of Common Prayer, take an oath of canonical obedience, and renounce the Solemn League and Covenant. In the subsequent purge about two thousand clergymen, including the Reverend Joseph Hull, were dismissed from their parishes. That same year the Corporation Act eliminated puritan magistrates. In 1664, the Conventicle Act set forth that any person, over the age of sixteen years, who attended any religious meeting not conducted according to the Book of Common Prayer, would be punished. And in 1665, the Five Mile Act prohibited any ejected minister from living within five miles of any town or place where he had served. In Massachusetts, the Half Way Covenant opened colonial government to the non-elect. It permitted second generation colonists and immigrants to participate in government provided that they were moral, baptized, and orthodox persons. In 1684, Charles II annulled the Massachusetts Bay Colony's charter. He died shortly thereafter and was succeeded by his son James II who, as a catholic, revitalized the alliance between the episcopal and non-conformist factions in England. James II was deposed in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. He was replaced by the protestant William (son of William, Prince of Orange) and Mary, the daughter of James II. In 1689, parliament passed the Act of Toleration which opened England to religious diversity while retaining the Established Church of England. In 1691, William and Mary imposed royal governorship upon the New England colonies. In the following year, 1692, the Salem Witch Trials and the ongoing King William's War marked a secular crisis and social realignment in colonial Massachusetts, thereby closing a major chapter in colonial and protestant history. SUMMARY REGARDING THE ORIGINS OF ZACHARY BICKNELL (Whose wife was a Lovell, possibly sister of Robert Lovell) So now we have the setting for the genesis of Zachary Bicknell, who was born in 1589, the year after England's glorious defeat of the Spanish Armada. As a young boy, growing in a rural village in Somerset, he is probably the younger son of a carpenter and nephew and cousin to more prosperous yeomen. Active puritan and separatist movements sweep the region of his birth, perhaps causing some friction between family members and/or within his community. Entering adolescence (14 years), Queen Elizabeth I, the living icon dies and the undercurrents of religious conflict begin to gain momentum. Great expectations for religious change are held by puritan and separatist reformers in the new monarch James I, but those hopes are dashed by the new king's denial of the Millenary Petition at the Hampton Court Conference in 1604. As a teenager and young man, Zachary is witness to religious repression and strife. He is given, at least, a basic education. Sometime during his young adulthood (i.e. after 1613), he obtains a Calvinist bible which includes a question and answer section focusing upon the concept of predestination. As a maturing man, he undoubtedly attends secret conventicles, ponders previously obscure spiritual concepts, and undoubtedly develops an active sense of self-reflective idealism. For puritans and separatists alike the world becomes increasingly seen in terms of 'us' (i.e., True Believers, God's Elect) and 'them' (i.e., idolaters, papists, heathens, and other agents of evil). The agricultural economy in England was prospering. Land speculation had become a troubling, destabilizing factor to some, while others found new wealth and opportunity in enclosure and intensive land management. The local manor at Barrington continuously turned over 'noble' occupants due to death and debt. Village authority became more focused towards prospering yeomen like Nicholas Bicknell, who amassed new wealth, sending their children into the expanding professional and skilled labor classes. Zachary probably worked as a carpenter, as would his son John. As a carpenter, he probably traveled from Barrington village to the parish woodlands in the Neroche Forest near Bickenhall (perhaps his ancestral home) and Broadway (where a curate five years his younger, Joseph Hull, may have engaged his interest at least by 1632, when Zachary was 43 years old). Zachary's probable source of work and income, the Neroche Forest, was rapidly being depleted by the expanding demands of the preceding 200 years. When Zachary was a young man, Charles I began to move towards enclosing the forest, thereby threatening Zachary's traditional source of livelihood. By early 1635, the legal battle over traditional tenant's rights in the Neroche Forest was well underway as Zachary Bicknell and his family sailed west for opportunity and freedom. He married relatively late (1621-1623), at 32 or 33 years old. His bride came from outside the parish and was possibly between 13 to 15 years of age. He probably met her through his religious affiliations. Within a few years (i.e. 1624), their only child of record, a son, John (probably named after Zachary's father) was born. Perhaps the age difference between Agnis and Zachary, religious destain or disinterest, or his incapacity prevented the couple from having further children. His young widow later bore another son in 1640 with her second husband, Richard Rockwell. Zachary lived most of his life amidst religious controversy and oppression. Around the time of his marriage (1621-1623), he had probably heard of the Plymouth Colony in New England. William Laud, the cleric who dedicated his life to saving the Church of England from heretic puritans, became Bishop of Bath & Wells when Zachary was 37 years old (1626). Three years later, the Massachusetts Bay Colony was founded and the Great Migration to the promise of the New World began. Five years later (1634), William Pierce became bishop of the diocese during the contentious 'personal rule' of Charles I. Soon England would be swept by violent revolution. Sometime during this spiritual and economic crisis, Zachary decided to join the Reverend Joseph Hull and seek a new life in the wilderness. He was prosperous enough to bring along an indentured servant, Joseph Kitchen. His wife Agnis' relative or brother, Robert Lovell, and his family also made the perilous voyage. Perhaps Zachary was recruited as a carpenter for the company, which probably required and sought a full spectrum of skilled persons to build their vision of a new world. At one point in his life, Zachary must have professed to have had a personal experience of divine grace, thereby becoming an 'elect of God' (a fundamental requirement for admission to his congregation). Given his personal bible and what we know about many puritans and separatists, he probably considered himself to be a predestined member of God's elect, with a sense of personal destiny at the center of history. In March of 1635, the Bicknells left their familiar world and spent forty-six days on a small ship with one hundred-three other passengers and perhaps a dozen crewmen. In May of that year they arrived in the Massachusetts Colony and within a few months were given a grant to buy land from the Massachusetts Bay Company at a place south of Boston they eventually named after their port of departure, Weymouth. Later that year, Zachary built a one room cabin on twenty acres of land he had purchased. He only lived for perhaps eighteen more months. He died at the age of forty-seven, leaving behind a thirty year old widow, who quickly remarried, and a thirteen year old son whose interest in his father's estate was protected by the community until he could come of age. Within a year after Zachary's death, the Reverend Joseph Hull was expelled from Weymouth by his congregation. Certainly by the time of Zachary's death Hull's sermons and professed beliefs must have begun to generate friction within the Weymouth community as well as between the Weymouth congregation and the authorities at Boston. We do not know the nature of the personal or spiritual relationship between Zachary Bicknell and Joseph Hull. A man described as having "exceptional ability" by some, while labeled "contentious" by others. A man who apparently sought a middle ground between the Church of England and its' Puritan Reformers. We can only speculate as to what role Zachary played, and might further have played, in the emerging puritan society of New England. As a relatively minor historical figure, very little of his personality is left for us to contemplate. However, his many descendants are much indebted to his presence, vision and efforts. Source: ORIGINS OF THE BICKNELL FAMILY IN NORTH AMERICA AS DESCENDED FROM ZACHARY BICKNELL (1589 -1635) By ©Laurence Cook, 1991 ___________________________________ And, from a history of Somerset from the Somerset website: Tudor & Stuart Times Though many of the old families of Somerset survived the devastating Wars of the Roses and managed to hold onto their lands, the accession of King Henry Tudor to the throne of England, and later the dissolution of the monasteries, brought opportunities for many 'new men' in the county. The Pophams, a family of lawyers who became Lords Chief Justice; the Wyndhams of Orchard Wyndham, the Phelips of Montacute, Sir Edward Rogers, Sir Ralph Hopton and others. New or old, they served the crown in many matters of National import. Sir Amias Poulett, of that ancient family of Hinton St. George, for instance, was one of those chosen to escort Princess Catherine of Aragon through the county, upon her arrival at Crewkerne from Plymouth. Successive descendants were Governors of Jersey and a younger Sir Amias was appointed keeper of Mary, Queen of Scots. He became a strong supporter of her execution. Ordinary Somerset men followed their lords in such events. Soldiers from Dunster were almost certainly present with Sir John Luttrell at Boulogne in 1544 and, three years later, at the Battle of Pinkie against the Scots. Naval contingents from Somerset were also abroad. Thomas Wyndham took a squadron of three ships to Morocco in 1552 under Master John Kerry of Minehead; and John Leach took The Emanuel from Bridgwater on Frobisher's third Voyage, in 1578, in search of the North-West passage to India. In later years, Somerset settlers in the Americas, included Sir Ferdinando Gorges of Wraxall who founded New Plymouth (1628) and became Lord Proprietary of Maine; Nicholas Dodge of East Coker who established a settlement at Block Island; Richard Tucker of Stogumber and George Cleaves of Brompton Ralph founded Stogumber in New Somersetshire and Falmouth in Maine; and Richard Treat of Pitminster who was one of Charles II's patentees for Connecticut. By the 16th century, when the geographer John Speed visited the county, Somerset was a place of great diversity. Speed noted pasture for livestock, birds and fish in the recently drained wetlands near Glastonbury and valuable lead and other mineral deposits in the Mendip Hills. Local coal was used for smelting iron and lead and the quarries at Ham produced quality building stone. The following century, however, brought turmoil to this idyllic rural scene. The Civil War between King Charles I and his Parliament, tore the the inhabitants of Somerset in two. The Somerset gentry, and most of the rural population, were Royalists, even though they disliked some of Charles' policies, while support for Parliament was represented by the puritans, particularly in the towns, in the north of the county. When Parliament tried to take control of the local militia, the two sides swiftly divided and the first armed skirmish in Somerset was a victory for the Royalists at Marshall's Elm (near Street) in the late summer of 1642. Despite this encouraging start, the county was dominated by Parliament throughout 1643. Fortunes changed the following year, though, when the Royalists regained the upper hand under the command of Sir Ralph Hopton. He besieged Taunton, Bridewater and Dunster and finally drove the Parliamentarians from Somerset at the bloody Battle of Lansdown.. Their victory was not conclusive, however, and the Royalist defeat at the Battle of Langport in 1645 heralded the beginning of the end for their cause in the county. Bridgwater fell soon afterward and Bath, Farleigh Hungerford and Dunster were not far behind. Having been a battleground over which armies marched, fought, plundered, burned, the inhabitants of Somerset were reduced to a state close to destitution. Garrisons remained throughout the Commonwealth period, after the King's execution in Westminster (Middlesex), but hope still remained for the eventual restoration of his son, Charles II. The people of Somerset were substantial supporters of him at the (disastrous) Battle of Worcester in 1651 and he escaped through the county soon afterwards: staying at Abbot's Leigh, Castle Cary and Trent. He was only finally able to take up the throne nine years later. -------------------------------------- May Lovell Rhodes and T.D. Rhodes, Lovell Family in England and America, Biltmore Press 1924, LDS Family History Library, 50 E North Temple, Salt Lake City, UT. "Robert Lovel, founder of the family in America, embarked from Weymouth, England for Massachusetts Bay Colony on March 20th, 1635 as detailed in the History of the family. Upon arrival he, with his family, settled in at Wessaguscus, the name of which was afterward changed to Weymouth. he was set down as 40 years of age. His wife at 35; they brought with them the following family: i. Anne, aged 16 years, ii. Zaceus, aged 14 years, iii. John, aged 8 years, iv. Ellen and v. James, twins, aged 1 year, With Joseph Chicken, a servant, aged 16 and some accounts say Alice Kinham, a servant. Robert died in 1672 and named his sons, John and James executors of his will. We have no account of Zacheus marriage of death." A Biographical Genealogy of the Lovell Family in England and America. " John Lovell son of Robert, married Jane, daughter of Elder Wm. Hatch, and removed to Barnstable, Mass. The following children were born at Weymouth befor their change of residence it is stated in family records: i. Phebe, born Feb 19th, 1655-6 ii John, born May 8th, 1658 iii Elizabeth, Oct. 28th, 1660 iv James, born Oct 23, 1662 v William, born Feb 4th, 1664-5 vi Andrew, born June 28th, 1668 vii Jane, born July 20, 1670 Phebe, married Thomas Bumpas Nov. 1679, Barnstable. Elizabeth, married Thomas Ewer, Oct. 1684, Barnstable. John, married Susanna Lombard, 1688, Barnstable. James married Mary Lombard, May 1686, Barnstable. William, married Mehitable Lombard, Sept. 1669 (must be a typing error), Barnstable. The name of their wives is spelled in some records, Lombard, in some Lumbert, and in others Lambert. John, James and William lived in Barnstable, Andrew lived in Scituate. John Lovell was a soldier in King Phillips' War." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Notes for ELIZABETH DUNCKLEY :Most sources list her last name as unknown. LDS (Elaine Rosok submitter) lists her name as Dunckley. An Elizabeth Dunckley is also listed as being the wife of an Alexander Lovell and mother of Thomas Lovell of Dublin, Ireland. Needs confirmation. sources: www. familysearch.org, and LDS Ancestral File submitted by Elaine Rosok. Children of ROBERT LOVELL and ELIZABETH DUNCKLEY are:
i. ANNE 5 LOVELL, b. Abt. 1619; d. Bef. 1635, England. ii. ZACCHEUS LOVELL, b. Abt. 1620.2.iii . JOH N LOVELL, b. Abt. 1627, Weymouth, Mass; d. Aft. 1709, Barnstable, Mass. iv. ELLIN (E LANOR) LOVELL, b. Abt. 1634; m. ANDREW FORD. 3.v. JAMES LOVELL, b. Abt. 1634.
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found on ancestry.com

Lovell Will
Name: Robert Lovell 1
Sex: M
Birth: ABT 1595 in England
Death: BEF 25 JUN 1672 in Weymouth, Norfolk, Ma
Note: ROBERT LOVELL, a husbandman, aged 40, Elizabeth his wife, aged 38, Zaccheus his son, aged 15, Anne his daughter, aged 16, John his son, aged 8, Ellen his daughter, aged 1 year, James his son aged I year and Joseph Chickin, his servant, aged 16 years, sailed from Weymouth, in Dorset, on or near 20 Mar. 1634-35, and arrived at Dorchester 7 June, 1635. He was a member of Rev. Joseph Hull's Company, and with the company removed to Weymouth that year. He was made a freeman of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, 2 Sept. 1635. He died at Weymouth shortly before 25 June, 1672. Robert Lovell of Weymouth, "being sicke & weake," made his will 3 Apr. 1651, and it was probated 25 June, 1672. To his wife he gave the use of his dwelling house and land "all the time of her Widow hood" and then to his son John "after my Wives Widowhood," and four acres that was Carpenters, and three acres bought of Hart, and half the meadow bought of Smith, and half the meadow bought of Hol-brook, and my lot by the Mill, eighteen acres. To son James his great lot of 36 acres and other half of lots given to son John, To his son-in-law Andrew Ford, one heifer. To Ford's eldest son one heifer and to his youngest son one calf. To John Lovell's son my yearling bull. Wife executrix. Witnesses: Tho: Dyer, Tho: Bayley. Thomas Bayley made oath to it, 25 June, 1672. (Suffolk Probate, 7: 217.)
missaudrey1708added this on 29 Oct 2009
found on ancestry.com

LOVELL. (I) Robert Lovell was a member of the company of the Rev. Joseph Hull, at Weymouth, England, March 20, 1655, and came to Wessaguscus, New England, during the following summer. The name of the town was changed at that time to Weymouth in kindly remembrance of the port from which they sailed. Robert Lovell is termed "husbandman," and his age is given as forty years. His wife Elizabeth was thirty-five. Their children : Annie, aged sixteen; Zacheus, aged fifteen ; John, aged eight ; Ellen and James, twins, aged one. Joseph Chicken, a servant, was aged sixteen. In his will Robert Lovell names John and James, and Andrew Ford, husband of Ellen. His property extended from the Tide Mill to King Oak Hill in scattered lots, and probably covered the place on the east side of the latter hill, which was in after time the homestead of Capt. Enoch Lovell, grandfather of Gen. Solomon Lovell. (II) James Lovell, sou of Robert, who was one year old in 1635, remained in Weymouth, living probably in the family homestead on the eastern slope of King Oak Hill. He died in 1706, leaving a large estate. His will is on record in Boston.
found on ancestry.com