From The New England Historical & Genealogical Register 14:316-17. This listing shows a Ralph Wallis, aged 40, a George Wallis, aged 15, and a Joan Wall, aged 19, all coming to New England in 1635. The good news is that Robert Charles Anderson will have to tackle these people in his final volume of the Great Migration: Immigrants to New England 1634-1635, due out next year. So, we will get a really good reading on this document at that time. Until then, I would like to point out that the names are not contiguous. Perhaps it is just this ship, but most families appear grouped together in these early passenger records. Even if you accept that this is one family unit, there is only the relative ages of the people to suggest a relationship, that is, Ralph as the father (widowed) of George and Joan. It is Pope, in his Pioneers of Massachusetts, p. 476, that makes the George of this record, the George of Portsmouth, N.H. It should be noted that the George of Portsmouth doesn't name a child Ralph or Joan. His children are clearly: George, William, Honor, Eleanor, Margaret, and Caleb. The question is: what happened to Ralph after his arrival? There are no records. There seems to be a silence between the 1635 record and George's purchase of land in Chelsea (Rumney Marsh) in the 1650s. Is this one man or two? Right now there isn't enough evidence to make a determination either way.
03/05/2010
The Ralph Wallis 1635 Passenger List
From The New England Historical & Genealogical Register 14:316-17. This listing shows a Ralph Wallis, aged 40, a George Wallis, aged 15, and a Joan Wall, aged 19, all coming to New England in 1635. The good news is that Robert Charles Anderson will have to tackle these people in his final volume of the Great Migration: Immigrants to New England 1634-1635, due out next year. So, we will get a really good reading on this document at that time. Until then, I would like to point out that the names are not contiguous. Perhaps it is just this ship, but most families appear grouped together in these early passenger records. Even if you accept that this is one family unit, there is only the relative ages of the people to suggest a relationship, that is, Ralph as the father (widowed) of George and Joan. It is Pope, in his Pioneers of Massachusetts, p. 476, that makes the George of this record, the George of Portsmouth, N.H. It should be noted that the George of Portsmouth doesn't name a child Ralph or Joan. His children are clearly: George, William, Honor, Eleanor, Margaret, and Caleb. The question is: what happened to Ralph after his arrival? There are no records. There seems to be a silence between the 1635 record and George's purchase of land in Chelsea (Rumney Marsh) in the 1650s. Is this one man or two? Right now there isn't enough evidence to make a determination either way.
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