Hi, given the quote and its idiosyncratic spellings. Greenfield Larrabee could be anything !! Does anyone know of the Phoenix ship ? who owned it where it came from ? life is hard . soften it with a cat \\\=^..^=/// ----- Original Message ----- From: "David L. Langenberg" <gallienus@mac.com> To: <devon@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, January 26, 2014 2:54 PM Subject: [DEV] Greenfield LARRABEE > This is going to be a very long shot! One of the classic problems in > American (specifically New England) genealogy is the English origins of > Greenfield LARRABEE, who shows up out of nowhere in colonial Connecticut, > in 1647. (He went on to settled permanently in Connecticut and left many > descendants on this side of the Atlantic.) Here is an extensive quote > about his appearance in court: > > "Steven Reekes, master of a vessell that came from the Barbadoes, was > called before the court to answer for some miscariadges of his on the > Saboth daye, vizd:--that he, the said Steven, did, contrary to the law of > God and of this place, halle vp his shipp to or towardes the necke bridge > vpon the Sabothe, which is a laboure proper for the six dayes, and not to > be vndertaken on the Lords day. Mr. Reeks answered that their shipp laye > on ground and had not flotted some dayes before, but that day the winde > coming vp at the southeast, brought in a great tide, and then she flotted, > and that all ye company did was but to keepe her of from runing on the > banke or driving vpon her ancor, the shipp hauing neuer a boate to carie > another ancor forth. Hee was toold they should have provided for that > before, for it is ye duty of all men to remember the Saboth, and to > provide so beforehand that nothing maye distrube them vpon the Saboth, > vnlesse it bee in cases of mercy or workes of such ! > necessitie as could not be provided for the day before nor staye till the > day after. Mr. [Greenfield] Larebe, a seaman belonging to the Phenix, was > called before the courte, to answer to some miscariadges of his vpon the > same Saboth, vizd, that he, wth some other company, went aboard the > Phenix, and did worke not proper for that day, as halling of the vessell, > and emptying some stones out of a cannow to help them in that servie. Mr. > Larebe replied, that hee conceived the worke was a worke of charitie, to > preserve the vessell that it might not perish, for their was some danger > of her ouer-setting; besid, Mr. Pery came to hime himeselfe, and saide it > was fitt some bodye should goe downe. Mr. Malbon saith that Mr. Pery was > at his house, and he was speakeing of some danger the vessell might bee > in, whervpon he wished his sonne Pery to goe to Mr. Davenport and aske his > advise. Hee did, and Mr. Davenport tould hime hee should leave it to Gods > providence, the Saboth was a day ! > of rest, and therfore hee ought to rest. Then Mr. Malbon wished hime > to give order that nothinge should bee done, wch hee did, only on might > goe downe and see what state the vessell was in, but that nothing, wthout > apparent necessitie, be done to her, yett Mr. Larebe, wth diueres others, > went and wrought, contrary to the lawe for the Saboth. The courte > considered bothe these cases and finde them to be much alike, and > considering the persons, that they are strangers, and thinking they did > not doe it out of contempt, but ignorantly, they agreed for this time, > (that they acknowledging ther failings, and promising amendment for time > to come,) to passe it by, but if any of our owne take libbertie heareby, > the sentenc will bee heavier on them." > > I think it is quite reasonable to believe that Greenfield LARRABEE was a > West Country man, possibly from Devon or Cornwall. I also believe that > his forename Greenfield comes from the surname GRENVILLE and there was a > famous GRENVILLE family of Devon. In the article on Richard GRENVILLE in > Wikipedia it is stated: "The ancient Grenville family were lords of the > manors of Bideford in Devon and of Stowe, Kilkhampton in Cornwall. He was > a cousin of Sir Walter Raleigh and the privateer Sir Francis Drake. > Grenville's birthplace is believed to have been at Bideford." > > Now the surname LARRABEE is another matter. It appears in many forms, > ranging from LEATHERBY to LEREBE to LARRABEE and all possible spelling > variations thereof. IGI actually shows some Letherbys from Devon. I > believe the name also occurs in Cornwall. > > Has anyone ever encountered in Devon a LARRABEE (or any of its variants) > family with individuals named Greenfield or Grenville or other variants? > > David Langenberg > Newark, Delaware, USA > ------------------------------------------ > The DEVON-L mailing list is co-sponsored by GENUKI/Devon > ( http://genuki.cs.ncl.ac.uk/DEV/ ) > and > the Devon FHS (http://www.devonfhs.org.uk/ ) > List archive for Devon can be found at > http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/index/DEVON/ > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > DEVON-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message >

Hi I think the spelling is fairly standard stuff for the mid-17th century and better than most. The use of 'u' for 'v' is a mistranscription I suspect as it crops up so often and I think that the handwriting of the time used a more rounded 'v' which we read as 'u'. If Greenfield Larrabee just appears out of nowhere and he is a sailor I would suspect he could be a deserter from the Royal Navy and has changed his name to protect himself. I believe Britain owned Barbados at the time and maintained a flotilla of vessels there. I can help with the Phoenix (or Phenix as it seems to be universally spelled). I have looked it up in both the 'Maritime History of Devon' and also 'Early Stuart Mariners and Shipping 1619-35'. In the former mention is made of two such named vessels and in the latter there are four mentions. All records refer to owners of shipping. The former states on p.134, "In 1626 returns of ships and mariners were made to the vice-admiral of Devon. Although incomplete, they provide useful information. . . The lists of 1626 show that most shareholders were merchants, but there were a few professional men, like Francis Facey, a lawyer, who was part-owner of the Phoenix of Barnstaple, with Nicholas Delbridge, a merchant, and Mary Jenning." This information is confirmed in Early Stuart Mariners p. 94 which has a transcript of the survey and describes the Phenix (sic) as being of 50 tons burden, carrying no ordnance but capable of carrying 6. The other reference in "The Maritime History of Devon" is to a Phoenix of Dartmouth in 1588 being supplied to Drakes fleet to fight the Armada by Mr Gawen Champernowne of Dartmouth and it is described as being of 70 tons. In Early Stuart Mariners there is mention of two Phenix(s) of Dart (presumably the river on which they were kept) both of 80 tons. One owned by Rawleigh Gilbert esq and the other by George Roope. There is also mention in Early Stuart Mariners of a survey of shipping in South Devon in 1619 and there is a Phenix of Dartmouth of 18 tuns (sic) 15 ages (???) and no ordnance. Finally on p 103 there is a reference to an Alfred Staplehill owning 8 shares in the Phenix value £1 4s 0d. As this was also in 1619 I would assume it to be a part of the same survey and to be the same ship. My view would be that a ship that went to fight the armada would be too old (if it survived) to be sailing to Barbados and New England. I think the Dartmouth vessel of 15 tons is far too small. I know they went across the ocean in tiny vessels but 15 tons is the same as a small yacht and in any event wouldn't have been commercially viable for trading, surely? That leaves the other two vessels on the Dart and the Barnstaple vessel as possibilities. I seem to recall reading somewhere that the profits on shipping were enormous as were the risks. A ship would be expected to pay for itself in less than 10 years, and less than 5 in some cases. Obviously they were also vulnerable to weather and enemy (and piratical) action. It meant that ships, and sailors for that matter, were regarded by the owners as rather disposable and not expected to have long working lives. Early Stuart Mariners and Shipping has long lists of mariners and owners in it, but no record of the master or the sailor mentioned I'm afraid. The references are: Todd Gray, Early Stuart Mariners and Shipping, Devon and Cornwall Record Society New series volume 33, 1990 Michael Duffy (editor) et al, The New Maritime History of Devon, The University of Exeter and Conway Maritime Press, 1992 HTH Jon -----Original Message----- From: devon-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:devon-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of elizabeth howard Sent: 27 January 2014 16:23 To: devon@rootsweb.com Subject: [DEV] Greenfield LARRABEE Hi, given the quote and its idiosyncratic spellings. Greenfield Larrabee could be anything !! Does anyone know of the Phoenix ship ? who owned it where it came from ? life is hard . soften it with a cat \\\=^..^=/// ----- Original Message ----- From: "David L. Langenberg" <gallienus@mac.com> To: <devon@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, January 26, 2014 2:54 PM Subject: [DEV] Greenfield LARRABEE > This is going to be a very long shot! One of the classic problems in > American (specifically New England) genealogy is the English origins of > Greenfield LARRABEE, who shows up out of nowhere in colonial Connecticut, > in 1647. (He went on to settled permanently in Connecticut and left many > descendants on this side of the Atlantic.) Here is an extensive quote > about his appearance in court: > > "Steven Reekes, master of a vessell that came from the Barbadoes, was > called before the court to answer for some miscariadges of his on the > Saboth daye, vizd:--that he, the said Steven, did, contrary to the law of > God and of this place, halle vp his shipp to or towardes the necke bridge > vpon the Sabothe, which is a laboure proper for the six dayes, and not to > be vndertaken on the Lords day. Mr. Reeks answered that their shipp laye > on ground and had not flotted some dayes before, but that day the winde > coming vp at the southeast, brought in a great tide, and then she flotted, > and that all ye company did was but to keepe her of from runing on the > banke or driving vpon her ancor, the shipp hauing neuer a boate to carie > another ancor forth. Hee was toold they should have provided for that > before, for it is ye duty of all men to remember the Saboth, and to > provide so beforehand that nothing maye distrube them vpon the Saboth, > vnlesse it bee in cases of mercy or workes of such ! > necessitie as could not be provided for the day before nor staye till the > day after. Mr. [Greenfield] Larebe, a seaman belonging to the Phenix, was > called before the courte, to answer to some miscariadges of his vpon the > same Saboth, vizd, that he, wth some other company, went aboard the > Phenix, and did worke not proper for that day, as halling of the vessell, > and emptying some stones out of a cannow to help them in that servie. Mr. > Larebe replied, that hee conceived the worke was a worke of charitie, to > preserve the vessell that it might not perish, for their was some danger > of her ouer-setting; besid, Mr. Pery came to hime himeselfe, and saide it > was fitt some bodye should goe downe. Mr. Malbon saith that Mr. Pery was > at his house, and he was speakeing of some danger the vessell might bee > in, whervpon he wished his sonne Pery to goe to Mr. Davenport and aske his > advise. Hee did, and Mr. Davenport tould hime hee should leave it to Gods > providence, the Saboth was a day ! > of rest, and therfore hee ought to rest. Then Mr. Malbon wished hime > to give order that nothinge should bee done, wch hee did, only on might > goe downe and see what state the vessell was in, but that nothing, wthout > apparent necessitie, be done to her, yett Mr. Larebe, wth diueres others, > went and wrought, contrary to the lawe for the Saboth. The courte > considered bothe these cases and finde them to be much alike, and > considering the persons, that they are strangers, and thinking they did > not doe it out of contempt, but ignorantly, they agreed for this time, > (that they acknowledging ther failings, and promising amendment for time > to come,) to passe it by, but if any of our owne take libbertie heareby, > the sentenc will bee heavier on them." > > I think it is quite reasonable to believe that Greenfield LARRABEE was a > West Country man, possibly from Devon or Cornwall. I also believe that > his forename Greenfield comes from the surname GRENVILLE and there was a > famous GRENVILLE family of Devon. In the article on Richard GRENVILLE in > Wikipedia it is stated: "The ancient Grenville family were lords of the > manors of Bideford in Devon and of Stowe, Kilkhampton in Cornwall. He was > a cousin of Sir Walter Raleigh and the privateer Sir Francis Drake. > Grenville's birthplace is believed to have been at Bideford." > > Now the surname LARRABEE is another matter. It appears in many forms, > ranging from LEATHERBY to LEREBE to LARRABEE and all possible spelling > variations thereof. IGI actually shows some Letherbys from Devon. I > believe the name also occurs in Cornwall. > > Has anyone ever encountered in Devon a LARRABEE (or any of its variants) > family with individuals named Greenfield or Grenville or other variants? > > David Langenberg > Newark, Delaware, USA > ------------------------------------------ > The DEVON-L mailing list is co-sponsored by GENUKI/Devon > ( http://genuki.cs.ncl.ac.uk/DEV/ ) > and > the Devon FHS (http://www.devonfhs.org.uk/ ) > List archive for Devon can be found at > http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/index/DEVON/ > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > DEVON-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message > ------------------------------------------ The DEVON-L mailing list is co-sponsored by GENUKI/Devon ( http://genuki.cs.ncl.ac.uk/DEV/ ) and the Devon FHS (http://www.devonfhs.org.uk/ ) List archive for Devon can be found at http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/index/DEVON/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to DEVON-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message