52 Ancestors Week 23

SO MANY DESCENDANTS

   Thanks to Rosa D. Tisdale who published Meet the Tisdales: Descendants of John Tisdale of Taunton Mass. 1634-1980 back in 1981 I know more about the Tisdale family than any of my other Great Grandparents' lines.

   The index to Rosa's 787-page book is 71 pages long with approximately 50 names per page for a total of about 3,550 descendants in 11 generations detailed. She only followed the male descendants completely, tracking the females only through one generation, so there would be more than that number if the females had been tracked.  It was through Rosa's book that I found out about the Tisdale connection to Mayflower passenger John Howland and to Benjamin Franklin.

    Another book about the Tisdales was also published in 1981, this one by Robert Lee Tisdale. The Descendants of John Tisdale (1614-1675) Colonial Massachusetts has 237 pages  and has a 31 page index of about 2480 names.  Robert's book tells about the derivation of the name from the Tees River and the dale lands of County Durhamshire in northern England. He says that it is traditionally believed the Tisdale families of today are descended from a Welsh family that settled in County Lancashire, England. Their head, Sir John Tisdale, is believed to have been awarded the coat-of-arms as it is known today.

    John Tisdale, my 8th Great Grandfather, was born 7 November 1614 in Ripon, Yorkshire, England, the son of Thomas and Ruth Tisdale. His life story is related on pages 4-13 of Rosa's book and pages 1-8 of Robert's book.

     John Tisdale arrived in Plimouth Plantation about 1634. It is said he brought with him the Tisdale coat of arms which has been passed down to a member of the 10th generation in Canada by their Loyalist ancestors who fled to New Brunswick during the Revolution.

    The first evidence of John in Plymouth is a Court record of a suit he brought against Mayflower passenger Stephen Hopkins for assault in which John was "dangerously wounded." (I discovered this while doing research with a long-time friend who was a descendant of Hopkins.)

     In 1636 John was given permission to "keep house and plant for himself." In 1637 he had a grant of 10 acres at Green Harbor path. In 1642 he was admitted as a "freeman." About this time he married Sarah Walker of Dorset, England. She had come to Plymouth in the barque "Elissabeth" in 1635. She and her brother James were listed as servants of John Browne, baker, and Willliam Bracy, linen draper. John Browne was Sarah's uncle and she and her brother were in his care. Her mother, "the widow Walker," and three other sons came to the colonies a few years later and settled in Rehobeth.

     John and Sarah lived first at Marshfield and then Duxbury where their sons John, James, and Joshua and daughter Elizabeth were born. Three more daughters and another son were born after the family moved to Taunton. In 1645 John was named Constable in Duxbury, a respected and responsible position. He also served as Constable of Taunton in 1655 and 1659. He was a Selectman in 1650, 1658, and 1672-1674. He was Taunton's Representative to the General Court in 1674-1675. 

    On 27 June  1675 Indians attacked John Tisdale's house, killing John and burning down his house and the house of James Walker, his neighbor and brother-in-law. It was one of the first acts of King Philip's War. John's wife Sarah died 10 December 1676 at age 57.