28. Weymouth, the new Plymouth?

Weymouth Harbour, Dorset, UK

Image credit: Jurassic Coast Trust

Editing The Primrose, my local museum’s magazine, with an eye on the links between our little town of Budleigh Salterton and the wider world, I like planning ahead. The current year is understandably much taken up with Mayflower 400 and Plymouth.

Looking beyond, reflecting on the period of the Great Migration to America between 1620 and 1640 I’m well aware that a dozen or so New England communities will be marking over the next 20 years the 400^th anniversaries of their founding.

Not all the early American settlers set sail from Plymouth of course, or even from Devon.    

Town Hall, Weymouth, Massachusetts, built in 1928 as a replica of the Old State House, Boston. 

Image credit: Marc N. Belanger

The town of Weymouth in the neighbouring county of Dorset was an important port of departure for migrants to the New World. They founded its equivalent there when the colony of Wessagusset was renamed as Weymouth, Massachusetts in 1635, just as Devon’s Plymouth has its sister-town in that American state.  

I counted at least ten separate ships which sailed with passengers from Weymouth to America between 1623 and 1635. Historian Dr Anne Collier, a local resident, describes it as a ‘hot spot’ with ‘deep ties to the US’.  

Portrait of Rev. John White, from the U.K. National Portrait Gallery John White after Unknown artist woodcut, late 17th century. Described by many as the founder of Massachusetts, though he never travelled to America, White appointed East Budleigh man Roger Conant to supervise the Cape Ann fishing station   

Weymouth has some interesting connections to the Conant story, not least because, as the port nearest to Dorset’s county town, it was the obvious point of departure for voyages organised by the Dorchester Company under the direction of the Rev John White (1575-1648), to set up the fishing station at Cape Ann.

17th century illustration of a Newfoundland fishing station 

White, a Puritan minister and rector of Holy Trinity Church, Dorchester, had been captivated by the idea of setting up a fishing industry in the New World which would create an economic boom in the West Country. 

John Conant, a fellow-Puritan, Dorchester Company investor and vicar of the village of Lymington, near Yeovil in Somerset, made a helpful suggestion: his brother Roger Conant, a salter, had emigrated to New Plymouth in 1623 and might make a good manager for the Company’s affairs at Cape Ann.  

A detailed account of these events has been given by Gloucester historian Mary Ellen Lepionka at https://conant400.blogspot.com/2020/01/roger-conant-on-cape-ann-part-i.html

Thomas Gardner (c.1592-1674), the original supervisor of the fishing station before being succeeded by Conant, is thought to have been born in Weymouth and it seems likely that the Cape Ann fishermen would similarly have been local men.  Like Conant, Thomas Gardner is known as one of the ‘Old Planters’ who ended up living at Salem Village, later to become Beverly.

There’s no proof however that either Roger Conant or his brother Christopher set out from Weymouth. In fact, of the pair, only Christopher is recorded as being a passenger on the Ann, a ship which sailed from London, arriving in Plymouth MA in 1623. It’s assumed that Roger may have travelled with him or soon after. 

When the Dorchester Company failed and was reborn as the Massachusetts Bay Company, it was from Weymouth that the ships the Amity and the Abigail sailed  in 1625/6 and 1628 to set up plantations at Salem.

Bicton Old Church, Devon, 1795, viewed from south. Watercolour by Rev John Swete (1752-1821)  

Devon Record Office 

Bicton Old Church, Bicton Park Botanical Garden  

Only the chancel and tower of the former building survive.

© Copyright Christine Matthews  

Weymouth’s name turns up again in connection with the hamlet of Bicton, just a few miles from Conant’s home village of East Budleigh. This time, in 1635, it was the point of departure for the New World for members of the Upham family, whose importance as an American dynasty was as great as the Conants.

Those 19^th century scholars, descended from the original settlers, who chronicled the lives and achievements of their ancestors, had an energy and pride in their family heritage which astonishes us today - we who have the most up to date genealogical data available at the touch of a keyboard. 

F.K. Upham’s 573-page volume published in 1892, recording the history of his family from earliest times, almost matched F.O. Conant’s 640-page survey of the Conant dynasty which had appeared in 1887.      

The grave of John Upham in the Old Burying Ground, Malden MA    https://www.geni.com

The Upham family’s East Devon roots have been traced back as far as Oliver de Upham, born at Bicton around 1447.  In 1635, Deacon John Upham (1597-1681), son of Richard Upham (1556-1635/6) sailed from Weymouth on 20 March, arriving in Boston on 6 May 1635. 

The family consisted of  Deacon John and his wife Elizabeth (1602-71), together with their children John (1628-77), Nathaniel (1630-61) and Elizabeth (1632-1706). Also in the group were Deacon John’s sisters Joane (1591-1668), Sarah (c.1609-after 1665) and Judith (1621-94).  Joane was accompanied by her husband Robert Martin (c.1591-1660), together with Robert’s brothers Abraham (1589-1670), and Isaac (1591-1660).     

Seal of the city of Malden MA 

Deacon John and his family settled in Malden, north of Boston, after moving from Weymouth MA

The Uphams were among 21 families sometimes referred to as the Hull Company who came to America under the guidance of Rev. Joseph Hull (1595-1665). The name of their ship is unknown, but perhaps it was the Hopewell, which made two transatlantic voyages in 1635; the following year, Joseph Hull named his son Hopewell (1636-93).

American visitors Agnes and George Martin, with Fairlynch Museum volunteer Sheila Jelley

Sir Walter Raleigh is more prominent in Budleigh’s story than the Conant and Upham families, but back in 2013 in the local Fairlynch Museum I met George and Agnes Martin from Chicago who were keen to discover any trace of Robert Martin, the husband of Joane Upham.

The logo designed for the 400th anniversary celebrations to be held in Gloucester MA in 2023

This enormous monumental plaque, located inside Stage Fort Park, Gloucester MA, is dedicated to the early settlers of the area, and to the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The inscription reads: 'Here in 1625 Gov. Roger Conant by wise diplomacy averted bloodshed between contending factions one led by Myles Standish of Plymouth the other by Capt Hewes. A notable example of arbitration in the beginnings of New England. Placed by the Citizens of Gloucester 1907'

With Gloucester in Massachusetts already planning its 400^th anniversary celebrations for 2023, mindful of its association with Roger Conant and the Rev John White, it’s understandable that the American city should be thinking of adding Gloucester UK and Dorchester UK to its guest list for that year, along with their New England ‘twins’. 

The Tudor House Museum, in Weymouth, Dorset, often simply known as Tudor House, is an early 17th-century building, which remains a museum and one of the UK's best preserved Tudor buildings.  

And perhaps Weymouth, which saw so many West Country people depart from its harbour on the Jurassic Coast, should be added, along with its own namesake from the other side of 'The Pond'.

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