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Notes;
Experience Mitchell's Will & Inventory
Experience married Jane Cooke, dau. of Pilgrim Francis Cooke and Hester Mahieu. Jane's death has never exactly been determined, and for many years all children were considered to be those by Jane and Experience. Ensuing research has confounded the earlier lineage, and currently only Elizabeth and Thomas and possibly Mary (MF5G, Ralph V. Wood, 1996, Picton Press, 12:29+) are thought to be Jane's. Experience married, possibly about 1640, Mary ______, whose surname has never been determined.
The will of Experience Mitchell was first printed in Mayflower Descendant Volume 1902, April, and was transcribed from a copy of the original. Bowman in 1934 discovered the original and added to his earlier comments. The date of the will had been recorded as 5, December 1689, which Bowman questioned as being seven months after the recording of his inventory, nor could inventory be taken until the death of the testator, and thus the making of the will as being in December, 1689 was likely in error. His comments follow:
"Judge Nahum Mitchell, in his History of Bridgewater, published in 1840, stated that Experience Mitchell's will was "dated 1684"; it is probable, therefore, that he had seen the original document; but my attempts to locate it met with no success until I was informed by Mr. Merritt G. Perkins, former Treasurer General of the General Society of Mayflower Descendants, that the will had been found by Miss Clara W. Crane of Bridgewater, among her father's papers, and had been deposited with the Old Bridgewater Historical Society, at West Bridgewater, Mass.
Through the courtesy of Miss Crane and of Miss Helen E Bartlett, the secretary of the Historical Society, the will . . .clearly shows that the date was 5 December, "1684", not "1689" as recorded by the clerk of the court at Plymouth.
Experience Mitchell, therefore, died after 5 December, 1684, the date of his will, and before 14 May, 1689, the date of the inventory of his estate. The will was probated on 4 September, 1689, and the clerk made the usual endorsement to that effect on the original document, and correctly recorded this date.
The will is about twelve and one-fourth by eight and one-fourth inches. For nearly two hundred and fifty years it has been kept folded to a size three by eight and one-fourth inches, and while so folded a small part of five thicknesses of paper on one corner was gnawed away, apparently by mice.
The seal, which is in unusually good condition, shows a heart pierced vertically by an arrow, with the letter E at the left and M at the right, and four crosses, one each above and below these letters, the whole surrounded by a circle."
Plymouth County Probate Records, I: 44, 45.
Experience Mitchell's Will Dated 1684 99
Experience Mitchell's Will
These are to publish and declare to all whom it may concerne that I Exsperience Mitchell now living in the Towne of Bridgwater in the Collony of new Plimoth being through the Mercy of God of sound Judgment and memory do Ordeine and make my last will and Testament in manner following: viz: into the hands of God I Comend my sperit beleiveingly Resigneing up my soule into the everlasting armes of Gods mercy father Son and holy spirit: my Body to bee decently Interred at the discretion of my executor and other Christian friends: and for my outward estate I do will that after all my Just debts and funerall exspences be paid: my lands and other moveables be disposed of as followeth
Imprimis I give to my Son Edward michell after my deseace all my lands both upland and medow lying in the Towne of Duxborough at the place where I formerly dwelt as appeareth by deed: and if it shall please God so to order that my wife mary michell shall survive me: I Require my Son Edward to take Care of her for her Comfortable subsistence during her life: provided that she will live with him at Bridgwater: but if she rather incline to live at Duxborough: I then Order that halfe the rent of that land at Duxborough shall be to my wife during her life and after my desease my Son Edward shall have the sole dispose of it as to the letting of it out for the house; I acknowledge it to be his: allso the bed and bolster two pillowes on paire of sheets and two Blankets which are at my son Edwards and we made use of; I give them to him after our desease
as for my Son John I have formerly given him his proportion of land and my will is that he rest satissfied therewith, which was foure score acers of upland and foure acers of medow lying at namatakeset within the Towneship of Duxborough: this is the full of what I intend him as to land only there are severall moveables in his hand at present which are mine: of which one Cow a short Gun and a small Iron kettle
I Give unto my Granson Exsperience: and the remainder I give unto my son John as [for my] land lying in the Towne of Middlebery;
I give it to my Daughters Mary Shaw Sarah Hayward and Hannah Hayward and to my granson Experience Mitchell the son of my son John, to be equally devided betwene them
farther I Give to my daughter Mary Shaw twenty shillings to Hannah Hayward [forty shillings in Currant] pay: and if my stocke stand I give to my granson Thomas Mitchell one Cowe and to my grandaughter mary michell one Cow
I leave the dispose of my grandaughter mary michell with my Son Edward and Joseph Bartlet:
as for the rest of my moveables and chattels I Bequeath them to my son Edward michell whom I appoint and Ordaine sole executor of this my last will and Testament revoking all other wills and Testaments Whatsoever Witnes my hand and seale this fift of December 1684
Signed and Sealed Experien michell
in the presence of (Seal)
Thomas Hayward
John Haward
Leiut Thomas Hayward and Ensigne John Haward the within named witnesses appeared before the magistrates of the County of Plimouth at Plimouth September the 4th 1689 and made Oath that they were present & saw Experience Mitchell deceased above named Signe Seal & Declare this Instrument as his last will and Testament & that to the best of their understandings he was of Disposing mind & memory when he so did.
Attest Saml Sprague Clerk
[On the back of the will]
"The within written will is Entered and [Recorded in the] County Booke of Wills and Inventoryes: page 44
pr Saml Sprague Clerk" "Experience Mitchell his Will: 1684"
Experience Mitchell's Inventory
[Plym. Co. Prob. I: 45] A; Inventory of the estate of Experience Mitchel of Bridgwater, taken by Ensigne John Haward and Thomas Hayward the 14 of May 1689
£ s d
Imprimis In Books 00 14 00
In Iron vessels 01 16 00
It; vessels of wood and earth 00 04 00
It, in pewter 01 00 00
It, one Rundlett 2 Glass Bottles 00 03 00
It, 2 Chests one Box with Severall tooles 02 00 00
It, in Bedding boulsters pillows and Covering 06 08 00
It, in sheetes and other linnen 02 10 00
It in 2 cows and one mare 04 10 00
It, in my Brother Johns hand one Cow one short gun & a small Iron kettle it 02 12 00
£ 21 17*
.
* This total is in a different hand.
Edward Mitchel made oath before the magistrates of the County of Plimouth September the 4th 1689 that the above written is a true Inventory: of the Estate vizt Goods and Chattels of the above named Experience Mitchell deceased as far as he Knows and if more shall be discovered that he will Bring it to this Inventory:
Attest Saml, Sprague Clerk;
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Experience (1) MITCHELL was born about 1602 in England?. (2113) Wood MF5G:12, indicates that Experience's ancestry remains unknown, with a possible connection with a Thomas Mitchell of England. He immigrated in Aug 1623 to Plymouth Colony, MA. (2114) Experience came on the ship Anne. He died between 1685 and 1689 in Plymouth, MA.(2115) (2116)
EXPERIENCE MITCHELL'S inventory was taken 14 May, 1689, and his will was proved 4 September, 1689; therefore the date of the will, 5 December, 1689, as recorded by the clerk, Samuel Sprague, is doubtless an error. The will must have been made on 5 December in the year 1688, or possibly even earlier.
The will and inventory are recorded in the Plymouth County Probate Records, Volume 1, pages 44 and 45. The wife Mary mentioned in the will was a second wife, the first one having been Jane2
According to MF5G:12: Experience was among several single men in the colony, and he, together with five other unmarried young men, were listed in the Division of Cattle along with Francis Cooke and his family--thus probably living with them at the time.
Mitchell, Experience
Experience Mitchell arrived in Plymouth in 1623 on the Anne, and Banks writes that he was from Duke's Place, London. Underhill (Small Descendants, 1:510), based in part on Dexter (p. 625), thought Experience was the son of Thomas Mitchell of Cambridge, England, who was a member of Francis Johnson's church at Amsterdam, and that Experience was born in Leiden in 1611.
Experience received a letter dated 24 July 1662 from his nephew Thomas Mitchell in Amsterdam in which Thomas mentions having received Experience's letter dated 23 April 1661, and says, "I do also wish my cousin Elizabeth much joy with her [p.328] daughter that God has given her to her six sons. I do also wish my cousin Sarah much joy in her married estate" (PN&Q 3:102-03).
Experience was a Purchaser and was on the 1633 freeman list. He later moved to Duxbury, where he became a highway surveyor on 3 March 1639/40 (PCR 1:141); he also served on various juries (PCR, passim). On 7 June 1659 he was fined ten shillings for refusing to serve on the grand jury (PCR 3:168).
He married, probably not long after the 1627 cattle division, Jane Cooke, daughter of 1620 Mayflower passenger Francis Cooke; though there is no record of their marriage, their son Thomas Mitchell in a deed of 1 August 1672 refers to some land given him by his grandfather Francis Cooke (MD 3:104).
By his first wife Jane, Mitchell had Thomas and Elizabeth, but indirect evidence indicates that the rest of his children, with the exception of Mary, perhaps, were probably by his second wife Mary _____. See John B. Threlfall, "Comments on the Two Wives of Experience Mitchell of Plymouth, Mass.," NEHGR 127:94; Robert S. Wakefield, "Not All the Children of Experience Mitchell Are Mayflower Descendants," TAG 59:28; and Barbara L. Merrick, "Some Descendants of Francis Cooke, Mayflower Passenger," MQ 49:130. Also see Merton Taylor Goodrich, "Gaining Experience—A Problem in the Mitchell Family," TAG 12:193.
In his will, dated 5 December 1684, inventory 14 May 1689, Mitchell named his wife Mary; sons Edward and John; grandsons Experience and Thomas; granddaughter Mary Mitchell; and daughters Mary Shaw, Sarah Hayward, and Hannah Hayward (MD 32:97). His daughter Elizabeth, who married John Washburn, and his son Jacob, who married Susanna Pope, predeceased him.
In 1631 Experience sells his dwelling house, garden plot and fence, leading to the speculation that this may have been the approximate date of Jane's death, leaving him with small children. He was among the list of Freemen in Plymouth in 1633, and again on 7 March 1636/7; in Duxborrow about 1658 and again in Plymouth on May 1670. He was on various committees and held several offices from the years 1637 to 1662. He, like the other early Colonials, was granted additional lands through the years. In 1675/6 Experience and Edward Mitchell were were appointed by the Court to investigate the estate of Jacob Michell, deceased, for the good of his children. Experience, Edward and Joseph Bartlett were later appointed guardians of the children of Jacob Michell, deceased. Experience's will, dated 5 December 1684 and probated 4 September 1689 names son Edward, wife "mary michell", son John, grandson "Exsperience" [son of John] daughters Mary Shaw, Sarah Hayward and Hannah Hayward, grandson Thomas Mitchell and granddaughter mary michel whom he leaves in the care of his son Edward and Joseph Bartlet. His residence is given as Bridgewater. (See will) Parents: Thomas MITCHELL and Maria TROMDIN.
He was married to Jane COOKE after 22 May 1627 in Plymouth Colony, MA. (2117)(2118) Notes:
Rosser, Mayflower Increasings: "m. aft. 22 May 1627, Plymouth, Experience Mitchell . . ."
This date reflects that she was still single in the May 22, 1627 Division of Land.
Rosser: There is much controversy over the children of the two marriages of Experience Mitchell: "MFIP (Mayflower Families In Progress) , Cook:3 states Elizabeth Mitchell was b. 1628 and Thomas Mitchell c 1631. These two have been accepted by the General Society of Mayflower Descendants as Jane Cooke's. Since Thomas was the only Mitchell child known to have received land from grandfather Francis Cook, doubt is cast on the remaining Mitchell children who were born later than Thomas."
Ralph Wood takes exception, however, in his MF5G:12 volume, 1996, and includes Mary "presumed, quite safely, as a daughter of Jane, based on Mary's approximate date of birth.". Mary is born about 1632, presuming Jane married about 20. There is then a near 10-year span before the rest of Experience's children are born, presumably, by his second wife, Mary,.
Another observation is that if Jane died very early in their marriage, Experience was left with near infant children--quite a hardship in any event, and especially so in those days. Many such men would hasten to find a new wife and mother for such small children, and female companionship for themselves, however, Experience doesn't remarry until 1640/1.
Children were: Elizabeth (3) MITCHELL, Thomas[3] MITCHELL, Mary MITCHELL.
He was married to Mary before 1641 in Plymouth, MA?.(2119) The Cooke volume logs this as the date of his first child by his second wife, Mary. Children were: Sarah MITCHELL, Jacob MITCHELL, Edward MITCHELL, John MITCHELL, Hannah MITCHELL.
