Commodore Abraham Whipple of the Continental Navy: Privateer, Patriot, Pioneer

1. Rhode Island Beginnings

1 Rhode Island Beginnings The Whipple family in New England could trace its origins back to England. The name Whipple, which some family genealogists claim meant “clear” or “fresh” stream, apparently had origins in Norman times, although the surname then appeared with several variant spellings, including Wipple, Wheppel, and Whippo. Centuries later, the American progenitors had been among the thousands of nonseparating Puritans who were part of the many early seventeenth-century “vexed and troubled Englishmen.”1 These particular English men and women rejected what they considered the corrupt and unreformable Stuart church-state establishment that was governing their homeland. And in the consequent “Great Migration,” a great number of them—between 1629 and the early 1640s—embarked on perilous voyages to wilderness regions of North America. For the most part, they believed that a protective God had endorsed their mission to establish New World settlements with “righteous” religion and virtuous government.2 An excellent multivolume work lists these idealistic participants in this transatlantic hegira. Among those listed is a certain John Whipple, entered as a servant to Israel Stoughton on the ship Mary and John, which departed for the Massachusetts Bay settlements in 1631. Stoughton and his servant thereafter established a residence in Dorchester, close to Boston.3 It was this John Whipple from whom Abraham would descend. It remains difficult to clarify the English background of the servant John Whipple. One genealogist claims that he was born in 1617, probably in Barking (then called Bocking) in the county of Essex near London. (Other commentators cite a less likely locale as Milford in Surrey. One genealogist notes a more implausible birthplace as Milford in Wales, erroneously claiming that this John Whipple did not leave Wales until 1636.) Essex in the early seventeenth century certainly had many resident Puritan families, but whether John Whipple’s parents were among them is undetermined .4 However, if this John Whipple did emigrate from there, the fact 2 Commodore Abraham Whipple of the Continental Navy that he had indentured himself to Israel Stoughton was an indication that this family was among England’s lower social orders. By the 1630s, this underclass was suffering particular economic difficulties. It therefore remains a possibility that Whipple indentured (apprenticed) himself as a teenager for economic rather than sectarian motivations. It was still conceivable, however , that religion figured as one of the motivations for his action, since many Puritan theologians preached that it was best to leave England because God was about to inflict punishment on their nation for its continuing corruption , immorality, and irreligion.5 Whatever the actual reasons causing his emigration, John Whipple found himself in the recently organized Massachusetts Bay town of Dorchester in 1632. The residents of that still undeveloped community certainly had to work hard to ensure the survival of their town. The wilderness surrounding their settlement was a hostile environment to these first arrivals. Under these frontierlike circumstances, the social and personal delineation between the masters and their capable servants was less defined than in England .6 Nonetheless, within this tenuous environment, John Whipple apparently demonstrated valuable vocational abilities so skillfully, particularly as a carpenter, that in 1637 Israel Stoughton saw to it that he was given a small land parcel on nearby Dorchester Neck. Thereafter, with the subsequent addition of grants of other small lots, John was released from his indenture and became a Dorchester freeman.7 Aside from his landholdings, John Whipple’s acceptance as a respected resident of Dorchester became evident by the end of his first decade in the community. In 1637, he married Sarah Darling, member of a reputable New England family. Further evidence of the Whipples’ status was the notation that the couple was admitted as full members of Dorchester’s Congregational Church on October 25, 1641. It was there that their eldest son, John, born the year before, was baptized, and this birth was followed by that of five more boys and three girls. The Whipples were then living on their town farm holdings, but John’s publicized carpentry skills often took him from home. He was repeatedly engaged by fellow townsmen in building and repairing homes, supervising bridge building, and even conducting surveys. In addition , his commitment to the town seemed to be reflected in his participation in several civic and religious functions.8 But in the year 1657, freeman John Whipple somehow had become disillusioned with the restrictive Puritan religious and secular order in Dorchester and Massachusetts Bay. Perhaps it was for this reason...