SHOTLEY PARISH RECORDS 1571 to 1850
Index to Registers: Persons
https://sites.google.com/site/shotleyprs/index-to-registers-persons


John Stratton, Gent. Kinswoman was Marie Harrison (sister?). He Held manors of Kirkton & Thurkalton. He was born on 10 October 1586 at of Badingham & Shotley, Suffolk, England; Age 15 & 90 days on 19 January 1597; 17 in 1602. He married Anne Derehaugh, daughter of William Dearhaugh and Mary Wright, circa 1603; They had 4 sons (John, Gent; Thomas; William, Gent; & Anthony) & 5 daughters (Margaret; Anne; Elizabeth, wife of John Thorndike; Dorothy, perhaps wife of William Pester; & Mary). John Stratton, Gent. left a will on 24 September 1621. He was buried on 4 May 1627 at Shotley, Suffolk, Eng. His estate was probated on 19 May 1627.

Source: http://our-royal-titled-noble-and-commoner-ancestors.com/p37.htm#i1109


WILL of JOHN STRATTON of Shotley co. Suffolk gent dated 24 September 1621. Abstract. (P. C. C. Skynner 52.)
Poor of Shotley £3. I give out of my Manor of Thurcalton alias
Surcalton in Shotley now in the occupation of Thomas Cample
unto Ann my wife £50 yearly for life; the remainder of the rents
of the said Manor to go to my executors towards the bringing up
of my children. I give to my son John * at his age of one and
twenty the remainder of such rents as shall be due out of my said
Manor during the life of Ann his mother; and after her decease
I will all my said Manor unto my son John and his heirs for ever,
and in default to my next heir at law. My Manor at Kirton Hall
where I do now dwell with the lands thereto pertaining and now in
the occupation of me the said John Stratton, Richard Throward,
Christopher Wilton, and John Wilton I will shall be sold by my
executors for the performance of this my will. William and
Athony my sons £100 each at 21. My eldest daughter Ann £100
at 18. Elizabeth, Marie, and Dorothie my daughters £100 each at
18. t Residuary legatees my executors. Benjamin Stratton my
brother £6-13-8. Joseph my brother 40s. to buy him a ring. My
kinswman Marie Harrison 20s. Executors Ann my wie and John
my son. Supervisor Mr. Robert Clench of Holbrooke co. Suffolk
Esq.
Witnesses:

John Havell ser., John Wilton
Proved 19 May 1627 by Ann Stratton the relict and John Strat-
ton the son executors.

John Stratton the testator died at Ardleigh in Essex — the
parish adjoining Dedham — and was buried at Shotley. John his
son must have been of age on or before 19 May, 1627, else he could
not have obtained probate of the will. Careful search was made
in the Close Rolls, at the Public Record Office, London, for the
Indenture of sale of the Manor of Kirkton, but without success.
Failure to discover it is probably due to the fact that the in-
dentures there enrolled are calendared Under The Names of
Grantees Only. In this case the names of the Grantors only are
known."
* This John Stratton, Jr., came to America and settled at Salem, Mass. t The daughters, Elizabeth and Dorothy, came to Salem, with their mother,
Ann Stratton, widow.



60 A Book of Strattons

LAND GRANTS

Grant of land on the coast of Maine to John Stratton of Shotley.
By the Plymouth Council, December 1, 1631.

A Graunt passed to John Stratton of Shatley [sic] in the County
of Suffolke gent and his Associates of Two Thousand Acres of Land
butting upon the South Side of the River or Creeke called Cape
Porpus and on the other side Northwarde of the said River ex-
tending or to be extended from the said Rivers Mouth of the said
Cape with all other Profitts or Commodities whatsoever there
specified paying to the King one fifth part of all the Gold and Silver
Oare and another fifth part to the President and Councill and
paying more to the said President and Councill for every Hun-
dred Acres of Land in use two shillings to the Rent Gatherer as
by the same Graunte may appeare.

State Colonial Papers, 1574-1631. P. R. Office, London.

Warwick House, 2 December 1631. There was a Pattent agreed
upon for John Stratton for a proporcon of Land containing 2000
acres * * * with all Comodityes & Privileges proper for his
necessary occasions as by his said graunt more at large appeareth.

The Consideration for and in respect that he had lived in New
England these three yaeres last past and had expended 1000 li. in
transporting of cattle and maintaining of servaunts in their Im-
ployment and for that he now purposeth to transport more cattle
and to settle a plantecon there according to his grant and for that
he is to pay the one fifth part of ye Gold and Silver Ore three to
be found to the Kings Maty and one other 5th part to the President
and Councell and also is to pay ijs. for every Hundred Acres of
Land in use by the yeare when it shall be demanded by the Rate
Gatherer and not to Alien the same without consent first had and
obtained which said Pattents were signed by the Lord Gorges and
Sr Ferdinando Gorges and ready to pass ye Seale and afterwards
were left with Mr. Walter Williams to be dispatcht by the Earle
of Warwicx president.

State Colonial Papers, 1631-1633. P. R. Oflnce, London.

In the same month, December, 1631, John Stratton left Eng-
land to take possession of this grant on the coast of Maine. For
further records of him see "John Stratton of Salem" in this volume.


JOHN STRATTON OF SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS

(See Chart 1)

John Stratton, eldest son of John and Ann (Dearhaugh)
Stratton of Shotley, Eng., was born about 1606.* By his father's
will dated September 24, 1621, he was to have, at the age of 21,
certain rents from the Manor of Thurcarlton during his mother's
lifetime and the manor itself after her death. His father died in
Ardleigh, and was buried in Shotley, May 4, 1627.

Soon after his death Kirkton Manor was sold to meet the re-
quirements of the will. John Stratton, Jr., was one of the execu-
tors of this will. He must have come to America the follow-
ing year (1628), for in December, 1631, he was granted land in
Maine "in consideration for and in respect that he had lived
in New England these three years last past, and had expended
1000 li. in transporting cattle and maintaining of servants in their
imployment." (See Land Grant to John Stratton, in Part I.)
Of his movements during these three years we know nothing
more. In the latter part of 1631 he had returned to England
and was with his mother and sisters at Dedham. He was then
preparing to return to the New World, and it was probably dur-
ing this time that Thurcarlton Manor and the demesne lands
were sold.f ^,

In December, 1631, he left England to take possession of the
land that had been granted him on the coast of Maine. Near the
coast he encountered a storm, and " lost valuable papers and goods
by the casting away of a boat." Lechford's Notes.

This grant to John Stratton consisted of "2000 acres on the
coast of Maine, in the vecinity of Ogunquit and Kennebunk rivers
on the south side of Cape Porpoise, and an island near the mouth
of the Saco River." The island is opposite Black Point, a little
west of Richmond Island, and about four miles from Old Orchard.
It is still known as "Stratton Island."

Many references are found in Maine historical works to "Mr.

* See pedigree and history of the Shotley Strattons, Part I in this Volume.

t In the Suffolk Ship Money Returns for the year 1639-40, the name Strat-
ton does not appear amongst the property holders of the parish of Shotley,
showing that the family had sold all their possessions there before that
date.



78 A Book of Strattons

Stratton's" claim. Judge Southgate's History of Maine refers to
him as the first settler of Scarboro. The present city of Wells *
probably had its origin as "Stratton's plantation."

A manuscript written in 1660, and recently discovered in the
British Museum by Henry F. Waters, A. B., refers to "Wells, a
handsome well peopled place lying on both sides of a river, for
which place a patent was long since granted to one ' Mr. Stratton.' "

Felts' Ecclesiastical History of New England says: "Thomas
Jenner (who had been settled at Weymouth, but now preaching
at Saco), replying to a letter of Winthrop, writes, ' I have been
solicited, both from the inhabitants of Stratton's plantation and
from those of Caskoe to be a means to help each of them to a godly
minister, therefore I do make bold to entreat your worship to do
your endeavor to furnish them both.' "

At this time immigrants were rushing into New England.
Applications for grants became numerous, and patents were
issued without sufficient regard to definite boundaries, which
later led to litigation. In a letter dated September 27, 1641,
Thomas Gorges (" Superintendant of the affairs of Sir Ferdinand
Gorges, Knight, Lord proprietor of the Province of Mayne")
mentions this claim of Stratton's, yet granted to others (July 14,
1643) land comprised within Stratton's grant — for which John
Stratton seems never to have obtained redress.

There is nothing to show that John Stratton remained long in
this vicinity. In January, 1636, he had been away from there for
some time.

March 28, 1636, "It is petitioned for Mr. Edward Godfrey
that an attachment might bee of one Brase Kettell, now in the
hands of Mr. Edward Godfrey which was belonging to Mr. John
Stratton of a debt dew now 3 years from Mr. Stratton to him."

Cook County Records, Alfred, Maine.

September 19, 1636, John Stratton was in Massachusetts Bay
Colony, and was "fined £10 for lending a gun to an Indian for
four days."

December 7, 1636, "John Stratton being fined £10 is remitted
to 10s if he goe to the Merrimack." Mass. Bay Colony Records.

Later, John Stratton, Goodman Woodward, with an Indian,

* The towTi records of Wells were burned in the destruction of the house of
Joseph Bowles in 1657.



John Stratton of Salem 79

and two others, were appointed "to lay out a line three miles
north of the northermost part of the Merrimac." This line eventu-
ally became the boundary between New Hampshire and Massa-
chusetts.

August 8, 1637, "Mr. Stratton requests a farm beyond Ipswich
Pond," near Salem. March 1, 1638, this farm was "laid out to
John Stratton" — 100 acres. The same year he was "admitted
inhabitant" of Charlestown and given permission to buy the
Withwell house.* He was granted other lands in Charlestown —
six different lots making 63 acres in all — with their rights. f The
records at Charlestown, however, give no evidence of his ever
having lived there, and he probably lived at Salem, where, in
1638, he was granted a house lot "there being two in the family."
At this time he is styled "a merchant" and Lechford records
several notes of John Stratton, merchant. J

That he was a man of standing in those early days is shown by
the character of the men with whom he was associated, as well as
by the extent of his business transactions. About this time finan-
cial misfortunes began to overtake him. The decision in England
seems to have been against him concerning a part, at least, of
his land grant in Maine. Large debts due him in Virginia he could

* Thomas Withwell was a teacher. He came to Charlestown 1635-6, and
was for several years the grammar teacher there.

t The location and boundaries of these lots are given in the Land Records
of Charlestown. One lot adjoined that of Rev. John Harvard, pastor of the
church at Charlestown, and first benefactor of Harvard University. Another
joined George Bunker, of the family who possessed Bunker Hill. This book of
Land Records began March 26, 1638. It may be that John Stratton possessed
lands there before that date.

X Promisory Note — John Stratton, gent, of Salem — Dec. 6, 1638.

This wittnesses yt I Jno Stratton of Salem, merchant, have
In 1641 there received of Edmund Angier of Cambridge, divers comodityes
had been Re- and wares amounting to the some of twentye pounds & six-
ceived on this teen shillings & eight pence to be payd the sayd Edmond
note one mare Angier or his assignees att or upon the five & twentye of
value twentye- November next after the date hereof,
pounds. Witness my hand this twenty-fifth of September, 1638.

Jo Stratton.
Payment to be made
in moneye, or cattle
as money, delivered at
the Governors farme.



80 A Book of Strattons

not collect. Much of his property in Charlestown went into the
hands of assignees, and we find him conveying all his "interests
what-so-ever, in lands at Cape Porpus, to Richard Saltonstall,
Esq^ and Hugh Peters, pastor in Salem, — the rest that is not sold
to Mathew Craddock, mercator, for £10." September 26, 1639,
"John Stratton, gent, of Salem, made a letter of assignment and
attorney to Mr. Richard Hutchinson, citizen and iron monger
of London." This letter was "signed, sealed and delivered in
the presence of John Winthrope Esq' Governor of the Jurisdic-
tion of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in New England."

LETTER OF ASSIGNMENT AND ATTORNEY

Know all men by these present that I John Stratton of Salem
in New England, gent, for or in part payment of 50£ w'^'' I owe
me to Valentine Hill of Boston in New England, mercer, doe
hereby give & grant unto the said Valentine Hill all that my lott
or farme granted & assigned to me by the Townsmen of Salem
aforsaid containing one hundred acres or there-abouts bee it more
or less lying and being in the villiage within the prescints of the
said town of Salem near the land of Mr. Hawthorne and St.
Davenport.

I say in part payment of so much of the said 50£ as the said
premises are well worth but if the premises are worth 50£ then in
full payment of the said 50£.

Then what in value the same shall come short of the said 50£
I or my heirs, executor or Ad"* shall and will pay & satisfy me unto
the said Hill his executor or ad"" as soon as the said Valentine
Hill shall receive news from England that the 50£ are not, and
cannot be received from John Harrison, gent, by vertue of one
letter of attorney made by me unto Richard Hutchinson, citizan
and iron-monger of London upon one bill or writing where-unto
Adam Winthrope was witness, according to appointment of the
said Valentine Hill & to the said Richard Hutchinson his executors
ad"' & assignees according to the said letter of attorney then
this present gift & grant shall be voyd & of no force. And I further
covenent promise & grant to & with the said Valentine Hill that
I will pay all costs & charges to be expended in the endeavor to
recover said 50£ of said John Harrison if the same shall not be
recovered of him. Lechford's Notes.



John Stratton of Salem 81

Then we find him making this will :

"I, John Stratton, in the present letter of attorney mentioned,
doe hereby make and declare this my last will and testament
touching the suits and matters therein contained as followeth:

"My will is that if it please God that I depart this life before the
said suits and matters are finished that my attorneys, in the said
letter of attorney mentioned shall be my executors jointly and
severally to recover the premises. In testimony thereof I have
here-unto set my hand and seal."

To this will is affixed the following:

"And the said Governor do hereby certify that the above said
John Stratton did in my presence publish and declare the said
writing to be his last will and testament touching the premises
which I have granted also to testify under the said public seal."

Lechford's Notes.

July 19, 1641, John was still in Salem, where he, with his mother
and sisters,* made a letter of attorney to Captain Edward Gibbons
of Boston and Robert Stileman, merchant, of London, to receive
from John Thurston of Hockston, Eng., the legacies left him by
this last will and testament of Mrs. Mary Dearhaugh, late of Har-
rington, County Suffolk, Eng. (See pedigree of Shotley Strattons.)
Two years later the town records of Salem show that John Stratton
is "absent" and Thomas West is to have the use of his 10 acre



* See pedigree of Shotley Strattons.

In 1637 the name of Ann Stratton, widow, appears on a list of church mem-
bers in Salem. She was still living there in July, 1642. After this date she may
have married again.

Elizabeth Stratton married John (son of Francis and Alice Thorndike of
Little Carlton, Eng.), of Beverly, Mass. After her death he returned to Eng-
land, where he died in 1662 and was buried in the east cloister of Westminister
Abbey, near his brother, Rev. Herbert Thorndike. Their son Paul Thorndike
lived in America, and has descendants here to-day.

Dorothy Stratton was in Salem, unmarried in 1640. Some have found rea-
sons for believing that she married William Pester of Ipswich about 1642.
He was son of William Pester, Esq., of Barnard Castle, Eng.

William Stratton, brother of John of Salem, made preparations to come to
Virginia with his Uncle Joseph in 1628. He did not come at that time, how-
ever, and nothing has been found to show that he ever came to America. In
a deposition taken before Lechford in 1640-41, John Stratton of Salem,
testifies that he is the "only brother & heir & next of kin & creditor of William
Stratton, gent, of Ardleigh, in the County of Essex, Eng. deceased."



82 A Book of Strattons

lot at Derby Fort Side on condition that he " sufficiently fence
it."

And then the name of John Stratton disappears from Salem
records, and all efforts to locate him elsewhere have utterly
failed. Nothing has been found to show that the "suits and mat-
ters" mentioned in his will were ever brought to trial.*

No mention has been found of any children of his, until twenty
years later, in 1660, when we find a daughter, Anne Stratton,
then the wife of William Lake, living in Salem in the house which
John Stratton had owned in 1639.

"William Lake the husband of Anne the daughter of Mr. John
Stratton, p'l't ag'st Thomas Cauly de'f 't, in an action of the case
for witholding or refusing to give possession of a pr'cell of land,
that was formerly the land of the said John Stratton mortgaged
to Major Gibbins, deceased, & by him given to Anne affores'd
now wife of the said William Lake to his great damage, ans: to
attachttdu:22: 9"° 70."

Case "8, 22, 9""° 1670, Essex County Court;' Salem, Mass.

"To the marshall of Salem, or his Deputy. You are required
in his Majesties name to attach the body or goods of Thomas
Caly [Cauly] & take bond of him to the value of forty pounds with
sufficient security for his appearance at the next County Court
held at Salem, then & there to answer the complaint of William
Lake, the husband of Anna the Daughter of Mr. John Stratton in
an action of the case for withholding or refusing to give possession
of a p" cell of land that was formerly the land of the said John
Stratton mortgaged to Maj°' Gibbons deceased and by him given



* One of these suits (see Lechford's Notes) was against Joseph Stratton of
James City, to recover "debts due my father and my brother William in their
life time."

The petition (dated December, 1641) for this suit was referred by the Gov-
ernor of Massachusetts to the Governor of Virginia as follows: "To the Right
"VVoree Sir Francis Wyatt, Knight, Gov. & Capt. General of his Majesties
•colony in Virginia, I, Thomas Dudley, Esq', Governor of the jurisdiction of
Massachusetts Bay in N. E. doe hereby certify that I have received this present
certificate before written from John Endicott, Esq. and have at the request
of John Stratton herein named granted to exemplifie the same."

We know that Joseph Stratton died before June 2, 1641. The suit was
probably settled out of court — and perhaps in England.



John Stratton of Salem - 83

to Anna aforesaid the now wife of ye said William Lake — to his
great damage & hereof make returne. 22, 9"° 1670."

Essex County Court Files, 16: 119.

Record of this case— 29, 9""° 1670, says: "Withdrawn."

In Essex County Deeds, 3, p. 106, is deed, dated 2, 12"° 1670
of William Lake, Cooper, and wife Ann, of Salem, conveying 10
acres of land at Darby Fort Side, Marblehead, to Thomas Caly (or
Cauly), netmaker.*

William Lake died, and his widow married William Stevens
of Salem. The Registry of Deeds shows that on February 5, 1717,
Anne Stevens, widow, of Salem for the consideration of £20 con-
veys to Thomas Flint, Jr., " 100 acres of land granted to my
honored father Mr. John Stratton Jan. 31, 1638." The deed says:
"I am ye True, Sole, & Lawful owner of ye above Bargained
premises, as I am heir, to my father Mr. John Stratton and Law-
fully possessed of ye same in my own proper Right as a good,
perfect, & absolute estate of inheritance."

Essex County Registry of Deeds, 33: 117.

This 100 acres, Anne Stevens had placed in the care of Thomas
Flint, March 12, 1692. It was on the north side of Ipswich River, and
was the same 100 acres "laid out" to John Stratton March 1, 1638.

Anne Stratton and William Lake were married about 1660.
They had four children born in Salem between 1662 and 1675. t
He died before June 26, 1680, and her second husband, William
Stevens, died before 1685. She died after 1718.

If John Stratton left other children the most diligent research
has thus far failed to bring to light any proof of the fact, or to
reveal any clew to his residence after July, 1641.

And so for the present we must leave him

"Hidden from all research
Among the depths of Time."

* It would appear, from the case being settled out of court, that both Lake
and Cauly had some claim on this ten acres. The bounds between Salem and
Marblehead were not well defined. (See William Stratton of Marblehead.)
Wm. Cauly died 1672, leaving wife, Mary, daughter of Benjamin Parmeter.

t Two of these children, Ann and William, died in childhood. One daughter,
Abigail Lake, married William Allen and had at least two children, who owned
the ancient Lake homestead in Salem in 1730. The other daughter, Mary
Lake, married Lewis Hunt of Salem, and had a daughter, Mary, who married
Paul Langdon and moved to Hopkinton.

Source: http://archive.org/stream/bookofstrattonsb03stra/
bookofstrattonsb03stra_djvu.txt


Family
Anne Derehaugh b. c 1585, d. a Jul 1642

Children
John Stratton b. 8 Nov 1604, d. a 1641
William Stratton b. c 1608, d. 1632
Anthony Stratton b. c 1610
Ann Stratton b. c 1612
Elizabeth Stratton b. c 1614
Mary Stratton b. c 1616
Dorothy Stratton b. c 1618∼~ John Stratton ~
Birth: 10 October 1586 -Shotley, Suffolk, England (United Kingdom)
Death: 2 May 1627 - Ardleigh, Essex, England (United Kingdom)
Place of Burial: Shotley, Suffolk, Essex, England
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
Parents:
Thomas Stratton
Dorothy Stratton
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
Spouse:
Anne Stratton
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
Children:
**Ann Frye ; John Stratton; Anthony Stratton; Margaret Wright; Elizabeth Thorndike