John Crandall
| John Crandall | |
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1618 Westerleigh, Gloucestershire, England |
| Died | 1676 Newport, Rhode Island |
| Spouse(s) | (Mary Opp) (7 children) Hannah Gaylord (2 children - 2) |
| Children |
John Crandall James Crandall Jane Crandall Sarah Crandall Peter Crandall Reverend Joseph Crandall Samuel Crandall Jeremiah Crandall Eber Crandall |
Elder John Crandall (1618-1676) was a Baptist minister from England and one of the founding settlers of Westerly, Rhode Island.
Crandall was born in 1618 (baptized February 15, 1617/8) in Westerleigh, Gloucestershire, England to James Crandall, a yeoman of Kendleshire in that parish, and his first wife Eleanor. The origin of the name is undoubtedly a place-name, Crundelend, in Abberley, Worcestershire, where people bearing the name were concentrated in the 16th century. Crandall's great-grandfather, Nicholas Crundall (died 1589), of Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, came to south Gloucestershire in 1572 as the vicar of the parish of Winterbourne. Puritanism ran in the family. In a case brought in the Star Chamber against Nicholas Crundall, Jr., who succeeded his father as vicar, his accuser reported that Crundall resisted a constable, mockingly crying out "The Queen's name! The Queen's name! I do not care a turd for thee nor her either." John Crandall's (his relatives started spelling the name "Crandall" around 1610) life in England prior to his emigration to America is unknown.
While the exact date of Crandall's arrival is not known, it is believed to be 1637 when he arrived in Providence, Rhode Island, then a new settlement and a refuge for dissident Puritans from the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
From Providence he came to Newport, Rhode Island, as early as 1651. (The first actual documentation for Elder John Crandall in American is in 1643 when he appears as a grand jury member in Newport.) He became a prominent member of the First Baptist Church in Newport there, subsequently the first elder of the denomination at Westerly, Rhode Island. With John Clarke and Obadiah Holmes he went to Lynn, Massachusetts, to hold services for the Baptists, was arrested there July 21, 1651, and sent to prison in Boston. Ten days later he was convicted of breaking the law by holding services and fined five pounds, in default of which he was to be publicly whipped. Upon his promise to appear at the next term of court he was released.
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