Individual Details

Marriage

On reaching manhood, he sought and won the love of Joane Allen, (spelling "Alling" on the colonial records ) the amiable daughter of James Allen, a prosperous citizen of Kempston, in the county of Bedford, England. His lot was early cast with the Puritans, and at about the age of twenty-one, shortly after their marriage, he came with his bride in search of a home in the New World, to escape the tyranny of the reign of Charles I., and to secure and enjoy personal, political and religious liberty. A large portion of the "planters" were descended from the landed gentry of England, and frequently could trace their ancestry in a noble line from the time of William the Conquerer. The educated class, headed by the minister, formed their real aristocracy. But little information is to be had of the exodus of many of them from England, as in the eye of the government and Established Church the Puritans were "religious outlaws," unworthy of mention. The well-to-do, fearing confiscation, were glad thus quietly to embark, taking their accumulations, without attracting the government's attention.