Thursday, June 30, 2011

Lothrop

Our family has a family name, Lathrop that is passed down from generation to generation, generally as a middle name. My granddaddy was Edward Lathrop Dezendorf, and my grandson is Quinton Lathrope Dezendorf. Names change over time.

My sister has found a gravestone of the fellow who is probably the guy from who we got the weird middle name. Sis claims that he is our 9th-great-grandfather.


Confined Newgate Prison 1632-1634? I'd love to hear the story on that! From the website above, his stone is found in front of the Old Lothrop Hill Cemetery in Barnstable, Cape Cod, MA.

Edit: Just heard from sis:
Rev John Lathrop succeeded Henry Jacobs as the leader of the Independent Congregational Society in London after Reverend Jacobs left England for Virginia. On April 29, 1632, the congregation was discovered by the authorities and 42 of its members were imprisoned. Within two years, all were released on bail except John who remained incarcerated at Newgate Prison, nicknamed, the Clink. Hannah, his wife, fell sick during his imprisonment and died in 1633. John was then finally released from prison on the condition that he leave the county.
How cool is that?

5 comments:

Old NFO said...

Nice piece of history, and an 'interesting' relative :-)

be603 said...

Probably a "dissenter."

Dave O. said...

According to Wikipedia, John Lathrop refused to swear an oath of loyalty to the Church of England and was jailed as a result. Poor guy.

be603 said...

there ya go. Wanna bet he knew of the Separatists that sailed west in search of Virginia about that time -- but found a cold New England rock instead?

Anonymous said...

"sis claims"... Hey!!! I got some documents to prove what I'm asserting! From what I read last night (no one in the ER from about 4a-5a), there's about 80,000 people in the US that are related to him. We're direct descendants...he was our 9-great grandfather. Other people who are also related to him (he was probably their 9 great uncle or such) are as follows: Sarah Palin, The Bushs, Brooke Shields and Clint Eastwood (I always thought Dad looked like him so maybe Clint is a direct descendant as well!!) Yeah, I bet Clint's closer related because of how much he looked (and acted) like our Papa! Enjoy your day. I love you, Franniedez