|
Shared note |
(Research):https://archive.org/stream/biographicalhist00chaf/biographicalhist00chaf_djvu.txt
Robert Randall, the founder of one branch of the Randall
family of America, was born in England in 1608, and died MaY
3, 1691, in Weymouth, Mass. He came to this country about
1635 and settled in Weymouth. His name appears on the records
of the Mass. General Court, Jan. 10, 1640, where, at the Quarter
Court, he is tried upon some charge, but is subsequently acquitted.
His name occurs on the vital records of Weymouth as early as
Sept., 1640, also in Jan. 1642. Tracts of land are recorded as
granted to, or owned by, him, in 1644, and in the division of
We3 T mouth lands of 1663 he comes into possession of large tracts,
one of them being on the west side of the town adjoining Braintree.
He was admitted as freeman of the Colony May 26, 1647. In
a deposition made by him and recorded in the Mass. Archives,
Vol. C, xxiv, 16, he states under date of July 2, 1688, that he
was eighty years of age, and that prior to coming to this country
he was " living for sometime in Wendover, Bucks Co., England."
This statement suggested Wendover as his native place. Accord-
ingly the author of this genealogy employed a competent person
to go to Wendover and ascertain the facts of the case. The
examination revealed no trace of Robert Randall or of any of the
Randall name. The oldest and best informed residents had never
heard that any of the family resided there ; no Randall tomb-
stones were found, and the vicar of the Wendover parish did not
discover the name on his church records, which, however, only
dated from 1632. The conclusion necessitated by these facts was
that Robert Randall was only temporarily resident at Wendover,
and was not a native of the town. His English origin must there-
fore for the present remain an unsolved problem. In the records
of Bath Abbey Christenings in England, at dates not far from
that of Robert Randall's birth, many Roberts appear — that name
and the names afterwards common in the Robert line being very
often used, and they suggest the probability that Robert of Wey-
mouth, Mass., came from this line, but this is only conjecture.
|