John Crowe

  Noted events in his life were:

• Emigration, 1635 from England and was admitted the same year as an inhavitant of Charlestown. ⁶²

• Residence, 1635-1638, Charlestown, Massachusetts, Suffolk, British American Colonies. ⁶²

• Residence, 1638, Yarmouth, Massachusetts. ⁶²

• Name: John Crowe. ⁶²
After the immigrant, John Crowe, came to New England, later generations changed the spelling to Crowell. May genealogists claim that this happened in the third generation with John Crowe's grandson, John Crowell because his grave stone in the North Dennis burying ground bears the name Crowell, and 15 Oct 1728, the death of the grandson. Amos Otis who author an article about the Crowell in the Yarmouth Registry, that the use of Crowell may have begun with Yelverton Crowe's will dated 8 Mar 1683. He signed his will "Yelverton Crowell, alias Crow." Whether Yelverton Crow was a brother to John, no one knoew for sure.

~Athon Genealogy, pp. 44-45

• Dates & Events. ⁶¹⁵
"John's name appears as a resident of Charleston in 1635. It was sometimes spelleed Crowe. In 1638 he moved to Matakeese, which very soon became known as Yarmouth.

"He, with Anthony Thatcher and Thomas Howes, held the land grant in trust to apportion to those people admitted to settle in the town, and were themselves among the first settlers.

"John Crowe was appointed in 1640 with two other people to hear all cases coming before them up to the amount of twenty shillings in the three towns of Yarmouth, Sandwich and Barnstable. He served as Deputy for the years 1641, '42 and '43, and on the Grand Jury in 1658."

Plymouth Colony - Its History & People 1620 - 1691, by Stratton

• Background Information. ⁶²
John Crowe and his wife Elisha may have come from Wales. Elisha came to the colonies before John arrived in 1635.

On 16 Apr 1638, John Crowe sold his lands in Charlestown and moved to the "Old Colony," on 18 Dec 1638, he took the oath of allegience to the king and fidelity to the government of New Plymouth. On 6 Jan 1638/9, the Old Colony Court granted lands at "Mattacheset, now called Yarmouth" to Mr. Anthony Thacher, Mr. Thomas Howes, Mr. John Crowe and John Coit. John Coit moved to Salem, but the rest moved to Yarmouth in the autumn of 1638. They were appointed by the Old Court" as the first land committe that was "to make an equal division of the uplands now to be divided at this first division there, to each man according to his estate and quality; according to their instructions."

Governor Bradford had previously bargained with the Sagamore, Mashantumpaine Natives to see this land to the new British settlers, but the consideration and not been fully paid, and there were no defined boundaries set between the Natives and the Settlers land. There were also problems with extimating each man's estate and his quality or value of service he had rendered. The settlers complained to the court of the inequality of the division and on 1 Mar 1638/9 the court added Mr. Nicolas, William Palmer, Philip Taber and Joshua Barnes to the committee. The next year the court approved the extended committee's formal division of the land, but this did not settle the disputes.

A court was held 17 Jun 1632, "before Edward Winslow, Miles Standish and Edmund Freeman, getleman, three of the Assistants of the government," and "it was ordered and concluded upon by the joint consent of all the inhabitants of Yarmouth that Capt. Standish sahll be joined to the committees of said town of Yarmouth for the disposing of the lands there, and that not any lands hereafter be granted or laid forth without his consent, and that all lands hereafter to be laid forth shall be assigned to every person by lot except those which are already granted and assigned in particular, whereof sale and exchanged have been made."

There were still problems since the original committee had granted themselves far more land than anyone else. On 13 May 1648, Captain Standish heard and decided a large number of cases. In the end, all parties were satisfied by Captain Standish's decisions and "put an end to all difference in the town of Yarmouth."

In 1640, John Crowe was admitted a freeman of the colony of Yarmouth. selected and appointed a magistrate along with thomas Dimmock of Barnstable and Edmund Freeman of Sandwich. In the Yarmouth Records is this notice of his death: "The late Mas Crowell was buried the 7th day of January, '72."

~Anthon Genealogy, pp. 37-46, taken from the "Yarmouth Register," 9 May 1850, author, Amos Otis

John married Elishua before 1638 in Massachusetts.