JUDITH DILLINGHAM: Owings Stone Family Genealogy — 20,000+ ancestors and their relatives

Birth 1578 Ipswich, Suffolk Co., England

Gender Female

Death Note Matthew CURWIN married Margaret, daughter of Judith SHATSWELL, and in 1627 bought a suit in chancery concerning Judith's estate (Curwen, A History, 198-9 abstracted in Essex Institute Historical Collection, 40 (1904), 299). Curwen vs. Smith, Chancery Proceedings, Chas. I, cc. 15, n. 56.

This case began with a complaint filed by Matthew Curwen and his wife, Margaret Shatswell, together with Margaret's three younger siblings, Theophilus, Sibyl and Mary Shatswell. The plaintiffs alleged that the defendant Smith had wrongfully withheld their shares of the estate of their mother, Judith Shatswell, deceased. The defendant answer that in accordance with his obligations he paid the entire over to John Shatswell, Judith's eldest son and the complainants' elder brother, when John had reach his majority. He claimed that obligation to distribute the estate to the four younger children had ceased to be his and was rather that of John Shatswell. The record does not disclose whether the case went to judgment or was settled privately..

Of the five Shatswell children, John, Theophilus, and Mary (Shatswell) Webster were later found in Massachusetts. The complaint and answer in Curwen vs. Smith make it possible to determine the approximate ages and dates of birth of the Shatswell children. The complaint alleged that Judith Shatswell had died about eleven years prior to 1627 and that the first accounting had been made about nine years before 1627, or about two years after Judith's death. The answer alleged that John Shatswell, the oldest son, was about 15 years old when his mother died, and that the first accounting was made about five years later, when he reached his majority. The allegations of the answer are more detailed, and the facts recited in the pleadings can most easily be reconciled if five or six years elapsed between Judith's death and the distribution to John, as alleged in the answer. The ages given for the children and dates for distribution require that the distribution to John Shatswell took place around 1618, which would be consistent with the statement in the complaint that the distribution took place about nine years prior to the time of the action. Margaret, who was to receive her distribution the next year, would have been 20; Theophilus, 18 or 19; Sibyl, 17; and Mary,13. Although some uncertainties remain, it is possible to estimate that (-----) SHATSWELL died probably about 1606, leaving a widow JUDITH, who died probably about 1612/13, and the approximate birth dates of five children are John ca. 1597/98; Margaret, ca. 1598/99; m. Matthew/Matthias Curwen; Theophilus, ca. 1599 (Note, however, that Davis in The Ancestry of Annis Spear (Portland, ME., 1945). p157, gave an estimated birth date of 1616 for Theophilus, based on a deposition, and that the distribution gives his age as "tenn" at the time, the scrivener may have been working from notes containing the number 18 which could easily be mistaken for 10 in the script of the day); Sibyl, ca. 1601; and Mary, ca. 1605, married John Webster.

The case was heard 22 November 1627 to the right Hobl Sir Thomas Coventry Knight, Lord Keeper of the Great Seale of England. On his answer dated 29 November 1627, William Smith, defendant, acknowledged:

That Judith Shatswell, widow, was at the time of her death possessed of sheepe, cattell, and household stuff, and had five small children all under the age of one and twenty years, John the eldest, Margaret, Theophilus, Mary, and Sibill, and Judith died intestate the administration of her goods, debts, and credits, was committed to him by Sir John Lambe, the chancellor and ecclesiastical officer, during the minority of the orphans.

William further protested that he sold the cattle and household goods at as reasonable a price as he could get, but many things had been overvalued in the inventory; he had lumber and household stuff remaining unsold that was of little or no price at all. He had paid the deceased's sickness and funeral charges, and the cost of educating the children during their infancies, and court costs of the administration. Denying at length any mismanagement or wrongdoing, William "humblye prayeth to bee dismissed with the reasonable costes & expenses in his behalfe wrongfully susteyned."

Further research, perhaps in manorial records, may well reveal the identity of the William Shatswell who was in Ipswich by 1633 with at least four of Judith Shatswell's children. Perhaps he was one of two uncles who are mentioned but not named in the chancery suit.

Died Abt 1613 England

Person ID I139 Owings Stone Genealogy, Ancestry & Heritage

Last Modified 15 Jan 1999 00:00:00

Family JOHN SHATSWELL, b. 1574, Ipswich, Suffolk Co., England

Children

	1. John Shatswell, b. 1598, England
	2. Margaret Shatswell, b. 1599, England
	3. Theophilus Shatswell, b. 1600, England
	4. Sibyl Shatswell, b. 1601, England
	5. MARY SHATSWELL, b. Abt 1606, prob. Ipswich, Suffolk Cnty, England

Family ID F153 Group Sheet

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