William Phelps (colonist) - Origin of William Phelps

Origin of William Phelps

Oliver Seymour Phelps and his son-in-law, Andrew T. Servin, authors of The Phelps Family in America, erred in concluding that William Phelps and a brother, George Phelps, both emigrated from Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England in 1630, to the New World. Their identification of the origin of William Phelps of Dorchester, Massachusetts was based solely on an estimate of his birth date, derived from his known age of 72 at death on July 14, 1672. Oliver Phelps located a William Phelps who was baptized in Tewkesbury on August 19, 1599, and thus identified him as the original immigrant. He also believed that George Phelps of Windsor, Connecticut, was William’s brother, despite the fact that they could not locate any records for a George Phelps in Tewkesbury. Recent genetic research has shown no biological relationship between the descendants of William and George Phelps.

Additionally, the will of William Phelps’ mother Dorothy in Tewkesbury, probated on May 5, 1617, mentioned a brother-in-law, Edward Phelps. His will in turn, probated on July 1, 1637, named as overseer of his estate his nephew, William Phelps, likely placing William Phelps of Tewkesbury in England and not across the Atlantic in the Massachusetts Bay.

More recent expert research has identified William Phelps of Crewkerne, Somersetshire, England as the probable immigrant. He had two wives: (1) Mary (surname unknown), buried in England in 1626, and (2) Anne Dover, who probably accompanied him and children from both marriages to Dorchester, Massachusetts, a town later subsumed as a neighborhood of Boston. The names and birthdates of his children correspond to the records later found in the American colony.