Henry of Salem: Analysis of Information Regarding His Identify and Next Steps

The following are bits of information used to be explore the hypothesis that Henry of Salem (?-1670) is the son of Thomas Eyrick the weaver of Belgrave whose will was dated 1624. (Thomas Eyrick (1576-1624) weaver, his father John Eyrick (1547-1587) tailor, his father Nicholas Eyrick (1503-1562 draper and, Mayor of Leicester in 1552-3).

• Thomas Hericke of Belgrave, the weaver, mentions his wife Elizabeth, sons Godfrey, Henry and George and daughter, Ann, in his will of 1624. (Will received prior to trip through British Documents Online, from England: London - Inquisitions Post Mortem for the city of London, Wills nd Administrations 1561-1577.)
  
• Godfrey Hericke  married Elizabeth Love in 31 Jan 1624 at Barrow upon Soar.  An Elizabeth Love was baptized August 1592, daughter of Richard Love, in Walton on Wolds. An Elizabeth Love of Mountsorrel died in 1626 – perhaps mother-in-law of Godfrey Hericke. George Hericke was baptized 02 April 1598 at Walton el Wolds church. The Hericke, Love, Lilly and Walton families are linked through marriages. (Walton el Wolds parish records.)
  
• Godfrey Hericke’s children (Mary, Thomas and William) were baptized at St. Peter’s Church in Belgrave where Thomas, Henry Hericke’s son , baptism was recorded (St. Peter’s/Belgrave church records.)
  
• Samuel, Henry Hericke’s first son’ baptism was recorded as 17 December 1623 by Rev. Francis Higginson at St. Nicholas Church in Leicester. This fact establishes a link to Rev. Francis Higginson.
  
• Thomas Hericke, son of Henerie Hericke was baptized on 25 June 1626 at St. Peter’s Church in Belgrave. This fact suggests this Henry Heiricke could be the son of Thomas the weaver of Belgrave.  Rev. Francis Higginson also preached at St Peter’s in Belgrave during this period but the record does not state whether he baptized Thomas or not.
  

Puzzles to Solve

• A Henrie Heiricke married Alice Mobbes(Mabbes) on 22 Sepember 1622 at All Saints Church in Leicester. Which Henry Heiricke is this – the son of Thomas the weaver – or someone else? Did the Mabbes family frequent All Saints Church so the marriage was documented there? The Herrick family, in general, attended St. Nicholas, St. Martin’s in Leicester or St. Peter’s in Belgrave.
  

(It appears that Alice is the daughter of Richard Mabbe (Mobbes). Richard Mabbe’s (Shepherd of Churchover, Warwickshire) 1604 will mentions father Henry, mother Alice, brother Thomas, son Richard, daughters Alice and Marie. Richard Mabbe was the brother of John Mabbe who was a goldsmith of London and member of the 24 of Leicester in 1602-3 and mayor in 1610 (and was a contemporary of Robert Hericke (probably, the glover – according to John Cloake).

• A Thomas, son of a Henry Heiricke baptism was also recorded at All Saints Church, Leicester on 25 June 1626 – the same day as Thomas, son of Henry Hericke,  baptism was recorded at St. Peter’s church in Belgrave.

• Is this the same child?
• Or were two Thomases baptized by two Henry Heirickes on the same day?
• This day may have been a special day for baptism so the actual children’s ages may be different.
• Perhaps the child was recorded in both churches since the Mabbes family frequented All Saints (Leicester) and the Herricks attended St. Nicolas (Liecester) and St. Peters (Belgrave).
  

• Daniell, son of Henry Herrick was baptized at All Saints Church in Leicestser on 10 May 1629.  We do not know who his mother is. The Lyon’s Whelp left for New England in April of 1629.

• This child cannot be the son of Henry of Salem since, we believe, Henry had already embarked on the ship for New England.
• Mentioned in the All Saints files with Henry is a contemporary named Thomas Hericke and the baptism of two of his children Susanna on 07 February 1629 (death entry 22 Feb. 1630) and Elizabeth on 11 April 1631. Is this a different family group?

• Perhaps Henry of Salem went to Salem without his family initially. Or abandoned them (not likely in a Puritan society.)

• Perhaps Henry of Salem did not go to Salem in 1629, but later on with his family.
  
• Who was the Henry Hericke (borough of Leicester) who was an agent along with Francis Harris of Quorndon – who petitioned the Treasurer of the Goldsmith Hall to make payment to Anthony Allen 17 July 1650.? (It is interesting to note that Lady Heyricke was dealing with a dispute with Henry Allen, proctor of the court, and Henry of Beaumanor/Virginia was connected to Hugh and William Allen (1. witnessing a binder by Hugh Allen, Co. of York, to Christopher Campden, 08 March 1647/08; and 2. may have been the "Mr. Herickes in New Poquesen" mentioned among the "List of Bills" of William Allin, 21 Dec. 1657 according the the Records of the House of Burgess in Virginia.)  Was this all connected? (See An Ecclesiastical Dispute at Woodhouse by C.E. Welch and Herricke Papers, reprinted from the Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society, Volume 35, 1959.)

Information Needed to Prove Hypothesis

• Alice Mabbes and Samuel Hericke’s death notices.
• Mention of which Henry Hericke joined Rev. Francis Higginson.
• Mention of Henry Hericke’s connection with the Mabbes family in US information.
• Clarity about which Henry Hericke was the apprentice to Edward Peabodie in 1621. The Corporation of Leicester in 1621 mentions a “Henry Heyricke, tailor, was made free for a fine of 10s.”  Since apprentices became freemen on about their 21st birthday this timeframe would fit Henry of Salem, who we estimate was born in 1598 (not Henry of Beaumanor/Virginia who was born in 1604.)
• Henry, son of Thomas the weaver, was mentioned second in the will (1) Ann with husband Henry Courpson (Coupson/Coulson), 2) Henry, 3) Godfrey and 4) George) and was likely to have been born before 1598, his brother George was baptized in 1598.

 

Official Documents for Further Study

• Portfolio of Letters printed in full by Thompson.
• “Locked Book contains copies of a mass of conveyances, so numerous that it has not been found possible, owing to the exigencies of space to calendar these as was done in preceding volumes.” Editor, Mary Bateson.

Resources for further Study

• Find the History of Leicester by Curtis, 1830.
• Contact Professor John Coffey again, expert in 17th century history of Leicester area (JRDC1@le.ac.uk)
• Find Local History of Belgrave (942.Lei – 19-Bel, 3rd floor, yellow section University of Leicester Library
• English records of the Massachusetts Bay Company and the 30 years of missing records sent from Salem to England. (At British Library? In Pocock’s hands?)
• London Puritanism: The Haberdashers’ Company by Dorothy Williams Whitney, Harvard University Press, JSTOR, Church History, vol. 32. Nov. 3 (Sep. 1963), pp. 298-321.
• The History of St. Nicholas Church, Leicester by T.W. Owen, Floor 3, Yellow Zone
• History of St. Nicholas’ Parish Church, Leicester by Eric C. Weeks, Floor 3, Yellow Zone
• A Short collection of the most Remarkable Passages from the Originall to the Dissolution of the Virginia Company by Woodnoth, Arthur,
• Planters, pilgrims and puritans by Richard Tames
• Bygone Barrow-upon-Soar by Barry Wilford – Floor 3, Yellow Zone
• History of Belgrave by David Campton – Floor 3, Yellow Zone
• Belgrave St. Peter’s Church: a general guide. By E.K.L. Quine – Floor 3, Yellow Zone
• Belgrave Hall, by Philip Stevens, Floor 3, Yellow Zone
• Activities of the Puritan Faction of the church of England 1625-33, by Isabel Calder, DWL Fairclough H.10.1 Act, Floor 3, Yellow Zone
• Builders of the Bay Colony by Samuel E. Morrison, 973.22 MOR, Floor 3, Blue Zone
• Cases of Conscience – Alternative open to recusants and Puritans under Elizabeth 1 and James I, 274206 ROS, Floor 1 Orange Zone
• The Correspondence of John Cotton, 285.9 COT, Floor 1, Orange Zone
• The Colonizing Activities of the English Puritans- the last phase of the Elizabethan Struggle with Spain, 986.1 NEW, Floor 3, Blue Zone
• The diary of Samuel Rogers 1634-1638,  285.90942 ROG, Floor 1, Orange Zone
• The fortunes of English Puritans 1603-1640 285.9094 TYA, Floor 1, Orange Zone
• Persecution and Toleration in Protestant England 1558-1689 by John Coffey, 274.202 COF – 3 copies on loan

Others to search for:

• The Higginson-Skelton Migration to Salem by Frank A. Gardner.
• The Higginsons: England and America by Eden Putnam
• Batchelder Genealogy- Leading Non-Conformists by Frederick Pierce.
• The Norman conquest of the Leicester and Rutland by Adam Phythian
• Puritan London, a Study of Religion and Society in the City Parishes by Liu Tai
• Genealogy of the Peabody family by E.M.Endicott
• History of new England; wonder-working Providence of Sion’s Savior, in New England by Edward Johnson, London, 1654
• Agents and Merchants – British Colonial Policy, by Jack Sosin
• Reference to Sabbitarians (23 people identified by the Corporation – 4 were Herricks)
• A History of Worshipful Company of Glovers of London: Wealth and Trade in the Early Sixteenth Century (in Transactions Vol. XXV)  by Derek Charman.
• An Elizabethan Butcher: Essays in Leicestershire History by Hoskins W.G. 1950
• Dissenter Studies by Isabel River
• The Early English Dissenters 1550-1641 by Gandy