William Throope or Scrope was born 1638 in Oxfordshire, Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom to Adrian Scrope (1601-1660) and Mary Waller (1608-1660) and died 4 December 1704 Bristol County, Bristol County, Rhode Island, United States of unspecified causes. He married Mary Chapman (1643-1732) 14 May 1666 in Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States.
Deacon William Throop (1638-1704)
Early Puritan New England Immigrant and Deacon in the Church and original settler of Bristol County, Colonial Massachusetts (now Bristol, RI). 1660s English Civil War refugee who changed his surname from Scrope to Throop.
Vital Stats
- Son of Adrian Scrope (1601-1660) and Mary Waller (1608-1660)
- 1638 : Birth in Oxfordshire, England
- 1666-May-14 : Marriage to Mary Chapman (1643-1732) at Barnstable, MA, daughter of Ralph Chapman who arrived in Plymouth Colony in 1635 on the Elizabeth,' the next ship to arrive after the "Mayflower'.
- 1680 : Settlement of Bristol RI
- 1683 : Surveyor of highways
- 1689 : Selectman
- 1690 : Grand-juryman
- 1691 : Representative
- 1697-Jun-21 : Purchase of home, barn, shop and lands in Bristol RI
- 1704-Dec : Died in Bristol, Bristol Co, Rhode Island Colony
Biography
Settlement of Bristol
William was grand-juryman at Barnstable in 1680 and became of one of the original settlers at Bristol RI in that year. Bristol was originally part of Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Will of William Throope
Recorded in Bristol County, Mass, Records of Probate, Vol 2, pages 125-126, dated 12-Jun-1704 (about 5 months before his death) at which time he was also "in his 67th year".
"In the name and fear of God, Amen. I, William Throope, in Ye County of Bristol, yeoman, in the sixty-seventh year of my age and being under some indisposition of body, " etc.
There are bequests to three sons, Dan, John and William, two eldest daughters, Mary, wife of John Barney, and Elizabeth, wife of Jonathan Peck, "youngest son Thomas," "two younger daughters Mercy and Lidiah," "loving and well-beloved wife Mary Throope sole executrix." He mentions "the remaining service of two Indian boys which may be unexpired at my decease."
The will was marked signed 12 June 1704, but the heirs state in a petition to the Probate Court that the foregoing instrument was drawn abut five months before their father's death, and that although it was never signed, they are satisfied that it expresses the will of their father and they join in asking that it be admitted. This was signed by the heirs and widow and John Barney, Jonathan Peck, and Eleazer Carey, 1 January 1704, same records.
Scrope Family Tradition
In an old family record of a daughter of Rev. Benjamin Throope (Yale 1734), it is stated that he was the seventh child of Capt. William Throope, the third son of William Throope, whose father, "Lord Scroope of Scotland", in "one of the Scotch Rebellions" fled to America and assumed the name of William Throope.
Col. Adrian Scrope, (the title "Lord" was a title of courtesy to Republican officials of the commonwealth of the time) fought in the Parliamentary Army and was Governor of Bristol Castle in 1659. He served on the High Court of Justice that condemned King Charles I and signed his death-warrant. He was also commissioner of Scotland with General Monk in 1657, and sheriff of Lightow and Sterling until the Restoration.
Adrian was executed in 1660 for unrepentant regicide and was excepted out of the Act of Indemnity. By 1666 his son was refugee living in Barnstable, Massachusetts under the assumed name of William Throope. William signed two different deeds in Hartford, Conn. in 1665 and 1667 that makes evidence of this. It is believed that William Throope was born in London as Adrian Scrope, the third son of Col Adrian Scrope.
More evidence of this is found in the coat-of-arms assumed by the Throopes of a naked arm grasping a coiled serpent. The oldest son of William Throope was named Dan (in Hebrew Judge). This vividly calls the imagery from the prophecy of Jacob in Genesis XLIX, v 16-19, that describes Dan shall judge the people as the way of a coiled serpent. This family of devout puritans were well-versed in biblical scripture and could have used this as a cipher of their family history.
Also about this time, Col Scrope had started that practice of signing his name with two "oo"s instead of one.
Note: An alternate claim, printed in the book Across Throup's Bridge (1986), which has been heavily trafficked on the Internet, said that a baptismal record had been found in Sutton-Cum-Lound, Nottinghamshire, for a William Throope, son of William Throope and Izabell Redshaw. This man, they claimed, was baptised on 19 March 1636, but said that the old Gregorian new year as of March 25th would have been 1637, and therefore that his modern birth date was 19 March 1637. This they then compared to the age of the American immigrant William Throope, whom they said was "aged 67" (misinterpreting the phrase "in his 67th year"). They then claimed the two men were the same person, and that William had abandoned a first wife, Elizabeth Cooke, back in England.
All of this was DEBUNKED when FamilySearch found the actual Bishop's Transcript of the baptism. The authors of the prior book had made three huge mistakes: 1) The baptismal date was 29 March, not 19 March, meaning that it was after both the new Julian AND the old Gregorian new years; 2) The page is titled "in anno 1636" at the top, so the new year after March 25th was not 1637, but 1636; and 3) as mentioned above, American William's age was misinterpreted because they didn't do their homework. As a result of all this: William Throope of Nottinghamshire was baptised March 29, 1636, and probably born a week earlier, on March 22, 1635/36. American William Throope was born no earlier than December 5, 1637, and no later than June 12, 1638, with highest probability in the range January 1 through June 12, 1638. THEY WERE THEREFORE TWO DIFFERENT PEOPLE.
Family Life
Marriage: Mary Chapman
m. Mary Chapman (b. 28/31 Oct 1643 in Marshfield, Plymouth, MA d. 6 Jun 1732 in Bristol, RI, dau. of Ralph Chapman and Lydia Welles) on May 14, 1666 in Barnstable, MA. Both are buried in the East Burial Ground, Bristol, RI. While many of the children were born in Barnstable MA - many moved to Bristol RI and raised their families there.
William and Mary's Children:
Watch date of 1680 - when William Throop and all his clan relocated to settle Bristol, RI.
- Mary Throope (1667-1758) - m. John Barney
- Daniel Throope (1667-1737) - m. Deborah Macey
- Elizabeth Throope (1672-1729) - m. (1) Jonathon Peck in 1695 and (2) William Peabody in 1715 at Bristol RI.
- Martha Throope (1674-1756) - m. Samuel Hart
- John Throope (1676-1772) - m. Susanna Tracy
- Capt William Throope (1678-1737) - m. Martha Colyn
- Mercy Throope (1680-1704) - living unmarried in 1704, mentioned in the will
- Thomas Throope (1681-1756) - m. Abigail Ware
- Lydia Throope (1686-1761) (or Lidiah) - m. Eleazer Carey, living and unmarried in 1704, mentioned in the will.
Children
Siblings
| Name | Birth | Death | Joined with |
| Edmond Scrope (1626-1658) | |||
| Robert Scrope (1628-) | |||
| Margaret (I) Scrope (c. 1630-1631-) | |||
| Anne Scrope (1633-) | |||
| Thomas Scrope (1634-1704) | |||
| Mary Scrope (1636-) | |||
| Adrian Scrope a.k.a. William Throope (1638-1704) | |||
| Margaret (II) Scrope (1640-) | |||
| Elizabeth (Scrope) Blagrave (1655-1738) | |||
References
- Welcome Chapman Family Ancestry
- Samuel Murdoch Family Ancestry
- Colonial America Gateway Ancestors
- Scrope-Throope Family Ancestry
- Ralph Chapman List of Famous Descendants - all Throop Famous Descendants are included on his Father-in-law's listing.
- Throop Family Genealogy - Documented events for this family, siblings and parents.
- Genealogy of William Throop - Many Descendants Listed
- William Throop the Immigrant
- The New York genealogical and biographical record, Volume 36 - Throope Family and Scrope Tradition. pg 123-125, publ 1905, (Google Books) - Winchester Fitch
- Will of Ralph Chapman, dated 28-Nov-1671.
Footnotes (including sources)
| ¶ Death |
|