William Odell (1603)
Birth and Background
The next clue involves an English court case almost certainly relating to WILLIAM ODELL, the immigrant. In 1913, J. HENRY LEA and J. R. HUTCHINSON published an article regarding the English origins of WILLIAM ODELL. In the Buckingham Archdeacon's visitation books is a reference to EDWARD HARTLEY being cited for quarreling with WILLIAM ODELL in the churchyard of Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire. The quarrel turned into a brawl, and HARTLEY stabbed ODELL in the arm. On 17 April 1637, HARTLEY was questioned and punished for his actions. In the margin of the document is a notation dated 17 October 1639 stating that both parties were now absent in New England. Of course, the vital records of Concord show that WILLIAM was in Concord by 17 January 1639/40 when his son JAMES was born. LEA and HUTCHINSON were no doubt correct in identifying the assault victim as WILLIAM ODELL, later of Concord. However, they went on to claim that WILLIAM was identical to a WILLIAM ODELL mentioned as the eldest son in the will of RICHARD ODELL of Newport Pagnell. This is the origin of the incorrect claim that WILLIAM ODELL, the immigrant, is the son of RICHARD.
It is unfortunate that LEA and HUTCHINSON did not search further. In 1938 the late DONALD LINES JACOBUS went on to examine the parish registers of Newport Pagnell, publishing his results in The American Genealogist, of which he was the editor. WILLIAM, son of RICHARD ODELL, was christened on 23 October 1625, too young to be the immigrant or the brawler in the churchyard. JACOBUS found no suitable WILLIAM ODELL christened in Newport Pagnell, but, he concluded, "It can scarcely be doubted that the colonist came from a parish close to Newport Pagnell."7 The will of RICHARD ODELL of Newport Pagnell mentions freehold land in Cranfield, Bedfordshire, which is about five miles east of Newport Pagnell
One of the problems with prior ODELL research is that the ODELL entries from Cranfield published in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register in 1891 are not complete; yet these are the source data for many of the claims that have appeared in print. The entries were taken from the bishop's transcripts of the parish rather than the original parish register. A comparison with the original register shows that the published ODELL entries are vastly deficient. The other problem is that they do not extend prior to 1600.
The parish registers of Cranfield were searched from 1600 through 1630. The probable ancestor, WILLIAM ODELL, and his brother RICHARD were found. Our theory is that they are the following sons of WILLAIM ODELL of Wharley, a village in the parish of Cranfield:
William bp. 23 Feb 1602/3 (The immigrant)
Richard bp. 2 June 1605
Another important entry is that RICHARD's daughter URSULA was baptized on 24 August 1628. She is believed to be the same URSULA ODELL who married CHRISTOPHER WOOLY in Concord on 26 February 1646/7.
WILLAIM ODELL of Wharley, father of WILLIAM (the immigrant) and RICHARD, was buried in Cranfield on 22 June 1615. We now searched for WILLIAM’s will, which was found in the Archdeaconry Court of Bedford. The will was executed on 8 June 1615, just days before his death. It was proved on the following 19 July. WILLIAM mentioned the following heirs:
son WILLIAM, my long ladder, a bill, a hatchet, a "banking" iron handsaw, two augers, two chisels, and an iron wedge.
son RICHARD, a long bill, a pitch fork, and my best scythe, the coulting house, and a thatching rake.
brother THOMAS WODELL, 10 shillings
brother RICHARD WODELL, 10 shillings
wife AGNES, to receive the remaining estate and she to be executor.
witnesses: ROBERT WOODWARD, THOMAS WHELER, RICHARD MARKED[?], and ISAAKE WODELL.
It appears that WILLIAM ODELL Sr. was a carpenter. There are several important items in this will. WILLIAM evidently had only the two sons, the same whose baptisms are cited above. In both instances, WILLIAM was residing in Wharley. This helps to exclude the children of the other WILLIAM ODELLs christened during this period.
Marriage
In trying to track down the origin of the claim that WILLIAM ODELL's wife was REBECCA BROWN, the earliest published reference I can come up with is in MINNIE POOL's Odell Genealogy, published in 1935. In the introduction, POOL states that "the name of WILLIAM ODELL's wife is not known." However, in her summary of the WILLIAM ODELL family, she declares "genealogists are satisfied that [his] wife was REBECCA BROWN. It is obvious that POOL had no evidence and was herself unsure of WILLIAM's wife.
Although there is more that might be done in American sources, it was decided that the time would be better spent searching for clues in British records.
According to PAUL LE ROY ODLE's No Time for Tears, which is really a collection of other people's research and speculation, the immigrant WILLIAM ODELL married in the parish of Bromham, Bedfordshire, to REBECCA BROWN on 4 May 1624. Bromham lies about five miles north of Cranfield. However, a search of Bromham parish registers does not support the claim that WILLIAM ODELL married REBECCA BROWN. Nevertheless, two important marriage entries were found:
RICHARD ODELL and URSULA FRANCKLYN married 12 November 1627.
WILLIAM ODELL and AGNES FRANCKLYN married 4 May 1629.
With the month and day being the same and the year off by five years, and no mention of REBECCA BROWN at any time in the Bromham records, it infers to me that someone transcribed records and later did some mix in the entries.
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