same as the above, but may have been the Robert, "master of the Speedwell." Letter from John Corbin of Upway, Dorsetshire, England, to Ralph Sprague of Charlestown, Mass., his sonin-law: (From the N. E. Gen. Register, Vol. IV, p. 289.) Ralfe Sprague my true love evermore remembered unto you, hoping in the Lord of your good health, as God bee praised I am and all the rest of our friends att the writing hereof. Loving sonne, I do entreat you very earnestly that so soon as you have receaved this letter you would not fayle to write unto mee your mynde about the tenement of yours in Upway being now in the possession of Thomas Murrie. Also I am very sorrie to understand that my brother-inlaw John Holland should report that he receaved a letter from your brother Richard that you were dead but I give God praise that I heare to the contrary. I pray you to remember my love to your brother Richard Sprague and William Sprague. Also all our loving friends in generall have remembered their loving and kinde commendations unto you. And you may assure yoursealfe that I and all the rest of your loving friends would bee very glad to see you heare with us before wee die, and you shall bee kindly welcome to us. I pray you, loving sonne, not to fayle to send me answer of this letter as soon as you can conveniently. And so I leave you with my prayers to the heavenly protexion of the Almighty who in his mercy blesse preserve and keep you and so I rest Yr loving father in law till Death Upway, March 25th, 1651." JOHN CORBIN. This Ralph Sprague married Joan, daughter of John Corbin, writer of this letter, and came to America in 1628-9. She married, 2d, Edward Converse. FIRST GENERATION. CLEMENT CORBIN. 1. CLEMENT CORBIN, the ancestor of a numerous posterity in America, was born in England in 1626. His exact birthplace is not known, nor his connection with the Corbins in England who descended from the Norman emigrants. The most reliable family tradition states that he was "from the west of England, called a Welchman." (This was the record of Rev. Laban Ainsworth [Mary Ainsworth, Mary Marcy, James, Clement] and was furnished by Mr. Francis J. Parker of Boston.) A man of the same name settled in the Barbadoes, where he was an inhabitant and a landholder in 1638. Nor are the names of Clement Corbin's parents known definitely. In an ancestral chart the late Ernest A. Corbin gave as the parents of Clement Corbin, "John and Margaret Corbin." I have not been able to find his authority for this, but it seems probable, as both names were common in the family later. In almost all branches of the family there is a tradition that two, sometimes three, brothers came over from England. One tradition gives these as Philip and John. It is possible that one of the Johns mentioned above, under " Early Corbins in New England," may have been the father of Clement. There is a strong tradition in several branches of the family that the Corbins were of French Huguenot origin. This is entirely possible, as there were and still are many Corbins in France.. The Huguenots were especially persecuted in France from about 1560 to 1572, when the Massacre of St. Bartholomew took place. From 1598 to 1685 they were protected to some extent by the Edict of Nantes, after which a great emigration took place to England and America. Clement Corbin's parents or grandparents may have fled from the earlier persecution. If this is the case they belonged to a class which included some of the best people of France. Clement Corbin is said to have come to America in 1637.* At this time Clement would have been only eleven years old. Hence, if he came then, he must have had some older relative with him, probably his cousin Robert, or possibly his parents, as there were other Corbins in eastern Massachusetts at an early date. But it seems more probable to the writer that he came over some time between 1640 and 1650, during the great period of Puritan emigration to New England. This class included some of the best people of England, who crossed the seas for the sake of religious liberty, and who made New England, and to a considerable extent the whole country, what it has been. Clement Corbin was married to Dorcas Buckminster (or Buckmaster) March 7, 1655, by Capt. Humphrey Atherton. She was the daughter of Thomas and Joanna Buckmaster and was born in 1629. (The name Buckminster is found in the records of all of the first and second generations.) Thomas Buckminster was born in Wales, as was also his wife, Joanna. He was here in 1640, and was made a freeman May 6, 1646. He died at Muddy River September 30, 1656. His widow, Joanna, married Edward Garfield September 1, 1661, and died in 1676. The children of Thomas and Joanna Buckminster were Dorcas, Zackery, Elizabeth (m. Spowell), Mary (m. Stevens), Thomas, Joseph, and Jabesh, or Jabez. He made the following will, dated September (or July) 2, 1656, and recorded in Vol. VI of the Suffolk County Probate Records. "2 of ye 7th month, 1656. I Thomas Buckmaster of Muddy River, being now sick & in my owne apprehension neare ye day of my death, yet being in my perfect sences, doe make this my last will. I give to my son Zachery forty shillings, to my daughter Elizabeth Spowell, daughter Mary Stevens, daughter Dorcas Corben fourty shillings each. To my son Thomas, son Joseph, son Jabesh fourty shillings (each to be paid when severally one and twenty years of age). To my daughter Spowell's ten children, twenty shillings, to be put into ye deacon's hands to be improved for ye Children's learning. Unto my daughter Stephens' two children, twenty shillings, daughter Corben's children ten shillings, to my son Zachery's child ten shillings. - wife Joanna, Executrix, giving unto *This is so stated by Rufus Corbin and Ernest Corbin, but I have not been able to find their authority for it. They may have taken it from the reference to Robert Corbin being in Massachusetts in 1637. |