by Earl P. Crandall, Website editor 1995 - 2002
The stories of the English or Welsh origins of Elder John CRANDALL of Newport and Westerly, Rhode Island are varied. Unfortunately, none of those stories in print is true!!
There is no documented information about Elder John before his appearance in Newport, Rhode Island in the early 1640's. There are secondary sources that suggest that he had spent some time in Salem, MA. Since he went back there on occasions, it seems that he may have had some ties there.
In the 1949 genealogy of the CRANDALL family by John Cortland Crandall, Elder John Crandall of Rhode Island And His Descendants, it is stated (with no documentation!) that Elder John was the son of a Sir John Crandall and Elizabeth Drake. From that point, John Cortland Crandall takes the reader on a "trip" through history, linking the descendants of Elder John back into an ancestry filled with royal connections, right back to Adam and Eve!
Sadly, many Crandall descendants have accepted this fairy tale for years. Some even get very angry when someone tries to "undo" this myth with some facts. The biggest fact, and therefore a very major researching stumbling block, is that no "Sir John Crandall" has ever been found. No "Crandall marriage" by Elizabeth Drake has ever been found, either. And, since most "true royal lines" and pedigrees can be traced, where does that leave us, the "American Crandalls?
Several years ago the son of some LDS (Mormon) Missionaries serving in Gloucestershire, England, contacted me. His parents were in a parish called Westerleigh doing some microfilming of the parish records. This microfilm is now available at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, and can be ordered for loan at any local Family History Center.
I go to Salt Lake City frequently, and so the next time I went to the FHL I went to the actual microfilm. It is there, there is no doubt about it!
In the parish records of Westerleigh (also spelled "Westerley" in some places), can be found a baptism for John, sonne of James Crandell baptized 15 February 1617!
There is also another child of James Crandell baptized in that parish, a daughter, Anne, baptized in 1621, obviously a daughter of this James and sister of John.
This is of particular note because:
1)no other Crandalls of that time frame in England appear
frequently;
2) the parish name, Westerleigh is most
tantalizing, as Elder John was one of the original settlers of Westerly,
Rhode Island in 1661;
and 3) the parish of Westerleigh is in Gloucestershire, not too
far from Monmouthshire, thence not too far from the Welsh border,
which fits some of the "traditions" about Elder John
coming from Wales.
Although still only very circumstantial, it appears that this is indeed OUR ELDER JOHN!
The first photograph is that of The Church of St. James The Great in Westerleigh, Gloucestershire where John1 Crandall was baptized. The church dates from the late 900's, but it was greatly damaged by fire in 1868 and there have been several structural restorations since that time.
The second photograph is the Norman baptismal font.
Photos courtesy of member #168, Joy Reeb of Sandpoint, ID.
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