Frost Family Edmund Frost

THE FROST FAMILY IN ENGLAND AND AJ\MERICA WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO EDMUND FROST AND SOME OF HIS DESCENDANTS BY THOMAS G. FROST, Ph.D., LL.D. AND EDWARD L. FROST, M.D. BUFFALO RUSSELL PRINTING COMP ANY 1909 OR the past several years Thomas G. Frost, Ph.D., F LL.D., of New York, and Edward L. Frost, M.D., of Buffalo, have, as opportunity offered, interested themselves irt the Frost Genealogy. The former made personal in vestigation of the early English and American records, while the iatter collected data from American sources. Neither knew of the work or existence of the other, until within a very recent period, when each had practically completed his manuscript. Upon comparing notes, it was deemed advisable to combine them in one publication, which has been done. For any peculiarities of arrange ment, or undue repetition of statement, it is hoped that the original matter presented, particularly in Part I, will more than compensate. To those who have generously furnished many necessary records, we acknowledge our great obligation, and trust that they will find the subject-matter of sufficient interest to partially repay them for their labor. In the matter of publication, the following persons have cooperated: John E. Frost, LL.D., Topeka, Kan.; Dan Frost, New York; Wm. G. Frost, Montclair, N. J.; George H. Frost, Plainfield, N. J., and the ,vriters. Considerable effort for accuracy of record has been made. If, however, errors are found to have crept in, we shall deem it a favor to be informed of the same. EDWARD L. FROST. 489 Plymouth Ave., Buffalo, N. Y., April, 1909. PART I. THE ENGLISH ANCESTRY OF EDMUND FROST AND PEDIGREES OF THE FROSTS OF SUFFOLK, NORFOLK AND YORKSHIRE, ENG. BY THOMAS G. FROST, Ph.D., LL.D THE ENGLISH ANCESTRY OF EDMUND FROST OF CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS There has been nothing published in this country relative to the English forbears of our common ancestor, Edmund Frost of Cambridge, Mass., which even bears the semblance of having been obtained through careful research and pains taking investigation. Most of the standard authorities get the year of Edmund Frost's arrival in Cambridge correct, but in all else they are at fault. His port of sailing, his ship, and his English residence are all wrong. The facts briefly stated are as follows : During the years 1604-1607, the famous dissenting clergyman, John Robinson, preached secretly in the neighborhood of Norwich, County of Norfolk, England. There is considerable foundation for the belief that John Frost, the father of Edmund Frost of Cambridge, was a member of his congregation at one time. At this time, members of our branch of the family were located at Pulham, County of Norfolk, and at Bury St. Edmunds, Hartest and Bardwell, in the County of Suffolk, all places in close proximity to each other. The John Frost of Hartest, County of Suffolk, the probable father of Ed mund Frost of Cambridge, was born about 1570. John Frost of Bardwell and Langham married Prudence Valyant (reported as Cage) on October 2nd, 1592. John Frost of Bury St. Edmunds married, February 16, 1595, at St. Michael's Church, Cornhill, London, Sarah vVinthrop of Groton, County of Suffolk, sister of Governor John Win throp. Each of these John Frosts belonged to the Suffolk branch of the family, and were certainly kinsman of more or less distant degree. It is not difficult to say which of these three John Frosts was the father of Edmund Frost. That he was the son of John Frost of Hartest is extremely probable for the following reasons : The records at Hartest show that the John Frost of that place had sons Edmund and John. There is no record of John Frost of Bury St. 8 THE FROST FAMILY Edmunds having a son Edmund. John Frost of Langham and Bardwell had no son Edmund, but he did have a grand son by that name. So the sound conclusion appears to be that Edmund Frost of Cambridge (Mass.) was the son of John Frost of Hartest and possibly the brother of John Frost, who graduated from St. John's College, Cambridge, in 1635. About the year 1627, Thomas Shepard, a native of Towcester, England, a graduate of Emmanuel College 01 England ( with marked sympathy for all dissenters), ac cepted a so-called lectureship at Earles-Colne, County of Essex, England. These lectureships were little more than thinly disguised pulpits for dissenting clergymen~ After having been at Earles-Colne for nearly three years, Shepard was so interfered with and persecuted by the ruling power in the established Church of England, that he had to flee to Yorkshire and remain there in seclusion for some time. Before he left Earles-Colne, the subject of an emigration to America on the part of Shepard and some of his friends at Earles-Colne had been discussed most seriously. But Shep ard's sudden and enforced flight into Yorkshire postponed the execution of the plan for some time. In June of 1634, Shepard sailed for Ipswich, Suffolk, from Newcastle, with his family. After remaining in hiding for some months, the ship Great-Hope was secured and on it some two hundred persons embarked from Ipswich, England, for America, October 16, 1634. Among this num ber, according to Rev. Thos. Shepard himself were brothers Champney, Frost and Goffe. The ship Great-Hope was wrecked two days afterward off Great Yarmouth, England, but all on it were saved. This voyage to America had been planned and arranged for, during Shepard's absence, by John Norton of Suffolk County, England. The master of the ship Great-Hope was, according to Shepard himself, a personal friend by the name of Captain Gurling. Later under the personal super vision of Rev. Shepard, with powerful financial assistance of his warm friend, Roger Harlakenden of Earles-Colne, Essex, the ship Defense was secured, Captain Bostock, master. Shepard and his party, which numbered sixty persons and included our ancestor, Edmund Frost, sailed from Gravesend, near London, on August 10th, 1635. After a voyage lasting fifty-four days, the ship arrived in Boston harbor October 2nd, 1635. The entire colony settled at once in Cambridge, whither Thos Hooker had IN ENGLAND AND AMERICA 9 already preceded them with his colony. We have now established, beyond controversy, the following facts: 1. The name of our last English ancestor was John Frost. 2. The name of our first American ancestor was Edmund Frost. 3. Edmund Frost was a prominent member of Thomas Shepard's party and a close personal friend of the Rev. Shepard. 4. Edmund Frost sailed from Gravesend, Kent County, England, on August" 10th, 1635, on the ship Defence. 5. Edmund Frost landed at Boston on October 2nd, 1635, and settled at once at Cambridge, :Wiass. The above are facts. Now let us go further and learn what we can as to his English ancestry. Edmund Frost had undoubtedly, by reason of his pronounced and open sym pathy and support of the dissenting clergymen in England, - incurred the displeasure of the church party, which ruled in England. We know as a fact that this displeasure was vented in most serious form not only upon the dissenting clergymen themselves, but upon their lay supporters as well. This probably accounts for the fact that Edmund Frost, his wife Thomasine, and his infant son John, all embarked in the ship Defence under an assumed name. We know from Rev. Thos. Shepard's own account and from contem poraneous history, that this was done in the case of a number of the passengers of the Defence, and was frequently prac ticed by others. Rev. Shepard himself came over under the name of his brother and was enrolled as a servant of Roger Harlakenden. Just what name Edmund Frost assumed is not known. But at the time the Defence sailed all emigrants had to be registered and had to obtain so-called clearance papers from the local preachers and authorities in their immediate locality before they were allowed to sail. Then there were a set of government officers called "Poursuivants," who searched outgoing vessels for the purpose of detecting and capturing dissenters, who ·vvere embarking without proper authority. I have examined the full list of all the passengers on the Defence, and while I find there a number of names which never reappeared among the members of the Shepard colony loctaed at Cambridge, I do not find the name of Frost among them. But the very circumstances of his coming to America under an assumed · THE FROST FAMILY name, and the proba:bility that he was wanted by the au thorities in England for the sin of having joined the increas ing number of dissenters, serves to explain, in a measure at least, the reticence that Edmund Frost seems ever to have observed relative to his English forbears. The reader will find it stated over and over again that it is a tradition in one branch of the Frost family that the father of Edmund Frost was the Rev. John Frost, a silenced non-conformist minister of England. It is always difficult to ascertain the source of that dim and shadowy thing known as "Tradition," but in this case the writer has satis fied himself, at least, that he has found the source of the tradition, which is this: Rev. Amariah Frost, a graduate of Harvard University and pastor at Milford, Mass., from 1743 to 1792, was the great-grandson of Edmund Frost. As the first college graduate among the Frosts in America and as a distinguished clergyman of his day and generation, one would naturally look to him for light on the subject of his ancestry.

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