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By Inna Babitskaya
As it happened, three brothers from the English Dorset, Ralph, Richard, and William Sprague, became cofounders of Charlestown and Mystic Side (future Malden). Who were these pioneers?
The brothers Sprague’s parents were Edward Sprague (1576–1614) and Christian (Holland) Sprague Corbin (1578-1651). There were six children in the family: the elder daughter, Alice (1597-1668), and five sons: Ralph (1599-1650), Edward (1601-1633), Richard (1604-1668), Christopher (1607-1625) and William (1609-1665). Edward Sprague Sr. was a prosperous fuller (finisher of newly woven cloth who cleaned and thickened it). He owned a stone woolen mill located in Upwey (a small hamlet between Dorchester and Weymouth), 80 sheep and 42 lambs.
The fulling process consisted of the closing together of the threads of newly woven woolen fabric with soap or acid liquor to produce a grease-free cloth of the correct thickness. After a piece of woolen cloth has been first woven, its fibers are loose, airy, and unmeshed, similar in texture and appearance to a piece of cheesecloth. The cloth retained a significant amount of oil or grease, which could inhibit the action of dyers and thus should be removed. Fulling was required for the proper finishing of the woolen cloth and included closing and scouring.
When, at the age of 38, Edward Sprague suddenly died, his eldest son, 15-year-old Ralph, became the head of the family. He had already received a formal education and started the seven-year apprenticeship as a fuller, following the strict provisions of the Elizabethan Statute of Artificers (1563). After finishing the apprenticeship at age 21, he became a journeyman. Young Ralph “had a cheerful disposition and sometimes indulged in excesses,” according to the court records.
On August 15, 1623, Ralph married Joanna (Joan/Johane) Warren (1603–1680), daughter of Richard Warren (1575–1628), at St. George Church, Fordington, Dorset, England. It was a successful and honorable marriage, especially for Ralph, who, as a mere craftsman, became related to the aristocracy because of it. Joanna Warren’s noble ancestor was Rollo Rolf, a Scandinavian rover, the 1st Duke of Normandy, and the great-great-grandfather of William the Conqueror. The Warrens were also descendants of Saxon, French and German kings, including Alfred the Great, King of England, King Henry I of France and Henry I, King of Germany.
Ralph and Joanna Sprague settled in Fordington, where their three elder sons, John Sprague (1624–1692), Jonathan Sprague (1625–1650) and Richard Sprague (1627/28–1703), were born. Sprague’s family plans were influenced by the major political, religious and economic changes in the country. Also, the devastating fires in neighboring Dorchester affected the Fordington residents, triggering immigration. The initial fire destroyed 170 of the 340 houses in Dorchester, two of the three main churches, inns, warehouses and many businesses.
Ralph Sprague’s acquaintance with the famous Puritan minister of Dorchester, Rev. John White, and later with the reverend’s friend John Endicott, led to fateful changes in his life. In 1629, Ralph Sprague decided to join the expedition to the New World, which was organized by the Rev. White. So Ralph, his wife Joanna, young sons and brothers Richard and William sailed on the ship Lyon’s Whelp from Gravesend on April 25, 1629. Among the passengers were “above forty planters out of the counties of Dorset and Somerset” and “6 fishermen from Dorchester.” The Spragues were sent by Rev. White to find a plantation site for the group from the West Country – “Mary and John” – that he planned to send next spring.
Rev. Francis Higginson said Lyon’s Whelp was “a neat and nimble ship of 120 tons, eight pieces of ordinances carrying in her many mariners and forty planters, specially from Dorchester and thereabouts, with provision and 4 goats.” On June 11, they reached Newfoundland, where they were lost for a few hours in a thick fog. On June 19, Higginson wrote, “by God’s blessing and the directions [from Pilots] we passed the curious and difficult entrance into the large spacious harbour of Naumkeag” (future Salem).
According to some researchers, the Sprague brothers sailed on the Abigail together with Richard Brackenbury, Richard Davenport, Charles Gott and others, departing Weymouth on June 20, 1628, and arriving at Naumkeag on September 6, 1628.
To be continued…
(Inna Babitskaya is a Malden historian, a Member of the Malden Historical Commission and the author of historical books “From Maldon to Malden,” “Time of Converse” and “Fellsmere Park – Emerald of Malden.”)
