Bol AlgemeenBol AlgemeenAmazon
Share Bookmark
Cassandra Burnell

Cassandra Burnell

Female - Yes, date unknown    Has 2 ancestors and more than 100 descendants in this family tree.

Personal Information    |    Notes    |    All

  • Name Cassandra Burnell 
    Birth Kingswinford, West Midlands, England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Female 
    Death Yes, date unknown 
    Person ID I368780  Geneagraphie
    Last Modified 26 Jul 2010 

    Father Humphrey Burnell 
    Mother Margaret 
    Family ID F299451  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Lawrence Southwick,   b. ca 1600   d. 1660 (Age 60 years) 
    Marriage 25 January 1623-1624  Kingswinford, West Midlands, England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Children 
    +1. John Southwick,   b. 1620   d. 1672 (Age 52 years)
    +2. Josiah Southwick
    +3. Daniel Southwick,   b. 1637   d. 1718 (Age 81 years)
    +4. Provided Southwick,   b. 6 Oct 1641, Salen, Essex, MAS Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 4 Dec 1728, Shelter Island, NY Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 87 years)
    Family ID F145917  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 26 Jul 2010 

  • Notes 
    • Cassandra Burnell was the daughter of Humphrey and Margaret Burnell. She was born in Kingswinford, Staffordshire, England. She married Lawrence Southwick on 25 January 1623/4 in Kingswinford. They migrated to America around 1637-1639 with four of their six children. They settled in Salem, Massachusetts. They were continually persecuted by the Puritans and eventually escaped to Shelter Island, New York.

      In 1657 the Southwicks were put in jail for hosting two visiting Quaker preachers, John Copeland and Christopher Holder. Lawrence Southwick was found to be a member of the First Church of Salem and was released to be dealt with by the leaders of that church. Cassandra remained in jail for seven weeks and was fined forty shillings for possessing a paper written by their two visitors. The paper was considered heretical by Governor John Endicott and others.

      In 1658 the Southwicks and their son Josiah were put in jail for twenty weeks for being Quakers.

      In 1659, two of the Southwick children, a daughter named Provided and a son named Daniel, were sentenced to be sold as slaves in the Barbadoes for unpaid fines--fines related to their being Quakers. The sentence was not carried out, however. The entire family went to Shelter Island, New York together.

      The story of the Southwick children is told dramatically--though not completely accurately--in a poem by John Greenleaf Whittier entitled "Cassandra Southwick." He used the mother's name in place of the daughter's and did not mention the son at all. Nevertheless, his poem preserves for posterity a bit of the history of persecution by the Puritans in Massachusetts.

      In 1660 Lawrence and his wife Cassandra died within three days of each other on Shelter Island.

      They have thousands of living descendants in the United States today. Among their descendants were Winston Churchill and Richard Nixon



Home Page |  What's New |  Most Wanted |  Surnames |  Photos |  Histories |  Documents |  Cemeteries |  Places |  Dates |  Reports |  Sources