The Penry Family

of Lisbon and Canterbury, Connecticut

 On 14 November 1765, Sarah Wentworth married John Penre (or Penry) in Canterbury, Connecticut.  She was the 21 year old daughter of William and Martha (Armstrong) Wentworth.  John Penry's origins are less perfectly known, however research indicates he may have been an immigrant to the American colonies.

In The Wentworth Genealogy (Wentworth, 1870), author John Wentworth records the name of Sarah Wentworth’s first husband as Ezra Penry, however Wentworth probably )mistook his name for that of John Penry's son, Ezra, for whom several records exist in late 18th century Canterbury accounts. The name Ezra does appear in Sarah Wentworth’s family; she had a brother, Ezra, baptized in Lisbon, Connecticut on April 23, 1738. He served as a major in the French and Indian War Campaign of 1758 and was listed among the hospital returns at Fort Edward between August 24 and October 20, 1758. Perhaps John and Sarah (Wentworth) Penry’s son Ezra, born in 1767, was named after his uncle.

There are a number of 17th and 18th century records for the surname Penry and Penery in Massachusetts town and vital records spread across the state, with clusters in Hampshire, Essex, Middlesex and Plymouth Counties. Unfortunately, none of these records offer up one that might be John Penry of Canterbury, Connecticut.

The most promising record comes from New York Colonial Muster Rolls 1664-1775.  In “A Muster Roll of the Men Raised and Past Muster for Duchess County for Capt Isaac Ter Bush’s Company 1762”  (State Historian of the State of New York, 1898) is the record of a John Penree, age 20, born in Wales, who enlisted on April 1, 1762 (so he was born about 1742).  He is the right age to have married Sarah Wentworth, who was born in 1744, and the spelling of his name in the enlistment record is very similar to the spelling in the marriage record (Penree, Penre). Dutchess County, New York borders the state of Connecticut. However, why this young John Penry made his way to Windham County, Connecticut indicates the need for more research. See my paper, Who was John Penre, the First Husband of Sarah Wentworth?

Based on the assumption that John Penr, first husband of Sarah Wentworth, was the immigrant ancestor to my Penry line in America, my line of descent from John Penry of Canterbury, Connecticut, down to my grandmother is:

Direct Descendants of John Penry

1 John Penry + Sarah Wentworth
2 Joanna Penry + Comfort Eames
3 Joanna Eames + Asher Palmer
4 Hannah Emeline Palmer + William Hinkley Larkham
5 Carrie Estelle Larkham + Levi Nelson Clark
6 Sarah Hannah Clark + Frank Rowland Burdick
7 Bertha Melissa Burdick

Sources

• Monagan, D. (2000, April 9). Isolated Reminders Of Old Epidemics. Retrieved from New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/09/nyregion/isolated-reminders-of-old-epidemics.html

• State Historian of the State of New York. (1898). New York Colonial Muster Rolls, 1664-1775. In Third Annual Report of the State Historian of the State of New York 1897. Albany, New York: Wynkoop Hallenbeck Crawford Co.

• Wentworth, J. (1870). The Wentworth genealogy : comprising the origin of the name, the family in England, and a particular account of Elder William Wentworth, the emigrant, and of his descendants. Boston, Mass.: Press of A. Mudge & Son.

The graphic on this page is the stencil, Renaissance Scroll, designed by Jeff Raum, which I am using with the kind permission of the Dressler Stencil Company. © Dressler Stencil Company 

The background paper on this page is from Ender Design's Realm Graphics collection.

Last updated: Thursday, July 22, 2021 09:04:43 PM