There has been much controversy about the life of Augustine Bearse, one of our earliest immigrants who arrived in New England in 1638. Often referred to as Austin Bearse, he was born about 1618 in Longstock, Hampshire, England. [Note that Bearse, the most common version used in the family line, and Bearce are both used in various genealogy references. I will use the name both ways at times in this article.]
The name of Augustine Bearce first appears on the shipping manifest of the ship, Confidence of London, sailed from Southhampton, England and arrived in Plymouth on April 24, 1638. The ship’s manifest lists Augustine Bearce, aged 20, along with 84 passengers on this voyage to the New World. It is believed that the ship’s passengers were predominately family groups of Puritans leaving political conflict and persecution in England.
We know that Augustine Bearse settled in Barnstable, Massachusetts on Cape Cod and about 30 miles south of Plymouth with a company of settlers led by Rev John Lathrop. Lathrop was originally ordained with the Church of England. However in 1623, he renounced his orders and adopted more Independent Congregationalist and Puritan beliefs. His reformed ideas were considered heretical and after several years of imprisonment for his preachings, Rev Lathrop left for the New World to escape further persecution in England.
An early book written in 1888 titled Barnstable Families notes of Augustine Bearse that “He appears to have been very exact in the performance of his religious duties, causing his children to be baptized on the Sabbath next following day of their birth” and that “He was one of the very few against whom no complaint was ever made: a fact which speaks well for his character as a man and a citizen.” Thus, Augustine Bearse appears to have been a highly regarded member of both his church and the community of Barnstable. However, while Augustine appears to have been highly regarded by his fellow settlers, records also show that the Bearse family kept Indian slaves, usurped Indian lands, and fought in the Indian wars – behavior that was not uncommon in those times.
Some genealogies cite the wife of Augustine Bearse as Mary, with her last name unknown. One possible theory about Mary is that on the original ship manifest Augustine’s name is listed immediately under the names of Martha Wilder of Shiplocke, Oxford, England and Mary who is noted as her daughter, but without an age or her last name recorded. It is also notable that Austin’s first child was named Mary, and his second child was Martha.
Now, there is an alternative discussion of Augustine Bearse that was first introduced in the 1930’s. In 1933, a man named Franklin Ele-watum Bearce applied with the State Commissioner of Indian Rights and Claims for benefits as an Indian in the state of Connecticut. For provenance, Franklin provided a document that he had written called Who Our Forefathers Really Were where Franklin claimed that the wife of Augustine Bearse was Mary “Little Dove” Hyanno, an Indian princess. While the commission couldn’t either prove or disprove his genealogy as provided in his narrative, they accepted his statement as an authentic and legal declaration of his lineage, and approved his benefit claim.
Franklin asserted that he based his claim of Indian ancestry and his version of his family history almost 300 years prior on his own personal knowledge “handed down from generation to generation by my ancestors and imparted to me by word of mouth by my grand father, Henery Bearce” and also on information included in an original diary of Zerviah Newcomb, the wife of Josiah Bearse, a grandson of Augustine Bearse. Franklin wrote that the diary was titled A True Chronicle of the Bearse Family. However, Franklin did not provide either the diary or a copy of it with his claim – and there is no record of the diary’s existence other than as stated in his claim.
According to Franklin Bearce’s manifest, Augustine Bearse was persecuted in England because of his Romany or Gypsy heritage. And for some minor infraction of English law, he was deported to the colonies. Franklin claimed that Augustine Bearse was the only prisoner allocated to the Barnstable colony after his arrival.
Franklin maintained that no Puritan daughter would marry a gypsy because of religious and racial prejudices. Augustine instead married Mary “Little Dove” Hyanno, daughter of John Hyanno, a full-blooded Wampanoag Indian, and son of the Sachem Ihyannough who befriended the Pilgrims on their first arrival. He claimed that they were married in a traditional Indian ceremony at her village. Franklin described Mary Hyanno as a “flaming-haired Mattachee princess.” He also noted that Augustine Bearse was given good land in Barnstable by his wife’s grandfather.
Franklin E Bearce’s manuscript and theories gained widespread attention after a 1935 article was published in a magazine called the Utah Genealogical Magazine which detailed Franklin’s version of the Bearse history. However later in 1939, Franklin’s genealogy was disputed in a well-respected publication titled The American Genealogist.
There is no actual evidence that tells us whether Augustine Bearse had a Romany or an English heritage. And we don’t really know if he made the voyage to escape religious or ethnic persecution, if he was deported as a prisoner or if he chose to make the voyage himself. And last we don’t really know who Augustine married – the daughter of Martha Wilder, an Indian princess, or someone else entirely. Because of the lack of original documentation or other sources to back up his claims, many genealogical historians refer to Franklin’s version of the Augustine Bearse genealogy as lacking credibility and most certainly contrived solely to obtain rights and benefits as an American Indian.
Augustine was prominent in both the church and local governance and his children married into the best families in Barnstable and Yarmouth. Critics of Franklin’s story maintain that it is absurd to believe that respected Puritan families would hold him in high regard and also allow their children to marry his children if he was a deported criminal Gypsy married to an Indian woman.
I have mentioned this before, but it is good to remind you that simply because something was printed in a book or even handwritten in a bible, manuscript, journal or on a piece of paper, that doesn’t necessarily make it true and accurate. A historian or researcher will always want to find verification or supporting documentation whenever possible.
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Key Individuals:
Augustine/Austin Bearse/Bearce (1618 – 1686)
Wife or wives: unknown,
possibly Mary ?
James Bearse (1660 – 1728) [Augustine’s youngest son & our ancestor] m. Experience Howland (1669 – 1728)
Notes:
1) If you refer to my earlier post, A Mayflower Connection or not [posted on October 3, 2020] and also the follow-up in the Notes of Overboard on the Mayflower [posted on November 15, 2021], you will see that our line to the Mayflower runs through Experience Howland. Experience married James Bearse, the youngest son of Augustine/Austin Bearse, the immigrant.
2) I wonder… if Augustine Bearse’s wife was a full-blooded Wampanoag Indian, then would American Indian ethnicity show up in the results of a DNA test for a descendent 350 years later? I did an Ancestry DNA test several years ago, and there is no indication that I have any American Indian ethnicity in my results.
Others have also thought about this, as I found a web page online seeking yDNA samples from direct male descendants of Augustine Bearse to test for Romany heritage, and also seeking mtDNA samples from direct female descendants to test for Native American heritage. To date, testing results indicate that Augustine was not of Romany descent, and his wife was not Native American.
Jane Scribner McCrary
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