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Decendants of James Phelps of Nether Tyne, England
Excerpted from The Phelps Family of America and Their English Ancestors, (Save $200 by ordering through us.) By Oliver S. Phelps and Andrew T. Servin. (Get a free, updated index here.). Vol. I, p 70-71
The book The Phelps Family of America and Their English Ancestors by Phelps & Servin erroneously concluded based on nothing more than an approximate birth date for William that both he and George Phelps were from Tewkesbury, England. William and George Phelps are not brothers and are from Crewkene. For details, see Origins of William and George Phelps of Dorchester.
James Phelps, born about 1520, supposedly at Nether Tyne, Staffordshire, is said to be the brother of Francis Phyllyppe, both probably sons of Richard Phyllyppe of that place—referred to in 1588, after his death, as late of Tewksbury. James Phelps married Joan, born about 1542, around the year 1559. They resided in Tewksbury, Gloucestershire, where James died about 1588. Joan was given permission to administer his estate, May 10, 1588, by the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. They had nine children and their oldest son William is my [Oliver Seymour Phelps'] ancestor. Their sixth child, Edward is the ancestor of William Phelps of Vevery, Switzerland (1877).
William was baptized in Tewksbury on August 4, 1560, and married Dorothy (born about 1563) around the year 1586. William and Dorothy had eight children before William died about 1611. Dorothy and William's brother, Nicholas, administered his estate when he died. When Dorothy died prior to May 31, 1613, Nicholas was commissioned to administer William's estate during the minority of William Jr.
In 1590, according to Church records, William was granted a Lenten license to "eat fleshe because sieke," with the privilege to terminate when he recovered. In 1607, William served as the Bailiff of Tewksbury.
William Jr. was born between 1597-1599 and was baptized at Tewkesbury Abbey Church, Gloucestershire, England, on August 19, 1599. In about 1619 he married his first wife, Elizabeth. William and Elizabeth's first child, Richard, was baptized at Tewksbury Abbey around 1619, and soon thereafter, they probably removed to one of the southern counties (probably Soberest or Dorchester) as there is no further record of them or their children in Tewksbury.
William Phelps [since proven to be from near Crewkerne,
and not the William Phelps of Tewkesbury —Ed],
Elizabeth, their six children, and his brother George, [since disproved—Ed] aboard the ship Mary
and John, became the first of the Phelps immigrants to
the New World, landing in Massachusetts on May 30, 1630, being
with an organized church company, and becoming the first settlers
and founders of Dorchester, which claims the distinction of
being the first town in Massachusetts Colony to organize a town
government. They became original members of Reverend Warham's
church, organized March 19, 1630, at Plymouth England, the
day before embarkation.