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Leamington or Limington?
Born in England about 1620, William Meaker’s exact place of birth is still unknown. Family tradition held that he was born in Leamington, Warwickshire; family historian and author of The Meeker Family of Early New Jersey Leroy J. Meeker asserted in his book that William had mentioned his birthplace in his will.[1] Eager to see for myself, I contacted the New Jersey State Archives (where the original hand-written will is kept[2]) for a copy and a made a full transcription.[3] There was no mention of his place of origin in the document. Unfortunately, no documentation to substantiate William Meaker’s birth has yet surfaced, nor have more than one or two 16th or 17th century records of any Meakers ever been found in Warwickshire.
The persistent belief in Leamington origins could be derived from the fact that the leaders of New Haven Colony were originally also from Warwickshire,[4] or it could be based on a misunderstanding of information that was transmitted orally. At the time of the Great Puritan Migration (1620-1640), the Meaker surname was found principally in the Southwest Country and London, with the highest concentration found in Somerset.[5] (See map at right.) One of the Somerset parishes where Meakers were found is called Limington. There is also a similarly-named town – Lymington – in Hampshire. Perhaps relatives who remembered a reference to a town called “Limington” conflated it with the Warwickshire town. Perusing John Gorham Palfrey’s History of New England, I came across a reference to Benedict Arnold (an early governor of Rhode Island, and grandfather of the infamous traitor) which explained that his descendants had erroneously believed he came from Leamington, Warwickshire, because he mentioned his “Limington farm” in his will.[6] The story was so similar to that told by Meeker descendants that I was (and remain) skeptical that it could be only a coincidence, though I have yet to nail down any links between the Meakers and the Arnolds. It seems reasonable to suppose that William Meaker was probably born in in Southwest England, but the genealogical evidence has yet to be found.
Footnotes:
[1]The Meeker Family of Early New Jersey as revealed in the correspondence of Charles H. Meeker, Jr., by Leroy J. Meeker, Charleston, WV: Capitol Printing Co, 1973, paragraph 4. A digital copy is available at FamilySearch.org
[2] New Jersey State Archives, Wills 1670-1917, Unrecorded Wills, Volume 4, “Probate for William Meaker,” p. 333.
[3] A copy of my transcription is available here.
[4] Both John Davenport and Theophilus Eaton came from the Warwickshire town of Coventry.
[5] BritishSurnames.co.uk and Somerset, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1531-1812 on Ancestry.com
[6] History of New England, During the Stuart Dynasty, by John Gorham Palfrey, New York: AMS Press, Inc., 1966 (Reprint; originally published 1858), pp55-59, n1
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