John Crandall

Who was John Crandall?

John Crandall, one of the founding settlers of Westerly, Rhode Island, was born in 1618 in Westerleigh, Gloucestershire, England to James Crandall, a yeoman of Kendleshire in that parish, and his first wife Eleanor. The origin of the name is undoubtedly a place-name, Crundelend, in Abberley, Worcestershire, where people bearing the name were concentrated in the 16th century. Crandall's great-grandfather, Nicholas Crundall, of Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, came to south Gloucestershire in 1572 as the vicar of the parish of Winterbourne. Puritanism ran in the family. In a case brought in the Star Chamber against Nicholas Crundall, Jr., who succeeded his father as vicar, his accuser reported that Crundall resisted a constable, mockingly crying out "The Queen's name! The Queen's name! I do not care a turd for thee nor her either." John Crandall's life in England prior to his emigration to America is unknown.

While the exact date of Crandall's arrival is not known, it is believed to be 1637 when he arrived in Providence, Rhode Island, then a new settlement and a refuge for dissident Puritans from the Massachusetts Bay Colony.