Edward Fitz Randolph was baptized July 5, 1607 in Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, England. (A copy of a parish record showing Edward Fitzrandolph’s baptism at the church of St Mary Magdalene in Sutton in Ashfield in July 1607 is still held in the town’s library with the original at the Nottinghamshire county archive.) Edward died between 1675 and 1676 and was buried in the St. James churchyard (now Stelton or Edison), Middlesex County, New Jersey. His tombstone is thought to have been destroyed when the British built fortifications there.
Edward married Elizabeth Blossom who was born in 1620 in Leyden, The Netherlands and died in 1713 in Woodbridge or Piscataway, New Jersey and is buried beside Edward.
The passenger record entry in “The Great Emigration” of 1630 in the Winthrop Fleet lists “Edward Fitz Randolph of Sutton-inAshfield, Notts, Scituate” He came from Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, England and settled in Scituate, Plymouth Colony. He is said to have built the 38th house in Scituate in 1636. On May 10, 1637 he married Elizabeth Blossom, daughter of “Elder” Thomas Blossom and his wife Ann Heilson. He is called in deeds a yeoman or farmer and does not appear to have held any public office. He moved to Barnstable on Cape Cod in 1639, was juryman 1641, appears in the list of those able to bear arms in New Plymouth in 1643, sold his home in June 1649 and moved his family to West Barnstable, and finally moved his family to Piscataway, NJ in 1669 because the New England patriotism and religion were too restrictive.
Edward and Elizabeth had seven sons and five daughters:
- Nathaniel -born and died 1640
- Nathaniel -baptized May 15, 1642, married Mary Holley
- Mary -1644 – 1649
- Hannah – baptized April 23, 1648, married Jasper Taylor in 1669
- Mary -born June 2, 1650, married Samuel Hinckley Jan 15, 1669
- John – born and died 1652
- John -baptized Oct 7, 1653, married Sarah Bonham in 1681
- Joseph – born Aug 16, 1655, married Joanna Conger in 1687
- Elizabeth – born 1657, married Andrew Wooden in 1676
- Thomas – born Aug 16, 1659, married Elizabeth Manning in 1686
- Hope – born April 2, 1661, married Ezekial Bloomfield in 1680
- Benjamin – born 1663, first marriage to Sarah Dennis
Their tenth child, Thomas, was my ancestor