A Search For The Origins of Colonial
Deuels In Their Name, Life and Country
Colonial Deuels
Part 1 - Early derivations of the name "Deuel" in Plymouth Colony
There are some interesting records of the Devol family in Plymouth Colony. I had always thought that the
story went something like this: The DeVille family went from France to Lincolnshire in the 1500s. Then
William1 DeVille comes to America by 1640, but is upset that town clerks spell his name Devil so he changes
it to Devol. Some descendants, seeking to escape the high taxes of Massachusetts, move to NY. Because
they are mystical Quakers, the NY bunch changes the name to Deuel after the tribe in the Book of Numbers,
and thereafter that spelling and its phonic equivalents predominate in NY, while the MA & RI group remain
true to the "original" name and use Devol and its phonic equivalents.
But the real story is more complicated than that.
It all starts in Plymouth Colony Records on 2 Oct. 1637: "Abraham Hooper, alias Pottle, Walter Deuell, Webb
Adey and Thomas Roberts are presented for disorderly living and therefore to be required to give an account
of how they live."
Like a lot of presentments, there is no record of following up. "Disorderly living" can cover a host of
complaints. Most likely they were not pulling their own weight, economically, or were lax in church
attendance. I'll get back to Walter Deuell in a bit, but the main thing to keep in mind is that in 1637 Plymouth
Colony consists only of small group of towns: Plymouth, Duxbury and perhaps Marshfield.
The next relevant entry is from PCR for 3 August, 1640: "William Deuell desires a parcel of land lying
between Edmond Chandler and John Rouse, and Abraham Sampson, such a portion as the Court shalbe
pleased to graunt him there."
John Rouse (d.1684) I am familiar with, he was, years later, one of about a dozen original settlers of Little
Compton. Rouse had his ear cut off in Boston for espousing his Quaker beliefs. He got off lighter than some,
as Mary Barrett Dyer and two other were hung on Boston Common in 1660 for their Quaker preaching
(there is a statue to her there now). Massachusetts Bay had a statute specifying that Quakers were to have a
hole drilled through their tongue with a hot iron, inspired by the same punishment meted out in England to the
Quaker martyr James Naylor. John Rouse lived at the time in the north part of Duxbury near the Marshfield
border.
Abraham Sampson was also an original purchaser of Little Compton lands, but before settling there he sold
his share to William Pabodie (Peabody), a brother-in-law of John Rouse, and Pabodie and his wife Elizabeth
Alden, the first white woman born in New England, did settle there. (Almost all of the original settlers of
Little Compton were from Duxbury).
The next entry is back to Walter Deuell on 17 June 1641. "It is ordered by the Court that Walter Deuile shall
pay two shillings to Massatumpsine for mending the hole in his kettle, which the said Deuile shott with his
gun, it is to be payd within one moone next ensuinge."
I guess you could say Walter "took a pot shot." But Massatumpsine was successful in another lawsuit against
a colonist as well, it affirms my (politically incorrect) view how an Indian could --- at that time, but not later
-- bring an Englishman into an English court and obtain a measure of justice. Even the judgment is a measure
of how the court was "Indian friendly," the deadline is specified in terms that Massatumpsine could
understand (a moon) instead of an English calendar date. Relations between English and Indian at that time
was much different than they were to become during and after King Philip's War (1675-76). Recall also the
concern in Rehoboth a few years later that the herring weir licensees not interfere with the the Indians fishing
at Pawtucket.
This event with Walter Deuile takes place in Yarmouth (which then included what is now Dennis) on Cape
Cod. When Yarmouth is first settled in 1640 land grants are specified, and "Wat Deuell" and three others are
specifically excepted, indicating that they were already living there and not in good graces with the authorities.
Next is the presentment (i.e indictment) by the grand inquest (i.e. grand jury) on 2 October, 1650: "We
whose names are hereunder written, being the grand inquest, doe present to the Court, John Hazaell, Mr.
Edward Smith and his wife, Obadia Holmes, Joseph Tory and his wife, and the wife of James Man, William
Deuell and his wife, of the town of Rehoboth, for the continuing of a meeting upon the Lord's day from
house to house, contrary to the order of the Court executed June 12, 1650." Ironically, one of the grand
jurors was my ancestor Henry Howland, who himself along with his son Zoeth and my ancestors William
Gifford and Richard Kirby were to be prosecuted ten years later for holding Quaker meetings.
I now know a lot more about this Rehoboth episode, which I'll relate some other time. William Deuell lived at
the time in what is now East Providence, RI, along what is now Roger Williams Avenue. When Williams was
first banished, he settled very close to here, there is a Roger Williams spring and a plaque at the site. He was
informed that, being east of the Seekonk River, he was still in Plymouth Colony, so the next year (1636) he
moved across the river to Providence. Across the cove from William Deuell was a band of Pokanoket
Indians, the Wampanoag tribe of Metacom (King Philip), and some day I'll relate the story of how the
descendants of this tribe end up, more than 100 years later in, of all places, Missisquoi County, Quebec (via
Rensselaer County, NY). One of the four licensees of the herring weir in Rehoboth in front of William
Deuell's house was my ancestor William Sabin, whose great-great-great-great granddaughter Rindy Sabin
was to marry Benjamin Deuel in Ft. Covington 200 years later.
Plymouth Colony Records were compiled in book form in the 1800s by a guy named Shurtleff, there are
about 12 volumes in all, and Shurtleff was perhaps more familiar with 17th century spellings than anyone
alive at the time (and maybe since_ . So to summarize these spellings and add a few more contemporary
spellings:
1637 (probably Plymouth or Duxbury): Walter Deuell
1640 (Duxbury): William Deuell
1640 (Yarmouth): Wat Deuell
1641 (Yarmouth): Walter Deuile
1650 (Rehoboth): William Deuell
1666 (Dartmouth): Josepth Deuell (this is Joseph2, ancestor of the Dee branch that goes to Franklin Co. VT
via Saybrook, CT and Westerly, RI, taking a freemen's oath; he can't even spell his first name right, but he
nails the last name)
1672 (Newport, RI, so this entry is not from PCR, it is independent of Shurtleff, so he couldn't be
misreading all of the entries from the originals): William Deuell (deed to son Benjamin Deuell of Middletown,
NJ)
So you begin to see a pattern here, and that pattern has implications for tracing the English origins of this
family.
Richard Gifford
October 18, 2002