John Cantrill, Potter of Frimley, died 1651

page prepared by Peter Tipton

John Cantrill was a potter in Frimley. I will have to rely on others who have access to Frimley records to provide a biography from local records.

Since first writing this page I have found in the Farnborough parish registers six baptisms of children of John Cauntrell. This may or may not be the potter of Frimley. Only one christian name corresponds with those in the potter's will: John (£60), William (12d), Richard (12d) and Jane Adams (12d). The baptisms in Farnborough are of Jane (1586), Newell (1589), Elizabeth (1591), Joan (1593), Agnes (1591) and Henry (1599). Assuming that John of Farnborough was at least 20 in 1586 he would have been at least 85 in 1651. So it seems more likely that John of Frimley could be the son of John of Farnborough - particularly since the testator of 1651 has one married daughter but mentions no grandchildren making his own birth feasible in the early 1580s (before the Farnborough registers begin).

However the intriguing thing about John Cantrill's will is that it only mentions six surnames, and three of those surnames were involved in the early settlement of Jamestown by the Virginia Company -- before 1610: CANTRILL, GATES, BROWNE. A fourth surname mentioned in this Cantrill will, WATTS, was also associated with this Jamestown group. Of course John Cantrill died over 40 years after 1610, and Browne and Gates are common names. Cantrill is common enough in the Midlands, but not so common in the Surrey/Hampshire borders.

The APVA website lists William Cantrill as a gentleman in the first supply to Jamestown, Virginia.

The family origins of this potter should be investigated further.

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Will of John Cantrill, potter of Frimley

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