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Elder John Crandall was an early settler in the colony of Rhode Island and died on 29 Nov 1676 in Newport, Rhode Island.

VIEWS AS TO BIRTH, PARENTS, IMMIGRATION & FIRST MARRIAGE ARE CONFLICTING - THIS DATA IS WHAT I FEEL IS MOST LIKELY CORRECT, AFTER REVIEWING ALL AVAILABLE RESEARCH:

John Cortland Crandall's compilation, "Elder John Crandall of Rhode Island and his descendants," is a valuable record of the Crandall family, but his depiction of the origin and immigration of John Crandall probably are incorrect. There is no verifiable evidence to sustain his suggestions that Elder John Crandall was born in Monmouthshire, England/Wales in 1612 and that he arrived in Boston in 1634. The reference to arriving in Boston in 1634 is probably attributed to John Cranwell noted in "The Great Migration Begins Vol 1, A-F, page 492 who migrated 1630 to Boston and was admitted Freeman 4 Mar 1633/4. He was born about 1613 based on date of freemanship and died in Boston in 1639 and was not the same person as Elder John Crandall of Westerly, Rhode Island.

In the parish records of Westerleigh (also spelled "Westerley" in some places), Gloucestershire can be found a baptism for "John, sonne of James Crandell baptized 15 February 1617."

There also are claims that he was the son of John and Elizabeth (Drake) Crandall. However, no collaborating documentation has been located in England of a couple by the name of John and Elizabeth Drake Crandall. Several members of the Crandall Family Association have done research using parish records from Westerleigh which indicates that Elder John was the son of James and Eleanor (---) Crandall.

While the exact date of John 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. From Providence he came to Newport, Rhode Island, as early as 1651 (The first actual documentation for Elder John Crandall in America is in 1643 when he appears as a grand jury member in Newport on 8 Sep 1643), and became a prominent member of the Baptist church there. He is also mentioned in a case against Thomas Gennings in Newport 3 Dec 1643. John, along with many others, is bequeathed part of the estate of Henry Sandyes of Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony in a will dated 7 Feb 1651. He is referred to as "of Providence". [Newport County was constituted on June 22, 1703, as one of the two original counties of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.]

The next mention of John Crandall tells of his journey to Lynn, Massachusetts Bay Colony from Newport on Baptist church business to visit William Witter, referred to as "an aged member" in July 1651. He traveled with Rev. John Clarke (pastor of the first Baptist Church in Newport) and Obadiah Holmes. They spent the day in religious services and were apprehended by two constables at the insistence of the Massachusetts authorities, while Mr. Clarke was preaching, and the next morning they were sent to prison in Boston. All were fined: Clarke, £20; Holmes, £30; and Elder John £5. In default of the fines, each was "to be well whipped." Obediah Holmes was fined, imprisoned, & "well whipped", by 30 lashes at a whipping post placed near the old State House at Boston, on Saturday, Sept 5, 1651, because he refused to pay the fine. John Crandall & John Clarke were finally allowed to go home on bail, July 21, 1651. Their release from prison was on the promise of appearing at next court." This incident prompted Rev. John Clarke to write the pamphlet "Ill News From New England" published in England in 1652.

John Crandall was again actively identified with the Baptist Church in records, in Newport, on July 21, 1651. His name next is found, with that of Matthew West, in a Freeman's list of Newport, 1655. (From "Representative Men & Old Families of Newport, RI). He is listed as a Commissioner for the town of Newport on 2 Nov 1658.

In that same year, Elder John, along with Thomas Olney, Samuel Gorton, and John Tripp, was "chosen and authorized to draw up a letter to be sent to Mr. John Clarke in England, to be presented to his Highness and Councell ..."

He was appointed as a Commissioner from Newport again on 17 May 1659.

He was chosen in 1659, along with Arthur Fenner, Thomas Cooke, and Robert Westcott, "... to marke out the westward bounds of our collony ... "

Listed 27 Aug 1661 as one of the original petitioners for the Settlement of Askomicutt [Westerly, RI]. The other eight listed are Joseph Torrey, John Cranston, William Vaughan, John Coggeshall, Hugh Mosier, James Barker, Caleb Carr, James Rogers [spellings as in original document].

John Crandall was listed again as Commissioner for the town of Newport 22 May 1662 and is listed as a committeeman from Newport regarding legislation on the same date.

He is mentioned again in Rhode Island history in relationship to his "intrusions" into Stonington, CT. The complaint is dated 30 Oct 1667, mentioning that he had "laid out a mile square of land for his son [John, Jr.] within the limits of their town." In 1671 the dispute grew so serious that John Crandall , with others, were actually carried off by the Connecticut authorities and imprisoned at Hartford. Elder John, as a Rhode Island "officer", was seized and taken to New London, CT for trial on 2 May 1671. The Rhode Island's assembly advised him not to yield to Connecticut's claims and assured him of the Colony's support and that his financial losses would be borne by the Colony.

With eight others, he signed a letter to the court of commissioners of Rhode Island, on August 27, 1661, in relation to a tract of land at Askomicutt ,which became Westerly, Rhode Island, where they and others desired to settle. The other eight listed are: Josph Torrey, John Cranston, William Vaughan, John Coggeshall, Hugh Mosier, James Barker, Caleb Carr, James Rogers [spellings as in original document]. In the fall of 1667 he was at Westerly and his name was on the list of inhabitants of that town, May 14, 1669. . John Crandall was the first Baptist Elder in Westerly. Having converted to the Seventh Day Baptist faith, he held meetings at his home in Westerly. He and Joseph Torrey were appointed commissioners to treat with Connecticut , relative to jurisdiction of lands, May 14, 1669, and he was supplied w ith 35 shillings by the Colony of Rhode Island to pay his way to Connecticut. He was conservator of the Peace at Westerly, in 1670, and deputy from that town 1670-71.

He removed to Newport because of the dangers of the King Philip's Wars in 1676, and, while there, he died. He is buried in the family burial ground on the Homestead (Rhode Island Historical Cemetery #15). His monument was erected by the CRANDALL FAMILY ASSOCIATION 27 MAY 1991. His house was near Burdens Pond, as one room in the homestead occupied by lineal descendants. In 1991, the property was deeded to the Narragansett Indian tribe, with the right to live on the property as long as they wished. Sometime prior to October 2022, the house was taken down. Across from the house, in the old orchard field, is the original cemetery, in which twenty seven bodies including Elder John, buried in the row nearest the swamp, in the end grave to the left as one stands facing the swamp.

There is no record of the name of Elder John Crandall's wife in any Rhode Island records nor has a record of the marriage ever been found. Based on the approximate dates of birth of their children (with the eldest, John, born ca. 1649 based on the date he appears as a freeman in Westerly) it would appear likely that Elder John married his first wife in the latter part of the 1640s. It also would seem to indicate that he probably married her in America. Since she is referred to as a "Sabbath keeper" in communications from Samuel Hubbard, it is likely that she was of the Seventh Day Baptist faith and perhaps she was a daughter of one of the Seventh Day Baptist families in Rhode Island at the time. His first wife is thought by some to be Mary Opp, but research by members of the Crandall Family Association indicates this is most likely incorrect. No documented proof has been found that anyone with the surname Opp was in the New England area during this period. Her first name may have been Mary. She died in Westerly on August 2, 1670.

He married, second, Hannah Gaylord (born about 1647), probably daughter of William Gaylord and Ann (Porter) , of Windsor, Connecticut. She died in 1678.³

According to research done by Earl P. Crandall (Crandall Family Association Genealogist) and published online in March 1998, we have the following accounts of the Crandall Family in America.

1. In 1888 A.P. Crandall wrote what appears to be the earliest account of the early Crandall family in America, Genealogy of elder John Crandall and his Descendants (privately published). This brief account was primarily for the descendants in his own branch of the Crandall family. Much of what is stated in the introductory pages are undocumented, but this lack of documentation is consistent with other genealogies written in that time frame.

2. In 1949 John Cortland Crandall published what has become the Bible of many Crandall researchers, Elder John Crandall of Rhode Island and His Descendants. He used A.P. Crandall and his 1888 work as a springboard for his own 1949 work, and by so doing has perpetuated many of those myths.

Additional research includes:

3. Ancestors in the United States of Byron H. Bierce and his wife Mary Ida Cottrell of Cortland County, New York, compiled by Thurber H. Bierce and Lisle Cottrell and published in 1962. See pages 160-161.³

John Cottrell mentioned in his father's will was of Westerly and Kingston, Rhode Island. He owned the land in Kingston in 1681 which was laid out to Rev. John Crandall. His first wife was probably Hannah Gaylord Crandall, who he married after 1676 when her previous husband Elder John Crandall passed away. Hannah died in 1678, prior to any of John's known children being born. This would explain how he obtained the land, and that all of his children including his daughter Mary who later married Hannah's son Eber Crandall, were from a later wife.²