Ann Dymoke

Children of Anne (unknown) and Thomas Dimmock:

• 1. Timothy Dimmock
• 2. Dimmock
• 3. Thomas Dimmock
• 4. John Dimmock
• 5. Mehitable Dimmock
• 6. Shubal Dimmock
• 7. Elizabeth Dimmock
• 8. Susannah Dimmock

  ---

Who was Anne Dymoke?

The maiden name of Ann (Anne), thought to have been born about 1610, wife of Thomas Dimick, has been the subject of much discussion. Amos Otis, an early genealogist, concluded she was Anne, daughter of William Hammond of Watertown, MA.2 He based his conclusion on the statement of Rev. Lathrop (Lothrop) of Barnstable, that Samuel House, Robert Linnett, and Thomas Dimmock were his brothers-in-law. On the basis of evidence now available, this long-standing presumption is incorrect.

Donald G. Trayser, in his BARNSTABLE, THREE CENTURIES OF A CAPE COD TOWN, said at page 7 Dimmock seemed to have had no connection with Lothrop or his congregation before 1639. The evidence of record is to the contrary. As stated in the preceding chapter, Rev. Lothrop became the second pastor of the First Congregational Church in London in 1624, which held its meetings in private houses to avoid persecution until raided in 1632 when he was imprisoned, and released two years later to come to America. Many of his congregation accompanied him to Scituate, MA, in 1634, and form thence to Barnstable.

The church in Barnstable is considered a continuation of the one in London rather than a new foundation.4 In an enclosure with a memorial cup plate of its 1717 West Parish Meetinghouse, Barnstable, MA, the statement is made that under the leadership of Rev. John Lothrop the church was exiled to New Plimoth Plantation in 1634. In other words, the members of Lothrop’s congregation in England who came to Massachusetts retained membership in that church. Rev. Lothrop maintained in his diary by number and name a record of persons in Scituate 8 Jan. 1634 (1634/5) who were already members of that church, and of those who joined his church from that date through 11 Nov. 1638. The name of Thomas Dimmock does not appear in that list, though the baptism of his son, Timothy, is recorded on 12 January 1639. Yet he was a member of that church4, and 1643 Plymouth Colony records show him as a deacon of Rev. Lothrop’s church. The only logical conclusion is that Thomas Dimmock was a member of that church in London, England during Rev. Lothrop’s pastorate in that city.

Rev. Lothrop had married in 1635, as his second wife, a lady also named Ann. He made no record of the marriage, and the last name of his second wife has not been found. (Charles Leonard Lathrop, The Reverend John Lothrop, 1975, pp. 15, 16) Samuel House had married Elizabeth Hammond, a daughter of William Hammond of Watertown. Ootis supposed Rev. Lothrop’s second wife was Ann Hammond, a widow, daughter of William Hammond. The situation was discussed by the famed late genealogist Donald Lines Jacobus in his The Granberry Family, 1945, pp. 209, 210.

Jacobus pointed out that it is now known that Samuel House was brother of Lothrop’s first wife, explaining the relationship of Lothrop to House, so that the marriage of House to Elizabeth Hammond had no bearing here. Jacobus said it appears certain that Dimick’s wife was not a sister of Lothrop nor of Lothrop’s first wife; and that it is unlikely Dimick’s wife Ann was a sister of Lothrop’s second wife, Ann, as it was rare for sisters to have the same name. Linnett (Linnell) was referred to by Rev. Lothrop as "my brother" for the reason that Linnett’s wife and Rev. Lothrop’s first wife were sisters. (NER, July 1913, pp. 260, 261.) The likeliest solution, according to Jacobus, is that Lothrop’s second wife was a sister of Thomas Dimick. That suggestion will be discussed below.

William Hammond of Watertown, MA, did have two daughters named Anne, one baptized 19 Nov. 1609, and the second baptized 14 July 1616. (Bond, Early Settlers of Watertown, MA., 1860, p. 1860.)

When two children of a husband and the same wife are given the same first name, usually the first child of that name died before the birth of the second. The first Anne Hammond of this family died 7 June 1615. The Anne Hammond baptized in 1616, married first a Timothy Hawkins who died ca. 1650. She married second Ellis Barron, as his second wife; and she died 1 Sept. 1685. (Frederick Stam Hammond, Hammond Families in America, 1902, vol. 1, pp. 53-62).

Clearly, neither of the Anne Hammond daughters of William Hammond of Watertown, MA, was the wife of elder Thomas Dimick. Ann _____, wife of Elder Thomas, died probably about 1686 at Barnstable, MA. (Eno, Bradford-Dimock Ancestors of Charles Sidney Pitcher, 1916, p. 11).

Rev. Lothrop’s church records include; "No. 33 – Elizabeth Hammon, my sister, having a dismission from the church at Watertowne was joyned April 14 1636". Charles Leonard Lathrop was of the opinion this church member was the sister of Rev. Lothrop’s new wife. It is not known whether the minister used "my sister" in the sense of a family relationship, or merely as a reference to a fellow church member, as was sometimes the custom. The Elizabeth Hammon here was not the daughter of William Hammond of Watertown, but the widow of another William Hammond who died in London, Eng. This widow Elizabeth Hammond, with her son Benjamin, and daughters Elizabeth, Martha, and Rachel, arrived in Boston 18 Sept. 1634 in the ship Griffin, on which Rev. John Lothrop, their minister, was also a passenger. She lived in Boston and Watertown, MA until 1638 when she joined Rev. Lothrop’s church in Scituate April 1638 as the 33rd member of that church. She probably returned to Boston late in 1639, as she died and was buried there in 1640. She has been described as Elizabeth Penn, sister of the Admiral, Sir William Penn, and aunt to William Penn, the Quaker. (Roland Hammond, A.M., M.D., Descendants of William Hammond of London, Eng., 1894, pp. 9, 10.)

As a possible lead to the identities of the Anns, wives of Elder Thomas Dimick and Rev. Lothrop, various genealogies of the Penn Family have been checked. Captain Giles Penn married Joan Gilbeart on 5 Nov. 1600. They had two sons, George born in 1601, and William, the future admiral, born in 1621. They had at least two daughters, Rachel Penn baptized 24 Feb. 1607, presumed to have married a "Bradshaw" or a "Markham", and Eleanor who died as a young girl 24 Nov. 1612. (Brigadier 0. F. G. Hogg, The Society of Genealogists, London, Further Light on the Ancestry of William Penn, 1965, pp. 26, 30, 31). No mention of an "Elizabeth" nor of an "Ann" in this Penn family was found. Neither was any reference found of a marriage of a daughter to a Dimick (Dymoke) or Lothrop in the genealogies examined. This does not disprove the statement of Dr. Hammond. The Lothrop Family will be included in our Allied Families. Further research is needed to establish whether or not any blood relationship existed between Elizabeth (Penn) Hammond and either of the Anns married to Elder Thomas Dimick and Rev. Lothrop.