Introduction

Ten years is a long time to stick to a task; there are bound to be setbacks and progress is not a straight line. But what if intriguing information and coincidences kept popping up? Would you be motivated to continue the task; would curiosity prevail over frustration?

Fortunately, for the Nims Family Association, curiosity and an abiding interest in solving an historical mystery won out. When Rob Brun del Re and his wife, Abigail descendant Carole Brunet, attended the 2014 NFA reunion in Deerfield, Rob’s interest was piqued when he heard that Godfrey’s origin and emigration to America remained a mystery. He decided to take up the task!

Rob has generously chronicled his successes in our newsletter in a series of articles which have been migrated to our website by our webmistress, Babs Deacon.

Perhaps no advance was more dramatic than the announcement at the 2018 reunion that Godfrey’s baptismal record had been located in London, thus overturning centuries of family lore that the Nims were of French Huguenot origin from Nîmes.

And then questions began anew and deepened the search. How did Godfrey come to be in Northampton, MA in 1667; under what circumstances did he arrive as a boy alone; and perhaps most importantly, why was he sent to the colonies? Rob’s journey was far from complete.

Since 2018, Rob has focused on deepening his knowledge of Godfrey’s family life in England, and possible reasons, and circumstances for his emigration. Aided by several professional researchers and genealogists in Europe, he has continued to discover and report new information on the more than 350-year-old mystery.

He delivered an outstanding summary of his ten-year research findings and potential future research directions at the 2024 reunion in a two-part presentation titled Godfrey Comes to America. 

Part I – Henry and the Elinors

To attempt to answer questions about Godfrey, Rob understood he would need to find out more about his parents’. Where did they come from, what was their religion, social status, profession(s) or trade, and what was the possible link to Northampton, Massachusetts? 

It was a remarkable journey to take from the center of civilization in Westminster, London to a small frontier town on the edge of colonial civilization. A young boy doesn’t just arrive. The assumption became that someone must have known someone - that there had to be connections between the Nims family in England and Godfrey Nims situation in the colonies.

The challenges were many including finding any the documents that might exist after centuries; deciphering the handwriting, and navigating the multiple spelling variations of sur and given names. 

By 2018, Rob had discovered and reported several things:

• Godfrey baptized 22 Oct 1648 – St Clement-Danes, London

• Mary (sister) born July 1651

• Henry and Elinor (parents) married 1655

• Lived at “New Inn Backgate” ca 1660

• Henry was a “Houskeeper” (i.e., Innkeeper)

• Ellen Nyms was buried in September 1675

• Henry received poor rates mid 1670s and died 1691 

Then progress stalled for a couple years until a four-letter word was decoded amongst the squiggles on sister Mary’s baptismal certificate and opened the floodgates. The word was “uxor” Latin for wife. The immediate question was why was Henry marrying Elinor in 1655 when Mary’s 1651 baptismal certificate listed Elinor as his wife? The answer is that there must have been two Elinors and, sure enough, a further search yielded a burial registration for the first Elinor on December 28, 1654. 

In addition, Rob’s English researcher, Natalie LeJeune, discovered that Henry and the first Elinor were having children in Bristol 1644-46. Sadly, both children died not long after. Further discoveries were that Henry was a gunsmith by trade and despite owning his home in Westminster and paying rates (taxes), he later applied for parish relief from the church indicating he had fallen on hard times. In two relief documents he is listed as Hendrick Nimms or Nymms, a very Dutch name. 

It is well established that England turned to Dutch gunmakers during the English Civil War to help rebuild that trade. James I had granted a monopoly to a single gunmaker in 1606 and 80 gunmakers left for Holland in protest in 1608 decimating the trade in England. It was logical for Charles I to turn to Holland to re-establish the English gunmaking trade in the 1640s. Which begs the question, was Henry’s father born in Holland circa 1618 and did Henry come to England with Prince Rupert in 1642 as a gunsmith? More questions…

Pinpointing the Nims family origins might be assisted by a testing technique known as Y-DNA. Y-DNA testing can help discover and verify direct paternal ancestry by connecting a person with other individuals who are descendants of a shared common patrilineal ancestor, and showing how the surname is related to other families. In other words, any direct male descendant of Godfrey is a good candidate for Y-DNA testing. 

NFA President David Nims recently completed Y-DNA testing (Big Y-700) and is currently examining the detailed results. Initial findings indicate connections to England and France. Other direct male descendants may wish to explore testing to add to the database in order to expand and illuminate the findings.

Part II – Godfrey’s Emigration

Possible Emigration Time Frame 

Currently, we do not know how or why Godfrey Nims emigrated to America; however, Rob believes that further examination of several tantalizing clues and coincidences may bring us closer to answers to these questions.

Godfrey arrived in Puritan Massachusetts when residence in colonial towns was tightly controlled. It is possible that initially, some family or family associate facilitated his entrance into the colony.

Godfrey first appears in a Northampton court record as a “lad” in 1667. His recently discovered baptismal record shows that he was 18 turning 19. He was cited as the ringleader of a small group that broke into Robert Bartlett’s house while the family was away at church. Ages were listed in the court document for John Stebbins and Bennett but not for Godfrey and no Nims family or relatives were mentioned. Co-defendant, John Stebbins, testified that he knew the plan to break into the Bartlett house as early as Spring 1667.

Having calculated that Godfrey’s broadest emigration window was between his birth in 1648 and Spring 1667 we can narrow that further to 1660-65 based on two groups of information: 1) Godfrey being twelve years of age in 1660 which is probably the earliest a child would be sent alone on a long voyage; and 2) Events in 1665/1666 in London that might have precluded travel such as:

• 1665-1666 – Great Plague of London

• The plague lasted eighteen months

• Two of the first eight plague deaths in London were recorded at St Clement-Danes

• Travel in or out of London was restricted. Exit required a special license

• Henry Nims had lived through the Bristol Plague of 1645 and may have lost children to the disease

•  1665 - Second Anglo-Dutch War begins hazarding transatlantic crossings

•  1666 Sept - Great Fire of London

Although it is physically possible that Godfrey left London after the Great Fire in September 1666, that would have required travelling in the spring of 1667 due to no transatlantic voyages and it seems extremely unlikely that Godfrey would have been able to convince the Northampton boys to break into a house if he had just arrived in the community.

London to Northampton Connection

The next question related to Godfrey’s emigration is what connection(s) existed between the Nims in London and the town of Northampton. Genealogists often use the “FAN Method” – researching Friends, Associates and Neighbors. Noting Henry Nims’ neighbors in the St. Clement-Danes parish, fellow gunsmiths and related tradesmen, and members of the London Netherlander community, what connections can be made or leads uncovered?

Rob asked the following questions:

• Who moved to Northampton between 1660 and 1665, focusing on merchants and businessmen?

• Why Godfrey chose a particular lot for his home in Northampton?

• Are their connections through the families of Godfrey’s two wives: Mary Miller Williams and Mehitable Smead Hull?

• Do the names Godfrey and his wives chose for their children offer any information?

• Are their any historical anomalies or events related to Northampton and London before 1666 that would have had an impact?

Rob cited six possible connections ripe for further research:

Miller Family(s) of Northampton

• William Miller and Patience Bacon were natives of London who married there circa 1640, and moved to Northampton in the 1640’s.

• Godfrey’s first wife was the widow Mary Miller Williams

• Captain William Miller was important in the local militia

• These three “Millers” are currently unconnected

Regicides – Generals Goffe and Whalley

• Goffe and Whalley were from The City of Westminster, London and lived near the Nims family. They fled England in July 1660 and arrived in Hadley, Mass. in 1664. They lived three miles apart from Godfrey. It is possible that Godfrey was sent to act as their confidential servant.

Humphrey Davis

Humphrey Davis, a wealthy merchant, was From London. He was an avid Puritan and a known conduit for money for the Regicides in America.  He left England for Boston in July 1662. There is a “Humphrey Davis” paying rates (taxes) one block from the Nimes on Clare St. until 1662. Is he a possible relation of Elinor Davis (Henry Nim’s second wife)?

Medad Pomeroy

Medad Pomeroy was a Northampton town blacksmith and gunsmith. All Pomeroy histories point an origin in Beaminster, Dorset, England; however, A “Widow Pomeroy” lived in St. Clement-Danes a few houses away from Henry; her husband had died a few years earlier. Currently No connections between Northampton and London Pomeroys have been determined.

Robert Bartlett

Robert Bartlett was originally from Bristol, England, the location of Henry Nims’ earlier residence. Godfrey was accused of robbing Bartlett’s house. Is it possible that Bartlett was Apprentice Godfrey’s master and that he didn’t speak up for him at the trial because he was the aggrieved Plaintiff? Additionally, the lot for Godfrey’s home was across the street from Bartlett’s

Peter Hendrickx (“the Dutchman”) 

Peter Hendrickx is found in the early Northampton court records. He was in and around Northampton during the winter of 1665 when military drills were occurring. A Peter Hendricks, gunsmith, is listed in Holland (Utrecht) in 1647. A connection remains elusive.

Conclusion

Rob continues to pursue several leads and and his investigation continues in the Netherlands, Germany and of course the United Kingdom. Establishing Henry Nims’ origin as Dutch, Flemish, English, German, or other; would open up further avenues for research. Also importantly, knowing Godfrey’s mother’s maiden might add insight. as would gaining a thorough understanding of the approximately one hundred original Northampton families

It's been quite a journey for Rob over the last decade. His discoveries and reports have thrilled and invigorated us. His curiosity and desire to solve our family mystery remain undiminished. Lucky us!