Rash's Surname Index
Notes for William CRISPIN
In one of his letters, written in 1652, Captain Crispin states that he had been in the service of the state for 10 years; thus he joined the navy in 1642, at the early age of 15. Presumably he made his first voyage with his father and was on the 'Fellowship' man-of-war under Sir William Penn. It would appear more than probable that on the death of his father, Penn took an interest in the son of his old master and that this was the beginning of that great bond of friendship and esteem which afterwards existed between Admiral
Sir William Penn and Captain Willaim Crispin, for they are always found together, both on land and sea, and it was undoubtedly this association which led to the alliance of the Penn and Crispin families. In the Naval engagements in which Admiral Penn figured we find Capt. Crispin until he was promoted to a separate command. On land, too, when Penn became Governor-General of the town and fortress of Kinsale, there also we find Captain
Crispin, holding various offices of trust.
The first actual record we have of Capt. Crispin at sea, was his
appointment as purser of the 'True love' frigate, on April 3rd, 1649......It was in the year, 1652, in the midst of the conflict with the Dutch, that Crispin as a young naval purser, at the age of 25, entered the married state and thus allied himself with the family of Penn. His bride was Rebecca Bradshaw, the daughter of Ralph Bradshaw, by his wife Rachel Penn, sister of Admiral Sir William Penn, and daughter of Capt. Giles Penn, who was grandfather of William Penn, the Founder of Pennsylvania. The wedding
ceremony took place in that quaint old London Church of St. Dunstan's, Stepney, in the County of Middlesex, on Sept. 28, 1652, as appears by the published registers of the parish, as well as by Sir William Digdale's Visitation of Lancashire in 1664-5. The groom is described as 'of the Tower Liberty, mariner.' On this same Tower Hill, London, within sight of the river Thames, Admiral Penn, with his son William Penn, aged 8, and others of his family, then were living and it may have been that the Admiral's niece,
Rebecca Bredshaw, met William Crispin while on a visit to her uncle, and that her courtship and marriage occurred while there."
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