EDGOOSE:
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EDGOOSE, Captain John (16??-1673)
John EDGOOSE's parentage, and date and place of baptism, is unknown. His son Simon was born before 1652 (under 21 in 1673).
How he came to be in Jamaica is a matter of conjecture. Jamaica had been captured on 16 May 1655 by an expeditionary force sent out by Cromwell and was hurriedly populated by sending out 4,500 whites, under duress, and 1,500 Negro slaves . According to Beeching, thousands were transported to Jamaica for no worse crime than being Irish, or Scots, or unemployed.
(Jack Beeching, in an Introduction to 'The Buccaneers of America' by A.O. Exquemelin, Folio Society 1969 page 11)
(ibid. page 13)
"Although few settlers arrived with much capital they were able to claim land grants CROMWELL offered to those English who wished to settle in Jamaica."
('The Probate Inventories of Port Royal, Jamaica', Diana Thornton, 1992)
('Revels in Jamaica 1682-1938', Richardson Wright, 1938)
('Trade, Plunder, and Economic Development in Early English Jamaica 1655-1689', Zahedieh Nuala, 1986)
According to Raynald Laprise's 'Le Diable Volant: Privateers and Pirates of Jamaica and Hispaniola and other places in America in the second half of the XVIIth Century', in December 1660 Anthony COLLIER, captain of infantry or militia, received land at Port Royal in Jamaica which he shared with Lieutenant EDGOOSE.
(www.geocities.com/trebutor)
Monsieur Laprise supposed that EDGOOSE was the lieutenant of COLLYER's Company.
(e-mail 12.10.2001)
This land was bordered by Thames Street and Queen Street and was granted to Captain COLLYER and Lieutenant EDGOOSE on 13 December 1660. It seems that each took a moiety, COLLYER the western half and EDGOOSE the eastern. By January 1676 Thomas MAYNE, merchant, had acquired almost the whole of EDGOOSE's plot, while Sir Thomas LYNCH and Nicholas HICKS, another merchant, had acquired COLLYER's land.
(Pawson, Michael, and Buisseret, David: Port Royal, Jamaica. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1975 page 92)
(B.L. Add MS 12423 Folio 99)
(I.R.O. Deeds Liber VI, page 139)
3 July 1661 Point Cagua. Orders of the Governor and Council of Jamaica:
"That Major FAIRFAX, Captain BURROUGHS and Mr. POVEY report of Lieutenant EDGOOSE's business."
(PRO Colonial Entry Book xxxiv 5-8)
Plat Number 120 dated 7 April 1662 and Plat Number 59 dated 23 June 1662 record that COLLYER and EDGOOSE were neighbouring land holders of Lt. Coll. Henry ARCHBOULD.
(Real Estate Transactions before 1692 Earthquake, City of Port Royal, Jamaica)
"Jamaica. John POPHAM & George BURROUGH - N.59
Surveyed and Set out to John POPHAM A parcel of Land on point Cagway bounding Southward to Queen Street Sixty feet, Northwd. Sixty feet, Westward Sixty feet, on the Land of of Lt. Collo. ARCHBOLE & Eastward Sixty feet on the Land of COLLIER & EDGOES
Dated on Cagway the 29th. March 1662. [signed] John MAN Surveyor
I Do hereby Assigne and Sett over unto George BURROUGHS of Point Cagway All my Right Tythe and Interest in this Certificate As Witness my hand this 23d. of June
John W POPHAM Signum
Test Wm. LONG"
(Jamaica Archives Unit 1B/11/2/28 folio 112)
"Jamaica. Capt. COLLYER N.37
Surveyed and Set out to Capt. Antho: COLLYER A parcel of Land on point Cagway Bounding Southward to Queen Street Forty One feet Northward forty one feet to the Harbor Side Eastward One hundred Eighty Two feet to the Land of John POPHAM & westward One hundred Eighty two feet to the Land of Lt. Collo. Henry ARCHBOLE
Cagway the 7th. Aprill 1662 John MAN Survey[o]r 118"
(Jamaica Archives Unit 1B/11/2/28 folio 31)
"Jamaica. John POPHAM N. 61
Surveyed and Set out to John POPHAM A parcel of Land on point Cagway bounding Southward to Queen Street forty one feet And Northward to the Harbor Side fourty one feet Westward One hundred Eighty two feet to the Land of Capt. Antho. COLLIER & Eastward One hundred Eighty two feet to the Land of Hum. FREEMAN Collo BARRY and Hen: SWEETING. This is the halfe of Capt. COLLIER & Lt EDGOES their Order Sould by Said EDGOES to the Said John POPHAM Dated on Cagway the 23d. June 1662"
(Jamaica Archives Unit 1B/11/2/28/ folio 118)
16 April 1662. Minutes of the Council of Jamaica:
"That the place and fees conferred on lieutenant John EDGOOSE by Major FAIRFAX, Captain BURROUGHS and Secretary POVEY be allowed."
(PRO Colonial Entry Book xxxiv 40-44)
Note: Major Thomas FAIRFAX, Council of 12, Port Royal, 18 June 1661.
12 September 1662 Point Cagway, Jamaica. Minutes of the Council of Jamaica:
"Resolved, that men be enlisted for a design by sea with the Centurion and other vessels, provided they be not servants or persons who sell or desert their plantations for the purpose; that Captain JOYE receive £ 40 from Secretary POVEY for buying twenty horses, to form a troop for his Excellency's guard, each man to be paid 2s per diem; that the inhabitants in Point Cagway appoint a nightly watch of eight or ten under Lieutenant EDGOOSE; that the field officers appoint their inferior officers until they be commissioned; and that Constantine LYTTELTON receive a commission as justice of the peace."
(PRO Colonial Entry Book xxxvii 17-19)
28 October 1662 Point Cagua, Jamaica. Minutes of the Council of Jamaica:
"Lieutenant EDGOOSE to bring in his power for the water-bailiff's place."
(PRO Colonial Entry Book xxxvii 20)
A Patent No. 171 dated 7 November 1664 records that Henry ARCHBOULD had land at Point Cagway neighbouring that of COLLYER and EDGOOSE.
(Real Estate Transactions before 1692 Earthquake, City of Port Royal, Jamaica)
(Jamaica Archive Unit 1B/11/1/1 folio 82b
An undated Index Card refers to COLLYER, Coll. Henry ARCHBOULD, George BURROUGH (Plat Number 59), John POPHAM (Plat Number 61), and to Simon EDGOOSE.
(Real Estate Transactions before 1692 Earthquake, City of Port Royal, Jamaica)
"Jamaica
Surveyed and Sett Forth for Lieut Henry ARCHBOULD according to order Fifty Acres of Land in Liguania in the Parish of St. Andrew bounded round with Savanna West John PERRATT Mr John MAIXWELL and So.
Edw[ar]d BARRY this 21st February 1664 Pr. me Wm. LONG Surveyor"
Whilst not listed amongst the neighbours the plan shows the name Lieut. ED GOOSE (sic) in the north eastern corner.
(Jamaica Archives Unit, 1B/11/2/1 folio 3)
According to a letter from the Jamaica Archives dated 6 March 2002 a search of some of their records revealed a grant of land to John EDGOOSE dated 1666.
(Jamaica Archives Unit, Patents 1B/11/1/2 folio 153)
A Pardon was granted to John EDGOOSE and enrolled on 20 June 1667:
"Charles The Second by the Grace of god of England, Scotland, France, And Ireland King And of the Island of Jamaica Lord, Defender of the faith & To Whome thes presents shall Come health &c
Know yee that of our speciall Grace, meere Motion, and Certaine knowledge wee have pardoned remised and released, and by thes presents, doe pardon remise, and Release John EDGOOSE of port Royal in our Island of Jamaica vintner of a Certaine Man slaughter whereof hee was Convicted of A Jury, at A Court of sessions held in our towne of port Royall the Ninth day of aprill in the Nineteenth Yeare of our Reigne, as alsoe of all indictments penalties forfeitures And farther prosecutions touching the same, and farther out of more Speciall Grace & favour Certaine Knowledge and meere Motion wee Doe Give and Grant for us our heires & Successors And by thes presents wee Restore unto the said John EDGOOSE all and Singular the Goods & CChattles, Reall, personall, or mixt, which by Reason of his Conviction aforesaid have been or ought to have been Seized for us, or to our use, the said John EDGOOSE to have Receave and Enjoy the Same, into Whose hands soener they may have Come tto his owne use and behoofe, Without any Composition, or Rendering any thing therefore to us, Our heires, or Successors and our Will and pleasure that thes our Letters, pattents, and our pardon therein Contayned shall be held good and Sufficientt, in the Law, for the pardoning of the Said Crime above Mentioned Notwith Standing, any Error or mistake in the Recitall of the Same, wt soever any Stattuts laws or Customes Seeming to the Contrary Notwthg standing, And farther our more Speciall Grace, Wee Strictly Charge And Command, all our Judges, Justices, officers and all other before Whome this our pardon shall be pleaded, that the Same shall bee Construed, Interpreted and Expounded And Adjudged in all our Courts in the most Beneficiall & Benign Sence, and for the most firme Discharge, of the said John EDGOOSE According to our true intention, without any Ambiguity, question or delay, and in as Ample manner and form to all intents, and purposses, as If the saide Crime by the said John EDGOOSE had Never been Committed And that these Letters pattents, and the pardon therein Contained, bee allowed of before all our Justices wth out further delay, In Witnes where of thes our Letters pattents wee have made patent Witnes Sir Thomas MODYFORD Barronett Governor of our Said Island of Jamaica the twenteith Day of June in the Nineteenth Yeare of our Reigne &c."
(Jamaica Archives 1B/11/1/2 folio 153a and 153b)
Patent 1B/11/1/4 Folio 218 dated 1670 refers to a land grant to an Elizabeth EDGOOSE in St. Andrew.
(E-mail from Racquel Stratchan of the Archives Unit, Spanish Town, Jamaica, 4 April 2013)
By June 1670 he had been promoted to Captain. As Captain EDGEGOOSE he was in charge of a Company in the Major General's Regiment with 53 private soldiers and ten infantry officers serving under him.
(Taken from 'Sketch Pedigrees of some of the Early Settlers of Jamaica' by Noel B. Livingstone, Part V: 'List of the Trained Bands taken in June 1670')
This excerpt from Michael Pawson's and David Buisseret's 'Port Royal, Jamaica' proves that he was still alive in 1671:
"The 'flux' (bacillary dysentery) often seems to have been aggravated by excessive consumption of liquor.......... The fate of John COVENTRY offers us a good example of this. Nephew of Sir William COVENTRY, JOHN set out for America in 1671, probably in order to establish himself on one of the northern plantations. His ship was however obliged to put in at Jamaica, where she no doubt required considerable repairs, since he had to unload his possessions. What happened next is best told in the words of a letter from Sir Thomas LYNCH to Sir Charles LYTTLETON, dated 'Jamaica, 27 September 1671':
"It seems Monday he could not get from the Point, but at night with a mate and passenger fell into a debauche that made him sicke. The next daye he fell desperately ill; he lay at Captain EDGOOSE's a very good house, and Mr. THORNTON took care that he had the best doctors...[but still he died]"
(Coventry Papers, Volume 104, Folio 249)
The Will of John EDGOOSE (abreviations expanded, surnames capitalised):
"EDGOOSE Jno. Will.
In the Name of God Amen I John EDGOOSE of P[or]tt Royall Gent[leman] being sick and weak but of firm and p[er]fect mind and memory Praised be God do make and ordain this my last Will and Testam[en]t in manner following
first and priniacpally [principally?] I recommend my soul into the mercifull hands of Almighty God and my body committed to the Earth from whence it came to be decenty buried at the discretion of my Ex[ecut]ors undernamed or one of them and as for my Worldly Estate I make this disposition following
first I will that my Debts and funerall expences be paid and discharged
Item I give and bequeath unto Elizabeth my wife my Dwelling house at P[or]tt Royall with all the Household Goods thereto belonging and my plantation at Liguinia [Liguanea, Kingston] with the ten Negroes thereto belonging Also one Silver Basen cocontaining about two Quarts with six Silver Spoons, half my Stock of Goats at Liguinia with five Cows which shall first happen to Calve after my decease & one Horse & one Mare To have and to hold the said house plantation negroes goods & Chattels unto the said Elizabeth during the term of her natural life if she continue single and unmarried but if she happen to Marry then my Will and mind and I do hereby order that she shall quitt the possession of my said dwelling house plantation anand Negroes to my Executors under named whom I desire to improve the same to the most advantage they can and the produce thereof (all charges deducted) I give the one half thereof to my said Wife during her natural life and the other half thereof unto my Son Simon unto whom I give the whole after her decease [one word illegible]
Item I give and bequeath unto my said Son Symon all and singular lands tenam[en]ts Goods & Chatells whatsoever To have and to hold all the said premises to my said Son his heirs Ex[ecut]ors Admin[istrators] and Assigns to his and their own use for ever But my Will is th[a]t my Ex[ecut]ors have the Guardianship of the Estate & him untill he be of the Age of 21 Years Maintaining him in the mean time out of the same
Item for the better Securing to my said Son the p[ar]te of my Estate (before given my Wife during her life) my Will and mind is that she shall have no proof possession right or title untill She have first given in Security such as my Ex[ecut]ors shall approve of that she will deliver up to them my said dwelling house Plantation and negroes if she happen to Marry and Accept of the half produce thereof as aforesaid And that they by Bonds further Oblige her not to make away or imberle [imperil?] the Estate hereby given her during life more than for her necessary maintenance And at her death quietly to leave and deliver up the same to my Ex[ecut]ors for use of my Son as aforesaid
Item my mind and Will is that what I have hereby given my Wife shall be in full Barr of all Dower thirds or other rights and title she shall or may demand of my Estate Provided always and my true meaning is that if she refuse to deliver up to m my Ex[ecut]ors on Demand All my plate ready Money and Estate or if she refuse to give Security as aforesaid or shall not release all her right of Dower thirds &ct in such forme as my said Ex[ecut]ors shall Advise Then I give and bequeath unto my said Wife only the plate aforegiven
but no other p[ar]te or p[ar]cell of my Estate any thing aforesaid or any law or Custom to the Contrary notwith standing
Item I do make and ordain my honored friends Francis HARISON Gent[leman], Cesar CARTER and Mr. Anthony SWIMMER Merchants Ex[ecut]ors of this my Will and give unto them as a token of my respect two of my best Horses th[a]t is to say one to each of the said Francis HARISON and the other to the said Anthony SWIMMER
And lastly I do hereby revoke all former Wills and ratify this to be my only last Will and testament
In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and Seal this 18th day of February 1672 in the xxvth year of the reign of King Charles the Second
the Mark of John EDGOOSE
Signed Sealed published and declared these words (-vizt.) Francis HARISON Gent(leman) being first interlined in presence of us the name of Caesar CARTER being also interlined
Antho BOURCHEIR Jo HOCKENHULL
This day appeared before me the above written Jo HOCKENHULL and Anthony BOUCHEIR and made Oath that they did see the above named John EDGOOSE Sign Seal and deliver the writing above mentioned as his Act and deed and at the same time the said Jo. EDGOOSE to the best of their knowledge was of sound and perfect memory. Sworn before me this 4th day of March 1672/3 Tho. LYNCH
Enrolled the 27th Oct[obe]r 1673
Charles the second by the Grace of God of England Scotland france & Ireland King & of Jamaica Lord defender of the faith &c To all to whom these presents shall come Greeting Know ye th[a]t upon the 4th March 1672/3 before the right Hon[oura]blle Sir Tho LYNCH Bart his Ma[jes]ties Lt. Governor & Commander in Chief of the aforesaid Island of Jamaica and Chief Judge for probate of Wills and granting Administrations the last Will and Testam[en]t of John EDGOOSE deceased was at St. Jago ddde la Vega in common form proved which Will is to these presents annexed and the Administration of all and singular the Goods Chatells and Credits of the said deceased which any manner of ways [indecypherable] him as his said Will was granted and committed to Francis HARISON Gent[leman] and Anthony SWIMMER Merchant named in the said Will they first having taken their Oaths well and truly to administer the said Goods Chattels and Creditts according to the tenor and affect of the said Wi Will and to make or cause to be made a true and p[er]fect inventory of all and Singular the goods Chattels and Creditts of the said dec[ease]d which shall any way whatsoever come to their hands possession or knowledge And further do make a Jusst A Accompt of their said Administration therein at or before [date blank] next and all the rest and residue of the said Goods Chattels & Creditts which shall be found remaining after the said Administrators Accompt the same being first examineed anand allowed of by the Judge or Judges for the time being of the said Court shall deliver and pay unto such persons respectively as the said Judge by his or their decree and sentence P[ur]suant to the true meaning of an Act of Parliam[en]t in that behalf made shall [indecypherable] and appoint
Given at P[or]tt. Royal this 4th March 1672/3 Tho LYNCH
Passed the Secr[etary]s Office by me James BARCLAY Dep[u]ty Secr[etar]y Enrolled the 27th of October 1673
(Registrar General's Department, Jamaica. Liber New Series Vol. 1, folio 120 1673)
NOTES & QUERIES:
Port Cagway = Port Royal. There is still a Queen Street in the surviving portion of Port Royal today, near the harbour side.
(Source: e-mail from Steve Porter 02.02.2002)
Caesar CARTER was a vintner, victualler, or tavern keeper at Port Royal in 1664 and a churchwarden there in 1667.
(Michael Pawson and David Buisseret's "Port Royal, Jamaica" Appendices 4 and 6)
Anthony SWIMMER was a merchant at Port Royal in 1674.
(Ibid, Appendix 4)
(revised 09.02.2026)
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