The English ancestry of Reinold and Matthew Marvin of Hartford, Ct ...

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The English Ancestry of
Some incidents in the history of this old town and its
Church, which occurred in the time of Thomas and Anne
Marvin, may be of interest. When the dissolution of the
religious houses was ordered by Henry VIII, the right of
advowson of Dovercourt and its Chapel at Harwich was
taken from the Priory of Colne, and came to the crown.
The Wardens of St. Nicholas, as Dale tells us, took advan-
tage of the unsettled state of affairs, and, in the reign of
Edward VI, stripped it of many of its possessions ; one hun-
dred and eighty ounces of silver were taken away, with
"many of its vestments and ornaments, the very altar-stone,
and organ-case, and almost all things they could make money
of." But "in August, 1553, by order of Queen Mary, the
Parish was obliged to furnish new vestments, a new altar,
surplices, candlesticks, censers, pax, etc.," in place of those
which had been sold or destroyed. On 15 June, 1555, oc-
curred the martyrdom of Bamford, Watts and others, who
were sent to Harwich to be burned at the stake, for oppos-
ing the teachings of the Roman Church and the return to
power of its clergy.
The curate of St. Nicholas, when Thomas Marvin died,
was " Sir Robert " — Sir was a title of dignity often given to
the clergy at that period* — but Newcourt does not mention
him. He must have succeeded to the cure soon after the
departure of John Roberts, who became Vicar of St. Nicho-
las, 24 December, 1533, but went to " All-Hallows-the-Wall,"
London, 28 December, 1547, about which date Richard
* See Will of John Marvin, Sr„ p. 37, supra.