Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

The Burnell family seems to be an an-
cient one in England, including Barons of
the twelfth century, and introduced in
England by William the Conqueror in
1066. The name was originally de Bur-
nel, and like all names of Norman origin
has been modified by the omission of the
prefix. Sir Roger de Burnel owned lands
in Suffolk, Shropshire, and one of his
worthy descendants built a castle on the
banks of the Severn, still known as Acton-
Burnel Castle. In England the name is
usually spelled with one "1," and accented
on the first syllable, but after its arrival
in this country the unlettered clerks of
early New England gave it multitudes of
terminations, among them Burnal, Burnul,
Burnull, Burnet, and Burnap. William
Burnell, of Yorkshire, was a mem-
ber of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in
1629, and attended one of its meetings in
London in that year. He was soon after
in Boston, whither he came tbout 1630,
and in 1645 a sm P l°a d of goods was consigned
by the Massachusetts Bay Company
to "Goodman William Burnell." He
was the owner of a lot in the old north
end of Boston, opposite Copps Hill Bury-
ing Ground, in which cemetery he is bur-
ied and where many of his descendants
were interred. He died in 1660. He
owned a farm at Pulling's Point, and his
home was on Lot No. 52, North Square.
His first wife, Mary, died November 16,
1645.
Their son, John Burnell, born October
2, 1643, was baptized March 2, 1644, in
the old North Church, of which his par-
ents were members, and lived in Boston,
uniting with the Congregational church
of which his wife, Esther, was also a
member.
Their son, Robert Burnell, born about
1665, appears in Lynn, Massachusetts, in
1690. The records of that town show the
death of his wife, Kathern, September 9,
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
348
1693. He married (second) February 2,
1694. Sarah Chillson, born August 4, 1673,
in Lynn, died there August 13, 1731,
daughter of John and Sarah (Jenkes)
Chillson.
Their eldest child, John Burnell, born
November 1, 1696, in Lynn, lived at Dud-
ley, Massachusetts, where he died in 1744,
and was buried there. In Dudley rec-
ords the name is spelled Burnul and Bur-
null. He married Mehitable Edmonds, in
Lynn, who died February 15, 1769, in
Dudley, daughter of John Edmonds, of
Lynn. Their first three children were
recorded in that town, and they removed
to Dudley soon after 1722. The records
of that town record none of their chil-
dren, but the family records establish the
birth of their son, Joseph Burnell.
Joseph Burnell was born December 19,
1725, in Dudley. In 1760 he purchased
some three hundred acres of land in Ches-
terfield, Massachusetts, upon which lay a
sheet of water with water power and
much timber, including sugar maples. He
erected two mills, one for sawing lumber
and the other for grinding grain, and also
engaged in grinding salt. He died there
September 23, 1807, in his eighty-second
year. He married (intentions published
in Dudley, January 20, 1749) in Dudley,
Hannah Tucker, of-Pomfret, Connecticut.
They were the parents of Joseph Burnell.
Joseph Burnell was born December 13,
1756, in Dudley, and lived in Chesterfield.
He was a skilled artificer and rendered
valuable service to the colonies in the
Revolutionary War. He was a corporal
in Captain Benjamin Bonney's Company,
Colonel Elisha Porter's (Hamp-
shire county) regiment from July 21 to
August 27, 1779, served at New London,
roll dated Chesterfield. He was the
father of Francis Burnell, who married
Sarah Russell.
Calvin Jones Burnell, their son, was