The Earle family : Ralph Earle and his descendants

l8 THE EARLE FAMILY [First
The following is extracted from the records of Portsmouth,
R. I.:
" April y e 30 th , 1639.
We, whose names are under [written, doe acknowledge*] our- -
selves the legell subjects of [his majestie] King Charles, and in his
name [doe hereby binde] ourzelves into a civill body politicke, unto,
his lawes according to matters of justice."
This declaration was signed by twenty-nine men, of whom Ralph
Earlef was one. January 7, 1640, it was ordered at a town meeting
that he and his co-partner, Mr. Wilbur, " shall serve the town with
good sufficient stuff, viz : well sawn boards at eight shillings the
hundred, and half inch boards at seven shillings, to be delivered at
the pit by the waterside."
March 21, 1640, Ralph conveyed to William Baulstone " parcells
of upland and meadow."
In the record of a town meeting held August 26, 1647, it is stated
that he was " chosen to keep an Inn to sell beer and wine, and to
entertain strangers"; and at another held June 2, 1649, he was
" chosen Treasurer for this year next insuing, and also overseer of
the poor."
At a similar meeting on the 29th of April, 1650, Ralph and five
others were chosen " for the committee for the Genei'al Assembly at
Newport in May next." On the 12th of November, 1650, it was
" voated & granted that Ralph Erl's house wherein he now dwelleth
be recorded & Inn, in y e room of y e former vote that he was an Innkeeper
" ; on the 19th of January, 1651, he and three others were
chosen " to proportion every man's farm," &c, for the purpose of
assessing a tax for the support of a poor man ; and on the 3d of June,
165 1, he was again elected town treasurer.
*.A part of the record is torn off, and it has been supplied on the town's
book by the words in brackets.
t This name in all the very earliest records is written with the final e, but the
orthography soon begins to vary and runs into the several forms— Earl, Earll,
Erl and Erie.
In minor branches of the family the two forms Earle and Earl have been
continued to the present day; and in central New York there are many
families whose descent from Ralph is indicated by circumstantial evidence,
but has not been positively demonstrated, who now write their names Earll.
In this compilation the orthography of living families is that which is used
by them, wherever it is known, and it will be seen that it sometimes varies in
individuals of the same family.