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- In 1639 two men, father and son, named Crowe (later changed to Crowell) came to Yarmouth from Charlestown. John Crowe settled on the north side of the new town, Yelverton on the south. They purchased this land from Sachem Massamtampagne. Yelverton acquired land stretching from what is now Parker's River westward for a mile and nearly an equal distance from Nantucket Sound Island. It included a small peninsula which became known as Great Island, plus tillable land on the mainland as well as salt marshes valuable for producing livestock fodder. One description puts his total landholding at nearly three square miles, although that may be a slight exaggeration.
Yelverton built a house just north of the connection to Great Island, slightly west of a pathway which soon became "South Lane" and which is now "South Sea Avenue". By 1641 he had married Elizabeth (Hammond?). They had several children: John, born 1642; Samuel: twins Elizabeth and Thomas, born May 9, 1649; and Edward.
In 1643 Yelverton was on the town's list of men entitled to bear arms, but was not yet a freeman or voter. By 1656 he served on a grand jury, and two years later he appeared on a list of Yarmouth freemen. He then rose politically, being a "deputy" or repersentative to the Plymouth Colony General Court, from 1663 to 1666. The following year he was a Yarmouth selectman.
He seems to have gained some economic prominence. Near the end of his life he was assessed four pounds and one shilling toward Yarmouth's costs for King Phillip's War. This shows him in the upper half of the town's taxpayers. The records also note Yelverton Crowe as receiving one pound seven shillings for service in that war. This seems a bit questionable since he was then about sixty-five years old, rather aged for military service.
After forty-five years at South Sea, he died on October 24, 1683, while Elizabeth outlived him by twenty years, until November 1703. Although the house where they lived soon disappeared, their direct descendants lived nearby for many generations. When Yelverton made his will in 1670 he signed it "Yelverton Crowell alias Crowe". It appears that in early days he was known as "Crowe", but gradually changed to using "Crowell", which became the standard usage until the present.
(taken from West Yarmouth, A Village Ignored (1639-1939) by Laurence L. Barber)
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The Back Rhodes of Our Genealogy
Abt 1615 - 1683 (~ 68 years)
