Person Page 1,038

Tryphosa (q.v. Triphosa) Lee was b. circa 1597-8, the dau. of unknown parents. On Jan. 2, 1621 at Leiden, Holland (Dutch calendar; Jan. 2, 1620/1 in the English calendar), Tryphosa as a "jongedochter mede uyt Engelant" (unmarried young dau. out of England) m. Stephen Tracy, a "saeywercker jongman uyt Engelant" (sayworker, young man out of England.) The witnesses to the marriage were Anthony Clements for Stephen and Rose Jennings for Tryphosa. Their eldest known child, dau. Sarah, was born by Jan. 1622/3 likely at England when Sarah's parents were preparing to sail to Plymouth, Mass. on either the "Ann" or companion "Little James." Those ships arrived at Plymouth in April 1623, but Stephen Tracy sailed without his wife and child. Tryphosa and dau. Sarah stayed behind as confirmed by a license issued by England's Exchequer May 1, 1624, which permitted Tryphosa, then 27 years old, and dau. Sarah, 15 months old, to purportedly return to Leiden (see more about this in Stephen Tracy's memorial).

Some have theorized that Tryphosa is related to Bridget Lee and her brother Samuel Lee, the known children of "Joos" (i.e., Josephine) Lee. Bridget Lee, with brother Samuel and mother Josephine (Joos in Dutch) as witnesses, m. in May 1617 at Leiden the twice widowed Dr. Samuel Fuller. Bridget's brother Samuel was betrothed to the widow Sarah Talcot at Leiden Mar. 27, 1621, and at his marriage two weeks later (two months after the marriage of Stephen Tracy & Tryphosa Lee) Samuel's sister Bridget (Lee) Fuller was a witness as the bride's future sister-in-law. Dr. Samuel Fuller was a passenger of the 1620 voyage of the Mayflower while wife Bridget (Lee) Fuller arrived at Plymouth in 1621 aboard the ship "Fortune." Dr. Fuller d. at Plymouth in 1633 and in his 1633 recorded will he mentions that wife Bridget was sick. If wife Bridget did not survive, his two young children were to be taken and raised by William and Priscilla Wright of Plymouth, not by his supposed brother-in-law Stephen Tracy and his wife Tryphosa Lee. No record exists at Leiden that links Tryphosa (Lee) Tracy as a sibling of Bridget (Lee) Fuller of Plymouth, Mass. and the latter's brother Samuel Lee of Leiden, Holland. There is no record in the Plymouth Colony in which Dr. Fuller and Stephen Tracy are joined in mutual land or civil affairs, and no known descendant within three generations of Dr. Fuller married a known descendant of Stephen Tracy.

There are some internet sources that claim Tryphosa was a daughter of Joos Lee (of unknown Dutch ancestry) and Ann Hungerford (of English ancestry, d/o Anthony Hungerford and Bridget Shelley), and further indicate (Mormon Church research) that Tryphosa is "sealed" to these parents. Unfortunately, as stated above the name "Joos Lee" in Leiden marriage records was the mother, not father, of Bridget Lee and her brother Samuel and neither the father nor mother of Tryphosa (Lee) Tracy.

An additional writer on the Stephen Tracy family claims Tryphosa was a Huguenot, or French Protestant, from the region of modern Belgium. On its face this is contradicted by Tryphosa being described at marriage as "out of England." The Huguenot claim is based on her surname at marriage having been recorded by the Dutch as "Le." A surname of "Le" has no meaning as a precursor to being a French Protestant. Until the 18th century the Dutch used patronymics as surnames referring to a Dutch man or women as the child of their father by name (e.g., Gerrit Hendricksen (now Blauvelt); Gerrit, son of Hendrick) or if recording a person from a different country the Dutch used the actual family surname. If Tryphosa was a French Huguenot, writing only "Le" means her father's surname is incomplete. In French, "Le" is the feminine form of "the." Accordingly, there is no documented support for the claim Tryphosa was of French Huguenot origin.

Stephen Tracy, Sr., father of Stephen Tracy the Plymouth Colony settler, d. testate on Dec. 22, 1630 at Great Yarmouth on the southeast coast of Norfolkshire, England. In the English records the surname is variously written as Trace, Tracie, Tracye & Tracy. The significance to the memorialist of the elder Tracy's will is not only as being a descendant but also the name of the second witness to his will.

As reported in the literature, on behalf of a descendant in 1929 the respected Phillmore & Company, Ltd. of London provided research and a pedigree for Stephen's son Stephen denoting that Stephen Tracy, Jr. was bapt. on Dec. 28, 1596 at Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, the fifth child and fourth son of Stephen Tracy and Agnes Erdley. At Great Yarmouth the elder Tracy is called a mariner in his will of Oct. 25, 1630. Unfortunately, neither Stephen junior nor any of his own family are included in the will. It has been presumed that Stephen junior's lack of mention is either the result of his joining the Separatists at Leiden, Holland then venturing to the Plymouth Colony, or because he received his portion of his father's estate upon venturing to the Plymouth Colony in 1623. An abstract of the elder Stephen Tracy's will follows:

October 25, 1630. Stephen Tracy of Great Yarmouth, Co. Norf. Mariner.
• My body to be buried where it please God.
• To Annas my wife my dwelling house in Yarmouth for life & then to be sold by Robert Vivens of Great Yarmouth merchant & Robert Allen of the same town, mariner, or by the Bailiffs of the said Town and proceeds divided as follows:
• To William Trace my son ¼, Thomas Trace my son ¼, John Trace my son ¼, and to my two daughters Annas and Margaret Tracy ¼ between them equally.
• Residue to my wife Annas, sole executrix.
• To Robert Vivens & Robert Allen 20/ [e.g., 20 shillings] each.
• Witnesses: Henry Fellis, John Robinson.
• Proved 27 Jan. 1630/1 by the executrix.
(Archdeaconry of Norwich.)

The widow Annas, or Agnes, Tracy died at Great Yarmouth on June 15, 1640.

The second witness, John Robinson, may have been Dr. John Robinson, Jr., elder son of the late Rev. John Robinson, pastor of the Leiden Separatists and Plymouth Colony pilgrims, and brother of Isaac Robinson of Barnstable, Mass. On May 5, 1630, John Robinson, Jr. graduated with a degree in medicine from the University of Caen in Normandy, France. Then on April 5, 1633, Dr. Robinson matriculated for the second time at Leiden University at Leiden, Holland, making the acquaintance of Dr. Thomas Browne, later Sir Thomas Browne. Dr. Browne would become an apparent life-long friend to Dr. Robinson when both returned to England to practice medicine and reside alternately at London and Norwich in Norfolkshire.

Great Yarmouth was one of several key ports on the southeast coast of England providing direct passage to northwest France and the Netherlands. Given the younger Stephen Tracy's association with the Separatists at Leiden, Dr. Robinson's presence at the home of the elder Stephen Tracy two months before his death would not be a stretch of the imagination, particularly if the elder Tracy was then suffering from an illness preceding his death. If the original will of the elder Tracy could be located with original signatures of the witnesses, then witness John Robinson's signature could be compared to a copy of the reputed signature of Dr. John Robinson, Jr. in the memorialist's possession.

Stephen Tracy, Sr. and wife Anna {q.v., Annas, Agnes} Erdley's son:

v. Stephen Tracy, Jr., bapt. Dec. 28, 1596 at Great Yarmouth, England, d. on or after Mar. 20, 1654/5, the date of his will written at London, England (in the form of a power of attorney to John Winslow of Plymouth, Mass.) He m. at Leiden, Holland on Jan. 2, 1621 in the Dutch calendar (Jan. 2, 1620/1 in the old English calendar), Tryphosa Lee. They had six children, the eldest b. prob. in England just before Stephen departed without wife Triphosa for Plymouth, Mass., the rest after wife Triphosa likely arrived at Plymouth in 1624.