On 20th April 1684 Samuel Ogbourne weaver was tried in London for being involved in unlawful religious worship, to which he pleaded guilty along with various others (see details below). He was fined £6.13.4 (a tidy sum in those days) and was committed to the New Prison at Clerkenwell to remain there until the fine was paid.

This raises a question of whether this Samuel Ogbourne is the same person who settled in New Jersey later that year, and married a Quaker girl named Jane Curtis.

Advice has been sought from the Library of the Library of the Religious Society of Friends, London, “it would appear that the case could refer to a Quaker Meeting as the conventicle act was heavily used against Quakers in this period.” however further enquiries have failed to turn up any mention of Samuel Ogbourne in Quaker records of this period, and it is therefore possible that the meeting was of another non-conformist kind.

In other cases in the same year references are made to ships departing from London for America, though it is common knowledge that was happening on a regular basis.

Editor’s note: Whilst it is not absolute proof that this Samual Ogbourne was one and the same man who settled in New Jersey in 1684, my feeling is that it is very likely to be so. Questions follow as to where Samuel and Jane met, and where they were married. Could they have met en route to North America ? We would welcome views on this.

We have said in this website for many years that we considered Samual likely to have come from Middlesex, and further efforts would be worthwhile to tryto trace any other information in this area prior to 1684.

The records of the case read as follows:.

20 April, 36 Charles II.—True Bills, on five several parchments, for being present at a conventicle held at Stepney co. Midd. between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. on the said day, under colour of performing acts of religious adoration, against Jonathan Joyner cloth-dyer, Thomas Powell milliner, Benjamin White yeoman, Benjamin Bennet tailor, Alexander Ayres taylor, Samuel Ogbourne weaver, Stephen Deyton taylor, Jasper Clarke silkeweaver, John Case glover, Marcus Keys throwster, John Varreny weaver, Hugh Light sawyer, William Atkins taylor, John Cliffe taylor, Benjamin Painter frame-worker, Moses Collins carpenter, Jaabesse Boston pewterer, Richard Lugg blacksmith, John Collyer carpenter, Henry Norris tobacco-cutter, John Wells tobacco-cutter, Paul Every weaver, Thomas Pearse weaver, Benjamin Wottle cordwinder, William Peale cabinett-maker, Peter Tadley thred-throwster, Edward Johnson taylor, Edward Sherley cordwinder, John Rimmington cordwinder, William Marshall frameworke-knitter, George Winckles porter, Joseph Tayler thredman, Daniel Pillimore silke-weaver, John Jeffryes dyer, John Moldyn cordwinder, Timothy Bisse woolcomer, Cuthbert Holloway laborer, and John Cordred lath-cleaver. Found ‘Guilty’ by a jury on 30 June, 1684, Jonathan Joyner was fined £26 13s. 4d.; found ‘Guilty’ on the same day, Thomas Powell was fined £40., and each of them was committed to the New Prison at Clerkenwell, there to remain, until he should have paid the fine put upon him. Benjamin White was fined 6s. 8d., which he paid to the Sheriff in court.

Benjamin Bennett, Alexander Ayres, Samuel Ogbourne, Stephen Deyton, Jasper Clarke, Mark Keys, John Varreny, and Hugh Light all eight confessed the indictment, and were each fined £6 13s. 4d., each of the eight being committed to the New Prison at Clarkenwell, there to remain till his fine should have been paid. John Case pleaded ‘Not Guilty.’ William Atkins, Richard Lugg, John Collyer, Henry Norris, John Wells, all five confessed the indictment, and were each fined £6 13s. 4d., each of them being committed to the New. Prison at Clarkenwell, there to remain until he should pay his fine. John Cliffe confessed the indictment and was fined 3s. 4d., which he paid to the Sheriff in court. Moses Collins confessed the indictment, and was fined £6 13s. 4d., (?) and was committed to the New Prison at Clarkenwell, there to remain until he should have paid the fine. Jaabesse Boston confessed the indictment, and was fined 6s. 8d., which he paid to the Sheriff in court. No clerical minute touching subsequent proceedings in the case against Benjamin Painter. Paul Every, Thomas Pearse, Peter Tadley, Edward Johnson, Edward Sherley, and John Rimmington, all seven confessed the indictment, and were each fined £6 13s. 4d., and each of them was committed to the New Prison at Clarkenwell, there to remain until he should have paid the fine put upon him.

William Peale pleaded ‘Not Guilty,’ but on 30 June, 1684, he was found ‘Guilty’ by a jury, fined £13 6s. 8d., anc committed to the New Prison at Clarkenwell, there to remain until he should have paid the fine. Of Benjamin Wottle the clerical annotatoi of the indictment tells nothing, save that he pleaded ‘Not Guilty. William Marshall, George Winckles, Joseph Tayler, Daniel Pillimore, John Jeffryes, John Moldyn, Timothy Bisse, and John Cordred, all eight confessed the indictment and were each fined £6 13s. 4d., each of the eight being committed to the New Prison at Clerkenwell, there to remain until he should have paid the fine put upon him. On his arraignment Cuthbert Holloway stood mute (dicit nihil), whereupon he was fined £6 13s. 4d., and committed to the New Prison at Clarkenwell, there to remain &c.

S. P. R., 14 May, 36 Charles II. From: ‘Middlesex Sessions Rolls: 1684’, Middlesex county records: Volume 4: 1667-88 (1892), pp. 230-259. See Middlesex County Records. Date accessed: 01 January 2008.