International Cody Family Association

1941 HANDBOOK—DIRECTORY

This scholarly essay examines the evidence discovered by James L. Chapman 282/1 in Hopkinton, Salem and Beverly. Here, Lydia S. 148/22 uses those land and church records along with Mr. Perley's "Beverly in 1700" essay and a family tradition of Huguenot heritage to draw some well-reasoned, but premature conclusions.

However, she misses the opportunity to mention a well-known figure, the comtemporary of Philip 1 and likely his patron. Namely, Phillippe L'Anglois a.k.a. Philip English, a Jerseyman who became Salem's leading merchant of the day as told in Perley's "History of Salem" et al, and by sources in Jersey. That character explains much about how and why our Philip and Martha came to Salem.

In 1953, Ernest William 258/25, through Frank Le Maistre, learned that land and parish records show our Lescaude family's presence on Jersey for 6 generations before Philip 1. Ernest presented these Jersey Findings to the Association and they were unanimously accepted. In 1957, he wrote "The Piercing of the Veil", published in the 1986 genealogy "Five Generations".

Nevertheless, the assertion that English was Philip's second language stands. The milieu of Jersey is very French and certainly the Norman French dialect was spoken in the home. But consider that the royal grant of free trade and open ports brought the news of the world in different languages to the quays where merchants and sailors translated goods into profit. That the Jersiaise be multilingual and cosmopolitan, but at the same time rustic and traditional, is the lot of islanders adrift on the open sea.

History tells us that in the days of Philip's grandfather, Queen Elizabeth I dismissed the Bishop of Coutances and annexed the parishes of Jersey to the Diocese of Winchester, replacing Catholicism with Calvinism and then Anglicanism in the Channel Isles.

So, since Philip and Martha were baptised and confirmed in Protestant churchs and owned land in Beverly, they were expected to apply for membership in the Beverly church. For communicants, transfer letters needed to be presented, a year or two of attendance and then, a public confession. So Philip and Martha went to see Rev. John Hale preach on Sundays, lecture on Thursdays and tithed their share. Rev. Hale had been an expert witness at the witchcraft trials of 1692-93, until his wife was accused. Sarah died in 1697, he wrote a book retracting his testimony and died in 1700.

Turning to the economy of the 1600s, the Channel Islands depended on the free trade of an open port, cider from the island's orchards, fish from the sea and the sheep's wool they knitted into socks. When Sir Walter Raleigh became Govenor, he inaugurated the fishing trade with Newfoundland. He also reorganized the militia, commercialized knitting and built Elizabeth Castle by conscripting the labor of the islanders.

If Philip went to Newfoundland, he would have worshiped in the Fisherman's Chapel and witnessed the traditional annual blessing of the fishing fleet before they sailed for the Banks. Perhaps, our Philip proved himself while fishing there and gained the experience that led to service for Philip English in Salem.

If indeed, they were indentured to Philip English, he would be required to vouch for their piety to the Puritan officials in Salem upon arrival. As his servants, they would live and worship with him as members of his household, until their term expired. Philip English's indictment during the witchcraft hysteria of 1692-93 may account for the delay in their election to the Beverly congregation. With help from friends, Philip and his wife escaped to New York and a year later returned to apologies.

Once in the Massachusetts Bay colony, Philip and Martha would need a good command of English to be accepted by these Calvinists who were at war with the Catholic French, both at home and in Canada as well as Europe. You could well imagine Philip English tutoring them during the voyage to Salem and telling them not to speak French to the colonists after they arrived.

SECTION II
Evidence That Our Philip Was of French Ancestry and Was Scarcely English-
Speaking Upon His Arrival at Beverly

Since, as above abundantly evidenced, our Philip at the time of our earliest record concerning him, and for many years thereafter, pronounced his name with “le” as its initial sound(1), it must reasonably be concluded that “le” was the initial sound of his inherited pronunciation of his surname. But though he inherited the use of “le” with his surname and long continued this usage he, by the evidence of the several Hopkinton records concerning him, discarded this usage when he left Beverly to establish(2) himself at Hopkinton. But, as is well known by students of surnames, where the initial syllable of a surname is “le” and can thus be discarded without detriment to the essential character of the name, it plainly is a word in its own right, qualifying the distinctive part of the name. And, as is commonly known by those at all conversant in French, where “le” is thus used as a word in its own right qualifying another word, it is the French definitive which our English “the” translates. Accordingly where “le” is thus used in a surname as a qualifying word it plainly indicates that the bearer of it is of French descent. By the fact then that our Philip came eventually to discard the initial “le” of the inherited pronunciation of his surname, we know that he recognized it as the French definitive which by its omission could not detract from the distinctive part of his name, which by the evidence of the Essex County deed records, he pronounced gody. And by our Philip’s having inherited a surname with its distinctive part qualified by this French definitive “le” we have specific and definite evidence that he was of French ancestry.
And not only was this ancestor, Philip, of French ancestry, but by certain indications from the records it may be judged that he was born and brought up in a French-speaking community, quite likely in France itself. That Philip was scarcely English-speaking at the time he purchased a home in Beverly — our earliest record of him — seems reasonably evidenced by the peculiar spelling of his name in this deed(3). For here, as above noted, not only does the spelling of his name differ noticeably from the Legody spelling of it in all later deeds while he was a resident of Beverly, but there are variations in the spelling which plainly suggest that the writer of the deed was

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puzzled to know how this name should be written in order to express Philip's pronunciation of it. For this peculiar recording of Philip's name there seems only the explanation that Philip's pronunciation of it was so far foreign-sounding to the English writer of this deed that he could but guess how it should be spelled.
As further evidence that Philip was scarcely English-speaking upon his arrival at Beverly is the fact that only after six(4) years of residence did he and Martha become communicants of its church, as we know by a church record of date 1704-5(4). For, since they were admitted to this church membership as “communicants” and not as converts, scarcely would they have waited so long for this except that they needed time to acquire language of the entirely English-speaking community of Beverly. And by various other indications from the records(5), later to be considered, it must be concluded that Philip and Martha were born in a French-speaking land, probably in France itself, and that there the years of their youth had been spent.

TEXTUAL NOTES TO SECTION II

See presentation of preceding section.
See last Essex County deeds to which he was a party and all Hopkinton records concerning him.
This presented in preceding section.
Home purchased in 1698 and not until 1704-5 did Philip and Martha become communicants. See page 44 of printed copy (1905) of Beverly church records for 1667-1772; here, as above noted, the surname written Codie.
See following section.

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