Genealogy of the Olmsted family in America : embracing the ...

xvi Olmsted Family Genealogy
fondness for adventure, it is safe to surmise that some of our ancestors, at
least, rallied under the de Vere star round the banners of the red rose.
These were troublous times in England, but the private fortunes of the
Olmsteds were not entirely undermined by the affairs of state, for m 1565 we
find one, John Olmsted of Bumpsted-Helion, purchasing the manors of Horsdens,
Caxton and Pentlow, formerly the property of Edward, Lord Wmdsor by
right of his wife, Catherine, daughter of John de Vere. And in 1576 we find
this same John Olmsted, Master of the Horse to the Earl of Oxford at Castle
Hedingham, making another purchase of considerable importance, that of the
site and mansion house of Stansted Hall. This John Olmsted, called the
" Spendthrift," was not one of our lineal ancestors, as he left only daughters,
but he was one of the blood, and his traits are not as yet extinct, I understand.
As to our direct ancestors, we have been able, by the aid of the church
records of Fairsted and of Great Leighs, to trace descent, with a reasonable
degree of accuracy, from one, Richard Olmsted, born about 1430, whose descendant
James married Alice and had three sons, of whom James, Jr., born
about 1550, by his wife Jane Bristow, was father of another James, the Colonist,
and of Richard, the father of the three young emigrants who accompanied
their Uncle James to New England, namely, Richard, John and Rebecca.
The cause of the emigration of our Puritan forefathers from England to
America is a matter of historical record, but it may not be amiss to recall the
subject here.
During the last half of the reign of Queen Elizabeth a great change had
come oyer the people of England. As Green puts it, " England became the
people of a book, and that book was the Bible." Even the love of pure letters
of the Renaissance gave way to the love of this book. It was in everybody's
home, and its influence upon the mind and conscience of the people
was amazing. " A new conception of life and of man superseded the old."
" Theology rules there," said Grotius, speaking of England .'shortly after
Elizabeth's death.
A certain gravity of demeanor disclosed itself even in the country gentlemen
like our ancestors, whose diversions before this had been of the lighter
sort, such as hawking, fencing and dancing. The brilliancy of dress of the
Renaissance disappeared. A more sober vestment characterized the Puritans,
and an increasing fondness for simplicity in all things, but especially in the
forms of worship. Most of the Puritans were undesirous of separating themselves
from the Church of England, but they attempted to "purify" it from
within, and to simplify its ritual, which reminded them of popery. They
refused to wear the surplice, to baptize with the sign of the cross, to bow at the
name of Jesus, to make use of the ring in the marriage ceremony, and to
acknowledge the divine authority of the episcopate.
Elizabeth had tried in vain to force her people into an acceptance of the
church administration that she prescribed, and had gone so far as to execute
certain non-conformists.
Then came James, the hope of the Puritans, but, although educated as a
Presbyterian, upon his accession to the throne he "renounced the Calvinistic
sympathies he had cherished in Scotland," and turned a deaf ear to the pleas
of his Puritan subjects.
It was about this time that the Separatist congregation at Scrooby
succeeded in leaving England, and settled for a brief while in Holland, whither
a portion set sail for the New World in the Mayflower, landing at Plymouth,
Dec. 21, 1620.