Exerpt from G.E.Cokayne The Complete Peerage

Volume VII,Pages 695-696

The passage concerning Thomas Clinton, 3rd Earl of Lincoln, with those footnotes pertinent to the claimed Harrington descent from this family. It is located between the passages concerning his father and predecessor, Henry, and his 3rd, but 1st surviving son and sucessor, Theophilus.

XVIII. 1616. 3. THOMAS (CLINTON, otherwise FIENNES), EARL OF LINCOLN and LORD CLINTON, s. and h. by 1st wife, b. in Lincolnshire; matric. at Oxford (Ch. CH.) 22 June 1582, "aged 14"; styled LORD CLINTON 1585-1616; M.A. Oxford, 11 Apr. 1588; M.P. for Great Grimsby, 1601, and for Lincolnshire, 1604-10; was sum. to Parl. v.p., 8 Feb. 1609/10, in fis father's Barony an LORD CLINTON DE SAY, and placed accordingly. He m., apparently shortly after 21 Sep. 1584, Elizabeth, da. and coh. of Sir Henry KNEVITT or KNYVETT, of Charlton, Wilts, by Elizabeth, da. and h. of Sir James STUMPE, of Malmesbury, Wilts. He d. at his castle at Tattershall, co. Lincoln, 15 Jan. 1618/9 1nd was bur. at Tattershall.* Will dat. 11 Jan. 1618/9, pr. 18 Oct. 1619.** His widow long survived him.***

*Ch. Inq. p. m., 397/67, heir Theophilus, aged 19. On 25 Nov. [1615] 13 Jas. I Earl Thomas made a settlement (revoked 16 Jas. I) providing for his younger sons Charles, Knevet and John Fines, as to which Earl Theophilus was suing the Dowager Countess as their guardian in Chancery in 1625. At the time of the inquest (1620) Earl Thomas's widow and his three younger sons were living at Sempringham.

**P. C. C., 90 Parker, in which he calls his son Sir Theophilus Fines, Lord Clinton and Say. His daughters, Ladies Fraunces, Arabella, Susan, Dorcas, and Sara, to have marriage portions of 32,000 pounds, and annuities, all payable in the Temple Church, London; his daughter Elizabeth "31,000 pounds if she do not marry John Beresford, late my servant." G.A. Moriarty writes: "Lady Arabella Clinton m, Isaac Johnson, a Puritan gentleman of Clipsham, co. Rutland, who emigrated to New England with John Winthrop in the summer of 1629, in the great fleet the flagship of which was named after his wife 'The Lady Arabella.' He was a prime mover in the project for the settlement of Massachusetts Bay, where Lady Arabella d., at Salem, in Aug. 1630. Lady Susan m., as 2nd wife, John Humphrey, of Chaldon, co. Dorset, who was also active in promoting the settlement of New England, where he arrived with his wife in May 1635. When he returned to England in 1641 he left two daughters of tender age in charge of a farmer near Lynn, who shamefully abused them, for which he was whipped, branded and fined 320 pounds. The story is told fully by Winthrop; but what ultimately became of these two granddaughters of the Earl of Lincoln remains one of the problems of New England genealogy." ***In 1622 she published (at the University Press, Oxford) a little book entitled The Countess of Lincoln's Nurserie - "the first work of mine that ever came into Print" - dedicated to Bridget (wife of Theophilus), then Countess of Lincoln. It is based on her own experience with eighteen children, and is to advocate the nursing of children by their mothers.

It gives a starting point for research about Ann Clinton, the supposed mother of Benjamin Herendeen of Providence...

Addition made April 26, 1996:

>From Sir Egerton Brydges "Collins's Peerage of England" Vol II, pp 208-9:

"Thomas, son and heir to the last Earl Henry, was third Earl of Lincoln, ... ...His Lordship married Elizabeth, daughter and coheir to Sir Henry Knevitt, of Charlton, in com. Wilts, Knight, by whom he had issue eight sons, Henry, and Thomas, who both died young; Theophilus, his successor; Edward, Sir Charles, Knevitt, sixth son; Robert, seventh son, died without issue, John, eighth son, who died unmarried; with nine daughters, Catharine, Lucy, Anne, and Dorcas, who died young; Elizabeth, who was married to John Berisford of Ledenham, in com. Linc. and died July 26, 1624; Frances, to John Gorges, Esq. son and heir to Sir Ferdinando Gorges, Knight, Susan, to ..... Humphreys, of the county of Kent, Esq.; Arabella, who was wedded to Isaac Johnson; and Sarah. And departing this life at his castle of Tattershall, in com. Linc. January 15th, anno 1618-19, lieth buried in the chancel of that parish church; leaving his Lady surviving."

This excerpt, taken together with the Cokayne excerpts would appear to eliminate Ann and Elizabeth, daus. of Thomas Clinton (otherwise Fiennes, 3rd Earl of Lincoln as possible wives of the John Harrington who drowned in Boston Harbor about 1630.