COTHELSTONE CHURCH. QUANTOCK. ENGLAND

The church is quite near the Manor House and was always a part of it and the livings and advowsons belonged to the Stowell family.

It is of great antiquity and contains old medallions of ancient stained glass and monuments and tombs
of the Stowell family dating back to 1300.

Members of the Stowell family have worshipped here since 1066.


THE STOWELL HOUSE, QUANTOCK, ENGLAND

One of the oldest houses in England, situated in Quantock, County Somerset, on the Southern coast,
six miles from the Bristol Channel.

The Manor of Cothelstone came into the possession of the Stowell family in 1066 and is of great
antiquity as it was built long before 1066 by a Saxon King and Queen. It then consisted of an
extensive mansion, illustrated above, with many buildings immediately surrounding it including a
church, eleven farm houses and fifty-four cottages. It was retained by them in an unbroken line from
1066 to 1820.

As the family title carried with it the control of so many church livings and advowsons, quite a large
number of the descendants of the younger branches went into the ministry and naturally fell into the
livings which were within the gift of the family. The most prominent was Hugh Stowell of Manchester
and the Isle of Man, who was the Henry Ward Beecher of England and the most eminent and
eloquent preacher of his day.

The church at Cothelstone is quite near the Manor House and was always a part of it. In the windows
are some excellent specimens of ancient stained glass. The most interesting objects, however, are the
tombs and monuments of the Stawell family dating back to the year 1300. Members of the Stawell
family have been worshippers in it continuously from 1066 to 1820.

The church at Hingham, Mass., which was organized in 1635 and attended by Samuel Stowell, the
immigrant, has had Stowell worshippers continuously from 1649 to the present day. While not the
oldest church society or organization, the church building itself, erected in 1680, is the oldest meeting
house in America that has been continuously used for public worship, hence the church at Cothelstone
and the church at Hingham have between them had Stowell worshippers from 1066 to the present
time.

Samuel was not a common name in the family in the early days. In Col. George D. Stawell's History
of the Stawell family, the name of Samuel does not appear in a single instance until recorded in the
Registers of Bath and Chudleigh in 1562. Forty Stowells are mentioned therein; thirty-five of these are
spelled Stowell and five are spelled Stawell. The name of Samuel appears in the Bath Abbey Register
which gives the birth of a Samuel Stowell on the 5th of January 1581 and the Chudleigh Parish
Register gives the death of a Samuel Stowell, 7th of December 1628. probably the same Samuel. He
may have married and had children though I find no record either of his marriage or of any children.

Possibly our immigrant Samuel may have been a son of his. We know the date of death of our Samuel
to be in 1683, but as we do not know his age at time of death, we cannot definitely fix upon the date
of his birth, but indications point to about 1625. As far as dates are concerned this would fit in with his being the son of the above Samuel who
died in 1628.

Although there were a few scattered families there prior to that date, the real settlement of Hingham,
Mass., occurred in 1635 when a large colony from Hingham, England, came over with the Rev. Peter
Hobart among them as their pastor and organized the town naming it Hingham after their old English
home.

This would make Samuel about ten years old at that time. He may have been brought over by some
relative on his mother's side, or by some friend of the family or as an orphan apprenticed to one of the
immigrants. This was probably the case for his name does not appear on any of the ship's registers or
in any of the Hingham records until his marriage in 1649 to Mary Farrow is recorded in Hobart's
Diary.

THE NAME

The Stawell Barons always spelled their name "Stawell" in their personal signature to deeds, letters,
documents, etc. Owing to their large land holdings they were very frequently involved in law suits. In
these Court records it is generally spelled "Stawell" though "Stowell" sometimes appears. In other
records as of births, deaths and marriages, and especially in regard to others than the titled family, it is
very often spelled Stowell.

In England the name is always spelled either "Stawell" or "Stowell," never in any other way. In earlier
times "Stawell" predominated. At present as many spell it "Stowell" as "Stawell."

In America it has never been spelled "Stawell." The original immigrant spelled it "Stowell" and that
form is generally used, although "Stoel" is quite common.

In all the vital statistics of births, deaths and marriages, and in all deeds, wills and court records it is
given as "Stowell" in all of the first three generations, viz: in those of the original immigrant Samuel, in
those of his six sons, Samuel2, John2, David2, William2, Israel2, and Benjamin2 and in those of his
eleven grandsons, viz.: