know very little about ffrancis' roots or
deposed that he was 48 in 1662; in
1700, he swore he was fourscore years
know that he had a brother Thomas who settled in
Reading, MA, not far from Woburn. Tradition
states that Francis and Thomas embarked from England
under the surname of Miles but took
their own surname after their arrival. Many explanations
for these changes exist, but none have been proven.
his will, dated
May 9, 1706, in which he styles himself "miller," ffrancis
made provisions for Thomas' daughters, granting
parts of his estate to two of his own daughters
sons and grandsons of
his purported sister, Mabel Kendall Read, but nothing
to Mabel's five other children. It is possible
that Mabel used the terms "brother" and "brother-in-law" without
extended Kendall family remained in the immediate
Woburn area until shortly after ffrancis'
death in 1708. At this point, land grants on the
frontier, as reward for military service, drew
some of the family members away from Woburn to
the emerging American frontier.
would become a recurring theme: Kendall participation
in national defense causes and the pursuit of land
on the ever-expanding frontier.
This site contains information primarily developed by Kendall cousins, Kevin Martin and Lorelei Gustafson. Kevin's contribution consists of numerous databases that he has developed in the process of his research. Lorelei's contribution consists of 6,000+ individuals extracted from her Kendall and allied family files.