Allen line: Robert Perrigo abt 1635-1683

I have only a little bit of information about Robert Perrigo, ancestor in the Allen line and immigrant.  What I have, however, is so intriguing that I want to share it, in hopes that someone else has found more pieces to his puzzle and would be willing to share it.

So far as is believed, our ancestor was born somewhere in England, although his surname is believed to have derived from France.  His birth date is unknown, and his birth place and parents are unknown, although someone has indicated his father's name might be William Perrigo.  There was no documentation attached to that statement.  At least one internet researcher believes he was born in 1624 in St Clements, Hastings, Sussex, England. 

The next thing we know about Robert is that he was married in 1657 in New Barbadoes, New Jersey to Sarah Smart, daughter of Robert Smart.  (New Barbadoes was settled by the Dutch, and is now known as Hackensack.)   Robert and Sarah had at least three children together, Ezekiel, Sarah, and Robert.  They were born in Saybrook, Ct. where the couple had settled.  Apparently Sarah died, and about 1670 Robert married for a second time, to Mary or Marah Wood.  Together they had four or five children, the last born in 1683, a few months after her father's death. 

Mary remarried, to Henry Peterson, but all may now have been well between Henry and his step children.  In April of 1711, 28 years after Robert's death, Henry wrote a letter to the court basically saying that he had learned that some of the children of Robert were hiring attorneys and claiming that the estate of Robert Perrigo, which had been settled in 1684, had not been properly handled.  In 1711, Henry was offering up another 63 acres of Perrigo's land, at Beaver Brook, to add to the estate.  This letter is now on Ancestry,com.  Part of this dispute may be because Robert's son, Robert, had apparently been left only one shilling in the will.  Unfortunately, the probate records for the time period prior to 1700 were destroyed, so these are the only hints we have about the Perrigo estate.

As to his occupation, again, it is difficult to say much.  There are hints that he may have worked in the maritime industry, since he was said to be on Mr. Goodall's ship, "now at Goodman Rusco's" in 1659 when his young son Ezekiel received medical treatment.  If course, it's also possible that he was a merchant or a trader or any number of other occupations.  Since he had 63 acres of land not included in the original estate, he likely did at least some farming.

With no estate records, no inventory, and very few other records to go on, we are left with little knowledge of this ancestor.  We know he married twice, had at least seven children, and probably died before the age of 50.  We also know he came to the New World from the Old, and possibly had friends or relatives in New Jersey, (or Sarah was in Connecticut for some reason), since the couple married in New Jersey.  More research needs to be done concerning Robert, but in the meantime, we can honor what we know of his life.

The line of descent is:

Robert Perrigo-Sarah Smart
Sarah Perrigo-John Royse
Moses-Royce-Hannah
John Royce-Hannah Bellamy
Elizabeth Royce-William McCoy
James McCoy-Nancy Ann Lane
Vincent McCoy-Eleanor Jackson
Nancy McCoy-George Allen
Edward Allen-Edith Knott
Richard Allen-Gladys Holbrook
Their descendants