http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~wduffie/gsip0001.htm
Previous researchers have indicated Garrett Sipple made his way to Kent Co., Delaware by way of Accomack Co., Virginia in 1698 which has been amply documented in prior publications.(1) (2) Information regarding the thirty years he lived in Virginia has been sparse and while conducting research at the Library of Virginia I discovered the recently published Accomack County, Virginia Court Order Abstracts by JoAnn Riley McKey. Garrett had numerous entries in the court records and this did not escape JoAnn's attention in the introduction to Volume 4:
Certain individuals surfaced and resurfaced as they wove their way through these court records, and the fabric of their personalities took shape.
With his transportation to Accomack County paid by Mrs. Ann Toft, Garret Supple was taken by her to the court session that met on 27 May 1667; then he claimed to be 17 years old. The court concurred, stated that he had no indenture, and ordered him to serve his mistress until he reached the age of 24 years. Unable to read or write, Garret may not have understood the proceedings; probably happy just to be alive, he failed to show the court the four-year indenture he carried with him when he arrived in Virginia. The next four years of service gave Garret time enough to realize the value of that document, which by then he had unfortunately lost. In November of 1671, Ambrose White rescued Garret from three more years of service by swearing that "Garrot Suple" had come to Virginia with a four year indenture. White remembered it quite well, he said, for he had traveled on the ship Dove with Supple, who had often shown the indenture and offered "it to sell on board ship for water."
Now, with his torturous passage and four years of servitude behind him, Garret was on his own at the age of 21. Two years later he was in trouble for rioting, drinking and insolent behavior; he was also in love with Mary Calvert. Although she had been given land by her father, Mary was now Florence Parker's servant, and as such was not allowed to marry. Unwilling to let this obstacle stand in the way, Garret and Mary managed a clandestine wedding; whoever performed the ceremony must have been unaware of Mary's servant status. Given what we know, it is doubtful that the newlyweds guarded their secret very carefully. At any rate, the news got out, and at the court held in January 1674/75, Garret was ordered to pay Florence Parker 1500 lbs tobacco or become her servant for a year. Mary, too, was ordered to return to the service of her mistress.
The next month, when Garret's appeal was rejected by the court, he lost his temper, refused to obey the high sheriff and committed an unspecified "misdemeanor" in open court. He immediately received 39 lashes and was ordered to post a bond for his good behavior.
The stripes may have marked his back, but his determination was unscathed. It seems that Garret and his bride found another way. One month later; in March, they sold 200 acres of Mary's land, making their marks on the deed as husband and wife. While the records do not say so, the proceeds must have ensured a future of freedom and love.(3)
On 6 Mar 1672 Ambrose White provided another deposition where he stated Garret Seple arrived in Virginia on 23 Apr 1667 with an indenture given to him in Dublin, Ireland.(4) The abstracts indicate Garrett went by a number of surnames; Sapple, Seple, Sepple, Sipple, Sipel, Suple and Supple. After his arrival in Delaware in 1698 he used the surname Sipple.
There has been speculation as to the origin of Sipple surname; in fact H.M. Sciple wrote in a letter dated 8 Jan 1912 stating he was satisfied Deciple was the original name best known in Alsace-Lorraine between France and Germany.(5) The entries in the court abstracts indicate research under the Supple surname in Ireland would be more appropriate.
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(1) William Virden Sipple Jr., Sipple, privately printed 1954, available from Historical Society of Delaware.
(2) Donald Odell Virden, The Sipple Family of Delaware: The Beginning Years, Maryland and Delaware Genealogist, Vol. 20, Issue 4, Oct 1979.
(3) JoAnn Riley McKey, Accomack County, Virginia Court Order Abstracts: 1673-1676, (Heritage Books, Bowie, MD, 1997), Vol. 4, pp. xiv-xv.
(4) JoAnn Riley McKey, Accomack County, Virginia Court Order Abstracts: 1671-1673, (Heritage Books, Bowie, MD, 1996), Vol. 3, p. 47.
(5) Letter, H. M. Sciple to Rev. Bowman D. Sipple, 08 Jan 1912, on file at Delaware State Archives.
