Rt. Rev. Hon. John Pell, D.D.

Biography

Rt. Rev. Hon. John Pell (born 1 March 1611 and died 12 December 1685) was an English mathematician and linguist.

Parents: John Pell (1553-1617 of Norfolk, England), who was the Vicar of Southwick, who died when John Pell was five, and Mary Holland, who died a year later.

John Pell was the was the brother of Bathsua Makin and of Thomas Pell, who emigrated to America.

Family

John Pell married 3 July 1632 or 1633 to Ithamaria Reginolles, daughter of Henry Reginolles of St. Margaret's Westminster, London. She remained in England with the children while John lived abroad. She died by 1665.

1. Richard born London 1633/4; died a year later
2. Mary Pell, b 1634/5; m. Capt. Roger Raven 27 Nov 1656/7
3. Judith Pell, bpt 21 Jan 1635/6; m 27 Dec 1657 Thomas Kirlee of London
4. Elizabeth "Betty?", bp 7 Jan 1639/40; d by 1665; married, 1664, John Edwards
5. Bathshua or Bathsheba Pell, bpt 26 Oct 1642/3, m. Wessels
6. William b 1642; d 1643
7. John Pell, bpt 8 Feb 1643/4. John, born born February 3, 1643, in London, England, died at Pelham Manor, Province of New York, in 1702. Married in 1684 to Rachel, daughter of Philip Pinckney, of Eastchester. Inherited the Westchester property, known as Pelham Manor, from his uncle Thomas Pell, who had died without issue, and came to America, arriving at Boston, Massachusetts, in October, 1670, with letters to governor Winthrop, which established his heirship. John, did NOT have a knighthood.

Biographical Summary

from http://www.historicpelham.com/biographies.htm:

Persona grata with both Charles I and Charles II, he was sent by Oliver Cromwell as Minister to Switzerland. He returned to England to live, just before the death of Cromwell.

In 1661 he was ordained Deacon by the Bishop of London and subsequently given the living of the Rectory of Fobbing in Essex. (See Pelliana, Vol. I, No. 2, issue 1935, pps. 11-45 for his biography.) Dr. John Pell for a while appeared to prosper. However, in the political turmoil that followed his lucky star descended rapidly, so much so that when he died, in 1685, he was in actual want.

About the Radical Sign

RADICAL SIGN appears in English in 1669 in An Introduction to Algebra edited in 1668 by John Pell (1611-1685):

In the quotient subjoyn the surd part with its first radical Sign.

For more information about the math symbols used by Dr. Pell, see:

• The History of Mathematical Symbols

And for what he's most known for to mathematicians, The Pell number and Pell's equation are linked.

About His Portrait

• Important Portrait of 17th Century Mathematician John Pell

Weblinks

• John Pell
• John Pell {Pellius}

Family notes

In 1670, the mathematician's son, Sir John Pell, inherited lands in New York, where he lived as the first [sic: second] Lord of the Manor of Pelham. (Pelham Manor, Pelham, Pelham Bay and the surrounding areas in what is now known as the North East Bronx and Southern Westchester county.)

John Pell's descendants have continued to be prominent in the American polity, including Ambassador and U.S. Representative Herbert Pell and U.S. Senator Claiborne Pell.

References

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Pell_(landowner) "Pell was born in London, England on February 3, 1643. He was the only son born to Ithamaria (née Reginald)[b] Pell, who died in 1661, and the Rt. Rev. John Pell, D.D., a mathematician and political agent who graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge in 1629.[3]"
2. Pelliana : Pell of Pelham : Sir John Pell, second Lord of the Manor of Pelham, Westchester County, New York, and his father, Dr. John Pell, mathematician, scholar and ambassador to the Protestant Swiss cantons. New Series, Vol. I, No. 2 (October 1963) < Archive.Org >; Genealogical "Tree" of John Pell of Southwyck, page "Appendix" (before book page 72, on viewer page 178 of 220). < Archive.Org >
3. Pell Ancestry - Colonial Families of the United States (pg 409, 410) Caution: some dates are estimated. < FamilySearch >; (document attached)
4. Noel Malcolm and Jacqueline Stedall, John Pell (1611-1685) and His Correspondence with Sir Charles Cavendish: The Mental World of an Early Modern Mathematician (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005).
5. Updated from WikiTree Genealogy via father John Pell by SmartCopy: Aug 17 2015, 14:44:21 UTC
6. https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LBFK-87J