Connecticut
1634...
In 1614, Adrian Block was the first to sail the entirety of Long Island Sound, going up what is now the Connecticut river as far as present-day Hartford, before heading out to the East and naming an island for himself along the way. In Algonquin, the region was appropriately called “Quinnetukut” or “long tidal river.” Below, in somewhat chronological order, are brief sketches of some ancestors that lived in the numerous colonies of Connecticut from its first settlement.
Abraham Finch – Wethersfield 1634
Abraham (1585-1634) arrived with the Winthrop fleet in 1630 with his sons Abraham (junior), Daniel, and John. They settled in Watertown, Massachusetts and, like others who had trouble with the religious nature of the civil state in Massachusetts, Abraham was amongst the 10 “adventurers” who left in 1634 for a different life. They settled and built homes for the winter in what they first called Watertown, which became Wethersfield in 1637. Also in the group was John Oldham, who would later be killed by the Pequots off Block Island on July 20, 1636. Abraham was later joined in Wethersfield by his sons, Daniel, who became its first constable, and Abraham (junior) – who was killed on April 23, 1637 when a large body of Pequots attacked Wethersfield killing nine men and capturing two girls. Coupled with Oldham’s killing, this was the spark for the Pequot war. Later, in October 1639, the Indian who had killed Abraham was brought to trial where a witness “confessed that he had seen Nepaupuck kill Abraham Finch, an Englishman, at Wethersfield and that he himself, the said Wattonne, stood upon the island at Wethersfield and beheld him, the said Nepaupuck now present, actiing the same murder.“ Nepaupuck confessed to killing Abraham and others. He was found guilty, his head was cut off and pitched on a pole in the marketplace, as such were the times.
William Phelps – Windsor 1635
Arriving in 1630 on the MARY & JOHN, William (1593-1672) and his wife, Anne Dover, settled in Dorchester, along with their children William, Samuel, Nathanial and Sarah. Although busy in Dorchester – including sitting as foreman on the first jury trial in New England – he moved to Windsor late in 1635 with 23 other families in part as a tactical move by the English to prevent settlement by the Dutch. They first named their settlement, Dorchester, but renamed it Windsor in 1637. William continued his civil service throughout the rest of his life, and served on the General Court for 23 years – during which time, he presided over the May 1, 1637 General Court that ordered “that there shal be an offensive warr agst the Pequoitt, and that there shal be 90 men levied out of the 3 Plantations, Hartford, Weathersfield & Windsor (viz) out of Harteford 42, Windsor 30, Weathersfield 18, under the comande of Captaine Jo. Mason…”
William Cornwall – Hartford 1636 & Middletown 1651
William (1609-1678) came to Massachusetts in 1633, where he was a member of the Roxbury church in Boston. He moved shortly thereafter with the overland caravan of families under Rev. Thomas Hooker and Rev. Samuel Stone in May 1636 to found Hartford. This was the frontier, and the three small settlements of Wethersfield, Windsor and Hartford were closely engaged with numerous Indian tribes in trade and inevitable conflict. Several sources place William with the Hartford soldiers under the May 1, 1637 General Court order who, together with soldiers from Massachusetts under Capt. John Underhill, and assistance from Mohegan and Narragansett allies, attacked and destroyed the Pequots in their fort at Mystic. Their departure is pictured in the sculpture below, and the site of the battle is directly west of what is today the main point at the Mystic Seaport Museum, on the western shore of the river between Pequot Ave. and Allyn St. For his service, William was later given land on the Soldier’s Field in Hartford and, in the earliest record in 1639, he is referred to as “Sergeant at Arms.” By 1651, William moved 15 miles down the river as a first settler to Middletown with his wife, Mary, and his family. He represented Middletown in the General Court in 1654, 1657, 1664 and 1665. He was survived by Mary and divided up his extensive lands amongst his children.
William Leete – Guilford 1639
William (1613-1683) and his wife, Ann Paine, emigrated with Rev. Henry Whitfield and William was one of the 25 that signed the Plantation Covenant of Guilford on June 1, 1639, at sea. Another signer was ancestor John Stone (1610-1687). William was one of the six selected to purchase land from Shaumpishuh, the leader of the Menunkatuck tribe, and her price was 12 coats, 12 fathoms of wampum, 12 glasses, 12 pairs of shoes and stockings, 12 hatchets, 12 hoes, four kettles, 12 knives, 12 hats, 12 porringers, 12 spoons, and two English coats. William was a lawyer and clerked at Bishop’s Court in Cambridge, so it was fitting that, in Guilford, he was the town clerk (1639-1662), justice of the peace (1642), and magistrate (1651-1658). He was one of the seven founders of the First Congregational Church of Guilford. William was also Guilford’s deputy to the general court of the New Haven colony (1643-1649), for which he also served as commissioner (1655-1658), deputy governor (1658-1661), and governor (1661-1665). One of the more notable episodes he encountered in Guilford was the May 11, 1661 appearance of two officers sent by King Charles II. They were chasing William Goffe and Edward Whalley, English judges who had signed the death warrant of Charles I. William read the King’s order aloud so the community could hear it – and help Goffe and Whalley escape – while William stalled in obtaining horses for the officers. William knew that the men were staying at Rev. John Davenport’s home in New Haven. When the colonies later merged, and with the death of John Winthrop, William became the governor of the Colony of Connecticut from 1676-1683, and he died on April 16,1683. On April 18, 1683, treasurer John Talcott noted a charge “To 11 pound of powder for the Great Guns at Govr Leet’s funeral.” William is buried in the ancient burying ground at Thomas Hooker’s church, now the First Church of Christ. The family land back in Guilford on Long Island Sound is still called Leete’s Island, and it was the site of a British landing during the Revolutionary War.
Edward Griswold – Windsor 1639 & Killingworth 1663
Edward (1607-1691) came in 1639 with his wife, Margaret, his children, his brother George and his brother, Matthew, who ultimately settled in Lyme. In a May 15, 1684 affidavit, Edward said that “about the year 1639 Mr. Wm. Whiteing (deceased) was undertaker for a shipp in England, in which shipp I came to New England..and at that time many passengers came over, severall of which settled at Windsor.” Whiting settled in Hartford but Edward went to Windsor where he shows up frequently in the records, serving as deputy to the General Court from 1658-1660 and 1662-1663 for Windsor. Edward moved to Hammonasset in 1663 where, in 1667, he served on the court that ordered “that the town of Homonoseit shall for the future be named Kenilworth.” This includes the present towns of Clinton and Killingworth, stretching inland from Long Island Sound. He served as deputy to the General Court from 1667-1689 for Killingworth. In 1678, he was on the committee for establishing a Latin school in New London, and in 1680 he was appointed commissioner to lay out a highway from Saybrook to Killingworth and construct a bridge. Edward served on the grand jury in February 1650 for the witchcraft trial of Joan & John Carrington, of Wethersfield. A guilty verdict was issued and they were hung. Again, in December 1662, he served on the jury in the witchraft trial of Nathaniel and Rebecca Greensmith, described in more detail in the Witches section of this website. They were also found guilty and hung in Hartford.
Nathanial Baldwin – Milford 1639
On February 1, 1639, land known as Wepawaug was purchased from Ansantawae, chief sachem of the Paugusset tribe. Settlers arrived to found and name the town Milford, where the first General Court was held November 20, 1639 to grant 44 church members the franchise as free planters. These included Nathanial Baldwin (1610-1658), his brother Timothy, and relatives Richard and John, who came over with their mother Sarah and father, Sylvester Baldwin, on the MARTIN to Boston July 1638. Nathanial’s first wife, Abigail Camp, died in Milford March 22, 1648. Nathanial then moved to Fairfield, where he married Joanna Westcott, widow of Richard who had fought in the Pequot War – their first son, Samuel, was born in 1654. Nathanial was a cooper and, given the location of Milford and Fairfield on Long Island Sound with easy access to the Atlantic, it’s likely that he had a business building barrels for exporting trade goods to the Caribbean.
William Mead & John Finch – Stamford 1640
The land then called Rippowam was purchased July 1, 1640 and settled in the spring of 1641 by a group of 29 families from Wethersfield. The price paid by the New Haven colony was 12 coats, 12 hoes, 12 hatchets, 12 glasses, 12 knives, four kettles and four fathoms of wampum. By December 1642, additional families arrived, including William Mead (1592-1663), who was given a house lot on the west side of the village along the east bank of the Rippowam River, which flows into Long Island Sound. This land is today south of Mill River Park – named for what was a mill at the time – and is bordered on the East by Washington Blvd., on the west by the river, on the south by Richmond Hill Ave. and on the north by Tresser Blvd. William Mead’s son, John, also had a house in Stamford, and William’s son Joseph shows up in the records as well, and both eventually moved to Greenwich. Daniel Finch, son of Abraham Finch from Wethersfield, was with the first group to settle Stamford in 1641, and he was followed shortly thereafter in the fall of 1642 by his brother, John Finch (1595-1657), who was granted six acres. Their house lots were adjacent to each other and is the ground of the present Ferguson Library at the corner of Broad & Bedford streets. John’s son, Samuel Finch, had a house lot adjacent to the east of what is now Latham Park on Prospect St and Forest St.
John Mead, Joseph Finch, William Rundle – Greenwich 1640
Greenwich was purchased on July 18, 1640, just after Stamford, by a small party consisting mostly of families from Watertown, Massachusetts. At this point, the land extended from the Byram River to Tomack Creek, from Long Island Sound inwards for 8-12 miles. It was still acknowledged as part of New Amsterdam and didn’t become part of New Haven colony until 1650, and ultimately part of the Connecticut colony in 1664. Greenwich endured incessant border disputes throughout this period with Rye to the West and, in particular, Stamford to the East. At the General Court on May 30, 1655, including William Leete from Guilford, it was said “The Deputies of Stamford propounded that they have and doe still suffer great inconvenienc and damage by Greenwich, who pound their cattell off the comon, beside their disorderly walkeing amonge themselves, admitting of drunkenness both amonge the English and Indians, whereby they are apt to doe mischeife, both to themselves and others; they receive disorderly children or servants who fly from their parrents or masters lawful correction; they marry psons in a disorderly way, beside other miscariages; and therefore, if ye court see meete, they desire some course may be taken to reduce them to joyne with Stamford in this jurisdiction, and the rather because they pretend to shelter themselves under the comonwealth of England, who wee are confident will not approve of such cariages.” On the Founders Monument in Greenwich, at the intersection of today’s East Putnam and Maple Avenues, are the initial 10 family 1640 settlers, and the 27 family 1672 proprietors, including Joseph Finch (1640-1714), who was John’s son and Abraham’s grandson, William Rundle (1647-1714), and John Mead (1634-1699, formerly of Stamford). The monument does not include the seven proprietors of 1664, including John Mead, who were ordered by the Connecticut colony to assume governance over Greenwich. The 1672 list delineated the only people with the right to purchase land south of the Westchester Path between the Byram & Mianus rivers.
John Mead, married to Hannah Brown Potter, was made a freeman 1670, was a member of the Connecticut Assembly 1679, 1680, 1686, and was a principal surveyor in all the land allocations and border disputes. John acquired from Richard Crabb what had been Daniel Patrick’s land on October 26, 1660. Daniel Patrick was the original Greenwich purchaser in July 1640 with Robert Feake and Elizabeth Winthrop Feake. The property included numerous parcels including “Eightene Acres of Land in Elizabeth neck, more or less, being bounded by ye sea on ye east and southeast, and a fence on ye west, northwest, and ye north… Also..with 5 acres of Meadow lying it it, more or less..bounded by ye Sea on ye southeast, William Low on ye east, and ye fence on ye northwest, & north ye hyewaye & [Caleb] Hethcut’s and Angell Heusteds on ye west; also 3 acres of meadow in ye long meadow & 1 acre of meadow by Ferris, bounded by Jeffere Ferris land on ye southeast, and ye cove on ye west and northwest; also 5 acres of meadow in Myanos Neck.” Elizabeth’s Neck is now Greenwich Point, and Mianus Neck is Riverside. In 1661, John purchased an additional parcel of Patrick’s original land and, in 1669, he helped lay out Horseneck which, at the time, included all the land between the Byram and Mianus rivers. Horseneck “town” would become today’s Greenwich, while Horesneck “field” would become today’s Field Point and Belle Haven. Horseneck Brook still flows into the head of today’s Greenwich Harbor from Putnam Lake. Lands weren’t allocated until 1682, including the field and the town.
Joseph Finch, married to Elizabeth Austin, shows in the land records in 1664 receiving meadowland at Mianus Neck, then again in 1670 and 1673 for additional meadows. He was captain of the town militia company, on the school committee, and constable numerous times. Joseph & Elizabeth’s son, Samuel, married Mary Whelpley.
William Rundle, married to Abigail Tyler, had 18 acres on Mianus Neck. He was tasked in 1687 with building a bridge over the Mianus River, near where today’s Palmer Road in Riverside crosses westward to Valley Road in Cos Cob over Mianus Pond. William & Abigail’s son, Abraham, married Rebecca Mead, John’s granddaughter.
