USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Stratford > A history of the old town of Stratford and the city of Bridgeport, Connecticut > Part 11
USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Bridgeport > A history of the old town of Stratford and the city of Bridgeport, Connecticut > Part 11
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33-Richard Boothe, was born in England in 1607, for in an affidavit, March 15, 1687-8, he describes himself as about 81 years of age. From what part of England he came, or in what year is not fully known, nor is there certain evi- dence of his immediate ancestors, but his name-Richard- and those of John and Robert, are family names in the line of the Boothe families of Cheshire, England, an ancient house, connected also by marriage with several families of distinc- tion. If, as is not improbable, Richard, of Stratford, were of that stock, the relationship, it is supposed, would be estab- lished through Richard, of Coggshill, and Baron in Cheshire, who was son of Sir William Boothe, by his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Warburton, and was born about 1570, and died in 1628.10
10 See Booth Genealogy.
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History of Stratford.
Richard Boothe's name and those of his descendants are prominent on Stratford records. His home lot, 29, indicates his settlement there among the earliest, but probably not before his marriage in 1640. He married, Ist, Elizabeth, the sister of Joseph Hawley," for his son Ephraim, in his will styles Samuel Hawley (son of Joseph) cousin. He was one of the proprietors of the township and received divisions of land located in various parts of the town, as did also the other proprietors. He was probably married twice and had eight children. The latest mention of him extant is in March, 1688-9, in his 82d year.
34-" Mr. Waklin." Henry Wakelee, was, probably, an original proprietor of Stratford, and was there before 1650. His home lot was No. 15, indicating him to have been among the first settlers. In 1663 he was attorney before the General Court in behalf of his son James, but the matter was with- drawn from court.
Ebenezer Wakelee went from Stratford to Waterbury, the part of the town now Wolcott, where his descendants still reside. The name is now generally spelled Wakelee, but at first it was generally written Wakelyn, and sometimes Weaklin and Waklin. The family have not been numerous.
35-Widow Curtis was Elizabeth Curtis, the mother of William and John, with whom she came to Stratford, leaving, apparently, three of her children at Roxbury, Massachusetts. The reason for the separation of the members of the family may have been the fact that the father, now deceased, had acquired a considerable property in land at Roxbury which could not readily be disposed of to advantage, and hence three stayed to care for it and three came to Stratford. Widow Curtis's home lot was near or joining Rev. Mr. Blakeman's. She died in June, 1658, and her estate was apprised at £100, 3s. 6d. (See sketch of William Curtis.)
36-Thomas Sherwood came from England in the ship Frances from Ipswich, in 1634, aged 48 years, with wife
11 Rev. B. L. Swan makes a note as follows: "There is more than a proba- bility that Jane, wife of Rev. Adam Blakeman, Ann, wife of Philip Groves, and Miriam, wife of Moses Wheeler, were also sisters of Joseph Hawley.
I2I
First Settlers of Stratford.
Alice, aged 47 years, and four children. His wife Alice was the daughter of Robert Seabrook and sister of the wife of Thomas Fairchild, and hence in all probability these two families came in each other's company to Stratford.
In June, 1645, he had four suits for slander, in three of which he was plaintiff and in one defendant, and he gained the four with costs of the suits and thirty-nine pounds money as damages. He, in the autumn of the same year, was elected deputy with William Beardsly, the first sent from Stratford, to the General Court. In October, 1654, when a draft was made for an expected war with the Narraganset Indians, Thomas Sherwood and Thomas Fairchild were appointed with the constables to " press men and necessaries " for the war, from Stratford. In this same year, 1654, John Hurd and Thomas Sherwood received from the town of Stratford forty acres of land and three pieces of meadow in the New Pas- ture in consideration of the expenses of building a corn-mill "to grind the town's corn," at what is now the east end of Old Mill Green. The amount of toll they were to have for grinding was one-sixteenth of a bushel, and the town was to furnish a correct measure for the purpose of taking the exact amount. Thomas Sherwood did not remove to Fairfield, as stated by some, but died in Stratford in 1656, where his death is recorded.
In 1645, in his suits at law, he is called " Thomas Sher- wood the elder," in every case, showing that there was then a Thomas Sherwood the younger. The story of the three brothers who came over has been historical in this family, and is true, for Thomas Sherwood, Jr., Stephen Sherwood and Matthew Sherwood, sons of Thomas Sherwood, Sen., were made freemen in the town of Fairfield in the year 1664, where they and their descendants were prominent, influen- tial citizens for two hundred years. The family has been also considerably numerous in the interior towns and in New York State.
37-Francis Hall, a professional lawyer, was of New Haven, in 1639, and came to Stratford before 1651 ; his dwel- ling-house seems to have been west of Main street, on what was afterwards called Lundy's Lane, being the old road
122
History of Stratford.
through the village to Fairfield. He and his family removed to Fairfield, where he purchased considerable land, and in 1687 a paper was recorded showing that his wife possessed a house and lands in England when she was married, and which he had sold and for which he gave the paper signed by himself securing the amount to her from his prop- erty.11 In 1654 he and his wife bought of Thomas Wheeler, of Fairfield, " all that mesuage or tenement with ye apperte- nances," or a house and lot, and he may have resided in it thereafter a part of the time, for his residence was in Strat- ford years after. His wife Elizabeth died July 6, 1665, and he being an attorney at law was employed by Mrs. Jane, widow of Rev. Adam Blakeman, against her daughter-in-law, then widow Dorothy, and became charmed' with his oppo- nent in the case, and married her Oct. 31, 1665, just twenty- one days after the suit was tried in court, and six days less than four months after the decease of his first wife. Francis Hall died March 5, 1689-90. His widow, Dorothy, married 3d Mark Sension, of Norwalk, who died in 1693, after which she married 4th, Dea. Isaac Moore, of Farmington.
38-William Beardsley came from England in the ship Planter,12 Capt. Travice commander, he being then 30
Isaac Hall's Caveat against his father's property.
"Whereas my Honored Father Francis Hall hath formerly sould a house and land in England which was my mother's at her marriage with him and for which he hath acknowledged himself Ingaged to make her as good a right in ye like kind in sum other place by a writing under his hand bearing date ye 9th day of March, 1664, may more fully appear and for ye performance of sd. Ingagement hee hath nominated all ye housing and land he hass had in the libarties of Fair- field as in ye sd writing is expressed.
I Isaac Hall as heir to my Honoured Mother Elizabeth Hall deceased enter Caveale against ye sd housing and lands yt they may be responsible lo ye aforesd Ingagement and for yt time this cavet is to stand according as ye law directs in such cas.
Dated Fayrfeild This 27 of Septem. 1687."
12 The following is the list of the vesselin which William Willcoxson and several other families came to America who settled in Stratford, and it is given here to show the method of emigration.
" 2 Aprilis 1635. These under written names are to be transported to New Eng- land imbarqued in the Planter, Nico : Travice Mr. bound thither the parties have
·
First Settlers of Stratford. 123
years of age, his wife Marie 26, his daughter Marie 4, son John 2, and Joseph 6 months. They embarked in April, 1635, on the same vessel with Richard Harvie and William Wilcoxson, both of whom settled in Stratford. He was a mason by trade and it is claimed very emphatically by his descendants that he was also a Freemason-a remarkable fact, if true-and that he came from Stratford on the river Avon, in Warwickshire, the birth-place of William Shakespeare. This tradition has been confirmed (it is said by good author- ity), by some of the Beardsley family, residing at Avon, N. Y., who have visited England and Stratford-on-Avon, and made a careful search for the facts, and which were satisfac- factory to this effect. The town of Avon, N. Y., was named by descendants of William Beardsley of Stratford, Conn., and thus named in honor of the old river in England. Some of the members of the Avon, N. Y., family have been very distinguished, specially Judge Samuel Beardsley, many years Chief Justice of the State of New York. The Beards- ley family have claimed the honor of securing to the town of
brought Certificates from the minister of St. Albons in Hertfordshire and attestations from the justice of the peace according to the Lord's order.
years.
years.
A Mercer, Jo : Tuttell,
-39
John Tuttell, 42
John Lawrence,. I7
Marie Lawrence, 9
Abegall Tuttell, 6
Symon Tuttell 4
Sarah Tuttell, 2 Jo : Tuttell, I
Joan Antrobuss, 65
Marie Wrast,
2.4
Tho: Green. 15
Nathan Heford, servant to
Jo : Tuttell, 16
Marie Chittwood, .2.1
Shoemaker, Tho: Olney, .35
Marie Olney, -30 Tho : Olney, 3
Epenetus Olney,.
I
Husbandman, Geo : Giddins, 20
Tho : Savage, a Taylor,
.20
A Taylor, Richard Harvie,
.22
Husbandman, Francis Pebody, 21 Wm. Lawrence, 12
Lynen Weaver, Wm. Wilcockson, -- 34
Margaret Wilcockson, 2.4
Jo: Willcockson,
2
Ann Harvie
22
A Mason, Wm. Beardsley,
-30
Marie Beardsley
26
Marie Beardslie, 4
John Beardslie,.
2
Joseph Beardslie, 6 mno.
Husbandman, Allin Perley, 27
Shoemaker, Willm Felloe,
2.4
A Taylor, Francis Baker,
2.1
Tho : Carter,
25
servants to
Michell Williamson, 30
George
Elizabeth Morrison, 12
Giddins. "
See Hotten's List of Emigrants.
124
History of Stratford.
Stratford, Conn., its name, in honor of their old native place in their mother country, with much credible evidence.
William Beardsley was among the first settlers of Strat- ford in 1639. He was made freeman in Massachusetts, Dec. 7, 1636, but where he then resided is not known. He was a substantial, prominent man in the new plantation, but died in 1660 at the early age of 56, leaving property inventoried at £333, 15S.
He was elected deputy for Stratford in 1645, with Thomas Sherwood. In 1649 he was appointed with Mr. Hull, of Fairfield, to assist Roger Ludlow in securing provisions for the soldiers then drafted for the war against the Dutch at New York; and in 1651 he was propounded for an "Assistant to join with the magistrates for the execution of justice in the towns by the sea side."
There was a Thomas Beardsley who died in Stratford in 1667, who is said to have been son of Thomas, of Milford. He had a home lot near William Burritt.
39-John Curtis. The Curtis family in Stratford has been curiously represented as to the first settlers, in which confusion rather than history has prevailed.
John and William Curtis, with their mother Elizabeth, appear at Stratford among the first settlers; the brothers have each the birth of a child recorded in 1642, but that does not prove that the children were born in Stratford, since such records were sometimes transferred from one town to another ; but these brothers probably came here in 1639, or with those who came in company with Mr. Blakeman, and the record shows that at that time, 1642, they were of age, and married, which could not have been the case according to the account given in the Woodbury History, which makes William at that time not more than ten years of age. The Curtises of Scituate and Roxbury, Mass., were different fam- ilies, and remained with their descendants in and about each of those places except those who came to Stratford.
William Curtis, who came in the ship Lion in 1632, was the settler at Roxbury and father of William and John who settled in Stratford, and he died at Roxbury near the end of the year 1634. He came to America, leaving his family for
125
First Settlers of Stratford.
the time, as did many others, in England, and in the spring of 1634 they came and joined him at Roxbury, where his name appears frequently in the records as a land holder, and he died about eight months after they came. His children were William, Thomas, Mary, John and Philip ; William and John with their mother Elizabeth, came to Stratford, the others appear to have remained at Roxbury, where are still their descendants.
Thomas Uffoot came in the ship Lion in 1632, with William Curtis, Sen., and he and the Curtises probably came in com- pany to Stratford.
John Curtis was made freeman in 1658; had his home, perhaps, with his mother, bought the shares of the other heirs after her death, and gave it to his son Israel in 1660. John and William Curtis had each a home lot at No. 69 (on diagram). William had the east half, John the west. This was before 1660.
John Curtis was prominent as a citizen and in the work of settling the township, but he was not as much in public life as his brother William.
William Curtis, son of William, came to Stratford with his widowed mother Elizabeth, and his brother John Curtis, probably in the spring of the year, 1640, where he died in 1702, full of years and honors.
Much effort has been made to ascertain the relation of several families of this name at Roxbury, Mass., and Strat- ford, Conn., with little success, except by the Rev. B. L. Swan, who succeeded finely.
A paper has come to light since the commencement of this book, which has been preserved with great care about 200 years, which makes the matter quite definite. This paper reads : " William Curtis came to this land in the year 1632, and soon after joined the church ; he brought four chil- dren with him-Thomas, Mary, John and Philip, and his eldest son William came the year before ; he was a hopeful scholar, but God took him in the end of the year 1634. Sarah Curtis, wife of William Curtis." This is all there was on the original paper except a description of the coat-of-arms, a painted copy of which has been preserved with the paper,
I26
History of Stratford.
both being the property of the late Samuel Curtis Trubee, of Fairfield, and which had been preserved very carefully by his mother Elizabeth (Curtis) Trubee, who was born in Stratford Dec. 25, 1788.
This paper was evidently written by some member of the family at Stratford about the year 1700, or earlier, for it must have been William Curtis the father who died at Rox- bury in 1634, since the five children of that family were then born, and the William Curtis of Stratford had a family of nine children, all born after 1641, and also since Elizabeth Curtis, widow, and mother of William and John, came to Stratford with the first settlers, probably, in 1639. and died there. And also the Sarah Curtis mentioned on the old paper was the second wife of the second William Curtis, or the one who came to Stratford.
Further: The high standing of William Curtis of Strat- fort as a military officer corresponds to the description given : " he was a hopeful scholar ;" for education above the ordinary ability to read and write was greatly appreciated and honored in those days. His standing in this respect, having been Sergeant as early as 1650, as well as the military affairs of Stratford, are somewhat revealed in the following extracts and facts : "June, 1672. This Court confirms Will- iam Curtis, Captain, and Joseph Judson, Lieutenant, and Stephen Burritt, Ensign, of the Train Band of Stratford."
At the same time the General Court declared that " until further order be taken, Capt. Nathan Gold [of Fairfield] shall be deemed chief military officer of the county of Fairfield, and Capt. William Curtis, his second."
In August, 1672, Capt. William Curtis was appointed by the General Court one of six commissioners, with the Governor, Deputy Governor and Assistants, as a war council against the Dutch at New York, "to act as the Grand Committee of the Colony in establishing and commissionating military officers, in pressing men, horses, ships, barques or other vessels, arms, ammunition, provision, carriages or whatever they judge needful for our defence, and to manage, order and dispose of the militia of the Colony in the best way and manner they can for our defence and safety."
127
First Settlers of Stratford.
In the next November, Captain Curtis was appointed Captain " for such forces as shall be sent from Fairfield County " against the Dutch at New York, and in 1675 his commission in the same position was renewed ; this showing that he stood the highest in the county as a military officer, except field officers.
While he was thus engaged in military affairs he was for some years regularly elected Deputy to the General Court, his election being repeated, sometimes after intervals, sixteen times.
His home lot was No. 34, but he owned a part of No. 69, and his name does not occur on the list of fence about the old field, probably because his cultivated land was in or nearer the village or in the new field. Several of these planters had land to cultivate, at first, from two to six acres, near or adjoining their home lots.
40-John Birdseye came to Stratford among the earliest settlers. According to his age at death, he was born in 1616, since he died in 1690, aged 74 years. The Rev. Samuel Peters, who married into the family, says he came from Reading in Berkshire, England, emigrated to America in 1636; came to New Haven, thence to Milford in 1639, and thence to Stratford. Mr. Peters says, also, he came to New Haven with his two sons, and one of them settled in Middle- town and the other in Stratford. This is an error, for Middletown was not commenced as a settlement until 1650, and this John Birdseye's children were not born when he came to America. If this tradition is true, it must have been another John Birdseye, father of this John, which may have been the case. The tradition still in the family is that two brothers came to New Haven, one settled in Wethersfield, who had a family of daughters, and that Joseph Hawley, the first of the name at Stratford, married Catharine, one of those daughters; and that John came to Milford and thence to Stratford, but the precise year is not known. The births of his only children are recorded in Stratford, John in 1641 and Joanna in 1642, but their baptisms are recorded in Milford ; and he and his wife Phillis (Phillipa) were dis- missed from the Milford church to Stratford church in 1649.
128
History of Stratford.
It seems very improbable that he would, under the circum- stances and customs of those days, remain at Stratford eight years and continue his membership at Milford, and therefore it is more probable that he remained at Milford until 1649 and had his children's births recorded in Stratford after he came here. The time of her death is not known, but he married a second wife, Alice, widow of Robert Tomlinson, about 1688. An agreement between himself and her in 1688 respecting property is on the probate records.
Both of his children survived him. Joanna married Timothy, son of William Willcoxson; the latter in his will in 1651 refers to his " brother Birdseye," whence it may be inferred that either William Willcoxson's wife was Birdseye's sister or Birdseye's wife was Phillis Willcoxson, and in either case John Birdseye's children married their cousins, for John Birdseye, Jr., married Phebe, daughter of William Willcoxson.
John Birdseye is said to have been one of the first dea- cons in the Congregational Church of Stratford. His descendants have been considerably numerous, widely scat- tered and of honorable position and standing as citizens. Victory Birdseye of Onondaga county, N. Y., son of the Rev. Nathan Birdseye, became a member of the Congress of the United States.
John Birdseye seems to have married Phillipa, daughter of Rev. Henry Smith of Wethersfield, for John Blakeman, Jr., who married Dorothy, daughter of Rev. Henry Smith, called Birdseye " brother." It is true that the term " broth- er " was used in those times familiarly in public documents, among the members of the church, to designate, simply, that relation, but it is not certain that it was used in this sense in wills, where definite terms are supposed to have been used.
41-Isaac Nichols, son of Francis, one of the first com- pany of settlers in Stratford, came from England with his father and became a prominent citizen in the town, where he died in 1695. He was a deputy to the General Court three sessions in 1662 and 1665. He was a farmer but seems to have dealt some- what in merchandise. In his will he says : "Concerning my In- dian servant George, I give him to my wife during her natural life." His descendants are scattered far and wide in the land of
129'
First Settlers of Stratford.
freedom and prosperity. Of the brothers Caleb and John a notice will be made further on in this book.
Francis Nichols from England was in Stratford among the very first settlers. The General Court, on October 10, 1639, directed "Mr. Governor and Mr. Wells to con- fer with the planters at Pequannocke [Stratford], to give them the oath of Fidelity, make such free as they see fit, order them to send one or two deputies to the General Courts in September and April, and for deciding of differences and controversies under 40 s. among them, to propound to them and give them power to choose 7 men from among them- selves, with liberty of appeal to the Court here ; as also to assign Sergeant Nicholls for the present to train the men and exercise them in military discipline." This establishes the fact that Francis Nichols was in Stratford with several other families in 1639, and that he was the first military officer in the plantation, which was a matter of considerable distinction in those days, and it indicates that he had become somewhat acquainted with military matters before coming to this country.
He died in 1650 and the inventory of his estate in 1655, on Stratford records, was £29, 9s. His sons were Isaac, Caleb and John, all born in England. His widow Anne was the daughter of Barnabas Wines of Southold, L. I., and she married, 2d, John Elton of that place, and found a home on one of the most healthy islands, with the most charming climate in the world.
Thomas Alsop, born in 1615, came to America in the Elizabeth and Ann in 1635, aged 20 years, and evidently was one of the first settlers in Stratford, where he died 1650-1, leaving property which went to Joseph Alsop of New Haven, probably a brother. Judge Savage thinks that John Alsop, who is found on a tax-list with Edward Jackson and Thomas Child, who came to New England, and William Shakespeare, at Stratford on the river Avon, England, in 1598, was the father of Thomas Alsop of Stratford, and from this supposi- tion it has been claimed that the new plantation in Connecti- cut received the name of Stratford.
9
I30
History of Stratford.
William Hopkins was a resident in Stratford in 1640, and in 1641-2 was one of the magistrates at the General Court ; then he disappears and nothing further is known of him.
Thomas Thornton was a business man early at Wind- sor and served on a jury at Hartford in 1643. In 1646 there was a motion before the General Court to excuse him and his men from training because " by having his men suddenly taken off" from work "he might sustain great loss;" but we have no information what his trade or business was. In the spring of 1651 he seems to have been at Stratford and become acquainted with business matters in Fairfield, for he " affirmed in court that it was reported there were a hundred beeves killed in Fairfield last year." He was on a committee for Stratford in 1653, with Goodman Groves to draft soldiers. Lands were granted to him by the town in September, 1651.
Robert Rose was of Wethersfield in 1639. He came from Ipswich, county Suffolk, in the ship Frances in 1634, aged 40, with wife Margery, aged 40; children, John, 15; Elizabeth, 13; Mary, II; Samuel, 9; Sarah, 7; Daniel, 3 ; and Dorcas, 2. He was residing in Wethersfield in 1639, and was constable in 1640; representative in 1641, '42 and '43 ; removed, says Savage, before 1648 to Stratford, which is probable. He, and not his son Robert, purchased a home lot and several pieces of land in Stratford, April 3, 1668, of the town, which had been John Young's. Nov. 3, 1685, Robert Rose, of Stratford, gives his son-in-law Moses John- son, of Woodbury, "fifty or sixty acres of land granted to me by the General Court for gratification for services done by me, the said Rose, in the Pequot wars." It is probable that his son, Robert Rose, settled at East Hampton, L. I., in 1650.
John Jenner had land recorded to him in 1652, in Stratford ; a home lot, land in the Old field, New field, Nesumpaws and in the great meadow. Having land in the Old field it is a little surprising that his name does not appear among those who made the fence around that field. He soon disappeared from Stratford, but his name is found with others on a petition to the General Court from Cromwell
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