Genealogical and family history of the state of Connecticut, a record of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the founding of a nation, Volume IV, Part 64

Author: Cutter, William Richard, 1847-1918, ed; Clement, E. H. (Edward Henry), 1843- joint ed. cn; Hart, Samuel, 1845-1917, joint ed; Talcott, Mary Kingsbury, 1847-1917, joint ed; Bostwick, Frederick, 1852- , joint ed; Stearns, Ezra Scollay, 1838-1915, joint ed
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 1178


USA > Connecticut > Genealogical and family history of the state of Connecticut, a record of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the founding of a nation, Volume IV > Part 64


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(II) William Hough, immigrant ancestor. son of Edward, was born in Cheshire, Eng- land. He settled at Gloucester, Massachusetts, and was a town officer there in 1650. He was a housewright by trade. He married. at Glou- cester, October 28. 1645. Sarah, daughter of Hugh and Ann Caulkins, of Gloucester and of New London, Connecticut. He removed to Saybrook, Connecticut, and, settled at New London. He died August 10. 1083. Chil- dren, born in Gloucester: Hannah. July 1. 1646: Abiah, a son. September 15, 16:8: Sa- ralı, March 23. 1651, married David Carpen- ter. Burn at New London: Samuel. March 9. 1653. married twice : John (q.v. ) : William. October 13. 1657, married Ann Lothrop; Jonathan, February 7. 1650-60: Deborah, Oc- tober 21. 1665-66: Anna. August 2. 160 ;.


(III) Captain John Hough, son of Captain


William Hough, was born at New London, October 17. 1655. He was a house carpenter by trade, and lived at New London and Nor- wich. He was a man of influence and educa- tion. Ile was killed at New London. August 26. 1;15, by a fall from a building on which he was working. His will was dated Decem- ber 20, 1711. He married, January 17. 10No, Sarah: Post, born at Saybrook, November 6. 1650. daughter of John and Hester ( Hyde) Post, granddaughter of William Hyde, inni- grant. Children. born at New London: Sa- rah. April 23, 1684: Hannah. June 30, 1688; Alialı, October 30, 1600: Hester. April 6. 1695 : John, mentioned below ; David, October 23. 1669: Jabez, May 21, 1702.


( IV ) Captam John Hough (2), son of Captain Jolin Hough (1), was born in New London, October 1. 1607, married September 4. 1718, Hannah Dennison. born March 28. 1697. at New London, eldest daughter of George Dennison and Mary Withere !! (see Dennison). George was son of John and Phoebe Dennison, of Stonington, and grand- son of Captain George and Anne ( Barrodel! ) Dennison. Hough graduated at Harvard Col- lege in 1693. and became a lawyer ; was clerk of the county court at New London. He set- tled at New London and removed to Norwich. now Bozrah, Connecticut, where his wife died April 9, 1782. He married ( second) Octo- ber 24. 1782. MIrs. Anna Brigham Baldwin. widlow of Thomas. He died February 8, 1785. at Norwich. Children, born at New London: John, October 14. 1719. died 1,20; Sarah, born April 6. 1722: David. January 27, 1724: Jabez, mentioned below : John. Decom- her 17. 1730: George. February 9, 1733; Abiah : Hannah: Esther, July 29. 1:35.


(\') Jabez, son of Captain John (2) Hongh, was born November 16. 1728. ar New Lon- don. He was a soldier in the revolution. in Captain James Clark's company. Colonel Com- fort Sage's regiment. Jabez Jr. was also in the army. He married, March 12, :754. his cousin. Phoebe Harris. born 1;28. eldest daughter of Lieutenant Gibson Hartis and Phoebe ( Dennison ), of Norwich ( New Con- cord Society). He settled at what is now Bozrah, where his wife died, July 31. ISoi. aged seventy-two years. He married isec- ond), March 31. 1803, Mary Bishop, of Lis- bon. She died October 16, 1833 ; he died July 23, 1820, aged ninety-two. Children, born at Norwich ( Bozrah) : Witherell. November 15. 1754. settled at Lebanon. New Hampshire: George, Tune 8, 1757, at Concord. New Hamp- shire: Jabez, mentioned below . Ebenezer. March 20. 1;67 : Phoebe. October 19. 1703.


(VT) Deacon Jabez Hough. son of Jabez


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Hough, was born at Norwich, May 26. 1760. He was a soldier in the revolution. in Cap- tain Nehemiah Waterman's company, at New London, 1779. Colonel Samuel Abbot's regi- ment. He was in the same company in 1781. John Hough was of the same company. Ja- bez Jr., settled at Bozrah and was dcacon of the church. He married, October 28, 1,90. Eunice Clement, born November 25, 1767, at Norwich, died February, 1842, at Colchester. He died at Bozrah, February 28, 1831. Chil- dren, born at Bozrah: 1. Clement. Decem- ber 26, 1791 ; removed to Lebanon. New Hampshire. 2. Rev. Joseph, January 6, 1793 : married, May 23. 1822. Lavinia P. Wight- man ; lived at Lebanon. New Hampshire: Hawkinsville, Georgia : Almont, Michigan. 3. Harriet Tracy, May 3, 1794: married, March 27, 1816, Josiah Bissell Bill, of Exeter, Con- necticut, at Lebanon. 4. Mary Moseley. Sep- tember 14. 1795 ; died June 2, 1815. 5. Sarah Clement, December 5. 1796; married. Jan- uary 7, 1821, Roswell Bailey. 7. Jabez (3), May 17, 1799: died January 31, 1825. 8. Urban, October 4. 1800: lived at Romeo, Michigan. 9. Eunice, July 14, 1802: died September 22, 1802. IO. Alanson Hodges, mentioned below. II. Walter King. January 23. 1805 : married, April 14. 1831. Nancy B. Kelley, born October 28, 1804, daughter of William and Clarissa ( Backus) : married (sec- ond) Elizabeth Parker, of Montville : lived at Almont. Michigan. 12. Edward Hyde, Feb- ruary 18, 1806: married. December 27. 1832, Mary Ann Prentiss, of Lebanon : removed to Almont, Michigan, where he died in August. 1854. 13. Anthony Benezette Cleveland. De- cember 17, 180%, merchant at Hawkinsville, Georgia : died in New York City, March 16, 1842, unmarried.


(VII) Dr. Alanson Hodges Hough, son of Jabez, was horn at Bozrah, Connecticut. Oc- tober 26. 1803. He began the study of medi- cine in the office of Dr. Johnson, of Norwich and Bozrah, Connecticut. He attended courses of lectures at the Berkshire Medical Institute. Pittsfield. Massachusetts, 1828. and later studied under Dr. Knight, of New Haven. and was graduated at the Yale Medical School, New Haven, Connecticut. in the class of 1820- 1832. He settled in Essex, Connecticut, in 1832, and practiced his profession there. He was a Republican, and was a member of the general assembly and of the state senate in 1855. Ile was a man of fine mind. a firm believer in the truths of Christianity, and a deep student of the Bible. He and his fam- ily were Baptists in religion. He was a deacon of the First Baptist Church of Essex for forty-six years. He died the oldest physi-


cian in Middlesex county, August 18. 1886. He married, May 13. 1832. Mary A. Lothrop. of Bozrah. She died without issue, June 23. 1833. He married (second ) Susan E. Will- iams, of Essex, Connecticut, daughter of Cap- tain William Williams ( 1783-1835), a master mariner, commanding his own ship, sailing between New York and foreign ports. Susan E. Williams was granddaughter of Sammel Williams ( 1751-1822) and of Asa Pratt, men of influence in Saybrook during the revolu- tionary war. She was born at Essex, Con- necticut, November 13, 1808: was educated in Saybrook, Connecticut. and at Bordeaux. France. She was married to Dr. Alanson II. Hough, August 12, 1834, and died November 15, 1873. Children, born in Essex: 1. Will- iam C .. married Marietta, danghter of Beza- leel Fisk Smith ( Haddam, Connecticut, fam- ily). April 29, 1869: one daughter: Irene Fleming Hough, born 1883. 2. Abby Pratt. married Rev. Joseph Wightman ( Groton. Connecticut, and New London family ), a Bap- tist clergyman, Taunton, Mass: children: Walter. Eugene, Ernest, Merle, Hubert. Aian- son. Susan. 3. Mary Adele, married Jared E. Redfield, a prominent man of Essex. bank president ; sons : William Hough and Jay E 4. Benezette Alanson. mentioned below. 5. Niles Pratt. born September 30, 1844: broker. and teller of Phoenix Bank. of Hartford; married Leila, daughter of Warcham Gris- wold, of Hartford, Connecticut. 1874; daugh- ters: Helen G. born 1875 : Adele R., 1877. 6. Grace S. Hough, unmarried. ;. Charles S .. married Belle, daughter of B. F. Smith, May 26, 1881, died June 26. 1886.


(VII) Hon. Benezet A. Hough, son of Dr. Alanson Hodges Hough, was born May 20. 18.12, in Essex, Middlesex county. Connecti- cut. He attended the public schools of his native town and completed his preparation for college at Suffield. For three winters he taught school. He entered Brown Univer- sity in the class of 1865, but left at the end of his first year and enlisted in August, 1862. in the Twenty-fourth Connecticut Regiment. Company B. He was in the Banks expeli- tion to New Orleans. He was taken with typhoid and confined in the hospital sevett months : was discharged September 30, 1863. at Middletown, Connecticut. and returned home. He then resumed his course at Brown University and graduated with the class of 1866. He taught school during the next year. being first assistant at the Suffield "Literary Institute." In 1968 he entered the Albany Law School, and graduated with the degree of LL. B. in the class of 1869. He was a clerk in the law office of Nelson L. White.


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of Danbury, Connecticut, until the spring of 1870, when he was elected assistant clerk of the house of representatives of Connecticut. He was elected clerk of the house the fol- lowing year, and clerk of the senate the next year. He was admitted to practice in the su- perior court in 1872 at Danbury. He had already been admitted to the bar in New York state in 1869. In 1872 he formed a partner- ship with David Rooth. After two years the firm was dissolved. and since then Mr. Hough has practiced in Danbury without a partner. In politics he is a Republican. IIe was judge of the probate court two years ; was judge of the borough court and judge of the city court ten years, 1886-96. He is a Baptist .in re- ligion. IIe has taken an active part in the public and business life of Danbury. He is a director of the City National Bank and the Danbury and Bethel Gas and Electric Light Company. For many years he was chairman of the Republican town committee.


He married. October 31. 1877, Maria S., daughter of Charles Friend Starr (see Starr), and their children were the third generation born in the Starr homestead on Main street, viz: 1. Mariette Starr, born October 6. 1878. 2. Suzanne Williams, January II. 1880. 3. Julia Seelye. July 20, 1883. Susanne Williams Hough died October 14. 1907. They are Congregationalists in religion.


Maria Starr Hough is a charter member of Mary Wooster Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, by right of the service of her great-great-grandfather, Aaron Haw- ley, of Bridgeport. Connecticut, hrigade major to General Silliman, 17SI. She is also a mem- ber of the Connecticut Society of Colonial Dames of America, by right of descent from Dr. Thomas Starr ( 1589-1658), of Cambridge. Massachusetts, "chirurgeon" of the Plymouth forces in the Pequot war, 1637; Captain Josiah Starr ( 1657-1716). deputy from Danbury to the general court of Connecticut, 1702-1716; Captain Samuel Welles. of Wethersfield, Con- necticut, died 1675 : Lieutenant John Hollister (1612-1665), of Weymouth, Massachusetts, and Wethersfield. Connecticut : Hon. Richard Treet ( 1584-1670), Wethersfield and Hart- ford, Connecticut; Joseph Hawley ( 1603- 1600), of Stratford. Connecticut: Governor Thomas Welles, of Hartford, Connecticut (1598-1660), governor of Connecticut, 1655- 1658.


( The Starr Line).


The founder of the Starr family in the United States was Dr. Comfort Starr, who lived at Cranbrook and Ashford, county of Kent, England, and came to America in 1635 : sailing from Sandwich, Kent, on the ship


"Hercules," March, 1634-35, with three sons and three servants. He settled in Cambri.lge, Massachusetts, in the practice of his profes- sion, and was a distinguished surgeon. To commemorate the 250th anniversary of his death. a few of his American descendants in 1909 placed a tablet in the old church at Cran- brook, England, upon which is inscribed this record: "Dr. Comfort Starr. Baptized in Cranbrook Church, July 6, 1589. A Warden of St. Mary's, Ashford, Kent, 1631. Sailed from Sandwich to New England, 1635. A founder of Harvard, the First College in America, 1636, of which his son ( Rev. Com- fort) was one of the 7 incorporators 1650. Died at Boston, New England, January 2, 1659."


(II) Dr. Thomas Starr. first child of Dr. Comfort and Elizabeth, was born in England. and probably came with his father to America. He lived in Charlestown, Massachusetts. He was appointed, May 17. 1637. "chirurgeon" ( surgeon) to the forces sent against the Pe- quots. He married Rachel - -, and died October 26, 1658. Of his eight children : Sam- uel, 1640, was founder of New London, Con- necticut, branch : Comfort, 1644, founder of Middletown, Connecticut. branch: Josiah, 1057, founder of Danbury, Connecticut, branch.


(III ) Captain Josiah Starr, youngest son of Dr. Thomas, was born at Charlestown, Massa- chusetts, September 1, 1657. moved to Hemp- stead. Long Island, in 1678, and in 1603 lo- cated in Danbury, Connecticut, soon after its first settlement. He was one of the seven pat- entees of the town. the first town clerk. justice of the peace and surveyor : commissioned lien- tenant in 1710, and in 1713 captain of the First Company. For three years he was jus- tice of Fairfield county : elected deputy to the general court of Connecticut in 1702, and for fourteen successive years thereafter until his death, January 4, 1716. His wife Rebekah died 1739. Of their eight children: Lieut. Benjamin (mentioned below) was born in 1683 : Samuel (mentioned below) was born in 1700: and Comfort, their youngest child. in 1706. Comfort Starr ( 1706-63) gave to the First Church a large baptismal bowl of solid silver suitably inscribed, and in his will left to the town £Soo for a fund for a school of "higher order." the high school of Danbury now having the benefit thereof. His only child Nathan was graduated from Yale College and died in 1752.


(IV) Lieut. Benjamin Starr ( 1683-1754). was a man of much prominence in the town, but as the town records were destroyed by the British, there is little public record con-


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cerning him. He was an extensive land holder. He married Eunice, youngest child of Thomas and Rebecca ( Ketcham) Taylor. (Thomas Taylor, born in Windsor, in 1643, was one of the original eight settlers of Dan- bury. His wife Rebecca was daughter of Ed- Ward Ketcham, of Stratford.)


(V) Eunice, daughter of Benjamin and Eu- nice ( Taylor) Starr. marric 1 Samuel Greg- ory, and their daughter. Beulah Gregory (mentioned below ), married her cousin, Caleb Starr ( mentioned below : son of Samuel ( men- tioned below). Samuel Gregory was grand- son of Judah Gregory, one of the eight orig- inals of Danbury.


(IV) Samuel Starr, fifth son of Captain Jo- siah. the patentee, was born in Danbury, Con- necticut, in 1700, and die 1 December 29. 1744. He became an extensive land owner in asso- ciation with his brothers in Danbury, Kent and vicinity. His will, dated December 4. 1744, bequeathed property valued at about £3.000. He married Abigail Dibble. She died July 24. 1791, aged 88 years. She married (second ) Joseph Waller, of New Milford. Connecticut. She is buried in Warren. Con- nectient. Children: 1. Samuel. 2. Rachel, born 1734. married Stephen, son of Captain Samuel and Naomi ( Brush) Jarvis. 3. Sil- vanus, 1736. 4. Caleb. February. 1739 ( men- tioned below ). 5. Abigail, married her cou- sin, Colonel Eli Mygatt, of New Milford, and died in 1767. 6. Rev. Peter. September. 1744. He was progenitor of the Starr family of Warren, Connecticut. He graduated at Yale in 1764, and in 1772 marrie ! Sarah. daughter of Rev. Philemon and Hannah ( Foote) Robbins, of Branford, Connecticut. Rev. Peter Starr was a prominent divine in his day, and a man of much influence.


(V) Caleb Starr, son of Samuel, was born in February, 1739. in Ridgebury Society, Ridgefield, Connecticut, and settled in Dan- bury. He was a farmer and a large land holder. His house, built before the revolu- tionary war, stood on West street, within a large tract of land running from the pre-ent


Harmony street to Beaver, to Spring, and other streets inclusive, which were opened by his descendants from time to time. He died ' September 20, 1800. He and his family were Episcopalians in religion. He married, June 1765. his cousin. Beulah Gregory. born May 22, 1745, died July 14. 1819, daughter of Sam- uel and Eunice ( Starr) Gregory ( mentioned above). Children of Caleb and Beulah Starr : I. Amerillus, born 1706, married Ephraim Washburn. 2. Friend. April 5, 1507 (men- tioned below). 3. Polly, 1768: married Elia- kim Peck. 4. Lucy, 1770. married Ezra Greg-


orv. 5. Beulah, 1772. 6. Caleb, 1774 ; married Huidah, daughter of Hezekiah and Abigail Booth, of Newtown, Connecticut. ;. Ebene- zer Dibble, 1776; married Betsey. daughter of Jonathan Andrews (children: 1. Lucy, mar- ried Col. Thomas Mygatt Gregory. 2. Julia Ann, born ISo; ; married. 1827, Frederick S., son of Hon. Zalmon Wildman. 3. Samuel G., married Eliza Davy, of England). 8. Ste- then, born 1778. 9. Stephen. 1780. 10. Eli. I781 ; married Lucy Backus Lyon, (second) Sarah Lyon Wright. 11. Walter, 1783. 12. Samuel Gregory, born July 19. 1785 : died at Augusta, Georgia, October. 1827: married. 1816, Maria, daughter of Ebenezer Russell and Hannah ( Judson ) White. of Danbury, born March 18. 1789, died at Augusta, Geor- gia, November 1, 1817.


(VI) Friend, son of Caleb Starr, was born at Danbury, April 5, 1767. He was a promi- nent and honored citizen of Danbury. He rep. resented the town at seven sessions of the general assembly of Connecticut, and at the constitutional convention. He was sheriff of Fairfield county for eighteen consecutive years, a position then of much dignity and ap- pointed by the legislature. He was of the firm of Starr & Sanford, whose tan works extend- ed from Liberty street to the present Railroad avenue. He and his family were Episcopa- lians in religion. Friend Starr died Septent- ber 10. 1838. He married. September 15. 1797, Esther Booth. born October 10. 1777. died October 14. 1853, daughter of Hczekialt and Abigail Booth, of Newtown. Connecticut. Esther Booth was a direct descendant of Sir William Booth, Knight, of Bowden, Cheshire. England, and of his son Richard, the immi- grant progenitor of the Booth family of Fair- field county, Connecticut, who settled in Strat- ford, Connecticut, in 1610. Children of Friend and Esther ( Booth ) Starr: 1. Mary Booth, born August 7. 1808, die June 27. 1834; married. August 8. 1826 ( first ) David Harris Boughton ( son of Elias and Hannah ( Hovt) Boughton of Danbury), who died June 5. 1829. at Charleston, South Carolina. buried in Upper Main street burying ground, of Danbury: she married (second: David Mead Benedict, September 21. 1832, a son of Platt Benedict ( Norwalk, Connecticut. fam- ily), who died January 16, 1843. A daughter. Mary Boughton Benedict, died in 1834, bur- ied in the North Main Street burving ground. of Danbury. 2. Charles Friend.


(VII) Charles Friend Starr, son of Friend and E-ther ( Booth) Starr, was born March 30. 1812; at Danbury. and died. Sep- tember 17. 1887. in the homestead on Main street, where he, was born. He was a


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fariner and a substantial citizen, and helel var- ious town offices, possessing to an unusual degree the esteem and confidence of his towns- men. He married, June 30, 1841 ( first: Mari- ette Sueley, born January 5. 1821, died Au- gust 28, 1850, daughter of AAaron and Maria ( Tenner) Seeley. of Danbury ( Maria Ten- ney was descended from the Rowley, Massa- chusetts family. ) Aaron Seeley (Scelve), or- ganizer and president of the Pahquiogne Bank of Danbury, was descended from Robert See- ley. immigrant progenitor, and Captain Na- thaniel Seviye, his son, of Fairfield, Connecti- cut. and on bis maternal side from Samuel Hawley, immigrant, and Joseph Hawley, hi, son, of Stratton, Connecticut, family. Charles Friend Starr married (second) Sarah Maria Seeley, ol le-t daughter of Aaron and Maria (Tenney ) Seeley, October 12, 1877, born No- vember 11, 1814. died December 26. 1884. Children of Charles Friend Starr and Mari- ette (Seeley) Starr, born in the Starr home- stead at Danbury: I. Henry Wheeler, born September 1. 1842; teller of the Pahquioque Bank, and later of the firm of Hallgarten & Company, bankers, Broad street. New York City ; died February 20, 1875. 2. John Booth, born September 25, 1844; dealer in hatter's furs in Danbury, died March 23, 1876. 3. Ma- ria Seeley.


(VIII) Maria Seeley, only surviving child of Charles Friend and Mariette ( Seeley) Starr, was born July 10. 1849, in the home- stead of the Starr, on the east side of Main street, in Danbury, built in 1796, and which is still standing, and she is the sixth generation in direct line in possession of the property, tracing her lineage both to Benjamin Starr and his brother Samuel Starr, sons of Cap- tain Josiah. the founder of the Starr family of Danbury. Married, October 31. 187 ;. Bene- zette Alanson Hough ( Essex, Conn., family ), a lawyer of Danbary. Their three children : Mariette Starr, Suzanne Williams, and Julia Seelye Hough, were the third generation born in the homestead of their great-grandparents Friend and E-ther ( Booth) Starr. (see Hough).


The first authentic record of , SEELEY this name, which has been vari- ously spelled Seely, Sealy, Sea- lev, Seelye, Seeley, appears in Froude's "His- tory of England." vol. vill. p. 152. as follows: "In the year 1563 the following petition was addressed to the Lords of Elizabeth's Council : 'In most lamentable wise showeth enty your honors, your humble Orator Dorothy Sceley of the City of Bristol, wife of Thomas Seeley of the Queen's Majesty's guard, that where


her said husband upon mo-t vile, anderous, spiteful, malicious, and most villainons words spoken against the Queen's Majesty's own person by a certain subject of the King of Spain, here not to be uttere 1; not being able to suffer same, did flee upon the same slan- derous person and gave him a blow. So it is most honorable Lords that hereupon my said husband, no other offense in respect of their religion then committed, was secretly accused! to the inquisition of the Holy House, and so committed to most vile prison, and there hath remained now three whole years in miserable state with cruel torments.'" A son of the atoresaid Thomas Seeley is mentioned as cap- tain in command of the "Minion." accom- panying Drake in his famous voyage to the West Indies in 1685-86. The name Seeley is associated with the early history of England, Shakespeare. in his play "Richard H." repre- senting Si Bennet Seeley as having been be- headed by the followers of Bolingbroke for his loyalty to Richard, who was dethroned in 1399.


(I) Robert Seeley, the immigrant ancestor of this branch of the Seeley family, came to America with Governor Winthrop, landing at Salem, June, 1630, and bringing with him his wife Mary and sons Nathaniel and Obadiah. From thence he proceeded with Sir Richard Salstonstall. Rev. George Phillips and others up the Charles river fom miles from Charles. town, commencing a settlement, which was called Sir Richard Saltonstall's plantation. ail afterward pamed Watertown. Home- stead's averaging five or six acres were as- signed. Robert Seeley receiving the maximum allotment of sixteen acres, near the north bank of the Charles river. This homestead was later soll to Simon Erie, and is easily located at the present day by reference to "Bond's Map of Ancient Watertown." E. July, 1630, upon the formation of the Water- town Church, which was the second church in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the first being that at Salem. Robert Seeley was one of the forty who entered into covenant; in 1631 he was one of the first twenty-five. together with Rev. George Phillips. R. Sal- tonstall, Jr., and Captain Patrick, to be made freemen. In 1635 Robert Seeley, with Rev. Toben Sherman and others, removed from Watertown and formed a settlement in Con- necticut, which they also named Watertown. this name being later changed to Wethers- field. There he was male -crgeant in com- mand of the military organization, and when was was declared against the Pequots in 1637 Captain John Mason and Lieutenant Robert Scelcy led the combined forces of Hartford,


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Windsor and Wethersfield in an expedition which resulted in the annihilation of Fort Mistick and three hundred Indians, and eigh- teen days later in the complete overthrow of the Pequot tribe in the swamp of Unguowa, subsequently called Fairfield. Captain John Mason's "A Brief History of the Pequot War" says: "Lieutenant Seeley was shot in the eyebrow with a flatheaded arrow, the point turning downward. 1 pulled it out myself." \t the close of the Pequot war Captain Robert Seeley withdrew from Weth- ersfield, and with John Davenport, pastor ; Theophilus Eaton, subsequently governor for twenty years, and others, held their first meet- ing. April 18 1638, under a branching oak, and entered into a covenant by which the New Haven Colony was formed and its first form of government constituted and estab- lished, being made permanent in 1639. Cap- tain Seeley was a prominent and respected member of the New Haven Colony, occu- pying the fourth seat in church ( seats being arranged in order of prominence, the gov- ernor occupying the first). He was marshal of the colony, commander of the militia. on the committee of the general court and other judicial committees, representing the colony in times of peace, leading its forces in times of war, at all times a wise counsellor and an efficient public servant. In addition to Water- town, Wethersfield and New Haven. he was one of the founders of Fairfield, Stamford, Huntington, Long Island and Elizabethtown, New Jersey. He diel October 19, 1667, leav- ing a wife and one son. Nathaniel, his other son, Obadiah, having died at Stamford in 1657.




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