USA > Connecticut > New London County > New London > History of New London, Connecticut, From the First Survey of the Coast in 1612 to 1852 > Part 30
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
his estate, it may be gathered that he had sons, Aaron, John and William, and that John Fish and Josiah Haynes were his sons-in- law.
John Stebbins, died probably in 1685.
In one deposition on record, his age is said to be sixty, in 1661, and in another, seventy, in 1675. Where the mistake lies, can not be decided. It is probable that he was the John Stebbins who had a son John born at Watertown, in 1640.1 His wife, Margaret, died January 1st, 1678-9. Three children are mentioned : John, Daniel, and the wife of Thomas Marshall, of Hartford. John Stebbins, 2d, was married about 1663; his wife was Deborah, and is supposed to have been a daughter of Miles Moore. He died in 1707. Daniel Stebbins married Bethiah, daughter of Daniel Comstock. The broth- ers, John and Daniel Stebbins, were of that company to whom the Mohegan sachems made a munificent grant of a large part of Hebron and Colchester.
The name is almost invariably written in the earlier records, Stub- bin, or Stubbing.
No clue has been obtained to the period of decease of Thomas Marritt, Nathaniel Holt, John Fish and William Peake. Their names, however, disappear from the rolls of living men, about 1685.
Thomas Marritt .- The name is given in his own orthography, but it is commonly recorded Merrit. He was probably the Thomas Maryot, made freeman of the Bay colony in 1636,2 and the Thomas Merrit, of Cambridge, mentioned in the will of John Benjamin, in 1645.3 At New London, his first appearance is in 1664; he was chosen custom-master of the port, and county marshal, Dec. 15th, 1668, and was, for several years, the most conspicuous attorney in the place.
Nathaniel Holt .- William Holt, of New Haven, had a son, Na- thaniel, born in 1647, who settled in New London in 1673, and mar- ried, April 5th, 1680, Rebecca, daughter of Thomas Beeby, 2d.
1 Farmer's Register.
2 Savage's Winthrop, vol. 2, p. 366.
3 Hist. and Gen. Reg., vol. 3, p. 177. In Mass. Hist. Coll., 3d series, vol. 10, p. 118, Mr. Myrior is probably a mistake for Myriot.
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
Only two children of this marriage are recorded-William, born July 15th, 1681 ; Nathaniel, July 18th, 1682. From Thomas Beeby, the Holt family inherited the original homestead granted by the town to Thomas Parke, lying south-west of Robert Hempstead's lot, with a highway, (Hempstead Street,) between them. Sergeant Thomas Beeby purchased this lot of five acres, and left it to his descendants. In the original grant it is said, "to run up the hill among the rocks." This description remained characteristic of the surface for nearly two hundred years, but its aptness is now fast melting away, before an advancing line of neat dwelling-houses, from whose windows the occupants look out over the roofs of their neighbors, upon a goodly prospect.1
John Fish .- Probably identical with the John Fish, who was of Lynn, 1637.2 In New London, he appears early in 1655, with wife and children. Of the latter, only three are traced, John, Jonathan and Samuel. In 1667, the wife of John Fish was Martha-probably a second wife, and a young woman. She was subsequently several times arraigned and admonished, on account of improper conduct, and finally eloped with Samuel Culver. Mr. Fish obtained a divorce from his recreant wife, in 1680, at which time it is said she had been gone six or seven years. Of the guilty couple nothing further is known. The estate of Mr. Fish was divided in 1687, between his two sons, Jonathan and Samuel. John Fish, Jr., is mentioned in 1684, but his name not appearing in the division of the estate, it may be conjectured that he had received his portion and settled else- where.3
William Peake, or Pike .- His residence was west of the town- " plot, on the path leading to Fog Plain. Only three children are mentioned :
Sarah, married, Dec. 27th, 1671, Abraham Dayne or Deane.
1 About the year 1846, Mr. David Bishop, with great labor, succeeded in cutting a chamber out of the solid rock for a foundation, upon which he erected a handsome house. A street has since been opened over the hill, a number of neat houses built, and the name of Mountain Avenue given to it.
2 Farmer's Register.
3 Perhaps in Newtown, Long Island. In the patent of Newtown, granted in 1686, are the names of John, Samuel and Nathan Fish. The same names occur among the sons of Samuel Fish, of Groton, suggesting a connection with the Newtown family.
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
William, who settled in Lyme, and married, June 24th, 1679, Abi- gail Comstock.
John, who remained in New London, had wife, Elizabeth, and children, John, born 1690; Samuel, 1693 ; William, 1695, and Ruth, 1699. John Pike died, Oct. 2d, 1699.
Christopher Christophers, died July 23d, 1687.
Two brothers, of the name of Christophers, both mariners, and en- gaged in the exchange trade with Barbadoes, settled in New London about 1665.
Jeffrey was aged fifty-five in 1676; of course born about 1621 Christopher was, at his death, aged fifty-six; born about 1631 .. That they were brothers, conclusive evidence remains, in documents upon record, wherein the relationship is expressed.
Jeffrey Christophers had a son of the same name, who was also a mariner, and who died May 17th, 1690, of the small-pox. Jane, the wife of the said Jeffrey Christophers, Jr., died of the same disease three weeks after her husband. Jeffrey, Sen., had no other son. Three daughters are mentioned : Joanna, wife of John Mayhew ; Margaret, wife of Abraham Corey, of Southold, and the wife of a Mr. Parker, or Packer, of the same place. In 1700, Jeffrey Chris- tophers was living at Southold, with one of these daughters. The date of his death is not known.
Christopher Christophers, having purchased the Doxey or Lane house-lot, on the Town Street, built thereon, about 1680, a new house which is supposed to be the same structure, in the frame and fashion of it, that has been known, of late years, as the Wheat house. Ac- cording to tradition, the timber of which it was built, grew upon the - spot. After one hundred and seventy years of endurance, the frame was still firm and substantial. It was one of the six fortified houses of 1676, and subsequently, when enlarged, the addition was built over the old sloping roof. Another and larger house was built by the side of it, on the same home-lot, and probably on the site of the Doxey or Lane house, about the year 1710, in which resided the second Chris- topher Christophers, grandson of the former. This has more recently been known as the Hurlbut house, (corner of Main and Federal Streets.) Both of these houses were taken down in 1851, and the new and tasteful mansions of Messrs. Lawrence and Miner, now oc- cupy their places.
Mr. Christophers brought with him to New London, a wife, Mary,
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
and three children, Richard, John and Mary, An ancient record in the family, states that Richard was born, July 13th, 1662, at Chof- ton's Forris, in Devonshire, England ; probably Cherston Ferrers, a village on Torbay, near Dartmouth. Mrs. Mary Christophers died July 13th, 1676, aged fifty-five years, which was ten years in ad- vance of the age of her husband. Her grave-stone is the second in chronological order in the old burial-ground, being the next in date to the tablet of Richard Lord. Mr. Christophers afterward married Elizabeth, relict of Peter Bradley. A certificate of this marriage is indorsed upon one of the town books, without any reference to time, or place, or the officiating magistrate, but simply attested by two wit- nesses, Mary Shapley and Jane Hill, the latter a child, eight or nine years of age-both nieces of the bride.
Christopher Christophers died July 23d, 1687, aged fifty-six.
Mrs. Elizabeth Christophers, died in 1708, "aged about seventy."1
Richard Christophers married, Jan. 26th, 1681, Lucretia Bradley. She died in 1691. His second wife was Grace Turner, of Situate. Hhe two wives were cousins, and both granddaughters of Jonathan Brewster. Richard Christophers was much employed in public af- fairs, and one of the most prominent individuals of the town in his day. He was an assistant in the colony, judge of the county court and court of probate. He died June 9th, 1726, leaving a large es- tate. His will provides for two sons and seven daughters. Six sons had deceased before him. His oldest son, Christopher, succeeded to all his appointments and public offices, but very soon followed him into the grave. He died Feb. 5th, 1728-9, in the forty-sixth year of his age. Estate, £4,468.
John Christophers, second son of the first Christopher Christo- phers, married, July 28th, 1696, Elizabeth Mulford, of Long Island. He died in Barbadoes in 1703. His only son, John, was wrecked near Montauk, on a return voyage from the same island, and drowned, in July, 1723. By this event, the male issue in this branch became extinct, and the name centered in the family of Richard. The elder John Christophers had two daughters, who inherited the estate. Eliz- abeth who married the third Joshua Raymond, had the farm on Ni- antick River, called Pine Neck. Esther, who married Thomas Man-
1 A part of her grave-stone, containing the date, is broken off and missing, but if Mrs. Christophers was forty-two years of age in 1680, the date must have been 1708. See note before, under article Bradley.
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
waring, had the farm at Black Point. Elizabeth, relict of John Christophers, married the third John Picket.
The names of Picket and Christophers, which, for a century and a half were common in the town, and borne by persons of note and af- fluence, whose families also were numerous, have entirely disappeared from the place; but it is supposed that some branches, formerly di- verging from the parent stock in New London, are continued in other parts of the Union.
John Richards, died in 1687.
Of this person, no account previous to his appearance in New Lon- don, has been found. His marriage is not recorded, and it is proba- ble that it took place elsewhere. He had seven children baptized, March 26th, 1671-John, Israel, Mary, Penelope, Lydia, Elizabeth and Hannah. David was baptized July 27th, 1673. It is presumed that these eight form a complete list of his children. John, the old- est son, was born in 1666. He married Love, daughter of Oliver Manwaring, and had a family of ten children, all of whom died under twenty years of age, except four-John, George, Samuel and Lydia. John married Anna Prentis ; George married Esther Hough; Sam- uel married Ann, (Denison,) relict of Jabez Hough ; Lydia married John Proctor, of Boston.
Israel, the second son of the elder John Richards, inherited from his father a farm, " near the Mill Pond, about two miles to the north- ward of the town plot." He had two sons, Israel and Jeremiah, and several daughters.
David Richards, the third son, married Elizabeth Raymond, Dec. 14th, 1698.
Samuel Starr, died, probably, in 1688.
Mr. Starr is not mentioned upon the records of New London, at an earlier date than his marriage with Hannah, daughter of Jonathan Brewster, Dec. 23d, 1664. His wife was aged thirty-seven, in 1680. Their children were, Samuel, born Dec. 11th, 1665; Thomas, Sept. 27th, 1668 ; Comfort, baptized by Mr. Bradstreet, in August, 1671; Jonathan, baptized in 1674, and Benjamin, in 1679.
The residence of this family was on the south-west corner of the Bradley lot, (corner of Main and State Streets, or Buttonwood corn- er.) Mr. Starr was appointed county marshal,1 in 1678, and prob-
1 Equivalent to sheriff.
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
ably held the office till his death. No will, inventory, or record of the settlement of his estate has been found, but a deed was executed Feb. 2d, 1687-8, by Hannah, widow of Samuel Starr, and it is prob- able that her husband had then recently deceased.
Samuel Starr was undoubtedly a descendant of " Comfort Starr, of Ashford, chirurgeon," who came to New England, in the Hercu- les, of Sandwich, 1635, with three children and three servants.1 The coincidence of names, suggests an intimate family connection. The three children of the chirurgeon are supposed to have been Thomas, John and Comfort. Thomas followed the profession of his father, is styled a surgeon, and was living in Yarmouth, Mass., from 1648 to 1670.2 He had two children born in Situate-Comfort, in 1644, and Elizabeth, in 1646. It is probable that he had other children, and according to our conjecture, one older, viz., our Samuel Starr, of New London. The church records of Ipswich, state that Mary, wife of Comfort Starr, was admitted to that church in March, 1671, and in May, 1673, dismissed to the church in New London. She was re- ceived here in June, and her husband's name appears on the town record, about the same period, but he is supposed to have removed to Middletown. This was probably the brother of Samuel, and iden- tical with Comfort Starr, born in 1644.
Samuel Starr, Jun., is mentioned in 1685, and again in 1687. He then disappears, and no descendants have been found in this vicinity. Of Comfort, third son of Samuel, nothing is known after his bap- tism in 1671. It may be presumed that he died young. The second and fourth sons, Thomas and Jonathan, settled east of the river, in the present town of Groton, on land which some of their descendants still occupy. Thomas Starr is called a shipwright. In the year 1710, he sold a sloop, called the Sea Flower, which he describes as " a square sterned vessel of sixty-seven tons, and six-seventh of a ton burden, built by me in Groton," for £180. This is our latest account of him till we meet with the notice of his death, which took place Jan. 31st, 1711-12.
Thomas and Jonathan Starr married sisters, Mary and Elizabeth Morgan, daughters of Capt. James Morgan. Samuel, the oldest son of Jonathan, removed to Norwich, and is the founder of the Norwich family of Starrs. Jonathan, the second son, was the ancestor of the present Jonathan Starr, Esq., of New London, and of the late Capt.
1 Gleanings by Savage, in Mass. Hist. Coll., 3d series, vol. 8, p. 275.
2 Deane's Hist. of Situate, p. 347, and Thatcher's Medical Biography.
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
Jared Starr. Richard, another brother of this family, removed to Hinsdale, Mass., and was one of the fathers of that new settlement, and a founder of its infant church.1
The descendants of Jonathan Starr have been remarkable for lon- gevity-eight of his children lived to be eighty, and most of them over eighty-five years of age. One of his daughters, Mrs. Turner, was one hundred years and seven months old. In the family of his son Jonathan, the father, mother and four children, averaged ninety years of age. The third Jonathan lived to be ninety-five, and his brother, Capt. Jared Starr, to his ninetieth year. A similar length of years characterized their partners in marriage. Mrs. Mary (Sea- bury) Starr, lived to the age of ninety-nine years ; and Elizabeth, relict of Capt. Joseph Starr, of Groton, (brother of Jonathan, 2d,) died at the age of one hundred years, four months and eight days.
Benjamin Starr, the youngest son of the first Samuel, (born 1679,) settled in New London, and has had many descendants here. He purchased, in 1702, of the heirs of Thomas Dymond, a house, garden, and wharf, upon Bream Cove, east side, where the old bridge crossed the cove, which was then regarded as the end of the town in that di- rection. The phrase-from the fort to Benjamin Starr's-compre- hended the whole length of the bank. The water, at high tide, came up to the base of Mr. Starr's house; and the dwellings south-east of it, known as the Crocker and Perriman houses, founded on the rocks, had the tide directly in their rear, so as to preclude the use of doors on the water side. The quantity of made land in that vicinity, and the recession of the water, consequent upon bridging and wharfing, has entirely altered the original form of the shore around Bream Cove. A foot-bridge, with a draw, spanned the cove, by the side of Mr. Starr, and connected him with his opposite neighbor, Peter Harris.
X Philip Bill, died July 8th, 1689.
Mr. Bill, and a daughter named Margaret, died the same day, vic- tims of an epidemic throat distemper, that was prevalent in July and
1 Richard Starr was a man eminent for piety. Mrs. Mary Starr (wife of Jonathan) used to say, " Brother Richard comes to see us once a year, and I always feel at his departure, as if an angel had been visiting us." . This testimonial is the more pleasing, from the fact that the two families belonged to different religious denominations. Richard Starr was a Congregationalist; Mrs. Starr of the Episcopal communion.
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
August of this year. He settled east of the river, in that part of the township which is now Ledyard, before 1670. Mr. Bradstreet bap- tized his son Jonathan, November 5th, 1671, and adds to the record that the father was member of the church at Ipswich. Another son, Joshua, was baptized in 1675. The older children, probably born in Ipswich, were Philip, Samuel, John and Elizabeth. Hannah, relict of Philip Bill, married Samuel Bucknall. Philip Bill, Jr., was ser- geant of the first company of train-bands formed in Groton. His wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Andrew Lester. Their oldest son, Philip, was lost at sea, or died abroad. Sergeant Philip Bill, who "lived near the Long Hill in Groton," died July 10th, 1739, aged above eighty. "The church bell (says Hempstead in his diary,) tolled twice on that occasion." We infer from this that it was customary at that day to have only a death-bell to announce decease, but no passing-bell to solemnize the funeral.
Abel Moore, died July 9th, 1689.
This event occurred at Dedham, Mass., and was caused by the ex- treme heat of the weather. He was constable of the town that year, and had been to Boston, probably on business connected with his public duties.
Abel Moore was the son, and as far as we know the only son of Miles Moore, and his wife, Isabel Joyner. Of the death of the par- ents we have no account, but it is probable that they had deceased before their son. They were both living in 1680, when Mr. Brad- street records as admitted to full communion in the church, "old goodman Moore and his wife, sometime members of the church at Guildford"-Guilford is here unquestionably a mistake for Milford. Miriam, wife of John Willey, is the only daughter of Miles Moore, that is well ascertained; but it is probable that Deborah, wife of John Stebbins, Jun., had the same parentage.
Abel Moore married, September 22d, 1670, Hannah, daughter of Robert Hempstead. Their children were Miles, born September 24th, 1671 ; Abel, July 14th, 1674; Mary, born in 1678; John in 1680, and Joshua, to whose birth or age no reference has been found. Hannah, relict of Abel Moore, married Samuel Waller.
Smith.
We find the name of Giles Smith, at Hartford, in 1639; at New London, in 1647 ; at Fairfield, in 1651. These three are doubtless
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
one and the same person. At Fairfield, he found a resting place, and there remained till his death.1
Ralph Smith was a transient resident in 1657, and again in 1659.
Richard Smith came to the plantation in 1652, from "Martin's Vineyard," but soon went to Wethersfield. Another Richard Smith was a householder in 1655, occupying the lot of Jarvis Mudge, near the burial ground ; but he also removed to Wethersfield, where the two were styled senior and junior, but they do not appear to have been father and son. This name, Richard Smith, was often repeated on the list of early emigrants. Two persons bearing it, one aged forty-three, and the other twenty-eight, are among the passengers that came to America in the Speedwell, in 1656.2 A Richard Smith settled in Narragansett, before 1650, and was a man of influence in all concerns relating to the Indians of that neighborhood. He had a son of the same name. Another Richard Smith belongs to the early history of Lyme, where his name appears as a landholder in 1670. These have been enumerated, in order to distinguish them carefully from Richard Smith of New London, who had no connection that can be discovered, with any of them.
" Richard Smith and Bathsheba Rogers (daughter of James,) were married together by me, Daniel Wetherell, commissioner, March 4, 1669, (70)."
Mr. Smith died in 1682, and his relict married Samuel Fox. Four children of the first marriage are mentioned, viz., Elizabeth, who married William Camp; Bathsheba, who married her cousin, John Rogers, 2d ; John, who subsequently settled in the North Par- ish, and left descendants there, and James. The last named was probably the oldest son. He was baptized April 12th, 1674 ; mar- ried Elizabeth, daughter of Jonathan Rogers, and has had an un- broken line of descendants in the town to the present day. He is the ancestor of the four brothers Smith, who have been such successful whaling captains from New London, since the year 1820.
Other early settlers of New London, of the name of Smith, were Nehemiah, John and Edward. The first two were brothers, and the last named, their nephew. Nehemiah had previously lived in New Haven, and the birth of his son Nehemiah, the only son that appears on record, was registered there in 1646. John Smith came from Boston, with his wife Joanna and daughter Elizabeth, who appears
1 Judd, of Northampton, (MS.)
2 Hist. and Gen. Reg., vol. 1, p. 132.
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
to have been his only child. Edward Smith is first named in 1660. He settled on a farm east of the river.
Nehemiah Smith, the elder, connected himself with the association that settled Norwich, in 1660, and removed to that plantation, where he died in 1684. He left four daughters : Mary, wife of Samuel Raymond; Ann, wife of Thomas Bradford ; Elizabeth, wife of Joshua Raymond, and Experience, wife of Joshua Abel, of Norwich. His son, Nehemiah Smith, 2d, married Lydia, daughter of Alexander Winchester, of Roxbury, October 24th, 1669. He was for many years in the commission of the peace, an honorable and venerated man; usually styled on the records, Mr. Justice Smith. He died in 1727, and was buried at Pequonuck, in Groton, where the latter years of his life were spent. It was this Nehemiah Smith who made the large purchase of soldier land at Niantic, in 1692, which he assigned, in 1698, to his second son, Samuel. The latter settled on this land, and is the progenitor of several families of the name, both of Lyme and New London.
John Smith remained in the town plot, and after 1659, held the offices of commissioner, custom-master and grand-juryman. His res- idence was in New, or Cape Ann Street.
" Feb. 1666-7. John Smith hath given him the two trees that stand in the street before his house for shade, not to be cut down by any person."
He died in 1680. His will was accepted in the county court, with this notification, " The court doth desire the widow to consider her husband's kinsman, Edward Smith." The will had been made in favor of the wife, in violation, as was claimed, of certain promises made to his nephew. A suit at law ensued between the parties. The case was finally carried to the court of assistants, at Hartford, by whose decision the will was sustained. Joanna Smith, the widow, was noted as a doctress. She made salves, and was skillful to heal wounds and bruises, as well as to nurse and tend the sick. Her ser- vices in this way, she maintained, had contributed in no small degree to the prosperity of her husband. She died in 1687, aged about sev- enty-three years. Her estate was inherited by her daughter, Eliza- beth Way, of Lyme, and her grandsons, George and Thomas Way.
Edward Smith married, June 7th, 1663, Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Bliss, of Norwich. This couple, together with their son John, aged fifteen, died of the epidemic disease of 1689; the son, July 8th ; the wife, July 10th, and Edward Smith, July 14th. They left a son, Obadiah, twelve years of age, and six daughters, who all
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
went to reside with their friends in Norwich, and mostly settled in that place.1
These, with Lieut. Samuel Smith, from Wethersfield, whose career has been traced in a preceding chapter, comprise all the grantees of the town, of the name of Smith, previous to 1690.
Walter Bodington, died September 17th, 1689.
He was a single man who had occupied for a few years certain lands east of the river, which he purchased of the heirs of Thomas Bailey. The orthography of the name has since varied into Budding- ton. Walter Bodington, Jr., nephew of the deceased, was appointed administrator, as being nearest of kin. Joseph Nest had some inter- est in the estate, perhaps in right of his wife, who may have been sis- ter to the younger Walter. Of this family no early record is found, either of marriages or births. The second Walter Bodington died November 20th, 1713. His will mentions son Walter, and children of John Wood ; from which it is inferred that Mary, the first wife of John Wood, was his daughter. The Buddington family of Groton, have never suffered the name of Walter to be at any time missing from the family line.
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