USA > Connecticut > New London County > New London > History of New London, Connecticut, From the First Survey of the Coast in 1612 to 1852 > Part 32
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Grange Dinfor
Robert Denison, brother of the last named, (born September 17th, 1673,) purchased a tract of Indian land in 1710, near the north-west corner of New London. It lay upon Mashipaug (Gardiner's) Lake where the bounds of Norwich, New London and Colchester, came together. At what period he removed his family thither is not known, but probably about 1712. He is known to the records as Capt. Robert Denison, of the North Parish, and died about 1737. His son Robert served in the French wars during several campaigns, was a captain in Wolcott's brigade, at the taking of Louisburg, and afterward promoted to the rank of major. Being a man of stalwart form and military bearing, he was much noticed by the British offi- cers, with whom he was associated. He married Deborah, daughter of Matthew Griswold, 2d, of Lyme, and in 1760, removed with most of his family to Nova Scotia.
Peter Spicer, died probably in 1695.
He was one of the resident farmers in that part of the township which is now Ledyard. We find him a landholder in 1666. The inventory of his estate was presented to the judge of probate, by his wife Mary, in 1695. From her settlement of the estate, it appears that the children were, Edward, Samuel, Peter, William, Joseph, Abigail, Ruth, Hannah and Jane. Capt. Abel Spicer, of the Revolu- tionary army, was from this family.
John Leeds, died probably in 1696.
The following extracts from the town and church records, contain all the information that has been gathered of the family of John Leeds. " John Leeds, of Staplehowe, in Kent, Old England, was married to Eliza- beth, daughter of Cary Latham, June 25th, 1678."
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
" Mr. Leeds' child John, baptized March 13th, 1680-1.
66 daughter Elizabeth, baptized October 16th, 1681.
son William, baptized May 20th, 1683.
Widow Leeds' two children baptized, Gidcon and Thomas, August 1st, 1697."
John Leeds is first introduced to us in 1674, as a mariner, commander of the Success, bound to Nevis. He engaged afterward in building vessels, and had a ship-yard on the east side of the river.
John Mayhew, died 1696.
This name appears after 1670, belonging to one of that class of persons who had their principal home on the deep, and their rendez- vous in New London.
" John Mayhew, from Devonshire, Old England, mariner, was married unto Johanna, daughter of Jeffrey Christophers, December 26th, 1676."
Children of John Mayhew.
1. John, born December 15th, 1677.
2. Wait, born October 4th, 1680.
3. Elizabeth, born February 8th, 1683-4.
4. Joanna ; 5. Mary ; 6. Patience : these three were baptized July 9th, 1693.
Wait Mayhew, the second son, died in 1707, without issue. John Mayhew, 2d, was a noted ship-master in the West India and New- foundland trade, and attended the sea expedition against Canada, in 1711, in the capacity of a pilot. The next year he was sent to Eng- land to give his testimony respecting the disastrous shipwrecks in the St. Lawrence, that frustrated the expedition. He died in 1727, leav- ing several children, but only one son, John, who died without issue, in 1745. The Mayhew property was inherited by female descend- ants of the names of Talman, Lanpheer and Howard.
John Plumbe,1 died in 1696.
Plumbe is one of the oldest names in Connecticut. Mr. John Plumbe was of Wethersfield, 1636, and a magistrate in 1637.2 He had a warehouse burnt at Saybrook, in the Pequot War. In Februa- ry, 1664-5, he was appointed inspector of the lading of vessels at Wethersfield.3 He was engaged in the coasting trade, and his name
1 This is his own orthography; on the colonial records it is Plum.
2 Conn. Col. Rec., vol. 1, p. 13.
3 Ut supra, p. 121.
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
incidentally appears in the records of various towns on the river, and along the coast of the Sound. An account has been preserved among the Winthrop papers of a remarkable meteor which he saw one night in October, 1665. "I being then (he observes) rouing in my bote to groton ;"1 probably from Seabrook, where his account is dated. In 1670 he is noticed as carrying dispatches between Governors Winthrop, of Hartford, and Lovelace, of New York.2 We have no account of him at New London, as an inhabitant of the town, until he was chosen constable, in February, 1679-80. He was afterward known as marshal of the county and innkeeper. He had three chil- dren baptized in New London: Mercy, in 1677; George, in 1679, and Sarah, in 1682. But he had other children much older than these, viz., John, Samuel, Joseph and Greene. Samuel and Joseph settled in Milford; John, was at first of Milford, but afterward of New London, and for many years a deacon of the church. Greene also settled in New London ; George, in Stonington.
Joseph Truman, died in 1697.
Joseph Truman came to New London in 1666, and was chosen con- stable the next year. Truman's Brook and Truman Street are names derived from him and his family. He had a tannery at each end of this street, on Truman's Brook and the brook which ran into Bream Cove, near the Hempstead lot. In his will, executed in September, 1696, he mentions four children : Joseph, Thomas, Elizabeth and Mary. Neither his marriage, nor the births of his children are in the town registry.
Joseph and Jonathan Rogers.
These were the second and fifth sons of James Rogers, Senior, and are supposed to have died in 1697, at the respective ages of fifty-one and forty-seven, both leaving large families. The other three sons of James Rogers lived into the next century.
Samuel Rogers died December 1st, 1713, aged seventy-three.
James Rogers November 8th, 1713, aged sixty-three.
John Rogers October 17th, 1721, aged seventy-three.
1 Mass. Hist. Coll., 3d series, vol. 10, p. 57. This is the earliest instance that has been observed of the application of the name Groton, to the east side of the river. Probably it was first used to designate Winthrop's farm at Pequonuck.
2 Ut supra, p. 79.
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
Ebenezer Hubbell, died in 1698.
A brief paragraph will contain all our information of this person. He was a native of Stratfield, in Fairfield county, married Mary, daughter of Gabriel Harris, and purchased the homestead of Samson Haughton, (corner of Truman and Blinman Streets.) He had a daughter Elizabeth, born in 1693, and a son Ebenezer, in 1695. His relict married Ebenezer Griffing. The son Ebenezer, died in 1720, probably without issue.
The Beebyl brothers.
The phrase " John Beeby and his brothers," used in the early grants to the family, leads to the supposition that John was the oldest of the four. They may be arranged with probability in the order of John, Thomas, Samuel and Nathaniel. They all lived to advanced age.
1. John Beeby married Abigail, daughter of James Yorke, of Stonington. He had three children-John, Benjamin and a daugh- ter Rebecca, who married Richard Shaw, of Easthampton. No other children can be traced. He was for several years sergeant of the train-band, but in 1690 was advanced to the lieutenancy, and his brother Thomas chosen sergeant. No allusion has been found that can assist in fixing the period of his death. His relict died March 9th, 1725, aged eighty-six or eighty-seven. The annalist who re- cords it, observes, " Her husband was one of the first settlers of this. town."
2. Thomas Beeby's wife was Millicent, daughter of William Ad- dis, he being her third husband. The two former were William Ash and William Southmead, both of Gloucester ; though Southmead had formerly lived in Boston, and owned a tenement there.2 Ash and Southmead were probably both mariners or coast traders. Two sons belonged to the second marriage, William and John Southmead, who came with their mother to New London. Of their ages no estimate can be formed. They became mariners, and their names occur only incidentally. Of John we lose sight in a short time. William is supposed to have settled ultimately in Middletown.
1 The brothers wrote the name indifferently Beebee and Beeby. The autograph sometimes varies on the same page.
2 It was sold in 1668, by Thomas and Millicent Beeby, for the benefit of the sons of William and Millicent Southmead. Savage, (MS.)
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
The children of Thomas and Millicent Beeby, were one son, Thomas, who lived to old age, but was a cripple and never married ; Millicent, wife of Nicholas Darrow ; Hannah, wife of John Hawke, and Rebecca, wife of Nathaniel Holt. Sergeant Thomas Beeby died in the early part of 1699. His homestead descended to his son Thomas, by whom it was conveyed in the latter part of his life, to his nephew, William Holt.
3. Samuel Beeby, in a deposition of 1708, states his age at seventy- seven, and says, " I came to this town nearly sixty years ago." He died in 1712, leaving a wife, Mary. His former wife was Agnes or Annis, daughter of William Keeny. Whether the children all be- longed to the first wife, or should be distributed between the two is doubtful. They were Samuel, William, Nathaniel, Thomas, Jona- than, Agnes, (wife of John Daniels,) Ann, (wife of Thomas Crocker,) Susannah, (wife of Aaron Fountain,) Mary, (wife of Richard Tozor.) William Beeby, one of the sons of Samuel, married Ruth, daughter of Jonathan Rogers, and was a member of the Sabbatarian commu- nity on the Great Neck. Jonathan, probably the youngest son, and born about 1676, was an early settler of East Haddam, where he was living in 1750.
Samuel Beeby, second, oldest son of Samuel the elder, obtained in his day a considerable local renown. He married (February 9th, 1681-2) Elizabeth, daughter of James Rogers, and in right of his wife, as well as by extensive purchases of the Indians, became a great landholder. He was one of three who owned Plum Island, in the Sound, and living upon the island in plentiful farmer style, with sloops and boats for pleasure or traffic at his command, he was often sportively called " King Beebee," and "Lord of the Islands." A rock in the sea, not far from his farm, was called "Beebee's throne." Plum Island is an appanage of Southold, Suffolk county, Long Isl- and, and Mr. Beeby, by removing to that island, transferred himself to the jurisdiction of New York.
4. Nathaniel Beeby, supposed to be the youngest of the four broth- ers, settled in Stonington. His land was afterward absorbed in the large estates of his neighbors, the Denisons. In the will of William Denison, (1715,) he disposes of the Beeby land, but adds, "I order my executors to take a special care of Mr. Nathaniel Beeby during his life, and to give him a Christian burial at his death." Accordingly we find the gravestone of this venerable man, near that of the Den- isons. The inscription states that he died December 17th, 1724, aged ninety-three. Estimating from the given data, the births of
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
Samuel and Nathaniel Beeby would both come within the verge of 1631. It is probable that Samuel's was in 1630 and Nathaniel's in 1632.
William Chapman, died December 18th, 1699.
This name first appears in 1657, when William Chapman bought the Denison house-lot on the present Hempstead Street, nearly oppo- site the jail. No record is found of his family. The children named in his will, were John, William, Samuel, Jeremiah, Joseph, Sarah and Rebecca.
John Chapman, by supposition named as the oldest son, removed in 1706, with his family, to Colchester, where he was living in May, 1748, when it was observed that "he would be ninety-five years old next November." We may therefore date his birth in November, 1653.
William Chapman married Hannah, daughter of Daniel Lester, and is supposed to have settled in Groton.
Samuel Chapman is the ancestor of the Waterford family of Chap- mans. He lived in the Cohanzie district, reared to maturity nine children, and died November 2d, 1758, aged ninety-three. Before his death he conveyed his homestead to his grandson, Nathaniel.
Joseph Chapman was a mariner. He removed his family to Nor- wich, where he died June 10th, 1725.
Jeremiah Chapman, probably the youngest of the five brothers, retained the family homestead. He died September 6th, 1755, aged eighty-eight. All the brothers left considerable families, and their posterity is now widely dispersed.
Stephen Loomer, died in 1700.
This name is not found in New London before 1687. Mr. Loom- er's wife was a daughter of George Miller. His children, and their ages at the time of his death, were as follows : John, sixteen ; Mary, thirteen ; Martha, eleven ; Samuel, eight; Elizabeth, five. In fol- lowing out the fortunes of the family, we find that John, the oldest son, was a seaman, and probably perished by storm or wreck, as in 1715, he had not been heard from for several years. Mary, relict of Stephen Loomer, married in 1701, Caleb Abel, of Norwich, and this carried the remainder of the family to that place.
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
David Carpenter, died in 1700.
The period of his settlement in the town was probably coincident with his marriage to Sarah, daughter of William Hough-to both events the conjectural date of 1676 may be assigned. Mr. Carpen- ter lived at Niantic Ferry, of which he had a lease from Edward Palmes. He left an only son, David, baptized Nov. 12th, 1682, and several daughters. His relict married William Stevens, of Killing- worth.
Alexander Pygan, died in 1701.
On his first arrival in the plantation, Mr. Pygan appears to have been a lawless young man, of " passionate and distempered carriage," as it was then expressed ; one who we may suppose " left his coun- try for his country's good." But the restraints and influences with which he was here surrounded, produced their legitimate effect, and he became a discreet and valuable member of the community.
Alexander Pygan, of Norwich, Old England, was married unto Judith, daughter of William Redfin, (Redfield,) June 17th, 1667.
Children.
1. Sarah, born Feb. 23d, 1669-70 ; married Nicholas Hallam.
2. Jane, " Feb., 1670-1; married Jonas Green. Mrs. Judith Pygan died April 30th, 1678.
After the death of his wife, Mr. Pygan dwelt a few years at Say- brook, where he had a shop of goods, and was licensed by the county court as an innkeeper. Here also he married an estimable woman, Lydia, relict of Samuel Boyes, April 15th, 1684. Only one child was the issue of this marriage.
3. Lydia, born Jan. 10th, 1684-5 ; married Rev. Eliphalet Adams.
Samuel Boyes, the son of Mrs. Lydia Pygan, by her first husband, was born Dec. 6th, 1673.
Mr. Pygan soon returned with his family to New London, where he died in the year 1701. He is the only person of the family name of Pygan, that the labor of genealogists has as yet brought to light in New England. His relict, Mrs. Lydia Pygan, died July 20th, 1734. She was the daughter of William and Lydia Bemont, of Say- brook, and born March 9th, 1644.1
1 Her mother is said to have been a Danforth ; perhaps daughter of Nicholas Dan- forth, of Boston.
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
Thomas Stedman, died in 1701.
This name is found at New London, at the early date of 1649, but it soon afterward disappears. In 1666, Thomas Stedman is again on the list of inhabitants, living near Niantic River. He married (Aug. 6th, 1668) Hannah, daughter of Robert Isbell, and step- daughter to William Nicholls. They had two children, John, born Dec. 25th, 1669, and Ann, who married Benjamin Lester. John left descendants.
Thomas Stedman, of New London, was brother of Lieut. John Stedman, of Wethersfield, who, in 1675, was commander of a com- pany of sixty dragoons, raised in Hartford county. The following letter on record at New London, is evidence of this connection :
" Loving brother Thomas Stedman.
" My love to yourself and your little ones, my cousins, and to Uncle Nicholls and to Aunt and to the rest of my friends, certifying you that through God's mercy and goodness to us, we are in reasonable good health.
" Brother, These are to get you to assist my son in selling or letting my house which I bought of Benjamin Atwell, and what you shall do in that business I do firmly bind myself to confirm and ratify. As witness my hand this last day of October, 1672, from Wethersfield."
Extracted out of the original letter under the hand of John Stedman, Sen.
Butler.
Thomas and John Butler are not presented to our notice as inhab- itants of New London, until after 1680. Probably they were broth- ers. No account of the marriage or family of either is on record.
" Thomas Butler died Dec. 20th, 1701, aged fifty-nine.
John Butler died March 26th, 1733, aged eighty.
Katherine, wife of John Butler, died Jan. 24th, 1728-9, aged sixty-seven. She was a daughter of Richard Haughton,
Allan Mullins, chirurgeon, son of Doctor Alexander Mullins, of Galway, Ire- land, was married to Abigail, daughter of John Butler, of New London, April 8th, 1725."
Thomas Butler's family can not be given with certainty, but noth- ing appears to forbid the supposition that Lieutenant Walter Butler, a prominent inhabitant about 1712, and afterward, was his son. Walter Butler married Mary, only child of Thomas Harris, and granddaughter of Capt. Daniel Wetherell. The date of the marriage has not been recovered.
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
Children.
1. Mary, born Aug. 29th, 1714.
2. Thomas, " Jan. 31st, 1715-16.
4. Jane, bap. July 10th, 1720.
5. Katherine, " Aug. 26th, 1722.
3. Walter, " May 27th, 1718. 6. Lydia, " Jan. 10th, 1724-5.
Lieut. Butler married, in 1727, Deborah, relict of Ebenezer Den- nis, and had a son, John, baptized April 28th, 1728.
The name of Walter Butler is associated with the annals of Tryon county, New York, as well as with New London. He received a military appointment in the Mohawk country, in 1728, and fourteen years later removed his family thither. Mr. Hempstead makes an entry in his diary :
"Nov. 6th, 1742, Mrs. Butler, wife of Capt. Walter Butler, and her children and family, is gone away by water to New York, in order to go to him in the Northern Countries, above Albany, where he hath been several years Captain of the Forts."
Capt. Butler was the ancestor of those Colonels Butler, John and Walter, who were associated with the Johnsons as royalists in the commencement of the Revolutionary War.1 The family, for many years, continued to visit, occasionally, their ancient home.2
Very few of the descendants of Thomas and John Butler, are now found in this vicinity ; but the hills and crags have been charged to keep their name, and they have hitherto been faithful to their trust. In the western part of Waterford, is a sterile, hard-favored district, with abrupt hills, and more stone and rock than soil, which is locally called Butler-town-a name derived from this ancient family of Butlers.
Capt. Samuel Fosdick, died August 27th, 1702.
Samuel Fosdick, "from Charlestown, in the Bay," appears at New London about 1680. According to manuscripts preserved in the family, he was the son of John Fosdick and Anna Shapley, who were married in 1648; and the said John was a son of Stephen Fos- dick, of Charlestown, who died May 21st, 1664.
1 See Annals of Tryon Co. and Barber's New York Coll. In the latter work is a view of Butler House.
2 It was probably through the prompting of the Butlers, that Sir Wm. Johnson and his son, afterward resorted to New London for recreation and the sea-breeze. One of these visits is noticed in the Gazette, May 4th, 1767. " Sir Wm. Johnson, Bart., arrived in town, for the benefit of the sea air, and to enjoy some relaxation from Indian af- fairs. June 13, arrived Sir John Johnson, Col. Croghan and several other gentlemen from Fort Johnson."
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
" Samuel, son of John Fosdick, of Charlestown, New England, married Mercy, daughter of John Picket, of New London, Nov. 1, 1682." They had children :
1. Samuel, born Sept. 18th, 1634. 5. John, born Feb. 1st, 1693-4.
2. Mercy, Nov. 30th, 1686. 6. Thomas, " Aug. 20th, 1696.
3. Ruth, " June 27th, 1689. 7. Mary, " July 7th, 1699.
4. Anna, Dec. 8th, 1691.
Mercy, relict of Samuel Fosdick, married John Arnold.
Capt. Samuel Fosdick was one of the owners of Plum Island, and had thereon a farm under cultivation, well stocked and productive. His residence in town was on what was then often called Fosdick's Neck, (now Shaw's.) He also possessed, in right of his wife, that part of the Picket lot, which was subsequently purchased by Capt. Nathaniel Shaw. Another house-lot, owned by him on the bank, comprising nearly the whole block between Golden and Tilley Streets, was estimated, in the list of his estate, at only £30. It then lay va- cant, but afterward became the valuable homestead of his youngest son, Thomas, and his descendants. A glance at the inventory of Capt. Fosdick, will show the ample and comfortable style of house- keeping, to which the inhabitants had attained in 1700. Five feather beds, one of them with a suit of red curtains ; twenty pair of sheets ; sixteen blankets ; three silk blankets ; three looking-glasses ; three large brass kettles ; two silver cups, and other articles in this proportion, are enumerated. But there are also certain implements mentioned, the fashion of which has with time passed away, viz., four wheels ; twelve pewter basins ; two dozen pewter porringers, &c. The matrons of those days took as much delight in a well-ar- ranged dresser, and its rows of shining pewter, with perhaps here and there a spoon, a cup, or a tankard of silver interspersed, as they now do in sideboards of mahogany or rose-wood, and services of plate.
Samuel, the oldest son of Capt. Samuel Fosdick, removed to Oys- ter Bay, Long Island, where he was living in 1750. John, the sec- ond son, went to Guilford. Thomas, remained in New London, and is best known on record as Deacon Thomas Fosdick. He married, June 29th, 1720, Esther, daughter of Lodowick Updike.
The daughters of Capt. Samuel Fosdick were also widely scattered by marriage. Mercy, married Thomas Jiggles, of Boston ; Ruth, an Oglesby of New York ; Anna, Thomas Latham, of Groton, and Mary, Richard Sutton, of Charlestown.
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
Joseph Pemberton, died Oct. 14th, 1702.
James Pemberton had a son, Joseph, born in Boston in 1655,' with whom we venture to identify the Joseph Pemberton, here noticed. He resided in Westerly, before coming to New London. His relict, Mary, removed to Boston, with her sons James and Joseph. Two married daughters were left in New London, Mary, wife of Alexan- der Baker, and Elizabeth, wife of Jonathan Rogers, both of the north parish, (now Montville.)
William Walworth,2 died in 1703.
William Walworth is first known to us as the lessee of Fisher's Island, or of a considerable part of it; and it is a tradition of the family that he came directly from England to assume this charge, at the invitation of the owner of the island, Fitz-John Winthrop, who wished to introduce the English methods of farming. William Wal- worth and his wife owned the covenant, and were baptized with their infant child, Martha, Jan. 24th, 1691-2. Their children, at the time of the father's decease, were Martha, Mary, John, Joanna, Thomas and James, the last two twins, and all between the ages of two and twelve years. Abigail, relict of William Walworth, died Jan. 14th, 1751-2 ; having been forty-eight years a widow. This was certainly an uncommon instance for an age, renowned not only for early, but for hasty, frequent, and late marriages.
John Walworth, second son of William, had also a lease of Fish- er's Island, for a long term of years. He died in 1748. His inven- tory mentions four negro servants, a herd of near fifty horned cattle, eight hundred and twelve sheep, and a stud of thirty-two horses, mares and colts. He had also seventy-seven ounces of wrought plate, and other valuable household articles. It has been the fortune of Fisher's Island, to enrich many of its tenants, especially in former days. Not only the Walworths, but the Mumfords and Browns, drew a large income from the lease of the island. From John Wal- worth, descended the person of the same name, who commenced the settlement of Painesville, Ohio, and at the period of his death, in 1812, was collector of customs in Cleveland, Ohio.
R. H. Walworth, Esq., of Saratoga, is a descendant from William, the oldest son of William and Abigail Walworth.
1 Farmer's Register.
2 On early records the name is sometimes Walsworth and Allsworth.
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
X Edward Stallion, died May 14th, 1703.
When this person made his first appearance in the plantation, Mr. Bruen, the clerk, recorded his name Stanley. It was soon altered to Stallion, or Stallon. In later times it has been identified with Sterling, which may have been the true name.
Edward Stallion was at first a coasting trader, but later in life be- came a resident farmer in North Groton, (now Ledyard.) His chil- dren are only named incidentally, and the list obtained is probably incomplete. Deborah, wife of James Avery, Jr., Sarah, wife of John Edgecombe, and Margaret, wife of Pasco Foote, were his daughters. His first wife, Margaret, died after 1680. He married in 1685, Elizabeth, daughter of George Miller, by whom he had two children, names not mentioned. In 1693, he married, a third time, Christian, relict of Wm. Chapell, who survived him. He left a son, Edward, probably one of the two children by the second wife, who, in 1720, was of Preston, and left descendants there. The death of Ed- ward Stallion, Sen., was the result of an accident, which is sufficiently detailed in the following verdict :
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