USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Woodbury > History of ancient Woodbury, Connecticut : from the first Indian dead in 1659 to 1872, Vol. II > Part 64
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MITCHELL FAMILY.
[Additional history.]
Since the publication of the former volume, several gentlemen have inte- rested themselves in collecting genealogical information in relation to this family name, which includes some of the same and considerable additional information to that then published. Among these investigators are Rev. B. L. Swan, of Oyster Bay, N. Y., and Dr. Chauncey L. Mitchell, of Brooklyn, N. Y. There was also a re-union of the descendants of Deacon Eleazar Mitchell, at South Britain, Oct. 5, 1858, on which occasion much additional information was brought out. The information thus obtained will be intro. duced in its order, beginning with that furnished by Rev. Mr. Swan, so that the reader on comparing the former with the present account, will be able to find all that is at present known of the early history of the name, while much valuable information in other branches will be found in Huntington's History of Stamford, Conn.
MATTHEW MITCHELL, who arrived at Boston from Bristol, Eng., Aug., 16, 1635, was accompanied by his sons, David and Jonathan. Savage, says, " per_ haps more " children, and it is quite certain that he had daughters, born either before or after his coming to New England. Savage himself men tions Susanna and Hannah, as named in Matthew's will, 1646. (5 ?). Han- nah m. Robert Coe, an early settler in Stratford. Ile died 1659, leaving four children, of whom Hannah, the eldest, In. Titus Hinman. The widow mar. Nicholas Elsey, af New Ilaven. It is also quite certain that Samuel Sher- man, Sr., m. Sarah, dau. of M. Mitchell. (Savage's reasons against the oc- currence of this marriage in England, seem valid.) An interesting collateral proof of this is found in some marginal notes in an old Bible, (now owned by Mrs. David Judson, of Old Mill Hill, Stratford,) and once the property of Mrs. Samuel Sherman. It contains several entries of names of both families. It is presumable also that either another daughter should be added, or that Su- sanna in. a Butterfield, for Lyon Gardner, 1636, says of a skirmish between Mitchell and some attendants who were getting hay at Saybrook, and the
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Pequot Indians, that they took " one of the old man's sons and roasted him alive " The name of the young man killed was Samuel Butterfield. Other authorities : Mather among them) say, that in 1636 " he had a son in law slain by the Pequot Indians," making Butterfield the son in law of Mitchell.
DAVID MICHELL, son of Matthew, seems to have been older than his brother Jonathan. The latter, Mather represents as "about 11 years of age" in 1635, and again, he was born in "1624." But, with usual inconsistency, he represents him at his death, July 9, 1668, as in the "forty-third " year of his age. It is an incident deserving mention, that when Jonathan was a student in Cambridge College, Mass., his brother David, in great distress about his soul, applied to him for advice, and Jonathan's reply, seems not only to have given his brother relief, but it was afterwards published in London, and, says Mather, was " reckoned one of the most consummate pieces in the methods of addressing a troubled mind."
DAVID MITCHELL In. Sarah, dau. of Thomas Wheeler. So his son Na- than, in 1724, (then of Litchfield, ) said in Stratford Land Records ; but wheth" er her father were Thomas, of New Haven, or Thomas of Milford, or Thomas' of Fairfield, does not appear. He was,' I presume, of Milford. Their chil- dren, the order of whose ages and dates of birth are lost, were :
1. MATTHEW, who was b. probably about 1653, for he m. Mary, dau. of John Thompson, of Stratford. She was b. in 1655, and d. in 1711 There is an interestsng legend concerning her father and mother, but too long for in- sertion here. Matthew's children, I have as you have them in your history, (Vol. 2d, p. 634).
2. NATHIAN, who went to Litchfield. Of him I have no account, but pre- sume that George C. Woodruff, Esq., can give his family record.
3. ABRAHAM, in A. D. 1700 describes himself as of " Windham, (Hartford County,") and, referring to a transaction in 1695, declares his father then de- ceased. In 1696, A. M. gives land to "my son Nathan." In 1694 and 1695 A. M. is described as " of Stratford-planter." Of his family there are no details on record in Stratford.
4. DANIEL, who in 1689 describes himself as son of David, m. Susanna, dan. of Hon. Samuel Sherman, Jr. She was b. in 1670. He may therefore have been born in 1666, or 1668. Her mother was a Titterton. No children are recorded to them before Mary -' born Feb. 27, 1700-1; Elizabeth, b. Sept 9, 1703, bap. Nov. 5, by Mr. Charles Chauncey, of Stratfield ; Elnathan bap. Nov. 5, 1704, by Mr. Charles Chauncey, of Stratfield.
5. Martha, dan. of David Mitchell, m. Nathan Baldwin, of Milford.
6. Grace, dan. of David, m. William Pixley, Nov. 1701. She was probably therefore b. about 1680.
7. (?) Elizabeth, who joined Stratford Church 1692, I suppose to have been also David's dau., but have no proof. Daniel and his wife Susanna, and his sister Grace joined Stratford Church under the half way covenant, Jan. 11, 1697-8, and in April following, joined in full communion.
Matthew Mitchell had a cattle brand in Stratford Brand Book, up to 1673. Abraham and Daniel to 1687.
1 Mitchell.
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April 15, 1688. Mistress Mitchell, with Henry Wakelyn Robert Clarke, Mistress Curtis and Widow Hard, having brought " letters from Woodbury," unite with Stratford Church.
Was Mistress Mitchell the widow of David, who perhaps had removed with Matthew to Woodbury, and iu 1688 returned ?
A " John Mitchell (adult) " was baptized in Unity (Trumbull) Nov. 7, 1736. It is quite possible that he was a son of Daniel. In 1739, one John Mitchell. of Ripton (Huntington) joins the Episcopal Church in Stratford, (where, then the Ripton churchmen had to worship,) and he has baptized the following : Mary, bap. in Episcopal Church, October, 1739, Ephraim, October 1745. John, February, 1743. J. W's wife was " Sarah --. " 1.
This seems to be the same John who was bap. in Unity, in 1736.
JOHN MITCHELL, SR., of Woodbury, m. Elizabeth, danghter of Nicholas Knell, of Stratford, an early settler, whose name is perpetuated in " Knell's Island," opposite Stratford, and at whose death in April, 1675, the unusual en- try is made, " Mr. Nicholas Knell, that aged benefactor to his country." In 1650 he m. Elizabeth, widow of Thomas Knowles, and dan. of Gov. Francis Newman, of New Haven. By Knowles, who died before 1648, she had Elea- zer and Thomas.
By Mr. Knell she had John, Oct. 1651, d. soon ; Elizabeth, May, 1653 ; Isaac, Feb., 1655 ; John, Dec., 1657. (This may be in place under Knowles).
Page 636 Vol. 2, Hist. of Woodbury :
PETER MITCHELL m. Elizabeth Lamson, of Stratford, Sept., 1747. She was daughter of William Lamson, of Stratford. He came from Malden, Mass. was b. 1694, d. 1755. His wife, mn in 1717, was Elizabeth Burch. She d. in 1775. She was dau. of Jeremiah Burch, or Birch, who m. Elizabeth, dan. of John Wheeler, a Milford man, but of Woodbury in 1704. P. M. and E. L. were married in the Episcopal Church.
From David Mitchell's son John, descended, in the fourth generation the Iate Professor Elisha Mitchell, of the University of North Carolina.
MATTHEW MITCHELL.
COLLATED BY DR. C. L. MITCHELL.
Matthew Mitchell, referred to in Vol. I, p. 163, was of Sonthonram, Parish of Halifax, Yorkshire, England. He was a man of sterling Christian char- acter, respectable social position, and possessed of considerable it not large wealth.
April 16th, 1616, he married Susan Butterfield, of Ovenden, in the same parish. She is named by Richard Mather in his journal, as one of the pas-
1 Mr. N. Mitchell, of Fairfield, Conn., wrote the author in 1866, as follows : " I have found David Mitchell's will to his sons, and they are Matthew, John, Abraham and Daniel, and four daughters. David Mitchell d. in 1685, and Nathan Mitchell m. in 1738. So it seems almost impossible he could be Da- vid's son, but must have been a grandson."
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sengers on board the ship James, and was therefore the companion of her husband, when he came to this country.
His children were as follows :
Abigail, baptized in Southouram, April 26th, 1618. She probably died in infancy.
David, baptized in Southouram, Nov. 14th, 1619. His descendants are given in Vol. I, p. 164.
Surah, baptized in Southowram, Oct. 14th, 1621. Came to this country with her mother, married the Hon. Samuel Sherman, " from whom are de- scended nearly all of the name of Sherman who have resided in Ancient Woodbury, including Senator Sherman and Gen. W. T. Sherman."
Martha, the fourth child of Matthew, was baptized in Southouram, Oct. 26th, 1623, and died the month following, Nov. 22d.
Jonathan, the fifth child, was baptized in Southouram, Dec. 19th, 1624. Cotton Mather says he was afflicted, during the tenth year of his life, " by a sore fever, which settled in his arm' with such troublesome effects, that his arm grew and kept a little bent, and he could not stretch it out right till his dying day. His parents, with much difficulty and resolution, carried him to Bristol, to take shipping there, while he was not yet recovered of his illness." (See Mather's Magnolia and Huntington's Stamford, for further history.)
Susan, the sixth child, and bearing her mother's name, was baptized in Southonram, Oct. 14th, 1627. She survived her father and was named in his will.
Matthew, the seventh child, was baptized in Ovenden, July 5th 1629, and died three months after Oct. 4th, 1629.
Hannah, the eighth child, was baptized in Northouram, June 26th, 1631. She was living at Stamford at the time of her father's death, and is one of those named in his will.
Matthew Mitchell, before leaving his home in Yorkshire, appears to have been much with the Rev. Richard Denton, curate of Coley Chapel, of the parish of Halifax, under whose instructions he is supposed to have been, and with whose views, political and religious, he coincided.
On the 24th of Feb., 1622, he witnessed the will of Susan Field, widow, whose daughter Jane was married to John Mitchell. It is not improbable that this John Mitchell was his brother, and the writer, Mr. Somerby, of London, states in this connection that " the Mitchells were a family of good standing, and their arms ' sable, a chevron between three escallops argent,' are painted on the roof of the chancel of Halifax church."
Accompanied by his wife and five children, he embarked at Bristol on Sat- urday, May 23d, 1635, with Rev. Richard Mather, (grandfather of Cotton Mather,) Rev. Richard Denton, and about one hundred other passengers, on board the ship James, 220 tons, commanded by Capt. Taylor. His family consisted at this time of his wife Susan, and his children, David, Sarah Jon- athan, Susan and Hannah, aged respectively fifteen, thirteen, eleven and four years.
He took also with him a considerable number of cattle, the care and pro- visioning of which became a serious trouble, in consequence of a month's de-
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lay in the departure of the ship after all were on board, and the subsequent long passage of fifty-five days.
Although they embarked on the 23d of May, they did not finally leave Mil- ford Haven till the 22d of June. On the evening of Sunday, Aug. 16th, they anchored off Boston, and landed the next morning, Ang. 17th, after a voyage unusually tedious from calms and heat, and dangers from storms. It is no small indication of his good judgment, that not only were none of his family or his cattle lost, but that he brought them all to their destination in better condition than when they left Bristol.
His first residence in this country was at Charlestown, near Boston, where he remained through the winter of 1635-6; a winter marked with much suf. fering from the scarcity that prevailed throughout the country, and a sickness of more or less severity, from which no member of his family was exempt.
Early in the spring of 1636 he removed to Concord, Mass., and during his brief stay here, he lost much property by fire.
As soon as the season was sufficiently advanced to make traveling safe, he set out with his young family and his cattle and with a few pioneers, for meadows reported to be on a river about 100 miles to the west. The way was through a wilderness covered with forest, unmarked by any trace of hu - man industry, with nothing to give food, shelter or protection in case of need. In company with Col. Pynchon and others, he arrived at what is now known as Springfield, about or before the month of May. Here the celebrated con - pact was signed, the original of which still exists, and which bears the auto- graph of every responsible member of the company.
Owing perhaps to a defective title, for we find few of the original emi- grants remaining, and that their successors made a new purchase from the original Indian owners; or to the information they received, that the land selected was overflowed at certain seasons by a rise in the river, he left im- mediately for Saybrook. He arrived at the mouth of the Connecticut, proba- bły, in the summer, certainly before the month of October. This removal was the most unfortunate possible, occurring about the time of the first irrup- tion of the Pequot Indians. Here his cattle and goods were destoyed, to the value of several hundred pounds sterling, several men in his employment killed, his wife's brother, Samuel Butterfield, cruelly tortured to deatlı, and the whole colony kept in constant peril of their lives. Col. Gardiner, who was commissioned to build a fort at this point, refers repeatedly to "Old Mr. Mitchell," who suffered this and the succeeding year from the depredations of the Indians, and whose intercession, with that of others, induced him to forbear hanging a man, whose cowardice had made him liable to such pun. ishment. Col. Gardner, makes no mention of the aid contributed by Matthew Mitchell, yet this was of such importance that his "extraordinary charges for the public service at the fort," were recognized and publicly acknowl- edged by the Court at Stratford, a few years later.
" Old Mr. Mitchell " being referred to in Gardner's account of an excursion from the fort on the 22d of February, shows that he remained here during the winter of 1636 and 7, but early in the spring we find he has returned up the river, and settled at Wethersfield.
After the irruption of the Pequots in 1636, the condition of the settlers
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along the Connecticut became one of extreme danger, and committees were appointed, who were to meet at Hartford on the Ist of May, " to deliberate on subjects on which the very existence of the colonies depended." Mr. Mitch- ell was elected one of those who were to represent Wethersfield, in this vi- tally important meeting. He here made his first permanent settlement in America, and became one ot the most extensive land owners in that commu- nity. The historian, Trumbull, names him as one " of the principal charac- ters who undertook the great work of settling Connecticut, and were the civil and religions fathers of the colony-who formed its free and happy Consti- tution, were its legislators, and were some of the chief pillars of the church and commonwealth ;" and elsewhere speaks of him as " one of the chief men who settled Wethersfield." While here " his estate was doomed to suffer still more serious (than on Saybrook) from frequent Indian raids."} He also took a decided part in the difficulties which sprung up in the church, and which finally led to its transference from the " Connecticut colonies " to the " New Haven plantation." The minister, Rev. Richard Denton, with a ma- jority of the church members, generously surrendered to the minority, and withdrew. Being joined by some of the best men in the place, including Mr. Mitchell, they went again into the wilderness, and founded Stamford. Mr. Mitchell's land in Wethersfield was "subsequently divided into four farms, and was taken by the Graves, Gershom Bulkley, John Hollister, and Robert Roser." Huntington says " he was a man of independent character, and be- came obnoxious to a Mr. Chapin. In the contest he excited the displeasure of the Court. Ilis townsmen chose him their Recorder, but the Court would not ratify the election. He nevertheless discharged his duties, and was fined, as was the rest of the town that elected him."
Originally, the settlement of Stamford, or Agawam as it was then called, consisted of twenty-eight men, with their families. Here, with the excep- tion of their minister, Mr. Mitchell's name heads every list, from which it is fair to infer for him a corresponding position in the estimation of the com- munity. Ile was also the first of the five selected by his townsmen " to ar- range and administer their affairs." In a second election, made the following year, his name is still placed in the same honorable position. In the import- ant and very delicate questions of laying out house-lots, " and ordering the manner of assigning them," the infant colony confided the matter to Mat- thew Mitchell and Francis Bell. In the almost vital affair of obtaining a grist-mill, the arrangement for building the dome was made with Matthew Mitchell and Mr. Ogden He paid nearly three imes as much towards the purchase and survey of the land as the next largest purchaser. He was the first of the two nominated by his townsmen, of whom one was to be appoint- ed by the General Court, "as a magistrate with Senatorial rank in the Legis. lative body." The other nominee was Thurston Raynor, who had formerly been a member of the Court, and it is not surprising that the Judges prefer- red their former associate to a stranger who had never lived in New Haven. At a subsequent time, Mr. Mitchell was a Representative, and also held the position of Associate Judge in the "Plantation Court." Mather says that " his house, barn and goods were here again consumed by fire."
1 Huntington's Stamford.
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Some have supposed that Matthew Mitchell went with Richard Denton and others to Hempstead, in 1644. But his name is not found in the list of those who went to Hempstead. It is more than probable that the disease which terminated his life the following year, was already so far advanced as to pre- vent his traveling or taking any part in public affairs. He died in Stamford, in 1645, of stone, aged about fifty-five years.
His history shows him to have been a man of great enterprize, unbounded resolution, clear and cool judgment, and of earnest and positive character. Too conscientious to live patiently under laws requiring a form of worship which he thought wrong, and equally impatient under colonial decision that seemed needlessly arbitrary, his staunch uprightness always commanded re- spect, and his unswerving justice invited confidence in times when trials de- monstrated character.
HISTORY OF JONATHAN MITCHELL,
Compiled from Mather's Magnalia, Sprague's Annals of the American Pulpit, and other sources.
BY. DR. C. L. MITCHELL.
JONATHAN MITCHELL, son of Matthew and Susan (Butterfield. Mitchell, was a native of Halifax, England. The records of Halifax show the date of his baptism to have been, Dec. 19th, 1624, and he was probably born about the 15th of the preceding November.
His parents were both pious, of good social position, and possessed of con- siderable wealth. Like many others of that period, they were driven by per- secution to seek in exile the liberty of conscience denied them at home. In company with the Rev. Richard Mather and others, they embarked at Bristol, May 23d, 1635, and landed in Boston, Aug, 17th, of the same year. The win- ter following was spent at Charlestown, from whence they removed to Con- cord, early in the spring of 1636. In May of this year, a journey of a hund- red miles through an unexplored forest, brought them to what was subse- quently called Springfield. The fall and winter were passed at Saybrook, at the Fort, which they left in the spring for Wethersfield, where they arrived during or before the month of April, 1637. In 1640 they removed to Stam- ford, of which place, they and a few others were the original settlers. Here Matthew Mitchell, the father, died in 1645, leaving two sons, David and Jon- athan, and three daughters, Sarah, Susan, and Hannah.
Under the tuition and example of his parents, the religious impressions of Jonathan were very deep, while he was still quite young. Before leaving his home in England, at the age of ten years and a few months, he was afflicted with a severe illness, from which he was but partially recovered when they set out, and his helplessness greatly increased the difficulties of the journey from Halifax to Bristol. Long afterwards, in referring to this illness, and probably also to the fearful experiences of the family in New England during his youth, he writes, " Thus the Lord sought to make me serious, by steeping my first entrance into years of understanding, and into the changes of life,
1
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and my first motions to New England in eminent and special sorrows." The hurricane which came near wrecking their sihp ; the siekness of the whole family the winter after their landing ; the loss of property by fire in the fol- lowing spring ; the destruction of their cattle by the Pequots in the subse. quent autumn ; the cruel death of his unele, Samuel Butterfield, under the torture of the savages ; further losses by Indian raids the year following at Wethersfield, and again by fire after the removal to Stamford ; culminating in the long, painful and fatal illness of his father ; these " eminent and special sorrows," tended eventually to develop the beautiful and noble character that was so loved and admired by the Christian men of his time.
Pioneer life in a wilderness presents few opportunities or incentives to ed- ucation, but there was something in the life and manner of the boy, that im- pressed men with his remarkable capacity, and led them to urge upon his father the importance of giving him the advantages of collegiate instruction. Of this number was the Rev. Richard Mather, his friend and companion from Bristol, who, at a future time, had the pleasure of seeing, as one of the re- sults of his " earnest advice," this person's labors worthy of his own constant journeys to his " Monthly Lectures," and of seeing " the most considerable fathers of the country treat him as not coming behind the chiefest of them all." He entered upon his studies in September, 1642, when he was about eighteen years of age, and three years after passed a rigid examination, and was admitted to Harvard College. His studies were now pursued with the same vigor and indefatigable industry which had previously characterized him, and under the example and ministry of the Rev. Thomas Shepard, of Cambridge, his Christian life grew rapidly and symmetrically. In reference to the friendship of this eminent pastor he writes, " Unless it had been four years living in Heaven' I know not how I could have more cause to bless God with wonder, than for these four years," spent at the University. His rapid progress in learning, in all the departments then taught, led to his being early distinguished as a scholar, and elected a Fellow of the College. Nature had amply endowed him with a clear and comprehensive intelleet, a sound judgment, peculiarly free from the influence of personal considerations, a rich imagination, and a capacity for long continued and intense study. Nor was his character less remarkable for humility, gentleness and sincerity, uni- ted with boldness, earnestness, and sturdy resolution. He was eventually styled, and not nnjustly, " The Blessed Mr. Mitchell," " The Honor of Cam- bridge," "The Glory of the College."
His remarkable faculties of mind and heart, with his extraordinary learn- ing and purity, had given him a reputation throughout New England, and he had no sooner graduated than several of the most important churches sought to secure his services. The church at Hartford desired to make him the suc- cessor of the famous Hooker, and he there preached his first sermon, June 24th, 1649. His text was from Heb., xi, 27. " He endured as seeing Him who is invisible." The effort was by no means satisfactory to himself, but the people judged differently, and immediately gave him a call, with a promise of money for a library, and the privilege of remaining a year longer at the University, if he desired. He was unable to accept the offer, because Mr. Shepard and the prominent citizens of Cambridge had previously induced
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him to promise that he would return unfettered by any engagement. His first sermon in Cambridge was preached Angust 12th, 1649, after hearing which, Mr. Shepard told him that Cambridge was the place where he ought to spend the remainder of his life. Being afterwards told by some of his people that Mr. Mitchell's preaching was highly appreciated, he said, "My work is done." This good man soon went to his rest, and " by the unani- mous desire of Cambridge," Mr. Mitchell was put in his place. The ordina- tion took place Angust 21st of the same year. Just at this time he became dangerously ill with the small pox, a humiliating disappointment, because it prevented his fulfilling the important duties which he had assumed. He was the same year elected a Fellow of the College, and appointed Tutor.
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