USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial and revolutionary families of Pennsylvania; genealogical and personal memoirs, Volume IV > Part 57
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57
("New England Historical and Genealogical Register," Vol. V, p. 345; Vol. VII, p. 50.)
(The Stillman Line).
There is an old tradition concerning the way in which the family of Stillman came by its name. We are told that George Stillman, the first of the family to come to America, "or else his father, was one of the Regicide Judges who sentenced King Charles I to death and that upon his first coming to America, when enquired of as to his name, he quaintly remarked, 'I am a stillman' (i. e., a quiet man) and that this evasive answer was accepted by his neighbors as being his real name." According to another tradition, it was during the voyage across the Atlantic, after the death of his first wife, he became so silent that the sailors and other passengers on the ship spoke of him as "the still man." And again, it is related of him, that in his daily family prayers, he often used the phrase, "Thou art God, but I am still man." However, it seems more probable that his name came through the old English family of Stillman, or Styleman, derived from residence of a man by a style.
("Genealogies and Biographies of Ancient Wethersfield.")
(I) GEORGE STILLMAN, born probably in Steeple, Ashton, Wiltshire, England, about 1654, died in Wethersfield, Connecticut, in 1728. He was probably a merchant before he left England to emigrate to the colonies. He settled first at Hadley, Massachusetts, in 1690, or before. George was a widower and left a son, George, and possibly a son Samuel, in England. According to tradition his wife was Lady Jane Pickering, and died at sea on her way to the Colonies, but it seems more likely that she died before George set sail. George Stillman was a man of education, means, and enterprise, and one of the only three men in Hadley who was entitled to use the title "Mister" before his name, though several others had a higher tax rate than his. He represented Hadley in the Massachusetts General
430
BLINN
Court in 1698, and was selectman for several years previous to that. His house, which probably belonged to his father-in-law formerly, was stockaded and had a hiding place behind the chimney in which the Regicide Judges, Goffe and Whalley, hid while in the town, during King Philip's War, and from which Regicide Colonel Goffe suddenly appeared to rally the settlers against the Indians. Because his fam- ily was so constantly exposed to massacre from the Indians, George Stillman removed to the more sheltered town of Wethersfield, where he carried on a large mercantile business until his death. He traded, according to an old day book or account book of his, in horses, rum, molasses, and similar articles with the West Indies, and with the Mother Country in silks, velvets, and other dress materials, and in pins and hardware.
George Stillman married (first), in England, Lady Jane Pickering, according to tradition, who died before he emigrated, and (second), in Hadley, Massachu- setts, Rebecca Smith. (Smith III.) Children (by first marriage) :
I. George, born in England in 1679; was a doctor; received £1,000 in his father's will; emigrated to New England, where he died 1760-62.
2. Samuel, born in England; not in father's will.
3. Jane, said to have been born, died and married in England.
Children (by second marriage) :
4. Rebecca, born January 14, 1688, baptized in February, 1709, died at Wethersfield, Octo- ber 18-19, 1712.
5. Mary, born June 12, 1689, died June 30, 1735; married Deliverance Blinn, and they were the parents of four children. (Blinn I-child eight.)
6. Nathaniel, born July 1, 1691, died in 1770; married (first) Anna Southmayd, who died 1729-30; he married (second), in 1731, Sarah Allyn, formerly of Plymouth, Massa- chusetts, and they had nine children; Nathaniel was a captain; left an estate of £1,793.
7. John, born February 19, 1693, died August 17, 1775; married Mary Wolcott, and they had eleven children ; succeeded his father in the mercantile business; was a selectman.
8. Sarah, born December 28, 1694; married Samuel Willard of Saybrook, and they had ten children.
9. Martha, born November 28, 1696; died at Wethersfield in October, 1712.
10. Anna, born April 6, 1699, died November 7, 1767; married, April 27, 1721, Deacon Heze- kiah May of Wethersfield, and they had eight children.
II. Elizabeth, of whom further.
12. Esther, born 1701, died in Wethersfield, August 9, 1705.
13. Hannah, born November 7, 1702, died April 22, 1755; married (first) John Caldwell of Hartford, Connecticut, who died in 1734; she married (second) Dr. Niel McClean; six children by first marriage and six by the second.
14. Lydia, born in 1703, died September 3, 1745; married Rev. Daniel Russell, first pastor of the Stepney parish, Wethersfield.
15. Benjamin, born in Wethersfield, July 29, 1705; married (first), August 29, 1727, Sarah Doty; (second), in 1732, Catherine Chauncey, and (third), in 1737, Ann Pierson of Wethersfield; there were two children by the first marriage and six by the third.
16. Ebenezer, said to have been born later, but of him there is no trace or mention in his father's will.
(Stiles : "History of Ancient Wethersfield," Vol. II, pp. 667-70.)
(II) ELIZABETH STILLMAN, daughter of George and Rebecca (Smith) Still- man, was born in Wethersfield, Massachusetts, October 19, 1700. She married William Blin. (Blinn III.)
(Ibid.)
431
BLINN
(The Smith Line).
Smith, the most common of surnames, comes from the Anglo-Saxon "Smitan," to smit or to strike. It was originally applied to artificers in wood as well as in metal, in fact to all mechanical workers, which accounts for its frequent appear- ance. The application of the name became so very general that valorous soldiers were called "mighty war-smiths." Among the Highland clans the smith ranked third in dignity to the chief, because of his skill in fabricating military weapons and his dexterity in teaching others how to employ them. Throughout history the surname Smith is recorded for the great deeds of its numerous bearers in the commercial, financial, professional, industrial, military and social life of many countries.
(W. Arthur : "Etymological Dictionary of Family Names." Lower : "Patronymica Britannica.")
(I) LIEUTENANT SAMUEL SMITH, "the fellowmonger," as he is always spoken of in Wethersfield records, came from Ipswich, County Suffolk, England, to Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1635, or possibly late in 1634, at the age of thirty- two years. With him on the voyage were his wife, Elizabeth, and four children. Before sailing, all adults on the "Elizabeth," the ship upon which they crossed the ocean, had to take the "oath of Allegiance and Supremacy" November 12, 1634, at the Ipswich Custom House. According to his recorded designation on the Weth- ersfield records, as "fellowmonger," he was a dealer in hides, very likely a tanner. He built, and was one of the owners of the "Tryal," the first ship built in the Con- necticut Colony. He seems to have assumed prominence in the community very quickly. He was frequently a selectman, was a representative at the General Court at Hartford, 1637-56; was on the commission to seat the meetinghouse; held the office of deputy to the Generai Court almost all the sessions between 1641-53; was exempt from training in 1658; was appointed with another man as building com- mission for the first meetinghouse. He removed with his family to Hadley, Mas- sachusetts, 1659-60, where he held similar important positions, including magis- trate, and where he died in 1680. Lieutenant Samuel Smith married, in England, Elizabeth Chileab, who was born about 1602, and died March 16, 1686. Children :
1. Samuel, born in England about 1624; probably removed to New London, Connecticut ; emigrated, prior to 1664, to Virginia, it is believed to give his wife, Elizabeth Smith, daughter of the Rev. Henry Smith, her freedom, after realizing that she loved someone else better than her husband, so that his action was one of great sacrifice ; was the "town's law-tennant" of New London; was a lieutenant, and highly respected.
2. Elizabeth, born in England about 1627; married (first), about 1646, Nathaniel Foote of Wethersfield, and (second) William Gull, of that town.
3. Mary, born in England about 1630; married John Graves.
4. Philip, of whom further.
5. Chileab, born about 1635.
6. John, born in Wethersfield, possibly about 1637.
(Judd: "History of Hadley." Hotten : "History of Early Emigrants." Genealogies of the Wells Families and of the Smith Families of Hatfield, Massachusetts. Extensive collection of MSS. by Roswell T. Smith of Nashua, New Hampshire. "Boardman Genealogy," p. 207. Wethersfield Records. "History of New London," by Mrs. Calkins. Stiles: "History of Ancient Wethersfield," Vol. II, pp. 326-28, 646, 647.)
(II) LIEUTENANT PHILIP SMITH, son of Lieutenant Samuel and Elizabeth (Chileab) Smith, was born in England about 1633, and came with his parents from
432
BLINN
Ipswich, County Suffolk, England, in the ship "Elizabeth," when he was but one year of age. He was one of a committee to establish a line between Wethersfield and Middletown. In 1659-60 he removed with his father to Hadley, where he was a man of prominence, holding the offices of representative and deacon. According to Cotton Mather, Philip Smith died January 10, 1685, "murdered with a hideous witchcraft." Lieutenant Smith married, about 1658, Rebecca Foote, born in Weth- ersfield in 1634, and died April 6, 1701. She was the daughter of Nathaniel Foote, who was born in England, 1593, and died probably in Wethersfield, Mas- sachusetts, in 1644, the original settler of the Foote family, who married Elizabeth Demming, sister of John Demming, the famous settler. Children:
1. Deacon Samuel, born in January, 1659.
2. A child, who died January 22, 1661.
3. Deacon John, born in December, 1661.
4. Jonathan.
5. Philip.
6. Rebecca, of whom further.
7. Nathaniel.
8. Joseph.
9. Ichabod.
(Stiles : "Ancient Wethersfield," Vol. II, pp. 428, 647.)
(III) REBECCA SMITH, daughter of Lieutenant Philip and Rebecca Foote, was born about 1668, and died about 1750, aged eighty-two. She married George Still- man. (Stillman I.)
(Ibid.)
(The Clarke Line).
The English family name Clark, Clarke, is a variation of Clerk, from the office of clerk in holy orders ; later, any learned man was called a clerk. The names of Boniface Clericus and Thomas le Clerk appear in the Hundred Rolls of Lincoln- shire, A. D. 1273, and Gilbert le Clerk in those of Oxfordshire, and Robertus Clerk and Robertus Clarke are recorded in the Poll Tax of Yorkshire for 1379.
(Bardsley : "Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames.")
(The Family in America).
(I) WILLIAM CLARKE is in the list of those able to bear arms in Duxbury, Plymouth Colony, in 1643, which included able-bodied men between sixteen and sixty years of age. On August 15, 1645, he went forth with five other soldiers from Duxbury, against the Narragansett Indians. He was nominated constable for Duxbury, June 8, 1655, and was chosen, June 6, 1659, surveyor of highways for the town. On June 7, 1665, he received a grant of thirty acres of land at Major's Point. Lieutenant Nash puts his estate in William Clarke's hands March 5, 1683-84, and in June, 1684, the account of amount due his daughter, Martha, wife of William Clarke, was rendered. He died in Duxbury about the first week in May after he made his will, which was dated January 3, 1686-87. To William Clarke, his "pretending relation," he left 18 pence. His estate was inventoried May 6, 1687, and valued at £ 50.
433
BLINN
William Clarke married Martha Nash, to whom he bequeathed his land and orchard. (Nash II.) They had a daughter :
I. Elizabeth, of whom further.
(Plymouth Colony Records, Vol. II, p. 90; Vol. III, p. 78; Vol. IV, p. 95; Vol. VI, p. 126; Vol. VIII, p. 190. Winsor: "History of Duxbury, Massachusetts," p. 247.)
(II) ELIZABETH CLARKE, daughter of William Clarke, of Duxbury, was born and died at Duxbury, Massachusetts. She married Philip Delano, Jr. (Delano II.)
(Delano: "A Genealogy, History, and Alliances of the American House of Delano," p. 106.)
(The Nash Line).
The English surname Nash arose from residence at an ash tree. In the early records of England we find in the Writs of Parliament, about 1300, William atte Nasche, and in the Hundred Rolls of County Oxford in 1273 A. D., Agnes ate Nasse.
(Bardsley: "Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames.")
(The Family in America).
(I) LIEUTENANT SAMUEL NASH was born in England in 1602. He was in Plymouth, New England, probably in 1630, but certainly in 1632, for in 1633 he was taxed for the previous year and was made freeman. He was a volunteer sol- dier in 1637, from Duxbury; surveyor of highways in March, 1640-41; chosen sergeant on August 29, 1643; fought against the Narragansett Indians, August 15, 1645; chosen lieutenant October 31, 1645, and chief marshal (or sheriff) on June 6, 1652; and served as a deputy from Duxbury, April 6, 1653. On March 5, 1683-84, "Lieutenant Samuel Nash, being aged and not in capacity to keep house for himself, hath put his estate in the hands of William Clarke of Duxbury." Then, on June 18, 1684, the following statement was issued: "due Martha Clarke, wife of William Clarke, in compensation for her pains and care in looking to her father, Samuel Nash, late deceased," a list of items amounting to £19.10.03. Nash's deposition was made July 6, 1682, when he was "80 years or thereabouts." His wife died before him and consequently not named in the deposition. Children:
I. Martha, of whom further.
2. Esther, married Abraham Sampson of Duxbury in 1638; they had Abraham, Isaac, Samuel and George.
(Plymouth Colony Records, Vol. I, pp. 4, 10, 61, 69; Vol. II, pp. 9, 61; Vol. III, p. 12; Vol. VI, pp. 125, 126; Vol. VII, p. 257.)
(II) MARTHA NASH, daughter of Samuel Nash, of Duxbury, Massachusetts, died in Duxbury. She married William Clarke. (Clarke I.)
(The Denison Line).
Denis and Denise became popular as fontal names in England, as they had been in France, when, in 1066 A. D., the Knights and henchmen of William the Con- queror swept over Saxon England and conquered the country. Later, when sur- names became a distinct necessity, many people chose their parents' Christian names as their hereditary family name. Thus did John, son of Denis, call himself "John Denis' son," which in time became Denisson, and finally Denison.
C. & R. 1-28
434
BLINN
In 1631 a William Denison came to the New World with his wife, Margaret (Monck) Denison, and their four sons, John, Daniel, George, and Edward, in the "Lion," and settled at Roxbury, Massachusetts. William Denison was born at Bishop's Stortford, County Hertford, England, and married, in England, Novem- ber 7, 1603. He is reputed to have been a general in the British Navy, and was a well-educated man. He and his sons became Roxbury's most prominent citizens. He was made a freeman, July 3, 1632; was chosen by the General Court as con- stable of Roxbury, November 6, 1633; was authorized to impress men for the building of the bridge, October 27, 1647, and was a representative to the General Court in 1635. In the Roxbury church records his wife is spoken of affectionately as "Old Mother Denison." It seems likely that William Denison, of whom fur- ther, may have descended from the immigrant William Denison, but a careful research of old records and histories fails to disclose the connection.
(Bardsley : "Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames." James Sheldon: "Descendants of William Denison in Line of Palmer and Denison Family" (a family chart). C. H. Pope : "Pioneers of Massachusetts," p. 137. "New England Historical and Genealogical Register," Vol. XLVI, pp. 127-29.)
(I) WILLIAM DENISON (or DENNISON), of Milton, Massachusetts, died there September 5, 1691. Children, born at Milton :
I. Susana, born August 11, 1668, died November 14, 1669.
2. Hanna, born August 3, 1670.
3. Mercy, born August 4, 1674.
4. Margaret, of whom further.
(Milton, Massachusetts, Records, pp. 23, 218.)
(II) MARGARET DENISON, daughter of William Denison, was born in Mil- ton, Massachusetts, July 21, 1677. She was married, in Boston, Massachusetts, by Rev. James Allan, to Captain James Blin. (Blinn II.)
(Milton, Massachusetts, Records, p. 23. J. W. Hill: "Blin Genealogy," p. I. Boston Births, Marriages and Deaths, p. 243, Vol. IX, Boston, Massachusetts, Record, Commissioners Report.)
3085
.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.