THE FIRST THANKSGIVING
                             by Isabelle Freeman

                 When Elder Brewster bent his head to pray,
                  he asked for blessings on his Loyal band
               of Pilgrims.  Then through all that sunny day,
                  their cheerful Laughter made a wonderland
                  of wilderness at Plymouth!  Ah, how grand
                  the humble houses near the gentle brook!
                How strong the fort, all danger to withstand!
                  Dame Nature had supplied the food to cook
                  for hungry men.  Fair damsels all partook
                    of viands Mother England never grew;
                  while Captain Standish wore the Lazy Look
                  a soldier dons when peaceful days ensue.
            Good Brewster raised his hands -- his prayer profound
              -- that God's warm blessings always would abound.

1626 -    "Allsoe at this assembly there is xviij s. taken out of the treasury and paid to Wm. CHEESBROUUGH for keeping of Geo. Melton xviij weeks which is allsoe prcell of the money for Smith digills house."  From the Boston Corporation REcords in England, dated 1626.

1626 -    In his boyhood, Peter HOBART walked several miles daily to and from a grammar school; then he attended a free school in Lynn, and from this he entered Magdalen College, University of Cambridge.  He graduated in 1626, and soon after was teaching a grammar school.  He lodged, in Hingham, at the house of Robert PECK, a clergyman of the Established Church of England, who though, at the time, was not openly friendly to his Puritan ideas, sometimes allowed young Peter HOBART to preach for him.  PECK's tolerance of non-conformist ideas in the church may have gotten him in trouble with Bishop HARSNET, his diocesan, whose impudence in honor of the church was so great as to excite complaint from the people of Norwich, in 1623, to the House of Commons in Parliament.  The Reverend Robert PECK, in 1638, to escape the religious intolerance, left England to join Peter HOBART in Hingham, Massachusetts; but returned to his home in England in 1641, and died in his old parsonage in 1656.  Ann PECK, daughter of Rev. Robert PECK married, July 1639, at Windsor, Conn., to John MASON, conqueror of the Pequots.   Peter HOBART married second, 3 July 1646, to Rebbeca PECK, daughter of Joseph PECK, and a niece of the Reverend Robert PECK.

1626 -    John TOMPSON, of Little Preston, in the Parish of Preston Capes, Northamptonshire, England made his will, 6 Nov. 1626.  The will was probated on 11 April 1627 at Prerogative Court of Canterbury.  His widow, Alice (FREEMAN) TOMPSON, married second, before 30 May 1644, to Robert PARKE; and she died 11 February 1664/5 at New London, Connecticut.   Weis, Frederick Lewis, THE MAGNA CHARTA SURETIES, 1215 (3rd edition 1979); p.109-10 (Line #164).

1627 -    John THOMPSON's will was probated in 1627 at Canterbury, England.  The son, Thomas, mentioned in the will was probably by a former marriage.  Children of John and Alice THOMPSON were: Mary THOMPSON m. Rev. Richard BLINMAN of Gloucester, Mass; Dorothy; Bridget THOMPSON, born 11 Sept. 1622, m. 1640 George DENISON; Dorothy THOMPSON m. Thomas PARK of Wethersfield, Conn.; Nathaniel; and Martha.  Wildley, Anna Chesebrough, GENEALOGY of the DESCENDANTS of WILLIAM CHESEBROUGH (1903), pp.518-519.

1627 -    William BREWSTER, in 1627, became one of the eight who assumed the Plymouth Colony's debt.

1627 -    Mary BREWSTER, wife of William BREWSTER, died at Plymouth, Massachusetts, 27 April 1627.

1627 -    Peter HOBART was ordained a Minister of the Gospel by the Right Reverend Bishop of Norwich, Dr. Joseph HALL in 1627.

1627 -    Peter HOBART (1604-1679) married first in 1627 to Elizabeth IBROOK (1608-1645), daughter of Richard and Margaret IBROOK of Southwold, England.  They had children Joshua HOBART (1628-1717) m. Margaret VASSEL; Jeremiah HOBART (1630-1715) m. Elizabeth WHITING; Josiah HOBART (1632-1711) m. Mary --?--; Elizabeth HOBART (1633-1692) m. John RIPLEY; Ichabod (1635-1636); Hannah (1637-1637); Hannah HOBART (b.1638) m. John BROWN; Bathseba HOBART (b.1640) m. (1) John LEAVITT and (2) Joseph TURNER; Israel HOBART (1642-1731) m. 1668 Sarah WETHERILL; Joel HOBART (1643-1730) m. Joseph BRADFORD; and Gershom HOBART (1645-1707) m. Sarah ALDIS.  Mather, Frederic G. THE REFUGEES of 1776  from LONG ISLAND to CONNECTICUT (1972 reprint of the 1913 edition), p.402; NEW ENGLAND GENEALOGICAL AND HISTORICAL REGISTER, v.9, p.149; Davis, Walter Goodwin, THE ANCESTRY OF ANNIS SPEAR (1945), pp.55-56,145-148.

1627 -    Samuel CHESEBROUGH, son of William and Anne (STEVENSON) CHESEBROUGH, was bapt. 1 April 1627 at Boston, Lincolnshire, England.  He married 30 November 1655 to Abigail INGRAHAM, who married (2nd) 15 June 1675, Joshua HOLMES of Westerly, and (3rd) 4 July 1698, Capt. James AVERY of New London who died 18 April 1700, leaving her again a widow.  Samuel CHESEBROUGH was buried 31 July 1673.

1628 -    Thomas COPPE (1539-1628) was buried 11 February 1628 in the Parish Churchyard at Hatton, Worcestershire, England.

1629 -    "Josua, son of Peter HUBBERD, clerke, and Eliz.", was Christened 12 July 1629.  Southwold, co. Suffolk, England, parish record as recorded in the THE AMERICAN GENEALOGIST, v.12, pp.132-134.

1629 -    Walter PALMER came from Nottnghamshire, England, ca.1629; landed in Salem, Mass., and came to Stonington, Conn., in the fall of 1649.  Stanton, William A., THOMAS STANTON, OF CONNECTICUT, and HIS DESCENDANTS (1891), p.67.

1630 -    Nathaniel CHESEBROUGH, son of William and Anne (STEVENSON) CHESEBROUGH, was bapt. 25 January 1630 at Boston, Lincolnshire, England.  He married 1659 to Hannah DENISON, dau. of George and Bridget (THOMPSON) DENISON.  Nathaniel CHESEBROUGH died 22 Nov. 1678 at Stonington, Conn.

1630 -    Shortly after the birth of his son Nathaniel, William CHESEBROUGH, with his wife Anne and three surviving children of the eight that had been born to him, set sail for New England on the ship "Arbella", Captain Peter MILBORNE, master.  The ship set sail from Cowes, Isle of Wight, on Tuesday, March 30, 1630, and was called the "Admiral" of the fleet as it was the best vessel and held the more important people.  Among the other passengers was Christopher and James AVERY, Thomas MINER, and John WINTHROP.  They settled first at Charlestown, 30 July 1630, but in three months removed to Boston.

1630 -    Alice (GASCOIGNE) NEWCOMEN, aunt to Mary WENTWORTH (some say she was wife of William BREWSTER), was grandmother of John NEWCOMEN of Colchester, Essex, who was orphaned by 1630.  He seems identical with that NEWCOMEN murdered in 1630 in Plymouth, New England; if so, he may well have been there as ward of the BREWSTERS.  THE AMERICAN GENEALOGIST, v.41, p.4; NEW ENGLAND HISTORICAL and GENEALOGICAL REGISTER, Vol.113, pp.68-69.

1630 -    Thomas MINER arrived at New England in the "Arabella", 12 June 1630, with Christopher AVERY, William CHESEBROUGH, and John WINTHROP.
          In October 1630, Thomas MINER, with eighteen other men and eleven women, founded the first Congregational church of Charlestown, Massachusetts.  Among this number were Mr. Walter PALMER, his second wife Rebecca (SHORT) PALMER and the daughter of his first wife, Grace PALMER, who became the wife of Thomas MINER 20 April 1634.  Gardner, Phebe Elizabeth Miner, OUR ANCESTORS, MINERS-AVERYS-STRONGS-MORGANS (1901), pp.9-15, passim; James H. Allyn, SWAMP YANKEE FROM MYSTIC (1980), pp.33-34.

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1630 -    Christopher AVERY, "weaver," and his only son, James AVERY, came in the "Arabella", 12 June 1630, and is first found at Cape Ann, Massachusetts.  Christopher AVERY's wife, Margery (STEVENS) AVERY, remained in England.

1631 -    "Jeremy, son of Peter and Eliz. HUBBERD," was christened 18 April 1631.  Southwold, co. Suffolk, England, parish record as recorded in the THE AMERICAN GENEALOGIST, v.12, pp.132-134.

1631 -    William CHESEBROUGH was made a freeman at Boston, May 1631 and was chosen one of the two deputies from the town.  He was also constable and assessor of rates; and one of a committee to allot to "able bodied men and youth," grounds for planting.

1631 -    William DENISON (1571-1654), his wife Margaret, and three of his sons, Daniel, Edward, and George DENISON, came from Stratford, England to Roxbury, Massachusetts in 1631 on the ship "Lion".  The eldest son, John DENISON, a clergyman, remained in England.  On the long voyage across the Atlantic, William DENISON engaged the Rev. John ELIOT (later famous as the Apostle to the Indians) to tutor his youngest boy, George DENISON.  Haynes, Williams, CAPTAIN GEORGE and LADY ANN (1963); THE SECOND BOAT, v.6, pp.7-8.

1631 -    John CHIPMAN came from Dorchester, England in 1631.

1631 -    Ruth BREWSTER, daughter of Jonathan and Lucretia (OLDHAM) BREWSTER, was born 3 October 1631 at "Jones River," Plymouth, Mass.

1632 -    Jonathan BREWSTER removed his family to Duxbury, Mass. about 1632.

1632 -    Anthony THOMPSON (1612-1648) married first in England, ca.1632, and had by first wife, children:  John THOMPSON m.1651 Ellen HARRISON; Anthony (1634-1654); and Bridget THOMPSON m. Rev. John BOWERS.

1632 -    Daniel DENISON (1612-1682), son of William and Margaret (CHANDLER) DENISON, married 1632 to Patience DUDLEY, dau. of Governor Thomas DUDLEY.  "Daniel DENNISON attained later to great distinctions, serving many years as assistant and sergeant-major-general comanding the troops."   James Kendall Hosmer, ed., WINTHROP'S JOURNAL "HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND" (1908), v.II, p.270n;  Weis, Frederick Lewis, THE MAGNA CHARTA SURETIES, 1215 (3rd edition 1979); p.40 (Line #50).

1632 -    The first occurrence of our John MASON's name in the history of New England, is the year 1632-33, when he and Captain GALLOP were appointed by the magistrates of Massachusetts to "suppress the rapine and cruelty of BULL's band of pirates on the coast."  The court granted ten pounds to him for this service, and in the terms of the grant he is called Lieutenant MASON. -  Savage's edition of WINTHROP's JOURNAL, v.I, pp.96,97,233; 2 MASSACHUSETTS HIST. COLLECTIONS, v.VIII, p.232.

1632  -   Walter HARRIS came to America in the ship "William & Francis" in 1632.  He first settled at Weymouth.

1633 -    Edmund HOBART with his wife, three of his children, Rebecca, Sarah and Joshua, and their man servant, Henry GIBBS, embarked in March, 1633, and landed at Charlestown, Massachusetts, 3 May 1633.  A short time after Edmund's arrival, he was joined by two more of his sons and their families:-- Edmund, Jr. and his wife Elizabeth, and Thomas and his wife and three children.

          "Edmund HOBART became a member of the Congregational Church in Charlestown, 19 August 1633, and thus became qualified, under the then existing law, to take the freeman's oath, to vote, to hold office, and to enjoy full municipal rights."   He took the freeman's oath, 4 March 1634, and soon, thereafter, was appointed by the General Court as a constable of Charlestown.  L. Smith Hobart, WILLIAM HOBART, HIS ANCESTORS AND DESCENDANTS (1886); Dorothy M. Titus, HOBART FAMILY IN AMERICA (1943).

1633 -    Margaret (DEWEY) HOBART, wife of Edmund HOBART, died in September 1633 at Hingham, Plymouth, Massachusetts.

1633 -    In November 1633, John MASON was entitled by the Court, "Captain MASON," when Sergeant STOUGHTON was chosen the ensign of his company, in Massachusetts.  Ellis' LIFE OF JOHN MASON.

 

1634 -    Humphrey GRIFFING (ca.1605-1661/2) married, ca.1634, Elizabeth ANDREWS, dau. of Robert and Elizabeth ANDROS.  They had children born at Ipswich:  John GRIFFING (1635-1688) m. 17 Sept. 1663 Lydia SHATSWELL; Nathaniel GRIFFING m. 26 Aug. 1671 Elizabeth, dau. of Robert RING; Samuel GRIFFIN m. Lydia --?--; and Elizabeth GRIFFING m. 3 March 1660 Edward DEARE. -   Wurts' MAGNA CHARTA, v.5, pp.1368-1370.

1634 -    William DENISON was made a constable and deputy to the General Court in 1634; was a man of mark, possessed considerable property and was one of the founders of the "Free School."  Ohler, Clara Paine, ANCESTORS and DESCENDANTS of CAPTAIN JOHN JAMES and ESTHER DENISON (1912), p.148.

1634 -    Having settled at Dorchester, John MASON was admitted a freeman, 4 March 1634/5; and he entered into an agreement with certain settlers on his lands.  John MASON, together with Captains UNDERHILL, PATRICK, TRASK and TURNER, and Lieutenants FEAKS and MORRIS, was employed, in 1634, in erecting fortifications for the defense of Boston. -  Farmer's GENEALOGICAL RESISTER.

1634 -    Thomas MINER (1608-1690) married 20 April 1634, at Charlestown, Massachusetts, to Grace PALMER, dau. of Walter and Ann Elizabeth PALMER.  They had children:  John MINER m. 1658 Elizabeth BOOTH; Clement MINER m. 1662 Frances WILLIS; Thomas MINER; Ephraim MINER m. 1666 Hannah AVERY; Joseph MINER m. 1668 Maria AVERY; Judah MINER (to Virginia); Mannasah MINER m. 1670 Lydia MOORE; Anna; Maria; Samuel MINER m. Maria LORD; Elizabeth; and Hannah MINER, born 15 Sept. 1655, m. 22 Oct. 1677 to Thomas AVERY, Sr.  -  Gardner, Phebe Elizabeth Miner, OUR ANCESTORS (1901), pp.9-15, passim; Mather, Frederic G. THE REFUGEES of 1776  from LONG ISLAND to CONNECTICUT (1972 reprint of the 1913 edition), p.248.

1634 -    William COPP (1589-1670) married second 21 July 1634 to Goodeth [Judith] ITCHENOR.  They had children:  David COPP (1635-1713) m. (1) 1660 Obedience TOPLIFFE and m. (2) Amy --?--; Naomi; Jonathan COPP m. Margaret; Rebecca; Ruth COPP m. Henry SHRIMPTON; and Lydia COPP.  -  NEW YORK GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY RECORD, v.64, pp.150-153; Whittemore, Henry, GENEALOGICAL GUIDE TO THE EARLY SETTLERS OF AMERICA, p.108; Runnel's HISTORY OF SANBORNTON, NEW HAMPSHIRE, v.II, p.182; Morrison's HISTORY OF WINDHAM, NEW HAMPSHIRE, p.304; Hubbard's HISTORY OF STANSTEAD COUNTY, CANADA, p.233; AMERICAN ANCESTRY, v.VII, p.152; NEW ENGLAND HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL REGISTER, v.10, p.369; Savage's GENEALOGICAL DICTIONARY (1861), vol.I, p.456.

1634 -    Edmund HOBART married (3rd) 30 August 1634, to Ann Sarah OAKLEY, widow of Rev. John LYFORD; and she died 23 June 1649.

1635 -    Thomas STANTON, aged twenty, sailed from London, England, 2 January 1634/5 in the merchantman "Bonaventure, and landed in Virginia.  Upon arriving in Virginia, he went immediately among the Indians, and studied their language.  Bertha Jane Thomas Libby, GENEALOGY OF JANE ELIZABETH WHEELER THOMAS (1974), pp.177-225.

1635 -    Dr. Thomas LORD (1585-1667) came to America, 29 April 1635, in the "Elizabeth and Ann".  Stanton, William A., THOMAS STANTON, OF CONNECTICUT, and HIS DESCENDANTS (1891), p.12.

1635 -    Robert ANDREWS was made a freeman of Ipswich, Mass. on 6 May 1635.

1635 -    William COPE came over on the barque "Blessing", commanded by Captian John LEICESTER, which sailed from England, 17 June 1635.  He is described in a list of the passengers as "cordwainer, aged 46."  Soon after his arrival he had acquired half an acre of land in the North End of Boston, at the head of Prince St., on the water front overlooking the Charles River, and built a house there just by a little cove.  Southwest of it was a mill, whence a causeway ran in a northwesterly direction across the marsh.  A short distance northeast of his home was the Charlestown Ferry.  His holdings are described in the Boston BOOK OF POSSESSIONS as "One house & lott of halfe and Acre in the Mill field bounded with Thomas BUTTOLPH southeast; John BUTTON northeast; the Marsh on the southwest; and the River on the Northwest."  The tract called the "Mill Field" took its name from a wind-mill used for grinding corn, etc. which stood in the midst of it.  The mill was located on the top of the most northerly of the three hills, upon which old Boston was built.  This hill was originally called Mill Hill.  Its name was changed to Snow Hill and subsequently to Copp's Hill, --- the latter being its present designation.  -  NEW YORK GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY RECORD (Oct. 1931), v.62, pp.338-354;  NEW ENGLAND HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL REGISTER, v.58,p.118.

1635 -    John, first child of Thomas and Grace (PALMER) MINER, was baptized 30 August 1635 at Boston.  This same year Thomas MINER bought a tract of land from Cary LATHAM.

1635 -    John MASON represented the town of Dorchester at the General Court in 1635 and 1636.

1635 -    For the years 1627-1634 Peter HOBART preached in several towns, among others, in Haverhill in Suffolk County, England; but he identified himself with the Puritans which aroused the hostility of the prelacy, so he determined to join his father and brothers, and left for America.  The Reverend Peter HOBART, with his wife and four children arrived in Massachusetts from England on 8 June 1635.  Peter HOBART received a cordial welcome from his relatives and friends.  A writer speaking of his arrival, says, "Among those who came to help build up the cause of a better Christianity, was Peter HOBART --- that distinguished friend of liberty.  On his arrival here, he was but little over thirty years of age, in the full vigor of manhood, possessed of great activity of mind, and distinguished for independence of character.  As a scholar he was eminent for intellectual acumen, indefatigable industry and various acquirements."  Peter HOBART united with the Church of Charlestown, 30 August 1635, and his wife and children remained there until late in the autumn, or possibly through the winter, as one of his sons were born there.  L. Smith Hobart, WILLIAM HOBART, HIS ANCESTORS AND DESCENDANTS (1886); Dorothy M. Titus, HOBART FAMILY IN AMERICA (1943).

          On 2 September 1635 Peter HOBART was admitted freeman, and at that time, Edmund HOBART and his sons, with their families and other friends, removed to Bare Cove, a few miles south of Boston, and named the new settlement, Hingham after the ancient community in "Merrie England," in Norfolk County, the county of so many generations of their ancestors.  Peter HOBART was selected as the pastor of the Church.  The "Old Ship Church of Hingham," built on the site of the original Hingham Meeting House, is the oldest meeting-house in continuous ecclesiastical use in the United States.  L. Smith Hobart, WILLIAM HOBART, HIS ANCESTORS AND DESCENDANTS (1886); Dorothy M. Titus, HOBART FAMILY IN AMERICA (1943); THE MAYFLOWER QUARTERLY, v.47. No.1, pp.7-9.

          "At this time also came to shore the servant of Christ Master Peter HUBBORD, whom the Lord was plesed to make use of for feeding his people in this Wildernesse, being called to Office by the Church of Christ at the Town of Hingham, which is scituate upon the Sea coasts South-east of Charles River, being a place nothing inferiour to their Neighbours for scituation, and the people have much profited themselves by transporting Timber, Planke and Mast for Shipping to the Town of Boston, as also to romote parts, even as far as Barbadoes.  They want not for Fish for themselves and others also."  - J. Franklin Jameson, ed., JOHNSON'S WONDER-WORKING PROVIDENCE 1628-1651 (Reprinted 1959), pp.116-117.

          "The gathering of the Hingham Church took place in September, 1935, preceding by ten months that of the church of Concord, July, 1936.  The name was given because the pastor, Peter HOBART, and many of the flock came from Hingham in Norfolk, England.  He was of Magdalene Colege, Cambridge, and was for nearly fourty-five years pastor of this church."  - J. Franklin Jameson, ed., JOHNSON'S WONDER-WORKING PROVIDENCE 1628-1651 (Reprinted 1959), p.116n.

TOP

1636 -    On 9 May 1636, "2 akers, 1 quarter and 4 rodes" were set off to "Good: TOPLEY," in the town of Dorchester.

1636 -    Thomas STANTON worked his way overland from Virginia to Boston, Massachusetts, learning the Indian language en route.
          On 3 October 1636 (or 1637), a Thomas STANTON was one of the magistrates at the trial of John WAINWRIGHT at Boston.  (It is unlikely that this was the same man who came on the Bonaventure, since men of twenty-one would not have been magistrates in the colony.)
          Thomas STANTON was sent to Saybrook by Governor WINTHROP, in 1636, with Mr. FENWICK and Hugh PETERS, who were Commissioners to negotiate a treaty with the Pequot Indians.  By this time, Thomas STANTON was a master of the Indian dialects.  (Note:  It is probable that our Thomas STANTON was a trader, and had been both to New England and Virginia before 1635, in order to have sufficient knowledge of the language of the Indians to become an expert interpreter.)

1636 -    The town of Hingham, Mass. granted a house lot to Thomas MINER in 1636.  According to the diary of Peter HOBART, Clement, Ephraim, Thomas, and Joseph MINER were born at Hingham.

1636 -    John MASON accompanied Mr. WARHAM's party in 1636, and became one of the first planters of the new colony at Windsor.  He was among about two hundred fifty men (about sixty or seventy families) who located in the three English settlements (Hartford, Windsor, and Wethersfield) in the region of present Connecticut along the river called by the Indians "Quonehtacut".  John MASON was one of the five principal planters of the town of Saybrook.  At the time of these original settlements, the Pequots, were masters of that territory lying between the Thames and Pawcatuck rivers (the present sites of New London, Stonington, and Groton).  "They were a numerous, powerful, spirited, and warlike tribe;" and had previously been at odds with the neighboring tribes of the Narragansetts and Mohegans.  The Pequots resented the intrusion of the English into their territory; and when the Governor of Massachusetts made a treaty with their enemies, the Narragansetts and Mohegans, the Pequots apparently considered this an act of war, and began raiding the English settlements in an effort to drive the white intruders from their land.

1635 -    Clement TOPLIFF and his wife, Sarah, probably came to Dorchester about 1635-37 in the "Second Emigration."  There is some evidence that they may have come from Ipswich, Essex County, England.  They had children:  Jonathan; Sarah TOPLIFF (1639-1683) m. 11 May 1659 David JONES; Obedience TOPLIFF (1642-1678) m. 20 Feb. 1659 David COPP; Samuel TOPLIFF (1646-1722) m.1670 Patience TRESCOTT; and Patience TOPLIFF (1644-1696) m. 27 March 1667 Nathaniel HOLMES.  NEW ENGLAND HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL REGISTER, Vol.58, pp.118-120; Bolton, Mrs. Ethel Stanwood, CLEMENT TOPLIFF AND HIS DESCENDANTS (1906), pp.3-9,passim.

1637 -    A Court held at Hartford, in the spring of the year 1637, passed a resolution to adopt an offensive warfare "and arrest the savages in their merciless career, by filling them with terror".  Ninety men, from the three Connecticut settlements, together with seventy Mohegans and other friendly Indians led by UNCAS, sachem of the Mohegans, went to war against the Pequots under the command of Captain John MASON, who, it is said, had "been bred to arms in the Dutch Netherlands."
          John MASON set sail with his followers, on Monday, 1 May 1637, in three small vessels.  On reaching Fort Saybrook, at the mouth of the Connecticut river,  he was joined by Captain UNDERHILL with nineteen Massachusetts men from the fort; and MASON sent twenty of those he had brought with him to return home to protect the colony.  John MASON led his band to the village stronghold of SASSACUS, chief sachem of the Pequots; and on 26 May 1637, they made a surprise attack on the village.
          "The Pequots' fort stood on the western side of the Mystic River, near the present site of Mystic, Connecticut.  John MASON, after a demonstration on the western border of their territory, surprised them by making his attack from the eastward, after a march through the neutral territory of the Narragansetts.  Underhill gives a diagram of the fort, which may be seen reproduced in Palfrey's HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND, v.I, p.466."  - J. Franklin Jameson, ed., JOHNSON'S WONDER-WORKING PROVIDENCE 1628-1651 (Reprinted 1959), pp.167-170.

          There was little resistance.  According to some accounts, many of the Pequot "warriors" had left the village leaving their women, children, and families behind.
          "John MASON entered the village first; his comrades followed; and he passed, with hurried steps to the extremity of a range of wigwams, seeking in vain for the foe.  Almost breathless from his efforts and emotion, he then hastened back, feeling the extreme hazard of contending with so numerous and subtle a horde of fierce savages concealed in their lurking-places from which their arrows were now deliberately aimed.  'We must burn them,' he cried; and seizing a fire-brand, he so effectually employed it that all the combustible mat-covered huts were soon enveloped in the flames of a desolating conflagration."
          More than seven hundred Pequot men, women, and children died in the massacre and burning of the village, while only two of their assailants fell in the battle.  There were only seven of the residents of the village who survived the onslaught and were taken prisoner.  The loss of their fort and families, and subsequent pursuit by MASON and STOUGHTON, caused the Pequots to disperse, and forever terminated the existence of the Pequots as an independent tribe.  Their sachem, SASSACUS, fled to the Maquas (Mohawks) who subsequently assassinated him and sent his scalp to Boston.
          The English appointed new chief's for the Pequots, and they were subsequently allies in 1675 in the war against King Phillip, the Narragansett Indian Chief.
          For John MASON's own account of the "Pequout Wars" see: John Mason's, A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE PEQUOT WAR (1656) - Reprinted 1966 by University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan.  See also: Hubbard's NARRATIVE OF THE INDIAN WARS IN NEW ENGLAND; MASSACHUSETTS HIST. COLL., 2nd series, v.VIII, pp.120-153; Charles Orr, ed. HISTORY OF THE PEQUOT WAR (1897); Louis Bond Mason, THE LIFE and TIMES of MAJOR JOHN MASON (1935); Royal F. Hinman, FIRST PURITAN SETTLERS of CONNECTICUT (1846), pp.50-51; Willison, George F., SAINTS and STRANGERS (1945), p.306; Elias B. Sanford's A HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT (1888), pp.21-28,37-38; William Haynes, STONINGTON CHRONOLOGY (1976), pp.9-10, passim.

          John WINTHROP recorded the incidents leading up to and culminating in the Pequot War.  He wrote the following in May 1637:  "MIANTUNNOMOH sent us word that Captain MASON, with a company of the English upon the river, had surprised and slain eight Pequods, and taken seven squaws, and with some of them had redeemed the two English maids."  - James Kendall Hosmer, ed., WINTHROP'S JOURNAL "HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND" (1908), v.I, pp.63,183-189,213-231,255, passim.

          Holmes, in his ANNALS, v.I, p.297 reflects on the ruthless aspect of the historic event of the Pequot War:  "However just the occasion of this war, humanity demands a tear, on the extinction of a valiant tribe, which preferred death to what it might naturally anticipate from the progress of the English settlements, --dependence or extirpation." - See also: Colman McCarthy, Washington Post Writers Group, "More Savagery than Sanctity in Our Judeo-Christian Tradition" (an undated clipping from the Washington, Post).

          A short distance south of I-95, at the intersection of Clift St. and Pequot Avenue, in Groton, Connecticut, there is a monument and statue erected in honor of John MASON, conqueror of the Pequots.  This monument was visited by Bill and Mert DeCOURSEY in 1978.  A picture of the statue can be found in Eleanor B. Read's MYSTIC MEMORIES (1980), p.3.

1637 -    Thomas STANTON arrived at Fort Saybrook in April 1637, and served under Major-General John MASON in the Pequot War.  According to Deforest in his HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT, Thomas STANTON's services as interpreter during this war were invaluable.  Special mention was made of his bravery in the battle of Fairfield Swamp, where he nearly lost his life.

1637 -    William DENISON, with his son Edward DENISON and another Roxbury man, was disarmed in 1637, for "subscribing to the seditious libel," or in other words for being a supporter of Ann HUTCHINSON, a woman who expounded liberal views on religious subjects.  Chief of these, and the one which brought her and her followers most severely into conflict with the church, was her teaching that the Holy Spirit dwells in every believer and that salvation comes by individual intuition of God's grace and love through inspiration of the Holy Spirit and without regard to obedience to the laws of church and state.  Many of the more liberal and intelligent were drawn over to her way of thinking, including William DENISON, John COTTON, John WHEELWRIGHT, Governor Sir Henry VANE and most of the Boston church; but, when Governor VANE returned to England in 1637, her detractors brought her before a church synod, and her views were denounced.  At a session of the General Court in November 1637 she was tried for "traducing the ministers and their ministry" and sentenced to banishment.  She was allowed to stay the winter in the home of John COTTON in Boston, and then she removed to Rhode Island, and later to Dutch Territory in what is now Westchester Co., New York.  Ohler, Clara Paine, ANCESTORS and DESCENDANTS of CAPTAIN JOHN JAMES and ESTHER DENISON (1912), pp.148; ENCYCLOPEDIA AMERICANA (International Edition 1965), v.14, p.528.
          (Note:  The present "Hutchinson Expressway" in Westchester County, NY, near Kennedy Airport was named in memory of Ann HUTCHINSON.)

1637 -    Elisha CHESEBROUGH, son of William and Anne (STEVENSON) CHESEBROUGH, was bapt. 4 June 1637 at Boston, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts.  He married 20 April 1665 to Rebecca PALMER, dau. of Walter PALMER.  Elisha CHESEBROUGH died 1 September 1670.

1637 -    The THOMPSONs were from Little Preston, Preston Capes Parish, England.  Three brothers, Anthony, John and William THOMPSON, left England, with the party led by the Rev. John DAVENPORT and Theophilus EATON in the "Hector" and arrived in Boston, Massachusetts, 26 June 1637.  In April 1638 they settled in the vicinity of what is now New Haven Connecticut.

1637 -    Thomas STANTON married, 1637, at Hartford, Connecticut to Ann LORD (1614-1688), dau. of Thomas and Dorothy (BIRD) LORD (who came in the ship "Elizabeth and Ann, 19 April 1635, and were of Thomas HOOKER's company, who settled Hartford in 1637).
          Thomas STANTON was the first man who joined William CHESEBROUGH in his settlement at Stonington, Connecticut.  Thomas and Ann (LORD) STANTON had children:  Thomas STANTON (1638-1718) m.1659 Sarah DENISON; Capt. John STANTON (1641-1713) m.1664 Hannah THOMPSON; Mary STANTON (1643-1713) m.1662 Samuel ROGERS; Hannah STANTON (1644-1727) m.1662 Nehemiah PALMER; Joseph STANTON (1647-1714) m. (1) 1673 Hannah MEAD, m. (2) 1677 Hannah LORD, m. (3) Miss PRENTICE; Daniel STANTON (1648-1688) m.1671 Sarah WHEELER; Dorothy STANTON (1651-1742) m.1674 Rev. James NOYES; Robert STANTON (1653-1724) m.1677 Joanna GARDINER; Sarah STANTON (1655-1713) m.1675/6 (1) Thomas PRENTICE and (2) William DENISON; and Samuel STANTON (1657-aft.1698) m.1680 Borodell DENISON.  -  Wildley, Anna Chesebrough, GENEALOGY of the DESCENDANTS of WILLIAM CHESEBROUGH (1903), pp.535-6; Baldwin, John D., THOMAS STANTON of STONINGTON, CONN. (1882), pp.5-6; Stanton, William A., THOMAS STANTON, OF CONNECTICUT, and HIS DESCENDANTS (1891), pp.65-147; Cutter, William Richard, et.al., GENEALOGICAL AND FAMILY HISTORY OF THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT (N.Y. 1911), pp.40-44; Mather, Frederic G. THE REFUGEES of 1776  from LONG ISLAND to CONNECTICUT (1972 reprint of the 1913 edition), p.253; Lord, Kenneth, GENEALOGY of the DESCENDANTS of THOMAS LORD (1946), pp.55-60; THE SECOND BOAT, v.7,pp.176-178; Bertha Jane Thomas Libby, GENEALOGY OF JANE ELIZABETH WHEELER THOMAS (1974), pp.177-225.

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1637 -    Edmund HOBART was on the Grand Jury for the year commencing 19 September 1637; and he was appointed by the General Court, 6 Sept. 1638, "a Commissioner to try small Causes," in the town of Hingham, Massachusetts.  This appointment (equivalent to that of Justice of the Peace) was renewed 22 May 1639 and 2 June 1641.

1637 -    Paul PECK (1608-1695) of Hartford, Conn. (1639) was married, ca. 1637, to Martha HALE.  They had children: Paul PECK m. 1665 Elizabeth BAISEY; Martha PECK m. John CORNWELL; Elizabeth PECK (1643-1704) m. 29 Oct. 1674 Jeremiah HOW; John; Samuel; Joseph; Sarah PECK m. Thomas CLARK; Hannah PECK m. 1680 John SHEPHERD; Mary PECK (1662-1752) m. John ANDREW; and Ruth PECK m. 1680 Thomas BEACH.

1637 -    Rebecca (CLARK) PECK, wife of Joseph PECK, died 24 October 1637 at Hingham, county Norfolk, England.  Joseph PECK married second in England to --?--.   They had children:  Samuel PECK m. (1) Sarah --?-- and m. (2) 21 Nov. 1677 Rebecca (PAINE) HUNT; Nathaniel PECK (1641-1676) m. Deliverance BOSWORTH; Israel died young; Samuel; and Israel PECK (1646-1723) m. 1670 Bethia BOSWORTH.

1637 -    Jonathan BREWSTER served as a military commissioner in the Pequot War in 1637.

1638 -    Jonathan BREWSTER, in 1638, established a ferry service to transport men and cattle across the North River.

1638 -    Joseph PECK, of Hingham, Norfolk, England, came in the "Diligent" arriving in Boston, 1638, from Ipswich in Suffolk, with his wife, three sons, one daughter, two men servants, and three maid servants.  He was made freeman 1639, and was granted a house lot of seven acres adjoining that of his brother, Robert PECK.  He served as a representative to the General Court, 1639-42; removed to Seekonk (Rehoboth) in 1645; and there died 1663. -  Whittemore, Henry, GENEALOGICAL GUIDE TO THE EARLY SETTLERS OF AMERICA, p.409.

          Rev. Robert PECK, fleeing from persecutions of the church, sailed on board the ship "Diligent" of Ipswich, England, John MARTIN, master; arriving, with his brother Joseph PECK and other Puritans, at Hingham, Massachusetts in 1638.  Rev. Robert PECK was ordained teacher at Hingham in October 1638; and he was made a freeman 13 March 1639.  Returning to his rectorship at Hingham, England in 1641, he died in his old parsonage in 1656.  His daughter, Ann PECK married John MASON. -  Whittemore, Henry, GENEALOGICAL GUIDE TO THE EARLY SETTLERS OF AMERICA, p.409; CLEVELAND GENEALOGY, p.566; James Kendall Hosmer, ed., WINTHROP'S JOURNAL "HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND" (1908), v.I, p.279.

1638 -    About 1638, William CHESEBROUGH removed to Mount Wollaston, later named Braintree, Massachusetts, and here he was representative and commissioner or local judge for certain cases.  Later he removed to Seekonk, near Plymouth Colony, where he was prominent.  He was opposed to renaming the town Rehoboth, and because of a prejudice which arose against him from this he went to Pequot (New London), Connecticut, where he was urged to settle, but he finally settled in Wequetoquock Cove, in Pawcatuck, and was assisted in his moving by Roger WILLIAMS.

1638 -    On 8 March 1638, not long after the termination of the Pequot War, John MASON was appointed, and until his death continued to be, the Major General of all the forces of Connecticut. -  Records of the Court, v.I, p.7.

1638 -    Thomas STANTON was appointed official interpreter for the general court at Hartford, 5 April 1638, and at the same session was sent with others on a mission to the Warranocke Indians and as a delegate to an Indian-English council meeting at Hartford.  He was interpreter for the Yorkshire (England) colonists at New Haven, 24 November 1638, when the land on which the city of New Haven is located was bought from the Indians.  Caulkins, in her history of New London County says: "On the Pawkutuck River, the first white inhabitant was Thomas STANTON.  His trading house was probably coeval with the farming operations of CHESEBOROUGH (at Wequetoequock Cove), but as a fixed resident with a fireside and family, he was later upon the ground.  He himself appears to have been always upon the wing, yet always within call.  He was required to be present wherever a court , conference or treaty was to be held.  Never, perhaps, did the acquisition of a barbarous language give to a man such immediate, wide-spread and lasting importance.  From the year 1636, when he was WINTHROP's interpreter with the Nahantic sachem, to 1670 when UNCAS visited him with a train of warriors and captains to get him to write his will, his name is connected with almost every Indian transaction on record."

1638 -    Comfort STARR bought land 19 June 1638, at Duxbury, Mass. of Jonathan BREWSTER, removing thither soon afterward.  Cutter, William R., GENEALOGY and FAMILY HISTORY of CONNECTICUT (1911), pp.99-100.

1638 -    "Mo.(6) (August) 3, 1638 - JANEMOH, the sachem of Niantick, had gone to Long Island and rifled some of those Indians, which were tributaries to us.  The sachem complained to our friends of Connecticut, who wrote us about it, and sent Captain MASON, with seven men to require satisfaction.  The governor of the Massachusetts wrote also to Mr. WILLIAMS to treat with MIANTUNNOMOH about satisfaction, or otherwise to bid them look for war.  Upon this JANEMOH went to Connecticut, and made his peace, and gave full satisfaction for all injuries." - James Kendall Hosmer, ed., WINTHROP'S JOURNAL "HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND" (1908), v.II, p.63.

1639 -    Humphrey GRIFFING, a butcher, made application to become a freeman of Ipswich, Mass. in 1639.  This application was at first refused on the ground that the "town was full," but he was allowed to remain.

1639 -    Clement TOPLIFF was admitted into the First Church of Dorchester, 12 June 1639; he was made freeman 13 May 1640, and was one of the signers of the Thompson's Island agreement, 7:12:1641.

1639 -    Edmund HOBART was appointed by the General Court, 16 June 1639, a member of the Committee to levy a tax of one thousand pounds on the twelve towns then organized.

1639 -    In 1639 the General Court awarded 10 pounds to John MASON "for his good service against the Pequots, and otherwise."

1639 -    John MASON married second, July 1639, at Windsor, Conn. to Anne PECK, dau. of Reverend Robert PECK.  They had children:  Priscilla m. 1664 Rev. James FITCH; Samuel MASON; John MASON (1646-1676) m. Abigail FITCH; Rachel m. 1678 Charles HILL; Ann MASON m. 1672 Capt. John BROWN; Daniel MASON (1652-1736) m. (1) Margaret DENISON, m. (2) Rebecca HOBART; Elizabeth MASON m. (1) 1671 Thomas NORTON, m. (2) 1676 Major James FITCH; and possibly Isabel MASON m. 1658 John BISSELL.  - NEW ENGLAND HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL REGISTER, Vol.XV (1861), p.117-122,217-224,318-320 & vol.XVII (1863), pp.39-42,214-219; CLEVELAND GENEALOGY, p.566; Wheeler, Richard Anson, HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF STONINGTON, CONNECTICUT, pp.460-465; Mather, Frederic G. THE REFUGEES of 1776  from LONG ISLAND to CONNECTICUT (1972 reprint of the 1913 edition), p.247.

1639 -    In February, 1639, Thomas STANTON and his father-in-law, Thomas LORD, were settled in Hartford, Connecticut, coming there soon after the colony of Rev. Thomas HOOKER, who established the town.

1639 -    Jonathan BREWSTER was deputy from Plymouth Colony to the General Court in 1639, 1641-1643.

1639 -   Thomas STARR married, ca. 1639, to Rachel HARRIS.  They had children:  Samuel STARR married Hannah BREWSTER, dau. of Jonathan and Lucretia (OLDHAM) BREWSTER; Comfort STARR married Maria WELD, dau. of Joseph WELD; Elizabeth STARR married John TREADWELL; Benjamin STARR; Jehosephat STARR; Constant STARR; William STARR; and Josiah STARR married Elizabeth HICKS.

1640 -    Clement MINER died 31 March 1640 at Chow Magne, England.

1640 -    George DENISON, age 20, wrote a proposal of marriage in the form of a love poem to Bridget THOMPSON, the daughter of John and Alice (FREEMAN) THOMPSON.  A copy of this poem appears in the DENISON NEWSLETTER (July 1985), No.77, p.4 as follows:

                     "It is an ordinance, my dear divine
                 Which God unto the sons of men makes shine.
                    Even marriage is that whereof I speak
                    And unto you my mind therein I beak.
                     In Paradise, of Adam, God did tell
                  To be alone, for man, would not be well.
                      He in His wisdom thought it right
                     To bring a woman into Adam's sight.
                  A helper that for him might be most meet
                   And comfort him by her doing discreet.
                 I of that stock am sprung, I mean from him
                      And also of that tree I am a limb
                A branch though young, yet do I think it good
               That God's great vows by man be not withstood.
                      Alone I am, a helper I would find
                  Which might give satisfaction to my mind.
                    The party that doth satisfy the same
                  Is Mistress Bridget Thompson by her name.
                  God having drawn my affections unto thee
                  My Heart's desire is thine may be to me.
                 Thus with my blottings though I trouble you
                   Yet pass these by cause I know not how
               Though they at this time should much better be
                 For love it is the first have been to thee
                   And I wish that they much better were.
                  Therefore I pray accept them as they are
                     So hoping my desire I shall obtain.
               Your own true lover, I, George Denison by name.

                      From my father's house in Roxbury
                      To Miss Bridget Thompson, 1640."

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1640 -    George DENISON (1618-1694) married (1st) in May 1640 to Bridget THOMPSON (1622-1643), daughter of John and Alice (FREEMAN) THOMPSON.  They had two daughters:  Sarah DENISON (1641-1701) married 1659 Thomas STANTON; and Hannah DENISON married (1) 1659 Nathaniel CHESBROUGH, m. (2) 1680 Joseph SAXTUN.  Wheeler, Richard Anson, HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF STONINGTON, CONNECTICUT (1900), pp. 334-335.  Denison, Elverton Glenn, et.al. DENISON GENEALOGY (1963), p.1,passim; Benton, Charles E., EZRA REED AND ESTHER EDGERTON, Their Life and Ancestry (1912), pp.45-50; Wildley, Anna Chesebrough, GENEALOGY of the DESCENDANTS of WILLIAM CHESEBROUGH (1903), p.519-20; Weis, Frederick Lewis, THE MAGNA CHARTA SURETIES, 1215 (3rd edition 1979); p.109-10 (Line #164); James H. Allyn, SWAMP YANKEE FROM MYSTIC (1980), pp.32-35.

1640 -    William COPP was admitted as a member of the First Church of Boston on 20 June 1640.  His wife, Judith was admitted, 24 Jan. 1640/41.  He became a freeman, June 1641.

1640 -    On 1 September 1640, Anthony THOMPSON, with a family of four persons was one of the list of first settlers of New Haven, Connecticut.  He was a member of the band of soldiers organized to protect the settlers from the Indians.

1641 -    On 19 January 1641, Humphrey GRIFFING bought a house and two acres of land near the mill at Labor-in-vain and a planting lot at Heartbreak Hill near Ipswich, Mass. from Daniel DENISON.  The deed was witnessed by Robert ANDREWS.  Davis, Walter Goodwin, THE ANCESTRY OF ANNIS SPEAR (1945), pp.145-148.

1641 -    Sarah DENISON, dau. of George and Bridget (THOMPSON) DENISON, was born 20 March 1641 at Roxbury, Mass.  She married 1659 to Thomas STANTON, Jr., son of Thomas and Ann (LORD) STANTON.  Sarah (DENISON) STANTON died 19 December 1701.

1641 -    In testimony of their appreciation of his services, and especially of his exploit at the Mystic River, the General Court, in 1641, granted to Captain John MASON five hundred acres of the Pequot territory, and a tract, of equal extent, for distribution among his comrades in arms.

1641 -    Joseph PECK was one of the principal purchasers from the Indians of that tract of land called Seekonk, afterwards the town of Rehoboth, Massachusetts, and Seekonk and Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

1641 -    John STANTON (1641-1713), son of Thomas and Anne (LORD) STANTON, was born in 1641.

1641 -    Jonathan BREWSTER sold his ferry service in 1641 to Messrs. BARKER, HOWELL and others.  He purchased a small trading vessel which operated along the coast between Plymouth and Virginia.  This business evidently was unprofitable, since later Jonathan's creditors foreclosed on his house, land, and cattle at Duxbury.  THE MAYFLOWER QUARTERLY, v.52, No.2, pp.72-83; James H. Allyn, SWAMP YANKEE FROM MYSTIC (1980), pp.18-19.

1642 -    Jonathan BREWSTER was on a committee to raise forces during the Narragansett Alarm of 1642, and he was a member of Myles STANDISH's Duxbury Company in 1643.

1642 -    Thomas STANTON was an Indian Trader as early as 1642 when, with his brother-in-law, Richard LORD, he made a voyage to Long Island to trade and collect old debts.    He had the grant of a monopoly of trading with the Indians at Pawcatuck and along the river of that name.  He built a trading house there and about 1651 removed to Pequot, and in 1658 occupied his permanent residence at Stonington.

1642 -    Christopher AVERY was sworn freeman at Gloucester, Mass., 29th day, 4 mo. 1642.  Salem Quarterly Court Records.

1642 -    Hannah DENISON, dau. of George and Bridget (THOMPSON) DENISON, was born 20 May 1643 at Roxbury, Mass.  She married (1st) 1659 to Nathaniel CHESBROUGH and (2nd) 15 July 1680 to Joseph SAXTUN.  Ohler, Clara Paine, ANCESTORS and DESCENDANTS of CAPTAIN JOHN JAMES and ESTHER DENISON (1912), pp.146-160.

1642 -    John MASON served as magistrate of the Connecticut Court from 1642 to 1660.

1642 -    On 22 June 1642, "In the time of the general court, in a great tempest of thunder and lightning, in the evening, the lightning struck the upper sail of the windmill (on COPP's Hill opposite Charlestown) in Boston by the ferry, and shattered it in many pieces, and, missing the stones, struck into the standard, rived it down in three parts to the bottom, and one of the spars; and the main standard being bound about with a great iron hoop, fastened with many long spikes, it was plucked off, broken in the middle, and thrown upon the floor, and the boards upon the sides of the mill rived off, the sacks, etc., in the mill set on fire, and the miller being under the mill, upon the ground, chopping a piece of board, was struck dead, but company coming in, found him to breathe, so they carried him to an house, and within an hour or two he began to stir, and strove with such force, as six men could scarce hold him down.  The next day he came to his senses, but knew nothing of what had befallen him, but found himself very sore on divers parts of his body.  His hair on one side of his head and beard was singed, one of his shoes torn off his foot, but his foot not hurt."  - James Kendall Hosmer, ed., WINTHROP'S JOURNAL "HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND" (1908), v.II, p.63.

1643 -    Page 63 of the first volume of admissions of the First Church of Boston records "The 18th day of ye 4th Month 1643, Joan GREENSLADE, a single women."  On page 66 of the same volume is an entry showing her dismissal to the church of Gloucester.  Avery, Elroy Mckendree, et.al., THE GROTON AVERY CLAN (1912), p.43.

1643 -    Robert ANDREWS' will was dated 1 March 1643, and it was proved 26 March 1644.  He mentions, among others, John GRIFING, Nathaniel GRIFING and Samuel GRIFING, sons of Humphrey GRIFING (his son-in-law), all of which children were, at the date of the will, under 21 years of age. -   COLLECTIONS of the NEW YORK GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY, vol.VI, Part II, "Register of Pedigrees", v.II, p.134-5.

1643 -    Bridget (THOMPSON) DENISON, wife of George DENISON, died in August 1643 at Roxbury, Mass.  The day following the funeral, "not even returning to his house for a handkerchief," he left his two infant daughters with his mother-in-law, Alice (FREEMAN) THOMPSON PARKE (She married second to Robert PARKE); and immediately returned to England, where he enlisted in Oliver CROMWELL's army and served in the Civil War there on the Parliamentary side.  He was at the battle of York, or Marston Moor; was wounded at Nasesby; and taken to the house of a gentleman named John BORODEL, whose daughter Ann nursed him, and they were married in 1645.  Haynes, Williams, CAPTAIN GEORGE and LADY ANN (1963); Wildley, Anna Chesebrough, GENEALOGY of the DESCENDANTS of WILLIAM CHESEBROUGH (1903), p.519.  THE SECOND BOAT, v.6, pp.7-8.

1643 -    Anthony THOMPSON (1612-1648) married second, ca.1643, to Catharine --?--.  They had children:  Hannah THOMPSON m. 1664 John STANTON; Lydia THOMPSON m. 1665 Isaac CRITTENDEN; and Ebenezer THOMPSON m.1671 Deborah, dau. of William DUDLEY.

1643 -    After the signing of the Articles of Confederation between the New England Colonies, in 1643, Thomas STANTON was selected as Interpreter-General of New England, and acted in almost every transaction with the Indians.

1643 -    On 12 October 1643, Richard LORD (1611/12-1662), son of Thomas and Dorothy (BIRD) LORD, engaged his brother-in-law, Thomas STANTON, in a quarrel about trading for Indian corn.  He used very threatening language, and drew his sword, but before he could use it he was arrested and fined five pounds by the Hartford Court.  It would be interesting to know how Mr. STANTON conducted himself in this little disagreement, but we only know that the Court Record makes no case against him.  -  Stanton, William A., THOMAS STANTON, OF CONNECTICUT, and HIS DESCENDANTS (1891), p.13.

1643 -    The General Court, in 1643, appointed Deputy Governor HOPKINS, Major General John MASON, and Mr. William WHITING to a special committee, "with authority to press men if occasion should require it", for the protection of UNCAS, the Mohegan sachem who was an ally of the English in the campaign against the Pequots.

1643 -    James AVERY (ca.1620-1700) married first, 10 November 1643, at Boston, Massachusetts to Joanna GREENSLADE.  He removed from Boston to Gloucester in 1643.  They had children: Hannah AVERY m. 1666 Ephraim MINER; James AVERY (1646-1728) m. 1669 Deborah, dau. of Edward STALLYON; Mary AVERY (1647/8-1708) m. 1668 Joseph MINER; Thomas AVERY (1651-1737) m. (1st) 1677 Hannah MINOR & m. (2nd) 1693 Mrs. Hannah (RAYMOND) BULKLEY; John AVERY m. 1675 Abigail, dau. of Samuel CHESEBROUGH; Rebecca AVERY m. 1678 William POTTS; Jonathan; Christopher; Samuel AVERY (1664-1723) m. Susannah PALMER; and Joanna AVERY. -   Avery, Elroy Mckendree, et.al., THE GROTON AVERY CLAN (1912); Sweet, Homer DeLois, THE AVERYS OF GROTON (1894), p.27, passim; Mead, Spencer P., YE HISTORIE of ye TOWN OF GREENWICH (1857 - reprinted 1911), pp.491-494, passim; Mather, Frederic G. THE REFUGEES of 1776  from LONG ISLAND to CONNECTICUT (1972 reprint of the 1913 edition), p.259; Wurts' MAGNA CHARTA, v.5, pp.1368; James H. Allyn, SWAMP YANKEE FROM MYSTIC (1980), p.22-29.

1644 -    Elder William BREWSTER died 10 April 1643/4, "age about 80 years," at Plymouth, Massachusetts.  He failed to make a will, and on 5 June 1644, his "onely two sonnes surviveing," Jonathan and Love BREWSTER, were appointed administrators of the estate.  His inventory taken by Capt. Miles STANDISH, John DONE and Thomas PRENCE in May 1644, showed that he was a man of wealth when he died.  The inventory included an extensive library of Latin and English works.  THE MAYFLOWER QUARTERLY, v.52, No.3, p.119-20; A complete list of William BREWSTER's inventory can be found in George Ernest Bowman's THE MAYFLOWER READER (1978), pp.153-168; THE MAYFLOWER DESCENDANT, v.III, No.1, pp.15-30.

1644 -    "The Governour, Deputy, Captain (John) MASON, Mr. STEELE, Mr. GAYLARD, and James BOOSEY" were appointed to treat with Mr. George FENWICK for the purchase of Saybrook, etc. in 1644.

1644 -    George DENISON was promoted to Captain in the cavalry in the Parliamentary army.  In the battle of Marston Moor, July 1644, he had fought bravely, maybe desperately, since he was taken prisoner.  He escaped, and a year later in the decisive engagement at Naesby, he was badly wounded.  To recover from his war wounds, he went to Cork, Ireland where his uncle, Edward DENISON, had been appointed Deputy Governor by the Parliament.  At Cork, he found lodging at the home of well-to-do John BORODELL, a merchant in leatherwares.  George DENISON, fell in love with his nurse, Ann BORODELL, daughter of his host.
1645 -    The Rehoboth town records describes an incident that occurred on the occasion of the removal of Joseph PECK to Seekonk (Rehoboth) in 1645.  "Mr. Joseph PECK and three others at Hingham, being about to remove to Seaconk, riding thither they sheltered themselves and their horses in an Indian wigwam, which by some occasion took fire, and although there were four in it and (they) labored to their utmost, burnt three of their horses to death, and all their goods, to the value of fifty pounds."  He was second on the tax list at Rehoboth.  His house was upon the plain in the northerly part of the "Ring of the Town," near the junction of the present Pawtucket with the old Boston and Bristol road, not far from the Boston and Providence railroad station (in 1911).  -  Cutter, William Richard, et.al., GENEALOGICAL AND FAMILY HISTORY OF THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT (N.Y. 1911), v.  , pp.51-52; James Kendall Hosmer, ed., WINTHROP'S JOURNAL "HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND" (1908), v.II, p.224.

1645 -    James AVERY of Gloucester took the oath of freeman on 1:11:1645.  Salem Quarterly Court Records.

1645 -    George DENISON married (2nd) 1644/5, in Ireland, to Ann BORODELL, dau. of John BORODELL of Cork, Ireland.  Her brother, John BORODELL, as was the custom of the time, settled upon her a dowry of 300 pounds, which her husband later, in 1662, acknowledged in a deed filed in Hartford.  They returned to Roxbury in New England, where they had children:  John Boradell DENISON (1646-1698) m. 1667 Phebe LAY; Ann DENISON (1649-1694) m. 1667 Gershom PALMER; Boradell DENISON (1651-1702) m. 1680 Samuel STANTON; George DENISON (1653-1711) m. Mercy GORHAM; William DENISON (1655-1715) m. 1686 Sarah (STANTON) PRENTICE; Margaret DENISON (1657-1741) m. James BROWN, Jr.; and Mercy DENISON (1659-1671); Wildley, Anna Chesebrough, GENEALOGY of the DESCENDANTS of WILLIAM CHESEBROUGH (1903), p.519-20; THE SECOND BOAT, v.3, p.63; v.4, p.104.

1645 -    Margaret (CHANDLER) DENISON, wife of William DENISON, died at Roxbury, Mass. on 3 February 1645.  She is buried in Old Eliot St. Cemetery, Roxbury.  The church record of Rev. John ELIOT, says of her, "It pleased God to work upon her heart and change it in her ancient years after she came to this capital, and joined to the church in the year 1632."   Ohler, Clara Paine, ANCESTORS and DESCENDANTS of CAPTAIN JOHN JAMES and ESTHER DENISON (1912), pp.148; Brown, Mrs. F. W., SOME OF THE ANCESTORS of OLIVER HAZARD PERRY (1911), Part I, pp.22-23.

1645 -    Thomas MINER received a grant of land for a house lot at Pequot (now New London), Connecticut.  He moved there with his family in 1646.

1645 -    Peter HOBART, in 1645, became involved in a fierce controversy with the civil authorities over a matter of the separation of Church and State, and general principles concerning the powers of Magistrates in reference to the rights of the people.
          Anthony EAMES had served the town of Hingham for seven or eight years, as Lieutenant of the town militia, and had been chosen to be their Captian.  His name was presented to the Council for approval, but before they could act, the townspeople took offense against EAMES; chose another man, Bozoun ALLEN; and presented his name for approval.  The Council refused to act, and directed that the officers should hold their present rank until the General Court could decide the matter.  But those friendly to ALLEN called a muster without informing Lieut. EAMES.  When he heard of it, he came to take command; but the friends of ALLEN refused to follow him.  An argument ensued, and EAMES adversaries had him called before the Church, on the charge of lying.
          Pastor Peter HOBART took the side of ALLEN with great earnestness.  He was in favor of having Lieut. EAMES cut off from Church membership immediately; but there was opposition to this, and a brief adjournment was taken.  Lieutenant EAMES immediately laid the matter before the Magistrates in Boston, and they sent a Constable to arrest the principal offenders, among whom were the three brothers of Pastor Peter HOBART.
          The Reverend HOBART rushed to Boston  "to expostulate with the Magistrates, saying that the complainants were but tale bearers, and greatly resenting it that his brothers should be sent for by a Constable, and using such high words that the Magistrates told him that only their respect for his Ministry saved him from being committed."  The HOBART brothers and some others were required to post bonds to appear at the next Court.
          The elders of the neighboring Churches tried to reconcile the differences, but were not successful.  According to one account, "Pastor HOBART being of a presbyterial spirit, did manage all affairs without the Church's advice, which produced divisions in the congregation."
          The General Court was scheduled to meet before the matter was to be taken up again by the Court of Assistants.  The HOBARTS (Rev. Peter HOBART's was first signer) and about ninety other citizens petitioned the General Court to hear the case.  The petition was to the effect that some of them had been arraigned for words spoken concerning the General Court, and their liberties, and the liberties of the Church; and they asked the Court to hear the cause.
          The Court examined the case, but after weeks of litigation, the Court had difficulties in agreeing on a just decision.  Meanwhile, Pastor HOBART, asked the Court to adjourn for a week to agreed to allow the Elders of the Church to try to effect a reconciliation.  After three days of arbitration at Hingham, the Elders found the Pastor and his friends greatly at fault.  Finally the General Court assessed fines upon Peter HOBART, Joshua HOBART, Edmund HOBART, Thomas HOBART, Edmund GOLD, John FOULSHAM, Daniel CUSHING, William HERSEY, Mr. ALLEN, and seventy-three other petitioners.
          On 18 March 1646, the Marshall of the Court went to Hingham to collect the fines, but he was resisted in his attempt.  The Governor and Council summoned the petitioners to appear before them.  Pastor HOBART refused to appear voluntarily, and he was place under arrest by the Constable and brought before the Court.  He demanded to know what offense he had committed and what law he had broken.  The Court of Assistants before which he was arraigned, informed him that "the matters charged amounted to a seditious practice and a derogation and contempt of authority."  He asked to see his accuser.  The Marshall was called, and gave his testimony.  Pastor HOBART asked for a jury trial, and to have the witnesses sworn in Court.
          The case ended, 2 June 1646, with the jury finding "that he seemed to be ill-affected toward this government, and that his speeches tended to sedition and contempt of authority."  Thereupon the Court, in a split decision, fined him 20 pounds and required him to post bonds in twice that amount for his good behavior until the next Court.
          See:  L. Smith Hobart, WILLIAM HOBART, HIS ANCESTORS AND DESCENDANTS (1886), pp.14-20; James Kendall Hosmer, ed., WINTHROP'S JOURNAL "HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND" (1908), v.II, pp.229-237,244-245, 264-266,289-290.

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1645 -    Hannah THOMPSON, dau. of Anthony and Catherine THOMPSON, was baptized 8 June 1645 at New Haven, Connecticut.  Savage's GENEALOGICAL DICTIONARY, v.4, p.189.

1645 -    Benjamin SHAPLEY (1645-1706), son of Nicholas and Ann SHAPLEIGH, was born in September 1645 at Charlestown, Massachusetts.  The SHAPLEYS came to New London in 1670 with the PICKETS.  Benjamin married, 10 April 1672, to Mary PICKET, daughter of John and Ruth (BREWSTER) PICKET.  James H. Allyn, SWAMP YANKEE FROM MYSTIC (1980), pp.15-16.

1645 -    Elizabeth (IBROOK) HOBART, first wife of Reverend Peter HOBART, died during the birth of her eleventh child, Gershom HOBART, at Hingham, Plymouth, Mass. in December 1645.

1646 -    Edmund HOBART (1574-1646) died 8 March 1645/6 at Hingham, Mass.  Rev. Peter HOBART called him "Father Hubbeard" in the death record in his Diary.

1646 -    John CHIPMAN married, 1646, Hope HOWLAND, second dau. of John and Elizabeth (TILLIE) HOWLAND of the Mayflower.  They had children: Elizabeth CHIPMAN m. Hosea JOYCE; Hope CHIPMAN m. (1) John HUCKINS and (2) Jonathan COBB; Lydia CHIPMAN m. John SARGENT; John; Hannah CHIPMAN m Thomas HUCKINS; Samuel CHIPMAN m. Sarah COBB; Ruth CHIPMAN m. Eleazer CROCKER; Bethia CHIPMAN m. Timothy DIMMOCK; Mercy CHIPMAN m. Nathan SKIFF; John CHIPMAN married (1) Mary SKIFFE, (2) Elizabeth (HANDLEY) POPE and (3) Hannah (HUXLEY) (GRIFFIN) CASE; and Desire CHIPMAN m. Melatiah BOURNE.  Mardenna J. Hunter, THE FAMILY OF JOHN HOWLAND, MAYFLOWER PASSENGER - FIVE GENERATIONS (1970), pp.64-83.

1646 -    Rev. Peter HOBART married second, 3 July 1646, to Rebecca PECK (1620-1692), dau. of Joseph and Rebecca (CLARK) PECK.  They had children:  Japhet HOBART; Nehemiah HOBART (1648-1712) m. Sarah JACKSON; David HOBART (b.1651) m. (1) Joan QUINCY and (2) Sarah JOYCE; Rebecca HOBART (1654-1727) married 1679 Daniel MASON; Abigail HOBART (1656-1683) unmarried; Lydia HOBART (1659-1732) m. 1690 Thomas LINCOLN; and Hezekiah (1661-1662).

1646 -    Humphrey GRIFFIN contributed a day's work and voluntary carting toward the building of the east bridge at Ipswich in 1646.

1646 -    In June 1646, just short of three years after he had abruptly fled from Roxbury, George DENISON returned with his new wife, Ann.  He received a hero's welcome (particularily by the young men of the town who viewed him as a hero home from the wars.)   George and Ann (BORODELL) DENISON collected little Sarah and Hannah from the girl's grandmother THOMPSON, and on 14 July 1646, their own first child, John Borodell DENISON was born.

1646 -    In Volume I of the GLOUCESTER TOWN BOOK records:  "Upon the fourth day of the tenth month 1646, Thomas WAKELEY, Hugh CALKINS, Will VINSON, John COLLINS, and Christopher AVERY ere chosen by the Towne for ordering all Towne affairs."  -  Roberts, Eloise M., SOME COLONIAL FAMILIES - AVERY, BREWSTER, MILLS, MORGAN, SMITH, STARR, STEWART, TRACY (1926), p.3.

1647 -    On 31 (1) 1647, Elizabeth ANDREWS, widow of Robert ANDREWS, had a law suit against her son-in-law, Humphrey GRIFING, husband of her daughter Elizabeth. -   COLLECTIONS of the NEW YORK GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY, vol.VI, Part II, "Register of Pedigrees", v.II, p.134-5.

1647 -    Mannasah MINER, son of Thomas and Grace (PALMER) MINER, was born 28 April 1647, and was the first white male child born in New London.

1647 -    John MASON sold his lot and house at Hingham (Windsor), Massachusetts, 5 (5) 1647.

1647 -    Winthrop's Journal record dated 30 May 1647: "Captain WELDE of Roxbury being dead, the young men of the town agreed together to choose one George DENISON, a young soldier come lately out of the wars in England, which the ancient and chief men of the town understanding, they came together at the time appointed, and chose one Mr. PRICHARD, a godly man and one of the chief in the town, passing by their lieutenant, fearing least the young DENISON would have carried it from him, whereupon much discontent and murmuring arose in the town.  The young men were over strongly bent to have their will, although their election was void in law, (George DENISON not being then a freeman,) and the ancient men over-voted them above twenty, and the lieutenant was discontented because he was neglected, etc.  The cause coming to the court, and all parties being heard, Mr. PRICHARD was allowed, and the young men were pacified, and the lieutenant."  - James Kendall Hosmer, ed., WINTHROP'S JOURNAL "HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND" (1908), v.II, pp.323-324.
          (George DENNISON had imbibed in Cromwell's army, ideas and a spirit which did not commend him to the Roxbury brethren, whose minister had been the strict Thomas WELDE, but he was a brave and active soldier, as was proved in Philip's War.)  - Ibid., p.323n

1647 -    John MASON resided in Saybrook in 1647, and was chosen one of the two magistrates, to whom was entrusted the government of the town.  Soon after his removal thither, "in the depth of winter, in a very tempestuous night, the fort at Saybrook was set on fire, and all the buildings within the palisade, with all the goods &c., were burnt down; Captain Mason, his wife, and children, hardly saved."  - Winthrop's HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND, an. 1647.

1647 -    John MASON served as a commissioner to the Congress of the United Colonies in 1647, 1654 to 1657, and 1661.

1647 -    Christopher AVERY was sworn constable of Gloucester, 28th day, 10th month, 1647.  Essex County Court Records.

1647 -    On 4 August 1647, "there was a great marriage to be solomnized at Boston.  The bridegroom being of Hingham, Mr. HUBBARD's church, he was procured to preach, and came to Boston to that end.  But the magistrates, hearing of it, sent to him to forbear.  The reasons were, (1) for that his spirit had been discovered to be averse to our ecclesiastical and civil government, and he was a bold man, and would speak his mind, (2) we were not willing to bring in the English custom of mnisters performing the solemnity of marriage, which sermons at such times might induce, but if any ministers were present, and would bestow a word of exhortation, etc., it was permitted."  - James Kendall Hosmer, ed., WINTHROP'S JOURNAL "HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND" (1908), v.II, p.330.

1648 -    On 4 January 1648, Humphrey GRIFFING sold property in Ipswich to John BRUNHAM, who on the same date sold it to Anthony POTTER.

1648 -    In the will of Anthony THOMPSON (1612-1648) he mentions his family and brothers, John and William.

1648 -    Anthony THOMPSON (1612-1648) died, September 1648, at New Haven, Connecticut.

1648 -    Peter HOBART' salary, as pastor of the Church at Hingham, was seventy pounds for the years 1648-1650.  In the year 1651, the town voted that he should have "five score pounds a year," and that appears to have been his regular salary for many years thereafter.  L. Smith Hobart, WILLIAM HOBART, HIS ANCESTORS AND DESCENDANTS (1886), pp.13-14.

1649 -    Anna MINER, dau. of Thomas and Grace (PALMER) MINER was born 28 Apr. 1649 and died 13 August 1652.  She was the first death in the settlement at Pequot.

1649 -    Thomas STANTON was appointed the official Connecticut Indian Interpreter on 25 January 1649.  His yearly salary was set at $25, with the right to erect a trading house on the Pawcatuck River, and 6 acres of planting gound, and a monopoly of trade with the Indians for three years.
           John WINTHROP, Jr., in February 1649, with Thomas STANTON as interpreter, met with NINIGRET, Narragansett sachem at Wequatucket for a conference on trade and boundaries. - William Haynes, STONINGTON CHRONOLOGY (1976), pp.11, passim.

          "The Narragansett and Niantic Indians broke their pledge of peace at the first opportunity.  They failed to furnish the wampum they had agreed to pay, and hired bands of Pocomtocks and Mohawks to assist them in their war of extermination agaist the Mohegans.  The governor sent Thomas STANTON to Pocomtock, at the head of a deputation that found the Indians armed, and waiting for their Mohawk allies.  The stern threats of STANTON, that the English would avenge any wrong that UNCAS suffered, had the desired effect; and, the Mohawks failed to come, the Narragansetts gave up these plans  of war, although they injured and wontonly destroyed a large amount of property in Rhode Island." - Elias B. Sanford's A HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT (1888), p.59.

1649 -    The first settler of Stonington, Connecticut, William CHESEBROUGH, a gunsmith, came in the spring of 1649, overland from Rehobeth in Plymouth where he had been accused (falsely, he always maintained) of selling firearms to the Indians.  He came with his wife, Anna STEVENSON, and their sons, Saml., age 22; Nathl., 19; John, 17; Elisha, 12; and Jos., 9.  He picked a site on a knoll on the west bank at the head of Wequetequock Cove where there was a well sheltered landing place and open meadows for grazing and cultivation.  But the authorities suspected he planned illicit trade in rum and firearms with the Indians, so on 7 November 1649, the constable at Pequot (New London) informed him that "the Goverm't of Connecticutt doth disslike and distastes the way hee is in and trade he doth among the Indians; and they doe require him to desiste therefrom," ordering him to report to Major John MASON at Saybrook, or some other magistrate, and give an account of himself and his lonely settlement.
           East of CHESEBROUGH, on the Pawcatuck (just across the river from present Rhode Island), Thomas STANTON built his Indian trading post.  A monopoly of trade in furs with the Indians was sort of bonus to the salary of $25 a year paid by the Connecticut colony for his services as official interpreter.
          Walter PALMER, a six-foot giant, 68 years old, settled close beside his friend CHESEBROUGH, and PALMER's son-in-law, Thomas MINER, took up land four miles westward at Quiambaug COVE.
          George DENISON came in 1654 with his family and located a little north of MINER on a rocky knoll overlooking a great meadow with a glimpse of the ocean beyond.  He erected a little lean-to and surrounded it with a stout stockade.
          - Williams Haynes, CAPTAIN GEORGE and LADY ANN (1963); William Haynes, STONINGTON CHRONOLOGY (1976), p.11, passim; James H. Allyn, SWAMP YANKEE FROM MYSTIC (1980), pp.30-32.

1649 -    James AVERY was grand-juryman from Gloucester, in 1649 and 1650.

1649 -    Jonathan BREWSTER removed to Poquetannock near New London, where he bought land from the Indian Sachem, UNCAS.  Jonathan BREWSTER was admitted as an inhabitant of New London, 25 Feb. 1649/50.  He was clerck of the town of Pequot (New London) in September 1649; deputy to the General Court from the Colony of Connecticut 1650, 1655-1658; and was Asst. deputy in 1657.  See THE MAYFLOWER QUARTERLY, v.52, No.3, pp.118-120.
 

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