1650 -    The General Court appointed Thomas STANTON "interpreter to the elders," who required him to preach the gospel to the Indians at least twice a year.

1650 -    Thomas STANTON, being licensed by the General Court, established a trading house in Stonington, at the Rock on the west bank of the Pawcatuck River, and was granted a house lot of 6 acres in New London, which he never occupied, his family remaining in Hartford.
          William CHESEBROUGH was already there; and they were the first two settlers in the town called Pawcatuck, Southerton, Mystic, etc. until it became finally and permanently the town of Stonington, Connecticut.     Mr. STANTON's wife and children resided in New London after 1650, until their residence was permanently fixed on the Pawcatuck.  His trading house prospered; he became a very extensive landholder.  As he was endowed with very superior mental qualities, was well educated and had great force of character, he became naturally a chief personage in that part of the colony.  -  Baldwin, John D., THOMAS STANTON of STONINGTON, CONN. (1882), pp.5-6.

1650 -    On 19 March 1650, William CHESEBROUGH apeared before the General Court in Hartford which questioned his settling at Wequetequock "in that by his calling (gunsmith) hee was fitted, and by his solitary living advantaged, to carry on a mischievous trade with the Indians ... extremely prejudiciall to the bublique safety ... so to withdraw from all publique ordnances and Xtian society."  To which he replied that he had sold his tols "thereby making himself incapable of repairing any gun locks" and that he hoped others would join him.  He was required to post a bond that others would join his settlement by September next.
          In August 1650, Joseph, 9 year old son of William CHESEBROUGH, was mowing in the marsh and was cut with the scythe and bled to death; his was the first burial in Wequetequock Cemetery.
          On 15 November 1650, William CHESBROUGH was given a house lot in New London beside Close Cove, which he never occupied and later sold. - Williams Haynes, STONINGTON CHRONOLOGY (1976), p.11, passim.

1650 -    Thomas MINER and Jonathan BREWSTER were appointed in 1650 as deputies to the General Court at Hartford from Pequot.

1650 -    James AVERY removed from Gloucester, Mass. to Pequot (New London), Connecticut, where on 19 October 1650 he received a grant of land.

1650 -    Rev. Richard BLINNMAN and the so called "Welsh party" from Gloucester, Mass., came to New London, Conn., and were granted house lots on Cape Ann Lane (Jefferson St.).  BlINNMAN was named pastor of the Church at New London and granted a salary of 60 pounds per year.   He married Mary THOMPSON, born 14 November 1619, daughter of John and Alice (FREEMAN) THOMPSON.

1650 -    On 27 Nov. 1650, Mr. STEPHENS and Christopher AVERY were at a Gloucester Town meeting chosen by "ye Towne to supply ye places which were voyd by ye death of Walter TYBOTT and departure of Mr. HOUGH."

1650 -    Jonathan BREWSTER settled on land granted to him as follows:  "25 April 1650, I, UNQUAS, Sachem of Mauhekon, doe give freely unto Jonathan BREWSTER of Pequett, a tract of land, being a plaine of arable land, bounded on the sourth side with a great Coave called Poccatannocke, on the north with old Poccatuck path that goes to the Trading Coave, --- etc.  For and in consideration thereof, the said Jonathan BREWSTER binds himself and his heirs to keep a house for trading goods with the Indians."  THE MAYFLOWER QUARTERLY, v.52, No.2, pp.72-83; James H. Allyn, SWAMP YANKEE FROM MYSTIC (1980), pp.18-19.

1651 -    John PICKET came from Salem, Mass.to New London about 1647 and on 14 March 1651 he married Ruth BREWSTER, daughter of Jonathan and Lucretia (OLDHAM) BREWSTER.  In 1653 he bought from UNCAS about 700 acres of land in the present town of Ledyard, Connecticut.  John and Ruth (BREWSTER) PICKET had had children:  Mary PICKETT m.1672 Benjamin SHAPELY; Ruth PICKET m. Rev. Moses NOYES; William; John; Adam PICKETT m.1680 Hannah, dau. of Daniel WETHERELL; and Mercy PICKETT m. (1) Samuel FOSDICK and (2) John ARNOLD.  All three of their sons were lost at sea, and PICKET himself was lost in a voyage to Barbadoes in 1667.  His widow married Charles HILL. -  James H. Allyn, SWAMP YANKEE FROM MYSTIC (1980), pp.15-16.

1651 -    William CHESEBROUGH went to Hartford in March 1651 to petition for an extension of time on his bond.  The extension was reluctantly granted.  Since his house was beyond the bounds of New London the boundaries were extended eastward to the Pawcatuck so as to bring him within legal jurisdiction.

1651 -    Thomas AVERY (1651-1736), son of James and Joanna (GREENSLADE) AVERY, was born 6 May 1651, at New London, Connecticut.  He married first, 1677, Hannah MINER and he married second, 1693, to Mrs Hannah (RAYMOND) BULKLEY.

1651 -    Thomas STANTON was chosen deputy magistrate by the General Court on 15 May 1651.

1651 -    The will of Robert PECK of Hingham, co. Norfolk, England was dated 24 July 1651 and proved 10 April 1658.  He had been of Hingham, Mass., and had returned to England where he died.  The will contains this clause:  "I give to the children of Ann MASON my daughter wife of captain John MASON of Seabrooke on the river connecticut in new England the sume of Forty pounds to be divided equally unto them and to be sent to my sonne John MASON to dispose of it for their use within 2 years after my death." -  Peck, Ira B., DESCENDANTS OF JOSEPH PECK (1868), p.27; AMERICAN GENEALOGIST, Vol.26, pp.84-87,94-95.

1651 -    On 28 August 1651, Christopher AVERY was chosen to be a measurer to lay out Lottes granted by the townesmen of Gloucester, Mass.

1651 -    "John MASON was the chief military officer for Connecticut.  He was born in England and fought in the Low Countries against the Spaniards along with Myles STANDISH and Lion GARDINER.  He came to Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1632 and spent his life helping to establish new settlements in southern New England."
          The first land grant in the Mystic, Connecticut area was given, 11 September 1651, to Captain John MASON as reward for his military victory.  MASON received one hundred acres on the mainland and Chippechauge Island (now known as Mason's Island) at the mouth of the Thames River.  John MASON never lived on his island.  He gave this land to his sons, Samuel MASON and Daniel MASON, after he founded Norwich in 1659.
          By 18 November 1651, MASON failed to persuade a remnant of defeated Pequots to remove from land along the Mystic, close to his island, but he extracted a promise that they would hold the English blameless of damage to their crops by English cattle, but be responsible for damage of English corn by theirs.
          On 18 November 1651, Captain George DENISON of Roxbury, Massachusetts received a six acre house lot on Hempstead St. in New London, Connecticut; and in December 1652, DENISON was granted two hundred acres just north of John MASON's land, with the Pequot-Sepos Brook as its southern boundary.
          Eleanor B. READ, MYSTIC MEMORIES (1980), p.3-4; Williams Haynes, STONINGTON CHRONOLOGY (1976), p.11, passim; Allyn, James H., MAJOR JOHN MASON'S GREAT ISLAND (1976), p.9-11.

1651 -    George DENISON removed from Roxbury, Massachusetts to New London, Conn. in 1651.  George DENISON's hurt feelings at losing the election at Roxbury, were soon salved at New London where he was promptly named captain of the Train Band.  He was allotted a choice house lot of six acres on what is now Hempstead Street.  He also was granted twenty acres of marshland for grazing is cattle.

1651 -    Rev. Peter HOBART recorded in his diary, "1651, Nov. 14 -- Mr. IBROOK dyed."  (This was Richard IBROOK, his father-in-law by his first marriage to Elizabeth IBROOK.)   Davis, Walter Goodwin, THE ANCESTRY OF ANNIS SPEAR (1945), pp.55-56.

Back to New London County Research

1652 -    In March 1652, Thomas STANTON received 500 acres on the river, adjoining his home lot.

1652 -    Daniel MASON (1652-1736), son of John and Anne (PECK) MASON, was born in April 1652.  Daniel MASON married first to Margaret DENISON, and he married second to Rebecca HOBART.

1652 -    Christopher AVERY, William STEPHENS, Robert TUCKER, Robert ELWELL, and George INGERSOLL were chosen for "ordering of the Towne affairs," in 1652.   Gloucester Town Records.

1652 -    In 1652, Thomas MINER sold his house in New London, which was one of the largest and best in the town, and removed with his family to land lying east of Wequetoquock Cove at Quambaug, near Stonington, Connecticut.  This land was adjacent to that of Major John MASON.

1652 -    The title of William CHESEBROUGH to all land between Wadawanuck Point and Wequetoquock Cove was confirmed by the General Court at New London in 1652.

          On 30 June 1652, Connecticut granted 300 acres east of William CHESEBOUGH's to Governor John HAYNES.  New London granted Sixpenny Island in Mystic River to Robert HEMPSTEAD, John GALLUP, and John STEBBINS; Ram Island to John WINTHROP, Jr., and "little bushy island over against Capt. MASON's" to Thomas MINER. - Williams Haynes, STONINGTON CHRONOLOGY (1976), p.12, passim; Richard Anson Wheeler, HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF STONINGTON (Reprinted 1977), p.4.

1652 -    At the Court in Hartford, 30 June 1652, Doctor Thomas LORD was granted the first medical license in the New England Colonies, and the fees that he could charge were set by law:
          "Thomas Lord, having engaged to this Courte to continue his aboade in Hartford for the next ensuing yeare, and to improve his best skill amongst the inhabitants of the Townes upon the River within this jurisdiction both for setting of bones and otherwise, as at all times, occasions and necessities may or shall require; This Courte doth grant that he shall bee paid by the Countey the sum of fifteene pounds for the said ensuing yeare, and they doe declare that for every visit or journey that he shall make, being sent for to any house in Hartford, twelve pence is reasonable; to any house in Wyndsor, five shillings; to any house in Wethersfield, three shillings; to any house in Farmington, six shillings; to any house in Mattabeseck, eight shillings; (he having promised that he will require no more,) and that he shall bee freed for the time aforesaid from watching, warding and training; but not from finding armes, according to lawe."  Stanton, William A., THOMAS STANTON, OF CONNECTICUT, and HIS DESCENDANTS (1891), p.12.

1652 -    In July 1652 there was an Indian alarm issued by Captain DENISON.  The meetinghouse and two homes were ordered to be fortified, and he issued instructions to the settlers in case of attack on New London.

          In August 1652, "on the opposite side of Wequetoquock Cove from his friend William CHESEBROUGH, Thomas MINER of New London, formerly of Hingham, Mass., built a house for his father-in-law, Walter PALMER, unwittingly on the land of Governor HAYNES.  Walter PALMER patriarch of the Early Stonington settlers, 68 years old, had come to America in 1628, and had been prominent in the establishment of Boston, Charlestown and Rehoboth where he knew CHESEBROUGH.  PALMER was a vigorous giant, 6 foot, 5 inches tall, and lived 8 years at Wequetoquock.
          "After transferring the house at Wequetequock to his father-in-law, Walter PALMER, Thomas MINER, in 1653, bought land at Quiambaug from Cary LATHAM of New London where he built himself a new house.  Thomas MINER and his wife, Grace PALMER, brought to Quiambaug 6 sons and 1 daughter: John, age 16; Clement, 14; Thomas, Jr, 12; Epraim, 10; Joseph, 8; Manasseh, 5; and Ann,3."  - Williams Haynes, STONINGTON CHRONOLOGY (1976), p.12, passim.

1652 -    Roger WILLIAMS secured a charter for the colony of Rhode Island in 1652.

1652      In December 1652, Captain George DENISON was granted two hundred acres just north and east of John MASON's land, with the Pequot-Sepos Brook as its southern boundary.  DENISON'S brother-in-law, Rev. Richard BLINNMAN (he married Mary THOMPSON), was granted 260 acres which he later sold to his brother-in-law, Thomas PARK (he married Dorothy THOMPSON).

1652  -   Peter HARRIS, son of Walter HARRIS, removed from Weymouth, Mass to Pequot (New London), Conn., in 1652, and was soon after chosen to keep an ordinary.

1652 -    Because Jonathan BREWSTER had established an Indian Trading House without the permission of the local authorities, he was censured, but his deed with UNCAS was confirmed by the town of New London on 30 Nov. 1652.  THE MAYFLOWER QUARTERLY, v.52, No.2, pp.72-83.

1653 -    Anthony COPP (1576-1654) of Honely in Warwickshire, England made his will dated 16 January 1653 in which he left legacies to:  wife, Denny; "my brother William COPP who is in New England"; my brother Walter COPP; kinswoman Hannah EDWARDS, kinsman Thomas COPP; kinsman Richard HEATH for the use of his children; kinsman Richard TIPPIN, for the use of his children which he hath by my kinswoman Elizabeth, his wife; kinsman John WARD; my cousin Samuel COPPS; and Mary Busbie for her children.  His brother, Walter COPP, was named executor; and cousin Samuel COPP, Robert GARDNER and Thomas BAKEN were to be overseers.  -  NEW YORK GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY RECORD (Oct. 1931), v.62, pp.338-354; Water's GLEANINGS, p.315; Holman, Mary Lovering, ANCESTRY OF CHARLES STINSON PILLSBURY and JOHN SARGENT PILLSBURY, p.681.

1653 -    William DENISON (1571-1653/4) was buried on 25 January 1653 at Old Eliot St. Cemetery, Roxbury, Massachusetts.

1653 -    Christopher AVERY and John COLLINS "measure the meeting house plane", 3 day, 2 mo., 1653 at Gloucester, Massachusetts.  Gloucester Town Records.

1653 -    In March 1653, NINIGRET, who had spent the winter in Manhattan as a guest of the Dutch, returned to Narrangansett in a Dutch sloop with arms and ammunition.  The Stonington settlers were fearful of an alliance of the Dutch and the Indians, and on 19 April 1653, the United Colonies voted to raise an army of 500 with Major John MASON as commander.

1653 -    On 25 April 1653, William CHESBROUGH, Capt. George DENISON, Obadiah BRUEN and Jonathan BREWSTER drew up the first New London Company grand list --- total 16,670 pounds.  - Williams Haynes, STONINGTON CHRONOLOGY (1976), p.12.

          On 18 May 1653, William CHESEBROUGH was elected representative to the Connecticut General Court and he served five terms to 1657.

1653 -    On 15 July 1653, Walter PALMER bought from Governor HAYNES the land on which his house was built; and PALMER moved into the house built by his son-in-law, Thomas MINER.  PALMER brought with him his second wife, Rebecca SHORT, and his sons Elihu, age 17; Nehemiah, 15; Moses, 13; Benjamin, 11; Gershom, 9; and two older daughters, Elizabeth and Hannah.

1653 -    In September 1653, Robert PARK sold 96 acres on the west Bank of Mystic River to George DENISON.  (George DENISON,s first mother-in-law, Alice (FREEMAN) THOMPSON had married second to Robert PARK.)

1653  -   Gabriel HARRIS, son of Peter HARRIS, married 3 March 1653/54, at Guildford, Conn., to Elizabeth ABBOT.  They had children:  Walter; Elizabeth m. Daniel RAYMOND; Thomas m. Mary WITHERELL; Peter m. Elizabeth MANWARING; John; Samuel m. Elizabeth GIBSON; Mary HARRIS (1667-1724) m. 1st Ebenezer HUBBELL and m. 2nd Ebenezer GRIFFIN; James HARRIS; and Joseph HARRIS m. 1st Mary STEVENS and m. 2nd Lydia POST.  NEW ENGLAND HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL REGISTER, Vol.8, p.172.

1653 -    Thomas STANTON, in 1653, was appointed with Rev. Mr. PIERSON, of New Haven, to prepare a catechism in the Narragansett or Pequot language for the commissioners of the United Colonies, but Mr. PIERSON's removal prevented PIERSON's participation.  STANTON completed the job, and the Catechism was printed in 1658.  The only known copy with the original title-page is in the New York Public Library.  -  Lord, Kenneth, GENEALOGY of the DESCENDANTS of THOMAS LORD (1946), pp.55-60.

1653 -    Clement TOPLIFF was a herdsman in 1653.  He contracted with the town of Dorchester to care for the Cattle of the town.  Dorchester Town Records, pp.23,61,62,69; Bolton, Mrs. Ethel Stanwood, CLEMENT TOPLIFF AND HIS DESCENDANTS (1906), pp.3-9,passim.

 

1654 -    Rebecca HOBART (1654-1727), dau. of Rev. Peter and Rebecca (PECK) HOBART, was bapt. 9 April 1654 at Hingham, Plymouth County, Massachusetts.  She married 10 Oct. 1679 to Daniel MASON.  She died 8 April 1727.  L. Smith Hobart, WILLIAM HOBART, HIS ANCESTORS AND DESCENDANTS (1886), p.51; Dorothy M. Titus, HOBART FAMILY IN AMERICA (1943), p.7.

1654 -    Robert PARK, in 1654, sold his land at New London to James ROGERS and settled above John GALLUP on the east side of the Mystic River on land purchased from his brother-in-law, Rev. Richard BLINNMAN. -  Williams Haynes, STONINGTON CHRONOLOGY (1976), p.12.

1654 -    George DENISON came to Pequotsepos (Stonington) from New London in 1654 with his wife, Ann (BORODELL) DENISON, and his children:  Sarah, age 13; Hannah, 11; (daughters of his first wife); John, 8; Ann, 5; Borodell, 3; and the infant George, Jr.  They located a little north of Thomas 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.  Haynes, Williams, CAPTAIN GEORGE and LADY ANN (1963); Williams Haynes, STONINGTON CHRONOLOGY (1976), p.12; Richard Anson Wheeler, HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF STONINGTON (Reprinted 1977), p.5.

1654 -    George DENISON was a deputy of the General Court from Stonington in the years 1654, 1656, 1671, 1674, 1675, 1678, 1682-87, 1689, 1693, and 1694.

1654 -    In August 1654, NINIGRET attacked the friendly Long Island Indians, and Major John MASON with the Connecticut Militia was sent to their aid.
          "Prior to 1654 the highest military office in the colony of Connecticut was captain, and John MASON of Pequot fame was the only one who bore this title.  When in after-years he visited the militia of the different towns, bearing the insignia of his rank as major, he was gazed at by the boys and girls of the settlement with eyes of wide wonder, as a man to be reverenced, but not approached." - Elias B. Sanford's A HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT (1888), p.123.

1654 -   On 1 September 1654, the settlers of Stonington first petitioned the General Court for the formation of a separate town and church.  The Stonington settlers, 15 miles from New London with 2 big rivers to cross, could hardly attend church and they objected to paying taxes to support the Rev. Mr. BLINNMAN.  This was the beginning of the famous dispute over jurisdiction of the land between the Mystic and Pawcatuck Rivers.

1654 -    Thomas MINER's son John, on 14 September 1654, was named by the General Council to go to Hartford at public expense to be trained as a missionary to the Indians. -   Williams Haynes, STONINGTON CHRONOLOGY (1976), p.12.

1654 -    John STANTON (1641-1713) was a pupil of the famous old school teacher of the Puritans, Elijah CORLET.  In 1654 he and John MINER, son of Thomas MINER, were selected by the Court of Commissioners to be educated as Indian interpreters and teachers of the Gospel to the Indians.  Both young men, however, ultimately left their studies, and devoted themselves to other pursuits.

1654 -    On 10 October 1654, under Major John MASON, 40 horsemen and 270 infantry redezvoused at Thomas STANTON's trading post on the Pawcatuck for an expedition to impress  NINIGRET who was threatening war on UNCAS. -  Williams Haynes, STONINGTON CHRONOLOGY (1976), p.13.

1654 -    Christopher AVERY, on 19 October 1654, was relieved of a fine imposed on him for living apart from his wife (who remained in England), he "having used means to procure his wife hither."  Christopher AVERY was chosen with others to take care of the affairs of the town of Gloucester (Salem), Massachusetts.

1654  -   Peter HARRIS died 6 November 1654 at New London, Conn, leaving wife Mary and two sons, Gabriel and Thomas.

1655  -   Thomas HARRIS, son of Peter HARRIS, died at sea in 1655.

1655 -    Major John MASON's land on the mainland near his island was laid out by Capt. George DENISON, Robert HEMPSTEAD, and Thomas MINER on 8 February 1655.

1655 -    Christopher AVERY left Gloucester for Boston, Mass. where, 30 May 1655, he was admitted as an inhabitant.

1655 -    George DENISON sold his house to John CHENNERY of Boston in 1655.

1655 -    James AVERY was Lieut. of Train Band, New London, 1655.  He acquired large tracts of land at Groton, Conn.; and in 1656, "from timbers from the first New London church" he built the homestead, "Hive of the Averys" at the head of Poquonock Plain, in the present town of Groton, a mile and a half from the River Thames..  AMERICAN ANCESTRY, p.3; Williams Haynes, STONINGTON CHRONOLOGY (1976), p.13.

1655 -    Hannah MINER, daughter of Thomas and Grace (PALMER) MINER, was born 15 September 1655, at Stonington, Connecticut.  She married, 22 Oct 1677, to Thomas AVERY.

1656  -   Mary HARRIS, widow of Peter HARRIS, died 24 January 1656 at New London, Conn.

1656 -    At the request of the General Court, John MASON wrote his eye witness account of the HISTORY OF THE PEQUOT WARS.  It was first published at Boston in 1736; and reprinted in the MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS, 2nd series, v.VIII, pp.120-153, and again reprinted by University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, Michigan (1966).  In his preface he states that he records the facts of the history, "that some small glimmering may be left to posterity, what difficulties and obstructions their forefathers met with, in their first settling these desert parts of America; how God was pleased to prove them, and how, by His wise providence, He ordered and disposed all their occasions and affairs for them, in regard to both their civils and ecclesiasticals."

1656 -    On 23 March 1656, Thomas MINER paid 12s. 3d. for his county taxes; and on 23 May 1656, he paid 1 firkin of butter and 12d. worth of wampum for his 1 year's due to the minister, Mr. BLINNMAN at New London.

1656 -    The town of Ipswich, Mass. gave Humphrey GRIFFING permission to erect a "shambles" or slaughter-house, twenty feet square, near the pound in 1655, and in 1657 he was "a common packer of beef and pork."  The meat was salted and packed in barrels.

          In 1656, when Humphrey GRIFFING fell off his horse and used "evil words, --- his breath scenting much of strong liquors," as the witnesses testified, he was found "not drunk but admonished as to drinking!"   He was fined in 1656 for unloading barley before sundown, thus profaning the Sabbath. -   Davis, Walter Goodwin, THE ANCESTRY OF ANNIS SPEAR (1945), pp.145-148.

1656 -    It is likely that Jonathan BREWSTER was not entirely happy with life in New England.  He probably corresponded with his brother, Edward, in England, and Jonathan, in a letter dated 1 Sept. 1656, to his sister-in-law, Sarah, widow of Love BREWSTER, stated that he and his whole family "resolved for old England," and the following year, two of Jonathan BREWSTER's sons, William and Jonathan, did indeed go to England.

1656 -    After attacking the Podunks near Hartford, UNCAS, the Mohegan sachem, in August 1656, was reprimanded by the General Court and ordered not to make war again.

1657 -    "1 mo. 5/6, 1657 Christopher AVERY sold to Elias PARKMAN" 4 poles of grund and "2 acres of land in fisherman's field and 2 acres of land lying at the head of the houselotts in the head of the harbour," and to Nicholas MARSHALL be sold "my house and land lying in Gloucester near Thomas SKELLIANS containing in marsh 11 or 12 more or less with the house and land belonging to it."

1657 -    On 16 January 1657, Thomas MINER's farm at Taugwonk was laid out:  "8 score poles along the Pequot path north of CHESEBROUGH's land."

1657 -    The jurisdictional dispute between Connecticut and Massachusetts aroused strong feelings in the town of Stonington in 1657.  Thomas MINER refused to join in the petition to be annexed to the Massachusetts Bay Colony.  See Allyn, James H., MAJOR JOHN MASON'S GREAT ISLAND (1976), pp.11-12.

1657 -    The first religious service in Stonington was held, 22 March 1657, at Walter PALMER's in Wequetequock by the Reverend William THOMPSON, brother-in-law of Captain George DENISON.  THOMPSON was a missionary sent from Boston to the Pequot Indians. -  Williams Haynes, STONINGTON CHRONOLOGY (1976), p.13.

1657 -    When WINTHROP was appointed Governor of Connecticut in 1657, Jonathan BREWSTER was named the Governor's assistant for New London.  James H. Allyn, SWAMP YANKEE FROM MYSTIC (1980), pp.18-19.

1657 -    At the General Court at New London, 9 May 1657, Captain George DENISON "doth acknowledge ... that hee spake corruptly in saying that Mr BLINNMAN did preach for Pawcatuck and Mystik being a town before hee sold his land at Mystik," and the Court ordered that the inhabitants of Mystic continue to pay Mr. BLINNMAN his dues. -  Williams Haynes, STONINGTON CHRONOLOGY (1976), p.13.
          (Note:  The Rev. Richard BLINNMAN was a brother-in-law to George DENISON, having married Mary THOMPSON, sister of Bridget THOMPSON and daughter of John and Alice THOMPSON.)

1657 -    On 9 May 1657, the second petition for a separate town at Stonington was refused and Governor WINTHROP, Major John MASON, Capt. GULLICK, TALCOTT and ALLYN appointed a committee to meet in New London to "issue matters between the inhabitants of Mystik & Pawcatuck & Pequett" (New London). -  Williams Haynes, STONINGTON CHRONOLOGY (1976), p.13.

1657 -    On 15 May 1657, Major John MASON was commissioned to go to Southampton, L.I., with 19 men to help protect the settlers there against Ninigret and the Narragansetts. -  Conn. Colonial Records, v.1, p.299; Mather, Frederic G. THE REFUGEES of 1776  from LONG ISLAND to CONNECTICUT (1972 reprint of the 1913 edition), p.162.

1657 -    Thomas STANTON, in 1657, sold his house lot in New London to George TONGUE who opened the first inn there.  STANTON's family (his wife Hannah LORD and their children, Thomas, Jr., age 19; John, 16; Mary, 14; Hannah, 13; Joseph, 11; Daniel, 9; Dorothy, 6; Robert 4; Sarah 2; and the infant Samuel) joined him in his house near the trading post on the Pawcatuck River. -  Williams Haynes, STONINGTON CHRONOLOGY (1976), p.13.

1657 -    In June 1657, UNCAS, sachem of the Mohegans, fled to a fort below Norwich on the Thames River after his tribe was attacked by the Narragansetts.  Lt. James AVERY, Mr. BREWSTER, Richard HAUGHTON, Samuel LOTHROP and other English from Lyme and New London went to his rescue and drove the Narragansetts away.  Roberts, Eloise M., SOME COLONIAL FAMILIES (1926), p.3-9.

 

1657 -    Thomas STANTON, on 12 August 1657, was ordered to appear before the Court in Hartford to explain his criticism of the colony's treatment of UNCAS. -  Williams Haynes, STONINGTON CHRONOLOGY (1976), p.13.

1657 -    The isolation of the early residents of Stonington made it difficult or impossible for them to attend the nearest church at New London.  They had twice petitioned the General Court at Hartford for the right to establish their own church.  Four times they were blankly refused.  They were outraged when they were ordered to pay tithes for the support of the New London church and its pastor.  The first spark of "taxation without representation" kindled brightly.
          The Stonington settlers met at Thomas MINER's, near the center of their scattered settlement, and planned their strategy.  George DENISON offered a bold but clever plan.  "Since it is exceedingly unlikely that our cause at Hartford shall come to a happy issue, let us address our petition to the General Court at Boston."
          Massachusetts claimed all the territory east of the Thames "by right of conquest" in the Pequot War.  It was a thin claim, since the Massachusetts militia company had arrived after John MASON and his ninety Connecticut men had destroyed the two Pequot forts, but the case was currently before the Commissioners of the United Colonies, and a petition from the inhabitants of this disputed region was sure to be welcomed at Boston.
          On 16 October 1657, Captain George DENISON was sent to Boston with the petition of the settlers requesting that they be granted "the Liberties and privileges of a Township" in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.  It was signed by George DENISON, Walter PALMER, John GALLUP, William THOMPSON, and Thomas STANTON, "for the rest of the Inhabitants and with their consent."
          George DENISON was chosen to carry the petition not only because he was a disinguished veteran of CROMWELL's "Ironsides"; but his brother, Daniel DENISON, was husband of Patience DUDLEY, the daughter of the late Colonial Governor of Massachusetts, Thomas DUDLEY (1576-1653).
          The Massachusetts magistrates received DENISON warmly; however, following the dictates of intercolonial politics, they discreetly advised the petitioners to set up their own local government.
          Massachusetts used the petition to make their case regarding claims to the disputed area, and on 21 October 1657, Massachusetts made formal claim at Hartford to land east of the Pequot (Thames) River.   The area which is now Stonington became part of Massachusetts for a period of four years until 1662 when, under the Charter of King Charles II, the boundaries were fixed and Pawcatuck country, rechristened Stonington, was returned to Connecticut.  Haynes, Williams, CAPTAIN GEORGE and LADY ANN (1963); Haynes, William, STONINGTON CHRONOLOGY (1976), p.13-14; Richard Anson Wheeler, HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF STONINGTON (Reprinted 1977), p.6-13; THE SECOND BOAT, v.6, pp.7-8.

1657 -    On 16 December 1657, Thomas PARK and Thomas MINER met at Captain George DENISON's to consider the location of a meetinghouse.

1657 -    A William CHAPMAN (or CHIPMAN) was in New London, Conn., in 1657.  He had children:  John; William m. Hanna, dau. of Daniel LESTER and settled in Groton; Samuel; Jeremiah; Joseph; Sarah; and Rebecca.  Mather, Frederic G. THE REFUGEES of 1776  from LONG ISLAND to CONNECTICUT (1972 reprint of the 1913 edition), p.291.

1658 -    Humphrey GRIFFING, aged 53, made a deposition in which he referred to Corporal John ANDREWS as "my brother." -   Davis, Walter Goodwin, THE ANCESTRY OF ANNIS SPEAR (1945), pp.145-148.

1658 -    In 1658, Thomas STANTON removed to Wequetequock Cove, two miles and a half east of Stonington, Connecticut where he was the third settler; it was then called Southington, Massachusetts, and part of Suffolk county.  His farm was on the east side of the Pawkatuck river, near its mouth.

1658 -    Thomas STANTON was appointed by the General Court as "one of the persons to order the prudential affairs of the town," and after the annexation of Southertown to Connecticut was made Commissioner to try civil and criminal cases, and continued in office until 1677.

1658 -    On 10 May 1658, Massachusetts forwarded the second petition of the Stonington Settlers to the Commissioners of the United Colonies, with the suggestion to the Pawcatuck people that they order their affairs by common consent.
          On 30 June 1658 the Stonington settlers drew up a sort of dry-land Mayflower Compact or Declaration of Independence, "The Association of the Poquatuck People."   The pact was signed by George DENISON, Thomas SHAW, Nathaniel CHESEBROUGH, Elihu PALMER, Thomas STANTON, Elisha CHESEBROUGH, Moses PALMER, Walter PALMER, Tho. STANTON, William CHESEBROUGH, and Samuel CHESEBROUGH.

          The Commissioners of the United Colonies settled the Pawcatuck dispute by allotting all the Pequot territory east of the Mystic River, continuing from it's head through the middle of Lantern Hill Pond and then due north to Massachusetts, and all west of this boundary to Connecticut.
          Massachusetts upon accepting the Pawcatuck territory, renamed the town "Southertown" and appointed George DENISON, Robert PARK, William CHESEBROUGH, Thos. STANTON, Walter PALMER, and John MINER as a committee to conduct the prudential affairs of the town.  DENISON, CHESEBROUGH, and MINER  were authorized to try cases; Walter PALMER, constable; and DENISON, clerk of the writs, empowered to solemnize marriages.  The bounds of the town were extended northward 8 miles from the mouth of the Mystic. - Haynes, William, STONINGTON CHRONOLOGY (1976), p.13-14.

          In October 1658, George DENISON sold to John PACKER, the land he had purchased from Robert PARK in 1653.

1658 -    There was strong feelings on both sides in Stonington between partisans of Connecticut and Massachusetts.  Thomas MINER was questioned at Walter PALMER's house on whether he intended to take Capt. DENISON's place as leader; if as leader he would make a division of the town; whether he would deliver the town to Connecticut authorities; and other matters.
          On 23 November 1658, Thomas MINER, who had held out for Connecticut's jurisdiction over the town of Southertown (Stonington), submitted to the jurisdiction of Massachusetts.

1658 -    Christopher AVERY purchased, for forty pounds, a home in Boston 18 March 1658/9.  The lot was twenty-six by forty-six feet and was located at what was in 1926 the center of the Post-Office building that faced on Devonshire Street.  About four years later he sold the lot for what he paid for it, and later joined his son, James AVERY at Pequot on the Thames (Connecticut).  Roberts, Eloise M., SOME COLONIAL FAMILIES (1926), p.3-9.

1658 -    Jonathan BREWSTER deeded all of his property  to his son, Benjamin BREWSTER, and his son-in-law, John PICKETT, in 1658.

 

1659 -    "The daughter of Humphrey GRIFFING wore a silk hood in 1659 for which evidence of undue pride her father was fined 10s.  Only the wealthy could wear silk with impunity."  -  Davis, Walter Goodwin, THE ANCESTRY OF ANNIS SPEAR (1945), pp.145-148.

1659 -    Thomas STANTON purchased "Quanacontaug" (the whole of Pawcatuck Neck and the small islands that lay near to it known as "The Hommocks") from a Niantic Indian sachem called "Cassawshett", alias Harmon GARRETT, on 14 January 1659.  According to one historian, the Indian's child was held captive, and was redeemed by the aid of Thomas STANTON, so the Indian, in gratitude, sold the land to STANTON for a half bushel of wampum.  Thomas STANTON took immediate possession of the land and built a house thereon.  Subsequently he learned that the title was imperfect.  It was discovered that Harmon GARRETT was not a sachem invested with the power to sell the tribal lands of the Niantic Indians.  Upon consulting with the Commissioners of the United Colonies, STANTON found that the land in question had been purchased by the Major Humphrey ATHERTON Land Company (of which Thomas STANTON was an Associate Partner), from Ninegret, Suncquash and Scuttup, three Niantic sachems, on the condition that no associate member of the land company should sell out his share until he had given that company an opportunity to buy it.  STANTON assured them that he would hold the land in question for himself and the company, with the result that they should regard it favorably to have his share of said company's land include his Harmon GARRETT purchase.  The company agreed to this, and Thomas STANTON retained possession of this land.  The deed and the agreement was confirmed by the court in 1671 when Thomas STANTON gave the land to his son Joseph STANTON. -   DENISON NEWSLETTER (The Denison Society, December 1987), No.82, p.4; Cutter, William Richard, et.al., GENEALOGICAL AND FAMILY HISTORY OF THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT (N.Y. 1911), pp.40-44.

1659 -    The Southertown bounds as defined by Massachusetts were laid out, 2 March 1659, by George DENISON, Thomas PARK, Thomas MINER, Thomas STANTON and Samuel CHESEBROUGH.

1659 -    Thomas HEWITT married, 26 April 1659, to Hannah MINER, daughter of Walter and Rebecca (SHORT) PALMER.  They settled on the present site of Elm Grove Cemetery in Stonington.  In 1661, Thomas HEWITT sailed for the West Indies and was never heard from again.

1659 -    Thomas STANTON, Jr., son of Thomas and Anne (LORD) STANTON, married, 1659, Sarah DENISON, dau. of George and Bridget (THOMPSON) DENISON. -  Stanton, William A., THOMAS STANTON, OF CONNECTICUT, and HIS DESCENDANTS (1891).

1659 -    Nathaniel CHESEBROUGH, son of William and Ann (STEVENSON) CHESBORO, married, 1659, to Hannah DENISON, dau. of George and Bridget (THOMPSON) DENISON.  The same year, Thomas STANTON, Jr., son of Thomas and Anne (LORD) STANTON, married Sarah DENISON, dau. of George and Bridget DENISON.
          Nathaniel and Hannah (DENISON) CHESEBROUGH had children:  Anna CHESEBROUGH (1660-1751) m.1685 Samuel RICHARDSON; Sarah CHESEBROUGH (1662-1729) m.1687 Lieut William GALLUP; Nathaniel CHESEBROUGH (1666-1732) m.1692 his cousin, Sarah STANTON; Bridget CHESEBROUGH (1669-1720) m. (1) 1692 William THOMPSON and (2) Joseph MINER; Hannah CHESEBROUGH m.1700 Joseph PRENTICE; Samuel CHESEBROUGH (1674-1735/6) m.1699 Priscilla ALDEN; Margaret CHESEBROUGH (b.1677) m. 18 July 1696, Joseph STANTON; and Mary, died in infancy.  -  Wildley, Anna Chesebrough, GENEALOGY of the DESCENDANTS of WILLIAM CHESEBROUGH (1903), p.302-304; Denison, Elverton Glenn, et.al. DENISON GENEALOGY (1963), p.1-2.

1659 -    On 19 May 1659, Major John MASON was chosen commissioner to the United Colonies to act for the colony of Connecticut in the dispute with Massachusetts over the jurisdictional boundaries of the Mystic-Pawcatuck area. -  William Haynes, STONINGTON CHRONOLOGY (1976), p.14.

1659 -    John MASON had purchased a great amount of land from the Indians by the authority of the General Court, and UNCAS, the Mohegan sachem, gave him a deed to this land, during the time (1659) that he acted as agent of the colony.  After he had been elected Deputy Governor, he turned over to the colony all lands which he had purchased from the Indians.  Forty years later, in the famous "Mohegan Case" the descendants of John MASON claimed these lands "in virtue of a deed given to him by UNCAS", and alleged that his surrender of the lands was having respect to "nothing more than the jurisdiction right" and "that the title to the soil was vested in their family, as guardians or overseers of the Indians."  The case was agitated for about seventy years, and not finally decided, until George the Third, in Council, just before the Revolutionary War, gave a decree in favor of the colony, and thus put the case to rest. -  Trumbull's HISTORY OF THE INDIAN WARS, Book.I, ch.XVII; MASSACHUSETTS HIST. SOC. COLL., Vol.IX, p.81.

1659 -    Jonathan BREWSTER died at Preston, New London, Connecticut on 7 August 1659.

1659 -    The Rev. Mr. THOMPSON, on 30 September 1659, moved to New London and Rev. Zachariah BRIGDEN of Boston came to preach at Stonington.

1660 -    David COPP, son of William and Judith (ITCHENOR) COPP, married 20 February 1659/60 at Dorchester, Massachusetts to Obedience TOPLIFFE (1642-1678), daughter of Clement and Sarah TOPLIFFE.  The ceremony was performed by Major Humphrey ATHERTON, and is recorded both in Boston and Dorechester.  David and Obedience (TOPLIFFE) COPP had children:  David (1663-1719) m.1694 Patience SHORT; Jonathan COPP (1665-1746 m.1690 Catharine LAYE; William COPP (1666-1702) m.1692 Ann RUCK; Sarah COPP m.1707 Nathaniel HUTCHINSON; Samuel COPP (1671-1729 m.1696 Hannah SALE; John COPP m. (1) Mary (JAGGERS) PHELPS and (2) Ruth BELDEN; and Thomas COPP (1675-1678).  David COPP was a cordwainer by trade, and he probably employed several workmen.  His residence was described as "a brick house at the head of Hull Street", and he also owned a warehouse, and had a considerable library.  David COPP served as "ruling elder" of his church, the Olde Church of Boston, and was prominent in public affairs.  He was clerk of the market and sealer of leather, and was a member of committees to act with the selectmen in laying out and determining the bounds of highways and listing the property of the town.  He was designated by the selectmen to co-operate with the constable in the suppression of excessive drinking and disorders in private houses and licensed places of entertainment.  -  NEW YORK GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY RECORD (Oct. 1931), v.62, pp.338-354; N.E. GEN. REG., V.58, P.118; Mrs. Ethel Stanwood Bolton, CLEMENT TOPLIFF AND HIS DESCENDANTS IN BOSTON (1906), pp.3-9,passim.

1660 -    At Thomas STANTON's trading house, on 8 June 1660, Thomas MINER witnessed the sale of land from the Narragansett sachem to Major ATHERTON.

1660 -    Major John MASON, having for many years resided at Saybrook, was the head of the company, including most of the congregation of the Saybrook Church, that settled at Norwich, Connecticut in the spring of 1660.  The nine square mile tract had been purchased by MASON from UNCAS for the sum of 70 pounds.  John MASON's house was "a little south of the old court-house, on the old road leading to New London, near the bridge" over the Yantic, and was "bought by the town (1692) for a parsonage."

          John MASON served as Deputy Governor of the Colony of Connecticut from 1660 to 1669.

          In September 1660, Major John MASON pleaded the case of Connecticut in the Mystic-Pawcatuck debate before the United Commissioners, who upheld their former decision of dividing the Pequot country at Mystic River.

1660 -    James AVERY served as selectman from 1660-1680.; Commissioner, 1663-80.
 

1661 -    Samuel CHIPMAN, son of John and Hope (HOWLAND) CHIPMAN, was born 15 April 1661.

1661 -    In 1661, Thomas HEWITT (husband of Hannah MINER) sailed for the West Indies and was never heard from again.

1661 -    In the Mass. Colony Records, Vol.IV, Part II, p.31, under date, 7 August 1661, is the record:  "This Court have Granted to Mr. Peter HUBBERD pastor of Hingham, three Hundrd acres of Land for a Farme where it may be had, not prejudicial to any plantation."  J. H. Temple, HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF PALMER, MASSACHUSETTS (1889), p.99.

1661 -    The Commissioners of the United Colonies met, 1 September 1661, at the church in Stonington, and Major John MASON addressed them, again presenting the case for Connecticut.

1661 -    Walter PALMER died, 10 November 1661, and was buried at Wequetequock.  In his will he named his wife and sons John, Jonas, William, Gershom, Elihu, Nehemiah, Moses, Benjamin; daughters Grace, Hannah, and Rebecca.   The will was witnessed by William CHESEBROUGH, Sam'll CHESEBROUGH and Nathaniel CHESEBROUGH. -  Richard Anson Wheeler, HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF STONINGTON (Reprinted 1977), p.723-724.

1661 -    Administration on the estate of Humphrey GRIFFEN was granted 19 Nov. 1661, to his widow, Elizabeth, by Mr. Samuel SYMONDS and Major General DENISON.  It was ordered that an inventory be brought into the next Ipswich Court. -  Ipswich Quarterly Court Records, vol.1, p.97.

1661 -    18 December 1661 - "We, Thos. STANTON, Sr., Saml. CHESEBROUGH, Elihu PALMER, Nehemiah PALMER, Elisha CHESBROUGH, Nathl. CHESEBROUGH, Thos. MINER, Sr., and Clement MINER, do bind ourselves each to the other in a bond of L20 to build a mill at Wequetequock upon the river that runs by Goodman CHESEBROUGH's between this and Michaelmas (Sept. 29 next)." -  William Haynes, STONINGTON CHRONOLOGY (1976), p.15.

 

1662 -    John PICKETT, on 14 Feb. 1661/2, relinquished his rights to the property inherited from his father-in-law, Jonathan BREWSTER, and provided that his "mother-in-law, Mrs. BREWSTER, the late wife of his father, Mr. Jonathan BREWSTER, shall have a full and competent means out of the estate during her life, from the said Benjamin BREWSTER at her own dispose freely and fully to command at her own pleasure."  THE MAYFLOWER QUARTERLY, v.34, p.45-46; v.52, No.2, pp.72-83.

1662 -    The inventory of the estate of Humphrey GRIFFING was taken, at Ipswich, Mass., on 25 March 1662.  The inventory was appraised by James DAVIS and Theophilus SHATSWELL.  "The estate was ordered to be divided as follows: To John GRIFFEN, the eldest son, 20li.; to the two younger sons, 10li.; and the rest of the estate to the widow."
          The widow Elizabeth GRIFFIN sued John GAINES for her dower in a house and land that Mr. Ropert PAINE had taken from her husband by execution and of which GAINES was in possession, and won her case in 1662, in which year she also sued Peter NASH for debt.
          Elizabeth (ANDREWS) GRIFING, widow of Humphrey GRIFFING, married (2nd) 10 February (or 10 November) 1662/3 at Haverhill, as his second wife, Hugh SHERRATT.  Ipswich Quarterly Court Records, vol.1, p.104, vol.14, leaf 149; Published Probate Records of Essex County, Massachusetts, p.353.
          Hugh SHERRATT was a proprietor of Ipswich in 1635 and a freeman there March 4, 1634.  He removed to Haverhill where he was a proprietor in 1644.  He was licensed to sell wines on 26 May 1647.  He secured to his second wife (the widow of Humphrey GRIFING) the sum of 42 pounds by a mortgage deed of house and lands 27 April 1665.

1662 -    On 22 April 1662, John WINTHROP, in England as agent for Connecticut, received a charter for the colony from Charles II.  This charter set the Pawcatuck River as the eastern boundary of Connecticut, automatically restoring Stonington from the jurisdiction of Massachusetts to Connecticut.

1662 -    A pre-nuptial agreement had been entered into between George DENISON and Ann BORODELL.  It was ratified and confirmed at Hartford, Conn., 3 May 1662, as follows:  "This witnesseth that I, George DENISON, of Southertown, in Connecticut, jurisdiction in New England, for and in consideration of a jointure due unto my now wife, Ann Borodell Denison, upon marriage and upon my former engagement, in consideration of the sum of three hundred pounds by me received of Mr. John BORODELL, which he freely gave to my wife, his sister, Ann Borodell Denison, and I have had the use and improvement of and for, and in consideration of conjugal and dearer affection moving me, thereto ---," etc.  See First Book of Connecticut State records, Hartford, Conn., page 274; Richard Anson Wheeler, HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF STONINGTON (Reprinted 1977), p.711.

1662 -    William DEALE married, 30 June 1662, to Mary SHATSWELL, dau. of Theophilus and Susannah (BOSWORTH) SHATSWELL.

1662 -    William COPP's will was dated 31 October 1662 (Probated 27 Feb. 1670).  He was a well-to-do man for those times, owning two houses in Boston, with the outbuildings, and a tract of 100 acres "beyond Braintree."  In his will he names:  wife Goodeth; daughters (Martha) TEUXBERY, Ruth and Lydia; sons David COPP and Jonathan COPP; grandchildren Will HARVEY, Thomas HARVEY, John HARVEY, Mary HARVEY, Jonathan ATTWOOD, Sarah ATTWOOD, Sarah NORDEN, and Samuel NORDON.  Richard CROADE and Jonathan COPP were witnesses.  Suffolk Co. Probate, Bk7, p.32; Holman, Mary Lovering, ANCESTRY OF CHARLES STINSON PILLSBURY and JOHN SARGENT PILLSBURY, pp.681-683.

1662 -    Nehemiah PALMER, son of Walter and Rebecca (SHORT) PALMER, married, 20 Nov. 1662, Hannah Lord STANTON, dau. of Thomas and Ann (LORD) STANTON.  -  Stanton, William A., THOMAS STANTON, OF CONNECTICUT, and HIS DESCENDANTS (1891), p.67.

1663 -    Edward GILMAN (he married, 3 June 1614, Mary CLARK, sister-in-law, of Joseph PECK) had sold his lands at Rehoboth, Mass., to Joseph PECK, Junior.  Payments in full for the lands were not made until after Edward GILMAN's death, the balance being paid to his widow Mary (CLARK) GILMAN.  Edward GILMAN's sons, who signed their names as John GILLMAN and Moses GILLMAN, released rights, etc., to Joseph PECK, 8 January 1663.  In this document, they call Joseph PECK "cozen."  See THE AMERICAN GENEALOGIST, v.12, pp.132-134.

1663 -    Thomas MINER and Samuel MASON (son of Major John MASON) were named town representatives to the General Court in 1663.

1663 -    In the last will and testament of Theophilus SHATSWELL of Haverhill, dated 20 day of fourth month in the year 1763, he left portions of his estate to:  eldest daughter Mary, daughter Lidea, daughter Hannah, Hannill CLARK (if he should "stay with me or mine until he be one and twenty years of age").  His wife Susanah and Daughter Hannah were named executors.  He named "my Brother Wilyam SARGENT and my Kinsman Lefttenent Philip CHALIS" overseers.  Witnesses were Jonathan SINGLTARY and Edward CLARKE.  The will was proved in Hampton court 13: 8: 1663 by Edward CLARK.  Inventory of the estate of Theophilus SHATSWELL was taken 8 Sept. 1663 by John EATON, Sr. and John EMMERRY, Sr.  Essex County, Mass. Probate Files, Docket 25,121.

1663 -    Captain DENISON raised his "grate manor house" at Pequotsepos on 8 May 1663.

1663 -    On 25 August 1663, a Court held at Thomas SHAW's fined WEQUACHACHOOKE, a Pequot Indian, 62 fathoms of wampum for having gone to Hartford to complain against Captain DENISON.

1663 -    John GRIFFING (1635-1688) married 17 Sept. 1663 at Haverhill, Mass., to Lydia SHATSWELL, Daughter of Theophilus and Susannah (BOSWORTH) SHATSWELL.  They had children:  Lydia GRIFFING m. (1) William KNOWLTON, m. (2) Martin FORD; Theophilus GRIFFIN (1666-1689) m. Mary COLBY; Elizabeth m. 1694 Thomas STAPLES; John GRIFFIN; Ebenezer GRIFFIN (1673-1723) married 10 Feb. 1702/3 Mary (HARRIS) HUBBELL; Susanna m. 1703 Christopher BARTLETT, Jr.; Samuel GRIFFIN m. 1703 Elizabeth YORK; Nathaniel GRIFFIN m. 1709 Hannah BARKER; and Abigail GRIFFIN m. 1710 Daniel WAY.  Wurts' MAGNA CHARTA, v.5, pp.1368-1370.

1663 -    Thomas MINER, Matthew GRISWOLD, and William WALLER were appointed by the Connecticut Court, 8 October 1663, to survey the west bounds of New London and also to hear the case between UNCAS and the inhabitants of New London, respecting land on the Thames River.

1663 -    Joseph PECK died 22 December 1663 at Rehoboth, Mass.  In his will, proved 3 March 1663/4, he gives and bequeaths "unto my Daughter HUBBERT [HOBART] thirty pounds."

1664 -    In his Diary, Rev. Peter HOBART records that "mother IBROOK dyed 4 April 1664."  (This is in reference to the death of Margaret IBROOK, mother of his first wife, Elizabeth IBROOK.)

1664 -    The jurisdictional dispute between Hartford and Massachusetts was peacefully settled.  William CHESEBROUGH, on 8 June 1664, was sent to Norwich to officially surrender the town of Southertown (Stonington) to Connecticut.

1664 -    16 June 1664, on order of the United Colonies, Daniel DENISON (brother of Captain George DENISON) and Daniel GOOKIN laid out 2,000 acres at Cossaduck Hill for use of the Pequots.

1664 -    John MASON was appointed Chief Judge of the New London County Court and served from 1664 to 1670.

1664 -    Thomas STANTON was a commissioner to try small causes in 1664, and in 1665 had authority to hold a semi-annual court at New London.

1664 -    In 1664, John STANTON became the first Recorder of the town of Southertown (now Stonington), Connecticut.  The same year he married Hannah THOMPSON, daughter of Anthony and Catharine THOMPSON of New Haven, Conn.  John and Hannah (THOMPSON) STANTON had children:  John STANTON (1665-1755) m. (1) Lydia --?-- and (2) Mary STARKWEATHER; Joseph STANTON (1668-1751) m. 1696 Margaret CHESEBROUGH; Thomas STANTON m. Anna STANTON (a cousin); Ann STANTON (1673-1680); Theophilus STANTON m.1698 Elizabeth ROGERS; and Dorothy STANTON (1680-1699).  -  Baldwin, John D., THOMAS STANTON of STONINGTON, CONN. (1882), p.17; Stanton, William A., THOMAS STANTON, OF CONNECTICUT, and HIS DESCENDANTS (1891), pp.136-137; Cutter, William Richard, et.al., GENEALOGICAL AND FAMILY HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, pp.1225-1227,1387; Bertha Jane Thomas Libby, GENEALOGY OF JANE ELIZABETH WHEELER THOMAS (1974), pp.177-225.

 

1664 -    On behalf of his fellow townsmen, 13 October 1664, William CHESEBROUGH presented a petition to the General Court at Hartford "for their favoure to pass by their offenses."
          The Court "doe hereby declare that what irregularities and abusive practices have proceeded from them whereby they have seemed to offer contempt to the authority her established, it shall be forgiven and buryed in perpetual oblivion and forgetfulness."  Pardon was granted to all "Captyn DENISON, he only excepted, who hath neglected or refused to submit himselfe peaceable to the order of the Council of this colony."  THE SECOND BOAT, v.6, pp.7-8.

          On 14 October 1664, the Court ordered the people of Mystic and Pawcatuck to present an inventory of all their cattle and a true list of their estates.  At the same time they empowered William CHESEBROUGH, Thomas STANTON, and Thomas MINER to judge all cases of a value up to 40s., to marry persons, and to punish criminal matters "to the value of 40s. or by stocks." -  Williams Haynes, STONINGTON CHRONOLOGY (1976), p.11, passim.

1664 -    Captain George DENISON remained defiant to the authority of Connecticut, and on 11 November he was hailed into the local courts for performing the marriage ceremony of William MEASURE and Alice TINKER under a commission granted to him in 1658 by Massachusetts.
          Other Stonington townsmen protested to the Council that their tax rate had been doubled in excess of the 20 pounds levied for expenses in securing the charter.

1664 -   Samuel STARR (1640-1668), son of Thomas and Rachel (HARRIS) STARR, married 25 Dec. 1664, to Hannah BREWSTER, dau. of Jonathan and Lucretia (OLDHAM) BREWSTER, and grand-daughter of William BREWSTER, Mayflower Passenger.  They had children:  Samuel, b. 11 Dec. 1665; Thomas b. 27 Sept. 1668; Comfort, b. 7 Aug. 1671; and Jonathan, b.23 Feb. 1673/4.  Samuel STARR died before 1687.  His widow, Hannah (BREWSTER) STARR married (2nd) to John THOMPSON.  Mather, Frederic G. THE REFUGEES of 1776  from LONG ISLAND to CONNECTICUT (1972 reprint of the 1913 edition), p.579,594; THE MAYFLOWER QUARTERLY, v.52, No.2, p.82.

1664 -    In the fall of 1664/5 the peace of Stonington was disturbed by a pair of rowdy womanizers, John CARR from Rhode Island, and his pal John ASHCROFT.  John CARR was sued by Geo. DENISON for "engaging the affections of his daughter Ann without leave" and for stealing a hat, belt, and silver spoon.  The culprit retracted and was fined 34 pounds, 7s. 5d., a good round sum in those days.  But on 10 December 1664, CARR and ASHCROFT were arrested for engaging in a fight with John GALLUP (who also had some pretty daughters); and the next year the pair were again arraigned for "endeavoring to entice women from their husbands."  CARR later was jailed in Rhode Island, but in 1670 he escaped with an Indian companion and fled to the Narragansetts. -  Williams Haynes, STONINGTON CHRONOLOGY (1976), p.15,21.

1665 -    Jonathan COPP (1665-1746), son of David and Obedience (TOPLIFFE) COPP, was born 23 February 1665 at Boston, Massachusetts.  He married 18 Aug. 1690 to Catharine LAYE.

1665 -    Elizabeth (ANDREWS) GRIFFIN SHERRATT, administrix of the estate of Humphrey GRIFFIN was successfully sued for Humphrey GRIFFIN's debts by Thomas BISHOP in 1665 and by Gov. Simon BRADSTREET in 1669.  Davis, Walter Goodwin, THE ANCESTRY OF ANNIS SPEAR (1945), pp.145-148.

1665 -    Christopher AVERY purchased a house, lot, and orchard at New London, Conn. on 8 August 1665.  This land afterwards passed to his son, James AVERY, who deeded it to his four sons.

1665 -    The name of the town of Southertown (later Stonington) was changed to Mystic "in memory of that victory God hath pleased to give this people of Connecticut over the Pequot Indians.  Thomas MINER and Samuel CHESEBROUGH were elected deputies to represent the town at the General Court.
          The boundary dispute with Rhode Island flared up again, and Thos. MINER attended an unproductive meeting of commissioners from the two colonies at Narragansett.  Agreement could not be reached.  On 11 August 1665, Gov. John WINTHROP came to Stonington and there were many town meetings discussing these boundary problems.

1665 -    Ensign James AVERY was confirmed as a Lieutenant to the train band of New London, by the General Court in 1665.

1665 -    Manasseh MINER, on 20 November 1665, signed up for 6 months service with Thomas BELL at $4.50 a month with his "diet, washen, and lodging."

          On 15 December 1665, the high tide left 2 feet of water in the cellar of Thomas MINER's house at Quiambaug.

1666 -    Clement TOPLIFF made his will 26 Jan 1666 (probated 31 Jan. 1672/73).  He names wife Sarah TOPLEF; Son Samuell TOPLIEF, Son David JONES, Son David COPE, and unmarried daughter Patience TOPLIFF.  Witnesses were Samuell PROCTER and Thomas DAVENPORT.  He made John MINOTT and his "Cozen Peleg HEATH" overseers.  This nephew of his, Peleg HEATH, was the son of William HEATH of Dorchester, who came from Nazeing, County Essex, England, and previously from Widford, Hertfordshire.  William HEATH had been twice married, and Peleg was the son of his second wife Mary.  The relationship is subject to three explanations:  Clement TOPLIFF married a sister of William HEATH or a sister of Mary HEATH, or William HEATH married a sister of Clement TOPLIFF.  Suffolk Co., Mass. Probate Records, Vol. VII, p.281; Bolton, Mrs. Ethel Stanwood, CLEMENT TOPLIFF AND HIS DESCENDANTS (1906), pp.3-9,passim.

1666 -    A Stonington town meeting was held at the home of Thomas MINER on 5 February 1666.
          A Stonington town meeting was held at the home of George DENISON on 28 February 1666.

1666 -    The May 1666 session of the General Court changed the name of Mystic, Connecticut (earlier Southertown) to Stonington.
          At the same General Court session, a pardon was granted to George DENISON, and five county courts were established.  Thomas STANTON, Lt. PRATT of Saybrook, and Major MASON were appointed judges at New London.

1666 -    On 24 May 1666, Thomas STANTON, Jr. was elected sergeant of the trainband in Stonington.

1666 -    Ephraim MINER, son of Thomas and Grace (PALMER) MINER, married 20 June 1666, to Hannah AVERY, dau. of James and Joanna (GREENSLADE) AVERY.  Sweet, Homer DeLois, THE AVERYS OF GROTON (1894), p.27.

1666 -    John GRIFFIN served on the trial jury in 1666 and 1667 at Haverhill, and in 1666 he was deputy marshal of the county.

1666 -    Thomas STANTON sat on the Bench of the New London County Court in 1666, and he was elected Deputy for Stonington to the General Court annually from 1666 to 1675.  Also in 1666, he was appointed overseer-general of the Coassatuck Indians; also a commissioner of appeals in Indian affairs.  He held this position until his death in 1677.

1666 -    Thomas MINER recorded in his diary the first snow of the winter in Stonington on 30 November 1666 noting that it was very late; but he recorded "great snows" on December 17, 22, and 25 of the same year.

1667 -    Thomas STANTON was granted 250 acres on the Pachaug river, in 1667, and the same year he was called upon to settle threatening trouble between UNCAS and the Niantic tribe.

1667 -    Thomas WHEELER of Lynn, Massachusetts, settled in Stonington, Connecticut in 1667.  He was an older brother of Ruth WHEELER who married, 26 October 1665, to Samuel HARTWELL.  Thomas WHEELER, though a newcomer, was chosen constable at Stonington, 15 June 1668.

1667 -    William CHESEBROUGH of Stonington, Connecticut made his will 23 May 1667.  He bequeathed to sons Samuel, Nathaniel and Elisha.  The will was witnessed by Gershom PALMER and Thomas BELL.  Richard Anson Wheeler, HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF STONINGTON (Reprinted 1977), pp.709-711.

1667 -    William CHESEBROUGH (1594-1667), first settler of Stonington, died 9 June 1667, aged 73 years.  He willed to his two sons, Nathaniel and Elisha, "ye neck of land called Wadawonnet," now Stonington Borough.  He is buried in the Old Wequetoquock Burial Ground near Stonington.

          The Woquetequock Burial Ground Association in Stonington, Connecticut, on 31 August 1899, dedicated a monument which had been erected as a memorial to the first four settlers of Waquetequock --- William CHESEBROUGH, Thomas MINOR, Walter PALMER and Thomas STANTON.  Each side of the monument carries an epitaph, above which has been carved a coat of arms.

          The CHESEBROUGH epitaph reads as follows:

                             WILLIAM CHESEBROUGH
                    THE FIRST WHITE SETTLER OF STONINGTON
              BORN IN ENGLAND 1594 MIGRATED TO AMERICA IN JOHN
               WITHROP'S COMPANY WHICH PLANTED BOSTON IN 1630.
                AFTER SPENDING A FEW YEARS IN REHOBOTH MASS.
                HE WITH HIS WIFE AND FOUR SONS IN 1649 FIXED
                HIS HOME IN THIS THEN WILDERNESS AND BUILT HIS
                  DWELLING HOUSE NOT FAR FROM THIS MONUMENT.
                 HE TOOK A LEADING PART IN THE ORGANIZATION
              OF THE TOWN AND THE CONDUCT OF ITS EARLY AFFAIRS.
                            HE DIED JUNE 9, 1667.
             A BOLD PIONEER. A WISE ORGANIZER. A FIRM CHRISTIAN.

          See William Hayne's STONINGTON CHRONOLOGY, pp.16-17.

1667 -    John PICKET died at sea on 16 August 1667 "while returning from Barbados."  His widow, Ruth (BREWSTER) PICKET, married second, 18 July 1668, to Charles HILL; and she died 1 May 1677.  Charles HILL married secondly, at New London 12 June 1678, Rachel MASON, daughter of John and Anne (PECK) MASON.

1667 -    The cattle trade was an important business in Stonington.  There was much trouble with cattle rustlers, and lawsuits over unbranded young stock.  The General Court ordered that all Stonington cattle be branded with the letter "K."
          In his diary Thomas MINER recorded that on 22 October 1667 he set off with BREWSTER, driving a mixed herd via Narragansett and Providence to Boston.  They spent a night at "Wilson's near the lead mine," where a thunderstorm killed three pigs.  He returned 1 November 1667.

1667 -    John Borodell DENISON (1646-1698), son of Capt. George DENISON, married, 26 November 1667, to Phebe LAYE.  He built his home (the first house in present Mystic, Connecticut) at what is now the corner of Willow St. and Greenmanville Ave.

1667 -    Gershom PALMER, son of Walter and Rebecca (SHORT) PALMER, married 28 November 1667 at Stonington to Ann DENISON (1649-1694), daughter of George and Ann (BORODELL) DENISON.

1668 -    That Thomas STANTON traded as far away as Virginia, we know from an ancient document on file in New Haven colony, without date, but apparently entered in 1668 or 1669: "Whereas Capt. MORRICE hath reported and informed the King's Commissioner that Mr. Thomas STANTON, Senr., did in Virginia some 20 odd years since (1638-1650) cause a massacre among the Indians, whereby to gain their beaver to himself and the said MORRICE named Richard ARYE mariner, to be his author.  These may certify all whom it may concern that the said ARYE being examined concerning said report doth absolutely deny that he knew or reported any such thing to MORRICE nor ever heard of any such thing about Mr. STANTON in Virginia to his remembrance."

1668 -    Joseph STANTON (1668-1751), son of Capt. John and Hannah (THOMPSON) STANTON, was born 22 January 1668.  He married 18 July 1696 to Margaret CHESEBROUGH.

1668 -    At a Stonington town meeting held at Amos RICHARDSON's in February 1668, Thomas MINER was elected treasurer, and the town voted to assist Mr. NOYES in building a house and a salary of 10 pounds annually for 7 years.

1668 -    Capt. George DENISON, Nehemiah PALMER, and Thomas MINER, on 15 June 1668, were named a committee to assess the county tax rate.

1668 -    A tract of five hundred and fifty acres of land on the Shetucket River was granted to Major MASON in 1668 by UNCAS and his son ATTAWANHOOD.

1668 -    Joseph MINER, son of Thomas and Grace (PALMER) MINER, married 28 Oct. 1668 to Mary AVERY, dau. of James and Joanna (GREENSLADE) AVERY.  Sweet, Homer DeLois, THE AVERYS OF GROTON (1894), p.27.

1668 -    James AVERY and Cary LATHAM were chosen by the town of New London, in 1668, to settle the boundary line with the Sachem UNCAS; and in 1669 Lieut. James AVERY was one of a Committee to settle difficulties with the Indian Sachem Ninigret of the Nianticks.  The matter was settled peaceably, and an Indian uprising was prevented.

1669 -    The last will of Mrs. Dorothy LORD of Hartford, Connecticut was dated 8 February 1669.   Inventory of her estate was taken 12 May 1675 by George GRAVE and John SHEPHERD.  She left her dwelling house and homelot to the children of son Thomas LORD, deceased.  She left the remainder of her estate to her daughter Amy GILBERT and her children; daughter STANTON; son Robert LORD; son William LORD; son John LORD; grandson Richard LORD; granddaughters Hannah INGERSOLL, Dorothy INGERSOLL, and Margaret INGERSOLL; and the wife of Nicholas CLARKE.  Witnesses were John ALLYN and Steven HOPKINS.  In a codicil to her will, Dorothy LORD, among other bequests, left to her daughter STANTON, "my Great Brass Pann & my great Bible."   Hartford County Probate Records, Bk.3, p.142; Court Record, pg.149 (14 May 1675).

1669 -    John GRIFFIN was allowed to keep the Haverhill ferry across the Merrimac River in 1669.  Also in 1669, John GRIFFIN was a witness against John GODFREY who was suspected of witchcraft, testifying that when he (John GRIFFIN) started on a journey from the Merrimac river to Andover on horseback he saw GODFREY setting out on foot and yet, although he ran his horse, GODFREY was comfortably seated by the fire in Goodman RUST's house when he arrived there.  Much of the other testimony dealt with GODFREY's ability to be in two places at one time.  Davis, Walter Goodwin, THE ANCESTRY OF ANNIS SPEAR (1945), pp.145-148.

1669 -    The following Stonington town officers were elected, 2 March 1669:  Thos. MINER, Jr., clerk; Elihu PALMER, constable; Wm. CHESEBRO, Thos. STANTON, Sr., and Saml. CHESEBROUGH, commissioners; Thos. STANTON, Jr., and John GALLUP, surveyors; and Wm. CHESEBROUGH, clerk of writs. -  Williams Haynes, STONINGTON CHRONOLOGY (1976), p.16.

1669 -    Richard MERCIER married 18 March 1669 to Hannah, daughter of Theophilus SHATSWELL.  She died at the birth of her only child, Abiall, on 27 December 1670.  Her husband, Richard MERCIER, also died a few months afterward leaving the young orphaned child, Abiall MERCIER.

1669 -    On 5 April 1669, Thos. STANTON, Geo. DENISON, Thos. WHEELER, Nathl. CHESEBROUGH, Nehemiah PALMER, Thos. PARK and John BENNETT laid out the highway, 4 rods wide, from the head of the Mystic to Kitchamaug Ford at the Pawcatuck (Westerly), following, according to direction of the selectmen, "so near as may be the old Pequot Trail."

1669 -    At a Stonington town meeting held 29 June 1669, it was voted the "The long disputation between Capt. DENISON and the town may be forwarded unto the Hartford General Court, there to be determined (so that we may thereby have a secession from these troubles)" and the town appointed Amos RICHARDSON its lawful attorney in this affair. -  Williams Haynes, STONINGTON CHRONOLOGY (1976), p.11, passim.

1669 -    Hannah (BREWSTER) STARR, widow of Samuel STARR, married (2nd), ca.1669, to John THOMPSON, son of Rev. William THOMPSON.  Mather, Frederic G. THE REFUGEES of 1776  from LONG ISLAND to CONNECTICUT (1972 reprint of the 1913 edition), p.579,594.

1669 -    On 29 November 1669, New London appointed Lt. AVERY, Saml. ROGERS, James MORGAN, and John MORGAN to lay out a "kings highway" between Mystic and Norwich, Connecticut.

1669 -    Christopher AVERY and his son James AVERY, of New London, Connecticut, were declared freemen there 14 October 1669.  AMERICAN ANCESTRY, p.3; Roberts, Eloise M., SOME COLONIAL FAMILIES (1926), p.3-9.

1670 -    John CHIPMAN, son of John and Hope (HOWLAND) CHIPMAN was born in Barnstable, Mass., 3 March 1670.  He married first to Mary SKIFFE.  He married second to Elizabeth (HANDLEY) POPE, dau. of Thomas HANDLEY.  He married third to Hannah (HUXLEY) (GRIFFIN) CASE.  He was judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Massachusetts.  His son, Handley CHIPMAN removed to Kings County, Nova Scotia.  Mardenna J. Hunter, THE FAMILY OF JOHN HOWLAND, MAYFLOWER PASSENGER - FIVE GENERATIONS (1970), p.80.

1670 -    William COPP (1589-1670) died in March 1669/70 at Boston, Massachusetts.  His widow died 25 May 1670.  They are buried in Copp's Hill Burial Ground, Boston, Massachusetts.  -  HISTORICAL SKETCH and MATTERS APPERTAINING to the COPP'S HILL BURIAL GROUND (pamphlet published by Cemetery Dept. of Boston, 1901); MacDonald, E., OLD COPP'S HILL and BURIAL GROUND with HISTORICAL SKETCHES (Boston 1894); Whittemore's COPP'S HILL EPITAPHS.

1670 -    UNCAS, accompanied by a picked band of Indian braves in full regalia, visited Thomas STANTON, at his home in Lower Pawcatuck, for the purpose of having his old friend write and witness his will.  There followed a "big party" with Indian dances, a great feast, and much smoking of the peace pipe.
          Thomas STANTON and his sons at this time were engaged in West Indian trade.  Two of the STANTON boys built ships on the Pawcatuck and over at Stonington Point, and a third son, Daniel STANTON, went to Barbadoes as agent for the firm.  Salt fish, corn and flour were carried to various Caribbean Islands, food for the slaves on the big sugar plantations, and the ships returned with sugar, molasses, and rum.  It was a profitable business and the foundation of New England maritime trade. -  Williams Haynes, STONINGTON CHRONOLOGY (1976), p.21.

1670 -    In the spring of 1670 the Narragansetts were restless, and the citizens of Connecticut had grave fears of an Indian uprising.  On 30 May 1670, Lieut. Samuel MASON (son of Major John MASON) took command of the military company in the field and a precautionary display of arms was made to impress the Indians.

          On 22 June 1670, Samuel MASON built a home and took up residence on Mason's Island, which had been granted to his father.

1670 -    Elizabeth (ANDREWS) GRIFING SHERRATT, widow of Humphrey GRIFING and Hugh SHERRATT, made her will 30 July 1670 (Probated 10 Oct. 1670).  In it she left property to her children by her first husband, vis:-- John, Nathaniel and Samuel GRIFING and Lydia GRIFING and Elizabeth (GRIFING) DEARE, and to her son John GRIFING's three children and her son-in-law Edward DEARE's 4 children.  COLLECTIONS of the NEW YORK GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY, vol.VI, Part II, "Register of Pedigrees", v.II, p.134-5.  Davis, Walter Goodwin, THE ANCESTRY OF ANNIS SPEAR (1945), pp.145-148.

1670 -    John HUCKINS (1649-1678), son of Thomas and Rose HUCKINS, married 10 August 1670 to Hope CHIPMAN, dau. of John and Hope (HOWLAND) CHIPMAN.  Mardenna J. Hunter, THE FAMILY OF JOHN HOWLAND, MAYFLOWER PASSENGER - FIVE GENERATIONS (1970), p.66.

1670 -    John GRIFFIN was on a committee of the town of Bradford for "ordering, setting-up and furnishing a meeting-house," in 1670.

1670 -    John MASON drew his will in 1670, two years before his death,  He left his property, mostly in New London County, to his three sons and four daughters.  Daniel MASON (1652-1737), then age 18, was left the East or "Neck Farm", land south of the Meeting House, Andrew's Island and Enders Island.  Allyn, James H., MAJOR JOHN MASON'S GREAT ISLAND (1976), pp.20-23.

1671 - Catherine LAYE (1671-1761), daughter of John and Sarah LAYE, was born 11 February 1671, at Lyme, Connecticut.  She married, 18 August 1690, to Jonathan COPP.

1671 -    In 1671 John MASON "excused himself from the service of the commonwealth," and soon after died at Norwich, Conn.

1671 -    "Petition of Edward CLARKE of Haverhill to the court at Boston, 29 May 1671, showed that Theophilus SATCHWELL [SHATSWELL] in his will gave to his youngest child (Hannah) nothing in particular but left her to be joint executrix with his wife.  The said daughter being afterward married, died in childbed, and her husband [Richard MERCIER] also died a few months afterward leaving a young child [Abiall MERCIER]; the estate all being the mothers during life it was thought that by the daughter being executrix, after the mother's death that she would have all the lands and the mother gave the son-in-law a deed of land but the relations opposed it asserting that it was entailed land to the other children.  Now the son-in-law has left no estate only this land and many debts and as executor Edward CLARK appeals to this court for advise and direction in the matter as there is nothing to care for the child with."  Referred to the County Court of Norfolk to find the true state of the case --- etc.   MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES, vol.15B, p.241.

1671 -    At the New London County Court, John ALLYN presiding, 6 June 1671, Major John MASON sued Amos RICHARDSON for $2,500 for slander in saying that he was a traitor.  The jury awarded MASON $500 damages and $52 costs; however, in September the Court granted Richardson's plea for a review of the case.  Major MASON died 30 January 1672, and the following June, when his libel suit was brought up on appeal, RICHARDSON pleaded the case had died with MASON.  But MASON's sons Samuel and John appeared and the judgement was sustained.  They levied 12 mares from RICHARDSON and there was a disput over their value. -  Williams Haynes, STONINGTON CHRONOLOGY (1976), p.21.

1672 -    Major General John MASON died 30 January 1672 at Norwich, New London, Connecticut "in the 73rd year of his age".
          Daniel MASON was living in Lebanon when his father died in 1672.  The next year, at the age of 21, he hoined the newly formed troop of New London Dragoons, the first cavalry unit in the colony.  First Quartermaster, then Lieutenant, he became Captain in 1701.  Allyn, James H., MAJOR JOHN MASON'S GREAT ISLAND (1976), p.22.

1672 -    John GRIFFIN "gave a letter of attorney to his 'uncle (Edward) CLARK' of Haverhill, March 24, 1672/3, calling himself John GRIFFING of Bradford.  This was the Edward CLARK who was so constant in his aid to the SHATSWELL family in times of trouble."  Davis, Walter Goodwin, THE ANCESTRY OF ANNIS SPEAR (1945), pp.145-148.

1672 -    Benjamin SHAPLEY (1645-1706), son of Nicholas and Ann SHAPLEIGH, married, 10 April 1672, to Mary PICKET, daughter of John and Ruth (BREWSTER) PICKET.  By 1704 he was making trips to Barbadoes as shipmaster.  Their house in New London stood on Shapley Street which ran up the hill from Winthrop cove.  James H. Allyn, SWAMP YANKEE FROM MYSTIC (1980), pp.15-16.

1672 -    John BALDWIN of Milford, Connecticut married, 24 July 1672, to Rebecca (PALMER), the pretty young widow of Elisha CHESEBROUGH (he died 1 Sept 1670), and moved to his wife's land in Stonington.  She was daughter of Walter and Rebecca (SHORT) PALMER.

1672 -    There was worry about the Indians, and a conference was held with the Narragansett sachems at Thomas STANTON's house on 2 October 1672.

1672 -    Clement TOPLIFF died 24 December 1672, in Dorchester, and was buried in the cemetery which in 1904 was at the corner of Stoughton St. and Columbia Road.  His widow, Sarah, died 29 July 1693, aged 88, and was buried near her husband in a lot that belonged to Thomas TROTT.

1672 -    The following was extracted from a document written by Major General Daniel DENISON (1612-1682), December 26, 1672, to his grandchildren, John, Daniel and Martha DENISON:
          "Your grandfather (William) DENISON was born in England at Bishop's Stratford in Hertfordshire, in which town he married and lived till the year of our Lord 1631, with two brothers, Edward and George, who all of them had children.  George the youngest brother had a son named also George, my cousin German, who was living in Stratford in the year 1672, as your uncle, Harlackenden SYMOUNDS, told me, who was that year in England and spoke with him.  My uncle, Edward, had also children, and in the year 1631, removed himself and family into Ireland, where he died and left a son called John DENISON who was a soldier and major of a regiment in the time of the wars, and deputy governor of Corke, Ireland, where Mr. WAINWRIGHT saw him.  I have received divers letters from him; he was living in Dublin in the year 1670.  Your great-grandfather, my dear father, whose name was William DENISON, had by my dear mother, whose name was CHANDLER, six sons, and one daughter, two of which, viz:  One son and the daughter died in their childhood; one son, who was the second named William, about 18 years of age, would needs go a soldier into Holland in the year 1624, at the famous siege of Breda when it was taken by SPINOLA, and Count MANSFIELD had an army out of England, to have raised the siege but the army miscarried, and my brother, William, was never heard of since.
          "We were now but four brothers left, viz:  John, Daniel, Edward, and George.  John and myself were bred scholars at Cambridge, where I continued till after I had taken my first degree.  Your grandfather, my father, though very well seated in Stratford, hearing of the then famous transplantation to New England, unsettled himself and recalling me from Cambridge removed himself and family in the year 1631 to New England, and brought over with him myself being about 19 years of age, and my two brothers, Edward and George, leaving my eldest brother, John, behind him in England, married with a good portion, who was a minister, and lived about Pelham or in Hartfordshier, not far from Stratford, where he was born.
          "My father brought with him into New England a very good estate and settled himself at Roxbury, and there lived (though somewhat weakening his estate), till the year 1653 in January, when he died, having buried my mother about eight years before.
          "My two brothers Edward and George (who were your great uncles) had all the Estate my father left between them, being both married long before my father's death; my Brother George buried his first wife in the year 1643, went into England was a soldier there above a year, was at the Battle of York or Marston Moor, where he did good service, was afterward taken Prisoner, but got free and having married a second Wife he returned to New England, the year before our Mother died, and not long after removed himself to New London near whereunto (viz) at Stonington he now liveth, having three sons John, William, and George, 4 or 5 daughters; his eldest son John is married, and hath children which are your cousins, and 3 of his daughters are married to STANTON, PALMER, and CHEESEBROOH, all living at present in the same town. ---"
          NEW ENGLAND HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL REGISTER, Vol.46, p.127-133,352-354; Ohler, Clara Paine, ANCESTORS and DESCENDANTS of CAPTAIN JOHN JAMES and ESTHER DENISON (1912), pp.149.

1672 -    The General Court, in 1672, ordered that Capt. John WINTHROP should be the "Chiefe military officer" for the county of New London, and Lt. James AVERY his second.

1673 -    Mrs. Anna CHESEBROUGH of Stonington made her will 19 March 1672/3.  She gave to her "two sons Samuel and Nathaniel yt land which was given to me by my husband upon his will yt my son Elisha should have had if he had outlived me," etc.  She also bequeathed to daughters Abigail and Hannah and grandson, William, son of Samuel.  The will was witnessed by Thomas STANTON, Sen. and James NOYES.  Richard Anson Wheeler, HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF STONINGTON (Reprinted 1977), pp.709-711.

1673 -    In 1673 the Dutch threatened the English colony of Connecticut, and each county was ordered to prepare for defense.  New London County was to add a hundred dragoons to her train-bands, and for "such forces shall be called out of that county, James AVERY appointed Captain."  John DENISON was appointed ensign of the company from Stonington.  Roberts, Eloise M., SOME COLONIAL FAMILIES (1926), p.3-9; Williams Haynes, STONINGTON CHRONOLOGY (1976), p.22.

1673 -    On 26 November 1673 the English declared war on the Dutch.  The Connecticut militia under Major Robert TREAT repulsed a Dutch raid upon the Long Island towns.

1673 -    Daniel MASON (1652-1736) married first, ca. 1673, to Margaret DENISON (1650-1676), daughter of Edward and Elizabeth (WELD) DENISON.  They had two sons:  Daniel MASON (1674-1705) m. 1704 Dorothy HOBART; and Hezekiah MASON (1677-1726) m. (1) 1699 Anne BINGHAM, m. (2) 1725 Sarah ROBINSON.
          In the Church Records of Roxbury is this entry: "8d. 12m. 1673.  Margaret MASON, daughter of sister DENISON, owned the covenant."  - NEW ENGLAND HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL REGISTER, Vol.XV (1861), p.119.

1673 -    Ebenezer GRIFFING, son of John and Lydia (SHATSWELL) GRIFFING, was born 26 October 1673 at Bradford, Massachusetts.

1674 -    The First Congregational Church (later called the Old Road Church) of Stonington, Connecticut was established, 3 June 1674, with nine members:  Rev. James NOYES, Thomas STANTON, Sr., Thomas STANTON, Jr., Nathaniel CHESEBROUGH, Thomas MINER and his son Ephraim MINER, the brothers Nehemiah and Moses PALMER, and Thomas WHEELER.  Thomas MINER was the first deacon.
          The Reverend James NOYES resided with the family of Thomas STANTON, Sr., until ordained 11 September 1674.  The following day Rev. NOYES married Miss Dorothy STANTON, daughter of Thomas and Ann (LORD) STANTON.  Rev. James NOYES was chaplain with Captain George DENISON's expedition that captured Canonchet, Chief sachem of the Narragansett Indians, April 1676. -   DENISON NEWSLETTER (The Denison Society, December 1987), No.82, p.4;  Williams Haynes, STONINGTON CHRONOLOGY (1976), p.22.

1674 -    In June 1674, Capt. John STANTON was elected Stonington Town clerk and held office till 1699.  Selectmen were Thomas STANTON, Sr., Nathaniel CHESEBROUGH, John GALLUP, Sr., Samuel MASON, and Nehemiah PALMER.

1674 -    Daniel MASON (1674-1705), son of Daniel and Margaret (DENISON) MASON, was born 26 Nov. 1674, at Stonington.  He married, 19 April 1704, to Dorothy HOBART, daughter of Rev. Jeremiah HOBART.  THE SECOND BOAT, v.4, p.13.

1674 -    Charles II signed a royal patent granting his brother, the Duke of York, not only New York, but most of New England as well.  This formed the basis of attempts to cancel earlier colonial charters and form royal provinces.  Sir Edmund ANDROS was appointed royal governor of New York and New England, with the authority to suppress all printing whenever he thought it advisable, name and change his council at will, and with their consent to levy taxes and control the militia.

1674 -    In the fall and winter of 1674/75 there were rumors in New England that PHILIP, son of Massassoit, was rallying New England Indians for an all-out attack against the English.

1675 -    In February 1675, JOSHUA, son of UNCAS the famous Mohegan sachem, by his last will, gave to Captain John MASON (a son of Major General MASON), together with the Rev. James FITCH, and twelve other "Joshua legatees," a large tract of land containing the town of Windham, from which the towns of Mansfield and Canterbury were also afterwards set off. -  Barber's CONNECTICUT HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS, art. Windham, p.443; Elias B. Sanford's A HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT (1888), p.137; Williams Haynes, STONINGTON CHRONOLOGY (1976), p.23.

1675 -    Thomas STANTON, John STANTON, and Capt. George DENISON were among those who presented a petition and protest to the General Assembly of Connecticut, on behalf of the town of Southertown (Stonington).  They protested against certain laws deemed by them unjust to their rights, peace and liberty.  For so doing, one of them, Capt. DENISON, was fined 10 pounds, and forbidden to hold office.  Another one, Mr. John STANTON, "the towne's agent, for management of his agency, is fined ten pounds for that boldness, to be paid at the latter end of summer, at Boston, in money or corn, according to order."  Meanwhile came the Indian uprising of King Philips War, and in May 1677, the fine, not yet paid, was revoked in recognition of the defendants' services in the war. -   Stanton, William A., THOMAS STANTON, OF CONNECTICUT, and HIS DESCENDANTS (1891), pp.136-137.

1675 -    On 18 February 1675, John STANTON was commissioned captain of one of the four Connecticut regiments in King Philip's War.  He was in command at the time of the capture of CANONCHET, the chief sachem of all the Narragansetts.  CANONCHET was shot for his refusal to make peace with the English. -   Stanton, William A., THOMAS STANTON, OF CONNECTICUT, and HIS DESCENDANTS (1891), p.135.

1675 -    On 5 May 1675, "young Samuel MASON was scalded to death." -  Williams Haynes, STONINGTON CHRONOLOGY (1976), p.23.

1675 -    In the early spring of 1775, King PHILIP's tribe, the Wampanoags, killed John SAUSAMAN, a Christian Indian, for betraying the plot of their chief against the colonists.  The assasin Indians were caught, tried and executed in Massachusetts.
          King PHILIP opened his war on 24 June 1675, by retaliating with a bloody massacre at Swansea, Rhode Island.

          On 28 June 1675, Lieutenants WETHERILL and AVERY met UNCAS at Preston Plain and secured his pledge of allegiance for himself and the Mohegans, Pequots, and Niantics.  The following day, troops from eastern Connecticut gathered at Stonington.

          Many of the residents of Connecticut and East Jersey refused to submit to the authority of the new Colonial Governor, and on 8 July 1675, Governor ANDROS appeared at Saybrook with an armed force, demanding Connecticut surrender to him as governor appointed by the Duke of York.  The following day, the Assembly at Hartford voiced official protest of this violation of the Colony's charter.  The protest was read to ANDROS at Saybrook, backed with the threat of armed resistance if he attempted to land or sail up the river.  On 11 July 1675 he withdrew to New York.

          On 15 July 1675, the Commissioners of the United Colonies negotiated a peace treaty with the Narragansett tribe which removed some danger to the settlers at Stonington, Connecticut; but during the summer, the Indians of other tribes attacked throughout Massachusetts and Rhode Island.  On 18 Sept 1675 the settlers at Deerfield, Massachusetts were massacred.  During the autumn the Naragansetts broke their pledge of peace, and the Indians concentrated their strength in Rhode Island and again threatened Eastern Connecticut.

1675 -    On 29 October 1675, under orders from the General Court, all homes in Stonington were fortified.  Captain James AVERY was put in command of 40 cavalry stationed at New London, and Capt. John MASON, Jr. commanded 20 English and Mohegans at Norwich.

1675 -    Thomas MINER recorded a huricane in his diary on 29 August 1675,--- "a greate storme of wind and high tides"--- pieces of a vessel were cast ashore at Poquatuck Beach; much loss of corn and hay; many trees blown down. -  Williams Haynes, STONINGTON CHRONOLOGY (1976), p.23.

          On 3 November 1675, Thomas MINER was appointed lieutenant of dragoons at Stonington.

1675 -    Capt. John AVERY of Groton, Connecticut, son of James AVERY, married 29 November 1675 to Abigail CHESEBROUGH, daughter of Samuel and Abigail (INGRAHAM) CHESEBROUGH.

1675 -    Capt. James AVERY, on 25 Nov. 1675, was appointed by the Council fifth in command of the united army which was to go against the Indians, and he commanded the soldiers of Lyme and Stonington, Conn. during the entire King Philip's War.  For his services Thomas AVERY had lot No. 10 of arable land and lot No. 154 of cedar swamp allotted to him in Voluntown.  Connecticut Colonial Records, v.2, p.386; Roberts, Eloise M., SOME COLONIAL FAMILIES (1926), p.7

1675 -    Capt. George DENISON was captain of the New London County Militia in King Philips war, with Capt. John MASON, Jr., under Major Robert TREAT, in the great swamp fight, 19 December 1675.  Captain John MASON, Jr., commander of the Pequot Indian allies,  died 18 September 1676, of wounds received in this battle.  Others who were lost in this battle included Thomas DAVENPORT (1645-1675) and Ebenezer DIBBLE (1641-1675).  THE SECOND BOAT, v.6, pp.7-8.

1675 -    Ebenezer DIBBLE (1641-1675) was killed 19 December 1675 "in the Great Swamp Fight" in King Phillip's War.  Both New Haven and Windsor arranged for the care of the widow and small children.  His inventory of estate and bond were filed 11 Feb. 1676.  David STONE (1646-1737) also participated in this battle against the Indians.  Mary (WAKEFIELD) DIBBLE, widow of Ebenezer DIBBLE married second to James HILLIER.

1676 -    On 2 February 1676, Thos. STANTON and others pledged $25 in support of a blacksmith to be set up on two lots at Quiambaug offered by James DEAN of Taunton.

1676 -    Capt. George DENISON commanded the forces raised by him as provo-marshal, who pursued the remnant of the Narragansett and Wampanaug Indians, and succeeded in defeating them and capturing the Indian chief, CANONCHET, who was brought to Stonington and was shot because of his refusal to make peace with the English.  Ohler, Clara Paine, ANCESTORS and DESCENDANTS of CAPTAIN JOHN JAMES and ESTHER DENISON (1912), pp.157; DENISON NEWSLETTER (The Denison Society, Mystic, Connecticut, December 1987), No.82, p.4; Benton, Charles E., EZRA REED AND ESTHER EDGERTON, Their Life and Ancestry (1912), p.48.

1676 -    The Narragansetts refused the demand of unconditional surrender during February, and attacked Lancaster and Medford, Mass. In the spring the war moved again to Western Massachusetts and the Connecticut River towns.
          On 16 February 1676, under Capt. George DENISON, Provost Marshall of New London County, with James AVERY, Thomas MINER and John STANTON as his lieutenants, some 40 New London Co. volunteers with their Mohegan and Pequot allies raided the Narragansett country killing 7 and capturing 13.
          On 3 March a second punitive expedition was carried out against the Indians in Rhode Island under Captain DENISON.
          On 27 March a third expedition led by Capt. DENISON, Lts. AVERY and MINER, left Norwich, returning 10 April.  On this campaign CANONCHET, the Narragansett Chief was captured and brought to a council at Anguilla Plain.  He bravely refused to submit to surrender to the English, and when told that he must die, he replied, "I like it well that I should die before my heart has grown soft and I have said anything unworthy of myself."  He was executed in the Indian fashion by ONEKO and two other Pequot sachems closest to his rank among his captors.
          On 12 August 1676, King PHILIP was killed by Massachusetts troops near Mt. Hope, Rhode Island, ending the war during which 13 towns had been destroyed, over 600 homes burned, and about 750 English men, women and children killed.
          Practically every able-bodied man in the town of Stonington participated in the various campaigns during King Philip's War.  A list prepared by a committee for purpose of securing land grants for war services includes the names:  Capt. Geo DENISON and his sons, George Jr., William, and John; Capt. John STANTON and his brothers, Samuel, Daniel, and Joseph; Lieut. Thomas MINER and his sons Ephraim, Joseph, Manasseh, and Samuel; Capt. John GALLUP; Capt. Samuel MASON; Rev. James NOYES; Gershom PALMER; Nathaniel CHESEBROUGH; et.al.  -  Williams Haynes, STONINGTON CHRONOLOGY (1976), p.23.

1676 -    On 14 August 1676, Thomas MINER had six sheep killed by a wolf.

1676 -    On 16 September 1676, Captain John MASON, Jr. died in New London from wounds received in the Great Swamp Fight.

1677 -    Thomas STANTON (ca.1616-1676) died 2 December 1676/7 at Stonington, Conn.  He is buried in the Old Wequetoquock Burial Ground between Stonington and Westerly, Connecticut.

          The Woquetequock Burial Ground Association in Stonington, Connecticut, on 31 August 1899, dedicated a monument which had been erected as a memorial to the first four settlers of Waquetequock --- William CHESEBROUGH, Thomas MINOR, Walter PALMER and Thomas STANTON.  Each side of the monument carries an epitaph, above which has been carved a coat of arms.  The STANTON epitaph reads as follows:

                               THOMAS STANTON
             INTERPRETER GENERAL FOR THE  NEW ENGLAND COLONIES,
                      DIED DEC. 2, 1677, AGED 62 YEARS.
            HE CAME FROM ENGLAND IN 1635, WAS OF BOSTON IN 1636,
                    HARTFORD 1637, AND STONINGTON IN 1650.
              WAS MARSHALL OF THE COLONY, COUNTY COMMISSIONER,
                  MEMBER OF THE GENERAL COURT AND ONE OF THE
                 FOUNDERS OF THE FIRST CHURCH IN STONINGTON,
         A MAN OF WIDESPREAD AND LASTING IMPORTANCE TO THE COLONIES,
            AND IDENTIFIED WITH NEARLY EVERY TRANSACTION BETWEEN
           THE NATIVES AND COLONISTS UP TO THE YEAR OF HIS DEATH.

          The STANTON motto:  "In God we trust.  Moderate acquisitions are lasting."

1677 -    On 2 June 1677, Thomas MINER bought from Ralph PARKER of New London, 14 lbs. cotton wool and 1 qt. rum for $6.25 to be paid in butter.

1677 -    Joseph STANTON (1647-1714), son of Thomas and Ann (LORD) STANTON, married 23 August 1677, as his second wife, Hannah LORD.

1677 -    Thomas AVERY (1651-1736) of Montville, son of James and Joanna (GREENSLADE) AVERY, married 22 October 1677 at Stonington, Connecticut to Hannah MINOR (1655-1692), daughter of Lieut. Thomas and Grace (PALMER) MINER.  They had children:  Thomas AVERY, Jr. married 1704 Ann SHAPLEY; Samuel AVERY (1680-1750) m. 1702 Elizabeth, dau. Jonathan RANSFORD; Ephraim AVERY m. Abigail MASON, dau. of Daniel MASON; Hannah AVERY; and Abraham AVERY.  Avery, Elroy Mckendree, et.al., THE GROTON AVERY CLAN (1912), p.103-4; Wurts' MAGNA CHARTA, v.5, pp.1368-9.

1677 -    "This present writing witnesseth to all it doe or may concerne that I, James AVERY of the county of New London, in ye Collony of Connecticott for divers good reasons and considerations known to myself and with my wife Joane AVERY's consent fully give to my sonn Thomas AVERY and his wife Hannah AVERY my whole right of my parcell of land that I bought of Amos RICHARDSON of Stonington be it more or less which formerly was laide out and bounded to Mr. Obadiah BRUEN of New London and also thirtie acres of upland upon Poquanys Plaine as it was formerly bounded to me from the swamp to the river, moreover one halfe of one hundred acres of upland and meadow as it was carried out and bounded and recorded to me at Pachauge next to Mr. Thomas STANTON, sen., his land.  Also a piece of land joyning to Mr. Nehemiah SMITH his playne lying betwixt Nehemiah SMITHS land and ye common I say all and every of these tracts and parcels of Land I doe give grant pass over alyeanate and confirm all my whole right and title to my sonn Thomas AVERY and his wife Hannah AVERY with all the privileges and appurtenances to them belonging to them their heirs, executors and assigns forever to have and to hold possess and enjoy --- for their best advantage provided that if either he or she shall have occasion to sell any one or more of these particular tracts or parcells of land they shall first make tender of it to the said Thomas AVERY's Brothers and if the accept of the profer to give a rational price for it to sell it to no other person I doe hereby bind my other sonnes to make him or her the like tender upon the same terms and to the true performance of and to every particular hereof we set our hands and seals this 26th of December, 1677.  [signed] James AVERY, Joane AVERY."  Witnessed in the presence of William MEAD and John AVERY.   New London Deeds; Avery, Elroy Mckendree, et.al., THE GROTON AVERY CLAN (1912), p.104-5.

1677 -    Thomas MINOR and Grace his wife, deeded on 17 December 1677, 150 acres of land to their daughter Hannah and her husband Thomas AVERY.  Witnessed were James NOYES and Samuel AVERY.  New London Deeds, Bk.5, p.34; Avery, Elroy Mckendree, et.al., THE GROTON AVERY CLAN (1912), p.105.

1677c -   Samuel MINER, born 1652, son of Thomas and Grace (PALMER) MINER, married, ca. 1677, to Maria LORD.

1677 -    Thomas MINOR and Grace his wife, deeded 17 Dec. 1677, 150 acres of land to their daughter Hannah and her husband, Thomas AVERY.  Witnessed were James NOYES and Samuel AVERY.  New London Deeds, Bk.5, p.34; Avery, Elroy Mckendree, et.al., THE GROTON AVERY CLAN (1912), p.105.

1678 -    Thomas STANTON, Jr. and John DENISON took the oath as grand jurors on 7 January 1678.

1678 -    Thomas AVERY's new house at Stonington was raised on 23 March 1678.

1678 -    A treaty of peace was negotiated with the Narragansetts on 2 April 1678.

1678 -    On 13 May 1678, Captain James AVERY was appointed by the Court to be one of a Committee to secure suitable land for the Indians.  Roberts, Eloise M., SOME COLONIAL FAMILIES (1926), p.3-9.

1678 -    Samuel MASON, in 1678, served on a committee in New London, Connecticut to set up a County Latin School.

1678 -    Obedience (TOPLIFFE) COPP, first wife of David COPP, died 30 May 1678 at Boston, Massachusetts.  David COPP married second to Amy --?--.

1678 -    Charles HILL, widower of Ruth (BREWSTER) PICKET (Daughter of Jonathan BREWSTER), married secondly, at New London, Conn., 12 June 1678, to Rachel MASON, daughter of John and Anne (PECK) MASON.  As town clerk of New London, Connecticut, Charles HILL made this record:  "Christopher AVERY's death, vide near the death of Mother BREWSTER."   Lucretia (OLDHAM) BREWSTER, widow of Jonathan BREWSTER, died 4 March 1678/9.

1678 -    Thomas MINOR's diary records that Christopher AVERY was buried March 12, 1679.  Avery, Elroy Mckendree, et.al., THE GROTON AVERY CLAN (1912), p.42.

1678 -    Nathaniel CHESEBROUGH (1630-1678) died 22 November 1678 at Stonington, Connecticut.  His widow, Hannah (DENISON) CHESEBROUGH, married second, 15 July 1680, to Capt. Joseph SAXTUN.  Wildley, Anna Chesebrough, GENEALOGY of the DESCENDANTS of WILLIAM CHESEBROUGH (1903).

1679 -    Reverend Peter HOBART died 20 January 1679 at Hingham, Plymouth Co., Massachusetts.  His widow, Rebecca (PECK) HOBART, died 9 Sept. 1692 at Hingham.

1679 -    Thomas AVERY, son of Thomas and Hannah (MINER) AVERY, was born 20 April 1679 at Groton, New London Co., Connecticut and baptized 29 June 1679 at the First Church of New London.  He married 12 July 1704 to Ann SHAPELY, daughter of Benjamin and Mary (PICKET) SHAPELEIGH.

1679 -    Lieutenant James AVERY died, 22 August 1679, and was buried in the west burying ground at Poquonnock. -  Williams Haynes, STONINGTON CHRONOLOGY (1976), p.24.

1679 -    Daniel MASON (1652-1736) was a school-master at Norwich, Connecticut when he married (2nd) 10 October 1679, at Norwich, to Rebecca HOBART (1654-1727), daughter of Reverend Peter and Rebecca (PECK) HOBART of Hingham.  They had children:  Peter MASON m. 1703 Mary HOBART; Rebecca MASON m. 1707 Elisha CHEESEBORO; Margaret MASON; Samuel MASON m. (1) 1712 Elizabeth FITCH, m. (2) Rebecca LIPPINCOT; Abigail MASON m. Ephraim AVERY, son of Thomas AVERY; Priscilla MASON; and Nehemiah MASON (1693-1768) m. 1722 Zerviah STANTON. -   William Montgomery Clemens, AMERICAN MARRIAGES BEFORE 1699 (1926), p.149; AMERICAN GENEALOGIST, Vol.26, pp.84-87,94-95; Caulkins, Frances Manwaring, HISTORY OF NORWICH (1866), pp.140-148; NEW ENGLAND HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL REGISTER, Vol.XV (1861), p.119; L. Smith Hobart, WILLIAM HOBART, HIS ANCESTORS AND DESCENDANTS (1886), p.51; Dorothy M. Titus, HOBART FAMILY IN AMERICA (1943), p.7; Wheeler, Richard Anson, HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF STONINGTON, CONNECTICUT, pp.460-465.
          Daniel MASON was the next to youngest of John MASON's seven children.  He was quartermaster in the New London Company A Troop of Dragoons and was later promoted to rank of captain.  He inherited the eastern part of his father's acreage on the mainland, Andrew's Island and Enders Island.  Samuel MASON received the western half of the mainland and the eastern half of Mason's Island.  John MASON, Jr. got the western half of Mason's Island.  - Eleanor B. READ, MYSTIC MEMORIES (1980), p.3-4.

1679 -    John GRIFFING was "pressed for the country's service" in 1679.

1680 -    "John GRIFFING was still deputy marshal and a selectman of Bradford in 1680 and in 1681 was a member of the committee to settle Rev. Zachariah SYMMES in the pastorate of Bradford church.  His last years were troubled by debts and the resulting suits and attachments." -    Davis, Walter Goodwin, THE ANCESTRY OF ANNIS SPEAR (1945), pp.145-148.

1680 -    Thomas HUCKINS (1651-1714), son of Thomas and Rose HUCKINS, married first 1 May 1680 to Hannah, daughter of John and Hope (HOWLAND) CHIPMAN.  Mardenna J. Hunter, THE FAMILY OF JOHN HOWLAND, MAYFLOWER PASSENGER - FIVE GENERATIONS (1970), p.66.

1680 -    Samuel STANTON, son of Thomas and Anne (LORD) STANTON, married 16 June 1680 to Borodell DENISON, dau. of George and Ann (BORODELL) DENISON.

1680 -    Jonathan SINGLTARY, aged forty nine or thereabouts made oath, 1 July 1680, that he wrote the will of Theophilus SHATSWELL at his desire and saw him sign it.

1680 -    Captain Joseph SAXTON (1656-1715), son of Thomas and Ann (COPP) SAXTON, married, 22 July 1680, to Hannah (DENISON) CHESEBROUGH, daughter of George and Bridget (THOMPSON) DENISON and widow of Nathaniel CHESEBROUGH.  They settled at Stonington, and he was to become a pioneer in the West Indies Trade.  SAXTON entered into a marriage cotract with the widow CHESEBROUGH and overseers Capt. George DENISON and Mr. Nehemiah PALMER.  Samuel STANTON and Daniel STANTON were witnesses.  -  NEW YORK GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY RECORD (Oct. 1931), v.62, pp.338-354;  Richard Anson Wheeler, HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF STONINGTON (Reprinted 1977), p.724-725.

1680 -    Thomas MINER visited "the sick folk towards Pawcatuck" on 31 August 1680.

1680 -    David COPP, in 1880, posted bond for Samuel WILSON, as security against his becoming a public charge.

1681 -    In 1681, Daniel STANTON, Alex PYGAN and Samuel ROGERS had a 41 foot sloop "Alexander and Martha" built on the Mystic River by Joseph WELLS.

1681 -    Thomas AVERY was made a freeman of New London on 12 May 1681.

1681 -    Jonathan, 22 year old son of James AVERY, was buried 15 September 1681.

1681 -    On 29 October 1681, Thomas MINER sold to Stephen RICHARDSON, 8 bbls. of cider at 14s. per bbl. "to be paid in money the following spring."

1682 -    William THOMPSON, brother of Anthony THOMPSON, in his will dated 6 October 1682, mentions Anthony THOMPSON's daughter, "Ann STAUNTON," who was, evidently, the daughter baptized as Hannah on 8 June 1645, and who married, 1664, John STANTON.

1682 -    The last entry of accessions to the church of New London during Mr. BRADSTREET's ministry reads: "Sept. 10, 1682, Thomas AVERY and wife were added to the Church."

1683 -    Haniell BOSWORTH of Ipswich petitioned the court at Ipswich, 10 April 1683, as administrator of the estate of Theophilus SHATSWELL and guardian of Abiall MESSER [MERCIER] of Haverhill.  He requested that the estate be settled on the said Abiall according to the will of Theophilus SHATSWELL of Haverhill, his grandfather, and also that Isarell ELA be appointed guardian and administrator in his place.  He also states that he has received but one small warming pan and three "smale puter platers, the rest of the moveables John GRIFIN had and hath not yet given account of."

1683 -    The following entry is on the books of the county court of New London, Connecticut, November 24, 1683:  "Capt. James AVERY appearing in this Court and there declaring himself the only sonn and heir of his Father Mr. Christopher AVERY deceased and that there was neither sonn or daughter but himself was sole heir and he desiring this court would so constitute him and give him power of administration upon the said estate of his father deceased.  This Court having duly considered what hath been alleged do approve of the same and judge the said Capt. James AVERY to be the right and full heir to the said estate and do give him power of administrator to the estate of Mr. Christopher Avery his deceased father.
                    Attest Charles HILL, Rec."

1684 -    In June 1684, the old church and watch tower of the wilderness was sold to Captain James AVERY for six pounds.  He had the building taken down and moved by river and sound to his estate, the "Hive of the Averys."  Here services were held, Captain James sometimes occupying the pulpit himself when no preacher was present.  Roberts, Eloise M., SOME COLONIAL FAMILIES (1926), p.3-9.

       (Note:  John D. ROCKEFELLER, a descendant of Capt. James AVERY through his son Samuel AVERY, had a bronze memorial tablet erected in Avery Memorial Park on the site of his ancestors' home, "The Hive of the Averys.")  Roberts, Eloise M., SOME COLONIAL FAMILIES (1926), p.3-9.

1685 -    Thomas AVERY received his share of his grandfather's estate by deed from his father, James AVERY, 1 April 1685, and three weeks later sold it to his brother, Samuel AVERY.  He also owned other land in New London.  Avery, Elroy Mckendree, et.al., THE GROTON AVERY CLAN (1912), p.105.

1685 -    David COPP, in 1685, posted bond for David Jones, shoemaker (perhaps and employee), as security against his becoming a public charge.

1686c -   Samuel AVERY (1664-1723), youngest son of James and Joanna (GREENSLADE) AVERY, married, ca.1686, Susannah PALMER.

1686 -    William DENISON (1655-1715), son of Capt. George and Ann (BORODELL) DENISON, married, May 1686, Sarah (STANTON) PRENTICE, widow of Thomas PRENTICE, Jr. and daughter of Thomas and Anne (LORD) STANTON.  They had children:  William DENISON m. Mercy GALLUP and Sarah DENISON m. Benjamin AVERY.  -  Stanton, William A., THOMAS STANTON, OF CONNECTICUT, and HIS DESCENDANTS (1891), pp.74-76.

1686 -    Samuel CHIPMAN, son of John and Hope (HOWLAND) CHIPMAN, married 27 Dec. 1686 to Sarah COBB.  They had children:  Thomas CHIPMAN married at Stonington, Conn., Abigail LOTHROP; John CHIPMAN m. Rebecca HALE - had 15 children; Samuel CHIPMAN m. Abiah HINCKLEY; Abigail; Barnabas CHIPMAN m. Elizabeth HAMBLEN; Hannah; Jacob CHIPMAN m. Abigail FULLER; Seth CHIPMAN m. Priscilla BRADFORD.  Mardenna J. Hunter, THE FAMILY OF JOHN HOWLAND, MAYFLOWER PASSENGER - FIVE GENERATIONS (1970), p.66.

1687 -    Thomas CHIPMAN, son of Samuel and Sarah (COBB) CHIPMAN, was born at Barnstable, Mass., 17 Nov. 1687.  THE MAYFLOWER QUARTERLY, v.48, No.1, p.6.

1688 -    Anne (LORD) STANTON died at Stonington, Connecticut, 4 Sept. 1688.

1689 -    Elder David COPP, in 1689, purchased, from Joseph OSBORN of east Hampton, L.I., property in Boston, on Prince St. "leading from the North meeting house toward Center Haven."  - Suffolk Deeds, Liber 22, p.2; NEW YORK GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY RECORD (Oct. 1931), v.62, pp.346.

1690 -    Thomas AVERY participated in the ill-fated Fitz-John Winthrop expedition of 1690 which was to advance from Albany by way of Lake Champlain to Montreal.  In his WINTHROP's diary, under the date of 4 August 1690, is recorded the following:  "I consulted with the officers and twas concluded to march forwards, and then divided our provision, which was about 35 cakes of bread for each souldr. besides pork, which was scarce eatable.  At this post (Saratoga) I left Lieut. Tho. AVERY with some souldrs to guard our provision to us which was coming up the river."  THE WINTHROP PAPERS, MASSACHUSETTS HIST. COL., 5TH SERIES, V.8, P.314; Avery, Elroy Mckendree, et.al., THE GROTON AVERY CLAN (1912), p.106-7.  For an account of Winthrop's Expedition see also, Avery's HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES and ITS PEOPLE, v.3, pp.263-4.

1690 -    Jonathan COPP (1665-1746), son of David and Obedience (TOPLIFFE) COPP, married, 18 August 1690, Catherine LAY (1671-1761), dau. of John and Sarah LAY.  Jonathan and Catherine COPP had children:  Katherine (1692-1742) m.1720 Thomas EDGECOMB; Jonathan COPP, Jr. (1694-1772) married 1721 (1) Margaret STANTON and m.1742 (2) Mrs. Sarah (DENNIS) HOBART; Obedience COPP m.1721 Stephen BELDING; Mary COPP m. John MASON, Jr.; Sarah COPP (1700-1710); David COPP (1702-1751) m. Mrs. Dorothy (DENISON) ROGERS; Samuel COPP (1705-1774) m.1745 Elizabeth LEFFINGWELL; Amy COPP m. John VIBBER; John COPP (1709-1784) m.1744 Isabel DIXON; and Sarah COPP m. Abraham AVERY. -   NEW YORK GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY RECORD (Oct. 1931), v.62, pp.338-354.  See also:  Henry A. Baker's HISTORY OF MONTVILLE, CONN.; Richard A. Wheeler's HISTORY OF THE FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF STONINGTON; George F. Daniels' HISTORY OF OXFORD, MASS.; Waldo Lincoln's GENEALOGY OF THE WALDO FAMILY.

1690 -    Thomas MINER died, 23 October 1690, at Stonington, Connecticut.  His wife, Grace (PALMER) MINER, died the same year.  They are buried in the Old Wequetoquock Burial Grounds at Stonington.  The grave stone inscription reads:  "Here lyeth ye body of Lieut. Thomas Miner aged 83 departed 1690."  Gardner, Phebe Elizabeth Miner, OUR ANCESTORS (1901), pp.9-15, passim;  Stonington Historical Society, STONINGTON GRAVEYARDS (1980), p.20.

1691 -    Daniel MASON, Fergus McDOWELL, Gershom PALMER, Robert STANTON, and James DEAN were elected selectmen in the town of Stonington in 1691, and the representative in the Assembly was Nehemiah PALMER.

1691 -    On 26 October 1691, New London paid bounties on 24 wolves killed.  Nine of them were by Lt. James AVERY of Groton.

1692 -    Hannah (MINER) AVERY, wife of Thomas AVERY, Sr., died in 1692.  He married (2nd) 13 March 1693, at Wethersfield, to the widow, Mrs. Hannah (RAYMOND) BULKLEY, dau. of Joshua and Elizabeth (SMITH) RAYMOND and widow of Dr. Charles BULKLEY.  They had children:  Joshua; Mary; Elizabeth; Jonathan; Charles; Isaac; and Peter AVERY.

1692 -    Hannah (MINER) AVERY, wife of Thomas AVERY, Sr., died in 1692.

1692 -    Capt. George DENISON, Nehemiah PALMER, William BILLINGS, Sr., Ephraim MINER, and John GALLUP were elected selectmen in Stonington in 1692.

1692 -    William THOMPSON, son of John and Hannah (BREWSTER) THOMPSON, married 7 December 1692 to Bridget CHESEBROUGH (1669-1720), dau. of Nathaniel and Hannah (DENISON) CHESEBROUGH.

1693 -    Thomas AVERY, Sr. married second, 13 March 1693, at Wethersfield, to the widow, Mrs. Hannah (RAYMOND) BULKLEY, dau. of Joshua and Elizabeth (SMITH) RAYMOND and widow of Dr. Charles BULKLEY.  They had children:  Joshua; Mary; Elizabeth; Jonathan; Charles; Isaac; and Peter AVERY.

1693 -    Thomas AVERY was commissioned captain of the train band on the east side of the river, New London, in May 1693.  In 1694 he was deputy to the General Court.

1693 -    Nehemiah MASON (1693-1768), son of Daniel and Rebecca (HOBART) MASON, was born 24 November 1693 at Stonington, Conn.  He married, 9 January 1722, at Stonington to Zerviah STANTON, dau. of Joseph and Margaret (CHESEBORO) STANTON. -  NEW ENGLAND HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL REGISTER, Vol.XV (1861), p.218.

1693 -    Capt. George DENISON of New London made his will on 24 January 1693/4.  He named wife, Ann; eldest son John; son William; son George; eldest daughter Sarah STANTON; dau. Hannah SAXTON; dau. Ann PALMER; dau. Margaret BROWN; dau. Borrodel STANTON; grandsons George, John Robert, Daniel and William DENISON, sons of John DENISON; grandson George PALMER; son-in-law Gershom PALMER; et.al.  Richard Anson Wheeler, HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF STONINGTON (Reprinted 1977), p.711-714.

1694 -    Deacon Nehemiah PALMER, Thomas STANTON, Jos. MINER, John DENISON, and Isaac WHEELER were elected selectmen in the town of Stonington in 1694.  Nehemiah PALMER and George DENISON (and after his death his son, John) repesented the town in the Assembly.

1694 -    Jonathan COPP, Jr., son of Jonathan and Catherine (LAY) COPP, was born, 12 June 1694, at Stonington, New London, Connecticut; died there 9 December 1772; married (1) 28 Dec. 1721 Margaret STANTON; married (2) 30 June 1742 Mrs. Sarah (DENNIS) HOBART.

1694 -    George DENISON, age 74, died 24 October 1694.  His last illness and death occurred while attending the General Court at Hartford, Connecticut.  Owing to the bad condition of the roads at that time, it was impossible to convey the remains to his home for burial, a distance of forty-four miles, and he was buried in the cemetery back of the old Center church at Hartford.  His widow, Ann (BORODELL) DENISON, died 26 Sept. 1712, aged 97 years; and she is buried in Elm Grove cemetery, Mystic, Connecticut.  Ohler, Clara Paine, ANCESTORS and DESCENDANTS of CAPTAIN JOHN JAMES and ESTHER DENISON (1912), pp.146-160.

1694 -    The Jews opened their first house of worship at Newport, Rhode Island in 1694.

1696 -    Joseph STANTON (1668-1751), son of Capt. John and Hannah (THOMPSON) STANTON, married 18 July 1696, to Margaret CHESEBROUGH, bap. 15 April 1677, dau. of Nathaniel and Hannah (DENISON) CHESEBROUGH.  They lived in Stonington on the Stanton homestead farm which he inherited from his father.  They had children:  Hannah STANTON (1698-1747) m.1721 William MORGAN, Jr.; Margaret STANTON (1701-1740), m. 1721 Jonathan COPP; Zerviah STANTON (1704-1771) m. Nehemiah MASON; Sarah STANTON (1706-1787) m. William HALSEY; Anna STANTON (1708-1759) m. 1732 John AVERY; Dorothy STANTON (1710-1714); Joseph STANTON (1712-1773) m. 1735 Anna WHEELER; John STANTON (b.1714) m. 1737 Prudence CHESEBROUGH; and Nathaniel STANTON (b.1716) m. 1738 Mary COIT.  Wildley, Anna Chesebrough, GENEALOGY of the DESCENDANTS of WILLIAM CHESEBROUGH (1903), p.304; Stanton, William A., THOMAS STANTON, OF CONNECTICUT, and HIS DESCENDANTS (1891), p.138; Cutter, William Richard, et.al., GENEALOGICAL AND FAMILY HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, pp.1225-1227,1387.

1698 -    Captain James AVERY (ca.1620-1700) married second, 4 July 1698, to Abigail (INGRAHAM) CHESEBROUGH HOLMES, widow of Samuel CHESEBROUGH and Joshua HOLMES.

1698 -    Ebenezer GRIFFING came to New London, Connecticut in 1698 and lived there until his death in 1723.