HISTORY of
THE COLONY OF NEW HAVEN
To its absorption into
CONNECTICUT

by Edward E. Atwater
with Supplementary History and Personnel of the
Towns of Branford, Guilford, Milford,
Stratford, Norwalk, Southold, etc.

compiled by Robert Atwater Smith
assisted by Bessie E. Beach and Lucy M. Hewitt

Meriden, Conn.
The Journal Publishing Company
1902

GUILFORD - PERSONAL SKETCHES

[Transcribed by Coralynn Brown]

It is stated in the John Stone Family Genealogy that the first ship, the St. John, commanded by Captain Russell, sailed from England on May 20, 1639, and arrived at New Haven between July 10th and 15th, 1639. The list of persons (in alphabetical order) who are believed to have come in this ship and to have settled, with few exceptions, in Guilford is as follows: John Bishop, Francis Bushnell, Francis Chatfield, William Chitteden, Thomas Cook, Abraham Cruttenden, Henry Dowd, William Dudley, Richard Gutridge, John Hoadley, William Hall, John Hughes, John Jordan, Thomas Jones, Henry Kingsnorth, Robert Kitchell, William Leete, John Mepham, William Plane, John Parmelin, Thomas Nash, Thomas Norton, John Stone, William Stone, Rev. Henry Whitfield. The names of the Guilford settlers that came to New Haven in the second ship in July, 1639, are believed to be as follows: Francis Austin, George Bartlett, Edward Benton, Samuel Blachley, William Boreman, Richard Bristow, Alexander Chalker, John Caffinch, rem. to N.H., Samuel Desborough, Thomas Dunk, Thomas French, George Highland, John Johnson, John Linsley, Thomas Mills, Thomas Reif, John Scranton, John Sheader or Sheather, Jacob Sheafe, William Somers, John Stevens, Edward Seward, Jasper Stillwell, Benjamin Wright. Of the forty-eight planters in the lists of 1650 and 1652, those not mentioned in the alphabetical lists are as follows: Stephen Bishop, Thomas Betts, Thomas Chatfield, George Chatfield, Abraham Cruttenden Jr., John Evarts, John Fowler, Rev. John Higginson, Richard Hughes, George Hubbard, Thomas Jordan, John Parmelin Jr., Thomas Stevens. Lieut. GEORGE BARTLETT (16__-1669) came in the second ship to New Haven in 1649. He removed from Guilford to Branford and died there August 3, 1669, and his widow died there the next month. He married Sept. 14, 1650, Mary Cruttenden (b. 163_ - 1683) and Mary ____ (16__-1664). They had seven or more children. JOHN BISHOP came in the first ship (St. John) that came direct from England to New Haven. He died in Guilford before January 7, 1661, when his inventory was taken. His widow Ann survived him, and her will was probated in Hartford, June, 1676. He had three or more children. The sons, John (16__-1683) and Stephen (16__-1690), lived and died in Guilford, and both had large sized families. EDWARD BENTON came in the second ship (____), which came to New Haven direct from England. He lived in Hartford in 1659, but was again in Guilford in 1669. He died Oct. 28, 1680. His wife Ann (16__-1671) had ten or more children. THOMAS BETTS (1616-1688) removed from Milford to Guilford before 1650. After 1658 he was in Milford, and in 1664 in Norwalk, where he died. He had nine or more children. Five sons are recorded as proprietors in Norwalk in 1694. SAMUEL BLACHLEY (or Blakealey) came in the second ship to New Haven. He married, Dec. 5, 1650, Hannah Potter. WILLIAM BOREMAN probably came in the second ship to New Haven. No information concerning him is found in Savage's Genealogical Dictionary. FRANCIS BUSHNELL (16__-1646) and wife Rebecca had some six children, four of them being born in England. His daughter Sarah (1625-1688) married Rev. John Hoadley (16__-1693), returned to England with her husband, and died at Rolvenden, Kent, July 28, 1668. He was ancestor of David Bushnell who in the time of the war of the American Revolution invented the first submarine boat and submarine torpedo, the "American Turtle", also Cornelius S. Bushnell (1829-1896) of New Haven, Conn., who after a great deal of work succeeded in inducing President Lincoln to order the contract to be made for Ericason's "Monitor," and was very prominent in preparing the ways and means for its construction. ALEXANDER CHALKER (16__-167_) married, Sept. 29, 1649, Catherine Post (16__-168_), daughter of Stephen Post (15__-1658) of Saybrook. He removed to Saybrook where he had some seven or more children. He died before 1673, as his widow was married Sept. 25, 1673, to John Hill. FRANCIS CHATFIELD is believed to have died without wife or children. George Chatfield, his brother, lived in Guilford with his wife, Sarah Bishop, daughter of John Bishop. She died Sept. 20, 1657. No children survived her. He married March 19, 1658, Isabel Nettleton, daughter of Samuel Nettleton. She had three or more children. He removed to Killingworth in 1663, and died there June 7, 1671. THOMAS CHATFIELD removed to New Haven. Thre he married Ann Higginson, daughter of Rev. Francis Higginson. He removed to East Hampton, Long Island, which was then under the jurisdiction of New Haven Colony, and died there without leaving any descendants. Major WILLIAM CHITTENDEN (1593-1661) and wife, Joan Sheaffe (16__-1668), came to New Haven from East Guilford, County Sussex, England. He had nine children, and was lieutenant and magistrate in Guilford. THOMAS COOKE (16__, 1692) signed the agreement on board the St. John on June 1, 1639. He had two children, Thomas and Sarah. Sarah married Thomas Hall of Guilford. He married March 30, 1668, for second wife, Hannah Lindon, who died July 7, 1676, and he died Dec. 1, 1692. Deacon ABRAHAM CRUTTENDEN (1610-1683) one of the signers of the "Covenant" of June 1, 1639, with wife Mary (16__-1664) and some four children, arrived in New Haven and Guilford in 1639. He had three more children in Guilford. On May 31, 1665 he married Mrs. Johanna (_____) Chttenden (16__-1668), the widow of William Chittenden. A large number of his descendants are to be found at the present time, as all of his seven children were married, and with perhaps one exception, all had children. SAMUEL DESBOROUGH (16__-1690) who probably came to New Haven in the second ship, returned to England with his family in the autumn of 1650, with his minister, Rev. Henry Whitfield, and died in England Dec. 10, 1690, at his family estate of Elsworth, Cambridge. WILLIAM DUDLEY married in 1636 at Oakeley in Surrey, England, Jane Lutman (d. May 1, 1674). i.e. had five or more children, and died in Guilford March 5, 1684. Among other descendants is the Hon. Wm. W. Dudley of Indiana, Commissioner of Pensions 1881-1884. HENRY DOWD one of the signers of the compact of June 1, 1639, died or was buried Aug.31, 1668. Probably with his wife Elizabeth (16_-1683) there were also brought over from England some of his eight children, for the last birth recorded by Savage is in 1653. In 1680 all but two of the children were living. JOHN EVARTS (16__-1669) was a freeman in Concord in March 1638. Probably some of his children were born in England. He removed to Guilford about 1650. There his wife, the mother of his children, died, and he married Mrs. Elizabeth Parmelee, the widow of John Parmelee. His sons, John, Judah, Daniel and heirs of James were proprietors in Guilford in 1685. A daughter Elizabeth married Peter Abbott of Fairfield and was killed by her husband, who also attempted to kill his only child Hannah. Although undoubtedly insane, he was executed Oct. 16, 1667. Deacon JOHN FOWLER (16__-1677) with his father-in-law, George Hubbard (16__-1683), removed from Milford to Guilford about 1649. He died in May, 1677. His wife, Mary Hubbard, died April 13, 1713. Of his six or more chldren, three daughters died young, and the fourth, Mehitable, died in 1751, unmarried, aged 95 years. The name has been transmitted through the two sons, Abraham and John. THOMAS FRENCH was in Charlestown in 1638. He removed to Guilford in 1650 or before. Of several children only Ebenezer and John lived to middle age. A daughter Mary married, Sept. 14, 1665, John Evarts, and died in a few years. RICHARD GUTRIDGE (Savage changes the name to Goodrich) was one of the signeres of the compact of June 1, 1639. Nothing more concerning him is found in the Genealogical Dictionary. In the History of Guilford it is stated that he died May 7, 1676. Rev. JOHN HIGGINSON (1616-1708) son of Rev. Francis Higginson (1587-1629) of Salem, Mass., came from Saybrook in 1641 to Guilford, where he married, 165_, Sarah Whitfield, daughter of Rev. Henry Whitfield (1697-165_), by whom he had several children. He was a colleague of Rev. Henry Whitfield. In 1659 he was in Salem and about to take a ship for England when he was induced to remain at Salem and become their pastor, and at which place he died Dec. 9, 1708. He married, 1676, Mrs. Mary (Blackman) Atwater(1635-1709), widow of Joshua Atwater (1612-1676), a merchant of Boston. GEORGE HIGHLAND (or Hyland) perhaps came in the second ship to New Haven in July, 1639. He died Jan. 21, 1692. He had four daughters. Two of them married Halls, one of whom had a son Highland. Mary Highland married Feb. 1, 1692-3, Capt. Thomas Hall (1662-1753) and removed to Middletown. They must have returned to Guilford, for he died in Guilford. WILLIAM HALL who came over in the first ship in 1639, perhaps married his wife Esther after he arrived in New Haven Colony, as his first child, John, was born in 1648. He died March 8, 1669, and his widow died in 1683. The sons, John and Samuel, married and had children. Rev. JOHN HOADLEY born January, 1617, probably at Rolvenden, County Kent, England, came with relatives to New Haven in 1639. He was a signer of the compact of June 1, 1639. He married June 14, 1642, Sarah Bushnell, daughter of Francis Bushnell. In 1653 he returned to England and was made Court Chaplain by Cromwell. In 1655 his wife and family followed him to Edinburgh. There he had three children. In 1662 he removed to Rolvenden, where he had two more children, making a total of twelve. There he died July 28, 1668. His wife died Nov. 1, 1693, at Halstead in Kent, where her son John was the rector. GEORGE HUBBARD was in Wethersfield in 1636, probably came there from Watertown, and was a representative from Wethersfield in the first Generl Assembly in 1643. He removed to Milford and is recorded on the Milford map of 1646. In 1650 he was in Guilford, where his wife Mary died Sept. 16, 1676. He died January, 1683. From his seven or more children, a large number of people have descended. RICHARD HUGHES perhaps came over in the second ship. He died before 1659, for in that year his widow Mary married William Stone. Samuel Hughes of Guilford, a proprietor in 1665, was probably his son. JOHN HUGHES was a signer of the compact of June 1, 1639. He did not remain long in Guilford, but removed elsewhere. JOHN JORDAN (16__-1650) came over in the first ship (St. John). He died about Jan. 1, 1649-50. He married about 1640 Anna Bishop, daughter of John Bishop and Ann (16_-1676) of Guilford. JOHN JOHNSON probably came over to New Haven in the second ship. He married in Guilford, Oct. 1, 1651, Mrs. Elizabeth (Disbrow) Rolfe or Relfe, who had been divorced from her husband Thomas Relfe (or Rolfe), he having deserted her and gone to Long Island. She died Dec. 23, 1661, and he died in 1681. In his will four children are mentioned, viz: John, Ruth, Isaac and Abigail. THOMAS JORDAN a younger brother of John, perhaps came in the first ship with his brother, but being under age did not sign the compact, so was not mentioned in the list. He was from Kent County, England, and went home in 1655. His daughter Elizabeth (16__-1701) married June 1, 1669, Andrew Leete (16__-1702) of Guilford. She had six children. All of them were living at the death of their parents. THOMAS JONES one of the signers of the compact of June 1, 1639, probably married his wife Mary after coming to New Haven Colony. She had three children before 1650 and died Dec. 5, 1650. He soon afterward married a widow Carter, went to England and died there of small-pox in 1654. A son Nathaniel and daughter Sarah, who married June 8, 1665, John Pratt of Saybrook, remained in New England. HENRY KINGSNORTH one of the signers of the compact, died in 1668. He married Mary Stevens, daughter of John Stevens. She married June 2, 1669, John Collins (16__-1704), and died before 1700, for in that year he married again. ROBERT KITCHELL (1604-167_) wife wife, Margaret Sheaffe, and three or more children, came in the first ship to New Haven, or rather to Quinnipiac. He removed to Newark, N.J. and died there. His widow came back to Connecticut and died in Greenwich in 1679. Through his daughter, Mrs. Hannah (Kitchell) Peck, and his son Samuel he had numberous descendants, the author of this History being one of them. Gov. WILLIAM LEETE (1611-1683) was a signer of the compact, was a very prominent person in Guilford. Assistant in 1643, Deputy-Governor in 1658, Governor in 1661-65, Deputy-Governor of Connecticut Colony 1670-76, and Governor 1676-83. His first child, John, born in 1639, is said to have been the first white child born in Guilford. Of his three wives, the first, Ann, who was buried Sept. 1, 1668, was probably the mother of all of his children. His second wife, Mrs. Sarah Rutherford, widow of Henry Rutherford, married to him in 1671, died Feb. 10, 1674. His third wife, Mrs. Mary (_____) Street, widow of Rev. Nicholas Street, and before her marriage to Mr. Street the widow of Francis Newman, died a few months after her husband, who died April 16, 1683. Governor William Leete will long be remembered for the aid given to the regicides by delaying their pursuers, and by sending them word warning them of their danger. JOHN LINSLEY probably came in the second ship to New Haven colony. He removed before 1667 to Branford; and further information concerning him will be given under the chapters on the Planters of Branford. JOHN MEPHAM a signer of the compact, was one of the seven pillars at the foundation of the church in 1643. He died in 1647 leaving an only son John. His widow married in 1649 Timothy Baldwin of Milford; she married in 1666 as her third husband Thomas Tapping of Milford. THOMAS NASH a signer of the compact of June 1, 1639, remained in New Haven. THOMAS NORTON a signer of the compact, died in 1648. As he married his wife, Grace Wells, in 1625, he was very probably less than fifty years of age at the time of his death. Before coming to New Haven he was a warden in the church in Ocgley, Surrey County, England, where the Rev. Henry Whitfield was rector. His children, two sons, Thomas and John, and four daughters, Ann, Grace, Mary and Abigail all married, so that his descendants are very numerous. JOHN PARMELEE (Parmily, Permely, Parmslee or Parmellin) was one of the signers of the Plantation Covenant of June 1, 1639 (old style). He died in New Haven Nov. 8, 1659. The will was probated Jan. 3, 1659-60; amount 78 pounds, 13 s. He gave to his son John, probably the only son that outlived him, a large share of his property, the remainder to his daughter Hannah, the wife of John Johnson, and to hs widow Elizabeth, who, as stated above, married John Evarts. He married first Hannah and second Elizabeth Bradley, who died in New Haven Jan. 1683. His house lot was on the site of the present First Congregational Church. Spencer T. Parmalee of New Haven, the founder of the Mathushek Piano Co. was a descendant. WILLIAM PLANE a signer of the compact, was executed at New Haven in 1646. No record of children is found. JOHN SCRANTON possibly one of the company that came in the second ship to New Haven with his wife Joanna, who died in 1651. He married in 1663 Mrs. Adeline (_____) Hill, widow of Robert Hill. He died Aug. 27, 1671; his widow died in 1685. The children, Thomas, John and Sarah, all by the first wife, married and left descendants. Probably most all persons of this name in Connecticut are descendants of this John Scarnton. EDWARD SEWARD possibly a passenger in the second ship, or he may be the Edward Seward who was in Ipswich in 1637, and perhaps the person who went back to England and then returned to New England. He was in Guilford in 1650, and died there a few years after. No record found of wife or family. The Sewards of Connecticut of the present century are descended from Lieut. William Seward (1627-1689), who settled in Guilford after 1652. JOHN SHEADER (or Sheather) was probably a passenger in the second ship. Some of his five children, if not all, married and had children. Two of the sons, John and Samuel, removed to Killingworth. JACOB SHEAFFE (1616-1659) came with his mother, Mrs. Joanna Sheaffe (15__-1659), to Guilford with Rev. Henry Whitfield, who had married his sister. In 1642 he removed to Boston where he married in 1643 Margaret Webb, only child of Henry Webb _16__-1669) of Boston. He had six or more children. The inscription on his tombstone states that he died March 22, 1659. A son, Jacob, was born July 23, 1659, four months after his death. His estate was the largest of any one who had died at that time in Boston. WILLIAM SOMERS died before 1650. Nothing more is found in Savage or elsewhere concerning him. JOHN STONE (16__-1687) a signer of the compact, by wife Mary, had five or more children; four of the sons married and had families. WILLIAM STONE also a passenger on the first ship (St. John), by wife Hannah had four or more children. He married in 1659, Mrs. Mary (_____) Hughes, widow of Richard Hughes of Guilford, and died Nov., 1683. The Stone famioly (descendants of these two men, John and William Stone), for several years have had family reunions at New Haven, Milford, Guilford, West Haven and elsewhere on the Connecticut shore of Long Island Sound, where they gathered together and renewed their family intercourse, read historical papers concerning the family, etc. A large and exhaustive genealogy of descendants of William Stone is being compiled by Charles Stone Smith of Terryville, Conn. A list of descendants in the male line for a few generations is printed as an appendix in the John Stone Family Genealogy. Rev. HENRY WHITFIELD (1597-165_) the pastor of the people who formed the Guilford Plantation, arrived in New Haven on the St. John (according to the John Stone Family Book) between July 10 and 15, 1639, with a portion of his parishoners. He built in Guilford the celebrated stone house which is still in existence and one of the oldest houses in the United States north of St. Augustine, Florida. He went back to England in 1650, leaving a portion of his family in the New Haven Colony, and never returned to the Colony, dying not many years after at Winchester. Of his large family only the daughters Abigail, who married Rev. James Fitch, and Sarah, who married Rev. John Higginson (1616-1708) are recorded. BENJAMIN WRIGHT probably one of the second company that came to New Haven, after living in Guilford some years removed to Killingsworth (now Clinton), where he died March 29, 1677. His widow, Jane, died Oct. 26, 1684, leaving three sons and three daughters. The daughters married at the time of her death and probably her sons also. ADDENDA Three brothers, Francis, Thomas and George CHATFIELD, were in Guilford in 1639 or soon after. Francis signed the compact of June 1, 1639; his brothers Thomas and George may have come with him, but being younger did not sign the compact, or what is more probable came in the second ship which brought the remainder of the Guilford company. Francis died unmarried in Guilford in 1647. Thomas removed to New Haven, there married Ann Higginson, daughter of Rev. Francis Higginson (1587-1629) of Salem, who had come to New Haven with her mother and brothers, and from there removed to Easthampton, Long Island, where he was long a magistrate of the Connecticut Colony jurisdiction. George Chatfield married first Sarah Bishop who d. Sept. 30, 1657, who left no children; he married second Isabel Nettleton, daughter of Samuel Nettleton. In 1663 he removed to Killingworth, Conn., where he died June 9, 1671, leaving three children: John, b. April 8, 1661. George, b. Aug. 18, 1668. Mercy, b. April 26, 1671. THOMAS DUNK was in Guilford in 1645, but is not mentioned in the list of 1650. He was in Saybrook in 1662 and on the east side of Connecticut River in 1673. His first wife, Mary Price, dau. of William Price of Newington, Butts, County Surrey, England, and widow of Philip Petersfield of Turnstile Alley, in the parish of Holborn, at the age of sixteen or seventeen years, came to New Haven about 1644. She lived with Mrs. George Lamberton some two years, married about 1647 or 1648 Thomas NORTH, and had three children by him. After his death she married Thomas DUNK. No children are recorded. In 1670 she went to England to obtain her father's estate and probably died there. On July 10, 1677, Thomas Dunk married Elizabeth Stedman and had: Thomas, b. August 6, 1678. She died October 8, 1678, and he died August 9, 1683.