Benjamin* Wright, II

Notes:

Springfield, Wilbraham, and Ludlow are all in fairly close proximity to one another. So it is doubtful that their residence changed. After Mary died in 1751, he remained unmarried until 23 November 1761 when at the age of 65 he married Abigail Crowfoot. Abigail died on 12 June 1780 in Wilbraham.

Benjamin* married Mary* Miller on 2 Feb 1721 in Springfield, Hampden Co, Massachusetts (probably). Mary* (daughter of Lazarus* Miller and Mary* Burbank) was born on 16 Jun 1698 in Springfield, Hampden Co, Massachusetts; died on 28 Feb 1751. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Benjamin Wright, III was born on 17 Nov 1721; died on 18 Oct 1785 in Ludlow, Massachusetts.
2. Mary* Wright was born on 14 Aug 1723 in Springfield, Hampden Co, Massachusetts; died on 5 Mar 1804 in Somers, Tolland Co, Connecticut.
3. Ruth Wright was born on 17 Aug 1725 in Springfield, Hampden Co, Massachusetts; died about 1727.
4. Timothy Wright was born on 29 Aug 1727 in Springfield, Hampden Co, Massachusetts; died on 22 Mar 1812 in Ludlow, Massachusetts.
5. Jemima Wright was born on 23 Jan 1730 in Springfield, Hampden Co, Massachusetts; died after 1750.
6. Elijah Wright was born on 16 Mar 1736 in Springfield, Hampden Co, Massachusetts; died on 24 Apr 1830 in Alexander, New York.
7. Rachel Wright was born on 29 Aug 1736 in Massachusetts; died in 1814 in Waterville, Oneida Cty, New York.
8. Abel Wright was born on 8 Feb 1740 in Wilbraham, Hampden Co, Massachusetts; died on 27 Apr 1836 in Ludlow, Massachusetts.
9. Seth Wright was born on 8 Feb 1740 in Massachusetts; died after 1773.
10. Reuben Wright was born on 7 Aug 1744 in Massachusetts; died about 1746.

Benjamin* married Abigail Crowfoot on 23 Nov 1761 in Massachusetts. Abigail was born about 1720; died on 12 Jun 1780 in Wilbraham, Hampden Co, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Benjamin died when his children were little. Little Ben was 8, Henry 4; and Mary was 11 months old. Their mother died only three years later leaving the children orphans.

Benjamin* married Mary* Chapin on 24 Jan 1694 in Springfield, Hampden Co, Massachusetts. Mary* (daughter of Henry* Chapin and Bethiah* Cooley) was born about 1676 in Springfield, Hampden Co, Massachusetts; died on 13 Jan 1708 in Springfield, Hampden Co, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Mary was five months pregnant with Mary when her husband died.Henry was only 4, Benjamin 7. Four years later, in January, 1708 she died leaving the young children orphans. It was the summer of that year that the family suffered the Indian raid.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Religion: First Congregational Church
• Property: 2 Jan 1655, Springfield, Hampden Co, Massachusetts
• Other-Begin: 23 Mar 1655, Springfield, Hampden Co, Massachusetts; Oath of Fidelity
• Property: 13 Feb 1656, Springfield, Hampden Co, Massachusetts
• Property: 13 Mar 1660, Springfield, Hampden Co, Massachusetts
• Other-Begin: 23 Feb 1662, Springfield, Hampden Co, Massachusetts
• Other-Begin: Sep 1673, Springfield, Hampden Co, Massachusetts
• Other-Begin: 3 Dec 1678, Springfield, Hampden Co, Massachusetts; oath of allegiance
• Other-Begin: 1695, Boston, Massachusetts
• Other-Begin: 26 Jul 1708, Springfield, Hampden Co, Massachusetts; Indian raid
• Research Notes: 2 Jul 2012; familial relationships

Notes:

This family was from England, but not (as has for many years been speculated) a part of the Kelvedon Hatch Wright family. This has recently been firmly established by DNA testing. Abel Wright's family was of Norse ancestry, and he was most likely a descendant of a Viking invader. It seems to me that someone should have noticed that the Kelvendon Hatch Wright family were Catholic, but Abel must have been at least Puritan leaning or else he would have been uncomfortable emigrating to New England before 1655.
http://mjgen.com/wright/1wright.html
(see research notes)
_________________________

He was garrisoned at Skipmuck in attack in 1708.

(the following from Ruth Heeder (rheeder@redrivernet.com) 9/28/97)

Sherry,
Since I posted (May '97) I found in the NEHG Register, Volume 35, January 1881 copyright New England Historic Genealogical Society & Broderbound Software, Inc., Banner Blue Division, September 4, 1997 (quotes are my own) "Lieut. Abel Wright was found among the early settlers of Springfield Massachusetts, in the Connecticut Valley, who spent a mature life of seventy years there, from 1655 to 1725, when he died at the advanced age of ninety-four years. Where he came from or who were his parents, I have been unable to ascertain." Further on it states "Abel Wright married Dec 1, 1659, Martha Kitcherel, daughter of Samuel K. of Hartford, Conn., and had a family of thirteen children, of whom ten married." I understand they were married 53 years, 8 months, and 15 days. Their third child was Abel b Sept 25, 1664.

From an undocumented source I have "Lieutenant Abel represented his town at the General court, Boston, 1695." Since he died in 1725, this is entirely possible.
Ruth

--------------
GENEALOGY OF LIEUT. ABEL WRIGHT, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASS.

By Rev. Stephen "wright, of Glen's Falls, N. Y.

1. Lieut. Abkl Wright1 was found among the early settlers of Springfield, Massachusetts, in the Connecticut Valley, who spent a mature life of seventy years there, from 1655 to 1725, when he died at the advanced age of ninety-four years. Where he came from or who were his parents, I have been unable to ascertain. There were other Wright settlers in the colonies before him in Eastern Massachusetts,?as Capt. Richard Wright, at Lynn, in 1630; John Wright, at Woburn, in 1641; Robert Wright, at Boston, in 1643, according to Dr. Savage, in his Genealogical Dictionary, besides others in various places of a later date than the above named. And at Wethersfield, Conn., below Hartford, there was a Thomas Wright as early as 1639, who had quite a family. Also Dea. Samuel Wright was an early settler at Springfield about the same year, 1639-40, who had a family of eight children, all named; but no Abel among either of these families is given in their records.

It is possible, if not most probable, that these last two settlers, so near each other, were brothers, and from the date of their family records, uncles to Abel Wright, who might naturally have followed in the wake of his kinsman to Springfield, at the age of twenty-four years, where he is found in January, 1055. Hence I can safely begin his record at that date, and shall endeavor to follow his line of posterity for several generations, according to authentic information obtained by much labor, from both town and family records.

Although the town had been settled in 1G36, it was still in its infancy when our Abel appeared on the stage, to claim a place among his fellow men. I give two or three extracts from the town records of Springfield, which I made in November, 1863, that read as follows: "Jan. 2, 1655,?There is granted to Abell Wright, a home lot containing three acres iu the land next ye Round Hill." And Feb. 13, 1656, again: "It is granted to Abell Wright an amount of Twenty (20) acres which had formerly Come into the hand of Rowland Thomas, lying in ye great plain over ye great river, called Chickuppy plain, provided he continues five years in town." And it seems in the sequel that he came to stag, as he did for seventy years.



--------------
New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol. V, 1881, p. 74 ---

This early Springfield settlement was an agriculture and trading center. An entry in the town records there, dated Jan. 2, 1655, reads: "There is granted to Abell Wright a home lot containing three acres in the land next ye Round Hill." And again, on Feb. 13, 1656: "It is granted to Abell Wright an amount of Twenty (20) acres which had formerly come into the hand of Rowland Thomas, lying in ye great plain over ye great river, called Chickuppy plain, provided he continue five years in town.? It was soon evident that Abel had come to stay, for again reads the record: ?March 13, 1660, There is granted to Thomas Bancroft, Abell Wright, John Lumbard and Richard Sikes, a parcel of land lying on the west side of ye great river over against ye long meadow below George Colton's, which land hereby granded, lyeth between two brooks, and it is to run westward from ye river to a hill about 40 rods westward; Thos. Bancroft to lie next to the Southermost brook, Abell Wright next toward the north, John Lumbard next to him, and Richard Siikes next to him; the four sharing thereof equally in three-score acres of land, if there be so much there; or is there be not so much they are to divide the piece equally amongst them, lying as above expressed.? (Record of Deeds, vol. i, p. 203) Various other grants of land to Abel, from 1655 to 1695 are on the town records.

Our Abel married, on 1 Dec. 1659, Martha Kitcherel, of Hartford, Connecticut, daughter of Samuel Kitcherel and Martha (Chapman( Kitcheral. Abel and Martha had 13 children, all born in Springfield?.Our Abel soon made a place for himself among these early settlers of Springfield. He became a Lieutenant in the militia, and was active in the religious and civic affairs of the town as well as the military. A record of the First congregational Church reads: ?Feb. 23, 1662. In the order of seating persons in the church, Abell Wright is put in the ?eigth seat? with Mr. Horton, John Bag, Joshua Riley and Lyman Beamsn.?

Springfield, with its exposed frontier location, had early experienced sporadic indian attacks which the settlers had driven off without difficulty. In early 1675, the indians in that locale were relatively peaceful and friendly, while north of them the hostile Chief, King Philip, with his united tribes, were making murderous attacks on other settlements. Evidently this beligerent Wampanoag Chieftain had not yet contacted the local tribes, or perhaps Springfield was not considered important enough to destroy. Now, however, at midnight on the 14th of October of that year, a solitary horseman from nearby Windsor came riding fast into town. He dismounted, and quickly awakened the townspeople. "The indians are coming!" he told them. "You will be attacked at dawn!" (Henry Morris, History of the First church in Springfield.) Most of the town?s protecting troops had been sent north to join the forces under [John] Pynchon. Now, the others hurridly barricaded themselves in the various garrison houses, loaded their muskets, and stood watch at the peepholes in the walls. They waited. Had it been a false alarm? The indians did attack at dawn. And this time they came in a horde, thundering their horses? hoofs among the houses, whooping frenziedly, shooting their flame-tipped arrows. They found the garrison houses too strongly defended to attack. Comparatively few of the settlers lost their lives. But the abandoned houses were easy prey. Some 30 houses and 25 barns, with their contents, were burned to the ground. And then suddenly the indians were gone, as quickly as they had come. These were the events and times during which our Abel and Martha lived in this frontier outpost. Even more unfortunate hardships and tragedies were soon to befall them. After Springfield was nearly destroyed, the people were discouraged and many spoke of abandoning the settlement altogether. A few actually left, but the greater part of the inhabitants, encouraged by the sympathy and aid of the colonial government, determined to remain. Abel and his family were among the latter. Springfield was quickly rebuilt. Again, the records disclose, that Abel in 1695 was elected a Representative to the General court. And in May, 1696, the Deacon Burt and Lieut. Abel Wright were chosen to answer a petition of the people on the west side of the river asking to become a separate parish and procure a minister of their own. The farm and residence of Abel and Martha was still on the exposed west side of the river, near a place bearing the indian name of Skepmuck, later to become the present town of Westfield. Apparently at least one of their sons, Henry, lived nearby with his own family. On 26 July 1708, indians again came upon the town and its outlying farms. After they had gone, Martha was found lying unconscious in the yard beside their ransacked house. She had been scalped. Martha lingered on until the 19th of October of that year, then died of her wounds. The indians also had killed in this attack an infant of Abel's son, Henry, and captured Henry's wife, who died soon after. Henry and his wife, Hannah, had been married only three years before. This then, was the life of our Abel. And yet this venerable ancestor, despite his hardships and tragedies, lived until 1725. His tombstone, in the old Pine Street Cemetery in Springfield, reads: "Lieut. Abel Wright died October 29th, 1725, aged 94 years."

http://mjgen.com/wright/1wright.html

-------------------------

Served as a selectman for two terms; militia lieutenant and deputy to the General Court. Abell served on the inquest jury regarding the death of young Ebenezer Harmon who drowned in the brook.
Abel paid 56 L for 31 contract years of renting from John Pynchon between 1668-1686. On 25 Mar 1668, Abel Wright leased a "yoak of cattle" for £ annually, plus rates; five days later, John Pynchon :let out to hire to Abel Wright for three yeares that land at Skeepnuck which I lately (two days ago) took of Goodman Dorchester, namely the 4 acres of plowed up ground within the fence and also the meadow without the fence for £.18.0 annually for three years. Wright was given the first option to purchase the said land if he had the means to do so at the end of the rental agreement. Wright held the lease for 18 years. He also leased from Pynchon, a bullock, a 5 ½ acre lot, another lot of undetermined size, and 1 3/4 acres near Round Hill. In 1668, Wright sold to Pynchon 40 acres of land at Ashkanucksit for £1. Wright was indebted to Pynchon in the 1680s for £93.5.7.
On 27 Dec 1674--the Sabbath--a child between 3 and 4 of Abell Wright?s called Henry, came to its end. The inquest jury found that "the child went out to a sled without the dors and indeavoring to get up upon the sled halfe loaden with wood, a log rowled downe on the child and the log falling on the childe which was a heavy log, the child thereby came to its end; the log lying upon the child when it was found dead."
In 1693, Lieutenant Wright was chosen to represent Springfield in the Council of Freeholders.


Birth:
http://minerdescent.com/2010/08/26/abel-wright/

----- Original Message -----
From: maryjo@mjgen.com
To: Sherry
Sent: Monday, July 02, 2012 10:47 PM
Subject: RE: Abel Wright English Ancestry

Sherry,
Yes, I am still at this address. I still keep this address because it's posted everywhere!

I am not right now finding where I got his birthdate as Jan 10, but I have that he was christened at Leverton, Lincolnshire, England, on January 29, 1631. Unfortunately, I haven't actually seen this record, so I don't know if the parents were listed -- seems like they would be. But as far as I know, no one for for certain who his parents were.


Religion:
Contemporaries, members of the First Congregational Church:
Abel Wright
Col. John Pynchon
Samuel Terry
John Bliss
Thomas Root
Robert Ashley
Hugh Dudley
Thomas Sewall
Obadiah Miller
Eliezer Holyoke
John Holyoke
James Osborne
Nathaniel Pritchard
Thomas Gilbert

Deacons:
Samuel Chapin
Samuel Wright (until 1657 when he removed to Northampton and died there Oct 17 1665 when asleep in his chair)
Jonathan Burt
Benjamin Parsons
John Hitchcock
James Warriner
Rev. Pelatlah Glover from 1659 to 1692
Rev. Samuel Brewer from 1694 to 1725 and onward to 1733 when he died.

The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol 35



Property:
The town of Springfield, Mass. was first settled in 1636. Abel was in Springfield by 1655. On Jan. 2, 1655 Abel Wright was granted a home lot of three acres next to the Round Hill.
http://mjgen.com/wright/1wright.html

Property:
Feb. 13, 1656 he was granted twenty acres of land, formerly owned by Rowland Thomas, lying in the great plain called the Chicoppe Plain, overlooking the Connecticut River, provided he live there for five years.
http://mjgen.com/wright/1wright.html


Property:
March 13, 1660, There is granted to Thomas Bancroft, Abell Wright, John Lumbard and Richard Sikes, a parcel of land lying on the west side of ye great river over against ye long meadow below George Colton?s, which land hereby granded, lyeth between two brooks, and it is to run westward from ye river to a hill about 40 rods westward; Thos. Bancroft to lie next to the Southermost brook, Abell Wright next toward the north, John Lumbard next to him, and Richard Siikes next to him; the four sharing thereof equally in three-score acres of land, if there be so much there; or is there be not so much they are to divide the piece equally amongst them, lying as above expressed.? (Record of Deeds, vol. i, p. 203)

New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol. V, 1881, p. 74


Other-Begin:
A record of the First congregational Church reads: ?Feb. 23, 1662. In the order of seating persons in the church, Abell Wright is put in the ?eigth seat? with Mr. Horton, John Bag, Joshua Riley and Lyman Beamsn.?


Other-Begin:
The colonial laws regulated the subject of extravagant dressing. In September 1673 the court recorded:
?Diverse women at Springfeild (sic) presentd at ye Courte in March last for that being of meane estate they did weare Silkes contrary to Law vixt Goodwife Labden (,) Goody Colton (,) Goody Morgan (,) Goody Barnard (,) Mercy & Hephzibod Jones (,) Hunters wife & Daughter & Abell Wrights wife, & warned to this Courte the six former app?ring in Courte they were admonisht of their extyravagancyes & dismist.?


Other-Begin:
A royal proclamation of April 27, 1678 ordered all subjects to take the oath of allegiance, accordingly magistrate John Pynchon performed that duty to 62 inhabitants of Springfield on Dec 3, 1678 & Jan 1, 1679, including Abel Wright.
(Abel made oath on of these two dates)
http://mjgen.com/wright/1wright.html

Other-Begin:
Lieutenant Abel represented his town at the General court, Boston, 1695

Other-Begin:
On July 26, 1708 seven or eight Indians rushed into the house of Lt. Abel Wright of Skipmuch in Springfield, and killed two soldiers, Aaron Parsons of Northampton and Benjah Hulbert of Enfield; scalped the wife of Lt. Wright (who died 3 months later on Oct 19), took Hannah, the wife of Lt.Wright's son Henry, and killed her; killed her infant son Henry in a cradle and knocked in the head of her daughter Hannah, aged 2 years, in the same cradle, but she later recovered.
http://mjgen.com/wright/1wright.html

Research Notes:
----- Original Message -----
From: hardmba@aol.com
To: erbaker35@gmail.com ; lumoto@aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, July 03, 2012 1:15 AM
Subject: Re: thoughts on Hampden Wrights


Hi, Sherry and Ellen,

The DNA evidence that Able Wright and Deacon Samuel Wright were not of the same family line comes from the Y-DNA analysis of proven descendants of Abel Wright of Springfield, MA, of Dea. Samuel Wright of Springfield and Northampton, MA and of Thomas Wright of Wethersfield, CT. What we find by Y-DNA analysis is that the male line of Abel Wright descendants are all in the haploid group R1b1, whereas those of both Deacon Samuel Wright and Thomas Wright of Wethersfield are all haploid E1b1b1a2. These two haploids are known to have separated over 45,000 years ago in northeastern Africa so there is no way, outside of a NPE in the Abel Wright line between about 43 C.E. and 1639, that these two Wright families were related in even an anthropological sense.

Abel Wright's male line R1b1 haploid comes from a very ancient Celtic line that first arrived 10,000 years ago in England & Ireland following the end of the last ice age. They came from the Basque country of Spain at that time, following the receding ice sheets northward along the Western coastline of Europe. They crossing to the main British Isles over the land bridges that existed for centuries between the Continent and England as the ice sheets continued slowly to melt and move northward toward the present day Arctic circle. Eventually enough ice melted that the sea levels rose to submerge these land bridges and the ancient settlements that were built on them to give us the English Channel that we see today. Only recently have undersea archeologists been able to explore these submerged lands and excavate some of these long lost stone age settlements. In any case, the R1b1 haploid has been in the British Isles for so long that it is found today with equally high frequency in every part of England, Ireland, Scotland and the outlying islands of all three. This is the most ancient haploid in England that has spread out evenly all over the British Isles.

By contrast,the haploid of Dea. Samuel Wright and Thomas Wright, E1b1b1a2, is a relatively recent arrival in England. The original men who came to England with this haploid arrived in large numbers with the Roman Army in the first century C.E. They were men who had been recruited/conscripted into the Roman Army between 50 B.C and 49 C.E. from the Dardanian 'barbarian' tribes of the Balkans (specifically from an area lying north of a line between Pec and Pristinia, Kosovo). The Dardanians were a tribe of mixed Illyrian and Thracian ancestry who are first recorded by the Roman historian Justin in the second century C.E. as having been an Illyrian-Thracian tribe who recognized the supreme authority of Macedonia's King Phillip II in 357 B.C. Mercenary soldiers, like the Dardanians, served the Roman army as members of the 'auxilia' calvary cohorts attached to specific Roman Legions. Because they were not Roman citizens they could not serve in the Legions, but they could serve in the auxilia of any legion Rome felt needed extra man power or special combat skills. The Dardanians were respected by the Romans for their skill on horseback fighting over rough terrain with lance and sword. Dardanians were also experienced in establishing mining operations for lead, gold and silver ore, so were able to perform double duty for the Roman Army both in its conquests and its occupations. Our anthropological research suggests strongly that the original immigrant father to England was in the auxilia of Legio XX and had retired near Londinium from the Roman Army prior to 68 C.E., was called back up to help put down the Incenian revolt of Boadicea in 68 C.E., and then retired from military service a second time with full Roman citizenship and a small estate in or near the 'colonia' re-established near Colchester, England after the revolt was put down. Here he is most likely to have lived out the rest of his life with his sons inheriting his estate according to Roman tradition. Thus began the long climb to the status of wealthy landed gentry for this line of men.

Because the E1b1b1a2 haploid is such a recent arrival in England, it has not had time to spread evenly throughout the population of England to achieve the kind of uniformity in geographical distribution we see with haploid R1b1. It is that unique fact that makes the anthropological study of this haploid infinitely easier than trying to figure out from where in England the male line of a man with R1b1 haploid might have started. As a result of this fortunate circumstance, when we plot the location of haploid E1b1b1a2 in England among the general population of men sampled in a number of different genetic sampling studies in England (see Steven Byrd, Journal of Genetic Genealogy. 3(2):26-46, 2007), we find the highest concentration of men with present day E1b1b1a2 haploid occur around the geographical locations where the Romans built their forts and stationed their troops. Specifically the highest concentration of E1b1b1a2 haploid in England is found around Chester, England. This is not surprising because between 50 C.E. and 410 C.E. Chester was the principle base of the Roman Army's Legio XX. But before being stationed at Chester, Legio XX was stationed between 43 C.E. and 49 C.E. in Colchester and Londinium. Legio XX cadre also figured prominently in the building of Hadrian's wall. That men from the E1b1b1a2 Illyrian-Thracian ancestry of the Balkans were involved in the garrisons of each checkpoint built along Hadrian's wall is attested to by the small increase in the frequency of occurrence of their haploid among the local population of men living today near these ancient fortifications. Likewise we find small increases in the frequency of occurrence of E1b1b1a2 haploids around the four most northern so called 'Saxon shore forts' built by the Romans in the mid 4th century. This too, makes good sense because we know from Roman records these first few forts were built with troops that were re-deployed from Hadrian Wall garrisons. This is in contrast to the southern Saxon shore forts where there is hardly a trace of E1b1b1a2 haploid in their vicinity today and we know that they were built by Roman Army legions whose auxilia were not of Balkan origins. There is also almost no trace of E1b1b1a2 haploid in Ireland, where the Romans never set foot.

We know from DNA evidence that Thomas Wright and Dea. Samuel Wright were of the same English family because the Y-DNA profiles of their respective descendants are almost identical. We know from documentation that Thomas Wright was a direct male descendant of Robert Wright of Kelvedon Hatch (1522-1563) and Mary Green Manor on Bridgestreet in Brentwood (the Moat House). Even though we do not have the best documentation of the parentage and marriage of Deacon Samuel Wright in England, the Y-DNA evidence supports the proposal that he is also a Kelvedon Hatch Wright. Our research of the English records has not improved the documentation trail substantially over what has been done before on the question of the Deacon's parents, other than to firmly rule out Nathaniel and Lydia (nee James) Wright as possible parents and reconfirm John Wright and Martha Castell as his most likely parents. If we accept the current best proposal that Dea. Samuel Wright was the son of John Wright, Esq. (1569 - 1640) and Martha Castell (dau. Robert Castell, Esq. 1571 - 1610) of South Weald parish, Co. Essex, England, then, we can show from existing documents that John Wright, Esq. (1569-1640) was the grandson of Myddle John Wright (1524- 1558) who inherited the estate of Wrightsbridge, among other prosperities, from his father, John Wright of Kelvedon Hatch. By this connection we understand that Thomas Wright of Wethersfield was Deacon Samuel Wright's third cousin.

So, there is now no doubt they are of the same English family no matter how much we might want to quibble over which member of the Kelvedon Hatch Wright family was the Deacon's father. The evidence that does exist; The fact that John and Martha Castell were of the Wrightsbridge branch of the family, the fact that there is a clear baptismal record that we find in the South Weald parish register of St. Peters listing a Samuel Wright, son of "Mr Wright of the Bridge" (meaning Wrightsbridge) baptized 29 (or 30) June 1606, the fact that a substantial gentleman and Barrister would typically be referred to in public records as "Mr.", and the Emmanuel college matriculation record of 1624, a college whose focus was the training of Puritan ministers, the fact that in the MSS of Charles I there is an oath of allegiance record of one Nathaniel Wright giving oath in behalf of his brother, Samuel, who has gone to New England, and lastly, the leading role we find Dea. Samuel Wright playing in the churches of Springfield and Northampton, giving evidence by the New England records of his advanced theological training and recognized abilities to preach the sermon in the absence of the church minister in those places. All these are most consistent with Deacon Samuel Wright being the son of John Wright, Esq., of Wrightsbridge. All we lack for a traditional genealogical connection proof is a second vital statistic record by which we could verify the one we have.

If only we had just one more document: a ship passenger record, or a marriage record for Samuel and Margaret, or birth records in England or New England for their first five children. But these have not been turned up in over 150 years of research effort by a dozen genealogist of different ages . There are also no English probate records for John Wright, Esq. nor for Dea. Samuel & Margaret Wright. Although there are wills for both Dea. Samuel and Margaret Wright, they do not leave us any clues regarding their English origins nor kinships with their supposed eldest children, Hanna Wright and Benjamin Wright. (who I remain firmly convinced were not their children, though Hanna may have been the Deacon's ward for a short time before she married. We believe, now that the Y-DNA evidence we have for Thomas Wright and Dea. Samuel Wright descendants are sufficiently supportive of the currently proposed parental connection for Dea. Samuel Wright that it is no longer a matter of speculation despite the lack of that key second vital statistic record.

One thing about the Y-DNA data that gives us the courage to say we have proven his parentage is that, so far, we have only one other male participant in the Wright-DNA project who falls into the E1b1b1 haploid which is not likely to be a Kelvedon Hatch Wright descendant. Therefore, we have been persuaded that any American Wright who is positive for E1b1ba2 haploid is almost certainly a descendant of either Thomas Wright of Wetherfield, CT or Deacon Samuel Wright of Springfield & Northampton, MA. That narrows the field considerably in where and whose descendant family you can belong to and where those who do not have the documentation they would like can concentrate their research efforts to the best benefit. They are also most certainly related to well known people such as Ethan Allen, NY. Gov. Silas Wright, Wilbur and Orville Wright and Nancy Reagan, to name just a few and that always spices up the quest for the documentation to show those relationships.

In concluding this section on the Wright DNA project results for Kelvedon Hatch Wrights, I think the large number of participants (20) has helped us confirm our English origins as well as delineated some differences between various branches within the Kelvedon Hatch Wright family that can help those whose documentation is missing or sketchy focus their efforts better on certain branches of the family where they appear to belong, genetically. To view those results go to www.wright-dna.org and click on "all other haploids" under the RESULTS tab in the upper left hand corner of the home page. Scroll down the results table to the E1b1b1a2 haploid, which is also labeled "Kelvedon Hatch Wrights...."
Examine the marker values for the various and click on the top "Samuel (1665)" oldest ancestor selection. This will take you to a pdf chart of the descendant line of John Wright (d. 1551) so far as we have Y-DNA participants/representatives now. The only disagreement I have with the chart is that I do not believe Henry Wright (1424 - before 1468) was the first ancestor. I believe this is a misunderstanding/misinterpretation of the entry in Morant's "History and Antiquities of the County of Essex..." (1768). The Henry Wright Morant refers to in his discussion of this family lived in the 1590s and married Anna Whitebread in White Notely (marriage record found there) and was of the Elder John Wright line, which is how the Kelvedon Hatch Wright family came into possession of White Notely Hall later in the 17th century. A number of other researchers have tried to conclude from Morant's rather vague remarks, that this Henry Wright and Anna Whitebread (dau. of Thomas) both lived nearly 100 years before they actually did. It is hard to argue with a marriage record that is clearly dated in the next century as well as birth records for them and their children. It simply was not so that Anna Whitebread married Henry Wright in 'ca. 1446. As a result, I believe the first solid record we have for the Kelvedon Hatch Wright family is that of John Wright, 1488-1551 of South Weald and Kelvedon Hatch. I would wipe Henry Wright and John Wright (1450 - 1509) off that chart and replace them with question marks. I have seen no evidence that there are any records anywhere in England for these two men as progenitors of this Wright family.

As for the Wrights of Kelvedon Hatch being Catholic, it needs to be understood that almost all Englishmen were Catholics until Henry VIII broke with the Catholic Church and established the Anglican church. After that, Catholics were essentially outlawed, so one had to make choices; toe the Royal line, or go underground. The original John Wright of Kelvedon Hatch (1488 - 1551) was firmly attached to Henry VIII and so it is no doubt that, despite being raised a Catholic, he had no problems becoming an 'Anglican' Catholic when Henry VIII required it. Likewise his sons all appear to have had no problem becoming Anglicans in their own generation and appeared NOT to have taken the Catholic side during Mary's brief reign. This unity behind the Anglican Church did not last indefinitely, however. It was the next generation where all the religious and political fracturing of the Kelvedon Hatch Wright family group occurred. Out of that fracturing there emerged members of the Kelvedon Hatch Wright family who were everything from staunch Catholics (Papists) to staunch Puritan Calvinists. The period between 1550 and 1644 saw tremendous upheaval in almost every facet of English life & religion led the way. So, to study what happened to the Kelvedon Hatch Wright family in this period of time is to see an excellent reflection of what was happening all over the England of this period.

As with many of the emerging gentry families in the years of the reign of Elizabeth I, men of the Wright family were privileged enough to go to University at a time when the Universities were coming into their own as institutions of intellectual freedom and radical thinking. As a result many of them came home from their school days with even more radical ideas of what religion should be that went beyond the simplifications of the Catholic faith that Henry VIII's and Elizabeth I's Common Book of Prayer represent. These 'enlightened' Englishmen and their European counterparts (such as Luther and Calvin) brought a wave of intellectualization to religion that had not previously held much sway as a political force within either the Catholic or Anglican church. By the mid 1580' their 'Puritan' ideas had gained enough of a following among the high and mighty of England, that the influential followers of this intellectualized Protestant faith, such as Sir Walter Mildmay, Exchequer to the Queen and Sir Robert Rich, Lord of the Ongar Hundred, dared to establish colleges for the training of 'Anglican' ministers in the 'Puritan' style. One such college was Emmanuel College at Cambridge University, established in 1584 by Sir Mildmay. Dea. Samuel Wright's father, John Wright, Esq., Clerk of the House of Commons (1613 - 1639), matriculated Emmanuel College in 1585 in its second class, presumably as a prelude to entering the ministry. However, it is apparent that he was of a less ideological nature and more of a practical man. He entered the study of the law at Gray's Inn rather than continue studies to become a minister and became a quite influential London barrister, becoming the King's man in the House of commons by assuming the role of Clerk of the House of Commons in 1613 and holding that post continuously until just before his death. The Clerk was paid from the King's Exchequer and owed the King his primary allegiance, but in 1621 John Wright was arrested by the King and his papers confiscated because he was involved in a matter King James considered contrary to the interests of the Crown. John Wright was, to some degree, his own man and a man of the Commons rather than its overseer as the King intended. Later, John Wright's eldest son, John, also attended Emmanuel and went on into the law via Grays Inn. Dea. Samuel Wright also matriculated Emmanuel in 1624 and seems to have found no living to his liking in ministry in England and went to New England seeking religious freedom and adventure. Even Nathaniel and Lydia (nee James) Wright's eldest son, Samuel, attended Emmanuel College. This Samuel Wright matriculated Emmanuel as a 29 year old man in 1644 and later received a DD degree from Oxford. That is how we know he was not the Deacon Samuel Wright who was in Agawam (Springfield) in 1639.

While two branches of the Kelvedon Hatch family (from Robert Wright of Brookstreet & from Myddle John Wright of Wrightsbridge) were moving in the direction of embracing a more Puritan view of religion, the elder line of John Wright the Elder, of Kelvedon Hall whose line held the manor estate of Kelvedon Hall in Kelvedon Hatch were being wooed by noted Catholic Papists, William Byrd and Gabriel Colford. In 1605 it appears that these twp were successful in converting both John Wright, Lord of Kelvedon Hall and his sister Ann to the Catholic faith. Their Elder line of Wrights remained Catholic from 1605 onward for as long as they held the estate and manor of Kelvedon Hall (to 1922).

Not much is known about the religious inclinations of the youngest of John Wright's (1488-1551) sons, Young John Wright. We suspect that we do not know much about that branch of the family because they were devout in their attendance to the Anglican church, and thus avoided being recorded in the ecclesiastical and quarter session court records as recusants or papists as was true for those in the other three male branches of the family.

I hope this rather tedious discourse was of assistance to you in sorting out the many rumors and falsehoods that have sprung up over the last 150 years concerning the Kelvedon Hatch Wright family and Deacon Samuel Wright. They were an ambitious, industrious and prosperous bunch from the earliest of times but they have certainly left a spotty trail of evidence for their activities at many key turns in their lives. I was as stuck on Dea. Samuel Wright's parentage as all of the previous genealogist who tried to pin down an English origins for him, until we were able to put the Y-DNA evidence together. I hesitate to say such scientific evidence as Y-DNA is even better than traditional documentation, but only because it feels so incredibly good to finally unearth a key document that lays out a connection that appears nowhere else in the written record.

Our current research in England involves locating living descendants of John Wright the Elder and Young John Wright as well as more of those from Myddle John Wright and Robert Wright and persuading them to participate in the Y-DNA testing & research. We continue to look for records in England as part of that effort, and continue to hope we run across records related more directly to Dea. Samuel Wright in the process. I'll probably still be looking for Dea. Samuel Wright documents the day I die.

Always good to hear from you, Ellen. Hope you are feeling well and keeping busy. Thanks for copying me on Sherry's e-mail and I hope I was able to help some.

Best Regards,
Mike Wright


===================================================
Forwarded to me by Mary Jo on Jul 2, 2012

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Abel Wright English Ancestry
From: hardmba@aol.com
Date: Thu, March 08, 2012 10:05 pm
To: maryjo@mjgen.com


Dear MaryJo,

I ran across your web page for Abel Wright (d. 1725, m. Martha Kitcheral) and noticed that you has speculated that he was a Kelvedon Hatch Wright http://mjgen.com/wright/1wright.html. I wondered if you were aware of the FTDNA Y-DNA genetic data that shows that Abel's patrilineal descendant lines are not related to the Kelvedon Hatch Wrights. Abel appears, from genetic data, to have descended from an entirely different Wright line in England as compared to the known Kelvedon Hatch Wright immigrant fathers, Deacon Samuel Wright of Springfield and Northampton, MA (1606 - 1665) and his third cousin, Thomas Wright of Wethersfield, CT (1610 - 1670). I would refer you to the web page for the Wright DNA Project at www.wright-dna.org. You will find participants who have listed Abel Wright as their proven immigrant father under the results section for "All other Haplogrps" (upper left hand corner of home page). Abel Wright (1725) is listed under participants with the I1 haplogroup genetic profile. There are six different participants who share the Y-DNA profile of the one participant who has a document trail to Lt. Abel Wright of Springfield, MA. I have worked with one of them on the Deacon Samuel Wright line. He helped us persuade a cousin of Wilbur and Orville Wright that he knew personally to have his DNA tested so that we could show that Wilbur and Orville Wright were descendants of Deacon Samuel Wright, just as their father's genealogical work in the 1890's had suggested.

At one time he, too, thought that Abel Wright was possibly related to the Kelvedon Hatch Wrights in Springfield (Dea. Samuel Wright). However, given the genetic evidence that Abel was a completely unrelated Wright of Norse lineage (Haploid I1), he has concluded that although Deacon Samuel Wright and Lt. Abel Wright undoubtedly knew each other, they were not related in any genealogical way.

The Kelvedon Hatch Wrights are of Roman era origins in England and were in England long before Norsemen, Vikings, Danes or Saxons began coming to English shores. Abel Wright's Y-DNA profile is of Norse origins so his ancestors probably came to England as "the Vikings" three or four centuries after the Kelvedon Hatch Wright Roman ancestors were already well established in England. This Roman era arrival actually started out life, not as a Roman, but as a Dardanian tribesman recruited/conscripted by the Roman Army from a "barbarian" area of the Empire's Moesia Superior Principate in the Balkans. The Dardanian homeland was situated in an area that now lies between Pec and Pristinia, Kosovo. He served his time in the Roman Army probably between 25 and 75 C.E. as a mercenary soldier fighting with the calvary auxillary cohort of Roman Legion XX. He probably served first in Gaul and then accompanied Emperor Claudius for the invasion of England in 43 C.E. He retired from the Roman Army to Londinium (Roman London) and was later called up to help put down Queen Bodiccia's rebelion in 61-62 C.E. He appears to have been among those recalled veterans from the Londinium area who survived the battles of that rebellion and afterwards were re-retired as part of the veterans contingent chared with resettlement of the Roman Colonia at Colechester. Like the rest of the veterans of the Roman Army, he was granted full Roman citizenship and an estate sufficient to support himself and his native family. nearly 1400 years later one of his descendants, named John Wright, emerges into recorded history 30 miles from the old Roman colonia at Colchester; as a church divine from Dagenham, co. Essex. This ancestor's son is the John Wright (1488 - 1551) who purchased the tenancy of the principal Kelvedon Hatch estate from the Crown in 1538 for 493 pounds and change, and there founded the Kelvedon Hatch dynasty of Wrights who held Kelvedon Hall and its associated estate until the last male heir, Edward Carrington Wright, died in 1920.

Unfortunately, we do not know as much about the pre-surname Viking ancestors of Lt. Abel Wright, but that is only because no one has taken up the chore of looking at the Viking settlement pattern on the east coast of England in order to find probable home towns from which Lt. Abel might have come, then gone there to research their local 5th century records and on to see if they can find him. We have 19 participants in our Kelvedon Hatch Wright DNA group and in addition, many outside resources, that have been brought to bear on the ancestry of Deacon Samuel Wright and his English family. I am sorry to say that Lt. Abel Wright's ancestor group has not enjoyed such extensive investigative effort. However, I would bet that if someone were to take up the chore, a very interesting history could be pieced together, if the town where he came from could ever be found. In a search for that town, I would start by studying the geographical pattern of modern day distribution of the I1 haploid in England and look at each town lying within those regions showing the highest concentrations of I1 haploid. I would then examine the records of each of those towns for any evidence of Wright families in the 1525-1625 timeframe. Those that had Wright families present would then get special attention to a detailed, on-site investigation of local records as well as anything housed in the National Archives and regional libraries, etc.

That is how we built the entire English history of the Kelvedon Hatch Wright family to where it is today.....all the way back to 43 C.E. and beyond. It is amazing to know where your male line came from at the time of Christ's crusifixion!

So, I have written to you to be sure you are advised of the interpretations of the Y-DNA data for these two family groups. I do not expect you to do anything in particular, but you might want to add a note or two to your web page about all this.

Best Regards,
Mike Wright

Abel* married Martha* Ketcheral on 1 Dec 1659 in Hartford, Hartford Co, Connecticut. Martha* (daughter of Samuel* Ketcheral, (immigrant) and Martha** Chapman, (immigrant)) was born on 4 Jan 1646 in Skipmuck, Hartford, Hartford Co, Connecticut; died on 19 Oct 1708 in Springfield, Hampden Co, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Possessions: 1683, Springfield, Hampden Co, Massachusetts
• Other-Begin: 26 Jul 1708, Springfield, Hampden Co, Massachusetts; Indian Attack

Notes:

Born in Jan 1644/5 to Samuel & Martha (Chapman) Ketcherel. Married Abel Wright 1 Oct 1659 in Springfield MA. Their child: Martha (Wright) Morley.

Find A Grave contributor Mary Jo Freeman adds:
Martha was 14 when she married.

The colonial laws regulated the subject of extravagant dressing. In September 1673 (when Martha was 28 years old) the court recorded:
"Diverse women at Springfeild (sic) presentd at ye Courte in March last for that being of meane estate they did weare Silkes contrary to Law vixt Goodwife Labden (,) Goody Colton (,) Goody Morgan (,) Goody Barnard (,) Mercy & Hephzibod Jones (,) Hunters wife & Daughter & Abell Wrights wife, & warned to this Courte the six former app'ring in Courte they were admonisht of their extyravagancyes & dismist."

On July 26, 1708, Indians attacked the town of Springfield and the Wright family. Martha was scalped and died 3 months later as a result of her injuries. Their son, Henry's baby was also killed and his wife was captured and died soon after.
findagrave


Possessions:
Martha Kitchell and married to Abel Wright--who claimed something (from the estate of Anthony Dorchester, 2nd husband of her mother) for what her mother, the widow of Samuel Kitchell (Kitcherell) once of Hartford, brought to the late Anthony Dorchester.


Other-Begin:
On July 26, 1708 seven or eight Indians rushed into the house of Lt. Abel Wright of Skipmuch in Springfield, and killed two soldiers, Aaron Parsons of Northampton and Benjah Hulbert of Enfield; scalped the wife of Lt. Wright (who died 3 months later on Oct 19), took Hannah, the wife of Lt.Wright's son Henry, and killed her; killed her infant son Henry in a cradle and knocked in the head of her daughter Hannah, aged 2 years, in the same cradle, but she later recovered.
http://mjgen.com/wright/1wright.html

Other Events and Attributes:

• Emigration: 1635, Dartsmouth, England
• Immigration: 1635, Massachusetts (probably)

Notes:

From A General Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England:

Henry, Springfield, s. of Samuel, b. in Eng. m. 15 Dec. 1664, Bethia, d. of Benjamin Cooley, had Henry, Benjamin, and two ds. wh. liv. to adult age, was rep. 1689, and d. 15 Aug. 1718.

According to The Chapin Genealogy by Orange Chapin, "Tradition says of Henry, that he was impressed on board a British man of war and served seven years, during which time he was in a severe engagement with the Dutch. He afterwards commanded a merchant ship and made several voyages between London and Boston, but at length, tired of a seafaring life, took up his residence in Boston, and afterwards in Springfield, where his father and family resided." Between 1670 and 1701 he served for 11 years as Selectman. In 1689 he was Representative of the General Court of Massachusets.
He and his brother Japhet Chapin were the first settlers in Chicopee, which was the old "fifth parish" of Springfield. His house was near the west end of what is now Exchange Street in Chicopee Center.



http://ancestor.homestead.com/files/Roger_Chapin.htm


Buried:
Body buried at sea
Henry was a sea captain, also served 7 years in the Royal Navy. He died in Springfield, but had his body shipped back to Paignton, Devonshire for burial-- odd at first glance because his parents were bur in the New World. However the note I have on his gf is "Paignton, Devonshire, buried at sea"-- so perhaps the Royal Naval connection took precedence for him.

Specifically: Henry served in the Royal Navy, as did his grandfather. Paignton is right on the coast, which also makes sense.
findagrave

Henry* married Bethiah* Cooley on 5 Dec 1664 in Springfield, Hampden Co, Massachusetts. Bethiah* (daughter of Benjamin* Cooley and Sarah* Savage) was born on 16 Sep 1643 in Longmeadow, Hampden Co, Massachusetts; died on 11 Dec 1711 in Springfield, Hampden Co, Massachusetts; was buried in Chicopee Street Burying Ground, Chicopee, Hampden County, Massachusetts, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Emigration: Bef 1663, England

Other Events and Attributes:

• Immigration: Bef 1644, Connecticut (probably)

Notes:

(Also Kritcherell, Kritcherel, Kitcherel, Kritchwell)

Samuel* married Martha** Chapman, (immigrant) in 1643 in Hartford, Hartford Co, Connecticut. Martha** (daughter of Simon* Chapman and Mary* Heath (?)) was born before 7 Apr 1616 in Digswell, Hertfordshire, England; was christened on 7 Apr 1616 in Digswell, Hertfordshire, England; died on 17 Dec 1662 in Springfield, Hampden Co, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Immigration: Bef 1644, Connecticut (probably)
• Residence: Aft 1651, Springfield, Hampden Co, Massachusetts

Notes:

On 2 Jan 1650-1 he married at Hartford, Connecticut Martha Chapman, widow of Samuel Kitcherell. According to a declared statement on 15 Sep 1659 by Nathaniel and Johana Reskue, she was born at Digswell, Herts County, England and came over with the sister of Major Hezekiah Haines. She died on 17 Dec 1662.

(Hezekiah Haynes, d 1693, was the second son of John Haynes, a devout Puritan of Copford Hall in Essex who emigrated with his family to New England in 1633 to escape the Laudian persecution and subsequently became governor of Massachusetts and Connecticut. Wikipedia)

John Haynes: In the early 1620s, he purchased Copford Hall, near Colchester in Essex; this estate alone was reported to produce £1,100 per year.[5]

Essex was also a Puritan center, and Haynes was greatly influenced by the pastor Thomas Hooker, who was a close friend.[5] In about 1630, John Winthrop and John Humphreys, two of the founders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, extended invitations to Hooker and Haynes to join them in the New World.[6] Apparently leaving his minor children behind, Haynes emigrated in 1633, sailing aboard the Griffin with Hooker.[6] They settled first at Newtowne (later renamed Cambridge), where Haynes was the guest of Thomas Dudley until his own house was ready.[7]
(Wikipedia)


Griffin was the name of a 17th-century ship known to have sailed between England and English settlements in Massachusetts. Several historical and genealogical references show the Griffin making such journeys in 1633 and 1634. The 1633 journey left at Downs, England and landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts on September 3. This 1633 journey carried religious dissidents, including Thomas Hooker,[1] John Cotton, and others totaling 200 people. The ship Griffin weighed in at 300 tons and she saw the birth of at least one child, Seaborn Cotton, during the 1633 voyage.[2] In 1634 the Griffin carried Anne Hutchinson to the Massachusetts colony. Huthcinson's oldest son had preceded her the previous year, also on the Griffin.


The Puritan minister Seaborn Cotton, son of John Cotton, of the First Church in Boston. He was born at sea, August 12, 1633, on the ship Griffin which brought his parents to America


Residence:
Springfield: After 1651, sold the Hartford home lot and moved to Springfield.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: Bef 1626, Berry Pomeroy, Devon, England
• Emigration: 1635, Dartsmouth, England
• Immigration: 1635, Roxbury, Suffolk Co, Massachusetts
• Residence: 1643, Springfield, Hampden Co, Massachusetts

Notes:

Samuel Chapin was by tradition of Welsh descent. It is felt more likely that he was a French Huguenot in origin. He may have fled to Holland at one time. He sailed from Dartmouth, England in 1635 and settled in Roxbury, Massachusetts. In the winter of 1643-1644, he followed Pyncheon (?) to Springfield, Massachusetts, where he was known as "Pyncheon's right- hand man" and a founder of Springfield. He was made a freeman June 02, 1641.

Samuel immigrated to Springfield June 2, 1641. He was a town officer 1642; deacon, 1649. He died November 11, 1675. He left a will dated 4(11)1674; probated March 24, 1676. He bequeathed to his wife, son Henry and grandson Thomas Gilbert. Son, Japhet C. with wife Abilene deposed.

From 6046669 (FHC microfiche). Biographies Massachusetts.

The following account from Early History of Springfield (see Sam Bliss for total cite). Samuel was placed on a commission with John Pynchon and Elizur Holyoke to administer the government of Springfield. Philip was 2nd son of Massasoit, sachem of the Wampanoags, a long time friend of whites. When he succeeded his brother, Alexander to chieftaincy, he became embroiled in difficulties with England and attempted to unite all of the principal tribes in New England against the colonists. On October 4, 1875 [sic], Toto, domestic of Mr. Wolcott, told him of the plan of the Indians to assault Springfield. The villagers fled to three fortified houses, Pynchon's and two others. One of the leading men of the town was Deacon Samuel Chapin, one of the assistants of Major John Pynchon in the magistry and ancestor of all of that name in this country. The men left in the village at the time were all of advanced age. The villagers waited in the houses overnight and when nothing had happened, in the morning Thomas Miller and Lt. Cooper went to see what the Indians were doing in their village. Both of them were killed, and the Indians burst upon the town. They destroyed 32 of the 45 homes, 24 of the 25 barns and all of the harvest put up for winter, the correction house, corn mill and saw mill. They killed Miller, Cooper, Pentecost Matthews, and Edmund Pringrydays. Reverant John Russell of Hadley wrote to the governor, Leverett, saying Wequogan, chief sachem of the Springfield Indians was the ringleader. Pynchgon brought soldiers from Hadley (including the younger Springfield townsmen) and Major Treat brought help from across the Connecticut River. Pynchon wrote to Reverant Russell of Hadley about all that was lost including the Mirick's house). people were without houses or barns or food for the winter. The town was quickly rebuilt.
("In October, 1675 Springfield was attacked by Indians and burned. Deacon Chapin did not see the town rebuilt, for in about a month as wrote his son Japhet, `My father was taken out of this troubelsom world the 11 day of November about eleven of the clock in the eve, 1675.'")


From A Gen. Dict. of the First Settlers of New England:
"Samuel, Roxbury 1638 [wrong], brot. from Eng. w. Cicely, call. Sisly on rec. and sev. ch. prob. Henry, Josiah, perhaps David, and two ds. Catharine and Sarah, and at R. had Japhet, b. 15 Oct. 1642; rem. that yr. to Springfield, there had Hannah, 2 Dec. 1644; was freem. 2 June 1641, a propr. of Westfield 1660, a deac. and man of distinct. d. 11 Nov. 1675."
_______________

Deacon Samuel Chapin was a forceful and dynamic man. A man with Puritan faith, he brought his family to New England about 1638. Living first in Roxbury, Mass. then moving to Springfield in 1642 as one of the founders of that city then called Agawam. He served his town in many capacities including Selectman, Auditor and Magistrate and he was Deacon of the church for some 25 years.

Next to the Public Library in Springfield there is a bronze statue, "The Puritan", placed there 24 Nov 1887 which honors him. It is the sculptor's idea of how such a man as Deacon Chapin, a man of his moral standing and spiritual qualities ought to have looked.

_______________

A chronology of Samuel Chapin's activities:

1638: Samuel Chapin and wife Cicely were at Roxbury. Came to Springfield, MA from Roxbury, MA.

A record at Roxbury, of early but unknown date shows that he possessed 24 acres of land there, and had eight persons in his family, himself, wife, father, and five children. (Thepresence of his father John Chapin, at this time is in conformity with records already quoted). In 1641 he bought a house and lot of James Howe and became a freeman, which implied that he was a church member and gave him the right to vote and hold office under the Colony Government.

1641, 2 Jun: Samuel Chapin of Springfield, MA, admitted Freeman.

1643: Town officer. He took a prominent part in all the affairs of the town, both religious and civil.

1644: Freeman

1648: A member of the Board of Selectmen on which Benjamin Cooley first served. A member of the first Board of Selectmen and served 9 consecutive years.

1649: Deacon.

1651: Commissioner.

1652: John Pynchon, Elizur Holyoke and Samuel Chapin were appointed Commissioners, or Magistrates, to hear and determine all cases and offences, both civil and criminal, "that reach not to life, limbe and banishment."

1653: The General Court appointed him and John Pynchon to lay out Northampton and its bounds, and they made purchase of the lands from the Indians.

1664: He petitioned the General Court for some land for services done.

1669: The General Court granted him 200 acres as laid out 4 miles from Mendon, bounded as in the platt which is on file, provided it did not exceed 200 acres and that it did not take in any of the meadows now granted to Mendon.

1674, 4 Mar (1st mo.): Samuel Chapin wrote his will. Bequeathed to wife, son Henry, grandson Thomas Gilbert.

1676, 24 Mar: Will probated. Son Japhet Chapin with his wife Abilene deposed.

http://ancestor.homestead.com/files/Roger_Chapin.htm
____________________

Notable Cousins
There are some very famous and notable cousins that come from this family line.
Richard Bedford BENNETT, was the 14th Prime Minister of Canada from 1930-1935

John BROWN, abolitionist who was convicted and hung for treason. He also was called Captain and led the raid of Harper?s Ferry.

Stephen Grover CLEVELAND, the 22nd and 24th President of the United States. He was also Governor of New York

Charles CURTIS, was the 31st Vice President of the United States from 1929-1933. He was also the Senator from Kansas and held the position as US Representative from Kansas
Dorothy GISH, Lillian GISH, both actresses and motion picture pioneers

Dr. Brewster HIGLEY, (1823-1911) was the author of ?Home on the Range?

John Pierpont MORGAN, financier and banker. Founder of JP Morgan Company in 1895 and the US Steel Corporation 1901

Harriet Elizabeth BEECHER STOWE, abolitionist and author of ?Uncle Tom?s Cabin? in 1851

William Howard TAFT, 27th President of the United States.


http://climbing-the-genealogy-tree.blogspot.com/2010/08/deacon-samuel-chapin-and-cicley-penny.html

link to notable cousins: http://kinnexions.com/kinnexions/cousins.htm

_______________________
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~scanderson/deacon_chapin.HTM

Deacon Samuel Chapin
Magistrate; Town Commissioner; Church Deacon

b. 8 Oct 1598 in Paignton, Devonshire, England - d. 11 Nov 1675 in Springfield, MA at age 77
m. Cicely PENNY 9 Feb 1623 in Paignton, Devonshire, England

"The Puritan" - a bronze statue in Merrick Park next to the Public Library in Springfield, Mass. honors one of the town's founders, the Deacon Samuel Chapin. The artist was Augustus St. Gauden and it was commissioned by Chester W. Chapin, Springfield's railroad magnate, in 1885. The statue was originally unveiled on Thanksgiving Day in 1887 in Stearns Square, and remained there for twelve years before being moved to its current location. In moving the statue, the beautiful bronze fountain and pink granite bench that were constructed to compliment the artwork were relocated to other parts of the city. The working model is now owned by the Carnegie Museum of Art.

"The beginning of the Chapin family is altogether creditable. We may well be satisfied that it should start with this genuine old Puritan and what he did, with his fellow pioneers, to open the American Continent and on it found a city and to establish a model Christian Republic. The rolls of heraldry, even if they could show the name linked with royal or princely blood, would add nothing to the true nobility of its origin. It belongs peculiarly to this country, and the sphere of its highest dignity and honor was no doubt ordained to be here. Our chief anxiety should be to maintain and advance its true nobility by lives and deeds worthy of such a father." - Aaron L. Chapin, President of the Chapin Family Association, at the unveiling of the Chapin Statue at Springfield, MA on 24 November 1887. 60

Samuel CHAPIN and his wife, Cicely, came from England with three sons and two daughters in 1635. He most likely came over in the summer, when the passage was the mildest, and probably landed at Boston, which was then, as it is now, the chief port of New England. They probably settled immediately in Roxbury. Roxbury was founded a few years earlier, in 1630, by William Pynchon. It soon became a small village of from two to three score families, most of whom came from Nazing, London, or the west of England. Possibly it was because he had friends among the latter that determined Samuel to settle in Roxbury. Samuel held land as early as 1639, as is shown by the Roxbury land records.

Like most of the early settlers, Samuel Chapin must have been principally a farmer, although undoubtedly he had to turn his hand to many other pursuits as occasion required, which was in fact very often. In 1636 Samuel, then comparatively a young man, was very probably one "of the Roxbury people" who worked on the fortifications at Cornhill in Boston. In the fall of that year the General Court met at Roxbury, thus giving Samuel a chance to see its workings. During his stay in Roxbury the Pequot War took place, which resulted in making it possible to settle with safety in Western New England as at Springfield. The Chapins lived in Roxbury till the close of the year 1642.

In 1636 William Pynchon, then a resident of Roxbury, led a party of about a dozen families to the Connecticut River, where he founded a settlement then called Agawam, but which four years later was renamed Springfield, after his home in England. Most of the settlers took up farming, as there were many fertile meadows along the banks of the Connecticut, while Pynchon for the most part engaged in the fur trade. The settlement grew slowly at first, but by the time the Chapins arrived, it had become a village of respectable size for New England in those days.

As he had in Roxbury, as at Springfield, Samuel was primarily a farmer, but of course here also he had to do all sorts of other things besides. He soon became one of the leading men in the government of the town and held many public offices during his life including Selectman, Auditor and Magistrate and he was Deacon of the church.

Samuel Chapin lived to be an old man and having borne for over twenty years the burdens of government, now in his declining years withdrew from the center of political affairs. He slowly handed over the reins to the younger men in town. Samuel died 11 Nov 1675; according to the diary of his son Japhet, "My father was taken out of this troublesome world the 11th day of November about eleven of the clock, 1675." His widow, Cicely, died 8 Feb 1683.

Samuel had an inventory of his estate performed for his will. The total sum of his goods, not including his land, was over 45 English pounds. His wife's estate was inventoried in 1682 for her will and the goods were then valued at over 100 English pounds.

____________

Samuel* married Cicely* Penney, (immigrant) on 9 Feb 1623 in Paignton, Devonshire, England. Cicely* (daughter of Henry* Penney and Jane* (..) Penney) was born on 21 Feb 1601 in Paignton, Devonshire, England; died on 8 Feb 1683 in Springfield, Hampden Co, Massachusetts; was buried in Springfield Cem, Springfield, Hampden Co, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Emigration: 1635, Dartsmouth, England
• Immigration: 1635, Massachusetts (probably)
• Will: 1684, Springfield, Hampden Co, Massachusetts

Notes:

Cicely died February 8, 1682. She bequeathed to sons Henry C. of
Springfield, and Josiah C. of Braintree; daughters Catharine, wife of Sam Marchfield, Sarah Thomas, and Hannah Hitchcock; to Henry Gilbert, apprentice of John Hitchcock; son Japhet C. executor.

From 6046669 (FHC Microfiche) Biographies Massachusetts.

Will:
In her will, Cecily CHAPIN bequeathed to sons Henry CHAPIN of Springfield, MA and Josia h CHAPIN of Braintree, MA; to Sarah THOMAS and Hannah HITCHCOCK; to Henry GILBERT, apprentice to John HITCHCOCK. Named son Japhet executor.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Emigration: Bef 1648, England
• Immigration: Bef 1648, Massachusetts (probably)
• Property: 2 Feb 1657, Springfield, Hampden Co, Massachusetts
• Possessions: 1684, Springfield, Hampden Co, Massachusetts

Notes:

He probably immigrated with at least his wife and perhaps some of his children sometime before 1663.

In 1635, from his initial base in Roxbury, Massachusetts, Pynchon and two others conducted an exploratory expedition up the Connecticut River looking for a good place to establish a beaver trade. They found it at Agawam, and his two colleagues remained there for the winter to get things started. Both Burt (1898) and Swift (1969) provide abundant documentation of Pynchon?s dealings with the Native Americans as they established their beaver operations.

In the following spring (1636) Pynchon led a larger expedition to create a settlement on the banks of the Connecticut River. In 1640 that settlement was named Springfield, after the town in Essex where Pynchon was from. Burt (1898, pg. 20) reports that several of the new settlers in 1640 were married prior to their arrival in Springfield, among them he lists Benjamin Cooley. This explains why there is no record of Benjamin and Sarah?s wedding in Springfield. Unfortunately their names have not been found on any ship passenger list, but many ships arrived in New England at that time without a surviving record of passenger names. The first official record of Benjamin?s Springfield presence was the birth of their daughter Bethia on September 16,1643.


Benjamin Cooley was baptized in the nearby town of Tring in 1617. As a young lad he must have been trained as a weaver, for soon after his arrival in Springfield, MA he took on an apprentice weaver named Samuel Terry. We also know from Benjamin?s will that tools of the weaver craft was a big part of his estate.

As Mortimer Cooley (1941, pg. 72) reports, ?there is ample evidence that Benjamin Cooley was a skilled worker in both flax and wool.? So it is very probable that Pynchon?s agents in Essex and Hertfordshire (Swift, 1969, pg. 16) convinced a young weaver named Benjamin Cooley to move to the new world. That recruitment may have been fairly easy for a number of reasons.


References
Burt, Henry (1898) The First Century of the History of Springfield: 1636 to 1736 Michigan Historical Reprint Series.
Bremer, Francis (1995) The Puritan Experiment University Press of New England.

Cooley, Mortimer (1941) The Cooley Genealogy Tuttle Publishing Company.

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He settled in Longmeadow, MA. The library in Longmeadow has a great resource of all the Cooleys descendeds,from Benjamin and Sarah. In the Longmeadow, MA there is a Cooley Street and markers on the historical homes, many of which were Cooleys. It's amazing that many of the families had 6 or more children. Benjamin was active in the town's government and lived a long life with his wife Sarah.
Sources:
1. Torrey, C.A. "New England Marriages before 1700" pp.179.

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The Cooley Genealogy, page 137

Few dividends slipped away from Benjamin Cooley,
except as he made exchanges for property more useful and
convenient to him. In 1647 he was taxed for 40 1/2 acres,
while the inventory of his estate in 1684 included 527 acres
exclusive of the "land that Obadiah Cooley occupieth." This
latter tract, at Main and York streets in Springfield,
comprised perhaps ten acres, giving as a total, 537 acres
acquired during Benjamin Cooley's forty years as an
inhabitant of Springfield.

Source: found at Genforum, for Benj. & Sarah Cooley of Springfield, MA

Posted by: Jo Ann Sherwood Date: August 30, 1999.
In Reply to: Benj. & Sarah Cooley of Springfield, MA by Skip Cooley of 720

Dear Skip:

I enjoyed your articles on the dress codes. In return I thought you might like a copy of the Indian deed "selling" Springfield.

February 4, 1678. The indians above named viz Wawapana and Wawaba and Wecombo the true and proper owners of all the lands above mentioned did set and by sale forever pass away all the land above mentioned to Mr. Elizaber Holyoke, George Colton, Benjamin Cooley, Samuel Marshfield and Anthony Dorchester for the use and behoofe of the town of Springfield the bargain being meade in my presence and as I remember it was in the year 1674 or thereabout I was offered in treaty about it which at last came to a conclusion to be as above mentioned the payment also for the land as above expressed passing through my hands to the indians which they gladly accepted and did willingly own the sale to me after this deed was they comeing particulary one at a tyme to me to subscribe it when I told them they must came altogether the want of which was the onely obstruction for they often severally acknowledged the sale and the writing to be according to their minde and meaning also testifying their readiness to come all together and subscribe which as they promised no doubt they would have done but that the indian wars happening in the year 1675 they with other indians we drove away before which time they made the above said purchase and sale and I declare they did come personally and owne and acknowledge the conveyhance and sale of the land above mentioned as above expressed. This then done and by ye Indians Wequanquan and Wawapaw and Wecomobo owned and acknowledged. John Pynchon, Attestant. This entred these records for the county of Hampshire July 12 1679 as attested.

John Holyoke (Source: Hampshire County Massachusetts Deeds, Book AB, page 24, Film 844486.
SOURCE: Files of Jackie Drybread in Rootsweb

____________

From: http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ma/county/hampden/hist/hist2.html
EARLY SPRINGFIELD AND LONGMEADOW, MASSACHUSETTS
Page 2 (Continued)

George Colton is said to have married Deborah Gardner at Hartford about the time of his settling at Springfield. He named his second daughter Sarah. Is it possible that Benjamin Cooley's wife Sarah was a sister of George Colton? The relations between Cooley and Colton would seem to have been far more binding than a mere Damon and Pythias attachment. If the origins of George Colton could be determined they might shed an important light on the early life of Benjamin Cooley.

There seems to have been nothing precipitate in the nature of Benjamin Cooley, who appears to have always made haste slowly. One of such a nature would not have been apt to accept the first home site offered. A mere four acre strip of arable land from the street to the river must have seemed a pitiful provision for a family, especially if part of the tract was to be occupied by a house and its appurtenances. Along almost its entire length the town street followed the line of the marsh and the artificial ditch which became the town brook, and there seems to have been an official prejudice against the locating of buildings on the marsh side of the street. However, at the south end of the town, the brook turned off to the east for the breadth of six or seven lots, sufficiently to provide a sizeable plot of hard ground east of the street.

Cooley was a desirable prospect; one to be encouraged. Therefore on February 23, 1643/44 it, was "ordered and voted that there shall be no barns nor any other housing set up betwixt the street fence and the brook except they have four rod for the highway."

1 Thus Cooley's objections were met and he chose the third lot from the south, where the brook course provided the minimum of marsh. East of the street he built his house. At the rear of it was the clear running natural brook. Across the street was his barn. Three lots to the north was a site offering similar advantages and this was chosen by George Colton who also established himself on the east side of the town street.
After his permanent removal to Longmeadow,

Cooley sold this property in the town plot to his next-door neighbor, Richard Sikes, on January 12, 1667/68.2 Both the house and the barn were burned by the Indians in the sack of the town on October 5, 1675, so that nothing definite is known of them, but consideration of other buildings of the time provides a knowledge of their nature and construction.

It can be most positively affirmed that the Cooley house was not one of those log cabins, so beloved by poets and painters, that actually were unknown in pioneer New England. An Englishman, coming to America in the early 17th century, would have had about as much knowledge of a log house as he would have had of an Esquimau igloo--and no more. He simply would never have heard of such a thing. In any event, lack of material would have prohibited such wasteful construction for, contrary to general thought, southern New England was then not one huge forest but was an expanse almost entirely of great open spaces, due to the annual burnings of the Indians. There is today, in Massachusetts and Connecticut, far more wooded area than there was when the Pilgrims landed. So scarce was timber about Springfield that the very earliest plantation order prohibited the cutting of a single tree on the town plot. As the Indians were exterminated this unnatural condition corrected itself, but as late as 1699, Northampton was forced to consider ways and means for overcoming their great lack of firewood.

Springfield carpenters and builders planned and built in the English tradition the type of houses they had known in the old country. The home of Anne Hathaway at Shottery which has been made so familiar by modern photography well illustrates the type.

Rather complete details of the house built for the first minister in 1639 are of record. It is shown to have been a two and a half-story building with an entrance porch, the second story of the latter being designed for a study. The roof was thatched and the walls were "wattled," that framework being covered with clay with a result not unlike a stucco house in appearance. The rods of the wattling were known as "wales" and the process of covering them with clay was called "daubing the wales."

Such construction was well adapted to the mild winters and damp summers of Old England but here the settlers found that this clay-stucco siding succumbed to the rigors of ice and snow, and for protection they were forced to overlay it with an outside covering of boarding. Continuous winter fires and hot, dry summers constituted a fire hazard that led to the early abandonment of thatched roofs.

Until the coming, about 1645, of Hugh Parsons, the brick maker and chimney specialist, chimneys were built after the English manner, in cob-house fashion of round sticks, daubed with clay.
The church of 1645 was of similar construction to the parsonage except that the roof was covered with hand riven shingles, eighteen inches in length. Seven years later the outside was clapboarded.

Apparently the "daubed" house persisted for a considerable period for at the hearing in the witchcraft charges against Hugh Parsons, on March 17, 1650/51, John Lombard testified "that one day last summer he set a trowel and a stick which he used to hold to his clay when he daubed, on the ground just without his door; after which two Indians came in and presently went away again. When he also went out to look for his trowel, there was the stick, but the trowel was gone." Thus the tools of the trade seem to have been in common use at least as late as 1650.
Diagonally across the street from the Cooley house was the home of widow Margaret Bliss. Across the street to the south was that of Hugh Parsons. Both of these were built about 1643-1645 and both were garrisoned during King Philip's was and so were preserved until the camera could make a permanent record of them, and thus is had a knowledge of the house of the period.

One can surmise that the first Cooley home in America was a substantial and commodious two and a half-story structure of half-timbered, clay-daubed walls. The materials undoubtedly came from his own hillside wood-lot east of the brook. There, with frow and beetle he probably rived his own shingles. Presumably the windows had casement sashes, with tiny diamond panes set in lead.

Benjamin Cooley came into the community at a busy time. In 1645 the first church was built and every inhabitant was obligated to give twenty days work to its furtherance (not twenty-three days as appears in Burt's transcript, Vol. I, page 176). Here is meat for the statistician and the economist. Exclusive of William Pynchon and Pastor Moxon, there must have been forty townsmen who contributed their labor; a total of eight hundred days, or the equivalent of between two and three years of working days for one man. The maximum day for carpenters and similar workers had previous been set at ten hours. Thus, eight thousand hours of labor went into the fashioning of the church. It would seem that either tools were inadequate or labor was inefficient, or that the structure was far more pretentious than the recorded specifications indicate.

Within five years an attic floor was laid in the church, providing a chamber which was used by various individuals for the storage of corn, and the records show that on "December 28, 1653, it is granted to Benjamin Cooley to have the use of the meeting house chamber from the innermost side of the pillars to the end of the house and to enjoy it the first Tuesday in November next, in consideration whereof he is to pay seven shillings in good wheat or wampum by the first of November next."

The earliest of Benjamin Cooley in the Springfield records is dated September 16, 1643, when his daughter, Bethia, was born. The next is February 8, 1643/44 when he was called for jury duty. On September 23, 1645, a reference to fences indicates that he was then established on his property and that he was then the most southerly lot occupant, his later neighbors on the south not then having arrived. From then on the records are replete with references to his public services, some of which must have been quite arduous. On February 8, 1643/44, when he served as a juryman in a petty case involving a pig, the group reported that "the jury having been held till near midnight hearing the plea and the proofs, desires liberty not to bring in their verdict until the next day, an hour before sun set." Here is perhaps something significant and illuminating. Benjamin Cooley was then almost a stranger in town and it was his first experience with a local jury. It was a jury of six, the others being Thomas Cooper, John Dober, Richard Sikes, William Branch and John Harmon. Was it a Cooley insistence on justice that protracted the session until all arguments were heard, despite personal sacrifices? Was here first demonstrated a sense of justice that brought later honors?

In 1667, with Deacon Samuel Chapin and George Colton, he was in charge of the first local "Community Chest" for the distribution of "four or five pounds to help a little against the want of some families." He not only had the confidence of the community but he seems to have endeared himself to all classes. The testimony in the Hugh Parsons hearing relates that at the Pynchon store he was "one that was liked." And it was to his neighbor Cooley that the bedeviled and harassed Hugh Parsons went for help when distracted with anxiety over his sick child.
On March 4, 1650/51, there died at Springfield, Joshua Parsons, infant son of Hugh Parsons and his wife, Mary Lewis. The available evidence indicates that the child succumbed to croup or some similar ailment, but the father was accused of witchcraft in connection with the death. He was examined before magistrate Pynchon and the testimony then given sheds such light on the homely affairs of the day that it is here rehearsed, in so far as it relates to Benjamin Cooley.

Hugh Parsons desired that Goodman Cooley would testify whether he was not affected with the death of his child when he came to speak to him to go to the burial of it. He said he could not speak to him for weeping.

Benjamin Cooley said that when he spoke to him to go to the burial of his child, he cannot remember any sorrow that he showed, for he came to him taking a pipe of tobacco.

Hugh Parsons said that when his child was sick and like to die, he ran barefoot and barelegged and with tears to desire Goody Cooley to come to his wife, because his child was so ill.

One can picture the poor, bewildered maniac, rushing across the street in the middle of the night, barefooted and night-shirted, pounding on Sarah Cooley's door and pleading for help, desperate because his child was choking with croup, while its mother was not a fit person to give it care. Perhaps in his saner moments he recalled the Goodwife's success with her own children.

Goody Cooley testified that this was at the first time the child was taken. There was some speeches used that it might be bewitched, for those that are now bewitched have often times something rise up into their throats that doth stop their breath and it seems by George Colton's testimony that the child was strangely taken.

Benjamin Cooley said upon oath that Mary Parsons told him about a year since that she feared her husband was a witch and that she so far suspected him that she had searched him when he had been asleep in his bed but could not find anything about him unless it be in his secret parts.

Benjamin Cooley and Anthony Dorchester said upon oath that being charged by the constable to watch Mary Parsons this last night, she told them that if her husband had fallen out with anybody, he would say that he would be even with them and then she found that he did bewitch his own child that she might be at liberty to help him in his Indian corn harvest; for he expected help from her and because her time was taken up about her child, he being eager after the world, seemed to be troubled at it and she suspected that he was a means to make an end of his child quickly, that she might be at liberty to help him. Another thing said she made her to suspect her husband to be a witch was that most things he sold to others did not prosper. Another ground of suspicion was because he was so backward to go to the ordinances, either to the lecture or to any other meeting and she had been feign to threaten him that she would complain to the magistrate or else she thought he would not let her go once in the year. Another thing that made her suspect him to be a witch was because of the great noise that she could hear in the house when he was abroad. And she said that last Tuesday, at night, when he was abroad, she heard a noise in the house as if forty horses had been there and after he was come to bed he kept a noise and a calling in his sleep, but she could not understand one word and so he hath done many times formerly and when she asked him what he ailed he would say he had strange dreams and one time he said that the devil and he were fighting and once he had almost overcome him but at last he overcame the devil.

Jonathan Taylor said upon oath, March 21, 1650/51, that when he was at the house of Hugh Parsons this winter he told me that he had been at Mr. Pynchon's to get as much whitleather as to make a cap for a flail, and he was willing, but Simon Beamon would not let him have any. It had been as good, said he, he had. He shall get nothing by it; I will be even with him. Mary Parsons said; husband, why do you threaten the fellow so; it is like he was busy. He answered, if Goodman Cooley or any one else that he had liked had come, he should have had it. But I'll remember him.

Jonathan Taylor on oath said that sometime this winter on a night, a pair of Goodman Matthews pales fell down with a noise and going out presently to see the occasion thereof, could not perceive anything. But going into his house again, it being very dark, Hugh Parsons was at his back, his hand on his door as soon as his was, he bidding him sit down, which he did, Parsons saying, Goodman Cooley's boy nothing but beat my calf. His master will take no order with him, but I will. Anon after, Goody Cooley came and inquired after her boy, whether this deponent had seen him, he telling her no. She replied, I sent him to Goodman Matthews a good while since and cannot tell what is become of him, and desired this deponent to help her look for him, which he did, in all the hay mows and out houses with whooping and hallooing for him but could not find him nor hear of him. At last she gave over looking for him and this deponent enquired of the said Goody Cooley whether Hugh Parsons had not met him and took orders with him and he threatened him for beating his calf. And after they were parted a while, the boy came home, and his dame asked him where he had been. He said, in a great cellar and was carried headlong into it, Hugh Parsons going before him, and fell down with me there, and afterwards he will me into it.

This "boy" was of course not Sarah Cooley's son, but Samuel Terry whom Cooley had taken as an apprentice.

Benjamin married * Sarah Savage on 1642 in Springfield, Hampden Co., Massachusetts. Sarah was born about 1620 in England.


The Great Puritan Migration to New England
Between 1630 and 1642, over 20,000 Englishmen migrated to New England. William Pynchon, the Puritan founder of Springfield, Massachusetts was one of them. So was Benjamin Cooley, the founder of the Cooley family in America, of which I am a member. Mortimer Cooley, in his remarkable two volume work, The Cooley Genealogy (1941), clearly documents Benjamin Cooley's early days in Massachusetts and how we all descended from Benjamin and his wife Sarah.

SOURCE: Cooley - The Great Puritan Migration to New England
carolaug Posted: 19 Jan 2009 11:52PM GMT






http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=pusch&id=I001589





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1648: Samuel Chapin became a member of the Board of Selectmen on which Benjamin Cooley first served.


Property:
2 Feb 1657/8: Benjamin Cooley was granted ten acreas of land bounded by John Lumbard on ye North of its Breadth (Springfield Book of Possessions asquoted in The Cooley Genealogy, p. 140)


Possessions:
Only three men other than the magistrate held estates valued in excess of L800. Ensign Benjamin Cooley owned holdings worth L1,241 when he died in 1684. Pynchon's brother-in-law, Elizur Holyoke, died eight years later leaving his heirs property worth L1,187. At his death in 1690, quartermaster George Colton owned assets valued at L847.
The Pynchons and The People of Early Springfield
http://www.americancenturies.mass.edu/classroom/curriculum_12th/unit1/lesson4/innes.html

Benjamin* married Sarah* Savage about 1642 in England (probably). Sarah* was born about 1620 in Springfield, Hampden Co, Massachusetts, or England (probably); died on 23 Aug 1684 in Springfield, Hampden Co, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Emigration: Bef 1663, England
• Immigration: Bef 1663, Massachusetts (probably)