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Oath of Fidelity - Springfield, Hampden County, Massachusetts from "John Harmon of Springfield MA Associates Part 7
VIII
Those Who Took The Oath of Fidelity
March 23, 1655/56
"March 23d 1655/56 being a Training day these under written took the oath of fidelity:
Thomas Bancroft, John Stewart, James Warrener, Obadiah Miller, Symon Sackett, Nathaneel Burt, Hugh Dudley, Samuel Bliss, William Morgan, Lawrence Bliss, Jeremy Horton, James Taylor, Edward Foster, John Sackett, Josiah Chapin Abell Wright, Richard Maund, John Riley, Anthony Dorchester, Francis Pepper, James Osborne, John Horton, John Earle"
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Notes |
- Thomas Miller arrived in Springfield in 1649 and promptly married Sarah Marshfield, sister of Samuel Marshfield, who arrived the previous year. He held a number of town civic posts, including Appraiser, Fence Viewer, Hayward and Committee to Grant Land. The early records cite many of his actions, including his killing a wolf. He was granted land across the Connecticut River at a site described as "by the higher wigwam, provided hee bee not an occasion of troble and disturbance to the Plantation by an unwis clashing with the Indians."
Thomas Miller and Sarah Marshfield Miller had 13 children. One of their descendants was the Prophet William Miller, a founder of the Seventh Day Adventist Church who was a much celebrated, self-taught religious figure of the middle 19th Century who was born at Pittsfield, Mass., in 1782 and who founded the Millerite Movement and captured the attention of the nation with his incorrect prediction of the Second Coming of Christ for 1843. Thomas and Sarah's children were: Sarah Miller, born Sept. 3, 1650 in Springfield, where she died Aug. 29, 1683, married Capt. Jonathan Bell/Ball; Thomas Miller, born April 1, 1653 in Springfield and died there March 5, 1689-90, married Rebecca Leonard, and had four children; Samuel Miller, born April 20, 1655 in Springfield and died there Feb. 11, 1726-27, married Ruth Beamon and had nine children; John Miller, born April 23, 1657, in Springfield and died in 1735, married Mary Beamon and had four children; Joseph Miller, born Sept. 27, 1659 in Springfield and died six weeks later; Josiah, or Josias Miller, born Sept. 27, 1660, in Springfield; Deborah Miller, born Nov. 9, 1662, in Springfield and died Jan. 14, 1750, married James Gerald; Martha Miller, born Nov. 10, 1664 in Springfield and died the next day; a second Martha Miller, born Nov. 4, 1665 in Springfield and died there May 21, 1691, and married Lt. John Ferry; Ebenezer Miller, born Aug. 25, 1667 in Springfield and died Jan. 6, 1754, married Hanna Keep; Mihitable, or Mehetable Miller, born Nov. 12, 1669, in Springfield, and married John Clemmons and had six children; a second Joseph Miller, born Dec. 13, 1671, in Springfield and died two weeks later; and Experience Miller, born May 19, 1673, in Springfield and married Samuel Frost.
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Sources for more information about Obadiah and Thomas Miller include: "The First Century of the History of Springfield, Mass.," from 1636 to 1736, written and published by Henry M. Burt in 1899; "History of the Hale-House Families," published by the Connecticut Historical Society in 1952; "Plymouth Colony: Its History & People 1620-1691," by Eugene Aubrey Stratton; New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol. 110, "Early Cogans English and American"; and "New England Outpost: War and Society in Colonial Deerfield," by Richard Melvoin.
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In 1650 Thomas Miller received fifteen lashes for breach of the peace in striking an Indian with the butt end of his gun. However, Miller avoided the whipping by paying down four fathoms of wampum (beads made of shells strung together and used by the Indians for money or ornaments.)
There was a court appearance on Nov 30, 1659 when John Henryson complained against Thomas Miller for detaining a cart from him which he claimed he had a right to. Thomas struck John in the mouth making it bleed; used reproachful speeches calling him Scottish dog; etc. John Henryson threatened Miller that either he or Thomas Miller should die before he should have the cart. Both were fined and put under a bond of good behavior; but since they became reconciled to each other, the bond was not required.
May 9, 1660 Thomas Miller complained against certain Indians that came to his house and scared his wife and children by throwing sticks at them. One of the Indians struck his wife on the head with his fist and she fell down with the blow. Thomas laid hold on the Indian and another Indian laid hold on Thomas- and struck diverse blows while he and the Indian were struggling. The Indians were pursued and some caught and returned to be fined in wampam. (Beads) Thomas Miller was one of several apprehended for playing cards. (See Edward Foster)
On the west side of the Connecticut River in 1652, there was a grant to Thomas Miller: "that vacant parsel of planting ground over the great river by the higher wigwam, provided he bee not an occasion of troble and disturbance to the Plantation by an unwise clashing with the Indians; if so, he shall forfeit the sayd land into the Towne hands."
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King Phillip?s War broke out and on 4 October 1675, John Pynchon and many of the Springfield men were dispatched to Hadley, Massachusetts, to pursue the enemy. The Agawam Indians living near Springfield had been friendly with the whites, but decided to join Phillip?s war of extermination. Toto, an Indian living with a Windsor family, told them of the planned Agawam attack on Springfield. A man was sent to Springfield with the news, arriving in the dead of night, and all the citizens gathered in the three fortified houses in the village..
No attack had come by morning and many thought it was a false alarm. Lieutenant Cooper knew the name of every Agawam Indian - he had dealings with them as an officer of the law, had aided them with loans of seeds or utensils, and did not fear them. He and Thomas Miller rode out to scout the Indian fort. Advancing toward it, they were fired upon and Miller was instantly killed. Lieutenant Thomas Cooper, being very athletic and vigorous, returned to Springfield at a gallop, clinging to his saddle. The horse stopped at the Pynchon house and Thomas fell to the ground dead. This was on 5 Oct 1675. The Indians then attacked the town, burned 33 houses and 22 barns, plundered the deserted houses, but the three houses where the people had fled to were well fortified and few were killed. Major Pynchon with 200 troopers returned at a dead run from Hadley and the Indians retreated with their booty.
John Harmon of Springfield, MA Associates Part 5
IV 1647 Lot Owners in Springfield.
http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/2322125/person/1426911794/mediax/2?pgnum=1&pg=0&pgpl=pid%7CpgNum
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