Bradley Rymph IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF OUR ANCESTORS

Transcription

1 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF OUR ANCESTORS FOUNDERS OF WINDSOR AND SIMSBURY, CONNECTICUT Matthew Grant ( ) / William Buell ( ) / Michael Humphreys (c /96) / Simon Mills (??) / John Case (c /04) Massachusetts. Among these passengers was a young man named Matthew Grant. The Mary and John passengers stayed briefly at the nearby town of Dorchester, Massachusetts. In September 1633, some of them set sail again, down Bradley Rymph On March 20, 1630, a ship called the Mary and John sailed from Plymouth, England, bearing 140 persons bound for New England in the American colonies. On May 30, they anchored in New England at the harbor of Nantasket (now Hull), Visits to Windsor and Simsbury, Connecticut July 10, 1999 (with José Baquiran, Albert and Edna Mae Rymph) Text and photos 2010, 2011, by Bradley B. Rymph the New England coast to a site where a scouting colony had designed a section of land for a new town of Windsor, Connecticut. In the coming months, Matthew Grant, like other members of the Mary and John party and some other colonists, made the short voyage to help establish Windsor. In 1635 Windsor s settlers began dividing the land into lots for distribution among the town s founders. As a professional surveyor, Matthew Grant was closely involved in this process. IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF OUR ANCESTORS HOME PAGE:

2 Founders Monument, on Palisado Green in Windsor. The monument includes the names of passengers on the Mary and John including William Buell, Matthew Grant, and Michael Humphreys. Plan of Ancient Windsor, Original ancestral plots are indicated in ovals: Matthew Grant (burgundy) and William Buell (teal). Indeed, Matthew Grant was one of the most influential persons in the establishment of Windsor. In addition to being the town s surveyor for several years, he served as its Town Clerk for some terms. He maintained a thorough volume called the Old Church Records, which is one of the most important records documenting Windsor s early history. Four more Heath family ancestors were among Windsor s early settlers. One was William Buell, a carpenter who acquired title to a land lot by Another was Michael Humphreys, a pitch-and-tar manufacturer who received land title in 1647, the same year he married Matthew Grant s daughter Priscilla. In 1653, Simon Mills, a trader, bought land in Windsor, and, at some point, John Case also bought land in the town. In the 1660s, a major dispute wracked the Windsor Community Church (and other churches across New England). Most New England churches, including Windsor s, were governed by townsmen with strict Puritan inclinations. As immigration in the region

3 Matthew Grant Memorial in Windsor: Marker (highlighted photo on p. 1) reads This marker marks the homesite of Matthew & Priscilla Grant who for the sake of religious liberty left Eng. in 1630 and Dorchester in They were among the founders of Windsor, of which he was for many years surveyor, recorder, selectman, & deacon. I have been careful to do nothing on one man s desire. grew, increasing numbers of settlers arrived who were more sympathetic to the established Church of England than to Puritan beliefs. Legally, these non-puritan settlers had little choice other than to attend the Puritan worship services and to pay taxes to support the church and the pastor s family. The non-puritan settlers began to insist that the laws governing church membership and support be modified to reflect the changing mix of Windsor s residents. Distant Cousins Notable figures in history who share descent with Windsor, CT, founders include: John Brown ( ) abolitionist/ insurrectionist; great-great-great-grandson of Samuel Humphrey ( ) and Mary Buell Mills ( ) through their son Jonathan. Ulysses S. Grant ( th President of the United States ( ); greatgreat-great-great-great-grandson of Matthew Grant ( ) and Priscilla (Grey) Grant (1600/ ) through their son Samuel. Michael Humphreys land site in Simsbury, for which a land grant was given to Humphreys in The current house was built by Michael s descendant, John Humphrey, in 1760.

4 HOW WE RE RELATED Family genealogical charts passed on to my mother, Edna Mae (Heath) Rymph, by her sister, the late Wilma Heath indicate that Matthew Grant, William Buell, Michael Humphreys, Simon Mills, John Case, and their wives would all be my ancestors 10 to 11 generations back. Unfortunately, one of the links in the genealogical chain registering Mary ( Polly ) Humphrey as the daughter of Ozias and Mary (Parsons) Humphrey is not consistent with published Humphrey family genealogical records, which caused me to question whether this commonly offered ancestral chain was correct. My own theory (which I cannot prove) is that Mary ( Polly ) Humphrey was instead the daughter of Ozias and Mary (Parsons) Humphrey s son, Ozias, Jr., and his wife, Clarissa (Barber) Humphrey. This alternate theory would make these early founders of Windsor and Simsbury my ancestors 11 to 12 generations back. (For more about the reasoning behind my theory, see the box A Genealogy Family Mystery Resolved? in the separate profile First Settler of Burke, Vermont: Lemuel Walter. ) Matthew Grant (10/27/ /16/1681) Michael Humphreys (c bef. 3/19/ ) Priscilla Grey (2/27/ /27/1644) Priscilla Grant (9/14/1626?) Samuel Humphrey (5/15/1656 6/15/1736) Simon Mills (??) Simon Mills, Jr. ( ) Mary Buell Mills (12/8/ ) Samuel Humphrey (5/17/ ) Abel Humphrey (3/13/ ?) Joan (unknown) (? 7/5/1659) Mary Buell (9/3/ ) Ozias Humphrey ( /22/1826) William Buell ( /23/1661) Mary Post (1619 9/2/1684) John Case (c /21/ ) John Tuller ( ) Mary Tuller (11/27/1692 c. 1714) Jemima Warner (??) Mary Parsons (c /12/1809) Sarah Spencer (c /3/1691) Elizabeth Case (c /9/1716)?? Ozias Humphrey (c /18/1805) Clarissa Barber (1780 3/18/1805) Ira Walter (11/18/1798 3/10/1873)?? Mary ( Polly ) Humphrey (c /31/1851) (continued next page)

5 (continued from previous page) Ira Walter (11/18/1798 3/10/1873) Isaac E. Heath (9/4/1832 5/18/1912) Horace Lorenzo ( Wren ) Heath (4/14/1858 4/26/1944) Cornelius ( Neal H. ) Heath (4/8/1891 1/28/1979) Albert James Rymph Bradley Budd Rymph Mary ( Polly ) Humphrey (c /31/1851) Caroline Amelia Walter (10/20/ /31/1899) Harriet Myers (4/22/1858 7/20/1930) Ethel Catherine Bradley (7/14/1891 7/22/1973) Edna Mae Heath José Verzosa Baquiran III Michael Humphreys was particularly outspoken on this point, even standing trial in local court for his challenge to the community church. By 1669, he had had enough. He left Windsor to help establish the nearby settlement of Simsbury. Also among Heath-family Windsor ancestors to move to Simsbury were John Case and Simon Mills, Jr. (the son of the early settler of Windsor) and his wife Mary Buell (the daughter of William Buell). TO LEARN MORE Humphreys, Frederick. The Humphreys Family in America Salem, MA: Higginson Book Company. Stiles, Henry R. The History of Windsor. 2 vols Camden, ME: Picton Press, 1976, 1992, reprint