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Settlers of Northampton, Hatfield and Hadley, Massachusetts

This painting, commonly known as The Oxbow, is a view of the Connecticut River near Northampton, MA painted by Thomas Cole in 1836.  Cole is referred to as the founder of "the Hudson River School" of painting.  The painting's proper title is "View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm." 

According to http://www.historic-northampton.org/highlights/brief.html:

 

"Northampton's founders, though strongly Puritan in conviction, were drawn to the area more by accounts of abundant tillable land and ease of trade with the Indians than by the religious concerns that characterized their brethren in eastern Massachusetts. In May 1653, 24 persons petitioned the General Court for permission to "plant, possess and inhabit Nonotuck." Northampton was settled in 1654 on a low rise above the rich meadowlands by the Connecticut River. Relations between settlers and Native Americans, though initially cooperative, became increasingly strained, culminating in King Philip's War in 1675.

Quick Links to Settlers of Northampton, Hatfield and Hadley

 

Alexander Edwards and Sarah Baldwin                                     John Searle, Sr. and Sarah Baldwin

 

Thomas Ford and Elizabeth Charde                                         Elder John Strong and Abigail Ford

 

George Langton and Hannah Haynes                                       Andrew Warner

 

Richard Montague and Abigail Downing                                    Samuel Wright, Sr.

Samuel Wright, Sr. & Margaret

 

In 1654, Samuel Wright, Sr. and about 15 other families formed “the Northampton Society.”  Wright, the 3G 10th Great-grandfather, had come to Springfield by 1639 and was a town leader, including being Deacon of the Congregational Church in Springfield.  The first settlers of Northampton established themselves there in 1654 (including Wright’s son Samuel) and in 1656 Samuel Wright, Sr. moved to a land grant about 35 miles up the Connecticut River from Springfield to Northampton, Mass.  The land was sold by the Pocumtuc Indians to the settlers partly because of smallpox epidemics which had devastated the Indian tribes and also because of ongoing hostilities against the Pocumtucs by the Mohawk Indians of the Iroquois Nation.  The area was first called “Squakeag,” the Indian name for the area; then it was called “Northfield,” as the northernmost settlement on the Connecticut River; and eventually it was called Northampton.  (Most of this information is from the website www.themorrisclan.com which has wonderful detailed history on a number of families that are Bissell ancestors, including Samuel Wright, William Bassett and his descendants, Alexander Alvord and George Griswold.) 

 

Samuel Wright, Sr. had a home lot of four acres; his son Samuel also had one of the first lots in Northampton.  Wright, Sr. was a Selectman in 1656.  Their homes have been described as small huts, with a stockade around several of them to which they could retreat for protection from Indian attacks.  Wright died while sleeping in his chair 17 Oct 1665 in Northampton.  In his will, he gave his homestead to his son James.  James was in the Turner’s Falls Fight in 1675.

Samuel Wright, Senior

Click Here for information about Deacon Samuel Wright, Sr. found on the "Settlers of Springfield" page.

Click Here to see the Mercy Ann Searle Chart 5 that places Deacon Samuel Wright, Sr. on the Family Tree.

John Searle, Sr. and Sarah Baldwin

John Searle and Sarah Baldwin;

Alexander Edwards and Sarah Baldwin Searle

John Searle, Sr., 9th Great-grandfather, moved from Boston in about 1636 (perhaps having arrived in about 1634) in company with others to Springfield, Mass., as first settlers. His home lot in Springfield was a little north of the present Union railroad station. He married in 19 March 1639/40 to Sarah Baldwin and they had one son John, Jr. (8th Great-grandfather) born March 30, 1641.  John Searle died 11 Apr 1641.  

 

John was the brother of 8th Great-grandmother Joanna Searle, who was married to William Warriner in 1639 and also lived in Springfield.   (Records indicate that William was made a freeman, or voter, in Springfield in 1638).  The Miner family website has information suggesting that John was born about 1610 in Warwickshire, Eng. and Joanna born about 1614 in Ottery, St. Mary, Devon, Eng.  Joanna died 7 Dec 1660.  There was some thought in earlier genealogy writings about Joanna that her last name was “Scant,” but well-documented research on the web now establishes that she was the daughter of Thomas and Agnes Searle, likely of Warwick, England, because she was the sister of John Searle of that family.  This is established because Joanna's husband William Warriner was given a legacy in the 21 Dec 1641 will of John Searle in Springfield, “First I give to my brother-in-law William Warriner my best coate & my cullord hatt...”  

 

John's will includes the following:

 

"I John Searles being very sicke in body doe make my last will & testament in manner & fourme followings. First I give to my brother-in-law William Warriner my best coate & my cullord hatt: & whereas in some reckinges betwixt him and me he owes me betwixt three and fower poundes: if he pays fortie shillinges thereof I am content that all the rest shall be remitted: the rest of my estate I divide betwixt my wife (Sarah) & my child (John) equally: & I doe appoint that my wife shall have for use till my child come of the age of 20 yeares that portion belonging to my Sonn John Searle in consideration of his maintenance & education. Provided that before she marry again she shall give or in her behalf cause to be given sufficient security for the payment of my childes portion wch security shall be given to Mr. Moxon, my brother Tymothy Baldwin and Samuel Wright whom I doe intreat to be overseers for the performance of this my last will."

Alexander Edwards

Alexander Edwards and Sarah

John Searle's widow, Sarah, married on 28 April 1642 to Alexander Edwards, 10th Great-grandfather who came to New England in about 1640 from a border town in Wales, the town of Llandabog, where he was born 10 Feb 1612/13.  In 1653 they removed from Springfield as first settlers to what is now the city of Northampton. According to the History of Northampton, Alexander was one of the four people that financed the first grist mill in Northampton, MA.  Their son Benjamin, b. 24 Jun 1652 in Springfield, is Bissell "3G" generation's 9th Great-grandfather through Mercy Ann Searle and Mary Edwards.

Alexander Edwards was also a founder of Northampton, arriving in 1654.  The house and home lot of Alexander and Sarah was the westerly one of two located on Main street between Pleasant and Hawley streets. The house was of logs.  Here they lived for five or six years when they sold out and moved to the present (in 1910) site of Plymouth Inn. Here he opened a street now called Green street to and beyond Mill River which was crossed by fording for many years. By vote of the town he was allowed to maintain a gate at the entrance to the road so that he might cultivate his land. The ford and later a bridge were called "Welch End" since the Edwards family were all living in that vicinity and were Welchmen originally. The laying out of this street is the first recorded layout in the town and upon it was maintanined a grist mill.

 

He was a member of the Northampton First Church.  Edwards was the son of Giles Edwards and Jane Maund in Wales and was among the first dozen settlers actually building houses in Northampton.  He lived in what was called "the Welsh End."  There does not appear to be any kinship with the famous Northampton minister of later years, Jonathan Edwards, although both were from Wales. [From The Scott Genealogy by Mary Lovering Holman, Boston, Mass. (1919)].

Edwards had originally settled in Springfield, perhaps as early as 1640 and he was granted land in Springfield in 1643 and 1645, "& besides ye 3d allotments to Alexander Edwards....there is 7 akrs now granted to him at his request as a free gift: in all he is to have 18 akrs, he requested ye said 7 akrs in recompence of a houselott which he thought was due to him when he married the widdow Searles" (Springfield Town Records). 

He held a minor town office in 1648 and 1649. After his removal to Northampton he was granted land there until he finally owned a considerable acreage. In 1658 he contributed toward the settling of the Rev. Mr. Mather, as the minister.  The records indicate that in 1651 Alexander gave evidence in the witchcraft trial of Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Parsons (see America's First Witch Trials). With three others (William Clarke, Samuel Wright Sr., and Joseph Parsons), he built Northampton's first gristmill in 1659 but sold his share in 1661, and in that same year he signed the church covenant.  He also owned part of a lead mine.  He lent his financial aid (eight pounds of flax) to Harvard College in 1672-3. Some records also indicate that his occupations included that of raising sheep and cattle, being a tanner and later in life a tavern keeper.

Perhaps the Edwards grist mill in Northampton looked something like this replica of the first grist mill in Plymouth, MA in 1636.

Tanners used various hand tools to make all kinds of leather products from different animal hides, including deer and elk.

A colonial tavern scene from the 1600's,

pen and ink sketch by NPS artist Sydney King, courtesy of National Park Service website Historic Jamestowne. The Alexander Edwards tavern in Northampton might have looked something like this.  

Thomas Ford

It appears that the daughters of Alexander and Sarah Edwards may have cared more for the finer things in life than was thought appropriate in a frontier town. In March, of 1676, the daughters, Hannah, Sarah, and Elizabeth, among others, were presented to the court in Northampton "for wearing silk in a flaunting manner and for long hair and other extravagances contrary to sober order, and demenour not becoming a wilderness state." The Powers-Bankes ancestry article noted below describes the situation as follows:

 

"This excellent woman's daughters cared more for finery than was thought becoming. The General Court passed several acts against sumptuous dressing. On 27 March, 1676 (King Philip's year), twenty-three persons were presented to the court in Northampton "for wearing silk in a flaunting manner and for long hair and other extravagances contrary to sober order, and demenour not becoming a wilderness state." Among these were three daughters of Edwards, wife of Samuel Davis, Sarah, and Elizabeth, also the wife of John Searle [this would be John Searle, Jr.], and the wife of Joseph Edwards; they were kept in countenance by the two daughters of Elder Strong. All were admonished and fined."

 

Alexander Edwards' will, dated 30 Aug 1690, included the following:

 

"Benjamin and Nathaniel are to have apples from the orchard seven years; also the pine plain, 10 acres, where my house formerly stood." 

 

The house had probably been destroyed by Indians. Samuel, Benjamin, and Nathaniel were the executors. Nathaniel and Elizabeth were the youngest children, the only ones born in Northampton.  In 1690 a fatal epidemic of "Agues and Fevers" prevailed in the Connecticut River towns, and eleven of the original settlers were its victims and among them was Alexander Edwards, on 4 Sept 1690 in Northampton.  Sarah died on October 3, 1690.

 

Benjamin, 9th Great-grandfather, was born in Springfield in 1652. He is listed among the soldiers engaged in the Falls Fight, 19 May, 1676. On 23 February, 1680(1), he married Thankful, daughter of Isaac Sheldon; he died 31 October, 1724. Their children were: Benjamin, whose estate is rated in 1749 at 86 (two Benjamins are listed for Revolutionary service, perhaps son and grandson of Benjamin jr.); Benjamin jr. was born 15 January, 1681(2), married Mary Clark, 1706, died 1775; Ebenezer (rated 1749 at 106) born 18 November, 1682, married 1714, Mary North; Mary, born 1685, married Samuel Phelps; and Thankful, born 1688. (Source: Powers-Banks Ancestry, pp. 77-78).

 

Sources for the material on Alexander Edwards and Sarah include: James Savage, Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England, 2:103; Clarence Almon Torrey, New England Marriages, 243; NEHGR, "Register of Deaths in Northampton, Ms.", 3(1849):400; Charles Powers and Lydia Ann Banks, Powers-Bankes Ancestry, 78; NEHGR, "More Freeman", 4(1850):26; Charles Powers and Lydia Ann Banks, Powers-Bankes Ancestry, 79; NEHGR, 35(1881):153.  (NEHGR is the New England Historical Genealogical Register.)

Thomas Ford and Elizabeth  Charde

Thomas Ford, Bissell 11th Great-grandfather, was born in England in 1587. Coming to America on the Mary & John on May 30, 1630 at Nantasket,, they founded Dorchester on a peninsula of Boston harbor. Thomas Ford and his wife Elizabeth (Charde) Ford and family were among the few "west country" settlers from the counties of Dorset, Somerset, and Devon that came to Massachusetts in the "Great Migration" that year. The passage costs were about 5 pounds per adult, half that for children over 12 and younger children free, 10 pounds per horse, 3 pounds per ton of freight.

This is the original town seal of Dorchester, MA, noting that the town was founded in 1630.

A biographical sketch on the web by Kurt Robson notes how difficult that first year 1630-31 must have been for the new arrivals:

 

“The initial winter of 1630-31 was rough for all with only improvised homes for shelter, no crops to fall back on for food, no precut supplies of wood for heat, and with only the inadequate supplies and tools they could bring with them. A thousand and one things that still needed to be done to establish a going community; but there hadn't been enough time or skills developed to do more than the minimum needed for survival... Fortunately they were better prepared than the first settlers of Plymouth and Jamestown Virginia who lost about half their number in their first winter in America. They bought what supplies they could from the Plymouth colony, which after ten years had some surpluses, and they even had the good fortune of a ship from Jamestown Virginia showing up that was hauling corn to England--they bought nearly all of it. Finally, new supply ships carrying food and other commodities they had ordered arrived from England and Ireland in February of 1631, just as they were near the end of their original supplies. Still about 200 of the initial 1000 colonists died that winter and another 200 would go back--some to get their families, some to stay in England. Thomas Ford, Elizabeth and their family hung on and built a new life in America.”

 

Ford was made a Freeman in Dorchester in 1631.

 

In 1636 they moved to help found Windsor, CT.  Ford represented Windsor in the General Court of Connecticut from 1637 to 1640. After his wife Elizabeth (mother of Bissell 10th Great-grandmother Abigail Ford) died in 1643, he married Ann Scott (widow of Thomas Scott) in 1644 and ran an Inn in Hartford, located in the Scott house on the southwest corner of State and Front Streets in Hartford. They sold the Inn in 1652. (Note about Thomas Scott, not an ancestor: Thomas was killed by John Ewe, who was eventually found guilty of causing his death by "misadventure." Thomas evidently did not die immediately, as his will was dictated to Edward Stebbing and Timothy Standley the day he died.  Ewe paid a 5 Pound fine to the town and 10 Pounds to the widow.) 

Northampton, MA today.

He was Constable in Windsor in 1655. The first constable in America had been appointed in Plymouth Colony in 1632. During that time, the leading official was the Justice of the Peace. The Justice of the Peace, assisted by the Constable, was in charge of the county court, which was both judiciary and legislative. The Constable enforced the orders of colonial and county officials in both civil and criminal matters, essentially having primary responsibility for local law enforcement. As one author noted, colonial constables were generally appointed for one-year terms and did not often serve consecutive terms for long periods. this prevented men from accumulating power through holding that office. He was a tanner by trade and had a tanning yard in Northampton, about a quarter of an acre on King Street Brook a little north of what was later the Hampshire Marble Works. The town voted that all hides be taken to him to be tanned at his own price because of his reputation for honesty. A homelot granted to him in 1660 was next to that of Alexander Edwards.  Thomas moved to Northampton, Mass. probably in 1659, as several of his children including Abigail and her husband Elder John Strong lived there. He died 28 Nov 1676 in Northampton at age 87 and is buried there. He had 17 children and 145 grandchildren.

Elder John Strong and Abigail Ford

 

Bissell 10th Great-grandfather Elder John Strong also owned a home lot in Northampton by 1660.  Strong was born about 1610 in Chard, Somerset, England and originally came to Dorchester, Mass. in 1635 on the Hopewell.  He was a Freeman and had five acres of land in Hingham, Mass. in 1635.  He settled as a founder of Taunton, Mass., was a Freeman of the Plymouth Colony in 1638 and was the first Constable of Taunton the same year.  He was Deputy from there to the general court at Plymouth, 1641 to 1645.  He was appointed with four others to superintend the settlement at Windsor, Conn. in 1646 and eventually was one of the founders of Northampton, where he was ordained the first ruling elder of the First church. He was a leading man in the town.  He died in Northampton 14 April 1699. 

 

His second wife and Bissell 10th Great-grandmother was Abigail Ford, who came to America with her family on the Mary & John in 1630 and whom he married in about 1635, was baptized 8 Oct 1619 in England and died in Northampton 16 July 1688.  John and Abigail had 3 children in Hingham, Mass., 3 in Taunton, 7 in Windsor, CT. (including Bissell 9th Great-grandmother Mary Strong, born 26 Oct 1654) and 3 children in Northampton, from June 1661 through December 1665.   

 

Another original settler was Great-uncle Enos Kingsley, brother of Bissell 9th Great-grandmother Freedom Kingsley, whose house lot was along Mill River.  Strong and Kingsley owned lots next to each other.  Great-uncle Joseph Parsons, brother of Benjamin Parsons, also owned a lot in Northampton.

Elder John Strong and Abigail Ford
George Langton and Hannah Lambe Haynes

George Langton and Hannah Lambe Haynes

George Langton (this information on Langton is from Langton family research) was born about 1605, probably in Lincolnshire, England and came to Boston between 1634-36.  He was in Wethersfield, CT by about 1640.  He died ‎29 Dec 1676 in Northampton.  He moved to Springfield, MA in 1646, and married Hannah Lambe Haynes on 29 June 1648.  In late summer of 1649 according to the “Pynchon Court Records” Richard Sykes and George Langton provided an estimate of damage done by 8 teams of oxen to Henry Burt’s marsh wheat crop “to be the value of 12 bushells in their best apprehensions.”  It is recorded that he was a town officer in 1650 and that he and a Stebbins man were "chosen surveighors of the highways of the town for the yeare ensuinges.” (from the History of Springfield).  In 1657/58, George and others signed a petition requesting the General Court to provide clarification of the town grant, finding them a minister, and advise on preventing "excesse of liquor in comeing to Towne and of Sider."

 

Note that Springfield town records in the 1656 Mary Parsons witchcraft/slander trial show that George and Hannah both testified by way of written deposition as to Mary's innocence.  Here is a copy of the original written deposition of Robert Bartlett and Hannah's confirmation of its accuracy, along with a typed transcript of the document:

Robert Bartlett testifies about Rumors heard from George Lanton

June 10 [16]56
Robbard Bartlett testifieth that Gorg Lanton
tould him the last winter that Goody Bridgman
and Goody Branch were speaking about mary
parsons concerning her being a which and the said
George tould to the said Robbard that my wife being
there, said she could not think it & the said Goody
Bridgman seemd to be distasted with us also
they had hard thought of the wife of the said Robbard be
cause she was intimat with the said mary
parson

Taken uppon oth in the presence of us
William Houlton
Tho Bascum

Hannah Lanton verifies Robert Bartlett's Testimony

Hanna Lanton the wife of Georg Lanton
testifieth to the truth of this of Robbard Bartlett
and saith it is the very truth in the presence of us

William Houlton
Tho Bascum

George also signed the charter petition for Northampton.  In 1658 he contributed 4 acres of land toward the support of the minister, Eleazar Mather, who as it turns out is likely a Bissell cousin.  Eleazar Mather (1637-1669), was the third son of Richard Mather to become a minister. He was the older brother of Increase Mather.  Richard was the brother of likely 10th Great-grandmother Elizabeth Mather and so, like Increase, Eleazar is a first cousin.  He graduated at Harvard College in 1656, and was ordained minister of Northampton in 1661, where he served until his death. In 1661 George Langton signed the church covenant that established the First Church of Christ.  The population of Northampton was about 300 persons at this time.  In 1672, Langton and a number of others contributed to the upkeep of Harvard College, his portion being 2 bushels of wheat, valued at 6 shillings.

Settlers of Hatfield and Hadley

Settlers of Hatfield and Hadley

(Much of the following information comes from A History of Hatfield, Massachusetts, in Three Parts.)

 

The historical context of the founding of Hadley and Hatfield, Massachusetts goes back to the Rev. Thomas Hooker, who had left to go to Hartford in 1635 because he was more liberal in his views and in conflict with the more authoritarian church leader Rev. John Cotton in Boston. One of the chief points of these theological disagreements was whether children of parents who were not members of the church could be baptized. The struggle over these issues continued even after the settlers moved to the Connecticut River Valley and established Hartford, Wethersfield and Windsor in the 1630s.

This is the birthplace in Hatfield of Bissell Notable Cousin Sophia Smith, the founder of Smith College. 

In the 1650s, these grievances came to involve Bissell Great-uncle Rev. Richard Mather (brother of Great-grandfather Thomas Mather) who was one of four prominent New England church leaders appointed in 1656 to a committee to advise the leaders of the colony on these disputes and prepare a statement to be presented to the Courts.  In their statement, they recommended a meeting of elders of all churches in the New England colonies to resolve the problems.  Massachusetts agreed but the Connecticut churches did not.  The Massachusetts Bay Colony General Court attempted to settle the ongoing dispute between the churches.  It appointed ministers from Connecticut to meet with those in Massachusetts.  Their resulting deliberations were drawn up by Richard Mather and published two years later in England, entitled "A Disputation concerning church members and their children, in answer to twenty-one questions."  The group endorsed the new view that children of parents who were not members of a church could be baptized and become members of the church, a major departure from traditional church practices in the colonies.  

 

A minority in the Hartford Church were opposed to these changes.  When some in the majority sought to impose their will on the minority, the minority group insisted on their rights in the church and sought to "withdraw" from the Hartford Church and join a friendlier church in Wethersfield.  Church historians have concluded that the general weight of right and justice was with the minority.  Others filed a complaint against them in the Courts to prevent such a move.  The Court actually held a trial in December 1657 but reached no decision.  Ultimately, in March 1657/58 it issued orders directing that both sides quit prosecuting each other in the Courts and that no group would be allowed to move to another church without the Court's consent and the approval of neighboring churches.  This left the "Withdrawers" in a bind.  In May 1658, Great-grandfather Capt. John Cullick petitioned the Court for permission to settle up the Connecticut River, near what became Hadley.  In August 1658, the Court ordered the parties to get together and discuss their differences.  That effort failed and the Court tried again in the spring of 1659.  By that time, the Withdrawers had already agreed amongst themselves to move their families upriver into Massachusetts.    

 

The General Court finally got the beleagured Withdrawers to agree to meet with the majority group and concluded, "The church at Hartford and the dissenting brethren that had withdrawn from communion and joined to another church, appeared here in their representatives... and through the gracious presence of God so determined as was blessed with a sweet reunion, and very good satisfaction unto both parties..."  

 

In the end, the Court approved a grant of land in 1659 to the men who wanted to withdraw from the church and town of Hartford and move to Massachusetts.  The Court was happy to help these prosperous and influential people come from Connecticut and back into the Massachusetts Bay Colony.  The grant was made to settle above Northampton (which had been established shortly before) on both sides of the Connecticut River at a place known as Norwottuck or Nonotuck, meaning "in the midst of the river."  The grant was conditioned on there being a peaceful and orderly settlement of the differences between those who remained in Hartford and the Withdrawers.

 

The land for the town of Hadley was purchased from the Indian chiefs Umpanchala, Chickwallop and Quonquont for very small amounts of goods, mostly clothing, trinkets and wampum.  The land was on the east side of the river, running about nine miles along the river from Mt. Holyoke on the south to Mt. Toby on the north, and running east about nine miles into the woods.  The land that became Hatfield was purchased in three parts, the first in July 1660, on the west side of the river, extending west into the woods for about nine miles.

 

Hatfield is located on the western side of the Connecticut River in northern Hampshire County. It was separated from Hadley, Massachusetts (apparently also for reasons of religious differences) and incorporated as a town in 1670. Hatfield had the state's first mill for making linseed oil, built in 1737 by John Fitch on Running Gutter Brook. In the 18th century Hatfield became famous for raising and fattening beef cattle, which were then driven to market in Boston.

Andrew Warner and Mary Humphrey

Andrew Warner ("...ye Maulster Dr.") and Mary Humphrey

AndrewWarner and Mary Humphrey were married 5 Oct 1624 in Thaxted, Essex, Eng.  Andrew arrived in Nantasket, MA on 2 Nov 1631 on the Lyon, a small, one hundred ton boat, (which became famous in the history of the early immigration to Massachusetts) and sailed from Bristol, England with about twenty passengers and two hundred tons of goods.  Her Master, Captain William Pierce, noted for his skillful seamanship, was at her helm on some of these trips. Andrew was made a Freeman 14 May 1634 and moved to Hartford, CT with the original proprietors in 1636 and was a deacon in Rev. Thomas Hooker’s church.  He moved to Hadley, MA in 1659 with the group of discontented settlers in Hartford noted above and known as the Withdrawers.  (This information from Planters of the Commonwealth.)

Andrew Warner, a Bissell 3G generation 9th Great-grandfather, was a leader of the Withdrawers.  At a meeting at his house 8 Oct 1660, the town structure for the new settlement was agreed upon.  One of the conditions of the land grant was that the Withdrawers were to create two plantations, one on each side of the river.  Twenty-eight people signed up to settle Hadley on the two sides of the river.  The name Hadley was chosen from the town Hadleigh in Suffolk County, Eng.  By March 1661, 25 heads of families had engaged to settle on the Hatfield side of the river, including Warner.  Differences of opinion as to discipline, baptism and qualifications for church membership had split the churches of Hartford and Wethersfield; the Withdrawers had decided to seek a new home at a higher point on the Connecticut River, 50 miles north through the wilderness.  They were apparently a minority committed to keeping by Puritan rules and not making changes as to baptism, qualifications, etc.  Capt. John Cullick, 9th Great-grandfather, was also prominent among the withdrawers.

 

Andrew Warner, in addition to his role as a founder of towns (Hartford and Hatfield) and a colonial leader, was a maltster.  A maltster is someone who prepares barley for use in brewing (brewing requires water, malted barley, hops and yeast).  Malt is germinated grain that has been dried, the process known as "malting."  The grain is first soaked in water to make it germinate, then dried with hot air to stop the germination process.  The malting process produces enzymes that allow the starch in the grain to turn into sugar and also converts the proteins in the grain into forms that can be used by yeast in the brewing process. Malted grain is used to make beer, whiskey, malt vinegar and a variety of food products.    

Malt-houses were established early in New England, and they continued in some of the villages on the Connecticut River more than a century. Andrew Warner leased a malt-house in Hadley, and it was burnt in 1665. He then built malt-works for himself, and was the maltster of Hadley, and his son Jacob seems to have succeeded him.  In addition to being a maltster, Andrew Warner had a still.  Small stills, often called limbecks, were common in England at that time and used to distill cordials, sweet waters and medicinal waters from herbs, flowers, spices, etc. The early settlers of Massachusetts had many of these small stills in their houses, which appeared in their inventories, valued at from 15 to 45 shillings each. There were some at Hartford and Windsor.  Andrew Warner, when he lived in Hadley, had a small still valued at 10 shillings.  Court records in Hadley, (Mass Cases in Court 1665) include a lawsuit between John Barnard and Andrew Warner over who should pay for the malt-house which was burnt down while Warner leased it (malting required fires to produce the heat necessary to dry the germinating barley).  The parties agreed Warner would pay.  Andrew Warner's place in the Bissell family tree charts is at Searle Chart 9.0 -- Sarah French.

It is very probable that Warner learned the brewing business in his childhood, for in his mother's will is recorded this item: "I give unto Thomas Warner, my eldest sonne, the somme of Twentie shillings and also my brewing Leade [ladle]."  The evidence that he was a maltster is further shown by the following entry on an account book of John Pynchon, the leading citizen and merchant of Springfield: "Goodm: Warner of Hadley, ye Maulster Dr." The credit side of the account, covering a period from Feb 29, 1671 to Sept 1674 reads thus: "By 7 bush of Malt 1672 at 4s3d, July 5, 1673. By 33 bush # 1/2 malt at 4s6d, Sept 10674 by 30 bush of malt at 4s."

To the left is one of the older buildings in John Warner's hometown, Hatfield, Eng.  "The Old Palace at Hatfield House" was built in 1497 and was the childhood home and favorite residence of Queen Elizabeth I, who lived from 1533 to 1603 and was on the throne from 1558 until her death.  So she was the queen when John Warner was born and grew up and also when Andrew Warner was born.  Andrew and Mary were married 5 Oct 1624 in Thaxted, Essex, Eng. Andrew arrived in Nantasket, MA on 2 Nov 1631 on the Lyon.

REFERENCES on the Andrew Warner information include the Fulton-Hayden-Warner Ancestry: Desc. of Andrew Warner, pp. 4-30, 40-44, 62, 63, 113-114, 193, 308, 446. Pope's Pioneers of Massachusetts, p. 480. Savage's Geneal. Dict., Vol 4, 418, Hist. of Haley, Mass., p 588.BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTE: In 1915 Frank Farnsworth Starr compiled an excellent and exhaustive study of Andrew Warner and his family, with much greater detail than is given above on all aspects of his life, including his landholding [ Goodwin Anc 1:17-37]. http://www.newenglandancestors.org/research/database/great_migration/w.asp#ANDREW_WARNER.  References for the malting process information are on Wikipedia under "Malt."

Richard Montague and Abigail Downing

Richard Montague and Abigail Downing

Richard Montague and Abigail Downing were also settlers of Hadley, initially on an 8-acre lot.  Abigail came from a well-known family in England.  She was baptized 5 Oct 1617 at St. Lawrence Church, Ipswich, Suffolk, England.  This information is from the Miner Family website 

http://minerdescent.com/2010/08/26/joseph-downing/

Abigail's father, Rev. Joseph Downing, was born circa 1589 at St. Nicholas, Ipswich, Suffolk, England.   He and Jane Rose obtained a marriage license on 6 Nov 1616 at Suffolk, England.  

St. Lawrence Church, Ipswich, Suffolk, England where Abigail Downing was baptized in 1617.  Today it still houses the oldest set of church bells in the world, originally installed in 1440.

Joseph was the youngest brother of Emmanuel Downing, the immigrant ancestor of the American Downing family who participated in the formation of the Massachusetts Bay Company.  Joseph was attending Cambridge University when his parents both passed away. The town of Ipswich paid £5 to help with his schooling. He received his Bachelor of Arts at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1610-11, and his Master of Arts at Queens’ College in 1614. The Cambridge alumni records state that he was Rector of St. Stephen’s, Ipswich, in 1626.

 

As it turns out, Emmanuel Downing is a Bissell 3G 11th Great-grandfather, through the Julia Anne Richardson ancestry.  More on Emmanuel elsewhere, eventually...

 

The registers of St. Stephen, Ipswich, have the following: “Master Downing M.A. anno 1613 (one of the Sonnes of Mr. D., Schoole master of the Free Schoole here in Ipswich) was chosen to be preacher of this parish in May 1623 by the consent of the whole parish, Mr. Warner being verie old and not able to preach."  Based on this, Joseph's father was also a well-educated person as a master of a school.

Joseph Downing was Rector of Layer Marney, Essex, from 1628 to 1646. The ancient and beautiful church of St. Mary the Virgin is next door to the house of Layer Marney Tower, a Tudor palace dating from 1520, built in first half of Henry VIII’s reign.

Joseph Downing's nephew (the son of Joseph's brother Emmanuel and thus Abigail's first cousin) was Sir George Downing, 1st Baronet (1623 – July 1684) after whom Downing Street in London is named.  According to Wikipedia, Downing was a preacher, soldier, statesman and diplomat.  

He is credited with making major reforms in public finance, in the passage of the Navigation Acts which strengthened British Naval power and for arranging the acquisition of New York from the Dutch.  He is also remembered in Downing Street in Manhattan and Brooklyn.   

There's another Notable Cousin through the Downing family: the Rev. Emmanuel Downing was the great-great-great grandfather of Abigail Adams, making her a 5th cousin to the Bissell 3G generation.  See Notable Kin article, Notable Kin: Massachusetts and Connecticut “Signers” by Gary Boyd Roberts, NEXUS 3 [1986]:134 (Published Date : October/November 1986).  There's more in the Notable Cousins A-H about Abigail Adams. 

Richard Montague was born 29 May 1614 in the hamlet of Warfield in County Berks, England as recently clarified by Roger Blackman, an English genealogist who first published this information in the spring 1986 issue of Magazine of the Berkshire Family History Society.  Earlier reports had apparently erroneously placed Richard's birth as being in Burnham, Buckinghamshire.  However, Warfield and Burnham are only a few miles apart and Peter Montague, known to have a brother Richard, was born in Burnham. The website montaguemillenium.com thus suggests that Richard was from the Burnham Montague family and therefore "of the family" of the Earl of Sandwich, but a Montague family history suggests that it was not the Earl of Sandwich but may have been the Earl of Salisbury.   

Richard and Abigail were married about 1637 and originally came to America, possibly on the Speedwell, to Wells, Maine and moved to Boston in 1646.  They lived in Wethersfield, CT 1651-59.  They came to Hadley in 1660.  One small clue about whether he was from a well-connected family in England lies in the English Civil War of the 1640s.  When the supporters of Parliament against King Charles I executed the King, they had convicted him at a trial in which 59 members of the House of Commons (historically called "the regicides of Charles I") acted as judges. When King Charles II regained control of the throne, most of the 59 judges were executed or imprisoned.  Eighteen of the judges escaped England, and three went to New England. Two of those judges, Edward Whalley and William Goffe, went into hiding in Boston, then New Haven, CT and finally ended up in Hadley, MA, hidden by a Rev. Williams.  Richard Montague was a friend in Hadley of Goffe and Whaley, perhaps hiding them in his house once when emissaries of Charles II searched in America for the regicides.  That makes me think that Montague was reasonably well educated and that he had grown up in a family with strong political connections in England.  In Hadley he was a baker by trade and baked bread for the soldiers during the French and Indian wars. 

 

In Hadley, Richard was a baker.  In the 1600s, after flour was milled, it was often further refined by sifting (called "bolting" or "boulting") done by a baker, sometimes in a separate building from where the mill was located.  After Richard's death, Abigail was still providing barrels of bolted flour as a business.

 

Richard Montague house, Hadley, MA, built about 1660, taken down 1831.

Richard held some public offices in Hadley, including working in the fields and doing grave-digging.  He was a Selectman in 1671 and 1677 and Clerk of the Writs in 1681.  He died 14 Dec 1681 at age 67.  Abigail died 8 Nov 1694. 

John Webb and Anna Bassett

John Webb was born about 1615 in Dorsetshire, England, the son of Richard Webb and Grace Wilson. He was in Boston on 9 March 1634.  He married (1) Anna BASSETT in about 1640. He was a Brazier (Brass Worker) in 1649 in Hartford, Hartford County, Connecticut.  He was a Blacksmith about 1655 in Northampton, Hampshire Conty, Massachusetts.  He was an Inn Keeper on 28 Sep 1658 in Northampton, Hampshire County, Massachusetts.  He married (2) Elizabeth SWIFT on 16 October 1667 at Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts.  He died 19 MAY 1670 at Northampton, Hampshire County, Massachusetts and was buried there.  This information is from http://www.themorrisclan.com/GENEALOGY/WEBB%20John%20and%20Anna%20BASSETT.html and includes the following sources:

 

There is a question whether this John Webb, the one who married Anna Bassett, is actually the son of Richard Webb and Grace Wilson, who are the connection to William Shakespeare, or whether this John Webb is the son of someone else.  This John Webb is certainly the Bissell ancestor, but his father may be someone other than Richard Webb -- for example, there was a John Webb (whose son was perhaps this John) who was from Rhode Island, I think, who had a more common background than Richard Webb.   

John Webb was also a witness in one of the Mary Parsons witchcraft trials.  There are several paragraphs in two different written testimonies, showing the difficulty of getting accurate witness testimony in these cases.  It appears from the principal document involving Webb that he was testifying that there was confusion over whether he was testifying against Mary Parsons or, as his testimony suggests, he "stood for" her.  Here's the transcript, the original writing is to the right: 

"John Webb affirmde that Goodman Elmord said upon a time whoe he was examining somethying deppending upon this business of Goodwife – Bridgmans, yt he stood for them and wouldstand for them meaning Goodwife Parsons"

Northampton, MA Early House Lot Map

The highlighted home and farm lots on the map below are for Alexander Edwards.  The map states that it was compiled from "the earliest town records" in Northampton.  While it gets confusing to look at the names of Bissell ancestors (not to mention relatives like aunts, uncles and cousins among the Pomeroys, Burts, Parsons, Stebbins, Kingsleys, Mathers, Strongs and perhaps others!) who lived in Northampton because so many eventually moved there from either Windsor or from Springfield, it is still amazing just to glance at this map and see the ancestor Great-grandparents names pop up -- Samuel Wright, Sr., John Hannum, Matthew Clesson (both Hannum and Clesson are mentioned in the America's First Witch Trials material), Thomas Dewey, Nathaniel Phelps, Sr., Thomas Bascom, John Webb, George Langton and Henry Woodward.

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