Growing up in Wolcott, CT, I was very aware of the towns around us. One
of these was Wallingford. The southeast part of Wolcott adjoins Cheshire, and
Wallingford then adjoins the far side of Cheshire. But we did not go there very
often because of how the roads run. Trips to the south tended to be either due
south down Rt. 69 through Prospect or through Cheshire and down Rt. 10 into
Hamden. And trips to the east were out Rt. 66 through Meriden. About the only
times we went through Wallingford was if we were going to Hammonasset Beach when
our journey would take Rt. 68 through Cheshire, Wallingford, and Durham, then south
down Rt. 79 to Madison. But even this route only skims the northern fringe of
the town and misses the downtown area. So my knowledge of the town was pretty
limited.
But in doing my genealogical studies, I would quite often run across
Wallingford in my various ancestral roots. My mother’s Pierpont ancestors were
in New Haven and North Haven. Wallingford being adjoined to North Haven, it
only made sense that there would be connections there as well, but, shame on
me, I never connected the dots until a few days ago.
I had joined the Facebook group “New England Family Genealogy and
History” – a closed group that is solely for the purpose of sharing information
on this topic where you need to justify your reason for requesting membership
and agree not to post any spam or unrelated posts. Another member posted a
hand-drawn map of Wallingford from 1670 which had the names of the owners of
all the property in the town. The significance of this can be seen in (*1),
which states,
“On October 10, 1667
the Connecticut General Assembly authorized the ‘making of a village on the
east river’ to 38 planters and freemen. The ‘long highway’ located on the ridge
of the hill above the sandy plain along the Quinnipiac River is the present
Main Street in Wallingford. On May 12, 1670 the bounds were set in the
settlement and about 126 people settled in the Town in temporary housing.
Six-acre lots were set out and by the year 1675, 40 houses stretched along the
street.”
The hand-drawn map shows the property of those families. The
accompanying Facebook post said, “Between my husband and I, we are descendants
of 15 of the families. Are you cousins?” Since I knew that there were
individuals in my family tree from Wallingford, I decided to see what of those families
might be among them. Here are the connections I have found.
Note that (*2) is taken from the
Founders of Wallingford plaque in the town and it has a slightly different list
and some slight variations in the spelling of the names. Since the plaque is
from 1669, but the map is from 1670, that probably accounts for the differences
between the two lists, i.e. some individuals signed the original petition, but
sold their interests to others who settled there the following year. The below
is a combination of both lists. Those with a leading “*” are in both lists,
those with a “+” are in the founders list but not on the map, those with a leading
“-” are on the map only. There is an even longer list in (*3), but that dates
from 1673 so will be ignored here.
·
*Nathan Andrewes[Andrews] (1638-1712) – great*9
uncle of wife, brother of Samuel
·
*Samuel Andrewes[Andrews] (1635-1704) – great*8
grandfather of wife
·
+John Beach (1654-1709) – great*9 grandfather,
married to Mary Royce, sister of the Royce brothers below
·
-John Brockett Sr. (1611-1690) – great*10
grandfather of my wife
·
*Samuel Browne[Brown]
·
*Samuel Cooke[Cook] (1641-1703) – great*8
grandfather, his son Ephraim married Lydia Merriman, granddaughter of Nathaniel
Merriman, Sr. below
·
*Thomas Curtis[Curtiss] (1648-1736) – great*7
grandfather, his wife was Mary Merriman, daughter of Nathaniel Merriman, Sr.
below
·
*Joseph Donham[Benham]
·
*Abraham Dowlittle[Doolittle]
·
*James Eaton[Heaton] (1640-1712) – great*8
grandfather, married to Sarah Street, sister of Samuel Street below
·
*John Eives[Ives] (1644-1717) – great*7
grandfather, married to Hannah Merriman, daughter of Nathaniel Merriman, Sr.
below
·
*Joseph Eives[Ives] (1647-1694) – great*8 uncle,
brother of John
·
*John Hall (1644-1721) – step-great*8
grandfather, his son married Elizabeth Curtiss, daughter of Thomas Curtiss
above
·
*Samuel Hall (1648-1725) – step-great*9 uncle, brother
of John Hall
·
*Thomas Hall (1649-1731) – step-great*9 uncle, brother
of John Hall
·
*John Herriman[Harriman] (1620-1683)
·
+Eliazur Holt
·
*Daniel Hopper
·
*Jeremiah How (1650-1740) – brother of great*8 uncle
Nathaniel, married to Elizabeth Peck
·
*Nathaniel How (1640-1721) – great*8 uncle, married
to Elizabeth Curtis, sister of Thomas Curtis above
·
*Zachariah How (1640-1703) – brother of great*8
uncle Nathaniel
·
+William Johnson (1635-1716) – brother-in-law of
great*9 uncles, married to Sarah Hall, sister of the Hall brothers above
·
*Benjamin Lewis
·
-Nathaniel Merriman Jr. (1646-1675) – great*9
uncle
·
*Nathaniel Merriman Sr (2 lots) (1613-1694) – great*9
grandfather
·
*John Miles (1644-1704) – married to Elizabeth
Harriman, daughter of John Harriman above
·
+Samuel Miles (1640-1678) – brother of John
·
-John Mix (1649-1711) – great*9 uncle, married to
Elizabeth Heaton, sister of James Heaton above
·
*John Moss[Mosse], Sr. (1604-1707) – father-in-law
of great*9 uncle of my wife as well as the grandfather-in-law of John Merriman (a
son of Nathaniel Merriman Sr. above) – his son John was one of the accusers in
the witch trial of Wallingford in 1697!
·
*Samuel Munson (1643-1693) – great*9 grandfather
·
*Eleazur Peck (1642-1671) – great*9 uncle
·
*John Peck (1647-1620) – great*9 uncle, brother
of Eleazur, his daughter, Elizabeth, married John Merriman, son of Nathaniel
Merriman, Sr. above
·
*Samuel Potter
·
+Eliasaph Preston (1643-1707) – great*9
grandfather, his daughter, Mary, married Caleb Merriman, son of Nathaniel
Merriman, Sr., above
·
+Jehiel Preston (1640-1684) – great*10 uncle,
brother of Eliasaph
·
-Samuel Rise
·
-Nathaniel Roice[Royce] (1639-1735) – great*9
uncle – his sister Ruth was another of the accusers in the witch trial of
Wallingford of 1697!
·
-Nehemiah Roice[Royce] (1637-1706) – great*9
uncle, brother of Nathaniel
·
-Sammuell Royce (1644-1711) – great*9 uncle,
brother of Nathaniel
·
-Daniel Sherman
·
*Samuel Street (1635-1717) – great*9 uncle
·
-Samuel Thorph[Thorp] (1642-1718)
·
-D[avid] Tuttle (1639-1693) – great*9 uncle
·
*Simon Tuttle (1647-) – great*9 uncle
·
+Samuel Whitehead
·
*Thomas Yalle[Yale] (1647-1736) – brother-in-law
of great*9 uncle John Peck. Son, Nathaniel married Anna Peck, daughter of John
Peck above.
Notes:
*3 – History of New Haven County, Connecticut, Volume 1, edited by John
L Rockey
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