Immigrant Ancestors

The vast majority of my ancestors came to New England during the Great Migration of 1620-1640. Over 1000 of the estimated 20,000 individuals who came during that period are my direct ancestors. However, there are also a number who came later, or who did not initially come to New England. While I have a few dozen “brick walls” which I am still investigating, here are all those I have been able to identify in the research I have done thus far. All these individuals came here from England unless otherwise noted. All but a dozen of the below came to New England, the others came to New York (7), Virginia (4), or Pennsylvania (1). (The notation GxGF/GM/GP is short for my great*x grandfather/grandmother/grandparents, e.g. G9GM = my great*9 grandmother.)

1600s – Arrivals in New England, but after the Great Migration ended in 1640

(note that in my original analysis I included those who came through the end of the 1640s to catch some of the stragglers, so the below starts in 1650)

·       Rebecca Beebe (1630-1672) (G9GM) arrived in New London, CT, in 1650. Her mother had died in England just before Rebecca and her father left, and her father died on shipboard during the trip. As a 20-year-old orphan, she married only a few months after arriving.

·       Noah Giles (1595-1675) and his wife Marie (G10GP) came to Boston around 1650.

·       Robert Stewart (1625-1688) (G9GF) came to Boston in 1651 from Scotland.

·       Robert Winsor (1620-1679) and his wife Rebecca (G10GP) came to Boston in 1652.

·       John Munro (1632-1691) (G8GF) came to Boston in 1652 from Scotland.

·       Robert Webster (1619-1676) (G10GF) came to Connecticut in 1652.

·       Thomas Barlow (1620-1658) and his wife Rose (G10GP) came to Connecticut in 1653.

·       Moses Ventrus (1625-1697) (G9GF) came to Connecticut in 1654.

·       William Pringle (1631-1690), my great*8 grandfather (G8GF) came to New Haven, CT in 1654.

·       Alse Mose (1630-) (G9GM) came to Rhode Island around 1657.

·       Richard Howell (1629-1709) and his wife Elizabeth (G10GP) came to Massachusetts around 1660. They later moved to New York.

·       Samuel Scripture (1649-1738) (G8GF) arrived in Massachusetts in 1662.

·       Humphrey Davie (1625-1688) and his wife Mary (G8GP) arrived in Massachusetts in 1665.

·       Nicholas Evans (1649-1689) (G9GF) came to Connecticut around 1670.

·       Augustine Cobb (1633-1714) (G8GF) came to Connecticut around 1670. He married Bethia Harvey (1658-1748), who had come to Connecticut with her parents around the same time.

·       Joseph Crowfoot (1632-1678) (G10GF) came to Massachusetts in 1672.

·       John Cunnabell (1650-1724) (G8GF) came to Boston in 1674.

·       Daniel Shelton (1668-1728) and his wife Elizabeth (G8GP) came to Connecticut in 1686.

1600s – Arrivals other than in New England

·       John Culpepper (1606-1674) (G9GF) came to the US in the 1620s, but initially to Virginia, not New England. Only a few years later he moved to Boston where he married, then with his wife settled in Branford, CT.

·       Richard Frisbie (1598-1635) and his wife Margaret (G9GP) came to the US around 1620, but initially to Virginia. They both died at sea in 1635. Their son, Edward, moved to Branford, CT in 1644.

·       Richard Valentine (1610-1684) (G9GF) came to New York in 1644.

·       Christopher Branch (1598-1681) and his wife Mary (G10GP) came to Virginia in 1624.

·       Francis England (1609-1677) and his wife Sarah (G10GP) came to Virginia in 1642.

·       Jan Wouters Van Der Bosch (1638-1707) (G8GF) came to New York around 1660 from the Netherlands. His son, named Wouters Janze (Jan’s son) in the Dutch tradition, anglicized his name to Walter Johnson.

1700s

·       Ralph Burn (1692-) (G7GF) came to New Hampshire sometime around 1715.

·       John Dunkins (1690-1749) (G7GF) came to Rhode Island sometime in the 1710-1730 timeframe.

·       Robert Russell (1730-1811) (G6GF), the one from whom I received my last name, came to New York around 1750 from Scotland.

·       Hugh Thompson (1720-1797) and his wife Sarah (G7GP) came to Pennsylvania sometime around 1750 from Ireland.

·       John Smith (1730-) (G6GF) came to New York around 1750.

1800s

·       Sarah Shilling Few (1847-1928) (G2GM) arrived in New York from Lincolnshire, England, as a two-year old in 1849 with her parents. She grew up in Brooklyn, NY, but married a man from Prospect, CT.

·       Alexander Levy (1840-1918) (G2GF) arrived in Brooklyn with his parents in 1851. The Levy family were Ashkenazi Jews. Although they arrived here from England, the family origins were in East Germany/Poland. Alexander married Phoebe Isaacs (1843-1910) who had arrived here with her parents in 1852 from the same part of East London. Alexander and Phoebe moved to Connecticut in 1870.

·       Francis Xavier Merchant (1826-1910) (G2GF) arrived in New York from Switzerland in 1853. Francis married Nancy Anna Soan (1840-1900) who had arrived here with her parents in 1847 from Ireland. They raised their family in Dutchess County, NY, but later moved to Litchfield County, CT.