Abigail Burnham

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 16 Dec 1697, Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut
• Alternate death: 2 Jun 1724

Notes:

Her very rustic gravestone at Bridge Street Cemetery does seem to give her death date as "IENREY 2 1723" with a 4 superscripted next to the 3 in "1723", so we suspect her new-style date of death is indeed 2 Jan 1724.

Family/Spouse: Deacon Nathaniel Phelps. Deacon (son of Nathaniel Phelps and Grace Martin) was born on 13 Feb 1692 in Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts; died on 14 Oct 1747 in Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts; was buried in Bridge Street Cemetery, Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Martin Phelps was born on 24 Dec 1723 in Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts; died on 12 Nov 1795 in Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts; was buried in Bridge Street Cemetery, Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 1652, Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut
• Alternate death: Between 5 Jul 1720 and 7 Aug 1733, Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut
• Alternate death: 12 Dec 1730, Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut

Notes:

Constable of Wethersfield in 1692.

William married Elizabeth Loomis on 28 Jun 1681 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut. Elizabeth (daughter of Nathaniel Loomis and Elizabeth Moore) was born on 7 Aug 1655 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut; died on 19 Nov 1717 in Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut; was buried in Wethersfield Village Cemetery, Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1620
• Alternate death: 24 Jun 1688, Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut

Notes:

"Thomas Burnham, of Hartford and Potunke, was born in England in and had evidently been educated as a barrister before coming to the New World. Here he carried on the practice of law, and was, evidently, according to records, a man of determined character. He carried on the practice of the law in the colonies, and among other cases, successfully defended Abigail Betts, who was accused of witchcraft, by which act he incurred the displeasure of the Puritan authorities and was prohibited further practice of the court 'for saving her neck.' He then erected a garrison house at Potunke, purchasing the land directly from the Indians. In 1659 he purchased of Tantonimo, chief sachem of the Potunke tribe, a tract of land now covered by the towns of South Windsor and Hartford, on which he resided, and a portion of which still remains in the possession of his descendants. What amounted to practically a feud with the authorities continued during most of his life, they continuing to call into question his title to the land which he held by deed from the Indians and he as consistently appealing to the law of England as against the highly theocratic form of government which the Puritans had established here. It would appear that in this contest Thomas Burnham was successful, as his large estate afterwards divided between his children and remained practically wholly in their hands. A portion of this tract was held by him under the will of Uncas, chief of the Mohegan tribe of Indians, and an ancestor of that famous Uncas who figured so prominently in the stories of Fenimore Cooper." [American Biography: A New Cyclopedia, citation details below.]

Notwithstanding many sources' statements to the contrary, Thomas Burnham's forebears are unknown. See "The Confusing Origins of Thomas Burnham" by Mary Stanford Pitkin, which summarizes some of the problems.

Thomas married Ann Wright about 1645. Ann (daughter of Richard Wright and Margaret) was born about 1622 in England; died on 5 Aug 1703 in Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Aft 17 Sep 1705, Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut

Notes:

"Probably a daughter of Capt. Richard Wright." [Thomas and Anna (Wright?) Burnham of Hartford, Connecticut", citation details below.]

Notes:

Connecticut Calvary in 1658, under Major John Mason. Windsor Troop of Horse in King Philip's War.

Nathaniel married Elizabeth Moore on 24 Nov 1654. Elizabeth (daughter of Deacon John Moore and (Unknown wife of Deacon John Moore)) was born about 1635 in Dorchester, Suffolk, Massachusetts; died on 23 Jan 1728 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut; was buried in Palisado Cemetery, Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 1638
• Alternate birth: 23 Jul 1638, Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1598

Notes:

Emigrated 1630; returned to England about 1646; returned to New England by 1649.

Anderson's The Great Migration gives him and Margaret as "probably" the parents of Ann Wright who married Thomas Burnham.

Richard married Margaret before 1622. Margaret died before 1623 and 1643. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 25 Nov 1658, Suffield, Hartford, Connecticut

Notes:

He was a woolen-draper. One of the founders of Windsor, Connecticut.

That he was from Braintree in Essex is established by a deposition dated 30 Jul 1639, the original of which is still extant, by Joseph Hills of Charlestown (Massachusetts), who says that he, Joseph Hills, came to New England in 1638 on the Susan & Ellen and that the ship also contained various goods and commodities belonging to Joseph Loomis "late of Brayntree in the County of Essex, Woolen-draper." (Loomis and his family were in fact also on the Susan & Ellen, but their presence was not germane to Joseph Hills' deposition.) In addition, the will of Joseph Loomis's father-in-law, Robert White, 27 May 1617, includes a bequest to "my daughter Marie the wife of Joseph Lummis of Branetree".

Probably spent their first year at Dorchester, then removed overland to Windsor, Connecticut.

"According to [Mormon Pioneer Genealogy Library] projections, the largest family in America today is the posterity of Robert White (b. ca. 1560) & Bridget Allgar, with a Mormon posterity of 430,000 and an American posterity of 29 million. The next five families are Edward Griswold and Margaret, Joseph Loomis and Mary White (daughter of Robert and Bridget above), Gerard Spencer and Alice Whitbread, Thomas Ford and Elizabeth Charde, and Thomas Bliss and Margaret Hulins, each with a Mormon posterity of 270,000 and an American posterity of 18 million." [Michel L. Call and Gary Boyd Roberts, "Mormon Pioneer Genealogy Library Acquired by NEHGS"]

Joseph Loomis (~1590-1658) = Mary White (1590-1652)
John Loomis (~1622-1688) = Elizabeth Scott (1625-1696)
Elizabeth Loomis (1671-1722) = John Brown (1669-1729)
John Brown (1700-1790) = Mary Eggleston (1702-1787)
Capt. John Brown (1728-1776) = Hannah Owen (1740-1831)
Owen Brown (1771-1856) = Ruth Mills (1771-1808)
John Brown, abolitionist (1800-1859)

Joseph Loomis (~1590-1658) = Mary White (1590-1652)
Sarah Loomis (~1617-1689) = Capt. Nicholas Olmstead (1612-1684)
Sarah Olmstead (1641-1709) = Capt. George Gates (1624-1724)
Daniel Gates (1680-1761) = Rebecca Dutton (1686-1749)
Daniel Gates (1706-1775) = Lydia Fuller (1709-1778)
Lydia Gates (1732-1817) = Solomon Mack (1732-1820)
Lucy Mack (1775-1856) = Joseph Smith, Sr. (1771-1840)
Joseph Smith (1805-1844)

Joseph married Mary White on 30 Jun 1614 in Shalford, Essex, England. Mary (daughter of Robert White and Bridget Allgar) was born before 24 Aug 1590 in Shalford, Essex, England; was christened on 24 Aug 1590 in Shalford, Essex, England; died on 23 Aug 1652 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut; was buried in Loomis Homestead, Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 18 Sep 1677, Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut

Notes:

Emigrated 1630; first at Dorchester, then Windsor in 1638. Deacon at Windsor.

Deacon married (Unknown wife of Deacon John Moore) before 1628. (Unknown died after 2 Dec 1677. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Whatever her identity, according to Robert Charles Anderson (The Great Migration), on 22 Sec 1677 she was one of only six women in the Windsor church who had also been a member of the church at Dorchester.