Samuel Wyllys

Notes:

From the Samuel Wyllys Papers site (citation details below):

Samuel was chosen magistrate of the General Court in 1654 and reelected each year. After Connecticut received its charter in 1662 he was elected as an Assistant and continued in that office until 1685. He often served as moderator when the Governor or Deputy Governor were not present. Financial distress from sugar plantations in Antigua led him to resign from the General Court in 1685. However, he returned to his position as Assistant from 1689 through 1692 and again in 1698.

Between 1658 and 1670 he sat on courts that tried witchcraft cases and as an Assistant in 1693 he was one of three judges that granted a stay to Mercy Disborough who was later acquitted. When Connecticut's charter arrived in Boston in September 1662, Wyllys was one of the men that brought it to Hartford. He served as a commissioner to the United Colonies of New England in 1661, 1662, 1664, and 1667. In 1676, during King Philip's War, he was authorized along with Major John Winthrop and Thomas Stanton to negotiate for a peace between the English and the Indians.

According to tradition, when Joseph Wadsworth took action to prevent the surrender of the Charter to Sir Edmond Andros in early November 1687, he took it to Samuel Wyllys's home. At the suggestion of Wylly's wife, Wadsworth hid the Charter in a hollow of an oak tree and then put the dog kennel at the foot of the tree. The tree has come to be known as the Charter Oak.

Family/Spouse: Ruth Haynes. Ruth (daughter of John Haynes, Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony; Governor of Connecticut and Mabel Harlakenden) was born about 1636; died before 28 Nov 1688. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also called Mabel Wyllys.

Family/Spouse: Rev. Daniel Russell. Daniel (son of Richard Russell) died on 4 Jan 1679. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Rev. Isaac Foster. Isaac was born in of Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut; died on 20 Aug 1682. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Rev. Timothy Woodbridge. Timothy (son of Rev. John Woodbridge and Mercy Dudley) was born in 1656 in Barford St. Martin, Wiltshire, England; died on 30 Apr 1732 in Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Mabel married Rev. Samuel Woodbridge on 9 Dec 1707. Samuel (son of Rev. Benjamin Woodbridge and Mary Ward) was born about 1683; died on 9 Jun 1746. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Rev. Ephraim Little. Ephraim (son of David Little and Elizabeth Southworth) was born in 1707; died in 1787. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Lemuel Dickinson. Lemuel (son of Col. John Dickinson and Mary Coleman) was born in 1753 in Hatfield, Hampshire, Massachusetts; died in 1835 in Denmark, Lewis, New York. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Owner of the first steamboat to run the St. Lawrence rapids.

Horace married Mercy Amelia Bigelow on 12 May 1823. Mercy (daughter of Abijah Bigelow and Mercy Amelia Spring) was born on 4 Oct 1794 in Waltham, Middlesex, Massachusetts; died in 1880. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Ellen married William Edwards Doubleday on 1 Oct 1850. William (son of Col. John Tilden Doubleday and Mary Elizabeth Whiting) was born on 1 May 1823; died on 4 Mar 1900 in New York, New York; was buried on 6 Mar 1900 in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, Kings, New York. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Founder of the Doubleday publishing firm. Called "Effendi" by his friend Rudyard Kipling, a pun on his initials.

Frank married Neltje Blanchan De Graff on 9 Jun 1886 in Plainfield, Somerset, New Jersey. Neltje (daughter of Liverius De Graff and Alice Fair) was born on 23 Oct 1865 in Chicago, Illinois; died on 21 Feb 1918 in Canton, China. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]