Moses Knapp

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 1788, Bethlehem, Litchfield, Connecticut
• Alternate death: 11 Oct 1821
• Alternate death: 15 Oct 1821

Notes:

Possibly a soldier in the Revolution. Claimed by various sources as a Minute Man, a private in Co. 9, 5th Conn. Regiment, and a major commanding the 11th Massachusetts.

His Find a Grave page calls him "Sergeant" and says "Moses Knapp stood with his neighbors on their Town Green on 18 July 1776 and swore an oath to uphold and defend their liberties and freedoms fourteen days after the Declaration of Independence had been signed. In 1775 he served in Capt. Nehemiah Beardsley's 9th Company of Col. David Waterbury's 5th Connecticut Regiment. In July 1779 he was part of an expedition to Fairfield and Norwalk for defense of this and the rest of the United States of America, serving in the 6th Alarm List of Col. Nehemiah Beardsley's 16th Connecticut Regiment."


Nicholas Knapp Genealogy (citation details below) says: "Moses was a Minute Man in the Rev. War. He was a Major and commanded the 11th Battalion, Mass. Continental Army, Nov., 1788? He was a private in Co. 9, 5th Conn. Regt."

Moses married Margaret Kasson on 8 Sep 1760. Margaret (daughter of James Kasson and Esther Duncan) was born on 3 Sep 1741 in Woodbury, Litchfield, Connecticut; died on 30 Aug 1815 in Bethlehem, Litchfield, Connecticut; was buried in Old Bethlehem Cemetery, Bethlehem, Lichtfield, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Calvin Knapp was born on 18 Apr 1770 in Salisbury, Litchfield, Connecticut; died on 19 Dec 1823 in Cattaraugus, New York.

Notes:

Moses Knapp and Jemima Mead were first cousins, both being grandchildren of Caleb Knapp and Hannah Smith.

Ancestors of the political Romney family:

Moses Knapp (1709-1787) = Jemima Mead (1708-1766)
Abraham Knapp (1737-1836) = Martha Comstock (?-?)
Sarah Knapp (1757-1807) = Charles Robison (1746-1826)
Charles Robison (1785-1840) = Jerusha Rebecca Kellogg (1785-1836)
Lewis Seth Robison (1816-1883) = Clarissa Minerva Duzette (1822-1891)
Charles Edward Robison (1845-1883) = Rosetta Mary Berry (1843-1918)
Alma Luella Robison (1882-1938) = Harold Arundel LaFount (1880-1952)
Lenore LaFount (1908-1998) = George Wilcken Romney (1907-1995)
Willard Mitt Romney (1947- )

Moses married Jemima Mead on 25 Nov 1731. Jemima (daughter of Ebenezer Mead and Sarah Knapp) was born about 1708 in Greenwich, Fairfield, Connecticut; died before 1766 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

New England Families Genealogical and Memorial (citation details below) calls her "Jemima Weed"; this is probably due to the Rev. Elijah B. Huntington's mistranscription in his 6 Apr 1797 Registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths of Stamford Families.

Although Nicholas Knapp Genealogy doesn't, in its entry for Sarah Knapp, list Jemima among her children with Ebenezer Mead, in its entry for Moses Knapp it calls Jemimah Mead "dau. of Ebenezer Mead and Sarah (Knapp)." Meanwhile, Spencer P. Mead's History and Genealogy of the Mead Family of Fairfield County does in fact list Jemima as a daughter of Ebenezer and Sarah, and records her marriage to Moses Knapp. So Jemima and Moses were first cousins, both grandchildren of Caleb Knapp and Hannah Smith.

Notes:

Appointed Ensign, May 1707; Lieutenant, Oct 1710; Captain, Oct 1716, by the Connecticut General Assembly. He was a member of the Assembly in 1716.

Sometime in the early 1890s, while repairing a drain on the estate of a Dr. Trowbridge, workmen discovered a gravestone that was being used as a drain cover, upon which was written "Here lies interred, the body of Capt. John Knapp who departed this life the 5th day of April, 1749, aged 85 years."

John married Hannah Ferris on 10 Jun 1692 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut. Hannah (daughter of Peter Ferris and Elizabeth Reynolds) was born in 1666 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut; died on 27 Sep 1724 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 10 Sep 1724

Notes:

He was a tavern-keeper.

Ebenezer married Sarah Knapp in 1691 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut. Sarah (daughter of Caleb Knapp and Hannah Smith) was born in 1670 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut; died in 1728 in Greenwich, Fairfield, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Between 11 Oct 1674 and 4 Mar 1675, Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut
• Alternate death: Between 10 Nov 1674 and 4 Mar 1675, Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut
• Alternate death: Aft 11 Dec 1674, Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut
• Alternate death: Bef 9 Mar 1675, Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut

Notes:

8XG grandfather of Taylor Swift:

Caleb Knapp (1637-~1675) = Hannah Smith (1642-1685)
Samuel Knapp (~1668-~1739) = Hannah Bushnell (b. ~1676)
John Knapp (~1700-~1758) = Margaret Taylor
Amos Knapp (~1740->1784) = (Unknown) Nelson
Comfort Knapp (1770-1850) = Tarzah Gillett (1774-1849)
Annice Knapp (1818-1880) = Daniel Thompson (~1813-1876)
Willis Wilbur Thompson (1852-1940) = Barbara Marie Jane Kingsley (1857-1927)
Bernice Maude Thompson (1882-1979) = Archie Dean Swift (1877-1961)
Archie Dean Swift (1914-1998) = Rose Baldi Douglas (1920-1994)
Scott Kingsley Swift (1952- ) = Andrea Gardner Finlay (1958- )
Taylor Alison Swift (1989- ), 9th cousin to TNH

Caleb married Hannah Smith before 1661 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut. Hannah (daughter of Dr. Henry Smith and (Unknown first wife of Henry Smith)) was born about 1640; died before 16 Sep 1691 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1642, Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut
• Alternate death: Jun 1685

Notes:

The anonymous author of the web page Descendants of Thomas Smith points out that, contrary to many online sources, Hannah Smith Knapp didn't die in June 1685. She is mentioned in her father's will, drawn up 4 Jul 1687, but not in the will of her second husband, Thomas Lawrence, dated 26 Jul 1691 [Nicholas Knapp Genealogy], and therefore presumably died sometime between those dates.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1634
• Alternate birth: 28 Sep 1636, Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts
• Alternate death: 28 Sep 1706, Greenwich, Fairfield, Connecticut

Notes:

Freeman of Stamford in 1662; representative to the general court, 1667.

He was one of the grand jurors who, in September 1692, attempted to judicially murder Mercy (Nichols) (Holbridge) Disborough for the imaginary crime of "witchcraft." She was reprieved. Among those who argued her innocence was TSW ancestor (and TNH first cousin 12 times removed) the Rev. Gershom Bulkeley, who maintained, quite correctly, that she was simply a victim of her neighbors' malice.

Peter married Elizabeth Reynolds on 15 Jul 1654 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut. Elizabeth (daughter of John Reynolds) was born about 1634 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts; died in 1703 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1635

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1634, Greenwich, London, England

Notes:

Freeman of Greenwich in 1670. In 1672 he was among the 27 purchasers of the land to the west of the original Greenwich settlement on Elizabeth Neck, then called Miosehasseky (Horseneck), now Greenwich Borough, i.e., the modern town center. Member of the Connecticut assembly for Greenwich in 1679, 1680, and 1686.

"John Mead was somewhat irascible. Spencer P. Mead, following De Mille, related a traditional anecdote from John's later years of how he threw a Quaker who had offended him into the Mianus River. In the mid-1650s, he was chastised by the court for various misbehaviors, including slander and making a false accusation against Richard Law, constable of Stamford; the court stated that 'they did not remember that they mett wth such a case since they say as a court, wherin their hath bine so much mallic(e) and bitterness of spirit...'" ["The English Origin of William Mead", citation details below.]

From History and Genealogy of the Mead Family by Spencer P. Mead, citation details below:

The following anecdote, which has been preserved by tradition, shows his character: One day when he was quite an old man, as he was going for his grist on horseback to the mill at Dumpling Pond, before he reached the Mianus River he overtook an old Quaker jogging slowly along, loaded with a heavy budget. In a real spirit of kindness he offered to take the Quaker's load upon his horse, and thus give him a lift on his journey. "No," replied the Quaker, "thee don't get my bundle, for I can read men's thoughts. Thee wants to get my bundle, and then thee'll run off. Thee don't get my bundle." "Very well," was the simple reply, and so they went slowly on together. At last they came to the brink of the Mianus River. Here the Quaker was really in trouble. How to cross a river, two or three feet deep, dry shod, was quite a puzzle. But he gladly accepted a second offer of assistance from the horseman. The bundle was mounted in front, John in the middle, and the Quaker behind. Arriving at the centre of the river, in pretending to adjust his stirrup John caught the Quaker by the heel and gave him a gratuitous bath. Such treatment was too much, even for Quaker forbearance, and the victim, with his hands full of pebbles, would have taken summary vengeance, had not the other party threatened to put the bundle under a similar course of treatment. This threat, and the lecture following it, gradually cooled off the Quaker's anger. John informed him that all had been done for his good, to teach him a lesson. And the lecturer said he hoped the stranger would never again profess to read men's thoughts. "For," said he, "I asked you to ride, kindly in the first place, when you refused; but at the second time of asking, I really intended to do as I have just done." So saying, and tossing the bundle back, he rode on, leaving his companion to apply the moral as he thought best.

John married Hannah Potter about 1656. Hannah (daughter of John Browne and Dorothy) was born on 9 Sep 1634 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts; died after 13 Nov 1700 in Greenwich, Fairfield, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

The model of Hannah Potter's origins shown here rests on some assumptions. John Brown of Watertown "is identified as the passenger on the Lyon because he was the only John Brown in Massachusetts Bay at this time, and because some other passengers on that ship also settled at Watertown." [The Great Migration] The ancestors shown for John Brown are those given by Mead Family Genealogy. It is not certain that the Hannah Potter who was in fact born to a John Brown (who may have been the 1632 immigrant) and his wife Dorothy was the Hannah Potter who later married John Mead. And while (as The Great Migration puts it) it's probable that William Potter of Watertown did in fact marry this same Dorothy after the death of John Brown, adopting her children and giving them his surname, much about this sequence of events is suppositional. William Potter did in fact sell his Watertown land in 1645 and move to Stamford. Concludes The Great Migration: "When [William Potter] wrote his will in 1685 the only relatives named were son-in-law John Mead (and his eleven children); there is no record for the marriage of this John Mead, but he and wife Hannah started having children about 1656, in which year Hannah [dau. of John Brown] would have been twenty-two."

Even if these assumptions turn out to false, TNH is also descended on a different line from Edmund Browne and Mary Cramphorne, given here as Hannah Potter's paternal grandparents.

Reassuringly, it's clear from The Great Migration that this William Potter is entirely unrelated to, and separate from, the William Potter who arrived in 1635 on the Abigail, was admitted to the New Haven church in 1641, and who, on 6 Jun 1662 at New Haven, was executed for bestiality.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Aft 15 Apr 1670, Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut
• Alternate death: 16 Apr 1670, Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut
• Alternate death: 16 Sep 1670, Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut

Notes:

In Watertown by 1 March 1631, when he was fined for selling "water of noe worth nor value" as a cure for scurvy. Since ships never crossed the Atlantic during winter, he must have come no later than 1630.

According to Nicholas Knapp Genealogy, William Pelham and Edward Lockwood promised to pay Knapp's fine. On 7 Aug 1632 three of the five pounds were recorded as paid. On 6 Jul 1638 what remained of the fine was remitted and the suit dropped upon payment of costs because "the water had been found beneficial".

Removed to Stamford 1646.

Nicholas married Elinor before 1631 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts. Elinor died on 16 Aug 1658 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Between 4 Jul 1687 and 5 Jul 1687, Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut
• Alternate death: Aft 4 Jul 1687, Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut

Notes:

Emigrated 1640, according to The Great Migration Directory. He was a physician and surgeon.

Not to be confused with the Henry Smith who emigrated with the Winthrop Fleet in 1630 and settled in Dorchester, later returning to England, whose wife was also named Ann.

Henry married (Unknown first wife of Henry Smith). (Unknown died before 21 Jan 1664. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1610
• Alternate death: 31 May 1666, Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut
• Alternate death: Abt Nov 1666, Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut

Notes:

He came to New England between April 1632 and Jun 1633; first in Watertown; Wethersfield 1635, Stamford 1641, Greenwich 1650, East Town 1655, Greenwich 1659. "On 18 July 1640, a group of men, believed to include Ferris, signed a deed that purchased the land now called 'old Greenwich' from the local Native Americans. The deed noted that one chief, called Keofferam, had already sold his interests to 'Jeffre Ferris.' The present city dates its existence to that date." [Wikipedia]

In 2023, Travis Dodge Miscia (citation details below) established that the colonist Jeffrey Ferris was either born in Essex or had close ties to that county.

Jeffrey Ferris appears briefly in Anya Seton's 1958 historical novel The Winthrop Woman, about TNH ancestor Elizabeth Fones, where he is described as "a lean taciturn farmer of thirty, with a crest of auburn hair" and a man who "never spoke idly".

Ferris is portrayed in a stained-glass window in the First Congregational Church of Greenwich, Connecticut, along with the dates "1610 1666". Below him, another window depicts Tomac Cemetery, including a stone reading "Ferris". However, no record or stone has been found of his burial there.



He was the GX4-grandfather of George Washington Gale Ferris (1859-1896), inventor of the Ferris wheel.

Jeffrey married Mary before 1629. Mary died on 31 Jul 1658 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

In 2023 Travis Dodge Miscia (citation details below) established that Jeffrey Ferris was married to a woman named Mary by June 1632, and that she was referred to as "Marie" in a chancery court decree in 1634.

Notes:

Emigrated 1634. First in Watertown, then Wetherfield 1636, Stamford 1641.

Notes:

Arrived in Massachusetts 1635; in 1641, removed to Wethersfield, Connecticut and then to Stamford.

His wife's death record calls her the wife of William Mead, not his widow, indicating that she died before he did.

William married Philip about 1620 in Watford, Hertfordshire, England. Philip died on 19 Sep 1657 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also spelled Philippe.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1598, of Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, England
• Alternate birth: Abt 1600

Notes:

Arrived in 1632 on the Lyon.

John married Dorothy before 1634. Dorothy died after 20 Jun 1636. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Gordon L. Remington (citation below) states that one of the peculiarities of this family is the use of the name Pricilla as a male name from 1545 until as late as the 1680s. It was also spelled Precilla or Prescilla, and nicknamed Parsla, Tillius, or Tilly.

Pricilla married Dorothy Grey on 11 Oct 1579 in Watford, Hertfordshire, England. Dorothy died before 5 Feb 1634 in Watford, Hertfordshire, England; was buried on 5 Feb 1634 in Watford, Hertfordshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

The death and burial date here given is that of an individual identified in the records only as the "widow Meade"; this individual was probably but not certainly the Dorothy Grey who married Pricilla Mead.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1547

Edmund married Mary Cramphorne on 23 Jul 1584 in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, England. Mary (daughter of William Cramphorne and Joan Plowright) was born before 27 Sep 1562 in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, England; was christened on 27 Sep 1562 in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, England; died after 1607. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]