James OLMSTEAD, IV

   Another name for James was OLMSTED.

   Ancestral File Number: 8H03-T1.

   General Notes:

Monument to First Hartford Settlers, Hartford CT: "...James Olmsted, John Olmsted, Richard Olmsted..."

BOOKS
Planters of the Commonwealth 1620-1640, Charles EdwardBanks, Riverside Press, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1930
p85: "'Lyon'. This ship was famous in the history of the early emigration to Massachusetts, and her Master was equally noted for his skillful seamanship and his sympathy with the policy of the Puritan leaders. In 1630, 1631, and 1632 she made four voyages hither in quick succession under his command with the regularity of a ferry, and on one of them saved the new settlement from starvation and death by her timely arrival with provisions and anti-scorbutics. The official connection of the 'Lyon' with the Winthrop Fleet is of the same character as related of the 'Mary and John,' as both were doubtless approved by the Governor and Assistants. In his letter of 28 Mar1630 to his wife written from the 'Arbella' off the Isle of Wight, after noting the sailing of the 'Mary and John', Winthrop wrote: 'and the ship which goes from Bristowe...'"
p87: "'Mary and John', Thomas Chubb, Master. She sailed from Plymouth, England, March 20, 1630, with one hundred and forty passengers from the counties of Somerset, Dorset, and Devon under the patronage of the Reverend John White. She arrived at Nantasket May 30, and all the passengers settled at Mattapan which was renamed Dorchester. There is no list of the emigrants, but the following persons are believed to have come in this ship according to evidences from contemporary authorities. All setted at Dorchester, Massachusetts. (See Banks: 'The Winthrop Fleet of 1630' pp100-105, and Clapp: 'Memoirs'..."
p101: "James Olmstead of Fairstead, County Essex, to Cambridge.
"Mrs Joyce Olmstead, Nehemiah Olmstead, Nicholas Olmstead, Richard Olmstead, John Olmstead, Rebecca Olmstead..."

Connecticut Soldiers in the Pequot War of 1637, James Shepard, Journal Publish- ing Co, Meridian CT, 1913, p22:
"Nicholas Olmstead...Enlisted from Hartford...He was son of James Olmstead, came to Boston with his father in the Lion,1632, and probably came to Hartford with his father in 1636...
"Richard Olmstead...Enlisted from Hartford...Came to Boston with his Uncle James in the Lion, 1632, was an original proprietor of Hartford. Removed to Norwalk, 1651...was a brother of John Olmstead of Norwich..."

John North of Farmington, Dexter North, Washington DC, 1921, xi 322p 24 cm, 22-22879, CS71.N86 1921: "John North of Farmington Connecticut and his descendants; with a short account of other early North families."
p12: "5. Thomas North (John1), fourth son of John and Hannah (Bird) North, was born in 1649, and died at Northington, now Avon, in 1712, aged 63. He married in 1669, Hannah, daughter of Thomas and Rebecca (Olmstead) Newell... "...Thomas Newell was from Hertfordshire, England. He was an early settler of Hartford, and an original settler of Farmington in 1640. He died 13 Sep 1689. [See `Newell Genealogy']. Rebecca Olmstead was a niece of James Olmstead, with whom shecame from England in the `Lion'."

ANCESTRY.COM 12 Aug 2000
Database: The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-33
JAMES OLMSTEAD
ORIGIN: Fairstead, Essex
MIGRATION: 1632 on Lyon [Hotten 150]
FIRST RESIDENCE: Cambridge
REMOVES: Hartford 1636
CHURCH MEMBERSHIP: Admission to church membership prior to 6 November 1632 implied by freemanship, presumably to Watertown, since Cambridge church was not yet organized. Probably joined the church at Cambridge when it was formed in 1633, and remained with this church when it went to Hartford.
FREEMAN: 6 November 1632 [MBCR 1:367].
EDUCATION: In his inventory were "3 bibles & 3 other books" (£2 5s.) and "15 quire of paper" (6s. 3d.).
OFFICES: Cambridge constable to pay "James Omsted" 10s. for making the highway by William Butler's pales, 2 June 1634 [CaTR 8]; "James Olmsted" chosen constable of Cambridge for year following 3 November 1634 [CaTR 10]; elected selectman 3 February 1634/5 [CaTR 11]; committee to survey town lands, 3 February 1634/5 [CaTR 12].
ESTATE: On 5 August 1633 granted one acre cowyard at Cambridge [CaTR 5]; assigned proportional share of five in division of meadows (one of the largest in town), 20 August 1635 [CaTR 13]; granted five acres (as "James Homsted"), 8 February 1635/6 [CaTR 17]; in list of those with houses, 8 February 1635/6 [CaTR 18].
In the Cambridge land inventory, under date of 4 June 1635, "James Olmsteade" was credited with eight parcels of land: half a rood in town with one house and backside; "one house and about one acre" in Cowyard Row; four acres in the Old Field; one acre in Wigwam Neck; twenty-two acres and a half in the Neck; two acres in the Ox Marsh; five acres and a half in the Long Marsh; and nineteen acres in the Great Marsh [CaBOP 8]. Although there is no record of the transaction, most of James Olmsted's land in Cambridge came into the possession of Edward Goffe, and the houselot and cowyard row lot are now part of Harvard Yard [Morison, maps facing pp. 188, 192].
In the Hartford land inventory of February 1639[/40] James Olmstead held thirteen parcels of land in Hartford: two acres with dwelling house, outhouses, yards and gardens; one acre, three roods and thirty perches in the Little Meadow; five acres and twenty-four perches of meadow and swamp in the North Meadow; thirty-two acres, three roods and nine perches of meadow and swamp in the North Meadow; four acres and thirty-two perches on the east side of the Great River; twenty-six acres in the Old Oxpasture; two acres, three roods and eight perches in the Venturers' Field; sixteen acres, three roods and eight perches in the Cowpasture; eight acres and two roods of meadow and swamp in the South Meadow; two acres, three roods and thirty-one perches of meadow and swamp at Hockanum; four acres, two roods and thirty-three perches in the Neck of Land; seven acres, three roods and sixteen perches in the Neck of Land; twenty acres, two roods and twenty-four perches in the Cowpasture [HaBOP 314-17].
In an undated will (attested 28 September 1640) James Olmstead of Hartford divided his estate equally between his two sons Nicholas and Nehemiah (dependent upon a settlement to be made on Nicholas by his father-in-law Joseph Loomis), with small legacies to "my cousin Rebecca Olmstead that now dwelleth with me," and to servant Will[iam] Corby. In a later agreement between the executors and the two sons of James, kinsmen Richard and John Olmstead were given £5 apiece, and the Hartford church £20 [Manwaring 1:28-29; CCCR 1:446-47].
The inventory, taken 28 September 1640, totalled £397 19s. 2d., and included "2 acres of English corn of the ground" and "13 acres of ground broke up," but this certainly did not include all his land [CCCR 1:448-49].
BIRTH: Baptized at Great Leighs, Essex, 4 December 1580, son of James and Jane (Bristow) Olmstead.
DEATH: Hartford before 28 September 1640 (date of inventory).
MARRIAGE: Great Leighs, Essex, 26 October 1605 Joyce Cornish; buried Fairstead, Essex, 21 April 1621.

ANCESTRAL FILE
Ancestral File Ver 4.11 8H03-T1 James OLMSTEAD Died England Bur ?Hartford Connecticut, Ancestral File Ver 4.10 8H03-T1 James OLMSTED (OLMSTEAD) Died Will 28 Sep 1640 Hartford Hartford Connecticut, LWQ0-1W Born Abt 1620 England.

   Events:

1. Immigration; 1632, Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA. "Lyon", from Fairstead Essex

2. Removed; 1636, Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut, USA.

   Marriage Information:

James married Joyce CORNISH on 28 Oct 1605 in Great Leighs, Essex, England.