Simon MILLS, Sr

   Another name for Simon was Simeon.

   Ancestral File Number: 8JQK-BP. User ID: 4628.

   General Notes:

NOTES
Lucy Mayberry BARBER Cole, Dictated by her father Capt Levi BARBER, and copied by her great grand daughter Linda Jean ENGLE Lackore Summer 2000:
"The first settlers of Simsbury Connecticut came from Windsor Connecticut. A very large proportion of the inhabitants as late as 1845 can trace their ancestry to that small flock who under the pastoral charge of the Rev Mr Warham left England in 1630 and after remaining a short time in Dorchester Massachusetts near Boston removed in the fall of 1635 and spring of 1636 to Windsor Connecticut."

BOOKS
History of the Simon Mills Family, Katie R Mills, Vol I, p1:
"1. Simon Mills, early settler at Windsor CT is believed to have come to America from England, but the date isnot known, nor do we know from what part of England he came.
"The earliest date found for him is that of his marriage at Windsor to Jone _____ on 18 Oct 1639. Savage gives this date and suggests that it might have been his second marriage. Many published records of Simon Mills say it was his second marriage, but inasmuch as none of the dates nor locations to prove these stories can be found in public records, the stories must be assigned to the realm of tradition; and there they must remain unless and until proof can be found.
"Tradition is that he came from Yorkshire, England, to New England with a Captain Newbury; that his first wife, Sarah Bissell, came on the same ship; that she was a daughter of John Bissell, early settler at Windsor CT; that they were at Plymouth, MA, as early as 1628 (although sometimes the location is given as Salem, MA); that Sarah (Bissell) MIlls was the mother of Simon Mills, Jr, born about 1635, and that she died before 1638, thus leaving her husband with a small son and, therefore, the necessity of having a wife to take care of him. Also there is the story that Simon was accompanied on his trip to America by his brother John Mills, who died on the voyage. "Records at Plymouth or Salem, MA, have not been found to prove that Simon Mills, or the Bissell family, had lived there as early as 1628; nor at any time after that date...
p2: "...Two members of the family in the 6th generation have preserved data for us: (1) Miss Susan Lawrence Mills6 (Eden Mills5, Capt Michael Mills4, Deacon Joseph Mills3, John Mills2, Simon Mills1 Sr), and...(2) Deacon Lewis Mills6 Norton (Charity Mills5 Norton, Joseph Mills4 Jr, Deacon Joseph Mills3, JohnMills2, Simon Mills1 Sr)...who wrote extensively of our line of Mills people, many of whom he knew personally, although some of the data in his Manuscript was obtained by correspondence, or through others who were interested in his writing of family records...
"In Mar 1819 Deacon Norton called on the oldest member of the Mills family: Col Amasa Mills, then 83 years old, and blind, living...at Canton CT, to ask him about our Mills ancestors. Col Amasa Mills4 (Deacon Joseph Mills3, John Mills2, Simon Mills1 Sr) was son of Deacon Joseph Mills of Simsbury. He was ill at the time as Deacon Norton mentions sitting beside his bed to take notes about the family.
"The story Col Amasa Mills told is that the first Mills ofour line came to America with Capt Newbury- he called him 'John'; that Sarah Bissell was a passenger on the same ship; that they married in America; that this John Mills had come from Windsor, England; that he was a baker; that he had two sons,John and Simon, and that there also were some daughters but there is no particular knowledge concerning them; that the son Simon never married and never had any children; that his great-grandfather John Mills had lived and died in Windsor CT. "It is evident that Col Amasa Mills was confused as to the name of his great-grandfather, and this is understandable in view of his age, his illness, and, being blind, he had no notes from which to refresh his memory. Our Simon Mills did have sons John and Simon, and also daughters, as will be seen later. Proof that Col Amasa was confused on this point is found in the settlement of the estate of Simon Mills of Simsbury, where the records show that in the first settlement in 1691, son John received a share; and in the final settlement in 1714, the share of son John was signed for by his three sons (John Jr, Joseph, and Benjamin) and his son-in-law Samuel Tuller.
"The records clearly show that Col Amasa Mills, sonof Deacon Joseph Mills, was grandson of John Mills, and great-grandson of Simon Mills.
"I did not find in the records of Windsor an early settler named John Mills, other than the child born there to Simeon and Mary (Buell) Mills.
"Col. Amasa said that son Simon never married, but there is a marriage recorded at Windsor for a Simon Mills to Mary Gaylor, in 1717- and no other available Simon. There are no children listed for them.
"As mentioned, the earliest date I havefound for Simon Mills in America is that of his marriage on 18 Oct 1639. The next year he acquired a home lot at Windsor, thus becoming a resident there in 1640. Later he sold this lot and acquired another on the east side of Broad Street, where he lived the rest of his time at Windsor.
"His wife Jone died and was buried 5 Jul 1659. In 1658 she had consulted Dr John Winthrop, whose Journal tells us that she was then about 69 years old and that she 'died childless.'
"Also inthe year 1659 on 23 Feb the records of Windsor list the marriage of Simeon Mills and Mary Buell.
"It is probable that these two items in the year 1659 gave rise to the supposed need of two men named Simon Mills in Windsor at that time, itbeing obvious that Simon Mills could not marry in February when his wife lived until July!
"Apparently those who worked on early Mills records failed to remember that in those days the New Year began in the middle of the month of March- not on January 1st as it does today. This arrangement puts the month of February at the end of the year instead of near the beginning. So the marriage to Mary Buell in February occurred more than seven months after the death of wife in July- both dates being at that time in the year 1659. Nowadays when one uses a date such as this, it is written Feb 1659/1660 to remind the reader of the difference in the calendar today and that of the 1600's. Then it was their year 1659, but now it isour year 1660...
"It was about 1660 that seats in the meeting house were assigned. They were made by William Buell and the people paid for them. Simon Mills' seat was called a 'Short seat' and it cost him 4s 6d.
"In Mar 1660 Simon Mills was chosen fence viewer for the village. By trade he was a baker, and this fact is proved by the account books of John Pynchon of Springfield MA, which show that he purchased there the supplies needed for this work. In those days it must have been quite a long trip from Windsor to Sringfield to obtain supplies. No doubt he traveled by boat on the Connnecticut River.
"Simeon and Mary (Buell) Mills became the parents of eleven children, although only six of them reached maturity. They continued to live in Windsor until about 1670, as daughter Sarah, born that year, is recorded at Windsor; and Simon's name appears on the list of freemen at Windsor dated 11 Oct 1669, but when he sold some land at Windsor in Apr 1672 he is described as 'now dwelling at Simsbury.'

Directory of Descendants of Founders of Windsor CT, 350th Anniv Comm, Stephen E Simon, Kent CL Avery, 24 Sep 1983 pv: "Simon Mills 1650."
p101: "Earliest date mentioned in Windsor records 1650. Mar Mary Buell. See 'The John-Simon Mills Line...', Eunice M Lamb, Burlington, Vermont Chedwato Service, 1968."

17th Century Colonial Ancestors of Members of the National Society of Colonial Dames XVII Century 1915-1975, Mary Louise Marshall Hutton, Baltimore Genealogi- cal Publishing Co Inc, 1987, p173:
"Simeon Mills (1613-1670) CT, m. Sarah Bissell, Landowner."

The Mills Family, Vera Elizabeth Mills (Mrs Edmund Haeger), np 1963, 313p 29cm, 66-47887, CS71.M657, 1963a: "Twelve generations descended from pilgrim Simon Mills I from Yorkshire England, 1630, including English background to AD 1080."

The John-Simon Mills Line of Windsor and Simsbury, Burlington VT, Chadwato Service, 1968, 70-3442 MARC, CS71.M657 1968: "Section I A study relative to Simon Mills, early settler of Windsor, Connecticut, Section II An illustrated preview of the John-Simon Mills line of Windsor and Simsbury Conn, Section III A genealogy of the John-Simon Mills line of Windsor and Simsbury Connecticut."

The Mayflower Compact, Frank R Donovan, Grosset and Dunlap, 1968, New York, Chap VI, The Pilgrims and The Puritans, p127-133:
"The Puritan migration to the New World, which is always described as a great religious movement, grew from an experiment in cod fishing. John White, a minister in Dorchester England was an Anglican rector with Puritan leanings who was more interested in the poor of his parish than in the church doctrine. He had an idea for creating jobs by revolutionizing the fishing industry.
"In the 1620's the big handicap to profitable fishing off the coast of North America was the high overhead. A vessel from England spent at least a third of its time getting to and from the fishing grounds...
"Reverend White's ideas was simply to establish a permanent settlement on the coast of New England where the poor could go as coloniststo grow their food, make their own salt, catch fish and cure them...
"White interested 120 men of means in the west of England in his idea; country gentlemen, clergymen, members of Parliament and even a few of the minor nobility. These formed the Dorchester Company of Adventureres, which in 1623 sent out a group of colonists in the `Fellowship.' They established a fishing settlement on Cape Ann, a few miles south of Gloucester. This was the beginning of the first Puritan colonyin the New World.
"White's scheme was a dismal failure. It was again proved that farmers could not fish and fishermen could not farm. The Dorchester Company broke up. But before it did White found an able man in the New World to manage the venture on Cape Ann. This was the Roger Conant who had left Plymouth with Oldham and Lyford...In 1626 most of the discontented farmer-fishermen went home and Conant moved the remaining settlers, some thirty or forty in number, down the coast afew miles and founded Naumkeag.
"Although the Dorchester Adventurers were defunct, White and some of his associates did not give up. They had a rather vague patent from the New England Council coveing a grant of land in New England. Theyneeded to have this confirmed by the Crown and they needed more money. White went up to London and `managed a treaty'- made a deal- with a group of wealthy merchants who had both the influence to get the charter confirmed and the money to backthe enterprise. These men formed the Massachusetts Bay Company.
"In 1628 they sent about fifty more colonists to Naumkeag in the `Abigail'...This group was led by a soldier, Captain John Endecott, with a commission to replace Conant as Governor. Their instructions were to `make fish,' cure sturgeon, prepare beaver, timber, sassafras and sarsaparilla... Nothing was said about religion except that they were, presumably in their spare time, to get a few Indian children `to train upto reading, and consequently to religion, while they are young.
"There were a few sharp fights between the newcomers and the Old Planters, as Conant's settlers were called...Endecott saw fit to change the name of Naumkeag to Salem; ironically a neame derived from the Hebrew word meaning peace.
"Many of Endecott's people were suffering from scurvy when they landed. Having heard that there was a doctor in Plymouth, Endecott asked Bradford for help and Deacon Samuel Fuller went up to Salem. Fuller was a self-trained `physition and churgeon' in whose medical ability the Pilgrims had much faith- and indeed he seems to have done as well as most doctors of that day. While he bled his patient and applied the other cruderemedies of the time he talked religion with Endecott and some of the others. He convinced them that the Pilgrim way- a separate, congregational chruch-was the only true way...
"Meanwhile, back in England, Charles I had come to the thronein 1625. Charles was an autocrat who firmly believed in his divine right to rule without a bothersome Puritan Parliament, which he dissolved in 1629. His wife was a Catholic and his closest adviser, Bishop Laud, strongly supported the ritual of the high Anglican Church and insisted on complete conformity. By this time Puritanism was widespread among the middle-class, conservative English, most of whom were content to worship within the Anglican Church, even using its Book of CommonPrayer, if they were not required to observe Popish ritual. There were a few Independent churches in England- as Separatists were now called- worship- ping in secret, but the Puritans considered them irresponsible radicals.
"In 1629 a group of wealthy Puritans gained control of the Massachusetts Bay Company. They proposed to take its charter to New England where the colonyalready established would become a haven of Puritanism, independent of English control. John Winthrop wasappointed Governor of the expanded colony to replace Endecott.
"Word of the proposal spread like wildfire among the English Puritans. Bishop Laud was now pressing them to conform to hated ritual. There was a rumor that Charles I secretly planned to bring back Roman Catholicism. Puritans became thoroughly frightened that there might be a return to the days of Bloody Mary. Thus there was a rush to join the proposed migration.
"These colonists had the one thing that the Pilgrims had always lacked- money. Of all the hardships and handicaps that the Pilgrims suffered, the most hurtful in the long run was poverty. They had been sent to the New World by the Adventurers with little more than the clothes on their backs and a few crude hand tools. The Puritan backers were able to equip and supply their expedition with everything that was needed, and to keep necessities flowing across the sea until the settlers were established. Theirs was a big business operation. Although the Company paid the way of a few Puritans, most could afford to pay their own fare and to bring with them cattle, pigs, and sheep and oxen, as well as ample tools- all things that had been lacking in the Pilgrim colony.
"By the spring of 1630 fourteen ships were ready to sail from England with over 1,000 passengers- three times as many as had come to Plymouth in a decade. As the fleet prepared to sail John White came aboard the flagship, the `Arbella,' with an address for the leaders of the expedition to sign. He was afraid that the colony might become Separatist; perhaps he had heard of Fuller's visit to Endecott. In the address, which Winthrop and others signed, they acknowledged that they `deemed it anhonor to call the Church of England their `Dear Mother.''
"This was the last time that they mentioned their `Dear Mother.' Within a month after their arrival the two ministers who were with them, Francis Higginson and Samuel Skelton, organized the First Church of Salem as a Separatist Church on the congregational model. They had both gone on record as not intending to do this before they left England and the most logical explanation for their change of mind was the Pilgrim influence on those who had preceded them...
"This conversion of the more numerous Puritans to the essentially democratic concept of a congregational church was perhaps the Pilgrims' greatest contribution in spreading the ideals of freedom of thought and of conscience in the New World. Back home the Puritans had known nothing like th Pilgrim meeting house where members of the congregation had a say in the affairs of the church. Now they accepted the covenant idea with `every member...to have a free voice in the choice of their officers, etc.' This `free voice' was not long limited to religious affairs; from it grew the New England town meeting type of government...
"Obviously there was not room for 1,000 settlers in little Salem, with more to come. Governor Winthrop decided that the area to the south, around Massachusetts Bay, was a better center of population and moved to Charlestown, where Endecott had started a little settlement. The supply of fresh water was not very good here, so the capital was moved across the Charles River to a place called Trimountain, where it was `ordered that Trimountain shall be called Boston.' So New England's great city came into existence on September 7, 1630. Thesettlers quickly spread out to form other towns and Medford, Watertown, Roxbury, Dorchester and Lynn were all established before the snow flew..."

Encyclopaedia Britannica, Micropaedia, Vol VI, p674, Massachusetts Bay Colony:
"One of theoriginal English settlements in present Massachusetts, settled in 1630 by a group of about 1,000 Puritan refugees from England under Gov. Johna Winthrop. The Massachusetts Bay Company had obtained, from Charles I in 1629, a charter empoweringthe company to trade and colonize in New England between the Charles and Merrimack rivers. Omitted from the charter was the usual clause requiring the company to hold its business meetings in England, a circumstance that the Puritan stockholders used to transfer control of the colony to America. The Puritans established a theocratic government with the franchise limited to church members..."

The Annals of America, Vol I, 1493-1754, Discovering a New World, Encyclopaedia Britannica,Chicago, 1976, p157, Fundamental Orders of Connecticut:
"The Connecticut settlement at Hartford was established in 1636 by settlers from the New Towne (now Cambridge), Massachusetts, congregation of the Reverend Thomas Hooker. This group had been preceded by others which had located at Windsor and Wethersfield. In January 1639, the freemen of these three townships assembled and drew up the so-called Fundamental Orders of Connecticut often hailed as the first written American constitution...It contained a preamble that is essentially a compact, the remainder being a body of laws. Hooker's move was prompted primarily by political considerations. He opposed the dominant figures at Boston, who looked down on democracy- believing it to be `no fit government either for church or commonwealth...'"

ANCESTRAL FILE
Ancestral File Ver 4.10 8JQK-BP Born 4 Apr 1612 Yorkshire England, Chr 10 Jan 1615 Yorkshire England, Mar Mrs Joan MILLS 18 Oct 1639 Windsor Hartford Connecticut.

Ancestral File Ver 4.10 8JQJ-ZT (Simon MILLS Jr) Born Windsor Hartford Connecticut (Jr), Chr 13 Apr 1613 Barnstable Devonshire England Great Britain (?Jr<Sr).

   Marriage Information:

Simon married Wilmott FRENCH on 28 Aug 1606. (Wilmott FRENCH was born about 1619 in Barnstaple, Devonshire, England and was buried on 10 Nov 1657 in Barnstaple, Devonshire, England.)

   Marriage Information:

Simon also married Sarah BISSELL, daughter of Captain John BISSELL and Elizabeth Mary THOMPSON, about 1635 in , , England. (Sarah BISSELL was born about 1616 in , , England and died in 1637 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut, USA.)

   Marriage Information:

Simon also married Joan on 18 Oct 1639 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut, USA. (Joan was born about 1618 in , , England, died on 5 Jul 1657-1658 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut, USA and was buried on 5 Jul 1657-1658 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut, USA.)