William PHELPS, Jr ¹

   Another name for William was CONNECTICUT Governing Magistrate.

   Ancestral File Number: 1LV3-C8. User ID: 2306.

   General Notes:

One of the Governing Magistrates of Connecticut, 1636-40.

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
A Genealogical Register of the First Settlers of New England, John Farmer, Genealogical Publishing Co, Lancaster MA 1829, p200 "PHELPS William, Dorchester, Freeman 1631, Came to NE 1630, was representative at the first court 1534, removed to Windsor, and was elected Magistrate in 1636. 25 of the name had grad at the NE colleges in 1826."

The Winthrop Fleet 1630, Charles Edward Banks, Riverside Press, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1930, p104:
"Phelps, William (6). Dorset. Juror 1630. Freeman 18 May 1631 (M.C.R., I, 366). Removed to Windsor (Stiles)..."

Planters of the Commonwealth 1620-1640, Charles Edward Banks, Riverside Press, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1930, 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'..."
p90: "William Phelps, Mrs Anne Phelps,William Phelps Jr, Samuel Phelps, Nathaniel Phelps, Sarah Phelps..."

Directory of Descendants of Founders of Windsor CT, 350th Anniv Comm, Stephen E Simon, Kent CL Avery, 24 Sep 1983
pv: "Phelps, William (D = Dorchester MA) * Arrived in 1630 on the 'Mary and John'."
p78: "Earliest date mentioned in Windsor records 1635. Born 1599, England, Married (1) Elizabeth _______, (2) Mary Dover, Died 14 Jul 1672. See 'The Phelps Family of America...' Judge Oliver Seymour Phelps, Andrew T Servin, Pittsfield MA, Eagle Publ Co 1899."

The Mary and John The Story of the Founding of Dorchester Massachusetts 1630, Maude Pinney Kuhns, Charles E Tuttle Co, Rutland VT, 1943, (CT Historical Society) p1:
"On the twentieth of March, 1630, a group of men and women, one hundred and forty in number, set sail from Plymouth, England, in the good ship, the 'Mary and John'. The company had been selected and assembled largely through the efforts of the Reverend John White, ofDorchester, England; with whom they spent the day before sailing, 'fasting, preaching, and praying.' These people had come from the western counties of England, mostly from Devonshire, Dorsetshire, and Somerset. They had chosen two ministers to accompany them: 'men who were interested in the idea of bringing the Indians to the knowledge of the gospel.' The Reverend John Maverick was an elderly man from Devon, a minister of the Established church. Reverend John Warham was also an ordained minister of the Church of England, in Exeter, eminent as a preacher. There is some evidence that both of these men were in some difficulties with the church on account of their sympathies with the Puritans.
"Edward Rossiter and RogerLudlow, two men who were members of the government in England, were also chosen; and several gentlemen, middleaged, with adult families were next joined to the association. Among these were Henry Wolcott, Thomas Ford, George Dyer, William Gaylord, William Rockwell, and William Phelps. But a large portion of the company were young men, eager for adventure, such as Israel Stoughton, Roger Clapp, George Minot, Richard Collicott, and Nathaniel Duncan.
"So we came, writes Roger Clapp in his Memoirs, by the good hand of the Lord, through the deep comfortably; having preaching or expounding of the word of God every day for ten weeks together by our ministers. When we came to Nantasket, Capt. Squeb, who was Captain of that great ship of four hundred tons, put us on shore and our goods on Nantasket Point, and left us to shift for ourselves in a forelorn place in this wilderness.
"It had been their original intent to land in the Charles River, but a dispute with Captain Squeb, the commander of the vessel, caused the whole company, on May 30, 1630, to be put ashore at Nantasket. The 'Mary and John' was the first of the Fleet of 1630 to arrive in the bay. At that time there could not have been pilots,or charts of the channel, and it does not seem unreasonable that the captain refused to undertake the passage, but Roger Clap has sent Captain Squeb down to posterity as a merciless man.
"According to tradition they landed upon the south side of Dorchester Neck, or South Boston, in Old Harbor. Ten of the men, under the command of Captain Southcote, found a small boat, and went up the river to Charlestown Neck, where they found an old planter, probably Thomas Walfourd, who fed them 'a dinner of fish without bread.' Later they continued their journey up the Charles River, as far as what is now Watertown, returning several days later to the company who had found pasture for their cattle at Mattapan. The settlement was later called Dorchester, in honor of the Reverend John White, of Dorchester, England.
"Roger Clap tells of the hardships that followed. They had little food, and were forced to live on clams and fish. The men built small boats, and the Indians came later with baskets of corn. 'The place was a wilderness,' writes Roger Clap. 'Fish was a good help to me and to others. Bread was so scarce that I thought the very crusts from my father's table would have been sweet; and when I could have meal and salt and water boiled together, I asked, 'who could ask for better?'
"Here they lived for five or six years. Other boats arrived and other towns were settled. But the life at Dorchester was not entirely congenial to the loversof liberty of the 'Mary and John'. The group of settlements around Massachusetts Bay was dominated by clergymen and officials of aristocratic tendencies. Their Governor, John Winthrop, had little sympathy with the common people. 'The best part(of the people),' he declared, 'is always the least, and of that best part, the wiser is always is always the lesser.' And the Reverend John Cotton put it more bluntly when he said, 'Never did God ordain democracy for the government of the church or the people.'
"These principles were repugnant to the people of the 'Mary and John', who had come to America to escape such restraint. They had no wish to interfere with the methods of worship of others, and they did not wish others to interfere with them. Too, they were land-hungry, after centuries of vassalage to the lords of the manors, leading hopeless lives without chance of independence. Perhaps they were influenced also, by the fact that a great smallpox epidemic hadraged among the Indians, killing off so many that they wre not the menace that they had been at first. The settlers turned their attention toward the fertile meadows of the Connecticut Valley.
"A group under Roger Ludlow set out and reached the Plymouth Trading house that had been erected by William Holmes near the junction of the Connecticut and the Farmington Rivers, early in the summer of 1635. A little later sixty men, women and children, with their 'cows, heifers and swine', came overland from Dorchester. The winter was severe and the food scarce, and many returned to Massachusetts, but in the spring they came back to Connecticut with their friends, and by April, 1636, most of the members of the Dorchester Church were settled near the Farmington River, along the brow of the hill that overlooks the 'Great Meadow'. This in spite of the fact that the Plymouth people disputed their claim to the land. They built rude shelters, dug out of the rising groundalong the edge of the river bank. The rear end and the two sides were simply the earth itself, with a front and a roof of beams. The town was later named Windsor.
"In the following year, 1637, danger from the Pequot Indians forced them toabandon their dugouts and to come together around the area known as the Palisado Green. Their new homes were at once enclosed with a strong palisado.
"In 1639 they began the construction of their first real meeting house. It stood in the center of the palisado, and was topped with a cupola and platform, where the sexton beat a drum to summon the people to attend services or public meetings. About the same time there was built and presented to the pastor, the Reverend John Warham, a corn mill, which is supposed to have been the first grist mill built in Connecticut. For many years it served all the settlements in the river valley, as far south as Middletown.
"All over America today live the descendants of the fathers and mothers of the 'Mary and John.' Their sons and daughters have written their names on the pages of American History. They have filled the pulpits of famous churches; they have sat on judges' benches, and in the seats of Congress; they have occupied Governors' Mansions, and even the White House. Some fought at Lexington, and wintered with Washington at Valley Forge. They joined in the trek to the West, and one followed Brigham Young into Utah. One marched with Sherman as he burned and pillaged his way through Georgia, and perhaps one fought on the other side with Lee. One is called the 'Hero of Manila Bay,' and one was hanged! They learned strange names like Saint-Mehiel, Chateau-Thierry, the Argonne Forest and Sedan. Perhaps one lies in Flanders Field...
"An effort has been made to show through the ancestry of people living today, or through famous men of history, how this little group lived together, married and intermarried, even beyond the third and fourth generations. The names of descendants of the men and women who came to America on the 'Mary and John' are found in every state of the Union."
p5: "The Passenger List (Compiled from various sources, and not official)
...67. Mathew Grant
68. Priscilla Grant
69. Mathew
70. Priscilla...
...78. Thomas Holcomb
79. Elizabeth Ferguson...
..101. George Phelps
102. Richard Phelps
103. William Phelps
104. Elizabeth Phelps
105. William
106. Sarah
107. Samuel
108. Nathaniel
109. Joseph
110. Mary Dover..."
p59: "Little is known of Richard Phelps, who has been called a brother of William Phelps, bapt 26 Dec 1609; also a son of William Phelps, bapt 26 Dec 1619..."
"William Phelps, with his brothers George and Richard, his wife and five children, came to America in 1630 on the 'Mary and John'. Their ancestry is as follows:
"A James Phelps b1520 m Joan
B William 1560-1611 m Dorothy d 1613
"William Phelps 2nd was baptized in the Tewkesbury Church 19 Aug 1599 and died at Windsor 14 Jul 1672. He made application as a freeman with the first group 19 Oct 1630; was on jury duty 9 Nov 1630; constable 1631; Deputy 1634-1635; Magistrate 1639-1649. He presided a Court in Windsor 1 May 1637 when it was ordered that there 'shall be an offensive war against the Pequots.
"A man of property he subscribed to the fund for the poor. Not being able to prove title and payment for land bought of the Indian, Sehat, he paid for it a second time. The paper describing the transaction is dated 31 Mar 1665:
"'These presents testify, whereas there was a parcel of land purchased formerly by William Phelps, living at Windsor about 30 years since, of Sehat, an Indian, a Paquanick Sachem, and I (Phelps) not being able to prove payment of the said purchase, in conideration whereof I now engage to make up the full payment by paying to the said Sehat's kinsman Nassahegan, Sachem of Paquanick, 4 trucking coats, or what upon agreement shall satisfy them to the value thereof.
"'Owned already paid in two coats, and 40s in wampum for a third coat, andsix bushels of Indian Corn and fifteen shillings in wampum for the fourth coat; and fifteen shillings in mampum is at six a penney.
"'signed Coggerynosset, Asuthew, Patackhouse, Amanawer (Sisters Nassahegan), Nassagegan. Witness: Samuel Phelps, Mathew Grant, John Barlett, Timothy Buckland.'
"Elizabeth the first wife of William Phelps died at Dorchester in 1635, and he married a second time in 1638 Mary Dover who had also been a passenger on the 'Mary and John'. Mary Phelpsdied in 1675..."

The Connecticut Barbers, A Genealogy of the Descendents of Thomas Barber of Windsor Connecticut, Donald S Barber, McDowell Publications, Utica NY, 1992, p5:
"Children of Thomas and Jane, born at Windsor:
"...3. Thomas2, bp 14 Jul 1644; m Mary Phelps..." p5: "...3. Thomas2 Barber, bp Windsor CT 14 Jul 1644; d Simsbury CT 10 May 1713; m Windsor 17 Dec 1663 Mary Phelps, b 2 Mar 1644, daughter of William Sr (sic) and Mary (Dover) Phelps.

17th Century Colonial Ancestors of Members of the National Society of Colonial Dames XVII Century 1915-1975, Mary Louise Marshall Hutton, Baltimore Genealogical Publishing Company Inc, 1987, p197:
"William Phelps (1599-1672) CT m. Elizabeth ---, Commissioner, Governor's Assistant."

The Holcomb(e) Genealogy History and Directory, Jesse Seaver, Philadelphia PA, American Historical-Genealogical Society, 1925, vii 286p 27.5cm, CS71.H725 1925 and 1925a
p250: "Hon. William Phelps was connected with the Holcomb(e) family. He was one of the commissioners appointed by the Mass. Bay Colony in 1636 to govern the people of Connecticut; a member of the council which framed the constitution in 1639; also a member of the council of the Pequot War 1637."

Genealogical Record of the Descendants of Joseph and Jemima (Post) Phelps, Dudley Post Phelps, Syracuse NY, CW Bardeen, 1885, 104p 23.5cm, Ed Anna Redfield Phelps, 9-29649, CS71.P54, 1885: "Showing also, in brief, the several links inthe genealogical chain which connects them with the old Puritan, William Phelps, who came to America in 1630; with some historical notes and data relating to the common family name."

Genealogy of one Branch of the Family of George Phelps, Alanson Hosmer Phelps, San Francisco Cal, 1897, 201p 23.5cm, CS71.P54 1897: "Short historical narrative of one branch since the founding of the family in America by William and George Phelps in 1630."

The Phelps Family of America, Judge Oliver Seymour Phelps & Andrew T Servin, Pittsfield Mass, Eagle Publ Co, 1899, 24.5cm, 1-21628, CS71.P54 1899: "The Phelps family of America and their English ancestors, with copies of wills, deeds, letters, and other interesting papers, coats of arms and valuable records."

Barber Genealogy, Sect I Descendants of Thomas Barber of Windsor Connecticut 1614-1909, Sect II Descendants of John Barber of Worcester Massachusetts 1714-1909, Publ John Barber White, Ed Lillian May Wilson, Haverhill Mass, Press of the Nichols Print, 1909, clxiv 659p 24cm, 10-11369, CS71.B24 1909, Descendants of Thomas Barber of Windsor Connecticut 1614-1909.
p22: "William Phelps, the father of Mary, wife of Thomas Barber, was born in Tewksbury, County Gloucester, England, 1599. He removed to Somerset or Dorsetshire, England. His first wife was Elizabeth (surname not known). He came to Dorchester, Mass, in 1630, and in 1636 removed to Windsor, Conn. He applied to be made freeman, Oct 19, 1630.He was a member of the jury impaneled for the trial of Walter Palmer for the murder of Austin Brotchus, being the first trial by jury in New England. That he was a highly respected and active citizen, is evidenced by the various positions of trust which he occupied. He was member in 1636 of the first court held in Connecticut, and of the court which in 1637 declared war against the Pequots. Was magistrate from 1638 to 1642, and again in 1658; was foreman of the first Grand Jury in 1643, and deputy to the General Court from 1645 to 1649, and from 1651 to 1658; was magistrate again from 1658 to 1662, and 1641 was appointed member of a committee `on lying.' His 2nd wife, Mary Dover, is said to have been a fellow passenger from England with him. They were married in Windsor.
"His Windsor residence is about three quarters of a mile northwest of Broad Street, on the road to Poquonnock. As late as 1859 it was owned by Dea. Roger Phelps.
"William Phelps, Sr.,died July 14, 1692. His wife died Nov. 27, 1675."

Digest of Early Connecticut Probate Records, C W Manwaring, Vol I, p348: "William Phelps Sr, Windsor. Invt L472-19-06. Will taken 28 Feb 1681. Will nuncupative. 10 Feb 1681: His Will was that his brother Timothy should have all his Estate to dispose of & to be sole Executor...should have his choice for his third out of all his Outlands. 2 Mar 1681-1682...Claims presented by the Widow Phelps & her Attorney, find that by Virtue of a Jointure agreement the whole personal Estate, together with his houseing and two thirds of all his outlands, are the proper Estate of the Widow, and advise that Out Lands be indifferently divided, two-thirds to the Widow according to Joynture, and one third to Timothy Phelps, the debts to be paid by each in proportion."

Main Currents in American Thought, An Interpretation of American Literature From the Beginnings to 1920, Vol I The Colonial Mind 1620-1800, Vernon Louis Parrington, Professor English University of Washington, 1927 Harcourt Brace and Company, New York, p53:
"Chapter IV The Contributions of Independency. II Thomas Hooker, Puritan Liberal, Among the Englishmen who came to Massachusetts were some to whom the 'New England way' seemed to promise a democratic organization of the church, and who looked with disapproval upon the Presbyterizing policy of the oligarchy. Of this number the congregations of Newtown, Dorchester, and Watertown wer noteworthy for the quiet determination with which they seceded from the teocratic commonwealth, and set up for themselves in the Connecticut wilderness. Their leaders were liberals who believed that everything should be done decently and in order, but who were determined that the outcome of such decent orerliness should be a free church in a free state; and so while Roger Williams was engaged in erecting the democracy of Hartford...
"Lacking exacter information, we are forced to rely mainly upon such hearsay reports as have come down to us, pieced out by Puritan tradition; and these reports make Thomas Hooker to have been a strong and resourceful man, a better democrat than his fellow ministers, the father of New England Congregationalism as it later came to be when the Presbyterianizing tendency was checked- a practical leader who rejected equally the reactionary theocracy of John Cotton, and the leveling radicalism of Roger Williams...
"After all, the most illuminating commentary upon the causes of the removal is the spirit of the institutions set up in the new settlement. While we need not go so far as to assert, with the historians of Connecticut that 'the birthplace of American democracy is Hartford,' we must recognize in the Fundamental Orders adopted by the General Assembly, January 14, 1639, a plan of popular government so broadly democratic as to entitle it to be called 'the first written constitution of modern democracy...' "

Settlers on the Eastern Shore The British Colonies in North America 1607-1750, John Anthony Scott, Facts on File, 1991, New York, Chap 2 The Weatherbeaten Shore EarlySettlers in New England, p10-11:
"Many of the first colonists who crossed the Atlantic in the 17th century came to New England. They were Puritans or Separatists fleeing from persecution by the king of England and from the established forms of belief and worship in the Old Country. Puritans were members of the Church of England who wished to return to the simplicity of Christian life and fellowship that existed many centuries before in the carliest days of the Christian church.They wished to `purify' the English church of its false beliefts, its paintings and its idols, its stained glass, its overpaid officials. Separatists went one step further: they believed in separating themselves from the established church andforming new, independent groups of believers.
"To the 17th century religious reformer, whether a Puritan or Separatist, the word of God had to be sought in the Bible alone, not in the teaching of priests or the laws of churches. These reformers felt close in spirit to the Jews of old; they studied with care the tales of Jewish bondage and of the flight from Egyptian oppression that were unfolded in the Old Testament...The Puritans and Separatists felt that they, even as the Jewsof old, must take flight from bondage in England...from Charles I, king of England, his church and his servants...brave the wild wastes of the Atlantic seas. Beyond, crossing by the grace of God and under His providence or protection, they would find thepromised land, America, promised to them even as Jerusalem was promised to the Children of Israel.
"The early settlers of New England had a deep conviction that suffering, sacrifice and death in the New World were preferable topersecution in the Old World. This made the New England settlements unique; most of the other settlements owed their origin to quite different motives. This New England faith would set its stamp on American life throughout years to come..."
p14-17: "The Plymouth colony was a lasting symbol of pioneer courage in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles; but in the settlement of Massachusetts, it played a minor role and lived on, as it were, in a backwater. The main thrustof colonization in New England came with settlers who began to arrive in large numbers in the Boston area 10 years later in 1630.
"One of the best introductions to them that we have is a letter their leader, Thomas Dudley, wrote from Boston in 1631 to a friend in the Old World. Thomas Dudley was one of a number of Puritans who came together to organize the immigration to the New World, and who, in 1629, secured from King Charles I a charter, or permission, to undertake a tradingventure to be called the Massachusetts Bay Company. This charter was to be a very important legal document. The state of Massachusetts, in the course of time, would emerge from the company that it set up...
"Royal charters were written inquaint, long-winded legal language. In the charter of the Massachusetts Bay Company, the group was given title to `all that part of New England in America which lies...between a great river there, commonly called Merrimac River, and a certainother river there, called Charles River...'
"The charter also granted to the company the right to govern the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the name of the king. Stating that a prosperous colony, `plantation,' could not develop without government and order, it authorized the company to establish itself as `a body corporate and politic,' or a government composed of a governor, deputy governors and 18 assistants... authorized `to make laws for the good and welfare of the said company, and for the government and ordering of the said lands and the plantation and the people...such laws an ordinances must not be repugnant to the laws and statutes of this our realm of England."
"...Full and absolute authority was also granted `to correct, punish, pardon, govern, and rule all such the subjects of us, our heirs and successors, as shall from time to time adventure themselves.' The leaders of the Massachusetts Bay Company, evidently, could govern their settlement pretty much as they pleased.
"The Massachusetts Bay Company's venture got under way in 1630, when a fleet of 17 ships was sent out from England. Among those who came in this convoy was Thomas Dudley, the company's first governor. As soon ashe could , busy as he was with his numerous duties in the colony when he landed, he sat down and wrote to his dear friend Bridget, countess of Lincoln...
"...`These seventeen ships arrived all safe in New England this year 1630, but made along, troublesome and a costly voyage being all wind-bound long in England, and hindered with contrary winds after they set sail, and so scattered with mists and tempests that few of them arrived together.' Soon, however, settlements began tospring up on both sides of the Charles River- at Charlestown, Boston, Medford, Watertown, Rocksbury, Salem and Dorchester. The work was hard; there was fever and sickness, and many died. `It may be said of us,' he wrote sadly, `almost as of theEgyptians, that there is not a house where there is not one dead, and in some houses many.'
"As time went by, the Boston Bay settlements became established even as Plymouth had and began to spread. Between 1630 and 1650, immigrants arrived in large numbers. New townships were laid out, and the land was divided and allotted to different families for their individual use..."

Encyclopaedia Britannica, Micropaedia, Vol VI, p674, Massachusetts Bay Colony:
"One of the originalEnglish 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 empowering the 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 totransfer 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 itto be `no fit government either for church or commonwealth...'"

INTERNET
http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/p/h/e/Michael-D-Phelps/FILE/0007page.html
Phelps Connections
Volume 6, No. 1, Winter 1997, Page 409
Phelps Entries in "The Great Migration Begins"
By Margaret P. Swanson
The long-awaited Volume III of "The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633", by Robert Charles Anderson (Boston NEHGS: 1995) has finally been released. Of particular interest to many PC members are the Phelps items...
...The second item, William PHELPS, has a far more extensive entry and is of special interest to many PC members. Of special significance is the recognition of his origin as Crewkerne, Somersetshire, and his birth date, about 1593. Twenty five years was the approximate age of the first marriage of a man so his estimated birth was calculated from his marriage date. This marriage date is unknown but is presumed to have occurred by 1618, since he had a child baptized at Crewkerne, 9 September 1618. Mary ( ) PHELPS, the first wife, was buried at Crewkerne, 13 August 1626. She was the mother of four children, all baptized at Crewkerne: William [W19] bapt. 9 Sep 1618; Samuel [W21] bapt. 5 Aug 1621; infant, bur. Crewkerne, Jan 1623-24; and Nathaniel [W22] bapt. 6 Mar 1624-25. William married 2) at Crewkerne, 14 Nov 1626, Ann DOVER. Ann was the mother of seven children: Cornelius, bapt. 13 Oct 1627; Joseph (a twin) [W23] and Mary (a twin), bapt. 13 Nov 1628; another Mary, bapt. 6 Dec 1629, all baptized at Crewkerne. The first Mary died soon after birth and there is no further record of Cornelius and the second Mary, both of whom are presumed to have died young. Ann had three additional children born in America: Sarah [W20], b. about 1632; Timothy [W24]; and Mary [W25]. The latter of the two were born in Windsor, CT. See "The American Genealogist" 65:161-166 (1990) for Myrtle Stevens Hyde's article which resolves the problem of the identity of the wives of William Phelps and contains all the Crewkerne records cited by Anderson.

ANCESTRY.COM 30 Jul 2000
Colonial Families of the United States of America: Volume 3
ISSUE
II. Hannah, b. 9th Oct. 1668; m. 4th Jan. 1693-94, William PHELPS, godson of William HAYDEN and son of Samuel and Sarah (GRISWOLD) PHELPS, of Windsor, and grandson of Mr. William PHELPS (1630), one of the Governing Magistrates of Connecticut, 1636-40.

Database: American Biographical Library
The Biographical Cyclopędia of American Women
Volume II
American Biographical Notes
P
The Chicago Historical Society
page 323
PHELPS, WILLIAM, one of the first settlers at Dorchester, Mass., in 1630; removed to Windsor, Ct., in 1635, where he was a judge; d. July 14, 1672. (Hall's Eastern Vermont, p. 689.)

Database: Connecticut Puritan Settlers, 1633-1845
Introduction. It will be discovered then, that here were three towns located in the wilderness, with a large number of inhabitants, (as many must have come into the colony, before either of the churches moved as a colony) without any law to govern them, either civil, military, or criminal; and the principles and much less the practice and forms of an independent government, in a great measure unknown to men who had been educated under the Crown of England and had learned only to obey. The first year (1635) no courts were organized, not even a town organization formed, and much less any thing like a General Court formed to enact laws and punish offences. The officers of the several churches governed their own members according to the rules and discipline of the church; and as no other law existed in the Colony, all offenders, if any were tried before 1636, must have been tried by the Mosaic law, by the churches. But as the law of Moses made no provision to punish a white man for selling a gun to an Indian--it therefore became necessary that some civil body of men should be so organized as to enact such laws as would prevent or punish offences not provided for in the Bible. The placing of firearms in the possession of the Indians was considered one of the most culpable offences in the Colony, which endangered not only the property but the safety and lives of the English settlers. At this time it was discovered that Henry Stiles had traded a gun with the Indians for corn. Therefore on the 26th day of April, 1636, a court was organized by five of the best men in the Colony--whether they constituted themselves a court or were elected by the people, the record gives no account. The Court consisted of Roger Ludlow, as chairman, and Mr. Westwood, John Steel, Andrew Ward, and William Phelps, as his asssociates. The first act of the Court was to try Stiles for the offence. He was found guilty, and ordered by the Court to regain the gun from the Indians in a fair and legal way, or the Court should take the case into further consideration. The Court then enacted a law, that from henceforth no one within the jurisdiction of the Court should trade with the Indians any piece or pistol, gun or shot, or powder, under such penalty as the Court should see meet to inflict.--This was the first Court, the first Trial, and the first Law ever enacted or had in Connecticut.

the First Puritan Settlers of Windsor. The first settlers of Windsor were, Mr. John Warham, who laid the foundation of the church there, in 1635; Henry Wolcott, William Phelps, John Whitefield, Humphrey Pinny, Deacon John More, or Moore, Deacon Gaylord, Lieut. John Ffiler, Matthew Grant, Thomas Dibble, Samuel Phelps, Nathan Gillett, Jonathan Gillett, Richard Vere, or Vose, Abraham Randall, Brigget Egglestone, George Phelps, Thomas Ford and Jobe Drake. Others arrived at different times until 1639, when the Rev. Ephraim Huit came from England, and was settled as a colleague with Mr. Warham, at Windsor, in 1639. A part of his church came with him, viz: Edward Griswold, John Bissell, Thomas Holcomb, Daniel Clark, and Peter Tilton. On his way to Windsor he was joined in Massachusetts by others, who accompanied him, viz: Joseph Newbury, Timothy Loomis, John Loomis, John Porter, William Hill, James Marshall, John Taylor, Eltwed Pomeroy, William Hosford, Aaron Cook, Elias Parkham, Richard Aldage, Henry Stiles, John Stiles, William Hayden, George Phillips, Thomas Stoughton, Owen Tudor, Return Strong, Captain Mason, Matthew Allen, John Hillyer, Thomas Barber, Nicholas Palmer, Tho. Buckland, Isaac Selden, Robert Watson, Stephen Terre, Bray Rossiter, Thomas Dewey, William Hurlbut, Roger Williams, Thomas Bascomb, Nicholas Denslow, Thomas Thornton and Simeon Hoyt. Several of the last class had been to Connecticut before they came with Mr. Huit in 1639; but they may all be considered as the first Puritan settlers of Windsor. Mr. Huit was spared to his people but a few years--he died in 1644. Mr. Warham was continued longer with his church. He lived to see much of the forest removed--roads made passable--a house for worship built--himself and family and friends comfortably situated in this new country--the two Colonies united, and the title of their lands confirmed, with his family rich in new land, and died in 1670, after a ministry there of about 35 years.

First Sttlers of the Colony. Phelps, William, Esq., Windsor, came with Mr. Warham's church to Windsor, in 1635. He married before he came from England, and had four children before he moved to Windsor, viz. William, Samuel, Nathaniel and Joseph--Timothy was born at Windsor in 1639, and Mary in 1644--the latter married Thomas Barber. He was a member of the first Court held in the colony in 1636, to try Henry Stiles; he was also a member of the Court of Magistrates in 1637, which declared war against the Pequotts; also in 1638 and '39, 1640-1-2-3, was an assistant (in the Upper House). He was foreman of the first grand jury in 1643, that attended the General Court--and deputy in 1646. He aided in enacting the first law in the colony, in 1639, after the compact of the towns on Connecticut River, and was afterwards an assistant to the Governor in the General Assembly. He was a member of the General Court for twelve sessions. He was one of a Committee to consult the Elders, and form a law against lying--was a Committee with Haynes, Hopkins and Welles to form criminal laws for the colony--to treat with George Fenwick for liberty to make salt on the Long Island Sound--and was on the war Committee against the Quinnipiac Indians. Mr. Phelps was one of the most efficient and valuable officers in the colony--his whole time must have been occupied in the service of the public. He was a brother of George and Samuel Phelps. Mr. Phelps, with Roger Ludlow, Henry Wolcott, Mr. Warham, John Mason, Thomas Lord, and Matthew Allyn were some of the leading men of Windsor and in the colony for many years.

First Sttlers of the Colony. Phelps, George, came to Windsor with Mr. Warham in 1636--brother of William and Samuel Phelps. From William, George and Samuel--the three brothers, who settled at Windsor, came the Phelps's of Connecticut. William was a magistrate in 1636. George married Miss Randall, daughter of Philip--she died in 1648--children, Isaac, Abraham and Joseph--by a second wife, Jacob, John and Nathaniel, and died at Westfield, 1678.

First Sttlers of the Colony. Phelps, Samuel, brother of William and George Phelps--came to Windsor in the early part of the settlement, and died in 1669. Left children, Samuel, 17 years old, Sarah 15, Timothy 13, Mary 11, William 9, John 7, Ephraim 6, Abigail 3, and Josiah 2. William Thrall appraised his estate. The Phelps's brothers came from Dorchester--George went there in 1630.

First Sttlers of the Colony. Starks, Aaron, Hartford, 1639. (This case is inserted to show the extreme severity of their punishment for bastardy.) He was placed upon the pillory on a lecture-day during the lecture--then tied to the tail of a cart, and whipped in Hartford, (probably through Main-street)--then taken to Windsor, and at the tail of a cart again whipped--then had the letter R. burnt upon his cheek, and fined £10, to be paid to the parents of Mary Holt, and then ordered to marry her. The punishment of the girl for her offence was referred to Mr. Ludlow and William Phelps to decide. She was afterwards whipped. In 1643 he was again whipped for another offence, and ordered to serve Captain Mason during the pleasure of the court.

First Sttlers of the Colony. Webster, Gov. John. This gentleman probably came into Connecticut in 1637, or in the autumn of 1636. His first appearance as an officer of the Court was in April, 1637. He was then one of the Committee, who for the first time sat with the Court of Magistrates for the purpose of declaring war against the Pequot Indians. He was again the same year elected to the General Court, and was also elected as one of the committe (deputy) in 1638. He was elected a member of the Court of Magistrates at the first General Court holden by Gov. Haynes, in April, 1639. From this time forward for many years he was a member of the General Court as a magistrate or assistant. That the public may appreciate the arduous services of Gov. Webster, I take the liberty of stating, that in 1639 he attended four sessions of the General Court--three sessions in 1640--four in 1641--three in 1642--five in 1643--five in 1644--five in 1645; and held five sessions of the Particular Court in 1639--four in 1640--two in 1641--two in 1642--six in 1643--five in 1644--six in 1645, and four in 1646--and so continued faithfully to discharge all the duties of the responsible and important offices bestowed upon him by the people for years. He was uniformly a magistrate or assistant while he remained in the colony after 1638. He was appointed with Mr. Ludlow and Gev. Welles to consult with their friends in the New Haven Colony, respecting the Indian murders which had been committed, to learn of them whether they would approve of a declaration of war as a reparation of the injury, in 1640; he was appointed with the Hon. William Phelps, to form a law against lying, and to hold a consultation with the elders upon the subject. He was of the committee with Wm. Phelps, &c., who formed the noted criminal code of laws for the colony, reported and approved by the General Court in 1642--several of which laws yet remain in our statute book with little alteration, except in punishment. In 1655 Mr. Webster was elected Deputy Governor of the colony, and the following year was made Governor. In 1654 he was appointed with Maj. Gen. Mason a member of the Congress of the United Colonies.--Enough is already said to show the elevated position held by Gov. Webster in the colony, while he remained in it. He was the first in this country who gave the high character for talent to the name of Webster, which has been since so nobly and amply sustained by Noah as a man of literature, and Daniel as a statesman and orator. Many of his descendants yet reside in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Gov. Webster was from Warwickshire, in England, and was an original settler in Hartford as early as 1637, when he was a member of the General Court. He greatly aided and improved the new form of government in the colony. The severe quarrels in the churches at Hartford and Wethersfield so disgusted, not only Gov. Webster, but 59 others of the settlers in the colony, that upon the 18th day of April, 1659, they signed an agreement, in which they engaged to remove themselves and families out of the jurisdiction of Connecticut, into Massachusetts. Gov. Webster headed the list of names. About three-fourths of the signers did remove to Massachusetts, and purchased and settled the town of Hadley, which then included what is now Hadley, South Hadley, Granby and Amherst, east of Connecticut river, and Hatfield and a part of Williamsburg west of the river. Gov. Webster became a Judge of the Court in Hampshire. He died in 1661, and left four sons, Robert, Matthew, William and Thomas. He also left three daughters. Matthew settled in Farmington, William in Hadley, Thomas moved to Northampton, afterwards to Northfield, and was driven from the latter place by the Indians, he then located at Hadley, but finally returned and died at Northfield. His daughter Ann married John Marsh, of Hadley; the other two married Markham and Hunt. Robert, the eldest son, appears to have remained in Hartford, where he died in 1676. Robert left sixsons and four daughters. The daughters were connected by marriage with the families of Seymours, Mygatts and Graves, some of the most respectable settlers. Robert was the branch of Gov. Webster's family through whom Hon. Noah Webster, LL. D., late deceased, traced his ancestry.--(See Robert Webster.)

First Settlers of the Colony. Winchell, Robert, Windsor--a juror in 1644. In '37 was appointed with Mr. Ludlow and William Phelps as agents for the purchase of corn, &c. He came early to Windsor.

ANCESTRY.COM 12 Aug 2000
Database: The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-33
WILLIAM PHELPS
ORIGIN: Crewkerne, Somersetshire
MIGRATION: 1630 on Mary & John
FIRST RESIDENCE: Dorchester
REMOVES: Windsor 1635
CHURCH MEMBERSHIP: Second on the list of men who came from Dorchester church to Windsor with Mr. Warham [Grant 10].
FREEMAN: Requested 19 October 1630 and admitted 18 May 1631 (as "Will[ia]m Felpes") [MBCR 1:79, 366]. In list of Windsor freemen, 11 October 1669 (as "Mr. Will[iam] Phelps Sen.") [CCCR 2:519].
OFFICES: Deputy for Dorchester to Massachusetts Bay General Court, 9 May 1632, 6 May 1635 [MBCR 1:95, 145]. Committee on boundary between Boston and Roxbury, 4 March 1633/4 [MBCR 1:113]. Committee to survey Mount Wollaston, 14 May 1634 [MBCR 1:119, 139]. Committee on boundary between Wessaguscus and Barecove, 8 July 1635 [MBCR 1:149, 161]. Jury on death of Austin Bratcher, 9 November 1630 [MBCR 1:81].
Dorchester constable, 27 September 1631 [MBCR 1:91]. Dorchester selectman, 8 October 1633, 28 October 1634, November 1635 (six months) [DTR 3, 7, 13]. Committee to set the rate, 3 November 1633 [DTR 4]. Lot layer, 3 November 1633 [DTR 4]. Fence~viewer in East Field, 10 February 1634/5 [DTR 10].
Appointed by Massachusetts Bay one of the commissioners for the new towns on the Connecticut River, 3 March 1635/6 [MBCR 1:170-71].
Assistant, April 1636, September 1636, March 1637, May 1637, November 1637, March 1638, April 1638 - April 1642, May 1658 - May 1662 [CT Civil List 43]. Deputy for Windsor to Connecticut General Court, April 1645, September 1645, April 1646, October 1646, May 1647, September 1647, May 1648, September 1648, May 1649, September 1649, September 1650, May 1651, September 1651, May 1652, September 1652, May 1653, October 1653, May 1654, September 1654, May 1655, February 1657, May 1657, October 1657 [CT Civil List 43]. Committee to organize expedition against Pequots, 26 August 1639 [CCCR 1:32]. War Committee (Windsor), May 1653, October 1654 [CT Civil List 43].
ESTATE: On 3 April 1633 he was ordered to maintain forty feet of fencing for two cows at Dorchester [DTR 2]. On 5 July 1635 he was granted two and a half acres [DTR 12]. In the meadow beyond Naponset "W. Philps" drew lot #40 containing six acres [DTR 321].
In the Windsor land inventory of 23 February 1640, William Phelps the elder "hath granted from the plantation one homelot with its additions, nine acres more or less" (annotated "sold to Mr. Wareham"); "also one great lot fifty acres ... with meadow adjoining, seventeen acres"; "over the great river in breadth thirty-four rods, in length three miles" (annotated "given to Sam[uel] & Nathan[iel] Phelps"); "by the little meadow in upland two acres and half more or less, in breadth six rods, in length sixty-seven rods" (annotated "purchased by Daniell Clark & Bray Rossiter"); "in meadow adjoining two acres & half in breadth four rods & half more or less" (annotated "purchased by Rich[ard] Vere"); "also purchased of John Brookes a parcel of land in the upper end of the meadow by his dwelling house containing two acres of meadow with the swamp adjoining"; "also given from the town forty acres of woodland" [WiLR 1:78]. On 27 June 1664 swamp land measured out for Mr. Phelps totalled something over three acres [WiLR 1:78].
Son William Phelps's inventory showed that he "had by deed of gift from his father William Phelps the elder" one acre of meadow and four and a half acres of upland [WiLR 1:84]. By February 1650[/1] William Phelps purchased of his father William Phelps a parcel of swampland [WiLR 82].
On 10 March 1663/4 the Connecticut Court granted to "Mr. Phelps, 200 acres of upland and twenty of meadow, where he can find it; provided it prejudice not former grants and plantations set up and to set up" [CCCR 1:419].
BIRTH: By about 1593 based on estimated date of marriage.
DEATH: Windsor 14 July 1672 ("Old Mr. William Phelps died" [CTVR 27]).
MARRIAGE: (1) By 1618 Mary _____, who was buried at Crewkerne 13 August 1626.
(2) Crewkerne 14 November 1626 Anne Dover. "Mistress Phelps" was the first on the list of women members of the church at Dorchester who came with Mr. Warham to Windsor [Grant 9]. She died Windsor 30 August 1689 ("Mrs. An Phelps died" [CTVR 57]).
CHILDREN:
With first wife
i WILLIAM, bp. Crewkerne 9 September 1618; m. (1) Windsor 4 June 1645 Isabel Wilson [Grant 55; TAG 52:78]; m. (2) Windsor 20 December 1676 Sarah Pinney [Grant 72].
ii SAMUEL, bp. Crewkerne 5 August 1621; m. Windsor 10 November 1650 Sarah Griswold [Grant 55].
iii Infant, bur. Crewkerne 8 January 1623[/4].
iv NATHANIEL, bp. Crewkerne 6 March 1624[/5]; m. Windsor 17 September 1650 Elizabeth (_____) Copley [Grant 55].
With second wife
v CORNELIUS, bp. Crewkerne 13 October 1627; no further record.
vi JOSEPH (twin), bp. Crewkerne 13 November 1628; m. (1) Windsor 20 September 1660 Hannah Newton [Grant 57; TAG 65:13-16]; m. (2) Northampton 19 December 1676 Mary (_____) Salmon [Pynchon VR 20].
vii MARY (twin), bp. Crewkerne 13 November 1628; d. soon.
viii MARY, bp. Crewkerne 6 December 1629; no further record.
ix SARAH, b. say 1632; m. Windsor 9 June 1658 William Wade [Loomis 1:63].
x TIMOTHY, b. Windsor Aug. or 1 September 1639 [Grant 55]; m. Windsor 19 March 1661[/2?] Mary Griswold [Grant 56].
xi MARY, b. March 1644 [Grant 55]; m. Windsor 17 December 1663 Thomas Barber [Grant 25].
ASSOCIATIONS: George Phelps of Dorchester and Windsor (not to be confused with GEORGE PHILLIPS of the same two places) may have been a brother of William Phelps [TAG 65:165-66]. This George Phelps married as his first wife Philura Randal, daughter of PHILLIP RANDALL; he was also, in some manner as yet undetermined, an uncle of Elisha Hart, son of EDMUND HART.
COMMENTS: In 1919 Mary Lovering Holman prepared a brief account of the family of William Phelps [Scott Gen 252-53]. In 1990 Myrtle S. Hyde resolved the problem of the identity of the wives of William Phelps and was also able to find the baptisms of his children in England [TAG 65:161-66]. All the Crewkerne records cited above are taken from her article.

ANCESTRY.COM 13 Aug 2000
Database: THE PIONEERS OF MASSACHUSETTS,
William, Dorchester, propr., Juryman Nov. 9, 1630, constable in 1631, frm. May 18, 1631; deputy 1634. Rem. to Windsor, Conn.

Database: American Genealogical-Biographical Index (AGBI)
PHELPS William 1599 Eng, Massachusetts, Connecticut Directory of the anc. heads of New England fams. Comp. By Frank R. Holmes. NewYork, 1923. (274p.):187

PHELPS William 160? Eng, Massachusetts, Connecticut A genealogical dict. of the first settlers of New England, showing three generations of those who came before May, 1692. By James Savage. Boston. 1861. (4v.)v.3: 407

PHELPS William 161? Massachusetts, Connecticut A catalog of the names of the early Puritan settlers of the Colony of Ct. By Royal R. Hinman, Hartford. 1852. (884p.):465

ANCESTRAL FILE
Ancestral File v4.19 1LV3-C8 William PHELPS, Sex M, Born Abt 1592 Of Crewkerne Somerset England, Married Spouse: Mrs William PHELPS (AFN: 247B-LVW), Marie (AFN: NZL9-6S) Abt 1617 Of Tewksbury Gloucester England, Anne DOVER (AFN: 113Z-W4V) 14 Nov 1626 Windsor Hartford CT, Died 14 Jul 1672 Windsor Hartford CT, Buried 15 Jul 1672 Windsor Hartford CT, Ancestral File Ver 4.10 1LV3-C8 Mar 1638.

INTERNATIONAL GENEALOGICAL INDEX
IGI Birth 8620906-20-1396222 1599, 8623803-44-1396230 Father William PHELPS Mother Dorothy Born 19 Aug 1599 Tewkesbury Gloucester England.

IGI Christening 7610601-88-1058354, 8030502-75-1260793 Father William PHELPS Mother Dorothy Christened 19 Aug 1599 Tewkesbury Gloucester England.

IGI Marriage 8612605-52-1396192 William PHELPS mar Mary DOVER 1636 Windsor Hartford Connecticut.

LATTER DAY SAINTS
LDS Submission: Roy Wilmot Hull Cardston Alberta Canada. LDS Heir: Roy Wilmot Hull 5th Great Grandson TB/MP. William PHELPS Father of Mary PHELPS.

   Events:

1. Immigration; 20 Mar 1629/30, Crewkerne, Somersetshire, England. "Mary & John", From Plymouth England, To Nantasket MA, Rem to Dorchester MA.

2. Juryman; 9 Nov 1630, Dorchester, Suffolk, Massachusetts, USA.

3. Freeman; 18 May 1631, Dorchester, Suffolk, Massachusetts, USA.

4. Constable; 1631, Dorchester, Suffolk, Massachusetts, USA.

5. Deputy; 1634, Dorchester, Suffolk, Massachusetts, USA. Representative of the First Court.

6. Removed; 1635, Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut, USA. Second on the list of men who came from Dorchester church to Windsor with Mr. Warham.

7. Magistrate; 1636, Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut, USA. Elected.

   Marriage Information:

William married Elizabeth MARSHALL in 1617-1620 in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England. (Elizabeth MARSHALL was born about 1596 in Crewkerne, Somersetshire, England and died in 1635 in Dorchester, Suffolk, Massachusetts, USA.)

   Marriage Information:

William also married Mary DOVER, daughter of DOVER and Mrs Dover, on 14 Nov 1626-1638 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut, USA. (Mary DOVER was born about 1600-1610 in Crewkerne, Somersetshire, England, died on 27 Nov 1673-1675 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut, USA and was buried in Nov 1673 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut, USA.)