Capt. Cyprian Nichols, II

Birth: 1642 Death: 1725 Hartford Hartford County Connecticut, USA

Extended bio to be added later. In the meantime, what descendants may have read by Hinman (1846), Goodwin (1856), Savage (1860) and Barbour (1977) regarding the immigrant Capt. Cyprian Nichols is at best confused and at worse bogus.

On May 13, 1707 at "about 65 years of age," and under seal of Gov. John Winthrop of Conn., Cyprian witnessed at Hartford, Conn. a Letter of Attorney issued by Capt. Aaron and Sarah (Westwood) Cook, in which he stated he had lived for thirteen years at the Hartford home of William Westwood. Based on how one's age was stated in New England vital records, legal documents, and in gravestone inscriptions until the early 1800s, in May 1707 Cyprian essentially stated he was then 64 years old and Ætatis suæ (i.e., Æ, "Aged, in the XX year of his Age) 65, born on of after May 14, 1642.

Thus, in his youth Cyprian Nichols resided at Hartford, not in England, between 1646 and 1659 when he was from about 4 to 17 years old. In 1659 William Westwood, Sarah (Westwood) Cook's father, withdrew from the Hartford Church and relocated to Hadley, Mass. where he was a founding settler. Cyprian's testimony in 1707 does not directly or indirectly allude to his having moved with the Westwood family to Hadley, Mass.

The immigraqnt Capt. Cyprian Nichols of Hartford was not, as Hinman claimed and Savage inferred, the son of Cyprian (alternately Siborn) Nicholls of Witham, Essex, England. The latter Cyprian Nichols died testate and unmarried at Witham in September 1642. The nuncupative distribution of his large estate includes to his elder brother William Nichols and the "now children of William," but contains no provision for a child of Cyprian himself. The subsequent Jan. 8, 1648/9 will of his mother Dorothy of Witham (undoubtedly his stepmother) includes no mention of her stepson William Nichols or of his children, of any person of the surname Nichols, or of any person then residing at New England.

Capt. Cyprian Nichols of Hartford was at London, England in Apr. 1664 where he purchased from William Whiting, Jr. a substantial portion of the Hartford estate of the latter's deceased father, who died at Hartford in 1647. Cyprian returned to Hartford by late 1667, was nominated in May 1668 to be a freeman of Connecticut and made a freeman in October of that year, implying he had become a full member of the Hartford Church by early 1668. He appears in the Oct. 1669 list of freeman of the South side of the Town of Hartford. Thereafter for nearly a half-century, Capt. Cyprian Nichols was continuously engaged in the civil, political and military affairs of the Town of Hartford and Colony of Connecticut. He was also involved in more than 70 probated estates, most which concerned Hartford's more prominent or wealthy citizens.

In January 1719/20 by a series of deeds Cyprian devised his estate to his extended family and was living at Hartford in Apr. 1725. By a similar deed, his wife Mary, whom he married by 1670, was alive at Hartford in January 1719/20. However, the year of their individual deaths is not to be found. They had the four children currently linked to this memorial.

The cited year (1725) of Cyprian's death at the bginning of this memorial is tentative.

Family links:

Spouse:

 Mary Nichols (____ - 1720)*

Children:

 Elizabeth Nichols Davenport (1671 - 1698)*

 Cyprian Nichols (1672 - 1756)*

 Mary Nichols Turner (1675 - 1728)*

 Sarah Nichols Webster (1678 - 1762)*

• Calculated relationship

Burial: Ancient Burying Ground Hartford Hartford County Connecticut, USA

• Updated from MyHeritage Match via daughter Sarah Burr (born Nichols) by SmartCopy: Sep 15 2014, 1:26:32 UTC