John Frink, of Stonington

Sargeant John Frink Some people consider this to be the immigrant John Frink. He cannot have been the son of John Frink, Sr. of Ipswich the mariner, who was born say 1642.

Born in 1639 in County Devon, England, John Frink d 1717, in Stonington, CT, where his original hand-carved fieldstone marker still exists beside the modern tombstone placed there by Major General James Luke Frink (1885-1977) in 1971.

John Frink was Stonington's first carpenter. At a town meeting in 1677, he agreed to make a table for the meeting house. He was also chosen as a surveyor for the town. He served as a Sergeant in King Phillip's War, a fierce Narragansett Indian uprising. After this war, in 1696, the Colony of Connecticut awarded tracts of "the conquered land" to the "English Volunteers" who had served in the war. John was No. 2 on the list of those who received land.

John received 200 acres in what became Voluntown, CT. His grandson, Zachariah Frink (1702-1777), was the first Frink to live on the land, which is still in the family, owned by Albert Kinnie Frink (1933- ), Zachariah's great-great-great-great-great-grandson. In 2001, the Frink farm received Connecticut's Century Farm Citation, recognizing the contributions of the Frink family to the continuity and stability of Connecticut's farming industry over 300 years.

The Volunteers' Grant. - The greater part of the tract embraced within the bounds of the present town of Voluntown was granted in 1700 to the volunteers in the Narragansett war, from which circumstances the town derived its name. From the organization of the colony it had been customary to make grants to officers and soldiers who had distinguished themselves in the service of their country. Capt. Mason and others engaged in the Pequot war were granted lands which simulated those who had performed such significant feats in the Narragansett war to ask for a grant of a town in acknowledgement of their services. The petition to the General Court for the grant was presented in 1696 by Lieut. Thomas Leffingwell, of Norwich, and Sergt. John Frink, of Stonington, "that they with the rest of the English volunteers in former wars might have a plantation granted to them." The petition was formally received, and a tract six miles square was granted, "to be taken up out of some of the conquered land." _____________________________________

John served as Sergeant in King Philip'sWar against the Narragansett Indians.

The land he won was to be know as the town of Voluntown CT. He received 200 acres.

He represented the town of New London CT at the general court. in 1670.

Came to Stonington from Ipswich as early as 1666. took part in King Philip's War.

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mansweb/Frink.htm

http://www.macomberkin.com/tng/getperson.php?personID=I193057&tree=...

Family Grace Stephens, b. 24 Jan 1633, Taunton, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States Find all individuals with events at this location, d. 7 May 1717, Stonington, New London, Connecticut, United States Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 84 years)

Disputed Origins

https://www.genealogieonline.nl/en/carlisle-faulk-family/I21720.php

"Nearly everyone in the family has heard that John Frink of Ipswich, Massachusetts is the ancestor from whom we trace our origins in this country. So far, however, this has not been proved. Wilbur Frink rejected it entirely. There was a John Frink in Ipswich (although there has been no substantiation from ship lists of the time that he arrived on the ship "Lion" as tradition states). In March 1668, according to the 'Records and Files of the Quarterly Court of Essex County, Mass.', John Frink appeared in court and gave his age as 26 years. We know that he had a wife named Mary. It is possible that her maiden name was Wood; an Obadiah Wood refers to 'my brother, John Frink' in another court record. At the time this John Frink's will was probated in 1675, he mentioned two sons, John and George, as well as his wife, Mary."

"It seems likely that the John and George Frink, brothers who were in Kittery, Maine in 1700 and who married soon after, were the two sons of John of Ipswich. If they had been youngsters at the time of their father's death in 1675, the ages would seem right. And a move from Ipswich to Kittery would not have been a long trip, even in 1700."

"Although Richard A. Wheeler in his 'History of Stonington' stated that the John Frink who arrived in Stonington in 1667 was the son of John of Ipswich, it is probable that Wheeler was merely repeating a family story he had heard. A hard truth which one learns early in genealogical work is that a statement made in a book is not necessarily a fact. It does not seem possible that the John Frink of Stonington was the son of the John Frink of Ipswich. At the time John Frink arrived in Stonington in 1667, he was married and the father of three daughters. He was 34 years old, if the age of 84 listed on his tombstone in 1717 is accurate. John of Ipswich was 26 years old in 1668. Nor could they have been one and the same man. John of Ipswich died in 1675, probably on a return trip to England. John of Stonington died in Stonington in 1717 and is buried there. Grace Wheeler, Richard Wheeler's daughter, in her book, 'Homes of Our Ancestors in Stonington,' calls John of Stonington 'the emigrant.' It is also significant to note that although the repetition of names -- fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers -- was traditional within families at that time, the name George for a Frink son did not appear in the Stonington branch until the fifth generation, in 1775. If George had been John's brothers, as many believe, his name would ordinarily have been given to one of John's sons. Nearly every other male name in the early generations was used a number of times."