John Moses, of Windsor

Not the same as John Moses, of Portsmouth

Disambiguation

• In the early records of the New England Colonies, mention is made of persons bearing the name of Moses. As far back as 1637 there were three colonists named John Moses. The earliest mention is of John Moses, of Plymouth, a Welshman, who settled in that town in 1632. Another John Moses, his son, probably born in England, was of Windsor, Connecticut, where he is first mentioned in 1647. The third John Moses was of Portsmouth, (now N.H.) … . The name Moses was often spelt Moysis, Moises, Moyses and Mosses.

Changes: Notes

• Though one source author believes John Moses of Plymouth arrived in New England in 1632, no solid source to date proves it. If he did come in 1632, then John Moses of Windsor arrived as a child with his father and mother.
• Removed Lewis as an assumptive middle name. Middle names were not given to 17th or 18th century Puritan, Quaker, Pilgrim, Shaker, etc. children.
• See notes under Immediate Family (above) per change of Birthplace.
• Find A Grave is unreliable showing his birth in England while showing his father born in ¿Wales? and his mother in ¿Massachusetts? Wow! It takes a fantastical mental contortionist to believe that!
• Burials: Geni MP curators decided on using present-day locale designations. Three Reasons:—
  • 1. Graveyard names change over the years (being renamed or redistricted into new towns/counties). For example:—
  • 2. Cemeteries today beginning with "Old" were not called Old ____ Cemetery or Old _____ Burying Ground in 17th and 18th century Colonial America. Thus, It's historically inaccurate to use BCA name-locators + present-day cemetery names that may or may no longer exist within what once were the town or county limits.
  • 3. Living descendants visit ancestral graveyards.
• Frankly, there's no primary source proving this John Moses' birth year or place.
• The Wikitree profile for John Moses (abt. 1626–abt. 1683) is also in error—crossing data boundaries, of which this profile now stands corrected.

Who were John Moses' parents, and Where was he born?

• Anderson's The Great Migration Begins (Ancestry.com) shows 1631 as the migration year for A John Moses, who arrived from place unknown, which John Moses settled first in Casco [Bay] (then within Massachusetts Bay Colony; later in Maine). He then removed to "Portsmouth, New Hampshire in 1639.
• Anderson states immigrant John Moses married first (btw. c.1642-1647) Alice who "died by 1647." He then m. Anne (——) Jones "by 17 Sep 1667." Anderson includes no children born of the second marriage.
• Anderson's info puts in doubt that immigrant John Moses died in Duxbury, Plymouth Colony, Moreover, Anderson includes a listing of immigrant's children (all of first wife) but includes no son named John:—
  • Elizabeth; Daughter; Mary; Joanna; Aaron; Sarah
• Either Anderson made errors (unlikely), OR the John Moses bio Anderson provided concerns another John Moses—not the father of this profile's John Moses.
• Was a "John Moyses" who died in Plymouth on 22 Apr 1688—see FamilySearch—his father? Or was John Moyses the man about whom Anderson wrote? There isn't anything that connects father to son in the following source:—
  • Pope, Charles Henry. 1965. The Pioneers of Massachusetts: A Descriptive List, Drawn from Records of the Colonies, Towns, and Churches, and Other Contemporaneous Documents. Baltimore, Maryland, USA: Genealogical Publishing. Available at: Google Books, p. 321:—
  • QUOTE: “Moses, John, shipwright, Duxbury, sued for pay for a pinnance he had buiot, 21 (4) 1641. [L.]”
• It seems the only source with some gravitas about the family Moses comes from author Zebina Moses. She wrote:—
  • It is a matter of actual record that as far back as 1647 there were three New England colonists bearing the name of John Moses. Of these, the earliest mention is of John Moses of Plymouth.
  • There is nothing to indicate relationship between him and John Moses of Portsmouth; but family traditions and statements, as well as strong circumstantial evidence and the inherent probabilities of the case, seem to determine beyond reasonable doubt that he was the father of John Moses of Windsor. Several accounts in the possession of the older branches of the descendants of John Moses of Windsor state positively that he was the son of a John Moses of Plymouth.
  • From these accounts one is selected that has several times been in print. In a personal sketch of the late Schuyler Moses,(fn1) published several years since in Mason’s Semi-Centennial History of Rochester, N. Y., John Moses is mentioned as the “son of John Moses who came from England in 1632, and who is supposed to have been married before he emigrated to America.” . . . “This John Moses was a blacksmith, and brought with him from England, in 1632, a set of tools which have remained in the Moses family down to the present time, a period of two hundred fifty-two years....” [There's an entire chapter of substance about "John Moses of Windsor and Simsbury", on pages 25-49.]
    • FN 1: Schuyler Moses, after his removal from Connecticut to New York, lived for many years in the same house with his father, who died as late as 1847, aged 86, and also remembered his grandfather, Elisha, who was born in 1735. This Elisha’s grandfather was born in 1681. It will thus be seen that the story of the anvil, and of its original ownership, might have been banded down through but very few persons in reaching the venerable Schuyler Moses The New York World of March 14, 1880, contained the following notice: ‘*Schuyler Moses died yesterday in his 91st year; he was the oldest Freemason in the State of New York, the oldest pioneer of Rochester; he voted for James Monroe in 1820 and for Harrison in 1888, and served as a juryman in 1888.”
      • Moses, Zebina. 1890. Historical Sketches of John Moses, of Plymouth, a Settler of 1632 to 1640; John Moses, of Windsor and Simsbury, a Settler Prior to 1647; and John Moses, of Portsmouth, a Settler Prior to 1640; Also a Genealogical Record of Some of Their Descendants. Hartford, Connecticut, USA: Case, Lockwood & Brainard. Available at: Google Books.

Connecticut Arrival

• In Meredith B Colket, Jr.'s 1975 book titled Founders of Early American Families: Emigrants from Europe, 1607-1657, he wrote "John Moses" arrived in Connecticut in "1647."
• 1647 may represent the first year that John appears in Connecticut Colony historical sources. If Colket provided further information, it is unknowable without access to his copyright book. Might "1647" be John's year of immigration? Hmm...
  • Book in Libraries: WorldCat.org.
  • 2 Mar 2024: Used-Book Price in "Good" Condition — Amazon: $112.42 — eBay: $73.00.

Marriage: John Moses & Mary Browne

• Date: 18 May 1653
• Place: Windsor, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America
• Source: "Connecticut, Vital Records, Prior to 1850", FamilySearch, pub. Fri Nov 10 00:59:33 UTC 2023.

FamilySearch: Children's Births

• Preface: As of 2 March 2024, the following links have yet to be paired with microfilm images for online viewing.
  • John, b. 15 Jun 1654; Link 2
  • William, b. 1 Sep 1656.
  • Thomas, b. 14 Jan 1658.
  • Mary, b. 13 May 1661.
  • Sarah, b. 2 Feb 1662; link 2.
  • Margret, b. 2 Dec 1666.
  • Timothy, b. Feb 1670.
  • Martha, b. 8 Mar 1672.
  • Mindwell, b. 13 Dec 1676.

PROBATE: Confirms Living Children

• Living children named in 1683 probate: "John age 28 years, Timothy 14, Mary 22, Sarah 19, Margaret 17, Martha 12, Mindwell 7 years."
• Posted in sources are:
  • Complete Original Packet – includes follow-up court records. Also available at: Ancestry.com. Note: Ancestry's auto-reader/digitizer spat out several errors.
  • Transcribed Probate – minus post-probate court documents found in original probate packet.
    • Manwaring, Charles William, (transcriber/compiler). 1904 A Digest of the Early Connecticut Probate Records. 1677 to 1687, Vol. 1. Hartford, Connecticut, USA: R.S. Peck & Company. Available at: Archive.org, p. 338.

Books: Quoted Passages

• A. Moses, Zebina. 1890. Historical Sketches of John Moses, of Plymouth, a Settler of 1632 to 1640; John Moses, of Windsor and Simsbury, a Settler Prior to 1647; and John Moses, of Portsmouth, a Settler Prior to 1640; Also a Genealogical Record of Some of Their Descendants. Hartford, Connecticut, USA: Case, Lockwood & Brainard. Available at: Google Books.—Note: This book provides the best researched and reasoned information on Families Moses in Colonial America.
• B. Beckwith, Edward Seymour, and Albert Clayton Beckwith. 1899. Beckwith Notes, Nos. 1-6: Marvin Beckwith and His Wife Abigail Clark; Their Colonial Ancestors and Descendants, with Some Notes on Allied Families. @Archive.org:—
  • "MOSES.—1. John, a ship-wright, came earlier than 1640 to Plymouth in the interest of his calling and there owned a shipyard,
  • 2. "JOHN, at Windsor earlier than 1647; was a soldier of Capt. John Mason's troop.; married Mary: Brown, May 18, 1653; died Oct. 14, 1683. She died Sept. 14, 1689. They were among first settlers at Simsbury, and about 1850 their homestead was yet held by descendants of Michael their great-grandson.
  • 3 "JOHN, born June 15, 1654; married, July 14, 1680, Deborah, daughter of Timothy and Deborah (Gunn) Thrall; died Ang. 31. 1714. Deborah was born Aug..9, 1660; died Jan. 7, 1694. Timothy, her father, was born July 25, 1641. William Thrall, her grandfather, was at Windsor in 1637; was a soldier of the Pequot war; died Sunday Aug. 3, 1679. Her mother was daughter of Thomas Gunn (of Windsor in 1640).—Deborah Gunn was baptized Feb. 27, 1641."
• C. Catalogue of the Names of the First Puritan Settlers of Connecticut (Archive.org)—
  • "Moses, John, of Windsor—died in 1683. He married Mary Brown, who survived him, and had one-third of his real estate, and £64 personal estate. Distribution of his estate to Timothy £66, to Mary £70, to his four youngest daughters £60 each. Estate £575. Children, John, 28 years old, Timothy 14, Mary 22, Sarah 19, Margaret 17, Martha 12, and Mindwell 7."
• D. Historical Sketches of John Moses of Plymouth, a Settler of 1632 to 1640: John Moses of Windsor and Simsbury, a Settler prior Vol. I. Chapter IV. "Some of the Descendants of John Moses of Plymouth and John Moses of Windsor and Simsbury", pp. 50-51.
  • 1 JOHN(1) MOSES of Plymouth, Mass, shipwright, came to New England between 1630 and 1640.
  • Children:
  • John Moses of Windsor, d. Oct. 14, 1683.
  • (Henry Moses, of Salem, Mass. who was married Feb. 1,1658, and was a sea captain, was probably a son (see No. 144). Thomas Moses, of Dorchester, Mass, was possibly another son {see Chap. VI}.)
  • 2 JOHN(2) MOSES, son of John (1), settled at Windsor, Conn, previous to 1647, soldier of Capt. John Mason’s troop of horse, m. Mary Brown, May 18, 1653. He d. Oct. 14, 1683. She d. Sept 14, 1689.
  • Children: (Wind. Rec. and Hist. Sims.)
    • John, b. June 15, 1654,d. Aug. 31, 1714;
    • William, b. Sept. 1, 1656, d. Nov. 27, 1651;
    • Thomas, b. Jan. 14. 1658. d. July 29, 1681;
    • Mary, b. May 13, 1661; Sarah, b. Feb. 2, 1662;
    • Nathaniel, b. ——;
    • Dorkis, b. ——;
    • Margaret, b. Dec 2, 1666;
    • Timothy, b. Feb. 1670;
    • Martha, b.March 8, 1672, d. Jan. 30, 1689;
    • Mindwell, b. Dec. 13, 1676, d. Jan. 6, 1697.
      • Windsor Church Record under date of Aug. 7, 1677, mentions that John Moses had then 9 children.
    • Mary was the second wife of Samuel Farnsworth, mar. in 1685, had son, Joseph. b. Aug. 20, 1705.
    • Sarah was the wife of Samuel Butler.
    • Martha, m. Samuel Crow, Jan. 30, 1689.
    • Mindwell, m. Sergt. John Thrall, Jan. 6, 1697, and had nine children: John, b. Oct. 13, 1699: Moses, b. April 29, 1702: Aaron, b. Sept. 27, 1704, 4. 1731; Amy. b. Jan. 10, 1706: Joseph. b. May 13, 1710; Daniel, b. Dec. 13, 1712; Joel, b. 1716; Charles, b. 1718; Jerusha, b. 1722.
  • E. Trumbull, James Hammond. 1886. Hartford County, Connecticut: Memorial History 1633-1884, Vol. 2. @Archive.org:—
    • “John Moses (1647) married Mary Brown, 1653, and had three sons [author error] and four daughters. He bought the lot of Joseph Loomis, west of the street, and sold it with a house to Nathaniel Loomis, 1655, and bought the Bascomb place, 1656. He removed with the early settlers to Simsbury.”
  • F. Cutter, William Richard. 1915. New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of Commonwealths and the Founding of a Nation. Vol. 4. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing. Available at: Google Books, p. 2205.
    • MOSES—SMITH
    • One of the oldest families of Connecticut bears the name of Moses, while another family of the same name has long been conspicuous in New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont, as well as many other states. Those bearing the name have been conspicuous in the vanguard of civilization, and have well borne their part in every department of human endeavor,
    • (I) John Moses, a shipwright, came from England to New England between 1630 and 1640, settling in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The records give few particulars concerning him. Beside a son, John, he was the father of Henry and Thomas. Nothing of his wife is known,
    • (II) John(2) Moses, son of John (1) Moses, settled in Windsor, Connecticut, before 1647, and had a grant of land there in 1648. He had lands in what is now Simsbury, was a soldier in Captain Mason's troop of horse, and died in Windsor, October 14, 1683. He married, May 18, 1653, Mary Brown, who died September 14, 168g. Children: John, mentioned below: William, born September 1, 1656; Thomas, January 14, 1658; Mary, May 13, 1661; Sarah, February 2, 1662; Nathaniel; “Dorkis;" Margaret, ‘December 2, 1606; Timothy, February, 1670; Martha, March 8, 1672: Mindwell, December 13, 1676; Joshua.
      • NOTE: Cutter's information contains No source, and three children named as his are verifiably not his children.

Find a Grave®: John Moses III

• Death: 14 Oct 1683 in indsor, Hartford, Connecticut – (includes documenting images)
• Burial: Palisado Cemetery, Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut
  • His name's included on Windsor's ":Founders Memorial" in Palisado Cemetery.

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Unsourced Notes Entered between 9 July 2008 and 2023.

• John fought in "Storming of the Naragansett Fort" or "Swamp Fight" in 1675. Two of his sons died due to wounds.
• Date of death has also been erroneously reported to be circa 1660.

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References

• Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy: May 1 2021, 22:12:17 UTC
• Historical Sketches of John Moses of Plymouth, a Settler of 1632 to 1640: John Moses of Windsor and Simsbury, a Settler prior http://www.familysearch.org/library/books/idurl/1/233212