Quartermaster George Colton

George Colton

• Birth: 1620 Sutton Coldfield Warwickshire, England
• Death: Dec. 17, 1699 Springfield Hampden County Massachusetts, USA

Disputed Origins

John Colton and Abigail Elizabeth (Parsons) Colton are not the proven parents of George Colton. According to the biography, his origins are unknown. They have been detached.

Settled in Springfield, Mass., in 1644. Served as selectman for many years, and as Representative to the General Court in 1669, 1671, and 1677. He served as a quartermaster in the militia and was always called "Quartermaster George." He was a freeman of Springfield in 1665.

• Wife 1 Deborah Gardner.
• Wife 2 Lydia Wright.

George Colton resided at Hartford, Connecticut. Removed to Springfield, Massachusetts 1645. Service in the King Phillip's War. Wife Deborah d. 5 Sep 1689. He remarried 1 Mar 1692 Lydia Wright, "widow, successively, of Lawrence Bliss, John Norton and John Lamb; she d. Dec. 17, 1699."

Children:

• Isaac b. 21 Nov 1646;
• Ephraim b. 9 Apr 1648;
• Mary b. 22 Sep 1649 married 30 Oct 1678 Samuel Barnard;
• Thomas b. 1 May 1651;
• Sarah b. 24 Feb 1652 married 30 Oct 1678 Samuel Graves;
• Deborah b. 25 Jan 1654 married 28 Dec 1676 Nathaniel Bliss;
• Hepzibah b. 7 Jan 1656;
• John b. 8 Apr 1659; and
• Benjamin b. 26 May 1661.

George d. 13 Feb 1699. Will dated 2 Apr 1699 and probated 11 Jan 1699-1700. Leaves to four sons and threes daughters (Sarah deceased); to children of Sarah: Rebecca, Samuel and Joseph; and to John's daughter Abigail. Book: Pioneers of Massachusetts, by Charles Henry Pope, Pastor First Church, Charlestown, Boston, Compiler of the Dorchester Pope Family, the Cheney Genealogy, etc., Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc.

Family links:

Spouses:

• Deborah Gardner Colton (____ - 1689)
• Lydia Wright Colton (____ - 1699)

Children:

1. Ephraim Colton (1648 - 1713)*
2. Thomas Colton (1651 - 1728)*
3. Sarah Colton Graves (1653 - 1689)*
4. Hepzibah Colton Wells (1657 - 1697)

Burial: Longmeadow Cemetery Longmeadow Hampden County Massachusetts, USA Created by: Alberta Daniels Withrow Record added: Apr 10, 2001 Find A Grave Memorial# 5352266 -tcd

Biography

Colton, George W. "A genealogical Record of the Descendants of Quartermaster George Colton" Private Circulation by John Milton Colton, Philadelphia, PA, 1912. Page 1. Archive.Org

"George Colton, called in the records of the time, Quartermaster George Colton, was born, tradition says in the town of Sutton Coldfield, County of Warwick, England, date unknown. He married Deborah Gardner, of Hartford, Conn., about 1644. Her antecedents are also uncertain. She died 5 September, 1689, in Springfield, Mass. He married, second, Widow Lydia Lamb, 1 March, 1692, whose maiden name was Lydia Wright, daughter of Deacon Samuel Wright, of Springfield, Mass., who settled there 1638. It is thought his paternal ancestor was Nathaniel Wright, merchant, London. She had been previously married three times.

The name of the Quartermaster's first wife, Deborah Gardner, is given here as it appears in the record of Jabez Colton, to whose painstaking labor we owe so much of our present knowledge of the old Longmeadow families, and from whose compilation all the published accounts of the Colton families seem to have been copied; but what his authority for the statement was, cannot be traced. We do not find the name of Gardner among those of the early colonists, but there was a Thomas Goodner who lived in Salem in --, and who subsequently settled in Hartford, Conn. Some who have given much attention to the matter are confident that Gardner is a clerical error, or a mis-reading of Goodner, and that the family name of Quartermaster George Colton's wife was Deborah Goodner. This statement is made here without endorsement, but it is possible that this may be the fact.

It would be very gratifying if we could trace Quartermaster George Colton, to his home and ancestry in England. Future search or accident may bring the desired facts to light, but thus far all attempts to find records that would settle the questions of parentage, date and place of birth, and of his arrival in this country, have been unsuccessful. The records in the parish church in Sutton Coldfield (2) ,which seem to,be full and complete from 1603 down, have been examined at different times for facts relating to our ancestor, and again, lately, for this work, but without result, and it seems possible, therefore, that he may have been born and recorded.elsewhere, but, from having spent much of his early life in that place, that he spoke of it, as his old home in England.

The first fact we certainly know of him here is his marriage. Of previous history there are traditions, but these are generally vague, contradictory, and without proof. The one giving his birthplace as Sutton Coldfield, a small place about sir miles northward from Birmingham, England, is the oldest and has apparently. the best foundation, but to this time repeated searches have failed to reveal his name, or that of any other Colton with whom he might be connected. The date of his marriage, about 1644, shows, that he probably was born not much, if any later, than 1620, and that of his death, 1699, points to a year not earlier than 1610; between these dates, therefore, we may suppose him to have been born. His name does not appear in any of the known lists of departures from England, or of arrivals here; but this is easily accounted for by the political and social conditions of the times.

The suggestion has been made that he probably came in the ship "Lion's Whelp " on one of her many trips between the old country and the colonies; but of this no positive proof has been found. The place of landing and the date of his arrival here must, therefore, much to our regret, remain for the present unanswered questions.

He reached the Springfield settlement as early as 1644, and located in Masacksick, Longmeadow, Springfield. He took the oath of allegiance in 1665, and was made a freeman in 1669-71, and in 1677 was a Representative in the General Court of Massachusetts. In 1670 he and Capt. John Pynchon, Benjamin Cooley, Lieut. Thomas Cooper, Rowland Thomas and Capt. Elizur Holyoke were appointed commissioners to lay out lots, and organize and sell the lands in the new plantation (of Suffield) by the General Court of Massachusetts. On the 20th of March, 1672, the General Committee instructed Lieut. Cooper, and Quartermaster George Colton, to lay out and establish the bounds of Suffield, and Charles Fleury, Joseph Leonard, Samuel Harmon and Joseph Harmon, were appointed to attend them while performing that duty. In the year 1722 fifty acres of land were laid out in Suffield, to the assigns of said George Colton, then deceased, in recognition of public services. Other honorable mention is made of him in the old records, from all of which it is apparent that he was a prominent, trusted and public-spirited member of the community in which he lived. While no records mention anything of the Quartermaster's physical characteristics, tradition and a knowledge of later generations leads to the belief that he was spare and wiry in figure, and possessed of the powers of endurance conspicuous in so many of his descendants.