Thomas Betts, of Norwalk

Thomas Betts (christened 3 December 1615 - died 1688 Norwalk, Connecticut), married Mary circa 1643 in probably, Connecticut.

Biography

From http://www.ctgenweb.org/county/cofairfield/pages/norwalk/norwalkgr6...

From the Records of the Town of Guilford, Conn.

Thomas Betts and his wife, Mary, removed to Norwalk, (from Guilford, Con)., in 1667; their children were as follows:-
-.

• Thomas Betts, born June 3, 1650.
• Hannah Betts, born Nov. 22, 1652.
• John Betts, born May 30, 1655.
• Stephen Betts, born Oct. 4, 1657.

Grace Morris Is not a known daughter.

John Betts was admitted a planter in Guilford, in 1673, and soon afterremoved to Norwalk. From him descended Doctor Thaddeus Betts, a highly respectable physician of Norwalk, and the father of William M. Betts, Esq., for many years Post Master and Judge of Probate of Norwalk, a most worthy and excellent man. He was the father of Hon. Thaddeus Betts, who represented his native State in the Senate of the United States, and died at Washington in 1840, at the age of 52 years. His remains repose in the old graveyard in Norwalk, with a suitable monument erected to his memory by his family.

Notes

PROBABLY BORN C. 1602, BAPTIZED 1615.

Thomas married Mary Bridge c. 1633 and had daughter Grace in 1634 in Roxbury. If the dates and wives given on this site are correct, Thomas and Mary must have divorced and Thomas moved to Milford before 1939, leaving Grace in Roxbury with her mother, as that's where it shows here that Grace married and died. Thomas married Mary Redmond in 1643 and had 8 more children in that area. Seven of those are mentioned in his will, as well as the daughter of another daughter. Grace is not mentioned in his will.

See "Betts Family" by John Insley Coddington, NEHGR 92 (1938), p. 296-301. Said to have been at Milford, CT, in the summer of 1639, certainly at Guilford, CT, before first allotment of land in that town, in 1644. He removed to Milford, CT in 1658 and to Norwalk, CT, in 1660. He was a founder of the new settlement at Wilton (then a part of Norwalk) in 1672, but continued to dwell in Norwalk until his death in 1688.

1688 Will (from a rootsweb posting):

"To all Christian people To whom these prsents shall come Greetings. I Thomas Betts of ye Towne of Norwalke: aged seventy years or thereabout beinge by ye hands of God at prsent infirme and weake of body, yet thro the mercy of ye most High: of prfect understandinge & memory Doe make appoint manifest & declare this to bee my last will & Testament. Imprimis I doe Comit my soule into ye hands of God my Creator that hath made it And my Deare Redeemer Jesus Christ that hath brought it; And my body I bequeath unto ye Dust from whence it was to be Decently Interred & buried In hopes of a happy & glorious Resurrection At ye Last Day, And as for ye Temporall Estate which God hath pleased to bless mee withall I will & dispose as followeth, vizt. I doe will & bequeath unto Mary Betts my Dearly beloved wife my now dwelling house (viz) ye south end thereof, halfe my home lott both plowinge Land & pasture Land And halfe my orchard with all the Immunities as fences & ye like, And also half my household goods & at her decease to dispose of all her estate unto her owne Children & her grandchilde Hannah Camp, also I doe give unto her one Cow & five pound pr Annum, Dureinge ye terme of her Life, which I doe appoint my Sons to pay equally, unto her Annually, Also I doe give & bequeath unto my Son Thomas Betts Besides what I have heretofore given him, my meadow which lies at Charles Creeke, Also all yt my meadow which I have Lyinge at Sacatock River, also a third pte of my Land at [primpawalke?], As also pte of my Lot at Calfe pasture from ye Lott of John Beldin, on ye west side of ye Cart path, to ye narrow of ye Lands betweene ye path & ye Creeke. Also I doe give & bequeath unto my Son John Betts my second homelott which lyeth upon Dryhill, Allso my pine hill Lott, which Lyeth betweene two Lotts of John Bouton Senr. Also my Cove Lott Lyinge betweene Richard Holmes & Christopher Comstock And my meadow at Rocky Springe. Allso I doe give and bequeath unto my son Daniell Betts ye rest of my Calfe pasture Lot not Given to Thomas Betts, also one third pte of my Land at primpawalke, also my second division of meadow on ye other side of norwalke river. Allso I doe give and bequeath unto my Sonn Samuel Betts one halfe halfe of my Gratuety Lott, also my second Division of Six Acres to ye hundred: also my pasture Lott, also my meadow which Lyeth betweene ye home lott of Samuel Reeber & ye Cove also a third pte of my Land at primpawalke. Allso I give & bequeath unto my Son James Betts ye other halfe of my now dwellinge house & halfe my homelott arrable & pasture Land, also halfe my orchard not given to my wife also my first Division of meadow on ye other side of Norwalke river, also all my Land neare Strong Brooke, also halfe my gratuity Lott, also my Lotts at Sacetock Brooke Lyinge on both ends of mathias Sention Senr Lott, also one acre & halfe of my Land Lying neare ye boggy meadow brooke. Also I doe appoint my five sons Thomas John Daniell Samuel & James to pay to my dearly beloved wife twenty shillings a peice pr Annum dureinge her widdowhood And also I doe appoint my sons all of them to provide for & winter my wives Cow & any young Cattle yt shee may have. Also I doe give and bequeath unto my Daughter Mary ye wife of John Raymond ten pounds besides what I have given her: which I doe give to her children, Shee to have ye improvement of it dureinge her life, & at her decease to returne to her Children. Also I doe will & bequeath unto my daughter Sarah Betts yt other halfe of my household goods, & ten pounds to bee paid her in Currant Country pay. Also I doe will & bequeath unto my five sons all my twenty acres to ye hundred & estate of commonadge equally to bee divided. Allso I doe make & appoint my dearly beloved wife my whole & sole Executrix & [administratrix?] of this my last will & Testament and I doe Request my friends James olmsted & John olmstead to be ye overseers of this my will to assist & advise in ye distributing. In Confirmation of ye prmises I have set to my hand & seale this tenth day of may in ye yeare of our Lord one thousand six hundred eighty & eight And in ye fourth yeare of our Soverain Lord ye King James ye Second."

The inventory of the estate, dated 4 December 1688, included: "Impprimus one pre of oxen, one Cow & 2 heifers, 2 Calfs one horse, two swine 5 pigs, four Beds with ye Coveringe, 3 Boulsters pillows & pillow Cases, five pre of sheets & other Linen, wearinge Clothes, one great brass kettle & 2 kettles & one skillet, two iron potts & one Iron [Betle?], one warminge pan 2 frying pans, pewter & Spoons, woollen yarne & flax, Cart Irons Hows [?] [Luispins?] [?] & pin, plow irons & chaines, wedges & [Betle?] rings & one Ax 3 Augres hand saw, one Tramell Tongs [fireshise?] bellows, Six bags 3 Candlesticks, one Table one Chest 3 boxes & Books, 30 bushell of wheate 60 bush of Indian, 12 bushell of pease 8 bushells of oates, Hows Lumber Barrellls & Casks." The total was £45.05.06.

THOMAS BETTS, Sr., (Si.cond Occupant.)

This ancestor of a long descendant-line was born in England in 1615-16. He was enrolled (seventeenth in number) on the Guilford, Conn., settlers-register. Accompanied by his wife Mary he came to Norwalk in about 1660. Mrs. Mary Betts may possibly have been married before her Betts union, as in the will of Tiios. Betts, Sr., executed May IO, 1688, he refers to "her children." The Betts estate was appraised Dec. 4, 1688. The children of Trios.'"' and Mary Betts were:

Mary, born 1646; married John Raymond."".

Thomas,**• born June 3, 1650; married Sarah Marvin.

Hannah, born Nov. 22, 1652; married Samuel Camp.

John,'sl' born May 10. 1655 ; married twice.

Stephen, born Oct. 4, 1657; died young.

Daniel, born Oct. 4. 1657; married Deborah Taylor.

Samuel, born April 4. 1660; married Judith Reynolds.

James, born [663; married Hannah Bouton.

Sarah; married Joseph St. John.'"

The curtain rises and the brothers and sisters above tabulated take their places upon the Betts stage. Of the daughters of the notable group Mary, the oldest, was the

line M., who died young, and Edith M., Charles E., Sarah H., and the twins, Harry and Herbert, both of whom died in infancy. Mrs. R. H. Wheeler died Feb. 24, 1877, and her husband married. second, Helen, daughter of Capt. Francis Sherwood. of (ireens Farms. Clarence L., son of E. S. and Caroline Wheeler, a Norwalk school youth of some years since, is married and lives in Marion, Ind.

'He was alive in 1675 and seems, by a Norwalk record of that date, to have had still an open account with Thomas lietts, Sr., to whom he sold his home estate. One of his last Norwalk performed deeds was to secure assistance, in 1657, to " raise the meeting house." This was doubtless the first framed place of worship in Norwalk. The pioneers' original sanctuary was, probably, a log structure, floored and roofed, Inn hastily constructed and unfurnished and uncomfortable. Its site and the site of the building of 1657 (see page 38) were the same, and it served only a tentative purpose. Matthew Mar\in, Sr., Samuel Hales and Isaac More were constituted hv the proprietors, a committee to see that the frame of this iir.t permanent strnet u re (prolmblv the old

structure enlarged) was properly put in place. They were instructed to provide a luncheon "with a barrel of good beans" for "the helps" on that occasion. They, it is believed, lined the building with the street and most likely entered it from the south. It is inferred that for prudence sake there were no windows in the east end, and, for the same reason, no door, possibly. Soon after his mission in relation to the meeting house was accomplished Mr. Ely vacated his Norwalk home, leaving the " Ely's Neck " of 1896, which was called for him, to perpetuate his name. Ely's Neck was the earliest designation of the Norwalk southwestern coast.adjacent land. a good portion of which was subsequently called " lielden's Neck." It was approached by what is now known as the " Ely Neck road." To the east of the " Neck " there .put up a small salt water estuary as far inland as the ancient "Stuart Landing," the neighborhood of which locality came, in time, to be denominated "the village." There seem to have been pottery works in the vicinity, and there was, unquestion. ablv, at high tide, water communication thereat with outside ports.

foremother of the Norwalk Raymonds, Hannah of the Norwallc Camps and Sarah of many of the St. Johns and Lockwoods. From the sons sprang the long roll of those of Betts name, who by their faithful discharge of public and private responsibilities, have proven a valuable norwalk constituency. Mary was about seventeen when the family came from Guilford, which household had here resided for a short time when there arrived with his father to the new plantation a Saybrook young man, John, son of Richard Raymond, who married the said Mary on Dec. 10, 1664. The elder Raymond (Richard) tarried only about two years in Norwalk and left his house and estate to be occupied and managed by his son and daughter-in-law, who there brought up their sons John, Samuel and Thomas Raymond and the boys' sister Hannah.

According to Crozier's General Armory: A Registry of American Families Entitled to Coat Armor

By William Armstrong Crozier, Thomas Betts had the right to claim a coat of arms:. Sable on a bed argent with three cinquefoils. Motto: malo mori quam foedari (death before dishonor)

see also: American biography: a new cyclopedia, Volume 10

edited by William Richard Cutter

Thomas Betts, son of John Betts and Mary Bigg, was christened on 3 December 1615; he died in 1688 at Norwalk, Connecticut. Thomas Betts married Mary circa 1643 in probably, Connecticut.

GEDCOM Note

Life Sketch

Thomas Betts was born in England and came to America as early as 1639 and became one of the founders of Guilford Connecticut. Guilford was named after the town of Guildford, in England, the native home of a share of its first settlers. First settled by Europeans in 1639 after being purchased from Native American leader Wequash,

Sources:
• Colonial Families of the United States of America, Volume VI, Colonial Families of the USA, 1607-1775 • Thomas Betts, of Guilford and Norwalk, and his descendants by Frederic Betts, NY 1888 • Matthews’ American Armoury and Blue Book 1907 • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guilford,_Connecticut