Generation No. 8
128. Mattias Farnsworth55,56,57,58,59,60,61,62,63,64,65,66,66,67,68,69,70,71,72,73, born 20 Jul 1612 in Eccles, Lancastershire, England; died 21 Jan 1689. He was the son of 256. Richard Farnsworth and 257. Elizabeth Marshe.
Notes for Mattias Farnsworth:
The families of Farnsworth in the United States and in Canada are probably of English or Scottish origin, and may have derived their name from one of two places in Lancashire, England, bearing the name of Farnsworth. One of them is in the parish of Prescott, not far from Liverpool, on the way to Manchester, in the Hundred of Salford. The word is a Saxon descriptive compound, from "fern" (Anglo Saxon fearn), the fern plant, and "worth", in Saxon English, a valuable farm, or estate, the whole signifying a ferny land, farm or estate, the places to which the name applied having been very productive of ferns. Farnworth in the parish of Dean, was an ancient manor of about 1400 acres, with a manor court, and had upon it, a stone residence that bore the name of Farnworth Hall. It was standing and occupied as the manor house as late as Queen Elizabeth2 CONC d to go to decay. It was probably occupied as a residence in the days of Joseph and Matthias Farnsworth, the early emigrants to this country. The old manor is now a town, and has become noted as a place for the manufacture of paper. The largest mills in that trade in England are there. It has a population of about 25,000. The introduction of the "s" into the name is no doubt a corruption, and probably arose from some notion of euphony. The Groton (American) records almost uniformly spell the name without an "s" until about 1750; but the usage of the family had changed somewhat earlier. The pronunciation in early times in this country was probably as if spelled "Farnoth", as it is spelled in some records. So far as is known, three Farnsworths were the only emigrants of the name, who settled in America. They are Joseph, Matthias and Thomas. Joseph Farnsworth of Dorchester came over with the Dorchester company in 1628. Matthias Farnsworth (more than likely a brother of Joseph) was residing at Lynn in 1657; he probably moved to Groton in 1660; he is the grandfather of Matthias, taken prisoner in 1704. Thomas Farnsworth, a Quaker, who apparently was connected in some way with the adventure of William Penn, came to Bordentown in 1681. In August 1704, Matthias Farnsworth III was taken prisoner by the Indians and carried into Canada, where he was delivered to the French. By the parish records of Montreal we see that he was baptized into the Roman Catholic Church there, and the record as made in French, gives his name as Matthias-Claude Farneth. The name Claude was given to him by his godfather, Claude Ramezay, Governor of Montreal. The name Farneth is the appropriate spelling of Farnoth pronounced by the young prisoner. He was naturalized at Montreal and he married on the 2nd of October 1713, Catherine Charpentier, by whom he had twelve children. The first record that we have of Henry Farnsworth, Sr. is when he leased land in Loudoun County, Virginia, through an attorney from a man of the Barbados Islands. Henry served in the Revolutionary War from Loudoun County as lieutenant and captain. A John Farnsworth, thought to have been his brother, was killed in the war, apparently before April 14, 1778 when aid was given his widow. After the war was over, Henry and his family made their way south and settled in East Tennessee, where he had a land grant of almost 1000 acres on Richland Creek, tributary of the Nalichucky River, which with the Holston and French Broad becomes the Tennessee River. Henry was on the Greene County tax list in 1783 and by 1805 all his sons were also listed. An Adonijah Farnsworth was also in Loudoun County, Virginia at the same time as Henry, with his wife Hannah; they had sons, John and Robert, both over 16 years in 1787. The origin and relationship of the Loudoun County Farnsworths has not been found. Several researchers have concluded that Henry must have come from Hunterdon County, NJ and descended of Thomas Farnsworth of Bordentown, through his son, Henry. However, the story has been handed down and strongly believed by descendants in Greene County that Henry was in fact descended from Mattias Farnsworth, who was born at Eccles, Lancastershire, England on July 20, 1612. He was a weaver by occupation; died January 21, 1688. Mattias was the son of Richard Farnsworth, born in Eccles, Lancastershire, England about 1584; married on January 12, 1608 to Elizabeth Marshe, born November 1, 1584 at Eccles. Mattias, a brother and three sisters are the only known children of Richard and Elizabeth; therefore, probably not a brother of the early Farnsworth immigrants, Joseph and Thomas. It is also believed that Henry's father or grandfather fought and lost his life in the Revolution in the battle of Bunker Hill.
A Proprietor of Groton, Middlesex, MA "A man of good report and a highly respected citizen"
Died 21 Jan 1689 ‘about 77 years of age’.
2a) The following records are from the original register of the Church of St.Mary, Eccles, and were checked against the 1932 transcript by the Lancashire Parish Register Society, held by the Society of Genealogists in London. Matthias was born on 20 July 1615 in Eccles, son of Richard Farnworth and Elizabethe Marshe (married 12 Jan 1608). He was the grandson of Elizeius ffarnworth, (baptised Jan 1561/2) and Margreta (…), who married in September 1582. The parish church of Eccles lies four miles to the west of Manchester, in the midst of a huge parish bounded by Manchester, Prestwick, Radcliffe, Bolton, Leigh and Winwick, the southern limit being the River Irwell. We hold further information on St Mary’s Church, the registers and clergy, and the Farnworth family of this time.
2b) Matthias was resident at Lynn, Massachusetts, by 1657 - the earliest mention in archives. This settlement was originally known as Saugus, and was named Lynn in 1636. Information about Matthias in these years is somewhat vague, largely due to the fact that the records for the first 60 years of this township are missing. (Briefly recovered around 1730, we understand, but gone again!). Matthias had a farm near Federal Street until around 1660, in which year he probably moved to Groton. He was admitted as a Freeman of the colony 16 May 1670.
2c) From Town Meeting Records, 27 November 1663 (modern translation!) ‘It was voted and agreed that Matthias ffarnworth shall have forty poles* of land to be laid out against his house…..for a building place, provided it does not prejudice the highway’. * A pole is a measure of approximately 30 square yards.
2d) The land granted to the proprietors of Groton was proportionately shared according to the amount each had contributed to the common fund. This generally meant a ‘twenty acre right’ was the standard measurement; and Matthias received several portions in the distribution. Green’s Early Records of Groton, pages 178-9, list the lands held by Matthias Farnworth in fine detail.
2e) In the year 1675 ‘King Phillip’s War’ broke out between the Indians and the New England settlers, commencing on 20 June at Swanzey, Bristol County, which was then in the Plymouth Colony. Many of the Massachusetts towns, including Groton, were attacked, the settlers killed and property burned.
2f) From ‘Narrative of the Indian Wars’ by William Hubbard:
“2 Mar 1676 they assaulted Groton’ the next day Major Willard with seventy horse came into town…..but the Indians were all fled having first burnt all the houses in town save four that were garrisoned, the meeting house being the second house they fired. Soon after Captain Sill was sent with a small party of dragoons….to fetch off the inhabitants of Groton, and what was left from the spoil of the enemy, having under his conduct sixty carts…… when a party of Indians lying in ambush at a place of eminent advantage fired upon the front and mortally wounded two of the first carriers. Soon after this, Groton was deserted and destroyed by the enemy, yet it was special providence that though the carts were guarded with so slender a convoy, yet there was not any considerable loss sustained.”
Matthias and his family returned to Groton early in 1678, rebuilding their log cabin and re-clearing that part of the forest. Sixteen years later, the Indians again attacked Groton and murdered many of the settlers.
2g) Matthias filled many positions in the town of Groton, the most important being that of selectman and constable. As constable he was responsible for the collection of taxes for the settlement. He was not a learned man (it seems that none of the pioneers of Groton were well educated), but he could read and write reasonably well. There are in existence records and tax returns made and signed by him over a number of years.
Matthias FARNSWORTH was born on 20 Jul 1612 in Eccles, Lancashire, England. This is confirmed by his will, in which he calls himself "about 77 years of age" in 1688. He was born near the town of "Farnsworth." He emigrated between 1650 and 1657. He moved before 1657 to Lynn, Essex, MA. He was a farmer in 1660 in Lynn, Massachusetts Bay Colony. He moved about 1661 to Groton, Middlesex, MA. He became a member Part of the Council of Eleven that considered "uncomfortable differences" among members in May 1664 in Groton, Middlesex, MA. He Granted 40 "pole" of land. on 27 Nov 1664 in Groton, Middlesex, MA. He Chosen arbitrator in dispute between John Lawrence and the town on 27 Nov 1664 in Groton, Middlesex, MA. He took the oath of a freeman on 16 May 1670 in Lynn, Massachusetts Bay Colony. He Indians attacked Groton and burned Matthias' house and others to the ground on 2 Mar 1676 in Groton, Middlesex, MA.The King Phillip War had broke out in 1675. By June, news had spread that the outlying Massachusetts settlements were coming under attack. On this night, the Indians attacked Groton. Many settlers were killed and the rest fled the village. The Indians burned all but four buildings to the ground. About two weeks later, Captain Still led the survivors away in a convoy to Concord in basically a forced migration. Families placed what belongings remained in carts and pushed them to Concord. There were 60 carts and they stretched for 2 miles. It is believed that Matthias' family was among them including his wife, and those children living with them: Sarah (13), Samuel (6), Abigail (5), and Jonathan (1). In this vulnerable state, on March 17, the procession of carts came under attack. The Indians fired upon the front of the convey and killed two more settlers but that was there only loss. The experience was no doubt terrifying. The residents of Groton would live in Concord for the next TWO YEARS, but where they stayed is not recorded. He moved on 13 Mar 1676 to Concord, Massachusetts Bay Colony.On this date occurred the third attack on Groton (the first and second occurred on March 2 and March 9. He moved in 1678 to Groton, Middlesex, MA. After two years, many of the original Groton settlers living in Concord, including Matthias and his three sons, went back to Groton to clear, plant, and rebuild. His rebuilt house stood until 1820. He was Constable before 1684 in Groton, Middlesex, MA. At the time, this position primarily involved tax collection. He held this office until he was 72. He signed a will on 15 Jan 1689 in Groton, Middlesex, MA. Stearns says it was on 12 Jan 1689 but the transcript in Farnsworth clearly say 15 Jan 1689. He died on 21 Jan 1689 in Groton, Middlesex, MA. He left, according to his inventory, ~ £102 (includes house, barn, meadow, oxen & 4 cows). Note: likely lost all in 1676 Groton burning on 4 Feb 1689 in Groton, Middlesex, MA. Those participating in the inventory included another ancestor, Gershom HOBART. Stearns mentions over 212 acres of land which I assume is part of his inventory but may have been distributed before his death. He was a Weaver. He Granted 20 acres as one of original proprietors of Groton in Groton, Middlesex, MA.
Child of Mattias Farnsworth is:
64 i. Thomas Farnsworth, born 07 Feb 1648 in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, Eng; died 08 Nov 1693 in Chesterfield, Burlington, NJ,; married Susannah Smith 08 Sep 1672 in Quaker ceremony at Skegby Meeting House, Nottinghamshire.
130. William Smith, born Abt. 1630 in England. He married 131. Anne.
131. Anne
Child of William Smith and Anne is:
65 i. Susannah Smith, born 17 Jan 1650 in York, Eng; died 16 Nov 1713 in Chesterfield, Burlington, NJ; married Thomas Farnsworth 08 Sep 1672 in Quaker ceremony at Skegby Meeting House, Nottinghamshire.
132. William Brinson, born Abt. 1620 in Membury Parish, Devonshire, England. He married 133. Margaret.
133. Margaret
Child of William Brinson and Margaret is:
66 i. Daniel Bryns Brinson, born 08 Sep 1653 in Membary, Devonshire, Eng.; died 15 Sep 1696 in Milston, Middlesex, New Jersey; married Frances Greenland 08 Aug 1681 in Devonshire, England.
134. Dr. Henry Greenland74,75,76,77,78, born Abt. 1628 in England; died 1695 in Princeton, New Jersey. He married 135. Mary Barefoote79.
135. Mary Barefoote, born Abt. 1631 in St. Dunstan, Stepney, London, England. She was the daughter of 270. Walter Barefoote.
Notes for Dr. Henry Greenland:
Piscataway was settled by colonialists from New England. One of the settlers on the Raritan was Dr. Henry Greenland who came from England to New England in the 1660's to settle on the Piscataqua River which today separates Portsmouth NH from Kittery ME. The name of this river, as it was known then and today, is the root of the name Piscataway. Records indicate that Henry Greenland was a 'Doctor of Physic' and a court record of 1683 calls him a "Practicioner of Physick and Chyrurgery." He was an outspoken individual and one night when the host was intoning a protracted blessing, he interrupted, "Come landlord, light supper, short grace." When Greenland arrived in Piscataway, New Jersey, in the 1670's, he purchased 300 acres in what is now Highland Park. He practiced medicine to a very limited extent and kept a tavern on or about the site of the future Robert Wood Johnson residence on the east bank of the Raritan. He later became a property owner in Princeton and the famed document separating New Jersey into East Jersey and West Jersey was signed in 1686 at his home there. Portions of that house are still intact today.
Henry Greenland was educated and sanctioned as a doctor. In the 17th century formal medical education in the colonies was unknown. Greenland was most likely educated in an apprenticeship manner, possibly with some academic experience in that a number of universities on the continent and in England had such programs. What kind of certification he had that he was a physician is unknown.
100 years after Greenland arrived in New Brunswick, in the early 1760's, a physician moved to New Brunswick named John Cochran who had significant impact on health care in the city, on the organization of medicine locally, regionally and nationally and who played a role in formalizing the medical education process in New Jersey.
Greenland came with his wife Mary to Newbury, Massachusetts, in 1662, according to Joshua Coffin's History of Newbury, Newbury port and West Newbury. But judging by the court records Mary, although mentioned as a "pretee young wife," could hardly have been with him in Newbury in March 1663, when he and a fellow doctor, Richard Cordin, stayed at the house of John Emery, a Grand Juror, and his "Goodwife." The two young doctors led a wild life there. "Greenland... got a vesel of strong licker and often was merrie... When M-r Greenland and we wer sett down to supper and while John Emerie was
Craving a blessing and before John Emerie had half don Mr Greenland put on his hatt and spread his napkin and stored the sampe [stirred the hominy] and said Com Landlord light supper short grace."
One of Greenland's frequent companions was Goodwife Mary Roffe or Rolfe, whose husband was away at Nantucket. As things were getting rather hot so to speak, using the old principle that attack is better than defense, Mary Roffe's mother, Rebecca Bishop, told one of the town selectman that Greenland was pursuing her daughter. Greenland was brought to trial, charged with "several times soliciting Mary wife of John Roffe, to adultery..." There were many witnesses at the trial. Henri Lesenby (aged about eighteen, servant of Richard Dole) who had just been brought before the magistrate by Greenland in case of slander which Greenland lost, deposed "that he came by the house of John Rolfe about eleven or twelve o'clock at night and heard a shriek so he went straight into the house. He asked Goody Rolfe what was the matter and she said nothing, but he went to the bedside... "I saw the head of a man and felt him and I did know it was M-r Greenland..." Henry Greenland was convicted and sentenced to prison and to be whipped unless he paid a fine of thirty pounds besides being bound to good behavior. Capt. Walter Barefoote was one of the two friends who came forward and put up the bond. On the other hand Mary Roffe was "presented" for misconduct, and lying when she said the doctor was brought by John Emery to her house, "when she herself invited them." She was also accused of putting fig dust in Mr. Greenland's bed, and, upon another occasion, putting "a couple of stones in his bed, and since said Greenland was bound to good behavior she had sought his company both in their house and barn." "Henry Lezenby, Richard Doell's man," was ever busy,
and was presented on March 31, 1663 "for pulling down a board and going into Goodwife Rofe's window, coming upon three folks in bed." Greenland, as a newcomer to the town, had to move from John Emery's house, because it was against the law to "entertain a stranger." Emery was fined four shillings for this offence. Henry Greenland was still in Newbury in September 1664 with his friend Walter Barefoote, because a complaint arose by Richard Dole (the master of Henry Lessenby) and a William Thomas. The Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts etc.say,
Richard Dole deposed that... at the ordinary[tavern] in the common room Capt. Barefoot 'tould me he would prove me y-e verriest Knave in new England... said to me sirrah get out of y-e room I will heave the pott [probably means beer mug] att thy head & presently threw y-e pott & strucke me on y-e head backward to the ground, as soon as ever I recovered my selfe M-r Greenland, w-th his hand and Foot struck me downe backward & trodd upon me or kickt me... some body speaking to Capt. Barrfoot
asking hey he did heave the pott at Richard Dole's head he made this answerr he was sorry for nothing but that hee did heave it noe harder... Capt. Barrfoot came from y-e inside of y-e table w-th his sword drawne...
Thus we can make an educated guess as to whom Henry Greenland's grandson, Barefoot Brinson, of the Millstone, was named after, and develop an idea of Henry Greenland himself. Walter Barefoote turns up again in March 1665 at Dover, Massachusetts (now New Hampshire), giving a letter of attorney to his loving friend Henry Greenland" to collect a payment of a debt "in boots and shoes."
Greenland bought land and had a house in Newbury, which he sold in 1665. He and Barefoote were at Kittery Point (some twenty-five miles north) in October 1672 when the Hampton marshal came to arrest Barefoote for a debt. On this occasion "Greenland sent for the law book and read the law to the marshal." By 1679 he was in New Jersey. In April 1680 he was a captain with "part of a company at the point" when Governor Andros made his visit to try to take New Jersey away from Philip Carteret. After the putsch, a month later, Carteret was jailed. Andros, now briefly Governor, on July 30, 1680, commissioned Henry Greenland "to bee Justice at Piscataway" It was in these years that he lived on the north side of the Raritan where Dankers and Sluyter stayed in 1679. He is mentioned as Capt. Greenland, appearing with Samuel Edsall and Capt. Bollen when in July 1681 Bollen, obeying reinstated Governor Philip Carteret told the "pretended house of Deputies to be Dissolved." Apparently Greenland's wife, Mary, was still with him, as she is a co-owner of property with him in 1684. Henry Greenland was never as large a landholder as some of his colleagues, but he was politically aligned with them. As Pomfret says, "the deputies with the concurrence of the council determined to punish these men." We have the case of Slater vs Greenland with Greenland's "peticon... to correct errors of Judgem-t ag-t him" refused. And next we find that he has moved to the Millstone River to the property marked as "200a." on the Reid map of 1686 (later patented as four hundred acres...
At this time he sells some of his Piscataway property:
1686, Sept. 27. Deed. Doctor Henry Greenland of Milston R. to William Wright of New York, for 132 acres in Piscataway Township, N.W. Symon Brinley, S.W. Samuel Moore alias Richard Dole, N.E. his own land and a small brook S.W. Raraton River.
Notice the presence of Richard Dole, at whom Walter Barefoote did "heave y-e pott." But it seems that many of those involved with Greenland at Newbury came to New Jersey. Henry Lesenb‚ (once Dole's servant, the boy who so often looked into Mary Roffe's) has a house lot at Woodbridge by 1669. Mary's father, John Bishop (a founder of Woodbridge), and her husband, John Roffe or Rolfe, both died in New Jersey, though we never again hear of Mary--just as well, perhaps. In Henry Greenland's house, or inn, on the Millstone on January 1686/7, one of the most significant documents of the time was signed:
John Skein, Deputy Governor of West Jersey, Samuel Jennings, Thomas Olive, George Hutchinson, Mahlon Stacy, Thomas Lambert, All Proprietors and Inhabitants of the Said Province Acknowledge our selves to be wall and firmly Bound to pay unto Lord Neill Campbell Governor of East Jersey, and Captain Andrew Hamilton and John Campble Proprietors and Inhabitants of the Said Province The Sum of five Thousand pounds of Lawfull money of These provinces. In WITNESS, whereof we have
hereunto put our hands and Seals...
This was the bond of the Proprietors of East and West Jersey given at their agreement to run "The Line of Division Betwixt the said provinces..." Their signatures are witnessed by Henry Greenland and William Mount... The references that indicate that this event took place at present-day 1082 Kingston Road, Henry Greenland's house [The Greenland-Brinson-Gulick House], are a reference in the New Jersey Archives, Volume II, page 2, which mentions the meeting "...to Setle the Line of partition betweene the two provinces att a meeting held at Milstone River; and a reference in the same volume on pages 18-24 that is "Part of a letter, without signature, to the Proprietors of East Jersey..." in which the writers are discussing the "line from Egg harbour so farre as to Rariton river conforme to the award wee obtained at Doctor Greenlands upon a bond of Arbitration entered into by the deputy Govern-rs of east and west Jersey... the two Governo-rs and last of his bond of five thousand pounds entered into at Greenlands..."...Henry Greenland, "physitian," died in 1695. By this time he had already sold all but one hundred acres of his "plantation at Millstone River" to his son-in-law,Daniel Brinson. Often the pioneer fathers,a s old age overtook them, sold their lands and homestead farms, for a reasonable fee, to their sons (in this case, son-in-law). The one hundred acres, along with "my plows andother Tools and Utensils for Husbandry," went by the will to his son Henry. (Elizabeth Grant Cranbrook Menzies, Millstone Valley [hereinafter Menzies], [New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press], 37-38).
Dr. Henry Greenland, physician, Kittery [thenMassachusetts, now Maine], was 42 in 1670. He was an intimate of and drawn to New England to be near Capt.Barefoot and practiced first in Newbury [Newburyport]. He was uncertain where to settle until his wife came. In Nov. 1663 he witnessed Capt. Lockwood's deed to Barefoot, April/May 1662-3. Before 17 July 1665 he and Thomas Wiggin had given evidence against Mr. Richard Cutts for words spoken about the King's commissioners. Living in
Kittery about 1666 and continually in evidence or trouble including a reported attempt in 1670 to seize Mr. Cutts and send him to England for punishment for treason and ransom. Convicted of many high misdemeanors in June 1672 and ordered by the General Court to leave the jurisdiction within two months. On petition of his wife Mary this time was extended to Sept. 1673. The house he had built at Kittery Point was sold in 1680 by Major John Davis to Benjamin Woodbridge, clerk, with special warranty against the heirs of Henry Greenland and heirs of Mr. William Bickham. Barefoot's will gives to Henry Greenland the 1000 acres at Spruce Creek bought from Henry Greenland, the title to which was in dispute... His wife Mary, who came after May 1663, was here after he had left for Piscataway, NJ, in July 1673, selling without license; the same in July 1675, but fine remitted as she had some assurance from the selectmen..." (Sybil Noyes, Charles Thornton Libby, Walter Goodwin Davis,
Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire)
After 1664, when the British took New Amsterdam,renaming it New York, a changed state of affairs arose in the place they now called New Jersey... The liberality of the law and especially the bargain
of New Jersey land were attractions that brought a group of New Englanders to settle the towns of Woodbridge and Piscataway. They had previously lived within a twenty- five mil radius of Newbury, Massachusetts, in an area from the Piscataqua River to near Boston (all of which Massachusetts at that time). They brought with them some of the place names of that area: Essex and Middlesex,
the counties, and Piscataway (Piscataqua), the township, which extended over the greater part of the Millstone Valley, including the present-day towns of Cranbury, Princeton, and Rocky Hill. (Menzies, 37-38).
[Henry Greenland was] Variously recorded as Captain or Doctor. He was among those first hardy adventurers who came to East Jersey from the Piscataqua country in New England (in what is now New Hampshire). He took up land in Piscataway, East Jersey in 1676, but then following the Raritan upstream, he acquired his ferry at what came to be known as New Brunswick. Then this
restless man moved on westward, still following the water upstream along Raritan and Millstone. In the late evening of his life, in 1693 he patented a 400 acre tract along the west bank of the Millstone. Its southerly corner lay just west of what became Kingston. Here, at last he rested--Prince Towne's (Princeton's) first settler. He was reputed to be a contentious man, but this very trait is no doubt what caused him to be at the extreme forward tip (with danger involved) of the westward probe for the end of the rainbow. (James Vliet, The Van der Vliet Family in America, manuscript)
Doctor Henry Greenland, Ubiquitous First Settler of Pisc. [Piscataway, New Jersey], chirurgeon, surgeon, physician, "giver of physic," gent. scholar, traveler, adventurer, romancer, captain of military company, Justice, judge, advocate, prominent citizen, etc. Well presented in Jan of Rott., (p. 312); born about 1628; apparent came from London, as his daughter, Mary Greenland, was b. there. That Mary Greenland, his wife, was, in fact Mary Barefoote, a daughter of that equally famous Surgeon,
Captain Walter Barefoote... (Orra Eugene Monnette, Colonial and Provincial History and Genealogy First
Settlers of Ye Plantations of Piscataway and Woodbridge
Olde East New Jersey 1664-1714; [Los Angeles, California:
The Leroy Carman Press; 1932]; Part Four; p. 591)
Dr. Greenland patented, in 1693, 400 acres of land about a mile from present Princeton University on the Millstone, at the bridge on the Brunswick road from Trenton, and it was on this plantation that Daniel lived at his death in 1696. His widow, Frances Greenland,married (2nd) John Horner, a Quaker, of Princeton, living on the next farm but one. The son, Barefoot, continued on the plantation till his death in 1748 or 1749. Barefoot was the earliest known sheriff of Somerset, acting perhaps from 1711 to 1730. He married MaryLawrence, who advertised the plantation in the "New York Gazette," Nov. 21, 1748, as of "about 330 acres," and shesigned herself "Mary Brunson, on the premises." The executors were Mary Brunson and Thos. Lawrence, and his creditors were referred to Sam'l Lawrence, of New York, and Thomas Lawrence, of Phila. Here we have the first change of the name to Brunson... Margaret, Barefoot's sister, married John Van Vliet (which became Fleet) and had a son John, and a daughter
Frances, who m. Jacob Wyckoff, of Six-Mile Run, and had two sons... As to Daniel Brinson's father-in-law, Dr. Henry Greenland, he appeared at Newburyport, Mass., late in 1662. He was a close friend if not actually a relative of Dr. Walter Barefoote (or Barford, as the name is given in England) who came to Kittery, Maine, in 1656 or 1657... Dr. Greenland removed to Kittery, Me., in 1666, and in September, 1673, he was fined L-20 and banished from the Province. He is said to have "sailed away" to Piscataway in New Jersey, taking the name of his region [Piscataqua] with him. Here is a distinct statement and apparently the correct one of how the name came to New Jersey, for Piscataway, it is to be remembered, was a territory nearly as large as Middlesex county, and running from the sea to the East and West Jersey line, taking in also the Middlesex portion of Princeton. He stepped into positions of trust and honor in his new home, being Captain of a Piscataway company in 1675, and Justice in 1681. He lived at the Ford, or crossing-place on the Raritan. (William H. Benedict, "The Brunson (Brinson--Brynson) Family," Somerset County Historical Quarterly [hereinafter SCHQ], [Vol. III] [1914])
At the end of the seventeenth century a very few pioneers were indeed following the Indian trails to new lands on the Millstone. The earliest settler of the Millstone Valley was Henry Greenland, a doctor of physic and surgery. His house, or part of it (for in twom hundred and eighty some years it has undergone many changes), still exists [as The Greenland-Brinson-Gulick House] at 1082 Kingston Road, Princeton, near the old Kingston Bridge. This road was the Assunpink Indian Trail or the Old Dutch Trail, the early path from the Raritan to the Delaware. In the Piscataway Township Record Book now in the Rutgers University Library the first item is dated October 26, 1683: "At Towne Meeting then held, George Drake and Hopewell Hull chose overseers for ye High-Waye, and y-t there be a Cartbridge by Higginnes, a footbridge by Rehoboth Gannets, and a ffoot bridge at Stony brook,
goinge to Greenlands." One must remember that for a time Piscataway Township included most of the Millstone River and the lower part of Stony Brook. (Menzies, 42)
There is an early account of travel by the Assunpink Trail in 1679 by the Dutchmen, of Labadist cult, Jasper Dankers, or Danckaerts, with his companion Peter Sluyter. [Dankers wrote:] ....arrived at Pescatteway, the last English village in New Jersey... We rode about two English miles through Pescatteway, to the house of one Mr. Greenland who kept an ordinary [tavern] there. We had to pass the night here, because it was the place of crossing the Milstoons [Millstone] River, which they called the falls. Close by there, also, was the dwelling of some Indians, who were of service to Mr. Greenland, in many things. We were better lodged and entertainedhere, for we slept upon a good bed...
Although Dankers refers here to the Millstone he as clearly come only to the Raritan where Dr. Henry Greenland, at that time, kept a tavern on the north side of the river (at New Brunswick near present-day Johnson's Pond)... (Menzies, 39).
... at a Council of the Board of Proprietors held at Perth Amboy on November 22, 1692, there was presented a Petition of Henry Greenland for a patent of 400 acres of land granted him by Governor
Lawrie to settle on at a half penny per acre for accommodation of travelers, where he now lives on the Milstone River in the County of Middlesex, he having paid the Indian Purchase himself by Governor Lawrie's order and warrant, but could not have patent because of the uncertainty whether it would fall in East or West Jersey until now that the division line is settled. Agreed and ordered that he have a warrant to the Surveyor General to lay out the same to him as desired in order having a patent for it, he paying one-half penny per acre for the said 400 acres to commence from the 25th day of mary in the year 1685.
In short, Henry Greenland had a tavern on the Millstone River when he was required to pay quitrent on his property there from March 25, 1685. But why should he have not paid from 1683 when the "ffootbridge" is mentioned? Perhaps because the first meeting of the Council of the Board of Proprietors was held on April 9, 1685, and possibly back payments were not required to antedate that year, but began on the first of that year, which was March 25th, old style. Thus Henry Greenland may have had a couple of years of free use of his property.
The original part of the house at 1082 Kingston Road is in the center... the joists of unfinished oak with the bark still clinging to them may well be part of Henry Greenland's tavern. (Menzies, 42-43)
The Greenland-Brinson-Gulick House of Princeton Township, the oldest house in the Millstone Valley, was begun before 1683 by Henry Greenland (center section). Possibly his grandson Barefoot Brinson added the wing at this end. When Major John Gulick bought the place in 1797 he probably built the more elegant part of the house at the far end. This part runs to carved Adamesque fireplaces, and is generally more spacious... The Gulick family, descendants of New Netherland [another ancestral family of the compiler], still live in the historic Greenland-Brinson-Gulick house, where the seventeenth century Division Line treat was signed so many years ago. (Menzies, caption to photo, 149)
Children, christened in Membury Parish, Devonshire, England,surname Greenland:
* i. Frances-2, b. about 1653; d. Princeton, Somerset Co.,NJ 1750-1756; m. 8 August 1681 Daniel-1 Brinson, b.Membury Parish, Devonshire, England 8 Sep 1653, d. Middlesex, Somerset Co., NJ about 1696; direct ancestors of the compiler; see Daniel Brinson of Middlesex, New Jersey for more information; m. (2) John Horner.
ii. Henry, b. about 1655; living in 1703 (John F. Hagaman, "Princeton and Its Institutions," SCHQ [Vol. I]).
iii. Mary, b. London, England ca. 1657; m. Cornelius
Longvelt/Longfield (SCHQ).
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1671 October 10: Capt. Walter Barefoot and Dr. Henry Greenland were involved in a law-suit with Abraham Drake, Benjamin Swett, and Henry Green. The court, held at Hampton ordered the marshall to levy on the "goods, chattels and land owned by Capt. Walter Barefoot, at Kittery Point over against ye great island," and also upon two thousand feet of pine boards owned by Dr. Greenland. [Norfolk County Deeds, vol. ii, p. 342 , 228, 229, cited by Currier, p. 143
More About Dr. Greenland and Mary Barefoote:
Marriage: 79
Children of Dr. Greenland and Mary Barefoote are:
67 i. Frances Greenland, born 1653 in Membury Parish, Membury, Devonshire, England; died 09 Aug 1751 in Princeton, Somerset, NJ; married Daniel Bryns Brinson 08 Aug 1681 in Devonshire, England.
ii. Henry Greenland
iii. Maria Greenland
232. Jacob GOSS, born 1670 in Bafel, Switzerland.
Child of Jacob GOSS is:
116 i. Frederick GOSS, born Abt. 1701 in Rithenfluh, Switzerland; died Aft. 1766 in Salisbury District, Rowan Co., North Carolina; married Betsy Richards 1719 in Switzerland Or Germany.
236. Rev. William Billings80,81,82,83,84, born 16 Feb 1697 in Preston, New London, CT; died 20 May 1733 in Hampton, Windham, CT. He was the son of 472. Capt. William Billings and 473. Hannah Sterry. He married 237. Bethiah Otis 1725 in Preston, CT.
237. Bethiah Otis85, born 20 Nov 1703 in Scituate, Plymouth, MA; died 29 May 1750 in New London, CT.
Notes for Rev. William Billings:
William Billings was the first pastor of the church of Hampton, ordained at the Hampton meetinghouse. Hampton was a pioneer parish. Most homes in Hampton were spare. Even a two-story house generally contained only four rooms. He served just shy of 10 years as minister, during which time he admitted 242 members and baptized 240 people. Not all of the congregation were enthusiastic about BILLINGS. In fact, one disenchanted member said, "I would rather hear my dog barking than hear Billings preach ."
Purchased from Samuel Ashley 100 acres including the Hill above North Bigelow AFT 5 JUN 1723 Hampton, Windham, CT over £872 Inventory AFT 20 MAY 1733 Hampton, Windham, CT
More About Rev. Billings and Bethiah Otis:
Marriage: 1725, Preston, CT
Children of Rev. Billings and Bethiah Otis are:
118 i. John Siegfried BILLING, born 01 Nov 1730 in Anspach, Germany; died 30 Jan 1801 in Rowan Co, NC; married Juliana WELLER 1754.
ii. William Billings, born 20 Mar 1725.
iii. Bethiah Billings, born 04 Nov 1727 in Medway, Suffolk, MA,.
iv. Patience Billings, born 03 Jun 1731 in Windham, Windham, CT.
