Ron Myers Genealogy:
CHRISTOPHER, Boston, came in the Elizabeth and Ann, from London 1635, aged 21, with w. Susanna, 31, join. our ch. 16 May 1641, and was adm. freem. 2 June foll. He is call. taylor, wh. in my opin. means a mem. of the gr. comp. of Merch. Taylors of London; was a capt. and d. early in 1646, leav. good est. to his wid. beside sev. legacies and devises, but names no ch. Of his will. 27 Mar. in that yr. abstr. is in Geneal. Reg. IV. 52, and therein it appears not to have been brot. to pro. until 29 Jan. 1650. His wid. m. William Phillips, and 10 Sept. 1650, with assent of her new h. made her wll of the est. that came from Stanley pro. 2 Aug. 1655. See Phillips, or a larger abstr. in Geneal. Reg. V. 447.---from "Hartford" Stanley Families Of America, Savage Excerpts.
"Field Genealogy" gives the wife of Zechariah Field as "Mary ___." Various ancestral files give his wife as Mary Stanley, daughter of Christopher Stanley. She is sometimes shown to be the wife of Robert Field. The dates of her birth and death do not reconcile with Christopher Stanley. Therefore, Mary Stanley is questionable as the wife of Zechariah. With this awareness, she is still shown here as his wife pending clarification by further research.---RCM
"Three Hundred Colonial Ancestors and War Service", page 102, cites the "Compendium of American Genealogy," Vol III, page 661, that Zachariah Field married Mary, d/o Christopher Stanley, of Boston.---RCM
Family Tree Maker Online: GenealogyLibrary.com: The Stanley Families, Page 19 Pagel of2
The Stanley Families
Page 19
THE HARTFORD EARGRANTS
THE beginning of our knowledge respecting the three ancestral brothers from whom the Stanley family of
Connecticut is descended, is to be found in the following entry in the Massachusetts Colonial Records, Vol.
I., p. 134.
"Att a Court, holden att Newe Towne, March 3, 1634. Whereas John Stanley dyed intestate, in the way to
Newe England, & lefte three children vndisposed of, the yongest whereof is since disceased, haveing also
lefte an estate of cxvjl, in goods & chattells, & c, it is therefore ordered, with the consent of Thomas Stanley,
brother to the said John, disceased, that hee shall haue forthwith the some of lviijl of the sd estate putt into
his hands; in consideracon whereof, the said Thomas Stanley shall educate & bring vpp John Stanley,
sonne of John Stanley, disceased, finding him meate, drinke, & app'ell, till hee shall accomplishe the age of
xxi yeares, & att the end of the said tearme shall giue vnto the said John Stanley the some of ffifty pounds.
"Also, it is further ordered, with. the consent of Tymothy Stanley, another brother of the aforesd John
Stanley, disceased, that the other Iviijl of the aforesaid estate shalbe put,into the hands of the said Tymnthy
Stanley, in consideracon whereof the said Tymothy shall educate & bring vpp Rueth Stanley, daughter of
the aforesd John Stanley, disceased, findeing her meate, drinke, and app’ell, till shee shall attaine the age
of one & twenty yeares; & att the end of the said tearme, or att the day of her marriage, with Tymothy
Stanteyes consent, shall giue vnto the sd Ruth Stanley the some of thirty pounds; provided if eyther of the
said children shall dye before the expiracon of the said tearmes, then the p’ty whoe kept the said childe
shall stand to the order of the Court for payeing soe much to the survyeving childe as the Court shall
appoynct."
The date, of the above order, according to our present mode of reckoning, is March 3, 1635. At that time
the civil year began March 25, and the months of January, February, and so much of March instead of
being at the beghming of the year, were at its close. It is customary, in giving dates of that period, to put
the last figure of the year in duplicate, or in the form of a fraction, thus, 1634-5, or 1634/5. The date
referred to is March 3d, of the year ending March 25, 1634, or of the year beonning January 1, 1635.
These families had arrived in Boston some nine months previous, in May, 1634; at least Timothy Stanley
certainly and the others in all probability, for there is no reason to doubt that they all came together. There
is on file among the Colonial papers at Hartford, a deposition from the wife of Timothy, who after his death
manied Andrew Bacon, which sheds some light on that subject.
"Elisabeth Bacon aged aboute seaventy one yeares testifyeth that I come over ffrom old Engelande in a
ship with Samuell Greenehill and his wife in the yeare one Thousand sixe Hundred and Thirty and ffoure,
and wee arrived in New Englande some time in Maye, 34: 1 allso doe. well. remember that goodwife
Greenehill and myselfe did usually account thatt her son Thomas Greenebill and my son Timothy Stanly
was of the same age and they did boath suck when they weare one ship boarde. And frurder I doe testifye
thatt my son Timothy was borne in Janewary was a twelve month before wee came, oute of Englande, w’ch
was in Janewary one Thousande sixe hundred thirty and two. And allso I doe well remember thatt Samuel
Greenehill was reputed by those thatt weare well aquainted with him in the ship a man of a considerable
estate and was accordingly entertayned in the ship wiih Mr. Willard and Mr. Pantry, and Mr. Crayffoote and
others of good account. Allso, the age of my son Timothy is sett downe in a Booke of my husband
Stanley's which may be seene, if neede be, with the age of ye reste of my chilldren, and ffurder saith nott.”
From "Private Controversies," II. 8.
The above, is without date or signature, in the handwriting of her son, Caleb Stanley.
Of the three brothers, John Stanley was probably a widower, since no mention was made of his wife or the
mother of his children, whose ages were about ten, six, and respectively. It is barely possible that he had a
second wife, Elizabeth Stanley, who married William Smith in Hartford in 1644, but as no mention is made
of her in the court order respecting John Stanley's estate or children, the supposition seems improbable.
Timothy Stanley, probably the second in age, had a wife and infant child; and Thomas Stanley, the
youngest, a wife but no ciildren. It is not a little remarkable that nothing beyond the bare fact is said of the
elder brother's death, the time, or the circumstances of it.
Mrs. Bacon does not give the name of the vessel in which they came. Winthrop's Journal, under date of
May 14, 1634, says, "the week the Court was (May 14-16), there came in six ships, with store of
passengers and cattle." And ten days later he adds, "These ships by reason of their short passage had
store of provisions left, which they putoff at easy rates, viz. biscuit at 20 s. the hundred, beef at ce6 per the
hogshead, etc." Evidently the Stanleys came in one of these ships after a short and prosperous voyage,
which must have been very grateful to the young wife of Timothy, who had a nursing babe to care for.
Of their fellow passengers on the ship, Mrs. Bacon mentions Mr. Willard, Mr. Pantry, Mr. Crayfoot, and
Samuel Greenhill, all except the last bearing what was then a designation of honor, the prefix "Mr." They
were all persons "of good account" for wealth and social standing, and the evidently familiar terms in which
she stood with them indicates that the Stanleys also, at least the elder, were recognized as of similar
degree.
And this gives us a slight but perhaps not insignificant view to the locality in England from which they came.
Simon Willard, one of the founders of Groton, Mass., and a distinguished soldier in the war against the
Indians, was of Horsmonden in the county of Kent. Greenhill was of Staplehurst in the same county. |||