Richard BRITTON

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact: Son of Richard Britton of Batcombe, Somersetshire, England

Notes:

Name:
It has been asserted by an eminent historian that Nathaniel Britton arrived in America, with his brother, William, and that they settled in New Hampshire in 1652, and later moved to Newtown and Flatland.

Anne Stillwell may have been born about 1635-40, probably in Virginia, where her father was sojourning at this date. Her childhood was largely spent in Gravesend, Long Island, where she became the wife of Nathaniel Britton, a dry goods merchant, who sold his stores in all the villages on the west end of the Island, and who joined farming and occasionally tapping, to his other industries. Nathaniel Britton was a man of good English extraction, shrewd, pertinacious of his rights, perhaps contentious, of good education and fair means. He held office occasionally but apparently a good portion of his time was spent in the courts, either as a plaintiff or a defendant. A good many of the early settlers were accustomed to get solace or enjoyment out of these legal bouts, and the scarcity of public events was a stimulus thereto.

The marriage of Anne Stillwell to Nathaniel Britton probably occurred between 1653 and 1656. Her father Nicholas Stillwell, was t this date living in the town of Amersfoort, a village whose boundaries more than once overlapped those of Gravesend.

As early as 1660, Britton owned a farm in Amersfoort (also called Flatlands) which he had bought from Hendrick Corneillessen. When, in the Fall of 1663, Nicholas Stillwell frustrated the efforts of the English to overthrow the Dutch onLong Island, it was to the dwelling of Nathaniel Britton that Nicholas Stillwell fled from his own when he was menaced by the approach of the hostile English, following the arrest of James Chrystie. When Nicholas Stillwell decided, in 1663, to sell his plantation, he stipulated that 'reasonable satisfaction be made to my son-in-law Nathaniel Brittaine for the house and housing which he, the said Nathaniel, hath built upon said land.' Nathaniel Britton, thus ousted, proceeded to buy a farm, April 3, 1664, from Albert Alnertse (Terhune). This was located at New Utrecht, and happening to be upon the dividing line between New Utrecht and Gravesend, it was claimed by both towns.' Subsequent litigation proved that Nathaniel was not a Frenchman.

In 1664, Nathaniel Britton made application for a patent for one hundred and forty-four acres of land on Staten Island, near, or at Old Town. On Sept. 29, 1677,, 'though thirteen years had elapsed, it was confirmed to him, and here upon the Island (probably before 1670), he again turned his attention to agriculture and apparently remained a farmer until his demise. His fondness for litigation was not impaired, for from time to time he appeared as a plaintiff or defendant, in the local courts.


Nathaniel and Anne may have had other children, but probably not those listed in 'Staten Island and Its People, by Leng and Davis 2:869, which do not conform to the will

Nathaniel married Anne STILLWELL between 1653 and 1656. Anne was born between 1635 and 1640 in Poss. Virginia. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact: Daughter of Lieut. Nicholas Stillwell and Anne