Elizabeth REYNOLDS

Elizabeth married Joshua KNAPP on 16 Mar 1686/7 in Greenwich, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA. Joshua (son of Joshua KNAPP and Hannah CLOSE) was born about 1662 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA; died before 1750 in Greenwich, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Jonathan married Rebecca ? about 1657. Rebecca was born about 1636; died after 1673. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

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"Connecticut Ancestry": John Reynolds was born in England say about 1610. The date and place of his death are unknown, and there has consequently been considerable speculation about his possible whereabouts during later life. he may have been the brother of Robert Reynolds of Boston, Watertown and Wethersfield.

A Sarah Reynolds died at Stamford on 31 August 1657 during the epidemic at Stamford thought to have been malaria. This record (alone) has let earlier researchers to claim that she was the wife of John Reynolds, but the original records does NOT give any relationship or age for her, even though the death was recorded on two separate pages. Since there is no other Stamford (or Greenwich) record that identifies this Sarah Reynolds, we must leave open the possibility that she was instead a daughter of John Reynolds, or even an early wife of one of his sons. Caution dictates that we refrain from accepting the earlier assumptions of other writers, including the usually careful Paul Prindle, and say only that the wife of John Reynolds MAY HAVE BEEN the SarahReynolds who died at Stamford in 1657, particularly since there are so few records at Stamford for John Reynolds himself.

A Sarah Reynolds, age 20 years, was on board the ELIZABETH, captained by William Andrews, that left Ipswich, County Suffolk, England for New England on 30 April 1634. Many researchers have speculated that this was the wife of our John Reynolds, who therefore must have come to America himself before that time, or who was on board the same ship but not listed for some reason. It is true that the family of Thurston Raynor and his wife Elizabeth were also on board that ship (along with others bound for Watertown) and the Raynors were also involved in the later migrations to Wethersfield and Stamford, as was John Reynolds.

Regardless of Whether this was indeed Sarah, wife of John Reynolds in the spring of 1634, it does seem probable that John himself had come at about that time since John "Reynolls" was listed next to Jeffrey Ferris on the list of persons taking the oath of freeman of the Massachusetts Bay Colony on 6 May 1635. these two men had very parallel careers at Watertown, Wethersfield, Stamford, and probably Greenwich, and their families intermarried, suggesting a possible relationship reaching back to their origins in England, not yet discovered.

On 14 November 1635, the town of Watertown "Agreed that Daniel Patrick: Brian Pembleton: Richard Bernard: Ephraim Child: Abram Browne: Charles Chaddock: & John Reynolds shall devide to every man his propriety of Meddow, & Upland that is plowable, & the rest to lie common."

The exact time of his arrival in Wethersfield is not known, but Wethersfield historians place it in either 1635 or 1636. On the other hand, Robert Reynolds, possibly his brother, is usually considered to be among the fist settlers of Wethersfield in 1635.

John Reynolds was certainly on the list of Wethersfield residents agreeing to settle at Stamford, and may have gone there early, with the first settlers in 1641 or 1642. However, there are remarkably few records on file for him at Stamford. He had no lands surveyed in 1651 as did so many Stamford citizens, and he was not mentioned as an adjoining landholder in any of the other surveys made at that time except for a single mention of John Holly's homelot as being "bounded by ye lot which was John Renoles". this lack of Stamford references has given rise to several speculations about a later career for John Reynolds, including a possible return to Wethersfield and/or to England, etc. Paul Prindle considered some of these possibilities, and added a few of his own, but without reaching any sure conclusion. At this point, and without further evidence, we must admit that the place, time and circumstances of John Reynolds' death are still unknown. Unquestionably, all three of John Reynolds' (known) children married into Greenwich families.

John married Sarah CHESTERFIELD. Sarah was born in 1614 in Ipswich, Suffolk, England; died on 21 Aug 1657 in Stamford, Fairfield Co., Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]