George SLAUSON

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: George Slason

George married Elizabeth DIBBLE on 22 Jan 1774/5 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA. Elizabeth (daughter of David DIBBLE and Abigail BOLT) was born on 17 Oct 1739 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA; died after 1798 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Nathan SLASON was born on 01 Feb 1777 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA; died in Feb 1811 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Jonathan Slason
• Name: Jonathan Slasson
• Military Service: Ensign

Jonathan married Rose STEVENS on 11 Jul 1711 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA. Rose (daughter of Obadiah STEVENS and Rebecca ROSE) was born on 14 Oct 1683 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

John moved to Bedford, Westchester County, New York in 1681, being influenced to do so by his brother, Eliezer. John did not like Bedford, and very shortly returned to Stamford, making the error of selling his land in Bedford without obtaining the necessary consent of the town itself. The land was promptly confiscated by the town, and it was only through his brother's influence that the matter was straightened out and new land assigned to John. This new land was then sold with the town's consent, and by 1682, he was again a resident of Stamford. He married a third time to Hannah Prunderson, widow of John Gibbs.

Name:
"Connecticut Ancestry": John Slason apparently died intestate, and his estate was administered by his eldest sons John and Jonathan Slason. His inventory was taken at Stamford on 29 November 1706 by Joseph Bishop, Daniel Scofield and Jonathan Bell; and the widow Hannah Slason appeared and verified the inventory on 5 arch 1706/07.

John married Sarah TUTTLE on 22 Nov 1663 in New Haven, New Haven Co., Connecticut. Sarah (daughter of William TUTTLE and Elizabeth MATHEWS) was christened in Apr 1642 in New Haven, New Haven County, Connecticut; died on 17 Nov 1676 in Milford, New Haven, Connecticut, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Baptism: Apr 1642

Notes:

Murdered with an ax by her brother. Her brother was hanged for the offense.[Slosson 11-20-00 Greene.FTW]

Sarah was killed with an axe on 17 Nov 1676 by her brother Benjamin Tutle, who, though probably insane, was executed for it 13 Jun 1677.

Obadiah married Rebecca ROSE on 18 Dec 1678 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA. Rebecca (daughter of Robert ROSE and Rebecca ?) was born on 14 Jul 1657 in Stratford, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA; died on 9 Jan 1728/9 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact: Daughter of Robert Rose and Rebecca Sherwood

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact: Admitted a Freeman
• Religion: Puritan (congregationalist)
• Occupation: May 1657; Judge of Stamford, Conn.
• Occupation: May 1659; Dep. Judge of Stamford, Conn.
• Occupation: Oct 1663; Deputy to New Hampshire Leg.
• Will: 19 Dec 1694

Notes:

From the introduction of "SLASON-SLAUSON-SLAWSON-SLOSSON" by George Slawson:
The original spelling of the name (after being Anglicized), and before it came to this country, was SLAWSON. When George SLAWSON came to America, it was so spelled in Lynn, Mass., and in Sandwich, Mass., and it was not until his arrival in Stamford in 1642 that the first variation occurred. In Stamford, the town clerk entered the name (and quite possible so at its owner's instigation, as he was an educated man) as SLASON. Thereafter, for over a hundred years, the town clerks of Stamford so spelled the name with a fine disregard for whatever method the possessor of the name might prefer. George, himself, signed his name on several documents--witnesses to treaties with the Indians, and various legal documents--and his signature is known with both spellings, although the SLAWSON spelling is predominant. In the course of time, the spelling of the town clerks of Stamford was quite widely accepted, but as it gave too easy rise to improper pronunciation, the majority of the family inserted either a U or a W in the middle to force correct pronunciation. Today, SLASON is the least common of the 4 methods of spelling of the name. The SLAUSON spelling came also from another source besides the one outlined above. It is a peculiarity of handwriting that the letters "WS" are difficult to form, and that of "US" are not. Purely as a convenience and aid to easier manipulation, many members of the family changed from SLAWSON to SLAUSON, and on several occasions both methods are in use by children of one family. The SLOSSON method of spelling received a comparatively late start in America, being unknown prior to 1739. During this year a group of families moved from Norwalk, Conn., to form a new settlement at Kent, Conn.; among them being the family of Nathaniel SLASON. On their arrival at Kent, one of their number was elected town clerk, and his first entry showed the families of Nathaniel SLOSSON, all of whose descendants still use this particular spelling. By about 1800, the various methods of spelling the name had become pretty well fixed in the various channels, and, except for occasional changes from SLAWSON to SLAUSON, few individuals varied the routine in vogue for their particular branches of the family.
Richard SLAWSON's name on the records in England was spelled SLAWSON, but there is nothing that he wrote it so-or even know how to write. There is however, ample evidence to prove that this spelling continued to exist in England, and later migrations to America have been made by individuals using this spelling. However, from the spellings used on tombstones, it would seem that the SLAWSON spelling was an Anglicized version of SLOSSON, which according to the author, was known as early as the twelfth century. There seems to be little doubt that this spelling was in use considerably earlier than 1600, and no evidence to prove it had not been completely abandoned in favor of SLAWSON by that date. In 1739 this spelling was again put into use, this time in America-- and it is in active use here today, but is apparently unknown in England.
Apparently neither George nor Thomas were too well equipped with funds, and being unable to afford passage, they shipped on as sailors. Upon reaching America they went ashore and stayed out of sight until the ship sailed without them. This was not an unusual occurrence, as the ships' records show they frequently left America with only a portion of their crews. It would also explain why the names were not on the passenger list.

George Slawson emigrated to America, probably on the ship JONAS which landed in 1636. The JONAS, John Crowther - master, was chartered for a voyage to Charleston (MA) and Boston Towne, but is is not known when she arrived or whether she brought passengers. George moved out of Lynn, MA in 1637 with a group of other persons to Sandwich, MA on Cape Cod. The name of his first wife (mother of all his children), whom he married at Sandwich, CA 1640, is unknown. They moved to Stamford, CT, in 1642 and settled there. Marriage No. 2 on 16 Dec 1680 at Fairfield, CT to Mary Williams (Jennings), the widow of Joshua Jennings.
There were no children by his second marriage. He died 17 FEB 1694/5 at
Stamford, and she died in March 1697. Prior to his arrival in Stamford, his
name was infallibly spelled SLAWSON, but the Stamford records usually refer to him as SLASON. According to his own writing, he used both spellings, apparently without much discrimination, although SLAWSON is the one he used most frequently.
Authors of local histories pertaining to the New England colonies agree that
George and Thomas (2) Slawson were in Lynn, MA in 1637, and that their names were included in the list of those who went from Lynn, Duxbury and Plymouth to form the new colony at Sandwich. Unfortunately, the early records of Sandwich are very meager, due largely to a fire which destroyed most of them.
See notes under Eleazer.

"George Slawson: An American Pioneer" by Harold Dye Slosson - Salied across the Atlaantic, landing in Lynn, Mass., 1636; then went south, helping found Sandwich; next west, becoming in 1642 a Stanford, Conn., pioneer.

Name:
"Connecticut Ancestry": The Slason Genealogy gives his parents names as Richard Slawson and Anne Angell, who were married at St. Saviour's Church in Southwark, Surrey on 13 March 1610. this Church is directly across the Thames River from London, and it is possible that Richard Slawson had come to the greater London area from some other place. Birth records for George Slason and his brother Thomas do not seem to have been found.

Both the Slason Genealogy and the Bedford genealogies report that he "probably" immigrated to the New World on the ship "jonas" in 1636, but without further explanation.

George Slason was in lynn, Essex County, massachusetts by 1637 and soon afterward in Sandwich, Brnstavle County (Cape Cod), by 1638. the name of George Slason (but not Thomas) appeared on an undated list of men who had taken the Oath of fidelity at Sandwich. George Slason (but not Thomas) was awarded 2 acred in a division of meadow land in Sandwich dated 16 April 1640.

The Slason "brothers" apparently removed from Sandwich to Stamford during the first year of settlement of that town. Thomas Slason was granted a houe lot and another 3 acres, and presumably George was also, but no record of such a grant to George seems to have been preserved. There is no further record of this Thomas Slason in Stamford and although it has been claimed that he quickly returned to the Plymouth Colony, it also seems possible that the single record for Thomas in Stamford instead belonged to George all along and that Thomas therefore never exited - at least not as a Stamford resident.

In a difficult chapter from Stamford's early years, George Slason and (Thomas Stevenson) had the unfortunate experience of being accused by the new Haven Court on 1 April 1644 with being responsible for the escape of the Dutchman who had murdered Capt. Daniel Patrick, and who was under arrest and under their guard at Stamford. Apparently because of the mitigating circumstances offered by Slason and Stevenson in their own defense, the case was not pursued and no sentences imposed.

Stamford Historian the Rev. Mr. Huntington called George Slason an "exemplary member of the church, a peace maker, and one whom all delighted to honor." Huntington also related that George Slason was one of two Stamford leaders (along with Francis Bell) chosen to call the Rev. John Bishop to be pastor at Stamford, replacing the Rev. Richard Denton who had abruptly left Stamford without pastoral leadership in about 1644. The source for this account is not clear but it was reported as follows at a celebration of the Church in 1841:

"Rev. John Bishop succeeded Mr. (Richard) Denton (as pastor of the stamford Congregational Church). To show the value which the church placed in that age, upon the regular ministrations of the Gospel, I will state the method of making out the call to Mr. Bishop. Hearing he was in the neighborhood of Boston, two brethren, George Slason and Francis Bell, were deputed to go to Boston, and if he was to be found to make known to him the wishes of the Church. Although the country was full of hostile Indians, they went on foot carrying their provisions, and succeeded at length in finding Mr. Bishop "to the eastward of Boston." He accepted the call and returned with them on foot bringing his Bible under his arm, through the wilderness, to Stamford. (This Bible is still in the possession (in 1841) of Mr. Noah Bishop, one of his descendants.) Mr. Bishop labored here in the inistry nearly 50 years, and died in 1693."

The lands of George Slason were recorded in the Spring of 1650/51, when most of Stamford's land holdings were summarized in the Town Records. Unfortunately, the page has been torn so a complete description of some of his outlying land has been lost. His homelot, however, is described as "One house and home lot with an acre and half adjoining to it, the home lot, and it contains 3 acres, more or less, bounded by Obadiah Seeley to the South, Thomas Morris (to the) NOrth, abutting the highway (on the) West & the Meadow (on the) East."

George Slason served at least twice as Deputy (Representative) from Stamford to the New haven Colony Court at New Haven, in 1657 and 1663. After Stamford and the other New Haven Colony towns became a part of the Connecticut Colony, George Slason and his sons John and Eleazer were three of 21 Stamford men who were approved as freemen by the Connecticut Assembly at their meeting in Hartford of 14 October 1669.

He married (2) at Fairfield on 16 December 1680, Mary (Williams) Jennings widow of Joshua Jennings who had died at Fairfield in 1675. they had made an extensive pre-nuptial contract on 18 November 1680 including recognition that she would "bring two or three of her younger children with her." Mary (Williams) Jennings) Slason returned to Fairfield after the death of George Slason. She made her will there on 27 march 1697, naming her (own) children Matthew, isaac, Samuel, Joshua and Joseph Jennings and Mary Curtis, her grandson John Smith, and "daughter in law hannah Jennings." Her inventory was taken during 1697 and filed on 10 January 1697/98.

Prior to the time of his second marriage, George Slason transferred title to a substantial portion of his property in Stamford to his three children. On 10 September 1680, he confirmed and clearly identified lands that he had "formerly given" to his son in law John Gold to be his forever "as part or portion to or with my daughter Hanna." The gift included his house and 3 1/2 acre homelot on south Street, and another 3 acres of upland in the North Field. Apparently John Gold had previously made a partial payment to his father in law since he (Gold) signed a note attached to this deed of gift that courteously allowed his benefactor to keep the previous partial payment, "The aforsaid John Gold doth (in consideration of ye premises) aquit & discharg his farther-in-aw for named of what sum so ever ye said Gold paid in pte of purchase of he said house & lands, viz: three pounds or there abouts."

Then, about 2 month later on the 3rd day, 10th month (December) 1680, George Slason made substantial gifts of property to both of his sons, John and Eleazer. Both deeds were witnessed by Jonathan Bell and Samuel Weed, and for some reason were not recorded until 16th day 2nd month (April) 1686.

George Slason made his will at Stamford on 19 December 1694, mentioning his wife but not by name, and his sons John and Eleazer and his daughter the wife of John Gold. His signature is smudged on the document, but it is clear that he could write his own name at the time. He added a codicil about 3 weeks later (9 January 1694/5), signed at this time only with his G S mark. Both instruments were witnessed by Abraham Ambler and Samuel Holly.

His inventory was taken by Jonathan Bell and Jonas Weed and filed on 5 November 1695, consisting of over 25 acres of land and rights still remaining in his name, livestock, tools, household furnishings, and 3 old bibles.

George married Mrs. George SLAWSON about 1640 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA. Mrs. was born about 1619 in Sandwich, Barnstable, Massachusetts, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Name:
"Connecticut Ancestry": William Tuttle and his young family signed on to the list of passengers on the "Planter", Mr. Nicholas Travice (Travis), master, bound from London to the New England in the spring of 1635, leaving Gravesend on 2 April, 1635, bound for Boston.

"William Tuttell, husbandman 26 (abt. 1609)
Elizabeth Tuttell 23 (abt. 1612)
John Tuttell 3 1/2 (abt. 1632)
Ann Tuttell 2 1/4 (abt. 1633)
Thonas Tuttell 3 months (b. 1635)

The overall list of names of passengers on the "Planter" is extremely important in that it contains the names of the other related Tuttle families as well as such other well-known early connecticut settlers as William Wilcockson and William Beardsley, and (Mrs.) Eglin Hanford and her daughters Margaret and Elizabeth Hanford, mother and sisters of the Rev. Thomas Hanford later to become the first pastor of the settlement at Norwalk, Connecticut. This was indeed a handsome passenger list and the potential connections between and among these people is typical of Great Migration settlers who migrated together to New England and were associated in various ways thereafter.

William Tuttle settled in Charlestown, Massachusetts, while his brother Richard went to Boston proper and John went on to Ipswich. During his first year at Charlestown, William Tuttle was given permission to build a windmill there, and his wife joined the Boston Church shortly afterward on 24 July 1636, as did many other Charlestown families.

His incentive for joining with the Davenport - Eaton group in the founding of New Haven is not known. For whatever reason, however, he moved with his family to New Haven sometime between his son David's baptism at Boston on 7 April 1639, and 4 June 1639 when his name appeared as a signer of the Fundamental Agreement of the first planters of New Haven.

"Will Touttle" was listed in a place of importance (5th on the list even though his estate was not among the highest in value) on New Haven's comprehensive grand list of planters and heir properties and tax rates in late 1640. This list tells us that there were 7 persons in William Tuttle's household at that time. Bob Anderson used this fact, couples with the fact that an additional child was baptized on 22 November 1640, to determine one boundary of the time of making this otherwise undated list.

With other colonial interests beginning to contend for rights in the Long Island Sound region, the New Haven Colony demanded an Oath of Fidelity be taken by its residents in the summer of 1644 (and afterward until the Colony was absorbed by Connecticut in 1662). William Tuttle was among 28 planters taking that oath on 5 August 1644.

There are several good printed summaries of William Tuttle's numerous records in New Haven, and they will not need to be repeated here. Of these, the most comprehensive are the Tuttle Genealogy itself, Paul Prindle's Gillespie Ancestry (178-90), Branch of Simon (85-105), and Moore Genealogy (532-47). From these records most researchers have concluded that William Tuttle was held in high regard for his judgment and fairness; that he was regularly assigned prominent seating positions in the church sanctuary, also indicating high regard in the community (and solid support for the church); and that he often held positions of responsibility having to do wit boundaries and personal disputes, but did not seek or fulfill any major elected offices.

He owned a considerable amount of property throughout the greater New Haven area, described in detail in many of the same references just cited. After his death and that of his widow, his homestead property at the corner of College and Chapel Streets in New Haven was sold out of the family by its administrators and in 1717 became the site of the newly organized Yale College, later yale University. "The Tuttle homestead was the only land owned by the college for nearly 30 years. It was the first of a long series of purchases (by the college) extending through a period of more than a century, which finally bought the whole of the College Square into its possession. In these transfers, descendants of Wm. Tuttle, who at one time or another owned a considerable part of the square, appear as grantors, either directly to the college or to intermediate holders."

I have not been able to find a concrete reason why three of the Tuttle children married into families from Stamford Although Stamford was originally part of the New Haven Colony, it was quite well separated by distance, and the towns of Norwalk, Fairfield and Stratford, all part of the Connecticut Colony, lay between Stamford and the nearest New Haven Colony Settlement at Milford. Jonathan married Rebecca Bell who had been born in Stamford, Sarah married John Slason who had been born in Stamford, and many of their brother John's children moved to Norwalk and Stamford as well, so his wife Catherine Lane may have been a Stamford girl. Since William Tuttle's brothers both settled in other parts of New England, it may have been Elizabeth (?) Tuttle William's wife, who was one who had the Stamford associations. Until her identity can be determined, this curious connection with Stamford families will have to remain a mystery.

William and Elizabeth Tuttle had to deal with more than their share of problems in their children's lives. This heavy dose of family difficulty was glossed over and generally not even mentioned by the 1883 Tuttle Genealogy, probably out of a desire to spare many descendants fro embarrassment. Later writers, however, notably Prindle and DeForest, have felt it more appropriate to document these serious problems along with their genealogies, providing readers with a more complete understanding of what we would now call the "family history."

Prindle introduced the subject by discussing a Connecticut State Law that provides for sterilization of individuals who might "produce children with an inherited tendency to crime, insanity, feeble-mindedness, idiocy, or imbecility...", the implication being that William Tuttle's family was somewhat formally considered to be an example of the inheritance of undesirable character traits. Prindle then added (without personal commentary) the observation that William Tuttle also shared blood lines with many highly regarded persons, including the Rev. Timothy Edwards and Sir Winston Churchill, and pointed out that the Tuttle Genealogy had estimated that "at least four hundred, or one in twenty-five (graduates of yale University) are known to be of this lineage or affinity, and so of its professional schools (including two Yale Presidents)."

Writing a generation earlier than Prindle, Donald L. Jacobus had mentioned William Tuttle's family as an example in a chapter titled, "Genealogy and Eugenics." Jacobus presented evidence that so-called "defective" persons could produce offspring that were perfectly responsible and desirable citizens, and that well-meaning attempts at selective breeding among humans(eugenics) could therefore potentially do as much damage as good. He cautioned that, "There may be the risk that in eliminating an undesirable trait, a desirable trait linked with it may also "bred out'", and also offered the comforting thought that "I have concluded fro my own studies that in the long run nature eliminates the most degenerate human strains."

Our immediate interest is in the daughter Sarah, born in 1642 at new Haven. In 1660 (when she was 18 and still unmarried) she was called into New Haven court for "imodest, uncivell, wanton, lascivious manner" in her speech and behavior. Actually, all she was accused of was kissing another man in public (which she denied) and having some fresh words for a newly married couple about what they would do that night (which she did not deny). But she was found guilty and fined 20 shillings, the sentence later reduced by half at the request of her father.

Except for this questionable instance in New Haven, we have no evidence that Sarah Tuttle could have been considered unsociable or otherwise degenerate in any way. She married John Slason of Stamford in November 1663, moved back to Stamford with him and began her own family with four children being born to them by 1672. On 17 November 1676, Sarah's younger brother Benjamin Tuttle, age about 28 years, unmarried and living in the Slason household, went berserk about an hour and a half after dark and brutally murdered his sister with an ax in front of her own hearth and in full view of the Slason children. Benjamin confessed to the crime, was found guilty, and was executed by hanging at New Haven on 13 June 1677. the jury who made the original inquest at Stamford the night of the crime consisted of twelve respected male citizens of Stamford, including (at least) two other ancestors of William Weed: Henry Smith and Daniel Scofield. Writing to his friend the Rev. Increase Mather in April 1677, Stamford's pastor the Rev. John bishop reported, "An horrid murther committed among us, here at Stamford. A brother killing his own dear sister, "a very good woman that loved him dearly",...It was one Benjamin Tuttle...."

William married Elizabeth MATHEWS in 1631. Elizabeth was born in 1612 in England; died on 30 Dec 1684 in New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Name:
"Connecticut Ancestry": Thomas Stevens was in Stamford at least by 1649 (probably as early as 1641), and died there on 19th day, 6th month (August) 1658, as a relatively young family man. He is often said to have been a close relative, either a brother or son, of a John Stevens, also of Stamford. This seems to be due to the single mention of a John Stevens in the Stamford Town Records, that being a surviving fragment of a legal proceeding in which Abram Ambler Sr. gave bond in connection with an attachment "taken out agst John Stevens, Ye (...words missing...) Fairfield this 21st April 1686." The Rev. Mr. Huntington placed this John Stevens on his list of first settlers of Stamford, since he found another record in which (?) Stevens had been granted land on 7 December 1641. The official transcription of the Town Records does not give the final letter in the first name of this Stevens as "n" as did Mr. Huntington, and in fact does not give any letters at all for that first name. Since there are not other records at all for a John Stevens in Stamford, I believe we may conclude that no such person ever existed in that town (at least before 1686, and then instead more likely in Fairfield, as suggested by the above record fragment.

It therefore seems probable that our subject THOMAS Stevens was the person granted a house lot in 1641, and that he should be placed on the lists of original Stamford settlers instead of John. Savage apparently came to the same conclusion, since his comprehensive GENEALOGICAL DICTIONARY places Thomas Stevens in Stamford in 1641.

Furthermore, the New Haven colony Records document an episode at Stamford in November 1643 in which a Thomas "Stevenson," along with George Slason, was assigned to guard a Dutch prisoner overnight, and who was later charged, at a New Haven Magistrates Court on 1 April 1644, with the responsibility for the prisoner's escape. There are no other records of anyone named Stevenson in Stamford at this time and it is very likely that this situation involved our subject Thomas Stevens instead.

Certainly Thomas Stevens had accumulated several pieces of property in Stamford before the general real estate inventory that was made in 1649-1652 for the Town Records. Although there is no survey of his own lands at that time in the surviving records, he appeared as an adjoining property owner in the descriptions of the lands of at least 9 different neighbors, with the earliest record being that of Thomas Morehouse on the 31st day, 11th month(February) 1649/50. This accumulation of property confirms that Thomas Stevens must have been in Stamford for a considerable time before 1650, reinforcing the theory that it was he who arrived in 1641, and not some other Stevens individual (and also that he was probably the Thomas "Stevenson" of the Dutch prisoner incident).

Several very incomplete and imperfect genealogies have been published covering one or more individual lines from Thomas Stevens, and no comprehensive family genealogy is available at this time. Perhaps the most complete (and very careful) study of the family to date has been published in chart form by Mrs. Halstead. Her chart entitled "Stevens Family" appeared in the New Canaan Historical Society's first ANNUAL in 1946.

Thomas Stevens married at an unknown time and place, Ann (?), who survived him and married (2) sometime after 1658, Frances Holmes, another early Stamford settler. Several writers have reported this relationship, but without documentation. The evidence is contained, however, in the following Stamford Land records. On 20 December 1686, the brothers Obadiah, Benjamin and Joseph Stevens agreed that their mother, "the widow Homs," would live with her son benjamin Stevens, with some support being provided by the other two brothers in the form of certain specified gifts of animals. And, on 1 April 1689, Ann Homs, widow, signing with her X mark, gave "a sartain ox" to her son Joseph Stevens. Francis Holmes had died at Stamford before 14 February 1675/76 when his inventory was taken.

None of the children of Thomas Stevens had their births recorded at Stamford. The names of Obadiah, Benjamin and Joseph come from the land records already mentioned. Ephraim Stevens was granted a house lot by the town on 25 February 1668/69, and died before 1676/77 when his estate was distributed to his brothers and sister, including Obadiah Stevens and Obadiah Seeley, who had married the sister, Esther Stevens. Obadiah Seeley and Obadiah Stevens agreed on 2 January 1676/77 that "our two brothers Benjamin and Joseph Stevens" should have their brother Ephraim's entire estate. Some writers have proposed a fifth son, a Thomas Stevens Jr., presumably named for his father, who "had land in Stamford in 1670", but this appears to be in error. The land record quoted for 1670 actually refers to "ye land yt was Thomas Stevens", and therefore does not prove a person by that name living in 1670. both Obadiah and Benjamin had sons named thomas Stevens, but their father apparently did not, at least not one that survived to manhood.

Thomas Stevens made his will at Stamford on 18 August 1658 (the day before his death), and it was probated at Fairfield on 30 November 1658. the will mentioned a wife and children, but no names were given. Thomas Stevens, signed with his "T.S." mark, which is more than a typical "X" and may indicate some education, and the use of initials perhaps due to extreme weakness at the time of signing. His wife was to receive the entire estate for her benefit in bringing up the children, but if she were to remarry, then the estate was to be divided into thirds, with the wife receiving one third and the children receiving 2/3 as a group, with the eldest son to receive a double child's portion "if he be deserving."

The estate was settled by the Fairfield Probate Court on 14 March 1670/71, with the court naming the eldest son Obadiah Stevens administrator at that time, about 12 years after his father's death. Obadiah must have been found deserving, since he was granted the full double portion......

Thomas married Anna ?. Anna was born in England; died in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Robert married Rebecca ?. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]