John BETTS, Jr.

John married Damaris LOCKWOOD on 17 Apr 1722 in Norwalk, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA. Damaris (daughter of Deacon Eliphalet LOCKWOOD and Mary GOLD) was born on 07 Nov 1701 in Norwalk, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA; died on 24 Mar 1776. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

John married Hannah BELL on 29 Oct 1685 in Connecticut, USA. Hannah (daughter of Jonathan BELL and Mercy CRANE) was born on 29 Oct 1665 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA; died before 1702. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Name:
He, the ancestor of the American family, came to America, as early as 1634 being then twenty-one years old, and became one of the founders of Guilford. No record of the ship on which he came to America. It is supposed he came with relatives or friends and being a minor his name was not recorded as was often the case. He brought with him a Bible dated 1691, which is still in possession of the family. Unfortunately the first page, which may have recorded his father's name, are missing. First records of him, Book Apxl Court Records, in Guilford under the date August 14, 1645, records Mr. Thomas Betts, member of the church and took their oath. He received several allotments of land being one of the original forty settlers. He must have joined the colonists from overland. Besides the births of his children there is little about him from 1644 to 1657. On November 17, 1657, he sold his "outland" and three days later his home lot. He removed to Milford, where he remained until 1660, when he purchased the home lot of Nathaniel Eli and Ralph Keeler in the town of Norwalk, which was ever afterwards his home. He was made a freeman October 13, 1664, which made him eligible for office and proved him a church member. His taxable estate was valued in 1671 an 146 pounds 10 shillings and he appears in the 1672 census with the largest family in town, consisting of eight children.
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His name appears in a list complied in 1656 of the original settler of Norwalk; it appears again in R. R. Himan's 1846 "Catalogue of the names of the First Puritain Settlers of the Colony of Connecticut" (pp. 18-19).

Thomas owned land valued at 146 pounds, 10 shillings in 1673.

Thomas Jr., his eldest, owned land valued at 10 pounds (p. 61).

Thomas Betts on 12 Dec 1687 participated in a drawing for lots of land "over Norwalk River, below the path leading to the meadow field," "to be granted to those only who are proper inhabitants," and was number 4, receiving 4 lots. John Betts was number 7, receiving 11 lots;

Samuel Betts received 35,

Thomas Jr, 40, and

Daniel, 44 (pp. 82-83).

Hall, Edwin. Historical Records of Norwalk, Connecticut with a Plan of the Ancient Settlement and of the Town in 1847. Norwalk, CT: James Mallory, 1847.

He is mentoned again in The History of Guilford and Madison Connecticut by Bernard Christian Steiner (Google books, http://books.google.com/books?id=ZNYLAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Thomas+Betts%22&dq=%22Thomas+Betts%22& lr=&pgis=1, original edition 1897), page 125:

"Thomas Betts was one of the first settlers and of the smaller class of planters. He removed to Milford in 1657 and sold his accommodations to George Highland. In 1660 he again removed to Norwalk, where he died in 1688, aged about 70."

Thomas married Mary RAYMOND in 1643 in Norwalk, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Mary Redmond

Jonathan married Mercy CRANE on 22 Oct 1662 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA. Mercy (daughter of Jasper CRANE and Alice ?) was born on 01 Mar 1644/5 in New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut, USA; died on 26 Oct 1671 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Francis married Rebecca ?. Rebecca died on 17 May 1684 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Name:
Jasper Crane was one of the original settlers of the New Haven Colony, June 4, 1639, and signed the first agreement at a general meeting of all the free planters held in Mr. Newman's barn. He took the oath of fidelity at the organization of the government, with Campfield, Pennington, gov. Eaton and others. In 1644 he was "freed from watching and trayning in his own person because of his weakness, but to find one for his turn." Was a member (with Treat) of the general Court, and many years a magistrate. Was interested in a bog-ore furnace at East Haven in 1651. He removed to Branford in 1652. He was elected a magistrate in 1658, and held the office of deputy for some years previous to that date.

In a note-book kept by Thomas Lechford, Esq., a lawyer in Boston, Massachusetts Bay, from June 27, 1638, to July 29, 1641, we find the following: "Samuel Searle of Quinapeage Planter in behalfe of Jasper Crane of the same Agent or Attorney for Mr. Roe Citizen of London Demiseth unto Henry Dawson and John Search of the Same one house and house lott and three acres of land lying in Boston wherein William Herricks now dwelleth from 29 Sept. next for five years four pounds ten shillgs rent half yearly, to fence to the value four pounds ten shillings, to repaire 21-6-1640."

the transaction, showing his connection with a gentlemen of London, England, would lead one to think that he certainly was known there, and might have lived there. Whether or not the above record furnished the foundation for the tradition that he came from London to America, we do not know. but such a tradition has been cherished by some of his descendants. Extensive research among the record offices in London has thus far failed however of finding any trace of him there. It is also said that he came over from England with Winthrop in the ship "Arbella".

But the date of Jasper Crane's birth, or the place in which he was born, have not been fixed. Whether he came fro parents occupying high or middle stations in life can as yet only be determined by the records revealed to us. He assuredly was one of the staunch and active men among the first settlers of the New Haven Colony as well as one of the fathers of the new settlement in New Jersey. He, with Capt. Robert Treat, seemed to have a large share of the weight of responsibility of that young colony upon their shoulders, and its success at heart. Mr. Crane did not go, it is said, with the first company to "milford," as the first settlement at Newark, New Jersey, was called, but signed, with twenty-two others, the first contract in 1665. Jan. 20, 1667, he headed the list of signers and church members of the first Church at Newark, and became one of the most influential and active men of the new colony. Jasper Crane and Robert Treat were the first magistrates in Newark. It is said that Mr. Crane was dissatisfied at the New Haven Colony becoming united with the Connecticut Colony; he preferred to have the New Haven Colony remain separate.

He was a surveyor and merchant, as well as a magistrate, and with Mr. Myles laid out the most of the New Haven town plot, located grants, established division lines, and settled disputed titles. It is said that he was steward of Rev. John Davenport's property in 1639. In March, 1641, he received a grant of 100 acres of and in the East Meadow. he was one of the New Haven Company concerned in the settlement on the Delaware River in 1642, who were so roughly handled by the Dutch. In 1643 his estate was voted at L480, with three persons in his family, - self, wife and son John. In 1644-45 he received a grant of 16 acres of upland, situated in East Haven upon which he built a house, in which his son Joseph was born. While residing at this place he was in trade as a merchant, but not being satisfied with the location he sold this place Sept. 7, 1652, and became one of the first planters of Branford, Conn., a new settlement then just being instituted by families from Wethersfield, Conn., under the leadership of Mr. Swayne, and a few from Southampton, Long Island.....

Jasper married Alice ?. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]