John MEIGS

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact: 1657, Freeman

Notes:

John changed the spelling of the name to Meigs, its present form. He was married in England, and his eldest child, Mary was born there. John resided in Weymouth, Mass. and in New Haven, Conn. in 1647; removed to Guilford, Conn. in 1654, and to Killingworth, Conn, in 1663, where he was made a freeman in 1669. In 1654 he was admitted a planter in that portion of Guilford now included in Madison, upon certain conditions pertaining to the purchase of land there. He is not represented as having been a quiet man, nor Puritanical in his character, for he was sometimes turbulent and given to having litigation with the town authorities. Yet he was public spirited withal, and rendered some good public services.. He was a man of superior intellectual type, as appears by the manuscripts and books mentioned in his will, and he must have been a man of considerable education and culture. He was many times entrusted with public business, serving as Constable, and Representative to Hartford. Was a tanner , had a large estate, and some books, of which one was a Latin and Greek Dictionary. John was a one time, 1648-1658, second owner by purchase of the Cutler lot (SE corner of Chapel and Church streets, New Haven). The deed of conveyance reads: "Wm Jeanes passeth over to John Meigs his house and house lot lying at the corner over against Mr. Gregson's--betwixt the house lot of John Budd and the highway." Col. Return Jonathan Meigs was a descendant, whose son became Governor of Ohio and Postmaster-General of the United States.
According to Stiles' History of the Regicides, it was John Meigs who rode to New Haven to warn the regicides.

John married Thomasine FRY in 1630. Thomasine (daughter of William FRY and Sarah HILL) was born in 1610 in England; was buried in Guilford Cementary. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Mary MEIGS was born in 1633 in Kenilworth, Warwick, England; died on 30 Apr 1703 in Killingsworth, Middlesex County, Connecticut.
2. Elizabeth MEIGS died in 1664/5 in Peguonnock, Fairfield Co., Connecticut.
3. Deacon John MEIGS, Jr. was born on 28 Feb 1641 in Rehoboth, Bristol County, Massachusetts; died on 09 Nov 1713 in Guilford, New Haven County, Connecticut; was buried in Alderbrook Cemetery, Guilford, New Haven Co., Connecticut.
4. Concurrence MEIGS was born in Weymouth, England; died on 09 Oct 1708 in Killingsworth, Middlesex County, Connecticut; was buried in Old Cemetery, Killingworth, Middlesex, Connecticut.
5. Tryal MEIGS was born in 1646 in New Haven, New Haven Co., Connecticut; died in 1690.

Notes:

Vincent emigrated to America,and is supposed to have been the progenitor of all of the names in the United States. Vincent and his family are first heard of at Plymouth, Mass., in 1637, and again at Weymouth, Massachusetts in 1639. They removed to Rehoboth, Mass., and about 1644 to New Haven, Connecticut. The group arrived in Hammonassett, East Guilford (now Madison) Conn. in 1654, where Vincent Built a house. There is a tradition that his was the first interment in Hammonassett Cemetery. From that day to the present time the name is synonymous in this country with public service, and many of the line have attained to eminence, with honors, both public and private. His wife died before his migration.

Vincent married ? CHURCHILL. ? died before 1634 in England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]