William Chesebrough

1594 - 1667  (73 years)    Has 4 ancestors and more than 100 descendants in this family tree.

• Name	William Chesebrough  [1]
  Birth	1594	Boston, Lincolnshire, England
  Gender	Male
  Death	9 Jun 1667	Wequetequock, New London County, Connecticut, USA
  Burial	Wequetequock Cemetery, Wequetequock, New London CO, Connecticut, USA
  Person ID	I192170	Geneagraphie
  Last Modified	13 Feb 2001

  
  

  Father	William Cheesbrough, II,   b. 1572, Boston, Lincolnshire, England d. Aft 1594, Boston, Lincolnshire, England (Age 23 years)
  Mother	Sarah,   b. England d. Aft 1630, Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, USA
  Family ID	F78431	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Anna Stevenson,   b. 1598, or near Boston, Lincolnshire, England d. 24 Aug 1673, Wequetequock, New London County, Connecticut, USA (Age 75 years)
  Marriage	15 Dec 1620	St. Botolph's Church, Boston, Lincolnshire, England
  1. Married by "the blessed John Cotton".
  Children	1. Marie Chesebrough,   c. 2 May 1622   d. Bef 6 Jun 1622, or near Boston, Lincolnshire, England (Age ~ 0 years)   2. Martha Chesebrough,   c. 18 Sep 1623   d. Bef 26 Sep 1623, or near Boston, Lincolnshire, England (Age ~ 0 years)   3. David Chesebrough,   c. 9 Sep 1624   d. Bef 3 Oct 1624, or near Boston, Lincolnshire, England (Age ~ 0 years)   4. Jonathan Chesebrough,   c. 9 Sep 1624   d. Between Apr 1630 and Jul 1630, At Sea (Age ~ 5 years) + 5. Samuel Chesebrough, Sr,   c. 1 Apr 1627   d. Abt 31 Jul 1673, Wequetequock, New London County, Connecticut, USA (Age ~ 46 years)   6. Andronicus Chesebrough,   c. 6 Feb 1629   d. Bef 8 Feb 1629, or near Boston, Lincolnshire, England (Age ~ 0 years)   7. Junia Chesebrough,   c. 6 Feb 1629   d. Bef 8 Feb 1629, or near Boston, Lincolnshire, England (Age ~ 0 years) + 8. Nathaniel Chesebrough, Sr,   c. 25 Jan 1630   d. 22 Nov 1678, Wequetequock, New London County, Connecticut, USA (Age ~ 48 years)   9. John Chesebrough,   c. 11 Nov 1632   d. Between 1649 and 1660, Stonington, New London Co., Connecticut, USA (Age ~ 16 years)   10. Jabez Chesebrough,   c. 3 May 1635, Boston, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts, USA d. Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, USA + 11. Elisha Chesebrough,   c. 4 Jun 1637   d. 1 Apr 1670, Stonington, New London Co., Connecticut, USA (Age ~ 32 years)   12. Joseph Chesebrough,   b. 18 Jul 1640, Braintree, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, USA d. Aft 1649, Stonington, New London Co., Connecticut, USA (Age 9 years)
  Family ID	F78246	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	13 Feb 2001

  
  

• Notes

  - Blacksmith and planter (farmer) 1. Biographical sketch of William and a letter from Rev. Amos Chesebrough about the sketch from Anna Chesebrough Wildey's book: "William (Cheesbrough) Chesebrough, the first settler of English lineage in the town of Stonington, Connecticut, was born in England in the year of our Lord, 1594. The place of his nativity and the names of his parents cannot with certainty be determined. The probabilities are, that he was born in or near Boston, Lincolnshire, where he is known to have had his residence some eleven or twelve years prior to his emigration to America in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and where he and his wife were communicants in St. Botolph's Church. The home of the Cheesbrough family was in the eastern counties of England, and the name occurs in the public registries of Wills in the County of Norfolk, which adjoins Lincolnshire. Sarah Chesebrough, whose name stands No. 78 on the roll of the First Church of Boston, Mass., was doubtless a passenger with William on the ship, Arbella, and is thought to have been his mother. His wife, Anna and three surviving children of the eight that had been born to him, - the youngest, Nathaniel, an infant in arms, - came with him in the same company. The Arbella, a ship of three hundred and fifty tons, whereof Captain Peter Milborne was master, received its name 'in honour of the Lady Arbella' wife of Isaac Johnson, Esq., one of the more prominent personages among the passengers. This ship was one of a fleet of fourteen vessels with eight hundred and forty passengers, comprising the Massachusetts Bay Colony. It set sail from Cowes, Isle of Wight, on Tuesday, March 30, 1630, and was termed the 'Admiral' of the fleet, for the reason partly, that it was the staunchest and best furnished of the vessels, and partly perhaps, as Savage in his notes in Winthrop's Journal suggests, that it was owned by and carried 'the principal people' of the Colony, including Johnson, Winthrop, Coddington, Dudley, Bradstreet and Saltonstall with their respective families among others. The first thirty-six years of William Chesebrough's life were closing when he set foot upon American soil. They covered the last nine years of Queen Elizabeth's reign, the entire reign of James I, and the first five years of the reign of the ill-fated Charles I, and they were among the most eventful years in the history of England. Mary, Queen of Scots, was beheaded only seven years before Chesebrough's birth; and only six years before, occurred the issue of the first English newspaper, and also the destruction of the Spanish Armada. It was the period in which Edmund Spencer, William Shakespeare and Lord Bacon won their undying fame; in which the first telescopes were invented, and in which also the authorized version of the Bible was prepared by order of King James. He was eleven years old at the time of the Gunpowder Plot; thirteen when Jamestown (now New York) was settled by the Dutch, and twenty-six when the Pilgrim Fathers landed upon Plymouth Rock. The corruption in both Church and State in England, the high-handed and cruel measures of the Courts of High Commission and of the Star Chamber to crush out all freedom of thought and speech and worship, the insecurity of life and property, and the civil and religious disintegration which threatened ruin to the nation, prompted many of the better class of the clergy and of the people to sacrifice their homes and seek an asylum where they could enjoy a rational liberty. The immigrants who came to New England with the illustrious Winthrop, organized their churches on the simple polity of a self-governing brotherhood. Such an organization was effected in their new settlement which they named Charlestown, on the 30th of July, 1630, with Rev. John Wilson as teacher, but in the course of three months it was transferred to the south side of the Charles River to Boston, which the majority preferred on the score of healthiness, as the place for a permanent settlement. The names of William and Anna Chesebrough appear as Nos. 44 and 45, on the roll of the original members of this, the First Church of Boston. When Rev. John Cotton, their former Minister at St. Botolph's in England, came over some three years later, he took the place of Mr. Wilson as teacher of the church, and Mr. Wilson was chosen as the pastor. The government of the new colony was administered under a charter granted by Charles I to 'The Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay in New England,' bearing date March 4, 1629. On the emigration to America of the leading members of this Corporation, the Corporation itself with all its powers and privileges was transferred to them and the other freemen of the company who should inhabit the new plantation. Thus the administrative officers of the company became 'The General Court of Massachusetts,' which took charge of the civil government, and John Winthrop was chosen governor. Under this government, William Chesebrough was made a freeman in May, 1631. It soon became necessary to order the several towns which had been organized by the colonists, to choose each two deputies to appear at the Court, for the purpose of concerting a plan for a public treasury and for levying taxes for the support of the government. William Colburn, who was the deacon of the Church, and William Chesebrough, were appointed upon this service as the first deputies or representatives of Boston. This was the entering wedge to the yearly representation of the towns in the legislative body. Mr. Chesebrough filled other responsible positions in the young municipality. He was chosen constable, an office equivalent to what would now be called an 'high sheriff', and subsequently an assessor of rates, and again one of a committee to allot to 'the able bodied men and youth' grounds for planting. For the purpose of attaining more arable land and pasture than was assigned to them within the limits of Boston, Mr. Chesebrough, with many others, removed their residences a few miles southward, near to a promontory called Mount Wollaston, in 1637 or 1638. A church was organized for the growing community, September 17, 1639, to which he and his wife brought letters of dismission and recommendations from the Boston church on the 6th of the ensuing February. This Mount Wollaston section was set off the same year as a distinct town and named Braintree, and Mr. Chesebrough, with Stephen Kinsley, was chosen to represent the new municipality in the General Court. He was appointed commissioner or local judge to try certain classes of cases which came up for adjudication, and held also other responsible positions. The grounds he occupied are those which have constituted for more than two and a half centuries the old homestead of the Adams family, and are now included within the limits of the city of Quincy. The late Ex-President, John Quincy Adams, informed the writer that the deed of transfer given by William Chesebrough to his ancestor was still in his possession. In the course of two or three years the subject of this sketch joined a company which settled at 'Seekonk', in the vicinity of the Plymouth Colony. Early in July, 1644, he with twenty-nine others of the resident planters there, entered into a civil compact, agreeing to be governed by nine persons, 'according to law and equity, until we shall subject ourselves jointly to some other government.' It appears that this compact and agreement was drawn up and carried through by Mr. Chesebrough's efforts, for on the 12th of July following, at a public meeting, his efficient services in setting up the new government were gratefully acknowledged by the enactment of a provision, 'that he shall have division in all lands of Seekonk, for one hundred and fifty-three pounds, besides what he is to have for his own proportion, and that in the way of consideration for the pains and charges he hath been at in setting off this plantation.' The question of jurisdiction was settled by the plantation submitting itself to the government of the Plymouth Colony, rather than that of Massachusetts Bay, and it was incorporated by the scriptural name of Rehoboth. This decision was arrived at contrary to Chesebrough's wishes and judgment, and the Plymouth authorities took his opposition as an affront, and treated him harshly. Feeling deeply the prejudice awakened against him, he mounted his horse, and in company with one of his sons, turned his face westward with a view of finding a place of settlement where he could escape unjust treatment and live in peace. On this tour of about seventy miles along the coast, he carefully noted the different localities on the route until he reached Pequot, now New London. John Winthrop, Jr., an old acquaintance, under commission of the General Court of Massachusetts, had charge of a new settlement at Pequot, and he was strongly urged to make this place his permanent abode. But the location did not suit him, although a town-lot was offered him as an inducement. After successive explorations he made choice of the head of Wequetequock cove, in what was called Pawcatuck, on the bordering lands of which he found arable lands for planting, with an abundance of pasture ground for stock raising, to which he had largely turned his attention. To this place after having built a dwelling house on the west side of the cove, he removed with his wife and four sons, assisted by his friend, Roger Williams, in the summer of 1649. At this time he was fifty-five years old, his wife fifty-one, his son Samuel twenty-two, Nathaniel nineteen, John seventeen, and Elisha twelve. John died from a wound by a scythe in 1650, at the age of eighteen, and was the first white person whose remains were buried in Stonington. Singularly enough, he had hardly become domiciled in his new home, when a trouble came upon him similar to that from which he had just fled. Connecticut was about as jealous of Massachusetts as was Plymouth, and unfriendly persons belonging to Plymouth, took advantage of this fact to awaken the suspicions of the Connecticut authorities against him. The trumped-up charge was that he had taken up his present residence with a view of carrying on an unlawful trade with the Indians, furnishing them with and repairing their firearms. The General Court of Connecticut thereupon issued a warrant to the constable of Pequot to require him to give an account of himself in answer to this charge. Supposing that he was within the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, he refused for a year or more to pay any attention to the order of the Court; but afterwards on the advice of Mr. Winthrop and his friends at Pequot, he voluntarily presented himself before the Court at Hartford and refuted the slanderous charge, in support of which not a particle of evidence was presented. Ostensibly as a measure of precaution, he was required to give a bond not to engage in any trade with the Indians forbidden by the Laws of the Colony, and before the succeeding winter to furnish the Court with the names of such persons as he could persuade to settle in his neighborhood. On these conditions permission was given him to remain unmolested where he was. This action of the Court was largely prompted by a jealousy of all settlers in that section who were supposed to be favorable to the Massachusetts claims, lest that colony should get the control of the Pawcatuck territory. It now became a burning question to which Colony this territory belonged, - whether to Connecticut or Massachusetts. Connecticut attempted to steal the march on the sister Colony by a public act making the Pawcatuck River the eastern boundary of Pequot, so that Chesebrough's place of settlement came within the boundaries of that town. On this basis the town not only voted him a house-lot within the Pequot settlement itself, but also confirmed his title to three hundred aces of land at Wequetequock, which were subsequently increased to twenty-three hundred and sixty-two acres. The first man who joined Mr. Chesebrough in the new plantation was Thomas Stanton, the famous Indian interpreter, who in 1650 built a trading-house on the west side of the Pawcatuck River, though he did not remove his family thither until 1657. In the year 1653, Walter Palmer, one of the settlers at Rehoboth, dissatisfied for some reasons with his residence within the Colony of Plymouth, located himself near to his old friend and neighbor Chesebrough, erecting his dwelling-house on the east side of Wequetequock Cove. Thomas Minor moved into the neighborhood in 1654, and built his house at Mistuxet, now Quiambaug. These four men: Chesebrough, Stanton, Palmer and Minor, were the founders of Stonington, in honor of whom the monument in the ancient cemetery at Wequetequock was erected in 1899, that being the two hundred and fiftieth year from the first settlement by Mr. Chesebrough. The action of the General Court of Connecticut in pushing its claims eastward to the Pawcatuck River, was by no means acquiesced in by Massachusetts, and the seriously controverted question of jurisdiction was referred to the Commissioners of the United Colonies for decision. Meanwhile, or until the matter could be amicably decided, the planters were advised 'to carry themselves & order their affaires peaceably, and by common agreement.' Acting on this advise, the original settlers and a few others who had joined them, met together on the 30th of June, 1658, and organized a local government with what may be termed a constitution, entitled 'The Asotiation of Poquatuck people,' which was signed by eleven persons, viz.: William Chesebrough, and his three sons, Samuel, Nathaniel and Elisha, Thomas Stanton and his son Thomas, Walter Palmer and his two sons, Elihu and Moses, George Denison, and Thomas Shaw. This compact is in the handwriting of William Chesebrough and pledged the signers 'to maintain and deffend the peac of the plac & to aid and asist one another according to law & rules of righteousnes, till such other provition be maide ffor us as may atain our end above written.' After affixing their names to the document, the signers chose Capt. George Denison and William Chesebrough to be 'comytioners' to carry out the provisions of the contract. Three months later the Commissioners of the United Colonies decided that the territory in dispute belonged to Massachusetts, and the General Court of that Colony named it Southertown and annexed it to the county of Suffolk. Southertown remained a township of Massachusetts until the issue of the Charter of Connecticut by King Charles II, dated April 25, 1662, which fixed the eastern boundary of Connecticut at Pawcatuck River, thereupon this territory which for three and a half years had been subject to the control of Massachusetts, reverted back to the sister Colony. Through this period Mr. Chesebrough held the office of selectman. During the time in which the plantation was included in the town of Pequot, Mr. Chesebrough had been elected its deputy to the General Court of Connecticut at Hartford in 1653, 1654, 1655, and 1656; he held also the offices of assessor and commissioner. On its reversion to Connecticut under the charter, some of the planters manifested an almost defiant unwillingness to acknowledge the jurisdiction of this Colony, at which the authorities at Hartford took offense. In 1664, however, they united in choosing William Chesebrough as their first representative to the General Court. With much effort and considerable delay, he was successful in adjusting the disturbed relations between them and the court. In 1665, the name of Southertown was changed to that of Mystic, and in the year following to Stonington. During the last three years of his life, which closed on Sunday, the 9th day of June, 1667, he being then seventy-three years old, Mr. Chesebrough was selectman of the town. His wife, Mrs. Anna Chesebrough, died on the 24th day of August, 1673, at the age of seventy-five. Their remains rest side by side in the old cemetery, a short distance from their dwelling-house." -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------- "This brief sketch of the life of William Chesebrough makes it clearly evident that he was a strong character, - a man well fitted in capacity and high purpose to be a pioneer in laying the foundations of a well-ordered, civil and religious community. Mature in years, of a well-balanced mind, wise in counsel, a man of positive convictions, and withal of uncompromising uprightness, he naturally drew to himself the confidence of his associates, as to one whose lead it would be safe to follow. He was a man of deeds rather than of words; and yet, when the occasion called for it, he could give utterance to his views in language that needed no interpreter, or he could put them in to proper written form. His organizing capacity was very marked. He took a prominent part in bringing in to associated and orderly form the scattered and diverse population of Braintree, Rehoboth and Stonington; and his versatility was wonderful. On all occasions we find him possessed of large resources, and capable of turning his hand without difficulty to almost any business or branch of employment that offered itself. He could frame a building or sit as a judge in a case at law. He forge a chain, or draw up a plan for the organization of a municipal government. He could survey a tract of land, or worthily represent a town in the General Court. One fact which marks him as a man who commanded great respect, is that after gathering around him such men of superior ability as Thomas Stanton, Walter Palmer and Capt. George Denison, they worked so harmoniously with him in the organization and ordering of the new community. And further, it needs only to be added, that he was a man of decided Christian principal, and that wherever he planted himself he was an earnest supporter of religious worship, and religious institutions. When he emigrated to America he brought his religion with him, and both he and his wife were enrolled among the first members of the church in Boston, Mass., and on his removal to Braintree and Rehoboth, he took his church relations with him; and although he died prior to the organization of the First Church in Stonington, the tradition is that prior to the establishment of religious worship in his neighborhood, he was accustomed, in all suitable weather, to attend Sunday services at Pequot, starting a little after midnight that he might in good time accomplish the fifteen miles of travel over rough roads and the crossing of two rivers. There can be no doubt that he took an active part in the measures which were initiated in 1657 for establishing regular religious services within the limits of the plantation, and which issued after the employment of several preachers for short seasons, in an invitation to Rev. James Noyes to serve the people as their permanent pastor. Mr. Noyes entered upon his labors here in 1664, about three years before Mr. Chesebrough's death; but he was not ordained, nor was the church organized until 1674. In his last will and testament Mr. Chesebrough speaks of Rev. James Noyes and Mr. Amos Richardson, as 'my truly and well-beloved friends,' - thus showing that one of the persons to whom he was strongly attached was a Christian minister." Rev. Amos S. Chesebrough, D.D. New Hartford, Conn. March 5, 1901 2. Three of William's and Anna's children lived to be married: Samuel, Nathaniel and Elisha. 3. From the "Boston Corporation Records" in England: "1626, Allsoe at this Assembly there is xviij s. taken out of the treasury & paid to Wm Cheesbrough for keeping of Geo. Melton xviij weeks w/ch is allsoe prcell of the money for Smith digills house."

  
  

• Sources

  [S585] Anna Chesebrough Wildey, Genealogy of the Descendants of William Chesebrough, (New York: Press of T. A. Wright 1903), page 17 (Reliability: 2).