673 i.
Mary (1) SMITH.
ii.
Rebecca (1) SMITH was born about 1631 in England.
iii.
Philippa SMITH was born about 1622. She died about 1687.1346. Henry (1) SMITH Rev
was born in 1588 in Norwich, England. He died in 1648 in Wethersfield,
CT. 8th ggf of Gordon Fisher
See note under dau Mary
See Appendices 11 & 12 abt early Wethersfield
See note under Samuel (1) HALE
See note under Robert ROSE
"REV. HENRY SMITH, 1641-1648 [dates of incumbency as Congregationalist minister
at Wethersfield]. After the removal of Messrs. Prudden, Denton and Sherman [previous
visiting ministers], the Rev. Henry Smith seems to have been the only remaining
minister. Various reasons lead us to suppose that the Church was now reorganized,
and that he was installed over them. He was properly the first settled minister
of Wethersfield. But though a large body of planters had left, some going to
Milford in 1639, with Rev. Messrs. Prudden and Sherman; others to Stamford in
1640, with Rev. Mr. Denton; some restless spirits still remained, and another
difficulty arose among the inhabitants of so grievous a nature that they deemed
it advisable to apply to the General Court for advice. The court appointed a
committee to inquire into the matter, who made the following Report, April 13th,
1643.
"The coppy of the opinion of the comittee vppon the petition of those
of Wethersfield.
"The petition of those of Wethersfield hath bine taken into sadde and
serious consideration, and we doe find the distance and differences to be exceeding
great, and some of them such as will necessarily require publique examination
and censure, so that till then we cannot express our judgments conserneing particulars:
We find also that many of these who put vp their names for remoueall were not
induced thereunto by any dislike, or ingadgement they haue in the present quarrells
but for want of lotts and other considerations; yet vppon the view of the generall,
conceaueing yt will be disaduantagious to the publique and vncomfortable if not
distructive to themselues that so many as are interested in the present differences
should remoue and vppon other considerations, we are of opinion that the best
way for recouering and presearuing the publique peace is that Mr. Smith lay downe
his place if yt may be done according to GOD." [T.C.R. I. 87]
This opinion was approved by the General Court, and a copy of it given to
Mr. Smith for his answer, with the request, that if it was not satisfactory to
him he would point out some other course. That the course suggested did not
meet his approbation, is evident from the fact that on the 5th of July, the Court
ordered all persons aggrieved to reduce their particular grievances or wrongs
to writing, and to furnish Mr. Smith with a copy within three weeks, that he
might have his answer in readiness for the Court in September. The case came
on for final hearing, Nov. 10th, 1643, when upon a full hearing, it was found
that most of the charges against Mr. Smith were mistakes, and that he had been
much wronged both by false reports and unjust surmises. It was also ordered
that---
"Mr. Chaplin, for divulging and setting his hand to a paper called a
declaration, tending to the defamation of Mr. Smith, is fined #10 [# = pounds].
"Francis Norton, for setting his hand to the said writing, is fined #5.
"John Goodridge, for setting his hand to said writing, is fined 40s.
"Mr. Plum, for preferring a roll of grievances against Mr. Smith, and
failing of proof in the prosecution thereof, is fined #10.
"Robert Rose, for joining with Mr. Plum, is fined 40s.
"And that a writing shall be prepared and openly read in the several
towns, for the clearing of Mr. Smith, and an order made of #10 fine for whosoever
shall be convicted under two witnesses, to divulge any the said grievances to
his defamation."
The decided stand taken by the General Court seems to have caused things to
remain quiet, though all were not satisfied, and a company went to Branford and
commenced a settlement the year following, 1644. During the remainder of Mr.
Smith's ministry, nothing important is known to have occurred. He died in 1648,
grieved and wearied with the burdens of the world.
It was during the ministry of Mr. Smith, (1646) that Mary Johnson, who seems
to have resided at Wethersfield, was publicly whipped, first at Hartford, and
then at Wethersfield, for *theuery*, or witchcraft; and who in 1648 was indicted
for "familiarity with the devil." [T.C.R. I. 143, 171.] Rev. HENRY
SMITH probably arrived in this country in 1637, as he and his wife were admitted
to full communion with the first Church in Charlestown, Mass., December 5th,
of that year. He was residing at Wethersfield previous to the division of lots
on this side of the river in 1639-40, and received a farm here of considerable
size, which descended to his son Samuel, a name that was perpetuated for many
years in this town. Samuel Smith, a grandson of Rev. H. Smith, who was among
the early settlers of Suffield, married Jerusha, daughter of Rev. Increase Mather,
grand-daughter of Rev. Richard Mather and John Cotton, and sister of Rev. Cotton
Mather. Rev. Cotton Mather Smith was son of Samuel and Jerusha Smith, born, Suffield,
Oct 16th, 1731; graduated at Yale, 1751; ordained over the Congregational Church
in Sharon, aug. 1755, where he remained until his death, in 1806. The Hon. John
Cotton Smith, LL. D., son of the last mentioned person, was born at Sharon, Feb.
12th, 1756, graduated at Yale, 1783, admitted to the bar 1786, member of Congress
from 1800 to 1806, and Governor of the State from 1812 to 1817, President of
the A. B. C. F. M. from 1836 to 1841, and of the Am. Bib. Soc. from 1831 to his
death, Dec. 7th, 1845. The Hon. John Cotton Smith is grandson of the last mentioned
individual."
---Rev. Alonzo B. Chapin, D. D., *Glastenbury for Two Hundred Years: A Centennial
Discourse, May 18th, A. D. 1853*; Hartford, CT (Press of Case, Tiffany and Company)
1853; p. 32-35.
"HENRY [SMITH], Charlestown, join. the ch. with w. Dorothy, 10 July 1637,
prob. rem. soon. He may have been passeng. in the Elizabeth, 1635, without wishing
his name to appear at the custom ho. as no min. could be suf. to emb. at least
we kn. that ship brot. Dorothy, aged 45; d. Mary 15, and John, 12; most likely
he was the Wethersfield min. Very critical caution, however, is requisite, about
the concomitants of the rev. gent. whose will, of 8 May 1648, refers, without
nam. them, to two ds. m. Of course they were b. in Eng. It also names s. Peregrine,
wh. may not have been b. on this side of the water, certain. was older than Samuel,
but whether s. of the same Dorothy, or not, is uncert. Of that Dorothy, the
w. we may be very sure, that she was his sec. w. not mo. of Mary, or John, fellow
passeng. with her. For the elder ds. we are not sure of the h.'s, unless of Rebecca
we judge her w. of Samuel Smith of New London. See Caulkin's Hist. of N[ew].
L[ondon]. 151. She was divorc. for his desertion, and m. 1669, Nathaniel Bowman.
At least the age of this w. at Charlestown, if she be the passeng. in the Elizabeth,
is very much overrat. perhaps fifteen yrs. if not more; for bef. his rem. to
W. he had Dorothy, 1636, or 7; and at W. had Samuel, 27 Jan. 1639; Joanna, 25
Dec 1641; Noah, 25 Feb. 1644, d. young; and Eliz. perhaps posthum. 25 Aug. 1648.
The min. of W. had a long controv. with a part of his people, whereby the peace
of the whole commonwealth was disturb. See Trumbull, Col. Rec. I. 97 and 98.
It seems only to have terminat. by his d. 1648. In his will, Ib. 502, he speaks
of his large family, ment. only s. Samuel, Peregrine, wh. was d. Noah and two
ds. m. with every one of their childr. as a part. His wid. m. John Russell in
1649, and ten yrs aft. rem. to Hadley; there made her will, 1682, but it was
not pro. bef. 22 Dec. 1694, so that we may presume her life was long protract.
It disposes a decent est. to her s. Samuel, and d. Dorothy Hall, wh. had first
been w. of John Blakeman, next of Francis Hall; and late in life was so happy
as to have ano. h. Mark Sension, and fourth partner Isaac Moore. Joanna m. Philip
Russell, 4 Feb. 1664, but with inf. Joanna d. 19 Dec. foll. Both of the m. ds.
of Rev. Henry were, no doubt, d. long bef. the will of his sec. w. It is very
easy to fall into confus. btw. contempo. persons of the same Christian and surnames.
Aft. may hours, and days, study, I had the satisfact. of learn. that my conclus.
as to the first Wethersfield min. concur. with those of the scrupulous Mr. Goodwin
of Hartford bef. his d. in June 1855, so far as his had been writ. out. They
were aft. publ. 1856, and have excellent illustrat. pp. 100 and 1."
---James Savage, *A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England,
Showing Three Generations of Those Who Came before May, 1692, on the Basis of
Farmer's Register*; Boston (Little, Brown and Co.) 1860-1862; vol. IV, p. 115-6.
Savage lists another Henry Smith of Dorchester who came in the fleet with
Winthrop in 1630: "... may be thot. the gent. wh. with Ludlow, Pynchon,
and others, was commis. in Mar. 1636 by Mass. to govern the first sett. on Conn.
and act. at Hartford 1638. See Mass. Col. Rec. I. 170, with Conn. Col. Rec.
I. 17; but whether he was or not, the Rev. HENRY, first min. of Wethersfield,
I cannot confidently decide. On the whole, I conclude, since Mather puts the
Wethersfield min. into his first classis (as of those, in the actual exercise
of their min. bef. they left Eng.), that this man was only in civ. life, for
he is not dignif. with the prefix Mr. and would never seem to be looked on as
cleric. in Mass., and prob. the min. of Wethersfield came not for five, or even
six, yrs. more. See Winth's. letter of June 1636 to his s. John, Gov. of the
new planta. in Hist. I. Appx. A. 60 of the Ed. 1853." (idem. p. 114)
* * * * * * * *
"The origin of Rev. Henry Smith has not been ascertained. He may have been
the Henry Smith who matriculated from Kings College, Cambridge, A.B., 1619/20;
Fellow of Kings. ..... It was not, as often asserted, the wife of Rev. Henry
Smith who came to New England in April, 1635, as Dorothy Smith, aged 45, with
a daughter Mary, aged 15. Nor does it seem possible that the Henry Smith with
a Dorothy who joined the church in Charlestown, Mass., in 1637, was the Rev.
Henry. His son's statement is that he came over in 1636-7 and was first at Watertown,
Mass. There is evidence that he was minister at Wethersfield by 1637. It was
his namesake, the son-in-law of William Pynchon, not a minister, who was one
of the Commissioners appointed by Massachusetts Bey in March, 1636, to govern
the new settlements on the Connecticut River for a year. Such civil posts were
very rarely occupied by clerics."
---Donald Lines Jacobus and Edgar Francis Waterman, *Hale, House and Related
Families*, Hartford, CT (Conn Hist Soc) 1952, p. 730-731
* * * * * * * *
"The ecclesiastical leaders of the exodus were Puritan ministers like Thomas
Hooker, Samuel Stone, John Warham, Ephraim Huit, and Henry Smith, who had been
preachers of note in England. The majority of them were alumni of Emmanuel College,
Cambridge, where Puritanism was rampant." . . . . .
"The Connecticut Puritans demanded a learned ministry to aid them in overcoming
their sins. Before their ordination candidates had to pass an examination prepared
by the elders covering theology, Hebrew, Latin, and Greek, as well as discourse
on their personal beliefs and qualifications. So it is not surprising that the
first generation of divines in Connecticut---Thomas Hooker and Samuel Stone in
Hartford, Henry Smith in Wethersfield, and John Warham and Ephraim Huit in Windsor---products
of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, should reveal their knowledge of
Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, rhetoric, philology, grammar, and logic, in writings
as well as in sermons."
---Mary Jeanne Anderson Jones, *Congregational Commonwealth: Connecticut,
1636-1662*, Middletown, CT (Wesleyan University Press) 1968, p. 11 and p. 56.
Jones gives as source Babette May Levy, *Preaching in the First Half Century
of New England History* (Hartford, 1945), p. 3. Jones refers to a *different*
Henry SMITH on p. 64 of this book as William PYNCHON's son-in-law. See William
PYNCHON in this tree (a direct ancestor).
"Smith, Rev. Henry, was the first settled minister at Wethersfield at Wethersfield---he
had been a clergyman in England, and most of his congregation in Wethersfield
came from Watertown, in Massachusetts, in 1635 and '36, where they had been under
the charge of Mr. Phillips, who did not move to Wethersfield with his church
and congregation. Rev. Cotton Mather Smith, who was born at Suffield, 1731, and
settled in Sharon, Connecticut, was the son of Samuel Smith, who was a grandson
of the Rev. Henry Smith, of Wethersfield. Hon. John Cotton Smith, former Governor
of Connecticut, was a son of the Rev. Cotton Mather Smith, and the present John
Cotton Smith, Esq., is the grandson of the late Gov. Smith. The children of
Rev. Henry Smith were, Samuel, Peregrine, Noah, and other small children, and
two daughters who were married at his decease."
---R. R. Hinman, *Catalogue of the Names of the First Puritan Settlers of
the Colony of Connecticut*; Hartford (E. Gleason) 1846, No. 1, p. 73.
May or may not be relevant: "SAMUEL SMITH [age] 32, [place of origin unspecified],
[settled first at] Wethersfield," with Mrs. Elizabeth Smith, 32; Samuel
Smith [Jr], 9; Elizabeth Smith, 7; Mary Smith, 4; Philip Smith, 1, came on ship
"ELIZABETH, of Ipswich, William Andrews, Master. She sailed from Ipswich
'bound for New England the last of April, 1634,' and arrived in July at Boston."
--- Charles Edward Banks, *The Planters of the Commonwealth ... 1620-1640*,
Baltimore MD (Genealogical Publishing Co.) 1961, p 117, 120
NOTE: Banks also lists Dorothy SMITH and Mary SMITH as on the ship ELIZABETH
which sailed April 1635 (the next year), arrived Boston in midsummer 1635. However,
Banks doesn't list the additional John SMITH given by Savage (way above) as also
a passenger.
"*First Settled Pastor at Wethersfield.* --- In 1641, after [Peter] Prudden,
[Roger] Sherman and [Richard] Denton had, one after another, ministered to the
people, and had each passed away to more quiet fields of labor, Wethersfield,
for the first time, became possessed of a *settled* minister in the person of
the Rev. HENRY SMITH, who is described as "a gentleman of good family,"
and one who, "as the patriarch of one of the best sustained and accomplished
families in New England, is entitled to our regard as a gentleman of uncommon
culture, refinement and firmness." With his wife and several small children,
he is supposed to have come hither in 1639, if not earlier --- probably from
Charlestown, Mass., where he had arrived in 1637, from England [Footnote: He
and his wife were admitted to the communion of Watertown (Mass.) church, Dec.
5th, 1637.] Whatever may have been his character and qualities, however, his
life at Wethersfield was by no means a happy one, for there were still left some
restless spirits among his church and congregation, and "from the very beginning
of his ministry he was the victim of suspicions most unfounded and accusations
the most bitter." Chief among his calumniators was Mr. Clement Chaplin,
who seems to have come to Wethersfield from Hartford, in 1636, where he had been
the "ruling elder" of the Church since 1639, according to all indications.
He was quite a large land-holder, and both he and Mr. Smith had lands allotted
to them, on both sides of the River, in the general distribution of 1639. .....
Chaplin seems to have been something of a disturbing element, in the Church and
Town; for he quarreled with Matthew Mitchell, the Town Recorder in 1640; and,
through the General Court, compelled that worthy gentleman to apologize publicly
to him. Chaplin was, at this time, Colonial Treasurer, an office to which he
had been appointed in February, 1637-8. In November, 1643, it was *his* turn
to be treated as an offender, for the General Court fined him #10 [pounds] "for
divulging and setting his hand to a writing cauled [sic] a declaration, tending
to the defamation of Mr. Smith," the minister. In 1643, so much difference
existed between Mr. Smith and some members of his Church, that the General Court
appointed a committee to take the matter "into serious and sadde consideration."
Their report, submitted April 13th of that year, finds the difference to be "exceeding
great"; and, whilst it exonerates Mr. Smith, apparently, it recommends that
he, in the interest of the "publique peace" "lay downe his place,
if yt be done according to God. ..... In November, 1643, the General Court itself
cleared Mr. Smith from the unjust "accusations against him "both in
Church administration & in acting the civell occations [sic] of the Towne
..... "
--- Henry Stiles, *History of Ancient Wethersfield*, vol. 1, 1904, p 150-152
"SMITH, SMYTH ..... HENRY Watertown (Mass.) 1636, Wethersfield 1637. d.
Wethersfield after 8 May 1648. Cambridge Univ. Pastor of the Church of Christ.
Hale-House; tag 10:7 (biog); Stiles, *Wethersfield*; *Henry Smith and Thomas
Birchard* 1924. ..... "
--- Meredith B Colket, *Founders of Early American Families*, Cleveland OH
1985, p 287
The following seems especially based on Stiles *The History of Ancient Wethersfield,
Connecticut*, v 2, 1904, p 628-9. It disagrees with Jacobus and Waterman, *Hale,
House and Related Families*, 1952; see above and note under Samuel (SR) HALE:
"REV. HENRY SMITH was born in Leicester County, England, 1588. He died
1648 at Milford, Connecticut. He was the son of Erastus and Margaret (Cecil)
Smith. Margaret Cecil was the daughter of William Cecil, to-wit: Lord Burleigh,
prime minister of England under Queen Elizabeth. Rev. Smith was educated at
Cambridge College. He was an ordained clergyman. He was a puritan. He was twice
married. Nothing is known of his first wife. His second wife's name was Dorothy.
She died at Hadley, 1694. Rev. Smith in the records is described as "a
man of good family and who as the patriarch of one of the best sustained and
accomplished families of New England is entitled to our regard as a gentleman
of uncommon culture, refinement and firmness." He probably came from England
in 1637 and settled at Watertown, Massachusetts. He removed to Wethersfield,
Connecticut, 1639, and became pastor of the church there. Samuel the son of
Rev. Henry Smith in a letter to his son Ichabod, described his father as follows:
"He was an ordained minister. He was educated at Cambridge College, England.
He came to New England by reason of great persecution. He brought from England
both men and maid servants. He was five feet ten inches tall and spare, active
and sinewy, delighted in sports of strength. Helped erect his house and first
church building in Wethersfield, where he preached for several years. He was
well featured, fair of skin, and had long curly hair, merry eyes and sweet smiling
mouth, though he could frown when need be," His Will was probated 1648.
He left an estate valued at 370 pounds. Children by his first wife --- 1. Peregrine
died unmarried before his father. 2. Philipa born in England, married John Birdseye,
1640. 3. A daughter who married and had children before her father died. Children
by second wife --- 4. Dorothy born 1636, married 1st John Blakeman, 2d married
Francis Hall, 3d married Mark Sension, 4th married Isaac Moore. She died 1706.
5. Samuel born 1638, 6. Joanna born 1641, married Philip Russell. She died,
1664. 7. Noah born 1642, died before his father. 8. Elizabeth born 1648."
--- Arthur Orison Dillon, *The Ancestors of Arthur Orison Dillon and His Poems*,
1927, privately printed, p 33-34. His sources: "Histories of Wethersfield
and Milford, Connecticut. English Records. Family Records." No further
detail!
1347. 1st w of Rev H Smith ---. Children
were:
673 i.
Mary (1) SMITH.
ii.
Rebecca (1) SMITH was born about 1631 in England.
iii.
Philippa SMITH was born about 1622. She died about 1687.
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