New England Town Surveyor — Jonathan Danforth

B. 29 Feb 1628 in Framlingham, England
M. (1) 22 Nov 1654 in Boston, Massachusetts
Wife: Elizabeth Poulter
M. (2) 17 Nov 1690 in Billerica, Massachusetts
Wife: Esther Champney
D. 7 Sep 1712 in Billerica, Massachusetts

When 17th century Puritans settled all over New England, they needed to transform wilderness into communities. Surveyors like Jonathan Danforth played an important role in making that happen.

Jonathan was born in Framlingham, England on February 29, 1628 to Nicholas Danforth and Elizabeth Barber. He was the youngest of seven children, and his mother died two days after he was born. Five years later, Nicholas and his children migrated to Massachusetts; it’s believed they arrived on the ship Griffin.

After settling in the town of Cambridge, Nicholas died in 1638. Jonathan was just 10 years old and was likely cared for by his oldest sister who was married the following year. He had two older brothers who rose to prominence in New England. One was Samuel, who became a famous Puritan preacher, poet and astronomer. The other was Thomas, a Puritan leader who played a small part in the Salem witch trials in 1692; his name was used as a judge in the play The Crucible, although the character was a composite of several men.

After Jonathan came of age, he became one of the earliest settlers of Billerica, Massachusetts. On November 22, 1654, he married Elizabeth Poulter, the first marriage recorded in town records. Jonathan and Elizabeth had 11 children born between 1656 and 1676, 3 of whom died as infants.

Jonathan's signature.

Jonathan’s service of planning towns likely began in 1656. That year, several thousand acres were granted by the Massachusetts General Court to become the new town of Billerica, and Jonathan was part of a committee that divided the land into five- and ten-acre lots. By 1659, he was working as a surveyor, a profession he would pursue for the rest of his life. In 1661, Jonathan partnered with his wife’s step father, John Parker, to survey and lay out 4,000 new acres allotted for Billerica. In return for his work, the two were allotted 1,000 acres to be divided amongst themselves

During the 1660s, Jonathan was actively surveying throughout Massachusetts and beyond. He helped plot out portions of Massachusetts north and northwest of Boston, and the towns of Nashua, Hudson, Litchfield, Amherst and Milford in New Hampshire. He was responsible for drawing up plat maps and was referred to in documents as an “artist.” It was said that he gave his measurements using the 32-point compass system, and that instead of a pencil to make his lines, he used a knife impressed into the paper. Jonathan’s last known surveying project was in March 1702 when he was 74-years-old.

Besides his work as a surveyor, Jonathan held other important positions in the community. He was town recorder in Billerica for over 30 years, and for a time, he was Billerica’s representative to the General Court. He also served as militia captain during King Philip’s War, and was one of four men responsible for fortifying the town. His house was used as a garrison, housing two other families besides his own whenever the alarm was sounded. After the conflict ended the following year, Jonathan received a 12-year-old Native American boy as a bound servant. The boy was named John Warrick, but he died in 1686.

Jonathan’s wife Elizabeth died on October 7, 1689, and he married Elizabeth Champney a year later. He passed away on September 7, 1712 and was buried at the Old South Burying Ground in Billerica. Jonathan was the 7G grandfather of Bette Davis. The salt-box-style house he built and lived in stood until the 1880s. A historical plaque is there today that reads:

Site of homestead of Captain Jonathan Danforth, pioneer of Billerica and famous surveyor. “He rode the circuit, chained great towns and farms to good behavior; and by well-marked station he fixed their bounds for many generations.”

Jonathan's house in Billerica.

Children (all by Elizabeth Poulter):
1. Mary Danforth — B. 29 Jan 1656, Billerica, Massachusetts; D. May 1732, Chelmsford, Massachusetts; M. John Parker (1647-1699)

2. Elizabeth Danforth — B. 27 May 1657, (probably) Billerica, Massachusetts; M. Simeon Hayward

3. Jonathan Danforth — B. 18 Feb 1659, Billerica, Massachusetts; D. 11 Jan 1711, Billerica, Massachusetts; M. Rebecca Parker (1661-1754), 27 Jun 1682, Billerica, Massachusetts

4. John Danforth — B. 23 Jan 1660, (probably) Billerica, Massachusetts; D. young

5. John Danforth — B. 22 Feb 1661, (probably) Billerica, Massachusetts; D. 4 Jun 1661, (probably) Billerica, Massachusetts

6. Lydia Danforth — B. 1 Jun 1664, (probably) Billerica, Massachusetts; M. Edward Wright

7. Samuel Danforth — B. 5 Feb 1666, Billerica, Massachusetts; D. 19 Apr 1742, Billerica, Massachusetts; M. Hannah Crosby (1672-1752), 8 Jan 1694, Billerica, Massachusetts

8. Anna Danforth — B. 8 Mar 1668, Billerica, Massachusetts; D. 13 Aug 1737; M. Oliver Whiting (1665-1736), 22 Jan 1690

9. Thomas Danforth — B. 29 Apr 1670, Billerica, Massachusetts; D. 31 Jul 1670, Billerica, Massachusetts

10. Nicholas Danforth — B. 1 Apr 1671 Billerica, Massachusetts, D. 8 Mar 1694, Billerica, Massachusetts

11. Sarah Danforth — B. 23 Dec 1676, Billerica, Massachusetts; D. 15 Oct 1751, Concord, Massachusetts; M. William French (1668-1723), 22 May 1695, Billerica, Massachusetts

Sources:
Thomas Danforth (Wikipedia article)
Samuel Danforth (Wikipedia article)
“Jonathan Danforth (1628-1712)”, Backsights Magazine, published by Surveyors Historical Society
Property and Dispossession: Natives, Empires and Land in Early Modern North America, Allan Greer, 2017
The Early Grants of Land in the Wilderness North of Merrimack, George Augustus Gordon, 1892
Find A Grave

FamousKin.com

Participant in Connecticut’s Early Days — William Lewis

B. about 1620 in England or Wales
M. (1) 1644 in Hartford, Connecticut
Wife: Mary Hopkins
M. (2) 22 Nov 1671 in Boston, Massachusetts
Wife: Mary Cheever
D. 18 Aug 1690 in Farmington, Connecticut

The story of William Lewis is entangled with the early history of Connecticut, having arrived there with his parents in 1635, then serving in local leadership roles throughout his life.

William was born in about 1620 to William Lewis and Felix Collins. Some sources say that he and his parents were from Wales, but the raw data supporting this isn’t evident. William was the only known child of his parents. William migrated to Massachusetts with his parents on the ship Lyon in 1632. For a couple of years, the family lived in Cambridge and Braintree, then joined Reverend Thomas Hooker’s party who settled in Hartford. After William came of age, they settled in the new community of Farmington, originally named Tunxis. In 1645, William became Farmington’s first town clerk.

In 1644, William married Mary Hopkins in Hartford, and over the next 23 years, they had ten children. Mary died in 1671 and later that year, William married Mary Cheever, the daughter of Boston Latin School headmaster, Ezekiel Cheever. The wedding took place in Boston on November 22nd. William and his second wife had six children, with the youngest born in 1681 when William was over 60-years-old.

William was a prominent person in Farmington. Along with being town clerk, he was deputy to the Connecticut General Court in 1689 and 1690. He also served in the town’s militia, first as a lieutenant in 1651, then as captain in 1665. He led the militia during King Philip’s War which was involved in the Narragansett campaign in 1675.

Like some men who lived in colonial New England, William owned several slaves, two of whom were Native Americans. He was also known to have an African slave named Sampson. Puritans may not be thought of as having been slaveowners, but in 1640, there were actually more Africans in New England than there were in Virginia. Some of William’s enslaved people were left to his family in his will, and were freed later on.

Part of the inventory of William's estate with two slaves on last line.

On August 18, 1690, William died. He was buried in the Ancient Burying Ground in Farmington. His wife remarried in 1692; she passed away in 1728. Famous descendants of William include Franklin Delano Roosevelt, J.P. Morgan, W.K. Kellogg, television inventor Philo Farnsworth and Mitt Romney.

The lasting legacy of William is perhaps the house he built during the 1660s on property he got from his father. He lived there with his family and presumably, his younger children were born there. The house remained in the family after his death and was expanded during the 18th century, becoming a much larger house. By the American Revolution, it became the Elm Tree Inn, a landmark in Farmington for many years. Today the building is a condominium with over eight units. At least one of them includes the original house built by William.

The house that grew around William's house, as it looks today. 

Children by Mary Hopkins:
1. Mary Lewis — B. 6 May 1645, Farmington, Connecticut; D. about 1691, Farmington, Connecticut; M. Benjamin Judd (1643-1689), about 1667, Farmington, Connecticut

2. Phillip Lewis – B. 13 Dec 1646, Hartford, Connecticut; D. about 1723, Fairfield, Connecticut; M. Sarah Ashley (1648-1698), about 1669, Hartford, Connecticut

3. Samuel Lewis — B. 18 Aug 1648, Farmington, Connecticut; D. 28 Nov 1725, Farmington, Connecticut; M. (1) Elizabeth Orton (~1654-?), about 1687, Farmington, Connecticut; (2) Mary (?-1745)

4. Sarah Lewis — B. 1 Oct 1652, Farmington, Connecticut; D. 10 Aug 1722, Hadley, Massachusetts; M. Samuel Boltwood (1648-1704)

5. Hannah Lewis — B. about 1653, Farmington, Connecticut; D. 24 Feb 1725, Hadley, Massachusetts; M. (1) Samuel Crow (1649-1676), 17 May 1671, Hadley, Massachusetts; (2) Daniel Marsh (1653-1725), 5 Nov 1676, Hadley, Massachusetts

6. William Lewis — B. about Mar 1657, Farmington, Connecticut; D. about 1737, Farmington, Connecticut; M. Sarah Moore (1681-?)

7. Felix Lewis — B. 12 Dec 1658, Farmington, Connecticut; D. 1738, Hadley, Massachusetts; M. Thomas Selden (1655-1734), 1675, Hadley, Massachusetts

8. Ebenezer Lewis — B. 1660, Farmington, Connecticut; D. 22 Jan 1709, Wallingford, Connecticut; M. Elizabeth Merriman (1669-1750), 2 Dec 1685, Wallingford, Connecticut

9. John Lewis — B. 15 May 1665, Farmington, Connecticut; D. Oct 1694

10. James Lewis — B. 10 Jul 1667, Farmington, Connecticut; D. 1728, Jamaica, Long Island, New York; M. Mary Meekins (1670-?), about 1694, Farmington, Connecticut

Children by Mary Cheever:
1. Elizabeth Lewis — B. 20 Oct 1672, Farmington, Connecticut; D. 1674, Farmington, Connecticut

2. Ezekiel Lewis — B. 7 Nov 1674, Connecticut; D. 14 Aug 1755, Boston, Massachusetts; M. (1) Mary Braden (1669-1703), 18 Mar 1702, Boston, Massachusetts; (2) Abigail Kilcup (~1678-?), 11 Oct 1704, Boston, Massachusetts

3. Nathaniel Lewis – B. 1 Oct 1676, Farmington, Connecticut; D. 24 Feb 1752, Farmington, Connecticut; M. (1) Abigail Ashley (1681-1727), 25 Nov 1699, Westfield, Massachusetts; (2) Thankful Pomeroy (1679-1773), 4 Jul 1726, Northampton, Massachusetts

4. Abigail Lewis — B. 19 Sep 1678, Farmington, Connecticut; D. 24 Jan 1707, Farmington, Connecticut; M. William Wadsworth (~1671-1751), 10 Dec 1696, Farmington, Connecticut

5. Joseph Lewis — B. 15 Mar 1679, Farmington, Connecticut; D. about 1680, Farmington, Connecticut

6. Daniel Lewis — B. 16 Jul 1681, Farmington, Connecticut; D. 16 Mar 1682, Farmington, Connecticut

Sources:
Book VXIII of the Genealogy of the Lewis family, William Richard Cutter, 1891
Passengers on the “Lion” From England to Boston, 1632, and five generations of their descendants, Sandra Sutphin Olney, 1992
Connecticut Houses: An Historical and Architectural Study, Norman Morrison Isham and Albert Frederic Brown, 1900
History, Charter and By-laws: List of Officers and Members Together with a Record of the Service Performed by Their Ancestors in the Wars of the Colonies, Society of Colonial Wars, Illinois, 1896
Find A Grave
ElmTree Inn historical papers, Connecticut Historical Commission
FamousKin.com

Mixed-Race Man of Early Indiana — François Turpin

B. (probably) about 1750 in Kaskaskia, New France
M. about 1777 in (probably) Post Vincennes, Illinois Territory
Wife: Marie-Josephe Levron dit Metayer
D. 1 Oct 1809 in Vincennes, Indiana Territory

During the 18th century, France laid claim to vast parts of North America, and adventurous men left Canada to make money in the fur trade. Some would produce children with indigenous women, and the outposts where they lived became populated with their bi-racial descendants. One of them was François Turpin.

François had a somewhat unusual background. He was born in about 1750 in Kaskaskia, a trading post in the Illinois country, to Joseph Turpin and Hypolite Chauvin de La Freniere. His paternal grandfather had been a fur trader based in Montreal who sometimes worked outside of the law as a coureur de bois, and several of his children wound up living at Kaskaskia. François’ other grandfather had also come from Montreal, but he became an early colonial settler on the Gulf Coast; it was on a trade expedition to Mexico that he acquired a female indigenous slave who would become François’ grandmother.

Although François was born in Kaskaskia, he likely didn’t have any memories of it. It’s believed that his father died around the time of his birth, and his mother relocated to Louisiana with a second husband in 1751. (Another possibility was that François was born up to seven years earlier, and so would have known the place of his birth as a small child.) His step-father was named Joseph de LaMirande, and in some records “LaMirande” was added to François’ name. During the mid-1750s, the family lived in Post Opelousas, Louisiana, where François’ mother died in about 1758 and his step-father remarried. 

The places François lived.

How did François end up moving back near where he was born? Without any records, we may never establish a clear timeline of when he lived where, but an older sister who married in 1751 stayed in Kaskaskia into the 1770s, and this connection may have drawn François back. Interestingly, the older sister eventually relocated to Louisiana with her third husband, leaving only François in the north.

At some point, François settled in Post Vincennes, which was then under British control. The earliest record of him there was the baptism of his oldest child, François-Joseph, on October 20, 1777. François’ wife was Marie-Josephe Levron dit Metayer, but their marriage is missing from church records, possibly because no priest was assigned to the town. They went on to have eight or ten more children, with the youngest born in 1798. At least four of the children died as infants or young children.

François had his part-indigenous heritage in common with many of the people living in Vincennes. A culture developed from a mixture of French and Native American customs, which can accurately be labeled as Creole. The people lived in a tight community of log cabins, painted white and situated on narrow streets. Outsiders sometimes viewed the people of Vincennes as being lazy, but others described that “they developed a deep appreciation of their own happy lot and an attitude toward outside interests that amounted in many cases to indifference, as they leisurely hunted, fished, traded with the [local tribes], raised a few vegetables, a little corn, and tended their small herds of cattle.”

Most remarkable about the Creole people of Vincennes is what they did during the American Revolution. While the French who lived in Canada largely supported the British, those who lived at Vincennes eagerly signed an Oath of Allegiance to the American cause. On July 20, 1778, a visiting priest named Father Pierre Gibault encouraged all the men in town to sign or put their “X” on the oath. François was one of the men who signed his name. The following February, George Rogers Clark led a successful attack on the British holding Fort Vincennes, giving the Americans a strategic foothold in the West. 

François signed his name on the Oath of Allegiance in Vincennes.

After the war, many of the French settlers participated in the transition of Vincennes into an American town. François served on the Northwest Territory Court of General Quarter Sessions grand jury in August 1798, and he was a member of the first Grand Jury of the territory of Indiana that met on March 3, 1801. In 1799, François was named in a lawsuit involving a debt owed by his father-in-law, Joseph Levron dit Metayer, to a man named André Lacoste (he had married Joseph’s widow in 1773). The suit was filed 28 years after Joseph Levron had died. François never showed up at court, and the ruling was that he and his wife, along with a few other heirs, were to pay $1,450, a very large sum of money. It’s not known if anyone actually paid.

François died on October 1, 1809 and was buried in the St. Francis-Xavier church cemetery in Vincennes. The following year, he was posthumously involved in a dispute of land ownership in Kaskaskia. The plot of about 12 acres had originally belonged to François’ father Joseph Turpin, and Francois had deeded it to a man named Pierre Menard in 1801. But in 1803, the children of François’ sister had deeded the same land to another man, John Edgar, claiming that François was never the legal heir because he was really the son of his mother’s second husband. The case became one of trying to prove who fathered François: Joseph Turpin or Joseph de LaMirande. Some witnesses swore François was born over a year after Joseph Turpin had died, and others said that he was born much earlier. The ruling was that François was indeed Joseph Turpin’s son and Pierre Menard could claim ownership of the land.

Debunking the incorrect identity of François’ wife
Some researchers have said that François was married to a woman named “Françoise Mallet.” This was a wrong assumption — in fact, no one by that name existed in Vincennes. The faulty information arose from a transcription of a baptism at St. Francis Xavier church during the 1790s. It has François as the father of the child, but the mother was identified as “Françoise Mallet.” Because François has the name “LaMirande,” some concluded there were two François Turpins, and only this one was the son of Joseph Turpin and Hypolite Chauvin.

None of the other records for François Turpin’s children include the name “LaMirande," but each one gives Marie-Josephe Levron as the mother. Also, the name “Françoise Mallet” shows up in no other records in Vincennes. Therefore it seems likely that there was a mistake in the transcription for the record (or in the original record) that names Françoise Mallet. 

Children:
1. François Joseph Turpin – B. 20 Oct 1777, Vincennes, Indiana; M. Josephine Guelle, 14 Jul 1805, Vincennes, Indiana

2. Antoine Turpin – B. 13 Jan 1779, Vincennes, Indiana; D. 18 Aug 1786, Vincennes, Indiana

3. Jean-Baptiste Turpin — B. 30 May 1782, Vincennes, Indiana; D. 18 Aug 1786, Vincennes, Indiana

4. Marie-Josephe Turpin — B. 15 Oct 1784, Vincennes, Indiana; D. 7 Mar 1786, Vincennes, Indiana

5. Raphael Turpin – B. 8 Sep 1786, Vincennes, Indiana

6. Louis Turpin — B. 13 Mar 1789, Vincennes, Northwest Territory; D. 8 Aug 1845; M. Celeste Joyeuse, 2 May 1830, Vincennes, Indiana

7. Rosalie Turpin — B. Mar 1791, Vincennes, Northwest Territory; M. Charles Grimard (1776-?), 19 Dec 1809, Vincennes, Indiana Territory

8. (probably) _________ Turpin — B. 25 Feb 1793, Vincennes, Northwest Territory; D. 25 Feb 1793, Vincennes, Northwest Territory

9. (probably) François Diego Turpin — B. 21 Mar 1794, Vincennes, Northwest Territory

10. Ursule Turpin — B. 3 Feb 1796, Vincennes, Northwest Territory; D. 8 Aug 1797, Vincennes, Indiana

11. Elizabeth Turpin — B. 12 Nov 1798, Vincennes, Northwest Territory; D. 1835, Vincennes, Indiana; M. François Ravellette (1791-1857)

Sources:
Dictionnaire généalogique des familles canadiennes depuis la fondation de la colonie jusqu'à nos jours, Cyprien Tanguay, 1890
Roster of Soldiers and Patriots of the American Revolution Buried in Indiana, Mrs. Roscoe C. O’Byrne, 1938
History of Knox and Daviess Counties, Indiana, 1886
St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church Records: Baptisms 1749-1838, Barbara Schull Wolfe, 1999
A complete survey of cemetery records, Knox County, Indiana, collected and compiled by Mrs. Alta Amsler
Wabash Valley Visions & Voices Memory Project, visions.indstate.edu
The Family of Joseph Turpin, Sadie Greening Sparks, 18 Oct 2000, sadiesparks.com
Enumeration of Males Residing in the District of Poste Vincennes, 8 Oct 1787