Family:John Bissell and Unknown (1)

John Bissell's wife died in 1641,^[2] making her the mother of all his children.

Jones ^[3] refers to “Mathew Grant’s List”, which says “John Bissell’s wife is one of four persons who died in Windsor in the year 1641. She left 6 children all the way from 6 months to 10 or 12 years of age. She, herself, was perhaps close of 35.” Windsor records also indicate "The wife of John Bissell dyed March 29th 1665,"^[4] so there was a second wife as well, who does not have any children found in Windsor records. Holcombe, page 7, says the wife of Capt. John Bissell was Mary Drake. If Mary Drake was one wife or the other, she was not the daughter of John Drake Sr. of Windsor (she married John Gaylord and died in 1683) and she would have been too old to be his granddaughter.

References

1.   Windsor Vital Records [NEHGS], in Connecticut, United States. The Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Vital Records
   31.

   "Bissell, … John, Sr., had 1 child b. in Windsor. Dated Aug. 17, 1677 [MG]"
   
   This implies that Nathaniel, born and baptized in Windsor, was the youngest child and that the other five known children were born prior to John Bissell's appearance at Windsor.

2. ↑ Windsor Vital Records (Barbour Collection): "The wife of John Bissell dyed May 21st 1641"
3. ↑ Jones, Edward Payson, Genealogy of the Descendants of John Bissell of Windsor, CT by 1640, Typewritten manuscript bound at NEHGS, 1939.
4. ↑ Windsor Town Records