Person:Aaron Stark (1)

_ Contents 1 Sources 2 Birth 3 Marriage 4 Will 5 Notes _

YDNA Patriarch

Sources

Source:Lefleur, 2007

Aaron Stark Family Chonicles

Birth

We know almost nothing about Aaron's early years, for there are no records to tell us where he was born, what he was doing during his early years, and where he was living before the 1630s. On June 11, 1673, Aaron gave a deposition recorded in the Stonington Town Records, which gave his age as sixty-five “or there abouts” providing us with the clue that his year of birth was about 1608. As there is no documented evidence of Aaron’s arrival in New England, we cannot state with absolute certainty when he came to America, although some earlier researchers speculate his migration to have been as early as 1627 or 1629.
Clovis LeFleur, 2006. The Life & Times of Aaron Stark, 1608-1685, Currently (July 2013) available at Ancestry Family Tree
citing "Records of the Particular Court of Connecticut, 1639-1663. Published by the Connecticut Historical Society and the Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Connecticut, Hartford, 1928, page 3"

Marriage

The following passage provides the basis for identifying Mary Holt as the wife of Aaron Stark, though the circumstances are more than a little bit unpleasant.

Aaron Starke to Stand vppon the pillory and be whipt ... and to haue the letter R burnt uppon his cheeke and in regard of the wrong done to Mary Holt to pay her parents 10L and in defect of such to the Common Wealth and when both are fit for that Condition to marry her; Clovis LeFleur, 2006. The Life & Times of Aaron Stark, 1608-1685, Currently (July 2013) available at Ancestry Family Tree

The following land transaction confirm that Aaron did indeed marry Sarah (presumably Sarah Holt):

"(Page 123) Know all men by these presents that I Aron Starke of New London heare by sell ------ Allinate pass away and make over unto Robert Flemen of Stoneington my whole right in my tract of Land in Stoneington ------- tract of Land being one hundred and fifty ackers as according to grant and bounded as in the Records in the booke of Records in Stoneington the said Tract of Land with all Privledges appurtenances belongeing there unto and binde my selfe, heiers, & Excutors, Administrators, assignes that the sayd Robert Flemen he his heiers Executors, Administrators, Assigns shall quietly and peaceably Improve, poses and Injoy the sayd bargained premises with out molestation from me or any other maner of person or persons whatsoever as Desposting Title unto whith deed of sale & sett to my hand and subscribe in the day and yeare as followeth September the 26 1670.
Signed: The marke of Aron A Starke. Witness: John Fish, Sarah Starke S her marke
leFleur, op cit. quoting Church of Latter-day Saints of Jesus Christ Microfilm Film #5593 Stonington, New London Co, CT Deeds 1664-1714, Book 1, pages 118&123. (Transcribed by Gwen Boyer Bjorkman.)

Will

From Ancestry Family Tree, citing New London County Court Records, Volume 5, page 109, June 3, 1685:

"The inventory of the Estate of Aaron Stark, deceased, being exhibited in Court was proved and ordered to be recorded. The last will and testament of Aaron Stark, being exhibited in Court, was proved, approved and ordered to be recorded. Aron Stark, John Stark, and William Stark, sons to Aron Stark, Sr., deceased, appearing in Court and did declare and desire Capt. Samuel Mason might divide the lands left there by their father, and bound the same between them."

Notes

Ancestry Tree citing Edwin Arlington Robinson, Children of the Night

Aaron Stark

Withal a meagre man was Aaron Stark,

Cursed and unkempt, shrewd, shrivelled, and morose.

A miser was he, with a miser's nose,

And eyes like little dollars in the dark.

His thin, pinched mouth was nothing but a mark;

And when he spoke there came like sullen blows

Through scattered fangs a few snarled words and close,

As if a cur were chary of its bark.

Glad for the murmur of his hard renown,

Year after year he shambled through the town,

A loveless exile moving with a staff;

And oftentimes there crept into his ears

A sound of alien pity, touched with tears,

And then (and only then) did Aaron laugh.

1.   Savage, James. 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)
   4:173.

   STARKE, or START, ARRON, Hartford 1639, or Windsor 1643, an unpromis. youth, subject. by sentence of Court to whip. rem. to New London 1655, near Stonington, freem. 1669; d. as, 1685, leav. s. Aaron, John, William, and had ds. wh. m. John Fish and Josiah Haynes.

2.   Cutter, William Richard. New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of the Commonwealths and the Founding of a Nation. (New York, New York, United States: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1913-14)
   4/1766.

   Aaron Stark, the immigrant ancestor, was settled at Hartford as early as 1639, and was of Windsor in 1643, finally locating at New London. His name is found in Mystic as early as 1650, being among the Stonington men who took the freeman's oath in 1666. He bought a farm near the head of the Mystic river of William Thompson, the Pequot missionary, and was included within the boundaries of New London. Neither marriage or children are found on the vital records, but the probate records show that he had sons, Aaron, John and William, and that his daughters married John Fish and Josiah Haynes. His wife was probably Mary Holt. He was a soldier in King Philip's war, and received a grant of land at Volunton, Connecticut, for his services. He died in 1685. His descendants have been numerous at Mystic, Connecticut, and vicinity.

3. ↑
   Aaron Stark (1608-1685) in Descendants of Aaron Stark (1608-1685) of Connecticut.
4. ↑ ^4.0 4.1 Aaron Stark, in Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration Directory. (Boston, Mass.: New England Historic Genealogical Society, Jun 2015)
   318.

   "Stark, Aaron: [Origin] Unknown; [Emigration] 1638; [Resided] Windsor, New London [CCCR 1:28, 55, 84; New London Hist 313-14; Charles R. Stark, The Aaron Stark Family (Boston, 1927)]."

5. ↑ ^5.0 5.1 1. Aaron Stark, in Stark, Charles Rathbone. The Aaron Stark Family: Seven Generations of the Descendents of Aaron Stark of Groton, Connecticut. (Boston: Wright and Potter, 1927)
   1.
6.   Ancestry Trees give variouos dates for the birth of Aaron Stark who married Mary Holt. 1608 seems to be the most commonly cited date (apprx. 3000 thousand trees), but 1606 is also cited (a few hundred trees.