Person:James Olmstead (22)

Estate and Probate

According to Manwaring's transcription ^[3] James' will taken 28 Sep 1640 names:

• son Nicholas (received half the estate);
• son Nehemiah (the other half);
• brother Lymus, who has promised "to make my sonn Nicholas wifes portion as good as any child he hath";
• "Cossen Rebeca Olmstead", who was living with him at the time;
• servant Will Corby, received £5 and to serve his time with "my sonne Nicholas"; and
• friends Richard Webb and William Wadsworth, to oversee his requests.

"And I leave my sonne Nehemiah wth Richard Webb and Will Wadsworth, intreating the to have the ouer sight of him and the disposeing of him as their owne child. But if my sonne Nehemiah shall goe contrary in Bestowing himselfe any way contrary to the judgement of my two friends, Rich. Webb and Will Wadsworth, then yt shall be in their power to comannd and take a hundred pound of his estate and dispose of yt as they thinke fitt." ^[3]

Following James' will, Manwaring's transcription lists an added agreement which also names:

• Kinsman Richard Olmstead and
• Kinsman John Olmstead

"A Decision and an Agreement by Richard Webb & Will Wadsworth with Nicholas Olmstead & Nehemiah Olmstead, that is to say, to his Kynsman Richard Olmstead, £5, and to his Kynsman John Olmstead, £5, to be paid within 3 yeares after his decease. And unto the church of Christ in Hartford, £20, to be paid at the same tyme of 3 years after the decease of their said Father. - Will Wadsworth, Nicholas Olmstead and Nehemiah Olmstead." ^[3]

1.   James Olmsted (Holmsted), in Society of the Descendants of the Founders of Hartford
   website.

   James Olmsted (Holmsted), arrived in Boston, Sept. 16, 1632, in the “Lion,” from London, with Goodwin, Wadsworth, and others; there came also with him his two sons, two nephews, Richard and John, and a niece, Rebecca. He was made a freeman, Mass. Nov. 6, 1632 ; and was constable 1634-5, at Cambridge ; removed to Hartford in June, 1636 ; an original proprietor. He received 70 acres in the distribution of 1639; his home-lot was on the highway now Front St. He d. before Nov., 1640 ; will dated Sept. 28 ; inv. £397. 19. 2. Mr. Hooker mentions his death in a letter, “slept sweetly in the Lord, having carried himself gratiously in his sickness.” …
   ----------
   [Note: According to Anderson, (GMB 2:1359) there is no evidence to prove this, and they may well have come later. This is a website and there are no citations for the information provided. To Do: Find out who Mr. Hooker is and get the primary quote.]

2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Olmsted, Henry King (1824-1896), and George Kemp Ward (1848-1937). Genealogy of the Olmsted Family in America: Embracing the Descendants of James and Richard Olmstead and Covering a Period of Nearly Three Centuries, 1632-1912. (New York: A. T. DeLaMare, 1912)
   5.

   'JAMES OLMSTED, the ancestor of the Hartford, Ct., branch of the Olmsted family, was the son of James and Jane (Bristow) Olmsted of Great Leighs, Essex Co., England, where he was bap. Dec. 4 1580. ...
   "James Olmsted was made a freeman Nov. 6, 1632, and was chosen Constable by a popular vote (the first one so chosen) Nov. 3, 1634. ..." '

3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3} Manwaring, Charles W. A Digest of the Early Connecticut Probate Records. (Hartford, Conn.: R. S. Peck & Co., 1904-06)
   1:28-29.

   Olmstead, James, Hartford. Invt. £397-19-02. Taken 28 September, 1640, by John Steele, Edward Stebbing.
   Will: It is my will to give my estate betweene my two sonns, that is to say, the on halfe to my son Nicholas, and the other halfe to my sonne Nehemiah, equally divyded betweene the both, wth this reservation, that if my brother Lymus doe make his word good to make my sonne Nicholas wifes portion as good as any child he hath, for so I understand his prmise is, but if he shall refuse so to doe, I shall then refuse to give my sonne any prte of my moveable goods, cattell, or debts; but my will is to leave the thing wth Richard Webb and William Wodsworth to see my Brother Lumus doe prforme his prmise, and as the said Richard Webb and Will Wodsworth shall doe I shall be content. And if my brother Lumus doe prforme his prmise, then my will is their portions shall be a like, only Nicholas shall abate so much as I have given him before. And my will is that my sonne Nehemiah shall give out of his portion ten pound to my Cossen Rebeca Olmstead that now dwelleth wth me, and he shall pay yt her wth in three yeares after my decease, and I leave her to be disposed by Richard Webb and Will Wadsworth, and as shee shall carry herselfe yt shall be in their power ether to give her the ten pound or to detayne yt fro her. I doe give my servant Will Corby five pound, to be paid when his tyme comes forth, and I doe will my sonne Nehemyah to pay him out of his owne portion; And I doe will that Will Corby doe searve his tyme wth my sonne Nehemiah. And I leave my sonne Nehemiah wth Richard Webb and Will Wadsworth, intreating the to have the ouer sight of him and the disposeing of him as their owne child. But if my sonne Nehemiah shall goe contrary in Bestowing himselfe any way contrary to the judgement of my two friends, Rich. Webb and Will Wadsworth, then yt shall be in their power to comannd and take a hundred pound of his estate and dispose of yt as they thinke fitt. I give to my two frynd,s Richard Webb and Will Wadsworth, wch I put in trust, six pounds and a marke to be paid equally betwixt the, and my two sonnes shall pay the, the one pay the one halfe and the other pay the other halfe.
   Ja Olmstead
   Witness: Richard Webb
   Will Wadsworth
   
   A Decision and an Agreement by Richard Webb & Will Wadsworth with Nicholas Olmstead & Nehemiah Olmstead, that is to say, to his Kynsman Richard Olmstead, £5, and to his Kynsman John Olmstead, £5, to be paid within 3 yeares after his decease. And unto the church of Christ in Hartford, £20, to be paid at the same tyme of 3 years after the decease of their said Father.
   Will Wadsworth
   Nicholas Olmstead

4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5} Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995)
   2:1357-1360.

   ORIGIN: Fairstead, Essex
   MIGRATION: 1632 on Lyon [Hotten 150].
   CHURCH MEMBERSHIP: Admission to church membership prior to 6 November 1632 implied by freemanship, presumably to Watertown, since Cambridge church was not yet organized. Probably joined the church at Cambridge when it was formed in 1633, and remained with this church when it went to Hartford.
   FREEMAN: 6 November 1632 [MBCR 1:367].

5.   Jacobus, Donald Lines. History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield. (New Haven, Conn.: The Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Company, 1930-1932)
   1:450-51.

   Olmstead, James. Son of James and Jane (Bristow), bapt. at Great Leighs, co. Essex, Eng., 4 Dec. 1580, d. at Hartford in 1640; m. at Great Leighs, 26 Oct. 1605, Joyce Cornish, who was buried at Fairsted, co. Essex, 21 Apr. 1621. He came on the Lion to Boston in 1632, with his two sons, and three children of his brother Richard, and settled in Cambridge, Mass. In 1636 removed to Hartford. Will: two sons Nicholas and Nehemiah; promise of brother Loomis regarding my son Nicholas' wife's portion; cousin Rebecca Olmstead that now dwelleth with me; servant Will Corby. Inv. 28 Sept. 1640. Agreement of Nicholas and Nehemiah Olmstead for his kinsmen Richard and John Olmstead to have £5 each.
   -----
   [Note: According to Anderson, (GMB 2:1359) there is no evidence to prove this, and they may well have come later.]

6.   Olmsted, Henry King (1824-1896), and George Kemp Ward (1848-1937). Genealogy of the Olmsted Family in America: Embracing the Descendants of James and Richard Olmstead and Covering a Period of Nearly Three Centuries, 1632-1912. (New York: A. T. DeLaMare, 1912)
   xvii.

   [Extract from an address of welcome by Prof. Everett Ward Olmsted, June 20, 1912]
   
   ... When James Olmsted left his home at Fairsted, he left in its burying place his wife and five of their seven children. James, 'together with two sons, Nicholas and Nehemiah, two nephews, Richard and John, and a niece, Rebecca ,' arrived in New England, on the Lord's Day, Sept. 16, 1632, in the ship Lyon, under Capt. Pierce, after a voyage of 12 weeks from Braintree, England. There were 123 passengers, of whom 50 were children. "They settled first at Mount Wallaston, now Quincy, near Boston, but in the course of the year, 'by order of the Court,' they removed to Newtown, now Cambridge, [Massachusetts]." ...
   -----
   [Note: According to Anderson, (GMB 2:1359) there is no evidence to prove this, and they may well have come later.]

7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2} Thomas, Elijah L. An abridged genealogy of the Olmstead family of New England. (Albany, New York: Joel Munsell, 1869)
   1.

   ... JAMES OLMSTEAD. Came to Boston, Mass., in the ship Lyon, from London, England, September 16, 1632. He was received a freeman. Settled at Cambridge, Mass., and filled the office of constable there for some years. He removed to Hartford, Conn., in 1663, of which he was an original proprietor, with large lots of land, his will and inventory showing a comfortable property. He died Sept. 18, 1640.
   -----
   [Note: No sources provided.]]