John Stanley. … Eldest son of Captain John and Sarah (Scott) Stanley, born in Hartford, November 4, 1647, settled in Farmington, but removed with others about 1678 to the new settlement at Mattatuck (Waterbury), taking a hundred pound right, where he became one of the foremost citizens. "He was," says Bronson, "one of the assignees to whom the first Indian grant of lands was made over, and a grantee by name in the subsequent deeds. He was more than any other man, with the exception of Thomas Judd, senior, the ruling spirit and father of the settlement. He laid out the lots of the proprietors, staked out and apportioned the common fences, located highways, settled boundaries of adjoining towns, etc. He was the first Recorder of the town and of the proprietors. So far as appears, he was the only person among the earliest proprietors of Mattatuck who was fully qualified for the office. He wrote a legible and business-like hand." He was a sergeant in the Waterbury train-band in April, 1682, and afterwards, so long as no higher officer was permitted. In October, 1689, when a lieutenant was allowed, he was first selected for that office His appointment was confirmed by the Assembly; it was a distinguished honor, and no doubt he bore it worthily. After Waterbury began to send a representative to the General Court, Lieut. Stanley was the second whose name is recorded. What persuaded him to quit the settlement, in a time of great affliction, it is not possible to say. His loss must have been seriously felt. He returned to Farmington early in 1695, where he was a deacon in 1711 and afterwards. He, however, retained most of his lands in Waterbury, and his proprietor-right, and was a frequent visitor to the town to look after his estate. His familiarity with the records of the town was the cause of his appointment in 1705 to copy, for the purposes of preservation, such portions as were most important. He was appointed justice of the peace for Hartford County in May, 1704. His dwelling-house in Waterbury was at the eastern end of the public square, near where the second Congregational church now stands. He married, Nov. 18, 1669, Esther, daughter of Thomas Newell of Farmington. In June 22, 1728, he made a settlement of his estate, by which the sons, Samuel, Nathaniel, John, and Timothy, took upon themselves the support of their father, mother, and their uncle Isaac. He died the next year, May 16, 1729. His widow died at the house of her son Nathaniel, in Farmington, Jan. 29, 1739-40.
