Person:Mary Stanton (2)

From Thomas Stanton of Stonington, Conn. An Incomplete Record of His Descendants

They lived 15 or 16 years in New London, Conn., and then became the first settlers within the limits of the present town of Montville.

From the Montville Home page

You will not find the name Montville while searching early records of the colonies in southeast Connecticut. The area Montville now occupies was part of New London, called North Parish, it was incorporated in 1786. All records before that date will be found in New London.

North Parish had several industries in operation before the settlers arrived. Sawmills, and gristmills for grinding grain were located in the high ground where rivers could provide the power to run them. The first sawmill was built on the Oxoboxo River in the 1640s. John Winthrop Jr, started a forge to produce iron from bog-ore in 1643 at the mouth of the Oxoboxo.

The English established a friendly relationship with the Mohegan Chief Uncas and abt 1670 English families started moving into the area. Many of these families were given land grants by Uncas for helping his people defeat the Pequots. Some of these early settlers were Rogers, Fitch, Raymond, Turner, Mason, Chester and Baker.

Several small villages now make up the 43.9 square miles the town of Montville covers, they are Palmertown, Chesterfield, Uncasville, Oakdale, and Mohegan. There are 3 Post Offices: Montville, Uncasville, and Oakdale.

Samuel Rogers, son of James who operated the grist mill in New London, was given land by Uncas, the Mohegan sachem who urged his friend, Samuel to remove from New London and live near him. Although dealings of this sort were contrary to the colonial laws, it seems that Samuel did move his family to the Indian territory and thus is often referred to as the first settler of Montville. At any rate, with Samuel's move north of the Oxoboxo in 1670, we have English on Indian lands only fifty years after Pilgrims' arrival in Massachusetts.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Thomas Stanton, in Anderson, Robert Charles; George F. Sanborn; and Melinde Lutz Sanborn. The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635. (Boston, Massachusetts: NEHGS, 1999-2011)
   6:474.

   "Mary Stanton, b. say 1643; …"