"Gold, Nathan. Ens., Fairfield Trainband, before 1656; Lt., May 1657; Chief Military Officer, Fairfield County, June 1672; Major, Fairfield County, Aug. 1673; member of Conn. War Council, Nov. 1673, July 1675, May 1676. Patentee, Royal Charter, 1662. Assistant, Conn. Col., 1657, 1659-87, 1689-94. Commissioner, N. Y. Boundary, 1683, 1684. Judge of Pleas for Fairfield County under Andros, 1687. Colonial grant of 300 acres, 1667, and of 800 acres [in Danbury], 1687.
Son of John Gould, of Kings Langley, yeoman (will 30 June 1633, proved 18 July 1633), by wife Judith (will 6 May 1650, proved 3 Sept. 1650). Judith m. (2) by license 20 Sept. 1639, Simon Gould, of Bovingdon, co. Herts, a distant cousin of her first husband. She was buried at Watford, co. Herts, 15 May 1650. She left money to be sent to New England 'for my son Nathan and my daughter Sarah their own children'; other children, Hannah, Mary, Abel, Lydia, Elizabeth; another son, Zaccheus, died before her, 'ultra marinis coelebis', unmarried.
Nathan is first seen at Milford, whence he soon removed to Fairfield; m. (1) between 1648 and 1655, Martha, widow of Edmund Harvey. In 1657, Winthrop wrote of Gold's wife at Fairfield as suffering from 'hypocondraiaca.' Perhaps she did not long survive; Martha's name has not been found in Fairfield records following her marriage to Gold, though he was later recorded as responsible for the portions of her children.
When Mrs. Mary Benfield was examined in 1665 at the house of the magistrate, Nathan Gold, she was questioned privately by Mrs. Sarah Gold and Mrs. Beatrice Risden. In 1682, Joseph Banks gave £10 by will to Mrs. Sarah Gold, Sr., making Maj. Gold one of the overseers. In Sept. 1692, 'Sary' Gold testified with Ann Wakeman [widow of Rev, Samuel Wakeman] in the witchcraft trials. No further reference to her is found, and when Nathan Gold made his will in 1694, he had no wife living. …
In 1663, Capt. Robert Seeley accused Nathan Gold of speaking against the King, and he indignantly protested his innocence.
Will 1 Mar. 1693/4, proved 29 Mar. 1693/4; only son Nathan; four daus., the wife of John Thompson, Deborah wife of George Clarke, Abigail wife of Jonathan Selleck, and Martha Selleck."
