The "Winthrop Fleet" sailing from the Isle of Wight, England, early in 1630 brought to Massachusetts a considerable group of early settlers. From the records available a probable passenger list has been reconstructed which shows among the many, a group consisting of,
ABRAHAM FINCH, Sr.
ABRAHAM FINCH, Jr.
DANIEL FINCH
JOHN FINCH
This passenger list, with the early records of Massachusetts and Wethersfield Connecticut, forms the basis of discussion of this relationship of the group.
All settled first at Watertown, where in November 1630 as shown by Winthrop in his "New England" "Old Finch" had "his wigwam and all his goodes destroyed by fire".
In 1634 Abraham, Abraham Junior, and Daniel were in the original group which became the settlement of Wethersfield. Their lot assignments were on the east side of Broad Street and adjacent to each other.
The record of Abraham Sr. ends with Wethersfield. Abraham Jr. was killed there. Daniel moved on to Stamford with the original group which settled it and there he was joined by John, who received the same allotment of land as the original settlers.
From the records involved in the above settlements and the movements to them there has been discussion as to the relationship of the participants. Banks in his "Winthrop Fleet", Adams, Couch, Mead, and several other genealogists portray it as a single-family with Abraham Sr as the head and Abraham Jr, Daniel and John as his sons. Jacobus at considerable length contends that, through clerical error, the name of Abraham had been written for Daniel in the Wethersfield records and that there was no such person as Abraham Sr and that Abraham jr. was in fact a descendant of Daniel.
From the court records and lot assignments at Wethersfield, it would seem that Abraham Jr was the son of Abraham senior and that he in turn had a son named Abraham. Abraham Jr married Dorothy Moulton whose father came to New England in 1629, settling in Salem. It is probable that Abraham Junior married between 1630 and 1634, as at that later date he went with settlers to Wethersfield and was there given separate land allotment. If his marriage age was about 25 then he was born between 1608 and 1613 and Abraham sr his father, born about 1585 which is the date proposed by others.
Daniel had a grandson who in 1657, by court decree, was placed in charge of property belonging to his grandfather, Daniel. The grandson at the time must have been 'of age', that is over 21, and was therefore born before 1636. Should his father, Isaac, have been about 25 when married, then he in turn must have been born about 1610-15 and Daniel in turn born about 1585 - 90.
John is recorded with 5 children. The first date appearing is 1659, the date of birth of grandson John son of Isaac. Again with the same age spread Isaac must have been born about 1630-35 and John some time about 1600.
It would appear that under no circumstances could Daniel and John have been the sons of Abraham sr. Because of their close association it is probable that the three were brothers.
The line of descent from Abraham sr disappears with his grandson Abraham who died unmarried, leaving only descendants of Daniel and John for consideration as of present day.
