John Stanley. … Eldest son of the emigrant John, was born in England in 1624, and after his father's death was placed by the Court at Cambridge, in the care of his uncle Thomas Stanley, till the age of twenty-one. He removed with his uncle to Hartford in 1656, and doubtless lived with him till of age. During this period, when a mere boy of thirteen, he went in the expedition against the Pequots, the very year after the settlers came to Hartford [So stated by his son in the "Stanley Manuscripts." (p. 37.). He married, December 5. 1645, Sarah, daughter of Thomas and Anna Scott, of Hartford, and on the same day his sister Ruth, then but sixteen, married Isaac More, and the two young couples settled in Farmington. John Stanley and his wife were received to the church Jan. 30, 1652-3, and subsequently, when the families were graded according to dignity, they ranked fourth in a list of forty families. He was one of the most distinguished of the colonists, being appointed by his townsmen to nearly every office of trust and honor. He was a deputy to the General Court almost continually for thirty-seven years, from 1659 to 1696, being, with few exceptions, the longest term of service known in the annals of the state. In King Philip's war he was a lieutenant and captain, from which he obtained the appellation by which he was most commonly known, of "Capt. John Stanley." Was constable in Farmington in 1654; sergeant in 1669; ensign in 1674; captain in 1676; received a grant of one hundred and twenty acres of land from the General Court in 1674, and another in 1687; was one of a committee on Indian troubles in 1689, etc. His wife died June 6, 1661, and he married 2d, April 20, 1663, Sarah Stodder (or Stoddard). [Savage says she was Sarah, daughter of John Fletcher, of Milford; but Deacon John Stanley expressly says she was "Sarah Stodder." Stanley MSS (apparently the later research has determined that she was Sarah Fletcher).] He died December 19, 1706, aged eighty-two, and his wife, May 15, 1713. His will is dated in 1705, and his inventory amounted to £360 7s. 1d.
