Person:Miles Merwin (1)

"Miles¹ Merwin (Walter^A, Nicholas^B, Thomas^C, John^D), the New England immigrant, was born at Clewer, Berkshire, baptized in the adjacent parish of New Windsor, 1 February 1623/4 [Miles Merwin's baptism was recorded in the registers of New Windsor and also in the Bishop's Transcripts of Clewer. The New Windsor record explains the duplication, stating that Miles was born in Clewer, but baptized in New Windsor (as were, presumably, his brothers Joseph, Benjamin and Nicholas)], and he died at Milford, Connecticut, 23 April 1697, aged 74 years. He immigrated to New England, possibly in 1640 on the ship Susan and Ellen, in the company of his uncle, John Tinker, and by 1648 he had settled in Windsor, Connecticut, where his uncle and great-aunt and stepgrandmother, Mary (Merwin) Collins, also were living.

He married first say 1648, probably at Windsor. Connecticut, Elizabeth Powell, who was baptized at All Hallows, Goldsmith Street, Exeter, Devonshire, 29 August 1630, daughter of William and Dorothy (Searle) Powell of Exeter and Honiton, Devonshire [Parish Registers of All Hallows, Goldsmith Street, Exeter, FHL microfilm 547,185.], and died at Milford, Connecticut 10 July 1664. She was the niece of Abigail (Searle) (Branker) Warham (1612-1684), wife successively of John Branker, schoolmaster, and the Rev. John Warham, both of Dorchester, Massachusetts, and Windsor, Connecticut. Miles married, second, about 1665, Sarah (Platt) Beach, who was baptized at Ware, Hertfordshire, 11 September 1636, daughter of Richard and Mary (Wood) Platt, and the widow of Thomas Beach of Milford [The American Genealogist, 30 [1954]:232-242, 31 [1955]:150-170; Charles Platt, Jr., Platt Genealogy (New Hope, Pa., 1963), 73, 262]. Sarah died at Milford, Connecticut, 15 May 1670, and Miles married third, at Stamford, Connecticut, 30 November 1670, Sarah (Youngs) Scofield, the daughter of Rev. John and Mary (-----) Youngs and [see her person page] (-----) widow of Daniel Scofield of Stamford. Sarah died shortly before 16 June 1697, when an inventory of her estate was taken.

In 1650, Miles Merwin purchased a five-acre homelot dwelling house, and 2¼ acres of adjoining meadow at Windsor from Roger Williams, bounded by the rivulet (Farmington River) and the lands of Benjamin Newberry and Thomas Nowell. About the same time, Miles also purchased a large tract of land from Samuel Phelps east of Windsor on the east side of the Connecticut River, bounded by land of John Drake, Jr., and John Strong. Sometime in the period 1649-1654 the town of Milford granted Miles Merwin "for his encouragement to settle within the town" ten acres, five of them in the Brick Kiln. Shortly afterwards, on 27 January 1652/3, Miles sold his homelot, dwelling house, and meadow in Windsor to Samuel Marshall, and, in a second undated conveyance, sold his tract on the east side of the river to Thomas Ford.

Upon arriving in Milford, Miles established a successful tannery business which he, and later his son John, operated. On 10 January 1654/5, the Town granted 'Tanner Miles Marwin' a lot 'next unto Ensign Bryan's Warehouse by the harborside, for to build and improve his trade thereon and he would lay down the other Againe to the town that was formerly granted to him because it is streight for him and this place he Judged to be more convenient. …' In 1675 Miles was joint owner with William East and Alexander Bryan of one sloop and two brigs. The sloop was kept in the coastal trade with Boston; the brigs made voyages to the West Indies taking as cargo, staves, horses, cattle, beef, pork, and corn meal, returning with rum, molasses, and European goods.

Prior to his death, he conveyed most of his real estate to three of his sons, John, Samuel, and Miles, Jr. In his will dated 18 May 1695 and proved 12 May 1697, Miles Merwin, Senior made bequests to his wife Sarah Merwin and her grandchildren, children of Sarah and John Pettet of Stamford; to John Scofell of Stamford; and to Mercy Camp, wife of Samuel Camp of Milford. He specified that any of his children who had not received their full portion should be given them by his executors; he named sons John, Thomas, Samuel, and Miles, and mentioned (but did not name) daughters. To his ten grandchildren he left £100 among them, and to each one a bible. Land he had of Nathaniel Farran he gave to his son John's eldest child. Sons John and Miles were to be executors. Witnesses were Alexander Bryan, Josiah Plat, and Edward Nilkison.

The will was proved 12 May 1697. The inventory of the personal estate of Miles Merwin, Senior, totaling £453 11s 11d, was taken by John Smith, Jonathan Baldwin, and Timothy Baldwin; it included a tract of 110 acres and another of unspecified size bought of Nathaniel Farran."^[1]

Founders of Windsor, CT

Windsor was the first permanent English settlement in Connecticut. Local indians granted Plymouth settlers land at the confluence of the Farmington River and the west side of the Connecticut River, and Plymouth settlers (including Jonathan Brewster, son of William) built a trading post in 1633. But the bulk of the settlement came in 1635, when 60 or more people led by Reverend Warham arrived, having trekked overland from Dorchester, Massachusetts. Most had arrived in the New World five years earlier on the ship "Mary and John" from Plymouth, England. The settlement was first called Dorchester, and was renamed Windsor in 1637. See: Stiles History of Ancient Windsor - Thistlewaite's Dorset Pilgrims - Wikipedia entry Loomis homestead, oldest in CT. Settlers at Windsor by the end of 1640, per the Descendants of the Founders of Ancient Windsor: Abbot - Alford - S. Allen - M. Allyn - Barber - Bartlett - M. (Barrett) (Huntington) Stoughton - Bascomb - Bassett - Benett - Birge - Bissell - Branker - Brewster - Buckland - Buell - Carter - Chappel - D. Clarke - J. Clarke - Cooke - Cooper - Denslow - Dewey - Dibble - Dumbleton - Drake - Dyer - Eels - Eggleston - Filley - Ford - Foulkes - Fyler - Gaylord - Francis Gibbs - William Gilbert - Jere. Gillett - Jon. Gillett - N. Gillett - Grant - Gridley - E. Griswold - M. Griswold - Gunn - Hannum - Hawkes - Hawkins - Hayden - Haynes - Hill - Hillier - Holcombe - Holmes - Holt - Hosford - Hoskins - Hoyte - Hubbard - Huit - Hulbert - Hull - Hurd - Hydes - Loomis - Ludlow - Lush - Marshfield - A. Marshall - T. Marshall - Mason - M. (Merwin) (Tinker) Collins - M. Merwin - Mills - Moore - Newberry - Newell - Oldage - Orton - Osborn - Palmer - Parsons - Parkman - Pattison - Phelps - Phelps - Phillips - Pinney - Pomeroy - Pond - Porter - Preston - Rainend - Randall - Rawlins - Reeves - J. Rockwell - W. Rockwell - B. Rossiter - St. Nicholas - Saltonstall - Samos - M. Sension (St. John) – R. Sension - Sexton - Staires - Starke - F. Stiles – H. Stiles - J. Stiles – T. Stiles - Stoughton - Stuckey - Talcott - E. Taylor - J. Taylor - Terry - Thornton - Thrall - Tilley - Tilton - Try - F. (Clark) (Dewey) (Phelps) - Vore - Warham - Weller - Whitehead - A. Williams - J. Williams - R. Williams - Wilton - Winchell - Witchfield - Wolcott - Young Current Location: Hartford County, Connecticut   Parent Towns: Dorchester, Massachusetts   Daughter Towns: Windsor Locks; South Windsor; East Windsor; Ellington; Bloomfield

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5} Richardson, Douglas. The English Ancestry of the Merwin and Tinker Families of New England: Part I: Miles Merwin of Windsor and Milford, Conn. New England Historical and Genealogical Register. (New England Historic Genealogical Society, Jul 1995)
   149:305-08.
2. ↑ ^2.0 2.1 Savage, James. A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England: Showing Three Generations of Those Who Came Before May, 1692, on the Basis of Farmer's Register. (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co, 1860-1862).

   MERWIN, MILES, MILFORD, where Lambert reports him in 1645, had Elizabeth; John; Abigail; Thomas; Samuel, b. 21 Aug. 1656; and Miles, 14 Dec. 1638; Daniel, 1661, d. young; Martha and Mary, tw. 23 Jan. 1666, Hannah, 1667; and Deborah, 1670; all the first six nam. in the will of his [sic - his wife's^S1] aunt Abigail, wid. of Rev. John Warham, wh. had bef. been wid. of John Branker, made in 1684, when he calls hims. 60 yrs. old, but in 1692 says a. 70. He d. 23 Apr. 1697, aged a. 74, in his will of 18 May 1695, names third w. Sarah and all the s. liv. four in number, and sev. gr.ch. The inv. 12 May 1697, names six ds. by the surnames of their hs. His first wh. name is untold, d. 10 July 1664; his sec. was Sarah, wid. of Thomas Beach, wh. d. 1670. Elizabeth m. Canfield; Abigail m. a Scofield; Martha m. James Prince; Mary m. a Hull; Hannah m. Abel Holbrook; and Deborah m. a Burwell.