Person:Samuel Stow (4)

First Minister at Middletown

He was founder and first pastor of the First Ecclesiastical Society in Middletown, although apparently never ordained. There was some problem between him and the town, as he was relieved of that duty by the General Court in October 1660.

"Session of y^e Gen: Court. Octo: 4: 1660. Hartford. …

Its ordered by y^e Court respecting Mr. Stow of MiddleTown, there appeareing such vnsutablenes in their spirits, that MiddleTown shal haue free liberty to provide for themselues another able, orthodox and pious minister, as soon as they can, who is to be approoued by Mr. Warham, Mr. Stone, Mr. Whiting, takeing in ye help of y^e Wor^ll Gournr and Mr. Willis, w^ch being done, Mr. Stow is to lay downe his preaching there. The said Towne giueing Mr. Stow Testimoniall L^rs such as the Gent: forenamed iudge fit. In ye meane time the Towne to allow Mr. Stow his vsual stipend, he continueing the exercise of his ministrey, as formerly. …

Hartford. Session Gen^ll. March 14. '60. …

This Court haueing heard and considered the differenc twixt ye Towne of Middle Town and Mr. Stow, and their allegations … and answers, ║ doe judg and determine, that y^e people of Middle Town are free from Mr. Stow as their engaged minister. 2ly. That the people of Middle Town shal giue to Mr. Stow L^rs Testimonial, according as was drawen vp, and prsented by the Worshipfull Gouerno^r in ye Court. And Mr. Stow is not infringed of his liberty to preach in Middle Town to such as will attend him, vntil there be a setled ministrey there. …

Its ordered by this Court, that y^e people of Middle Town shal pay vnto Mr. Stow, for his labour in ye ministrey the year past, 40l. w^ch is to be paid vnto him by the 10th of April next."^[4]

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} John Stow, 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)
   6:563.

   "Samuel Stow, bp. Biddenden 8 February 1623/4 [NEHGR 70:347]; Harvard College 1645 [Sibley 1:118-21]; …"

2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Samuel Stowe, in 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)
   4:217-218.

   "Samuel (Stow), Middletown, s. of John the first, b. in Eng. tho. Dr. Field in his valua. acco. of Middlesex Co. Conn. makes him native of Concord, wh. error he was led into by Shattuck, but it wd. have been impossib. had he recollect. the yr. of his gr. at Harv. 1645; and in his invalua. Memor. of Grad. Farmer, misled by the same high vouchers, erron. calls him s. of Thomas, instead of his br. He was freem. 1645, while undergr. but had his degr. few wks. aft.; went to preach at Middletown a. 1653, where no ch. was gather. for many yrs. and seems never to have been ord. but was the first and only min. there bef. 1668, by the gen. assem. as early as 1660, the town had been liberat. from contrib. to his support, on condit. of giv. him a recommend. to others. He, however, was well content with civil duties, tho. during Philip's war, as sev. yrs. bef. he preach. in various near towns, instead of more popular persons, wh. were sometimes invalid, or call. from their pulpits to accomp. the soldiers. By w. Hope, d. of William Fletcher he had John, b. at Charlestown, 16 June 1650; Ichabod, at M. 20 Feb. 1653; Hope, 4 Feb. 1657; Dorothy, 1 Aug. 1659, wh. m. Jonathan Gilbert sec. and d. 14 July 1698; Eliz. 1 Aug. 1662; Thankful, 5 May 1664; Rachel, 13 Mar. 1667; and Margaret (nam. in the will of her f.) whose date of b. is not kn.; and he d. 8 May 1704, aged 82, says Judge Sewall. His will, of 13 Aug. 1702 is very minute, and enlarges our geneal. details by ment. of his br. Nathaniel's s. Samuel of his dec. br. Thomas's s. Nathaniel, Thomas, and John, of wh. the latter being d. his heirs are ment. as also Samuel, s. of that neph. Thomas; beside his cous. Rev. James Pierpont, whose mo. was sis. of the testat. His w. was d. as was the younger of his two s. leav. only ch. Hope, and his oldest d. Hope, wh. m. 13 Feb. 1678, Abraham Smith, and d. 17 Nov. foll. only 5 days aft. the d. of her newborn inf. Aft. s. John, and the only ch. of Ichabod, therefore, of his own ch. only the five surv. ds. are to be looked for; Dorothy, wid. of Jonathan Gilbert; Eliz. wh. had m. 1691, Maybee Barnes; Thankful, w. of William Trowbridge; Rachel, w. of Israhiah Wetmore, m. 13 May 1692; and Margaret, w. of Beriah Wetmore."

3. ↑ Paige, Lucius R. List of Freemen. New England Historical and Genealogical Register. (New England Historic Genealogical Society, Jan, Apr, Jul, Oct 1849)
   3:190.
4. ↑ Colonial Connecticut Records, 1636 - 1776
   1:353, 356, 358, 361, 362.
5. ↑ The Settlers of Mattabeseck
   4.

   "Rev. Samuel Stow became a resident of Middletown before September 1652. On the present page one of the volume of town votes is an entry, partially indecipherable, relating to the erection of a building for Mr. Stow, presumably a house. In November, 1652, the town meeting was held at his house. He was the minister of the town from his settlement here until 1659. Opposition to him had been growing for some time, which culminated in petitions to the General Court, from him and his opponents. The Court authorized the town to employ some other minister, but gave him permission to preach to those who cared to hear him. In 1668, he was chosen Rate maker, and in 1679-80, the Townsmen were ordered 'to make Adres to Mr. Stow in order to being a Sohoollmaster for the yeare insuing.' From 1681 to 1685 he preached at Simsbury. In 1695, the General Court voted to 'return there thanks to Mr. Stow for his great paynes in preparing a History of the Annalls of New England.' He was a Deputy to the General Court in 1697. Rev. Samuel Stow died May 8, 1704, having outlived his wife Hope, daughter of William Fletcher. They had eight children.

6. ↑ Middletown Vital Records [NEHGS], in Connecticut, United States. The Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Vital Records
   439.

   "Stow, … Samuell, Rev., d. May 8, 1704 [LR1:22]"

7. ↑ Samuel Stow, in Find A Grave.
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3} Stow, Rev. Samuel, Middletown, in Manwaring, Charles W. A Digest of the Early Connecticut Probate Records. (Hartford, Conn.: R. S. Peck & Co., 1904-06)
   2:120-22.

   "Probate Records. Vol. VII, 1700 to 1710. Page 95-6-7-8-9-100-1-2.
   
   Stow, Rev. Samuel, Middletown. Invt. £303-08-04. Taken 20 June, 1704, by Nathaniel Stow, Ebenezer Hubbard and Noadiah Russell. Will dated 13 August, 1702.
   
   I, Samuel Stow of Middletown, do make this my last will and testament: I give unto my son John Stow and to his son Samuel Stow the residue of that which we have called the middle pasture, all being about 3 acres more or less, butting upon my 5-acre home lot east, and on the heirs of my daughter Gilbert west. I give unto my son-in-law Israhiah Wetmore 3 1-2 acres of swamp and meadow on the west side of the Crook bridge, that we have made for carting, which sd. 3 1-2 acres are thus bounded: on the east on my son John's; on Mr. Collins south ; on my Cousin Sergt. Nathaniel Stowe west; and on Cousen John Stow's heirs from a great stump to a bush between Obadiah Allyn, Senior, and my heirs. If the quantity reach so far, the north is the Lammas highway, and the line between it and my heir, Samuel Stow, to whom I do give the residue of swamp northward and meadow adjoining unto my son Ichabod's heir west, and butting upon the Rivulet north and east, the south on his uncle Israhiah. Item. I having given my son Sergt. Israhiah Wetmore and my daughter Rachel part of my houselot which was five acres, the residue being three, I give the value of the sd. Land to my daughter Elizabeth Barns and to my daughter Margaret Wetmore, each of them half of the value he gave for his brother Benjamin's land. I give unto my daughters Elizabeth Barns and Margaret Wetmore all my propriety in that which is called the Round Meadow, my daughter Rachell's husband having by exchange set over his third part which their deed mentioned to his brother Beriah, the husband of my daughter Margaret. Item. Further, having given to my daughter Rachel, as their deed given doth mention, ten acres on the east side of the Great River in that lot of eight or nine and thirty acres more or less, I give to my daughter Elizabeth abovesd., and unto my daughter Margaret, each of them, 10 acres of land in sd. lot of 39 acres, the over-plus of the thirty being given to my daughter Thankful Trowbridge mentioned in the deed given to her husband William Trowbridge. The abuttments of these parcels to my four daughters in the whole is thus: On the highway east, on the land of Henry Coles west, and Andrew Warner south, and Mr. Giles Hamlin's heirs north, having a highway through it to Wongunk 8 rods wide. My sons Israhiah Wetmore and Maybee Barnes having, with my approbation, sold their wives' parts to Goodman Gill, the other two must take up theirs on the east end. As to a parcel of land in the westermost range of the Great Lott, containing 605 acres, I have given to six children, to each 1-6 part: the first lott to my son John Stow in behalf of his eldest daughter Hope Stow; the 2nd to Beriah Wetmore [f]or his wife (my daughter Margaret); the 3rd to Maybee Barnes for his wife (my daughter Elizabeth); the 4th to William Trowbridge for his wife (my daughter Thankful); the 5th to my son Israhiah Wetmore as a trustee for the orphans of my daughter Gilbert; the 6th to myself, being 100 acres or more, upon an account of 100 acres I let my son Israhiah Wetmore have at the Fall Lott in lieu of his wife's 6th part in this parcel. Item. As to my interest in the division of the Half Mile, and as to the additional 3 miles belonging to it in case of a new plantation, I give to Ebenezer Gilbert, the posthumous son of my deceased daughter Dorothy; to Samuel Barnes, the son of my daughter Elizabeth; to Ichabod Wetmore, son of my daughter Rachel; and to Beriah Wetmore, the husband of my daughter Margaret. I give 5 acres to my daughter Hope Stow, the daughter of my son Ichabod Stow. I intreat my friends, Mr. John Hamlin, Rev. Mr. Noadiah Russell and my kinsman, Rev. Mr. James Pierpont of New Haven, to be overseers. And my son John and my son-in-law Israhiah Wetmore to be my principal executors. It is further my will, as to my household stuff and moveables, it is my desire that what my wife did say before her decease (that such or such a daughter should have that as they shall agree) which I wish them to do among themselves that it be fullfilled, which I suppose done in a great part as to dammas, fine linen, cushions of needle work, velvet covers for stool and chairs. And as she wills, I will. And that my daughter Margaret shall have the high bed with the curtains and vallents broidered, with what necessary bedding and bolsters, besides the bed and bedsted, that hath been improved about me. Besides, I will Margaret the value of half the long table and carpet, and daughter Rachel the whole, paying the value of half of the whole to Margaret, Mr. Pierpont judging of it. The great carved chest I have willed to Margaret, as also the silver spoon which she possesseth, marked 'S. S. M.' And that marked 'S. S. E.' to my daughter Elizabeth. The spoon marked 'S. S. D.' let it be reserved for little Sarah Gilbert when of age. As to what more of silver, brass and iron in the house that was mine, I will it to my daughter Rachel because tender and careful of me in my old age.
   
   SAMUEL STOW, LS.
   
   Forasmuch as daughter-in-law Robinson hath not, according to my proffers, attended to comply with me in the establishing of this my last will to which I have set my hand and seal, I do will that land in controversy be sold for the just defraught of extraordinary debts and charges before there be any distribution of my estate, that all due debts be paid. If she doth comply, then what may be wanting out of my responsible estate may answer it. April 20th, 1704.
   
   SAMUEL STOW, LS.
   
   Witness: John Cornwall, Sen., John Collins, Samuel Warner.
   
   Court Record, Page 57—4 July, 1704: Will proven."