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William Phelps (colonist)
Encyclopedia
William Phelps was a Puritan
Englishman who immigrated in 1630 to the American Colonies. He was one of the founders of both Dorchester, Massachusetts
and Windsor, Connecticut
, foreman of the first grand jury
in New England, served most of his life in early colonial government, and played a key role in establishing the first democratic
town government in the American colonies. Noted historian Henry Reed Stiles
said Phelps "was one of the most prominent and highly respected men in the colony."
, Gloucestershire
, England in 1630, to the New World. Their identification of the origin of William Phelps of Dorchester, Massachusetts was based solely on an estimate of his birth date, derived from his known age of 72 at death on July 14, 1672. Oliver Phelps located a William Phelps who was baptized in Tewkesbury on August 19, 1599, and thus identified him as the original immigrant. He also believed that George Phelps of Windsor, Connecticut, was William’s brother, despite the fact that they could not locate any records for a George Phelps in Tewkesbury. Recent genetic research has shown no biological relationship between the descendants of William and George Phelps.
Additionally, the will of William Phelps’ mother Dorothy in Tewkesbury, probated on May 5, 1617, mentioned a brother-in-law, Edward Phelps. His will in turn, probated on July 1, 1637, named as overseer of his estate his nephew, William Phelps, likely placing William Phelps of Tewkesbury in England and not across the Atlantic in the Massachusetts Bay.
More recent expert research has identified William Phelps of Crewkerne
, Somerset
shire, England as the probable immigrant. He had two wives: (1) Mary (surname unknown), buried in England in 1626, and (2) Anne Dover, who probably accompanied him and children from both marriages to Dorchester, Massachusetts, a town later subsumed as a neighborhood of Boston. The names and birthdates of his children correspond to the records later found in the American colony.
in Somerset listing the names of William Phelps' children from both wives.
had succeeded his father King James I of England
in 1625, and continued his father's strong opposition to the Puritan movement, who opposed many of the Anglican Church's doctrines as retaining too much of its Roman Catholic
roots. After the Puritans assumed control of Parliament, they began to pose a serious threat to the King's authority. In January 1629, in a move to neutralize his opponents, Charles dissolved Parliament entirely. The religious and political climate became so difficult for Puritans that many began to make arrangements to leave the country.
William Phelps was among them. A member of Reverend John Warham's church, they were organized on March 19, 1630 as the West Country Company at Plymouth. England, the day before leaving England. Warham had been a minister since 1614, but was relieved of his ministerial duties in 1627 because of his “strong Puritan
leanings.”
Led by the Reverend John White
, the group met on March 20, 1630 at New Hospital, Plymouth
, England. White has been called “the father of the Massachusetts Colony,” despite remaining in England his entire life, because of his influence in establishing this settlement. They fasted, prayed and prepared themselves for their perilous long voyage. White preached sermons in the morning and afternoon; then, with his blessing, the group departed for the New World aboard the Mary and John.
Unlike many who fled England for Canada, Ireland, and the Caribbean during this time, the Puritans who migrated to the New World were on the whole better educated and tended to leave relatively prosperous lives to establish a new society of pious family values. Unlike the Pilgrims
who were non-conformists or separatists, the Puritans were reformers. They were not leaving England for religious freedom, per se, for they believed their faith to be the only true religion. They disrespected all other faiths, especially Quakers
.
From their first arrival aboard the Mayflower
in 1620, until 1629, only about 300 Puritans had survived in New England, scattered in small and isolated settlements. In 1630, their population was significantly increased when the ship Mary and John arrived in New England carrying 140 passengers from the English West Country counties of Dorset
, Somerset
, Devon
and Cornwall
. These included William Phelps along with Roger Ludlow
e, John Mason, Samuel Maverick
, Nicholas Upsall
, Henry Wolcott and other men who would become prominent in the founding of a new nation.
It was the first of the ships later called the Winthrop Fleet
to land in Massachusetts. While the passenger lists for this voyage are not well documented, researchers from the Mary and John Clearing House concluded that it is highly likely that William Phelps, his wife Ann Dover, and their sons William, Samuel, Nathanial and Joseph were aboard ship. These names support the conclusion that William Phelps was from Crewkerne and not Tewkesbury.
settlers landed at Columbia Point
, which the Native Americans called "Mattaponnock".
The immigrants founded the First Parish Church of Dorchester
in 1631, which exists today as the Unitarian-Universalist church on Meetinghouse Hill, being the oldest religious organization in present-day Boston. The first church building was a simple log cabin with a thatched roof. The settlers held their first town meeting at the church, and they set their laws in open and frequent discussion. In all of this they were inspired by the ideal of the Kingdom of God
on earth and the attempt to realize this in England in the time of the Rev. John White. The church is referred to as a 'Foundation Stone of the Nation".
The new settlers also founded in 1639 the first elementary school
in the New World supported by public money, the Mather School
. The school is the oldest elementary school in America. Dorchester was annexed by the City of Boston
in 1970.
in 1643.
, assigned to serve on committees given authority to settle land and boundary disputes, and given other key responsibilities in administering the affairs of the new town, including serving on the General Court
. or general meeting, at which individuals were tried for offenses including absence from church, forgery
, fornication
, and “bastard
y.”
Phelps remained in Dorchester until 1635 when he and a large number of other families relocated to a new site inland which they named Windsor.
In 1633, the Plymouth Trading Company
established the first Connecticut settlement, a trading post at what would become Windsor, Connecticut
, in territory the Dutch claimed and in which they maintained a fort and trading post, about seven miles downriver in what was later Hartford, Connecticut
. In 1635, Puritan and Congregationalist members of Reverend Warham’s and Reverend Maverick's
congregation, including William Phelps, John Mason, Roger Ludlow
, Henry Wolcott, and others, all prominent settlers, were dissatisfied with the rate of Anglican reforms. They sought permission from the Massachusetts General Court
to establish a new ecclesiastical society subject to their own rules and regulations. About 60 individuals, totaling 23 heads of households, undertook a two-week's journey about 100 miles to the east. They founded a new town they initially also named Dorchester. Two years later in 1637, the colony's General Court changed the name of the settlement from Dorchester to Windsor, believed to be named after the city of Windsor, England
on the River Thames. The new town was the first English settlement in the state. Under pressure from continued English settlement, the Dutch abandoned their post in 1654.
to govern the Colony of Connecticut. All meetings were to meet in a legal and open manner. Eight men were given "full power and authority" to lead the new colony: "Roger Ludlow
e, Esqr., William Pinchon, Esq., John Steele, William Swaine, Henry Smythe, William Phelpes, William Westwood & Andrew Warde."
Roger Ludlow later wrote a book on the democratic procedures of Connecticut which furnished the outline for the Constitution of the United States
.
had lived in Southeastern Connecticut for over 10,000 years. When the colonists occupied Windsor, Connecticut, they came into contact and later conflict with the Pequot who inhabited the area. The Pequot had recently conquered the area from another tribe. In 1637, the Pequot killed two British slave raiders who had been capturing Native Americans for the slave trade. The colonists demanded that the Indians who killed the slavers be turned over for punishment. The Pequot refused. Other skirmishes and confrontations ensued, including an attack on settlers working in fields near Wethersfield. This was retribution for the confiscation of land belonging to sachem
Sowheag. The English, unlike the French, considered land more important than fur trade, and they enslaved or killed most of those who survived the periodic epidemics, like the Smallpox
epidemic among the Pequot during 1630-32. The newcomers wanted the land for themselves, and they believed God afflicted the Pequot with Smallbox as a blessing to the settlers.
"At a General Court held May 1, 1637 in Hartford, Connecticut, William Phelps presiding, it was ordered that there shall be an offensive war against the Pequot Indians
, in which war he served.” On May 26, 1637, about 90 English militia combined forces with Indians who were also enemies of the Pequot, the Narragansetts
and Mohegan
. They attacked the Pequot palisade
or fort at Mystic. Many of the Pequot men from that village, led by their sachem
Sassacus
, were largely absent from the village as they prepared another raid on Hartford, Connecticut
.
The militia, commanded by Captain John Mason, surrounded the palisaded village at dawn and set it to fire, striving to kill any who escaped the flames. By their own estimate they killed 600 to 700 individuals, captured seven, and saw seven escape. most of whom where women and children. This was later referred to as the Mystic massacre
. In the ensuring weeks the Pequot, already decimated by Smallpox
, were virtually eliminated as a tribe. The remaining individuals were enslaved by neighboring enemy tribes, sold into slavery to other colonies, or enslaved by the white settlers themselves.
for 23 years from 1636 to 1662. He was a member of Council in 1637. In 1641, he and later Governor Thomas Welles
, of Hartford, were a committee on lying, “considered a grievous fault.” That same year he served as Governor of the Windsor Colony. He was also one of the earliest Governor's Assistants and Representative from 1645 to 1657. Phelps participated in enacting laws which with others were later called the Blue Law
s of Connecticut."
The law of the day was specific regarding crimes and punishment, and Phelps was cited on numerous occasions for his responsibility in administering the law.
His home in Windsor was “a short distance north of the Mill River Valley,” and after the Connecticut River
flooded during the breaking up of ice in the spring of 1639, he moved his home further south, “about three-quarters of a mile northwest of Broad Street on the road to Poquonock, the place owned, in 1859, by Deacon Roger Phelps.”
Phelps purchased land from the Indians on more than one occasion. In a deed dated March 31, 1665, Phelps recorded that he had purchased a parcel of land about 30 years previously from Sehat, a Paquanick sachem. He was unable to provide title and prove his previous payment, forcing him to buy the land again. He paid to Sehat's descendant “Nassahegan, an Indian sachem” and his kinsmen “four trucking coats” and wampum
. He had previously paid "two coats and 40 shilling
s in wampum for a third coat, and six bushels of Indian corn, and fifteen shillings in wampum for the fourth coat; and fifteen shillings in wampum is at six a penny."
The Massachusetts Colonial Records contain a report from February, 1666, which reported that "whereas there are several men that have land within the limits of it (the purchase aforesaid) both meadow and up-land, besides Mr. Phelps and his sons, it was therefore concluded that each man according to his proportion of land, capable of plowing or mowing, shall pay 12 pence per acre to Mr. Phelps; and each man paying to Mr. Phelps should afterward have a clear title to their several shares of land." Historian Henry Reed Stiles
noted, "In these early days the title of Mister or Mr. was only given to elderly persons of distinction, while all military titles were always used. William Phelps received this distinguished title of Mr."
Stiles further noted that William Phelps "was one of the most prominent and highly respected men in the colony. An excellent, pious, and upright man in his public and private life, and was truly a pillar in Church and State." The family historian Oliver Phelps cited William Phelps as "one of the fathers and founders of this now ocean-bound Republic."
for his son Timothy's marriage to Mary, daughter of Edward Griswold another pioneer founder of Windsor, was dated April 22, 1660. Phelps’ last will and testament was entered on the Windsor, Connecticut register, July 26, 1672, and signed by Matthew Grant, Register.
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
Englishman who immigrated in 1630 to the American Colonies. He was one of the founders of both Dorchester, Massachusetts
Dorchester, Massachusetts
Dorchester is a dissolved municipality and current neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is named after the town of Dorchester in the English county of Dorset, from which Puritans emigrated and is today endearingly nicknamed "Dot" by its residents. Dorchester, including a large...
and Windsor, Connecticut
Windsor, Connecticut
Windsor is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, and was the first English settlement in the state. It lies on the northern border of Connecticut's capital, Hartford. The population was estimated at 28,778 in 2005....
, foreman of the first grand jury
Grand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
in New England, served most of his life in early colonial government, and played a key role in establishing the first democratic
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
town government in the American colonies. Noted historian Henry Reed Stiles
Henry Reed Stiles
Henry Reed Stiles was a physician who wrote a number of highly regarded historical records and genealogical books during the late 18th and early 19th century. As a doctor, he served in various medical positions primarily in New York City, although he spent four years in Dundee, Scotland. He was...
said Phelps "was one of the most prominent and highly respected men in the colony."
Origin of William Phelps
Oliver Seymour Phelps and his son-in-law, Andrew T. Servin, authors of The Phelps Family in America, erred in concluding that William Phelps and a brother, George Phelps, both emigrated from TewkesburyTewkesbury
Tewkesbury is a town in Gloucestershire, England. It stands at the confluence of the River Severn and the River Avon, and also minor tributaries the Swilgate and Carrant Brook...
, Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
, England in 1630, to the New World. Their identification of the origin of William Phelps of Dorchester, Massachusetts was based solely on an estimate of his birth date, derived from his known age of 72 at death on July 14, 1672. Oliver Phelps located a William Phelps who was baptized in Tewkesbury on August 19, 1599, and thus identified him as the original immigrant. He also believed that George Phelps of Windsor, Connecticut, was William’s brother, despite the fact that they could not locate any records for a George Phelps in Tewkesbury. Recent genetic research has shown no biological relationship between the descendants of William and George Phelps.
Additionally, the will of William Phelps’ mother Dorothy in Tewkesbury, probated on May 5, 1617, mentioned a brother-in-law, Edward Phelps. His will in turn, probated on July 1, 1637, named as overseer of his estate his nephew, William Phelps, likely placing William Phelps of Tewkesbury in England and not across the Atlantic in the Massachusetts Bay.
More recent expert research has identified William Phelps of Crewkerne
Crewkerne
Crewkerne is a town in Somerset, England, situated south west of Yeovil and east of Chard in the South Somerset district close to the border with Dorset. The civil parish of West Crewkerne includes the hamlets of Woolminstone and Henley...
, Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
shire, England as the probable immigrant. He had two wives: (1) Mary (surname unknown), buried in England in 1626, and (2) Anne Dover, who probably accompanied him and children from both marriages to Dorchester, Massachusetts, a town later subsumed as a neighborhood of Boston. The names and birthdates of his children correspond to the records later found in the American colony.
Marriage to Mary
William Phelps of Crewkerne, England is estimated to have married his first wife Mary sometime between 1615–1618, as their first child William was baptized at Crewkerne on September 9, 1618. Mary and William had four children, all baptized before 1625 at Crewkerne: William, Samuel, an unnamed infant who died young, and Nathaniel. Mary was buried at Crewkerne on August 13, 1626.Marriage to Ann Dover
Three months after Mary's death, William married Ann Dover at Crewkerne, on November 14, 1626. They had four children in England: Cornelius, Joseph and Mary (twins), and another child named Mary. Researchers can not find further records of Cornelius or either of the two girls named Mary, and presume they all died young. After arriving in the Colonies, Ann and William had three more children: Sarah, Timothy, and a third Mary. Records in the Colonies have been found for the children named Joseph, Sarah, Timothy and the last Mary, corresponding to records from the International Genealogical IndexInternational Genealogical Index
The International Genealogical Index is a database of genealogical records, compiled from several sources, and maintained by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...
in Somerset listing the names of William Phelps' children from both wives.
Immigration to New England
King Charles I of EnglandCharles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
had succeeded his father King James I of England
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
in 1625, and continued his father's strong opposition to the Puritan movement, who opposed many of the Anglican Church's doctrines as retaining too much of its Roman Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
roots. After the Puritans assumed control of Parliament, they began to pose a serious threat to the King's authority. In January 1629, in a move to neutralize his opponents, Charles dissolved Parliament entirely. The religious and political climate became so difficult for Puritans that many began to make arrangements to leave the country.
William Phelps was among them. A member of Reverend John Warham's church, they were organized on March 19, 1630 as the West Country Company at Plymouth. England, the day before leaving England. Warham had been a minister since 1614, but was relieved of his ministerial duties in 1627 because of his “strong Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
leanings.”
Led by the Reverend John White
John White (Reverend)
John White was an English clergyman with a parish in Dorchester. He was instrumental in obtaining charters for the New England Company, and the Massachusetts Bay Company...
, the group met on March 20, 1630 at New Hospital, Plymouth
Plymouth
Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
, England. White has been called “the father of the Massachusetts Colony,” despite remaining in England his entire life, because of his influence in establishing this settlement. They fasted, prayed and prepared themselves for their perilous long voyage. White preached sermons in the morning and afternoon; then, with his blessing, the group departed for the New World aboard the Mary and John.
Unlike many who fled England for Canada, Ireland, and the Caribbean during this time, the Puritans who migrated to the New World were on the whole better educated and tended to leave relatively prosperous lives to establish a new society of pious family values. Unlike the Pilgrims
Pilgrims
Pilgrims , or Pilgrim Fathers , is a name commonly applied to early settlers of the Plymouth Colony in present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States...
who were non-conformists or separatists, the Puritans were reformers. They were not leaving England for religious freedom, per se, for they believed their faith to be the only true religion. They disrespected all other faiths, especially Quakers
Religious Society of Friends
The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...
.
From their first arrival aboard the Mayflower
Mayflower
The Mayflower was the ship that transported the English Separatists, better known as the Pilgrims, from a site near the Mayflower Steps in Plymouth, England, to Plymouth, Massachusetts, , in 1620...
in 1620, until 1629, only about 300 Puritans had survived in New England, scattered in small and isolated settlements. In 1630, their population was significantly increased when the ship Mary and John arrived in New England carrying 140 passengers from the English West Country counties of Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
, Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
, Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
and Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
. These included William Phelps along with Roger Ludlow
Roger Ludlow
Roger Ludlow was one of the founders of the Colony of Connecticut. He was born in March 1590 in Dinton, Wiltshire, England. Roger was the second son of Sir Thomas Ludlow of Maiden Bradley, Wiltshire and Jane Pyle, sister of Sir Gabriel Pyle...
e, John Mason, Samuel Maverick
Samuel Maverick (colonist)
Samuel Maverick was a 17th century English colonist in what is now 'Massachusetts,' the United States. Arriving ahead of the famed Winthrop fleet, Maverick became one of the earliest settlers, one of the largest landowners and one of the first slave-owners in Massachusetts...
, Nicholas Upsall
Nicholas Upsall
Nicholas Upsall was an early Puritan immigrant to the American Colonies, among the first 108 Freemen in colonial America. He was a trusted public servant who after 26 years as a Puritan, befriended persecuted Quakers and shortly afterwards joined the movement...
, Henry Wolcott and other men who would become prominent in the founding of a new nation.
It was the first of the ships later called the Winthrop Fleet
Winthrop Fleet
The Winthrop Fleet was a group of eleven sailing ships under the leadership of John Winthrop that carried approximately 700 Puritans plus livestock and provisions from England to New England over the summer of 1630.-Motivation:...
to land in Massachusetts. While the passenger lists for this voyage are not well documented, researchers from the Mary and John Clearing House concluded that it is highly likely that William Phelps, his wife Ann Dover, and their sons William, Samuel, Nathanial and Joseph were aboard ship. These names support the conclusion that William Phelps was from Crewkerne and not Tewkesbury.
Early colonial life
The immigrants founded the town of Dorchester in 1630, at what is now the intersection of Columbia Road and Massachusetts Avenue in South Boston. The PuritanPuritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
settlers landed at Columbia Point
Columbia Point (Boston)
Columbia Point, later referred to as Harbor Point, in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts sits on a peninsula jutting out from the mainland of eastern Dorchester into the bay.-History:...
, which the Native Americans called "Mattaponnock".
First Parish Church of Dorchester
The First Parish Church in Dorchester, was built in 1631 by the emigrants from Dorchester, Dorset and the south west of England who founded the town of Dorchester, Massachusetts on March 30, 1630....
in 1631, which exists today as the Unitarian-Universalist church on Meetinghouse Hill, being the oldest religious organization in present-day Boston. The first church building was a simple log cabin with a thatched roof. The settlers held their first town meeting at the church, and they set their laws in open and frequent discussion. In all of this they were inspired by the ideal of the Kingdom of God
Kingdom of God
The Kingdom of God or Kingdom of Heaven is a foundational concept in the Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.The term "Kingdom of God" is found in all four canonical gospels and in the Pauline epistles...
on earth and the attempt to realize this in England in the time of the Rev. John White. The church is referred to as a 'Foundation Stone of the Nation".
Elementary school
An elementary school or primary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as elementary or primary education. Elementary school is the preferred term in some countries, particularly those in North America, where the terms grade school and grammar...
in the New World supported by public money, the Mather School
The Mather School
The Mather School is the oldest public elementary school in North America. It is located in the Dorchester region of Boston, Massachusetts and was named after Richard Mather...
. The school is the oldest elementary school in America. Dorchester was annexed by the City of Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
in 1970.
Foreman of first grand jury
Phelps served continually in varying governing capacities for many years. He was a member of the first General Court held in the colony in 1636, a member of the Court of Magistrates from 1637 to 1643, and was foreman of the first Grand JuryGrand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
in 1643.
Early service in government
Phelps name was spelled in the Massachusetts Colonial Records variously as Felps, Phelips and Phelps. He was made constableConstable
A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions.-Etymology:...
, assigned to serve on committees given authority to settle land and boundary disputes, and given other key responsibilities in administering the affairs of the new town, including serving on the General Court
Massachusetts General Court
The Massachusetts General Court is the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name "General Court" is a hold-over from the Colonial Era, when this body also sat in judgment of judicial appeals cases...
. or general meeting, at which individuals were tried for offenses including absence from church, forgery
Forgery
Forgery is the process of making, adapting, or imitating objects, statistics, or documents with the intent to deceive. Copies, studio replicas, and reproductions are not considered forgeries, though they may later become forgeries through knowing and willful misrepresentations. Forging money or...
, fornication
Fornication
Fornication typically refers to consensual sexual intercourse between two people not married to each other. For many people, the term carries a moral or religious association, but the significance of sexual acts to which the term is applied varies between religions, societies and cultures. The...
, and “bastard
Legitimacy (law)
At common law, legitimacy is the status of a child who is born to parents who are legally married to one another; and of a child who is born shortly after the parents' divorce. In canon and in civil law, the offspring of putative marriages have been considered legitimate children...
y.”
Phelps remained in Dorchester until 1635 when he and a large number of other families relocated to a new site inland which they named Windsor.
Founding of Windsor
Plymouth Company
The Plymouth Company was an English joint stock company founded in 1606 by James I of England with the purpose of establishing settlements on the coast of North America.The Plymouth Company was one of two companies, along with the London Company, chartered with such...
established the first Connecticut settlement, a trading post at what would become Windsor, Connecticut
Windsor, Connecticut
Windsor is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, and was the first English settlement in the state. It lies on the northern border of Connecticut's capital, Hartford. The population was estimated at 28,778 in 2005....
, in territory the Dutch claimed and in which they maintained a fort and trading post, about seven miles downriver in what was later Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...
. In 1635, Puritan and Congregationalist members of Reverend Warham’s and Reverend Maverick's
Samuel Maverick (colonist)
Samuel Maverick was a 17th century English colonist in what is now 'Massachusetts,' the United States. Arriving ahead of the famed Winthrop fleet, Maverick became one of the earliest settlers, one of the largest landowners and one of the first slave-owners in Massachusetts...
congregation, including William Phelps, John Mason, Roger Ludlow
Roger Ludlow
Roger Ludlow was one of the founders of the Colony of Connecticut. He was born in March 1590 in Dinton, Wiltshire, England. Roger was the second son of Sir Thomas Ludlow of Maiden Bradley, Wiltshire and Jane Pyle, sister of Sir Gabriel Pyle...
, Henry Wolcott, and others, all prominent settlers, were dissatisfied with the rate of Anglican reforms. They sought permission from the Massachusetts General Court
Massachusetts General Court
The Massachusetts General Court is the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name "General Court" is a hold-over from the Colonial Era, when this body also sat in judgment of judicial appeals cases...
to establish a new ecclesiastical society subject to their own rules and regulations. About 60 individuals, totaling 23 heads of households, undertook a two-week's journey about 100 miles to the east. They founded a new town they initially also named Dorchester. Two years later in 1637, the colony's General Court changed the name of the settlement from Dorchester to Windsor, believed to be named after the city of Windsor, England
Windsor, Berkshire
Windsor is an affluent suburban town and unparished area in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is widely known as the site of Windsor Castle, one of the official residences of the British Royal Family....
on the River Thames. The new town was the first English settlement in the state. Under pressure from continued English settlement, the Dutch abandoned their post in 1654.
First town government in colonies
Windsor was supposed to be under the control of the Massachusetts Company. When Connecticut was set apart as a colony, the General Court of Massachusetts set the terms of the new colony's government in a commission granted by on March 3, 1636. It set out how differences were to be resolved, fines and imprisonment imposed, trading, planting, building, lots, military discipline, defense in war, and the people to be self-governed in their new town. William Phelps was one of eight commissioners appointed by the Colony of Massachusetts BayMassachusetts Bay Colony
The Massachusetts Bay Colony was an English settlement on the east coast of North America in the 17th century, in New England, situated around the present-day cities of Salem and Boston. The territory administered by the colony included much of present-day central New England, including portions...
to govern the Colony of Connecticut. All meetings were to meet in a legal and open manner. Eight men were given "full power and authority" to lead the new colony: "Roger Ludlow
Roger Ludlow
Roger Ludlow was one of the founders of the Colony of Connecticut. He was born in March 1590 in Dinton, Wiltshire, England. Roger was the second son of Sir Thomas Ludlow of Maiden Bradley, Wiltshire and Jane Pyle, sister of Sir Gabriel Pyle...
e, Esqr., William Pinchon, Esq., John Steele, William Swaine, Henry Smythe, William Phelpes, William Westwood & Andrew Warde."
Roger Ludlow later wrote a book on the democratic procedures of Connecticut which furnished the outline for the Constitution of the United States
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
.
Pequot war service
The Mashantucket PequotPequot
Pequot people are a tribe of Native Americans who, in the 17th century, inhabited much of what is now Connecticut. They were of the Algonquian language family. The Pequot War and Mystic massacre reduced the Pequot's sociopolitical influence in southern New England...
had lived in Southeastern Connecticut for over 10,000 years. When the colonists occupied Windsor, Connecticut, they came into contact and later conflict with the Pequot who inhabited the area. The Pequot had recently conquered the area from another tribe. In 1637, the Pequot killed two British slave raiders who had been capturing Native Americans for the slave trade. The colonists demanded that the Indians who killed the slavers be turned over for punishment. The Pequot refused. Other skirmishes and confrontations ensued, including an attack on settlers working in fields near Wethersfield. This was retribution for the confiscation of land belonging to sachem
Sachem
A sachem[p] or sagamore is a paramount chief among the Algonquians or other northeast American tribes. The two words are anglicizations of cognate terms from different Eastern Algonquian languages...
Sowheag. The English, unlike the French, considered land more important than fur trade, and they enslaved or killed most of those who survived the periodic epidemics, like the Smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
epidemic among the Pequot during 1630-32. The newcomers wanted the land for themselves, and they believed God afflicted the Pequot with Smallbox as a blessing to the settlers.
"At a General Court held May 1, 1637 in Hartford, Connecticut, William Phelps presiding, it was ordered that there shall be an offensive war against the Pequot Indians
Pequot War
The Pequot War was an armed conflict between 1634–1638 between the Pequot tribe against an alliance of the Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, and Saybrook colonies who were aided by their Native American allies . Hundreds were killed; hundreds more were captured and sold into slavery to the West Indies. ...
, in which war he served.” On May 26, 1637, about 90 English militia combined forces with Indians who were also enemies of the Pequot, the Narragansetts
Narragansett (tribe)
The Narragansett tribe are an Algonquian Native American tribe from Rhode Island. In 1983 they regained federal recognition as the Narragansett Indian Tribe of Rhode Island. In 2009, the United States Supreme Court ruled against their request that the Department of Interior take land into trust...
and Mohegan
Mohegan
The Mohegan tribe is an Algonquian-speaking tribe that lives in the eastern upper Thames River valley of Connecticut. Mohegan translates to "People of the Wolf". At the time of European contact, the Mohegan and Pequot were one people, historically living in the lower Connecticut region...
. They attacked the Pequot palisade
Palisade
A palisade is a steel or wooden fence or wall of variable height, usually used as a defensive structure.- Typical construction :Typical construction consisted of small or mid sized tree trunks aligned vertically, with no spacing in between. The trunks were sharpened or pointed at the top, and were...
or fort at Mystic. Many of the Pequot men from that village, led by their sachem
Sachem
A sachem[p] or sagamore is a paramount chief among the Algonquians or other northeast American tribes. The two words are anglicizations of cognate terms from different Eastern Algonquian languages...
Sassacus
Sassacus
Sassacus was a Pequot sachem....
, were largely absent from the village as they prepared another raid on Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...
.
The militia, commanded by Captain John Mason, surrounded the palisaded village at dawn and set it to fire, striving to kill any who escaped the flames. By their own estimate they killed 600 to 700 individuals, captured seven, and saw seven escape. most of whom where women and children. This was later referred to as the Mystic massacre
Mystic Massacre
The Mystic massacre took place on May 26, 1637, during the Pequot War, when English settlers under Captain John Mason, and Narragansett and Mohegan allies set fire to a fortified Pequot village near the Mystic River...
. In the ensuring weeks the Pequot, already decimated by Smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
, were virtually eliminated as a tribe. The remaining individuals were enslaved by neighboring enemy tribes, sold into slavery to other colonies, or enslaved by the white settlers themselves.
Later public service
William Phelps was a member of the General CourtConnecticut General Assembly
The Connecticut General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is a bicameral body composed of the 151-member House of Representatives and the 36-member Senate. It meets in the state capital, Hartford. There are no term limits for either chamber.During...
for 23 years from 1636 to 1662. He was a member of Council in 1637. In 1641, he and later Governor Thomas Welles
Thomas Welles
Thomas Welles is the only man in Connecticut's history to hold all four top offices: governor, deputy governor, treasurer, and secretary. In 1639, he was elected as the first treasurer of the Colony of Connecticut, and from 1640–1649 served as the colony's secretary...
, of Hartford, were a committee on lying, “considered a grievous fault.” That same year he served as Governor of the Windsor Colony. He was also one of the earliest Governor's Assistants and Representative from 1645 to 1657. Phelps participated in enacting laws which with others were later called the Blue Law
Blue law
A blue law is a type of law, typically found in the United States and, formerly, in Canada, designed to enforce religious standards, particularly the observance of Sunday as a day of worship or rest, and a restriction on Sunday shopping...
s of Connecticut."
The law of the day was specific regarding crimes and punishment, and Phelps was cited on numerous occasions for his responsibility in administering the law.
Land purchases
Connecticut River
The Connecticut River is the largest and longest river in New England, and also an American Heritage River. It flows roughly south, starting from the Fourth Connecticut Lake in New Hampshire. After flowing through the remaining Connecticut Lakes and Lake Francis, it defines the border between the...
flooded during the breaking up of ice in the spring of 1639, he moved his home further south, “about three-quarters of a mile northwest of Broad Street on the road to Poquonock, the place owned, in 1859, by Deacon Roger Phelps.”
Phelps purchased land from the Indians on more than one occasion. In a deed dated March 31, 1665, Phelps recorded that he had purchased a parcel of land about 30 years previously from Sehat, a Paquanick sachem. He was unable to provide title and prove his previous payment, forcing him to buy the land again. He paid to Sehat's descendant “Nassahegan, an Indian sachem” and his kinsmen “four trucking coats” and wampum
Wampum
Wampum are traditional, sacred shell beads of the Eastern Woodlands tribes of the indigenous people of North America. Wampum include the white shell beads fashioned from the North Atlantic channeled whelk shell; and the white and purple beads made from the quahog, or Western North Atlantic...
. He had previously paid "two coats and 40 shilling
Shilling
The shilling is a unit of currency used in some current and former British Commonwealth countries. The word shilling comes from scilling, an accounting term that dates back to Anglo-Saxon times where it was deemed to be the value of a cow in Kent or a sheep elsewhere. The word is thought to derive...
s in wampum for a third coat, and six bushels of Indian corn, and fifteen shillings in wampum for the fourth coat; and fifteen shillings in wampum is at six a penny."
The Massachusetts Colonial Records contain a report from February, 1666, which reported that "whereas there are several men that have land within the limits of it (the purchase aforesaid) both meadow and up-land, besides Mr. Phelps and his sons, it was therefore concluded that each man according to his proportion of land, capable of plowing or mowing, shall pay 12 pence per acre to Mr. Phelps; and each man paying to Mr. Phelps should afterward have a clear title to their several shares of land." Historian Henry Reed Stiles
Henry Reed Stiles
Henry Reed Stiles was a physician who wrote a number of highly regarded historical records and genealogical books during the late 18th and early 19th century. As a doctor, he served in various medical positions primarily in New York City, although he spent four years in Dundee, Scotland. He was...
noted, "In these early days the title of Mister or Mr. was only given to elderly persons of distinction, while all military titles were always used. William Phelps received this distinguished title of Mr."
Stiles further noted that William Phelps "was one of the most prominent and highly respected men in the colony. An excellent, pious, and upright man in his public and private life, and was truly a pillar in Church and State." The family historian Oliver Phelps cited William Phelps as "one of the fathers and founders of this now ocean-bound Republic."
Death and burial
Phelps died at age 73 on July 14, 1672, and was buried the next day. His wife died three years later on November 27, 1675. A Settlement DeedSettlement (trust)
In the context of trusts, a settlement is a deed whereby real estate, land, or other property is given by a settlor into trust so that the beneficiary only has the limited right to the property , but usually has no right to transfer the land to another or leave it in their own will...
for his son Timothy's marriage to Mary, daughter of Edward Griswold another pioneer founder of Windsor, was dated April 22, 1660. Phelps’ last will and testament was entered on the Windsor, Connecticut register, July 26, 1672, and signed by Matthew Grant, Register.
See also
Further reading
- Trumbull, B. Complete History of Connecticut, Civil and Ecclesiastical, 2 vols. New London, 1898