Holbrook line: Stephen Post, Immigrant

Thanks to the hard work of Steve Carter, among others, we have more information about this immigrant ancestor than about many others.  We do have some minor disputes about his life, but considering everything, I'll take this.  Robert Charles Anderson has also done a sketch of Stephen in "The Great Migration 1633-1635",  so much of the material I would ordinarily be looking for is already gathered.  That's great news, for me.  The hard part is going to be keeping this blog post to a reasonable length, I think.

Stephen Post was baptized on June 24, 1604 at Hollingbourne, Kent, England, the son of Abraham and Anne Hurst (or Hunte, apparently the record is hard to read) Post.  He was their second child and only son, so we might guess he was spoiled just a little bit.  Unlike many of our families, this one stayed intact until the youngest of the three surviving children was in her late teens, so Stephen had economic advantages that not every young man had.  Small as Hollingbourne is, his parents were still able to have Stephen trained as a carpenter, assuring Stephen of a means to support himself throughout his life.

Stephen married Eleanor Panton on October 17, 1625, at Langley, Kent, England, which was only about 4 miles away from Hollingbourne.  (Incidentally, both towns appear to be not far from Leeds Castle, which also figures in our family history, but I digress). Their first child was baptized at Hollingbourne but the next three were baptized at Otham, another small village very close to Langley.

There are varying statements as to when Stephen and his family came to New England.  Cutter thought it was by 1631, but Eleanor had children in Otham in 1631 and 1633 so that doesn't appear likely.  (Of course, one child could have been conceived before Stephen left, and the other after Stephen returned to fetch his family, but those are stretches given that Robert Charles Anderson only says he was in Cambridge, Masachusetts Bay Colony, in 1634.  The simpler story is usually the closer to the truth.  While he was in Otham, he was identified as a carpenter when he was a bondsman for the marriage intentions of his sister.  He was also a churchwarden in 1632.  From this, we should not necessarily conclude that he was a Church of England man at heart.  Many times in this time period Puritans were forced into these positions.

In 1636, Stephen moved his family from Cambridge to Hartford, Connecticut.  He is listed on the memorial of the Founders there, and is believed to have traveled with the party of Rev. Thomas Hooker.  Many of the people in this group left the Cambridge area because of their religious beliefs, and Stephen may have been one of them.  Hartford seemed to offer hope, and the right to vote.

Stephen acquired several tracts of land in Hartford, but sold the various plots in 1639 to William Goodwin, Thomas Gridley, and Edward Hopkins, respectively.  These are all dated February 2, 1639, so that presents the possibility that Stephen was already planning a move to Saybrook.  He worked to put clapboard on the meeting house in Hartford in 1640was a constable in Hartford in 1642, however, so this is a little confusing.

We know he was in Saybrook by 1648, when he purchased land there.  He also worked on the fort (he was a carpenter here as well as in England) and undoubtedly other projects also.  The fort was necessary because of the threat of attack from the native Americans, and perhaps also to intimidate the Dutch, who were eager to maintain a foothold in Connecticut.  Stephen was a lieutenant in the militia, so he must have been well liked by his neighbors.   There is an undated inventory of land at Saybrook that shows Stephen as having six parcels of land, including his house and homelot in the town, and other small parcels of pasture and meadow.

Stephen died August 16, 1659 in Saybrook.  His inventory showed a value of 442 pounds, and included carpenter's tools, a great Bible and a small Bible, three guns (fowling piece, musket and one small gun) and two swords, among other items.  Elinor stayed in Saybrook where she died November 13, 1670.  They had four adult children, besides the infant Joseph who had died in England in 1633.

One of the questions I have is why Stephen moved to Saybrook, and what Elinor thought about that.  Was it for religious reasons, or economic, or did he just enjoy pioneering in new areas?  I'd also like to know more about his religious beliefs.  However, considering how little we know of some of our ancestors, I'm happy to be able to tell you this much of his story.

Our line of descent is:

Stephen Post-Elinor Panton
Katherine Post-Alexander Chalker
Katherine Chalker-John Jordan
Hannah Jordan-John Stannard
John Stannard-Hannah Hanchett
Libbeus Stannard-Eunice Pomeroy
Libberus Stnnard-Luceba Fay
Hiram Stanard-Susan Eddy
Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants