Allen line: John Church 1636-1691

Well, John's birth date is not known for certain, but I'm going with "about May 9, 1636."  The date is sort of important, as is the place, because it's possible that he was the first babe born in Hartford, Connecticut.  His father, Richard Church, is listed as one of the founders of Hartford, and by implication, his mother, Ann probably Marsh, would have been a founding mother.  We find Richard's name attached to lot 35 on the Hartford map of 1640, meaning that he was there early.  So probably John was born either in Hartford or on the trip there.  John was one of at least four children, and he was the youngest of them.

We don't know much about John's childhood but we know he must have attended the First Church there in Hartford, and he would have learned to read and probably write, whether that was at home or in a school setting.  The first record I've found for him was of his marriage on October 27, 1657, when he was just 21, to Sarah Beckley, the daughter of Richard and Ann Daniel Beckley.  Then there is a bit of a mystery.  The couple had ten children, but there doesn't seem to be a record of their births.  There has been a suggestion that perhaps the young couple went to Hadley, Massachusetts Bay Colony for a few years, but records are not found there, either.

We know they were in Hartford by 1670, if indeed they had ever left.  There is a long and complicated church history, but what eventually happened was that a second church was started in Hartford.  Apparently this second church had less stringent rules for membership, because John was able to state that he "owned the covenant", which was usually a precursor to church membership, and also to having your children baptized.  Sometimes this was called the "Halfway Covenant".  So John attended church (every resident in Hartford was expected to attend regular church services) and agreed with church beliefs, but apparently didn't follow all the steps necessary for full church membership.  Sarah was admitted to full membership on June 23, 1678.

John was willed his father's house in Hartford, and also his lands within the bounds of Hartford, which may be one reason they either came back or stayed in Hartford.  This is essentially what I know of John, up until his death.  I don't know his occupation, or to what extent he may have served in the militia, particularly in King Philip's war.  I don't know what town offices he may have held.  And I don't know how he died.  The reason this is of interest to me is that he died October 16, 1691 in Wethersfield, and Sarah is reported to have died just 11 days later.  They were 55 and 51 years old, respectfully, and John died without a will.  This leads me to suspect it was some kind of an illness, perhaps a flu or respiratory disease, that killed them.  That is purely speculation on my part, but clearly something was going on.

His children soon approached the court and asked for guidance as to how to dispose of the estate.  An inventory was taken, establishing the value at about 510 pounds, and it was then divided up between the 10 children, with each child receiving 20 pounds (could possibly be 28, I'm not sure), or goods worth that amount, except for son Richard, who received 40 pounds.  I don't know whether or not John was considered to be financially well off, but his inventory is larger than that of many of our ancestors who died about the same time.  There were two spinning wheels and quite a bit of cloth in the inventory, plus a lot of furniture for the time, especially chests.  There was also 'gunn, sworde, and ammunition", several pieces of real estate, and some farm tools.  I didn't follow what became of the real estate, but it seems that it may have been dealt with separately.

So we know some things about John, and some we don't know.  Yet, there is he in our family lineage, and without him, there would not have been us.

The line of descent is

John Church-Sarah Beckley
Richard Church-Elizabeth Noble
Jonathan Church-Ruth Hitchcock
Ruth Church-Stephen Noble
Ruth Noble-Martin Root
Ruth Root-Samuel Falley
Clarissa Falley-John Havens Starr
Harriet Starr-John Wilson Knott
Edith Knott-Edward Allen
Richard Allen-Gladys Holbrook
Their descendants

Allen line: Sgt RIchard Beckley about 1618-1690 Immigrant

When I win the lottery (which will be sometime after I buy my first ticket), I would love to spend much of that fortune tracing down these immigrant ancestors.  Richard Beckley is another mystery.  He must have had leadership qualities because he was elected or appointed sergeant of the New Haven Artillery Company in 1648.  He must have been a successful person, because he was able to leave homes to each of his sons at his death.  He was respected in his communities, for he was many times a juror, and sometimes appointed to commissions.  But we don't know much more than this, which seems so very little to know.

He is traditionally given a birth date of 1618, in "probably" Hampshire, England, but as far as I know there is as yet no documentation for that.  His parents were John Beckley and Mary Elliott, and he is known to have had at least one brother, Simon.  That is as much as we know of his youth, or for that matter, of his marriage.  He is believed to have been married at least twice.  It has been suggested that his first wife was Mrs. Alice Daniels (maiden name not known, unless it was Daniels), but the circumstances surrounding that marriage, if correct as reported, are bizarre and worthy only of the gossip columns.  I'm not sure that the Richard Beggarly in England, alleged adulterer, and Richard Beckley, fine upstanding citizen, more or less, in Connecticut are the same person, but I'm simply noting it as a possibility, however remote.  His second wife is believed to be Frances Deming, and that marriage took place probably in either 1662 or 1665.

So, sometime Richard married someone, and had children Sarah, John, Mary, Benjamin, Nathaniel, and Hannah, all in New Haven, Connecticut, except Sarah may have been born elsewhere.  Richard and presumably his wife had arrived there by 1639, so New Haven was still a very small community at that time.  They stayed in or near New Haven until about 1660, when they moved to Wethersfield, Ct.  Richard purchased land in 1668 from Turramuggus, which was 300 acres and was located on both sides of the Mattebesset River, in what is now the "Beckley section" of Berlin, Ct  He was clever in purchasing his land, for it allowed him to build a mill on the river.  I've not found references to attacks on the settlement during King Philip's War, but militia from Connecticut were certainly involved in some of the battles and since Richard was a sergeant earlier, it is likely that he participated in at least some of them.  (He apparently wasn't 60 years of age yet, so would have been in the militia unless he had a health condition that prevented it.) 

In Wethersfield/Berlin, Richard and family apparently prospered.  Towards the end of his life, Richard was granted license for an ordinary (he may have been licensed earlier but records haven't been found), which may have been an easier way to make a living than the farming he had been doing.  His children or and grandchildren may have helped with the chores of this tavern/inn. 

Richard died August 5, 1690.  His estate wasn't settled until 1701 so his wife may have outlived him.  His inventory taken September 2,1690 was valued at 383 pounds, 5 shillings.  Among the items I can read on the inventory are 15 books, carpenters tools, and six hives of bees. I think this is the first inventory I've found that mentioned bee hives, but it makes sense since it's known that he had an orchard. His inventory and will are on the new database at Ancestry.com, and I just found them today.  It's pretty cool to be able to sit here and read (or not) some of the last wishes of such a distant ancestor!

The line of descent is:

Richard Beckley-unknown first wife
Sarah Beckley-John Church
Richard Church-Elizabeth Noble
Jonathan Church-Ruth Hitchcock
Ruth Church-Stephen Noble
Ruth Noble-Martin Root Jr.
Ruth Root-Samuel Falley
Clarissa Falley-John Havens Starr
Harriet Starr-John Wilson Knott
Edith Knott-Edward Allen
Richard Allen-Gladys Holbrook
Their descendants

Allen line: Richard Church about 1610-1667

Oh, dear. This is another genealogy that has apparently been "infected" by Gustave Anjou, the fraudulent fakester of about 100 years ago. So much has been done based on his "research", yet none of it can be trusted. The man tried valiantly to find noble or royal ancestors for his clients, and this lead to some lines that can only be called fantasy.  We don't know how much, if any, of his information about Richard Church can be trusted.  I will write hear only about what can be found from American records. 

Richard Church is supposed to have been born February 6, 1610 in London, England and to have married Anne Marsh on May 18, 1627 in Braintree, Essex, England.  We can already see a problem developing.  Men didn't generally marry when they were seventeen years old.  So is the birth record wrong, and the correct records for Richard have not yet been found, or is it the marriage records that are incorrect?  A Richard Church may well have married an Anne Marsh there on that date, but is it our Richard?  This whole mess is made even messier when we realize that our Richard Church's records have been mixed up with the Richard Church who married Elizabeth Warren.  The two Richard's were of similar age and so it has been easy for family historians to confuse the two. 

So, Richard Church was born somewhere in England and married (probably) Anne Marsh, who was the daughter of either John or Edward Marsh. Let's assume the 1627 marriage date and location is correct, because it fits with the subsequent known facts.  The Churches traveled about the same time as the Hooker group, in 1635 or1636, and even though their names are not on a known passenger list, it is quite possible that they were, in fact, in that group. He is listed as on original proprietor of Hartford, Ct., which was settled almost entirely by the Puritan group of Rev. Thomas Hooker.  In 1639, he received land as one of the original proprietors, and his name is listed on the "Early Founders" monument in what is now downtown Hartford, Ct.  Four children were born to Richard and Anne. Edward was born in 1627/1628 in England, and Mary may have been born there, too, as her birth date is given as 1632.  Samuel and John were likely born in Hartford.  There may have been an earlier Samuel, born in England, also. 

Richard was not high up in the government of Hartford, but he was elected chimney-viewer in 1648 and surveyor of highways in 1655. He was relieved of military duties (watching and warding, etc.) in 1655, probably indicating that he had some sort of illness or infirmity at this time.

In 1659, there was some sort of serious disagreement within the church, and 40 men agreed to leave Hartford and go to Hadley, Massachusetts, to start a new colony there. Once again, Richard and Anne were starting over, once again on the frontier, and this time, in the middle of native American country.  They are regarded as among the first proprietors of Hadley, and received 8 acres of land there as a house lot.  Richard died December 16, 1667 at Hadley, and his widow, Anne, died March 10, 1684.  It is stated that her age was 83, which would make it unlikely that the 1610 birth date for Richard is accurate. Richard's estate was valued at 241-05-02, which was not insignificant. 

I'm very curious to find out who Richard's parents really were (perhaps they were not Richard Church and Alice Vassall, as has been repeated many times and as my tree currently shows), and what occupation Richard followed. I'd like to know how he came to his Puritan beliefs, and what exactly drove him to leave Hartford.  And wouldn't it be nice to know what Anne thought of all this, or whether she even allowed herself to think about it?

The line of descent is:

Richard Church-Anne Marsh (possibly)
John Church-Sarah Beckley
Richard Church-Elizabeth Noble
Jonathan Church-Ruth Hitchcock
Ruth Church-Stephen Noble
Ruth Noble-Martin Root Jr.
Ruth Root-Samuel Falley
Clarissa Falley-John Havens Starr
Harriet Starr-John Wilson Knott
Edith Knott-Edward Allen
Richard Allen-Gladys Holbrook
Their descendents