Person Page 796

Milford lies in New Haven County on Long Island sound and is separated from the township of Stratford on the west by the Housatonic river, and about 10 miles S.W. of New Haven. The town, one of the original six plantations of New Haven Colony, was established in 1639, two years after the Pequot War, by Reverend Peter Prudden (lot 40). First named Wepowage, the Indian name for the river that flowed through the settlement, by indigenous tribes, Milford was purchased 12 Feb 1639 by William Fowler (lot 41), Edmund Tapp (lot 35), Zachariah Whitman (lot 32), Benjamin Fenn (lot 3), and Alexander Bryan (lot 23) from local tribes for "six coats, ten blankets, one kettle, twelve hatchets, twelve hoes, two dozen knives, and a dozen small looking-glasses."



The Milford men came in two bodies, those of 1639 and those of 1645. Most of them were from the English counties of Essex, Hereford and York. There were fifty-four heads of families or approximately two hundred settlers. Some came from New Haven, others from Wethersfield, following Rev. Peter Prudden who had ministered there between the formation of his own church at New Haven, August 22, 1639, and his ordination as pastor of the Milford church, April 18, 1640, after which Mr. Prudden took up his residence in Milford.



To be a freeman required that one be at least 20 years old, a church member, take an oath of allegiance to the government of Massachusetts, to be worth L200, to hold office if elected or pay a fine of 40s, and to vote at all elections or pay the same fine. In the fall of 1639 a band of settlers from New Haven went through the woods guided by Indian fighter Thomas Tibbals. Peter Prudden (the Herefordshire minister) led the group.Tradition held that the pioneers of Milford were wholly or in large part discontented settlers from Dorchester and Watertown MA who traveled through the woods to Hartford, to New Haven, to Milford. Supposedly they carried the Dorchester church records with them, and the records were lost on the journey. Most of the settlers had come from London to Boston with John Davenport, Theophilus Eaton, etc. two and one-half years earlier. A year later, they went with the Davenport company to the mouth of the Quinnipiac River.



The settlement at Milford was laid out in long, narrow lots, which permitted all settlers to have the same kind of land. The salt hay that grew on the marshy meadow was much prized. Title to the region was based solely on land purchase from the Indians and not upon any grant from the English Crown. The first purchase included nearly all of the present towns of Orange and Milford, and part of the town of Woodbridge. Deeding the land to its new owners was effected with the old English "twig and turf" ceremony. After the customary signing of the deed by both parties, Ansantawae was handed a piece of turf and a twig. Taking the piece of turf in one hand, and the twig in the other, he thrust the twig into the turf, and handed it to the English. In this way he signified that the Indians relinquished all the land specified in the deed and everything growing upon it The Paugusset Indians sold the Wepawaug land in the hope that they would enlist English protection against the Mohawks, who were continually raiding their territory.



Origin of Milford Settlers

Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire may be regarded as the centre from which emigrated the original settlers of Milford, Conn. The following Milford families appear to have come from Aylesbury or its vicinity: Fowler, the Baldwins, Beard, Hatley, Bryan, Fenn, East, Cooley, Fletcher, Bolt, Tomkins, Harvey, Gunn, Whitman, Welch, Lyon, Hynd, Piatt, Botsford, Rogers, Brookes, Benton, Miles, Brown, Tyrrel. From other parts of Bucks probably came Lambert, Lawrence, Read, Wheeler, Clarke, Rooks? (Riggs), Baker, Truman, Sandford, Buckingham, Ford, Roberts, Briscoe.



Slough may have come from Bucks; a family took its name from Slough, a town in that county. There were Bimvells, Hubbards, Astwoods and Stonehills in Bucks, time of James I, though Burwell and Astwood of Milford came from the adjoining county of Herts. As the principal men of the New Haven colony were Londoners and were more or less engaged in merchandise, so the principal men of the Milford colony were from Buckinghamshire, and were engaged in agriculture; the Bryans and Easts of Milford, however, afterwards engaged in merchandise, both these families having London -- connections who were in those pursuits.



Mr. William Fowler was evidently well known and trusted by his fellow settlers, and was the first patentee of Milford, as well as one of the first three magistrates of the New Haven Colony in 1643, and a pillar of the church of which Peter Prudden was pastor. The Fowlers of Bucks, had connections who were settled in the vicinity of Guilford, Surrey, and at Mynches, Kent, and hence it may have happened that John Fowler, son of William Fowler of Milford, left that colony and settled in Guilford, Ct., the principal settlers of which were from Surrey, Sussex, and Kent, England.

A com was established to settle his estate upon his wife and chidlren, 7 June 1676.

Note: Cemetery is Unknown, lived Yarmouth MA area.
Per Pat Tansey Clark #47767337
"William Lumpkin immigrated from England to America, Plymouth Colony, Mass. in 1637. He was accompanied by His wife Thomasine Constable Lumpkin and his daughters Ann, Hannah, and Tamsen. His daughter, Susannah was born after his arrival to America.William Lumpkin established himself and family in Yarmouth, Barnstable County, MA. He was elected Constable of Yarmouth, MA March 3 1639-1640. He was on the Grand Jury 1642-1643, being then a citizen; a Surveyor of Highways 1652-1655; a Representative to the Colony Court 1652; on the Grand Inquest 1659; and a Foreman of the Coroner's Jury 1667."

Received a Maine Military pension, rank Private, starting 1818; listed in Maine, Revolutionary War Grants, 1776-1780.