1605 "James Holmesteade and Joyce Cornish were married the 28th of October" at St Mary the Virgin, Great Leighs, Essex, England. [1]
1606 "Fayth Holmestead daughter of James Holmestead bapt. 7th of August" at St Mary the Virgin, Great Leighs, Essex, England. [2]
1609/10 Fraunces Holmested Daughter of James Holmested was buryed the xiiijth of February" at St Mary the Virgin, Fairstead, Essex, England.[3]
1610 "Mabell Holmested daughter of James Holmested was baptized the xxxth of September" at St Mary the Virgin, Fairstead, Essex, England.[4]
1612/13 "Nicholas Holmested the sonne of James was baptized the xvth of Februarye" at St Mary the Virgin, Fairstead, Essex, England.[5]
1615/16 "James Holmested the sonne of James and Joyce his wiff was baptized the xxijth of Januarye" at St Mary the Virgin, Fairstead, Essex, England.[6]
1618 "Nehemia the sonne of James Holmested and Joyse his wiff was baptized the xth of November" at St Mary the Virgin, Fairstead, Essex, England.[7]
1621 "Mary Holmsted the daughter of James Holmsted and Joyce hiswife was baptized the xviijth of April" at St Mary the Virgin, Fairstead, Essex, England.[8]
1621 "Joyce the wife of James Holmsted was buried the xxjth of Aprill" at St Mary the Virgin, Fairstead, Essex, England.[9]
1621 "Mary Holmsted the daughter of James Holmsted was buried the xxiijth of Aprill" at St Mary the Virgin, Fairstead, Essex, England.[10]
1621/22 "Mabell Holmsted the daughter of James Holmsted was buried the xviijth of February" at St Mary the Virgin, Fairstead, Essex, England.[11]
Research Notes:
From Genealogy of the Olmsted Family in America by Henry King Olmstead and Geo K. Ward, New York, A.T. De La Mare Printing and Publishing Company, 1912 (R929.2 qO51):
James Olmsted, the ancestor of the Hartford, Ct., branch of the Olmsted family, was the son of James and Jane (Bristow) Olmsted of Great Leighs, Essex Co., England, where he was bap. Dec. 4, 1580. He married at Great Leighs, Oct. 26, 1605, Joyce Cornish, who died and was buried at Fairsted, Essex Co., April 21, 1621.
1, Faith; bap. Jan. 7, 1606, at Great Leighs, Essex Co., Eng.; she was buried at Fairsted, Mar. 3, 1627. 2, Frances; bap. at Fairsted, Feb. 14, 1609. 3, Mabel; bap. at Fairsted, Sept. 30, 1610; buried there Feb. 18, 1621. 4, Nicholas +. 5, James; bap. at Fairsted, Jan. 22, 1615; probably died young. 6, Nehemiah +. 7, Mary; bap. at Fairsted, April 18, 1621; buried Apr. 24, 1621.
"In a large volume bound in vellum, now in the Rolls Office, Chancery Lane, London, are records of a few of the early emigrants to New England. On the cover of the volume containing the earliest of such records yet discovered, is this inscription:--
"A booke of Entrie for Passengers by ye Comission, and Souldiers according to the Statutie passing beyond the Seas, begun at Christmas, 1631, and ending at Christmas, 1632."
xxij Junij 1632.--The names of such Men transported to New England to the Plantacon there p'r Cert. from Capten Mason have tendred and taken the oath of allegeance according to the Statute."
(There follow 33 names of men. Among them is)
James Olmstedd
From the New England Hist. & Genealogical Register. Vol. XIV, pp. 300-301.
The family were Puritans, and James Olmsted came to New England with two sons, two nephews and a niece, in the ship Lyon, Capt. Pierce, which arrived at Boston, Mass., on the Lord's Day, Sept. 16, 1632, with 123 passengers, of whom 50 were children, after a voyage of 12 weeks from Braintree, England.
They settled first at Mount Wollaston, now Quincy, near Boston, but in the course of the year, "by order of the Court they removed to New Town, now Cambridge, where James Olmsted had his house lot on the northerly side of Harvard St., upon or near the spot occupied by what has long been known as the 'President's House,' now called the Wadsworth House. This was the second piece of land acquired by Harvard College.
"James Olmsted was made a freeman Nov. 6, 1632, and was chosen Constable by a popular vote (the first one so chosen) Nov. 3, 1634. At a general meeting of the whole town, Feb. 3, 1634-5, it was agreed upon by a joint consent that seven men should be chosen to do the whole business of the town, and so continue until the first Monday in November next, and until new men be chosen in their room; so there were then chosen John Haynes, Symon Bradstreat, John Taylcott, William Westwood, John White, William Wadsworth and James Olmsted. Also there was chosen to join (with) James Olmsted, Constable, John Benjamin, Daniel Denison, Andrew Warner and William Spencer, which five according to the order of Court (shall) survey the town lands and enter the same in a Book appointed for that purpose. It is further ordered that these five men (shall) meet every first Monday in the month at the Constable's house in the forenoon at the ringing of the bell."
The Braintree Colony, as they were called, after establishing themselves at Cambridge, wrote to Rev. Mr. Hooker in Holland, expressing their earnest desire that he would come over and take the pastoral charge of them. He, in compliance, came, landing in Boston Sept. 4, 1633, bringing with him as assistant Samuel Stone, and on the 11th of October he became their pastor.
"Being straightened for room they decided to move, and in the summer of 1634 twelve men from the town in the Bay were despatched to examine the lands on the Conn. River, then called the Fresh River. They were called adventurers, and were the earliest immigrants to Hartford." James Olmsted was one of the company.
Their report being favorable, "they resolved to begin several plantations there. On the 15th of Oct., 1635, about 60 men, women and children went by land towards Connecticut with their cows, horses and swine. They arrived on the banks of the river at Hartford, October 29, 1635, O. S., Nov. 9, N. S. Scarcely had they reached the place of their destination before the winter was upon them in great severity. Their Vessels in which they had embarked their furniture and provisions had either been wrecked on the coast, or were frozen in at the mouth of the river. Soon famine began to stare them in the face, and to save their lives the greater part of the settlers were obliged, in the depth of winter, to make their way through the wilderness, or around the coast by water to Massachusetts. The sufferings of the few that remained were extreme. The winter was one of great severity, and after all they could obtain by hunting, and from the Indians, they were obliged to subsist on acorns, malt and grains."
On the 31st of May, 1636, Thomas Hooker and his entire flock of about 100 souls took their departure from Newtown. They were a fortnight on the way through the wilderness.
James Olmsted was one of the original proprietors of Hartford, and in the Land distribution of June, 1639, be received 70 acres. That he was a man highly considered in the community in which he lived is evident from the prominence that his name occupies in the old list of the "Original and early members (1633-1639)" of the first church of Hartford, in which list his name comes twelfth, and in such illustrious company as follows: Gov. John Haynes, Gov. George Wyllys, Gov. Edward Hopkins, Gov. Thomas Wells, Gov. John Webster, Rev. Thomas Hooker, Rev. Samuel Stone, Elder William Goodwin, Major William Whiting, Hon. Matthew Allyn, Hon. John Talcott, James Olmsted.
In the Town Records, Mar. 25, 1640, "it is further ordered that James Olmsted and William Wadsworth shall view the place Nathaniel Richards desires for to set on; and if they see cause, to sett out a place for him."
James Olmsted's house lot was on the road from Little River to the North Meadow. It was the main road from Windsor to Wethersfield, now Front street. The house which James or his son Nicholas built on this lot was standing until about 1835. There are now three brick houses on the lot, not far from the gas works. He d. in Sept. or Oct., 1640, in Hartford.
The Rev. Thomas Hooker mentions in a letter the death of James Olmsted: "Slept sweetly in the Lord, having carried himself gratiously in his sickness."
From the will of James Olmsted an intimation is to be gathered that he died after a very short and severe illness, during which illness his will was made. After the death of his wife in England, he appears not to have married again, as no mention is made of a wife in his will, nor is mention made of any other children than Nicholas and Nehemiah. Among the legatees there appears the name of Rebecca Olmsted, a niece who lived with him at the time of his death, and who, says James Savage of Boston, came over with him. To her is left a small sum that had probably been held by him in trust. In an appendix to his will, two kinsmen are named, who, says Hawley Olmsted, were doubtless nephews of James 1st. Mr. Savage also so regards them, and advances the conjecture that they also came over the water with their uncle. The names of these kinsmen or nephews were Richard and John Olmsted.
The Last Will and Testament of James Olmstead
Late of Hartford, decesed.1
This is my wyll, to giue my Estate betweene my two sonns, that is to say, the on halfe to my sonn Nicholas, and the other halfe to my sonne Nehemiah, equally deuyded betweene the both, wth this reseruation, that if my brother Lumus doe make his word good to make my sonne Nicholis wifes portion as good as any child he hath, for so I vnderstand his prmise is, but if he shall refuse so to doe, I shall then refuse to giue my sonn any prte of my moueable goods, cattell or debts, but my will is to leaue the thing wth Richard Webb and William Wodsworth to see my Brother Lumus doe prforme his prmise, and as the said Richard Webb and Will' Wodsworth shall doe I shall be content. And if my Brother Lumis doe prforme his prmise, then my will is their portions shall be a like, only Nicholis shall abate so much as I gaue him before. And my will is that my sonne Nehemiah shall giue out of his portion ten pownd to my Cossen Rebeca Olmstead that now dwelleth wth me, and he shall pay yt her wthin three yeares after my dicease, and I leaue her to be disposed by Richard Webb and Will' Wadsworth, and as shee shall carry herselfe, yt shall be in their power ether to giue her the tenn pownd or to deteyne yt fro her. I doe giue my searuant Will' Corby fiue pownd, to be paid when his tyme coms forth, and I doe will my sonne Nehemya to pay him out of his owne portion: And I doe will that Will' Corby doe searue his tyme wth my sonne Nehemiah. And I leaue my sonne Nehemiah wth Richard Webb and Will' Wodsworth, intreating the to haue the ouer sight of him, and the disposeing of him as their owne child. But if my sonne Nehemiah shall goe contrary in bestowing himselfe any way contrary to the judgement of my two frinds, Rich: Webb and Will' Wodsworth, then yt shall be in their power to comaund and take a hundred pownd of his Estate, and dispose of yt as they thinke fitt. I giue to my two frynds Richard Webb and Will' Wodsworth, wsh I put in trust, six pownds and a marke to be paid equally betwixt the, and my two sonns shall pay the, the one pay the one halfe and the other pay the other halfe.
Witnesse, the 28th of September, 1640, JA: Olmstead.
Richard Webb,
Will' Wodsworth.
1 James Olmsted's will, codicil, and inventory are copied from The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, prior to the Union with the New Haven Colony, May, 1665, by J. Hammond Trumbull, Hartford, Brown & Parsons, 1850, pp. 446-449. Unfortunately, the original will of James Olmsted has disappeared from the Hartford probate records.
Wee whose names are hereunder written, the frynds intrusted by the decesed wthin named, haueing litell acquayntance wth things of this nature, and being by him suddenly caled hereunto, in a sore stresse and pang of his sicknes, wherein he expected a prsent deprting, he being senceble of his owne weakenes, hasted to an issue of this busines, did seuerall tymes desire vs to aduise him what he should doe, and many times did wishe us to doe what we thought meet orselues.
Now we haueing since his disease, togather wth his two sonns, Nicholas & Nehemiah, to who he hath bequethed his estate, taken into more serious consideration what is done, and obsearueing some things to be ouerpast, of wch we are prswaded that if ether they had com to his owne mynd, or otherwise had then bine suggested by vs, he would redily and cherefully haue attended thereunto: Wee therefore, togather wth the reddy & free consent of his sonns abouesaid, (well knowing, out of long and good experience, the disposition and constant practice of their father,) hath mutually agreed, as desierus to fulfil that wch we conceaue to be his mynd, to ad to those bequethed wch are spesified wthin, these legases following:
That is to say, to his Kynsmen Richard Olmstead fiue pownd, and to his Kynsman John Olmstead fiue pownd, to be paid vnto them wthin three yeres after his disease. And vnto the Church of Christ in Hartford, Twenty pownds, to be paid at the same tyme of three yeres after the decease of there said father. In witnesse whereof we haue sett to our hands.
Nicholas Olmstead, Will' Wadsworth, Nehemiah Olmsted
"This codicil shows that James Olmsted's illness was a sudden one, and that between himself and his sons there existed so close an affection and sympathy that after his death they gave bequests to his kinsmen and church as they felt he would have done, and so honorably dealt with the disposition of their inheritance, though not legally bound so to do. I like to note this sense of honor in the blood, and think it has been transmitted unpolluted to their descendants." [1 Extract from a letter by Mrs. John M. Holcombe of Hartford, Conn.]
Sep: 28th. An Inventory of the goods and Cattell of James Olmestead of Hartford, deceased in the yere of or Lord, 1640
Imprs one horse, 20. 0. 0
It. one mare, 15. 0. 0
It. one mare colt, 10. 0. 0
It. one yoke of steeres, 30. 0. 0
It. one single steere, 13. 0. 0
It. four cowes, 47. 13. 4
It. three calues, 10. 10. 0
It. thirteene hoggs, 18. 0. 0
It. eightscore bushl of Indean corne, 24. 0. 0
It. 30 bushl of sumer wheat, 7. 0. 0
It. 12 bushl of pease, 2. 10. 0
It. 15 load of hay, 10. 0. 0
It. 8 bushl of molt, 2. 0. 0
It. one young heifer and on young steere, 13. 0. 0
It. one young steere at Paq'nuck, 8. 0. 0
It. one cow hide, 0. 10. 0
It. 3 ewe goats & a wether, 7. 0. 0
It. one wayne, 3. 0. 0
It. 2 yoaks & the Iron worke, 0. 6. 0
It. one plow, two plow irons, & a chayne, 1. 12. 0
It. one gang of harrow tynes, 0. 16. 0
It. one smale chest wth old iron & some tooles, 3. 0. 0
It. old sithes & on new on, 0. 10. 0
It. one pyke & Costlitte(*), 1. 10. 0 [* Corslet.]
It. two hand sawes, one frameing saw, one hack saw, 1. 0. 0
It. one nayle boxe, 1. 10. 0
It. four howes, 0. 7. 0
It. two mattocks, on, 1. 0. 0
It. one chese prsse, old hogsheads & a pype, 1. 3. 0
It. 2 beare hogsheads, two beare barrells, 2 powdring tubbs, 4 brueing vessells, 1 cowle, 2 firkins, 2. 0. 0
It. wymbles, chysells, hammers, pynsers, 0. 13. 0
It. collers & harnes, saddell and pannell(+), halters & brydle, 1. 7. 0
It. fiue pyke forks, one rope, on fanne, 0. 8. 0
It. 3 axes, 2 wedges, 2 ryngs for a beetell, 0. 13. 0
It. 4 brasse, 3 skilletts, one skimer, on ladle, on candlestick, on morter, all of brasse, 1 brasse pott, 5. 0. 0
It. 7 small peuter dishes, 1 peuter bason, 2 chaber potts, 6 poringers, 2 peuter candlesticks, 1 frudishe, 2 little sasers, 1 smale plate, 1. 12. 6
It. 7 bigger peuter dishes, one salt, 2 peuter cupps, one peuter dram, 1 peuter bottle, 1 warmeing pan, 13 peuter spoones, 2. 3. 0
It. 2 Iron potts & a pott posnette, 1 dripping pan, 1 frying pan, 1 gridiron, one squar, 2 spitts, 2. 2. 0
It. 2 Irons, 2 tramells, 1 perre of tongs, 2 perre of pothooks, 2 perre of cobirons, 1 fier pan, 1 cole dishe and a perre of bellowes, one peale, 1. 13. 0
It. one stupan, 3 bowles & a tunnell, 7 dishes, 10 spoones, one woodden cuppe+[+ This is held to be the wooden tankard described in the Introduction, now in the possession of Mr. Cutler, of Hartford, Conn.], 1 woodden platter, wth 3 old latten [Sheet iron covered with tin.--Webster] pans, & 2 doz. and halfe of trenchers and two wyer candlesticks, 0. 11. 1
It. 2 Jacks, 2 bottells, two drinkeing horns, 1 little pott, 0. 10. 0
It. 3 bibles & 3 other bookes, 2. 5. 0
It. one payle, one pecke, one halfe bushell, 0. 3. 8
It. one smoothing iron, two brushes, 0. 2. 8
It. 3 musketts, one fowleing peece, 3 perre of bandaleres, one sword, one rapier, 1 dagger, 2 rests, 2 pistolls, wth powder, shott & match, 6. 0. 0
It. one Table, one Chire, sixe cushions and one little forme, 1. 7. 0
It. fiue sacks, 0. 10. 0
It. two fether bedds, two flockebedds 6. 10. 0
It. 3 ruggs, one Couerled, 6 blanketts, one pre of curtens & curten rods, & a course bedcase, 7. 15. 0
It. 2 fether pillowes, 1 flocke pillow, 1 bedsteed, 0. 19. 0
It. 3 pre of fyne sheets & 5 pre of course sheets, 3. 10. 0
It. 3 course pillowbeers, & 2 fine ons, 1 doz. of napkins, 1. 3. 0
It. two shorte Table Cloathes & two course ons, 2 to wells, 0. 11. 0
It. diuers smale things in a trunke, 3. 0. 0
It. 20 little smale peeces of childing lyning, 0. 10. 0
It. 15 quire of paper, 0. 6. 3
It. 27 yards of course Canuas, 1. 0. 10
It. 19 yards of Lockru(*), 1. 4. 0
It. 5 yards of woollen cloath, 1. 5. 0
It. 2 trunks, one chest and 2 smale boxes, 1. 6. 0
It. 12 Caps, 8 bands, 1. 2. 0
It. 3 shirts, 0. 15. 0
It. one little peece of course Lockru, 0. 4. 6
It. 3 suits of apparrell, wth hatts, stocking & shues, 13. 5. 0
It. 2 acres of Englishe corne of the grownd, 4. 0. 0
It. 13 acres of grownd broke vp, 12. 0. 0
It. in mony and debts, 55. 0. 0
It. one case of bottells, 00. 15. 0
The whole some, [Pounds] 397 19. 2
John Steel, Edw: Stebbing.
James Olmsted was doubtless laid to rest in the Ancient Burying-Ground, which is located back of Center Church in Hartford. He must have been one of the first to be buried in this consecrated spot, which, less than a year before, had been the home lot of his nephew, Richard Olmsted. There, among many quaint and venerable stones, dating as far back as that of Rev. Thomas Hooker (1647), there stands a noble monument, erected in 1835 "In memory of the First Settlers of Hartford." This is the only monument on which appears the name of James Olmsted, or that of his nephew, Richard Olmsted, the founder of the other branch of the family in America. The name of the younger man, as is just, occupies a humbler position in the long list of colonists, but that of James Olmsted is given a place among the first and most eminent names of Hartford. All those that follow are scarcely less illustrious, however, and represent "the fountain-head of most of the pure streams which have carried American national principles to the furth ermost regions of this country."
[1] Great Leighs, St Mary the Virgin, Register of Baptisms (1558-1642), Marriages (1560-1643), Burials (1560-1641), D/P 137/1/3, Essex Record Office, image 23, [Essex Archives].
[2] Great Leighs, St Mary the Virgin, Register of Baptisms (1558-1642), Marriages (1560-1643), Burials (1560-1641), D/P 137/1/3, Essex Record Office, image 18, [Essex Archives].
[3] Fairstead, St Mary the Virgin, Register of Baptism (1538-1647), Marriages (1539-1651), Burials (1539-1647), D/P 310/1/1, Essex Record Office, image 28, [Essex Archives].
[4] Fairstead, St Mary the Virgin, Register of Baptism (1538-1647), Marriages (1539-1651), Burials (1539-1647), D/P 310/1/1, Essex Record Office, image 27, [Essex Archives].
[5] Fairstead, St Mary the Virgin, Register of Baptism (1538-1647), Marriages (1539-1651), Burials (1539-1647), D/P 310/1/1, Essex Record Office, image 29, [Essex Archives].
[6] Fairstead, St Mary the Virgin, Register of Baptism (1538-1647), Marriages (1539-1651), Burials (1539-1647), D/P 310/1/1, Essex Record Office, image 32, [Essex Archives].
[7] Fairstead, St Mary the Virgin, Register of Baptism (1538-1647), Marriages (1539-1651), Burials (1539-1647), D/P 310/1/1, Essex Record Office, image 33, [Essex Archives].
[8] Fairstead, St Mary the Virgin, Register of Baptism (1538-1647), Marriages (1539-1651), Burials (1539-1647), D/P 310/1/1, Essex Record Office, image 35, [Essex Archives].
[9] Fairstead, St Mary the Virgin, Register of Baptism (1538-1647), Marriages (1539-1651), Burials (1539-1647), D/P 310/1/1, Essex Record Office, image 36, [Essex Archives].
[10] Fairstead, St Mary the Virgin, Register of Baptism (1538-1647), Marriages (1539-1651), Burials (1539-1647), D/P 310/1/1, Essex Record Office, image 36, [Essex Archives].
[11] Fairstead, St Mary the Virgin, Register of Baptism (1538-1647), Marriages (1539-1651), Burials (1539-1647), D/P 310/1/1, Essex Record Office, image 36, [Essex Archives].