James Olmstead was the son of Richard Olmstead. [1]
1671 James Olmstead was a selectman. [2]
1673 Phebe Barlow, daughter of Thomas, of Fairfield, and James Olmstead, son of Capt. Richard, were married on May 1 in Norwalk, Connecticut. [3] "In 1673 Phebe Barlow alias Olmsted receipted to Edward Nash and her mother; witnesses, Wm. Hamilton, Deborah and Mary Barlow." [4]
1678-1707 James Olmstead was town clerk. [5]
1680 In October, James Olmstead was Lt., Norwalk Trainband. [6]
1682-85 James Olmstead was a selectman. [7]
1691 In May, James Olmstead was a Captain. [8]
1691-99 James Olmstead was a Deputy from Norwalk to the Connecticut Legislature in 1691, 2, 3, and 9. [9] [10]
1690-98 James Olmstead was commissiner for Norwalk. [11]
1698-1724 James Olmstead was a justice for Norwalk. [12]
1704 James Olmstead was on the Committee of Safety in Fairfield County. [13]
1731 James Olmstead wrote his will on April 28. [14]
Olmsted, James, Captain, late of Norwalk, will dated Apr. 28, 1731, probated July 16, 1731, mentioned his wife Phebe, and children Joseph, John, and Nathan, deceased, received his full share. Executors Sergeant Samuel Fitch and Sergeant John Marven. Witnesses Nehemiah Smith, John Fitch, and William Jarvis,page 266.Inventory taken Aug. 20, 1731, Toy Samuel Comstock,Thomas fitch and Nehermiah Smith, and filed Mch. 7,1731/2, page 291.
Research Notes:
"(Capt.) James Olmsted. born prob. Hartford, Conn.; d. before Apr. 28, 1731; m. May 1, 1673, Phebe Barlow; dau. of Thomas Barlow, of Fairfield, Conn. Capt. James Olmsted was Town Clerk of Norwalk, Conn., for 29 years, from 1678 to 1707 and again in 1721. He was also Town Judge, and repeatedly a Deputy to the General Court at Hartford. In fact, he was one of Norwalk's most eminent and influential citizens. In 1671 he was chosen Selectman. In 1673 in 'The Estates of Lands and Accommodations of ye Towne of Norwalk,' James Olmsted is credited with £50. In 1680 he was made Lieut. From 1682 to 1685 he was again Selectman. On Jan. 16, 1694, he was chosen by the town to select a minister, and on Oct. 8, 1697, he was chosen "for to signifie unto the Reverend Elders at the time of ordination, the good agreement of the towne with the church in the ordayning of Rev. Mr. Steven Buckingham." On Jan. 4, 1702-03, we find the name of James Olmsted as Justice and Recorder, affixed to a document, in which the town of Norwalk lays claim to "severall Islands lying adjacent to their township ... namely Cockenoes Island known by the sayd name, and Mamachimons Island, and the Long Island, and Camfield's Island, known by sayd names, and all other Islands lying in or adjacent unto the towneshipp of Norwalk." In 1706, he was a member of a committee to seat the church, "the sayd committee to order and determine that matter according to their best discretion; they to have respect to age, quality, and the estates of persons in the publique list, and the towne to abide their determination." By vote of Dec. 11, 1723, the town of Norwalk granted to Capt. Samuel Hanford the right "to sit in ye pue with Captain Olmsted and Captain Platt," evidently a privilege to be desired, as his seat in the church was one of honor." [15]
[1] Donald Lines Jacobus, History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield, Vol. 1, Reprinted with additions and corrections (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2007), 453, [GoogleBooks].
[2] Donald Lines Jacobus, History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield, Vol. 1, Reprinted with additions and corrections (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2007), 453, [GoogleBooks].
[3] Connecticut Vital Records to 1870, Lucius Barnes Barbour Collection, Norwalk 1651-1850 (New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2011), 5, citing vol. LR1, p. 155, [AmericanAncestors].
[4] Donald Lines Jacobus, History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield, Vol. 1, Reprinted with additions and corrections (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2007), 28, [GoogleBooks].
[5] Donald Lines Jacobus, History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield, Vol. 1, Reprinted with additions and corrections (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2007), 453, [GoogleBooks].
[6] Donald Lines Jacobus, History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield, Vol. 1, Reprinted with additions and corrections (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2007), 453, [GoogleBooks].
[7] Donald Lines Jacobus, History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield, Vol. 1, Reprinted with additions and corrections (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2007), 453, [GoogleBooks].
[8] Donald Lines Jacobus, History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield, Vol. 1, Reprinted with additions and corrections (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2007), 453, [GoogleBooks].
[9] James Savage, John Farmer, Orrando Perry, A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England, Showing three generations, Vol. 3 (Boston: Little Brown & Co, 1861), 312, [GoogleBooks], [HathiTrust], [InternetArchive].
[10] Donald Lines Jacobus, History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield, Vol. 1, Reprinted with additions and corrections (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2007), 453, [GoogleBooks].
[11] Donald Lines Jacobus, History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield, Vol. 1, Reprinted with additions and corrections (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2007), 453, [GoogleBooks].
[12] Donald Lines Jacobus, History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield, Vol. 1, Reprinted with additions and corrections (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2007), 453, [GoogleBooks].
[13] Donald Lines Jacobus, History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield, Vol. 1, Reprinted with additions and corrections (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2007), 453, [GoogleBooks].
[14] Spencer P. Mead, Abstract of Probate Records of Fairfield, County of Fairfield, and State of Connecticut (1934, published online as Fairfield County, CT: Probate Records, 1704–1757, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2003), 2936, vol. 8, [AmericanAncestors].
[15] Henry King Olmsted and George Kemp Ward, Genealogy of the Olmsted Family in America (New York: A.T. De La Mare Printing and Publishing Company, 1912), 192, [GoogleBooks].