| Notes |
- RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. Probably the most accurate and documented account of this family is by Frank Farnsworth Starr, "Various ancestral lines of James Goodwin and Lucy (Morgan) Goodwin of Hartford, Connecticut," (Hartford, Conn.: unknown, 1915.) The book is available online at https://ia802609.us.archive.org/7/items/variousancestral01star/variousancestral01star.pdf accessed 18 Sep 2021.
2. Excellent source for the Grant family is "The Grant family: a genealogical history of the descendants of Matthew Grant, of Windsor, Conn. 1601-1898," by Arthur Hastings Grant (Poughskeepsie, NY; 1898), available online at https://archive.org/details/grantfamilygenea00gran/page/n23/mode/2up.
3. Internet https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Humphrey-71 accessed 9 Sep 2021:
"In the October 1992 issue of "The American Genealogist," Douglas Richardson presented convincing evidence that the parents of Michael Humphrey were Michael and Martha (Pride) Humphrey. The Samuel and Susanna of the oft-quoted letter were Michael's siblings. The part of the letter with the signature has been lost.
"New Light on the English Origins of Michael Humphrey (died 1695) of Windsor, Connecticut." by Douglas Richardson:
(Mr.) Michael Humphrey, the New England immigrant, surfaced in 1643, at Windsor, Connecticut. He moved to Simsbury CT about 1670. He married at Windsor, on 14 October 1647, to Pricilla Grant, the daughter of Matthew and Pricilla Grant. She was born September 14, 1626, in England, the exact place still unknown. Well over a hundred years ago, American genealogists attempted to locate the English origins of Michael Humphrey. In this case they were aided by an original letter written by the immigrant's mother, which in 1869, was still held by one of Michael Humphrey's descendants. This letter is printed in full in the book The Humphreys Family in America, by Frederick Humphrey, M.D., published 1883, pages 98-99.
The letter in question was dated January 24, 1648/9, and was written at a place in England named Lyme. Lyme Regis, Dorset is doubtless the place intended. The letter was addressed to "my endeared son." Although most of the letter is general in nature, the mother specifically mentioned that the last letter she had received from her son, Michael, was dated circa December, 1647, which told of his recent marriage.
The mother's letter as preserved in 1869, was missing her signature at the close of the letter. Towards the bottom on the letter, about ten lines were torn away and thus the letter was missing its closing statements. This unfortunate circumstance served to confuse American genealogists as they mistook a postscript on the reverse page to be the final conclusion of the letter.
The postscript was located on the back side of the letter and it reads simply "More that we are all thy dear affectionate friends to the end of the world. Mr. Samuell Humphrey 1648 and Susana Humphrey 1648". American genealogists took this to be the signatures of Michael Humphrey's parents, but this can hardly be the case. The letter itself clearly indicates that it was written by Michael Humphrey's mother alone. No reference is made in the body of the letter to Michael's father then being alive, thus presumably he was already deceased. Had the letter been written jointly by both parents, the letter would have begun "Our endeared son", not "My endeared son". Also, it is unlikely that Michael's mother would call herself Michael's "friend to the end of the world". The best explanation is that Samuel and Susanna Humphrey who signed the postscript were Michael Humphrey's brother and sister, not father and mother. In support of this, American colonial records prove that the immigrant did have a brother, (Mr.) Samuel Humphrey, who in the 1660's was a merchant in St. Malo, France.
American genealogists did attempt to have the Lyme Regis parish registers checked for any pertinent information on Michael Humphrey's family. One Mr. Ware of Honiton, Devonshire carefully searched the parish registers and reportedly found no trace of the family in these records. Oddly enough, the Lyme Regis registers have a gap in the baptisms from 1572 to 1662. Thus, the failure to find Michael Humphrey's family would easily be explained by the missing records. In 1881, Col. Joseph Chester again checked the Lyme Regis registers and he reported that there was "no trace" of the family in the parish registers of Lyme. He also examined various probate indexes for the immigrant's purported parents, Samuel and Susanna "Humphry" and Thomas Wise, both of Lyme, on July, 1655. No attempt was made to trace the Wise family. Here is where the matter lay for many, many decades.
Unknown to the American researchers in the late 1800's, the Bishop's Transcripts for the parish of Lyme Regis, Dorset, survived and they contain records for much of the period not covered by the parish registers. Today, these records are available on microfilm from the Family History Library in Salt Lake City (being found on SLC Microfilm # 1,239,204). Although there are a few years covered starting in 1579, near continuous coverage actually starts in 1608. Surviving Bishop's Transcripts are available for the years, 1608-1609, 1613-1617, 1620-1621, 1623, 1625-1628, 1630-1634, and then coverage commences again near continuously from 1666 forward.
Recently, these records were examined for any entries pertaining to the Humphrey family, and happily, the baptism of the immigrant Michael Humphrey, was located. As it turns out, the immigrant was baptized September 10, 1620, at Lyme Regis, Dorset, being the son of an earlier Michael Humphrey. The immigrant was one of at least 12 children born to two different wives, a family which included two sets of Michaels, two Johns, and two Samuels. Also, as thought probable, the transcripts reveal that the immigrant had signed the postscript to the mother's letter in 1649.
Here are the pertinent Humphrey entries as abstracted from the Lyme Regis Bishop's Transcripts:
Baptisms:
15 Sept. 1608 Sara daughter of Michaell Humffrey baptized.
24 Oct. 1608 Alice daughter of Lewis Humffrey baptized.
12 May 1616 Marie daughter of Michaell Humfrey baptized
10 Sept. 1620 Michaell son of Michaell Humfrey baptized.
29 Feb. 1623/4 Josias son of Michaell Humfrey baptized
16 Oct. 1625 John son of Michaell Humfrey baptized.
2 Dec. 1627 Susan daughter of Michaell Humphrey baptized
4 July 1630 Martha daughter of Michaell Humfrey baptized
Marriages:
( ) April 1608 Thomas Humffrey & Mar(garet?) ff(ose?).
Burials:
14 Oct. 1613 Ann wife of Michaell Humffrey buried
8 June 1620 Michael son of Michaell Humfrey buried
22 Jul 1621 Samuell son of Michael Humfrey buried
2 June 1623 John son of Michaell Humfrey buried
22 Mar. 1626/7 Jone daughter of Lewis Humfrey deceased buried
7 Mar. 1630/1 Martha daughter of Michaell Humfry buried.
28 Dec 1634 Hanna daughter of Michaell Humfrey buried
10 Feb. 1668/9 Susanah wife of Thomas Wise
7 March 1673/4 Thomas Wise
Although the extant Bishop's Transcripts for Lyme Regis do not tell us the whole story, now we at least know that there was a Humphrey family living at Lyme Regis from at least as early as 1608, to as late as 1669 (i.e., burial of Susannah (Humphrey) Wise). Using the above records and other available sources, the immediate family of the immigrant may now be reconstructed.
HOUMPERY, Micall [Simsbury], m. Prissilla GRANT, 14 Oct 1647; children: John, b. 7 Jun 1650; Mary, b. 24 Oct 1653; Samuel, b. 15 May 1656; Sara, b. 6 Mar 1658; Martha, b. 5 Oct 1663; Abigayl, b. 23 Mar 1665; Hanna, b. 21 Oct 1669 Record of Marriages & Births Copied from the 1st Book of Records under the date 18 May 1674; transcribed by Samuel H. Parsons; New England Historical & Genealogical Register, Vol 5, January 1851, p. 63 & subsequent.
Sources:
Grant, Arthur. The Grant Family, A Genealogical History of the Descendants of Matthew Grant of Windsor, Conn. (A.V. Haight, Poughkeepsie, N.Y., 1898) Page 2-3
Starr, Frank. Various Ancestral Lines of James Goodwin and Lucy (Morgan) Goodwin of Hartford, Connecticut (Hartford, Conn., 1915) Vol. 1, Page 77-89
Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins, Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Vols. 1-3, entry for Matthew Grant.
Phelps, Noah Amherst. History of Simsbury, Granby, and Canton, from 1642 to 1845 (Case, Tiffany and Burnham, Hartford, 1845) Page 170
Burial: Two memorials on Find A Grave, Palisado Cemetery, Windsor, Hartford County, Connecticut, USA, Find A Grave Memorial# 112486615 AND Hop Meadow Cemetery, Simsbury, Hartford County, Connecticut, Find A Grave Memorial# 9038857,
The American Genealogist 67(1992):242, Douglas Richardson, M.A., The Mother of Michael Humphrey Of Windsor, Connecticut
Windsor VR, Samuel H. Parsons, New England Historical & Genealogical Register, Vol 5, January 1851, p. 63 & subsequent.
THE HUMPHREYS FAMILY IN AMERICA by Frederick Humphreys, M. D."
4. Internet
"Michael Humphrey (q.v. Humphry), s. of Samuel & Susanna Humphrey, bapt. Sept. 10, 1620 at Lyme Regis at Dorset, England. According to the published family genealogy citing the Simsbury, Conn. Town Records, there was a division of Michael's estate, Mar. 19, 1695/6, at which time Michael's son Samuel "Humphries" of Simsbury sold to his brother John land that had belonged to their father, on the west side of Mill Swamp, "as also his house lott: But now Since Our honord fathers Death hath fallen into Our hands and Possession."
A lengthy biographical sketch of Michael is contained in Vol. 1 of the 1883 pub. "The Humphrys Family in America," but includes one glaring error. This work claims that Michael was admitted a freeman of the Conn. Colony May 21, 1657 followed by the statement that not until 1664 is he known to have joined the Windsor Church. However, election as a freeman of the Conn. Colony first required church membership in full communion and recommendation from the minister of the town's Congregational Church. Thus, he was a church member prior to 1664, his father-in-law, Matthew Grant, apparently not noting son-in-law Michael's pre-1657 church membership in his (Matthew Grant's) 1677 manuscript of the vital records of Windsor families.
On Oct. 14, 1647 at Windsor, Conn. Michael m. Priscilla Grant, eldest surviving child of Matthew Grant and his first wife Priscilla, b. or bapt. Sept. 14, 1626 at England before her parents immigrated to New England. She was living on Dec. 9, 1681 when given a legacy in her father's will, but when she died is not of record.
Michael and Priscilla had seven known children all b. of record at Windsor, Conn.:
i. Sgt. John Humphrey, b. June 7, 1650, d. intestate at Simsbury, Conn. Jan. 14, 1697/8, Æ 48; m. circa 1671 Hannah Griffin, dau. of Sgt. John Griffin and Hannah {q.v., Anna} Bancroft, b. July 4, 1649 at Windsor, Conn. She d. at Simsbury before Jan. 10, 1698/9. Seven children of the family.
ii. Mary Humphrey, b. Oct. 24, 1653, whose death cannot be found; m. John Lewis on June 16, 1675, by whom she had six known children at Windsor.
iii. Lieut. Samuel Humphrey, b. May 15, 1656, d. June 15, 1736 at Simsbury, Conn., Æ 81; m. circa 1681, Mary Mills, dau. of Simon Mills & Mary Buell, b. Dec. 8, 1662 at Windsor, Conn. She d. at Simsbury Apr. 4, 1730, Æ 68. Seven children of the family.
iv. Sarah Humphrey, b. Mar. 6, 1658/9, d. Nov. 28, 1726; m. June 11, 1680 at Hartford, Richard Burnham, s. of Thomas Burnham and Ann Wright. He d. Apr. 28, 1731. Ten children of the family either of birth and/or baptism record at Hartford.
v. Martha Humphrey, b. Oct, 5, 1663; m. in May 1686, John Shipman; resided at Saybrook, Conn. where six children are recorded.
vi. Abigail Humphrey, b. Mar. 23, 1665/6, d. June 27, 1697 at Hartford, Conn., Æ 32; m. Feb. 12, 1684/5 at Hartford, Conn. as his 1st wife, Lieut. Benjamin Graham. Five children of the family.
vii. Hannah Humphrey, b. Oct. 21, 1669, d. Dec. 20, 1750 at Hartford; m. 1) as his 2nd wife, Capt. Joseph Bull, who d. testate at Hartford Mar. 22, 1711/2; m. 2) as his 2nd wife, Joseph Collyer, Jr. He d. testate at Hartford Sept. 25, 1738. Hannah had no children by either marriage.
The following is the only known estate record for Michael Humphrey. It mirrors the above outline of his surviving children and their spouses. [Manwaring: Hartford Probate District, 1:566-7; citing Probate Vol. VI.]
Michael Humphrey, Windsor. Court Record, Page 151-(Vol. IV) 14 April, 1697: John Humphrys (sic), Samuel Humphrys, Richard Burnham & Sarah his wife, Joseph Bull & Hannah his wife, Benjamin Graham and Abigail his wife, John Shipman & Martha his wife, John Lewis & Mary his wife, Plantiffs, all of them the heirs of Michael Humphrey of Windsor Decd vs. Ensign Joseph Welles & Ensign Benjamin Newbery, of Windsor, Defendants. In an Action of the Case for that you do unjustly withold and keep the above named heirs, Children of the above named Michael Humphrey, out of possession of their Lands lying within the Township of Windsor on the East side of the Connecticut River, containing by Estimation 60 acres and being 10 rods in Breadth be it more or less, bounded west on the River and runs 3 miles from the River, and North on the Land of Samuel Grant, and South on Land of Samuel Rockwell, which was the proper Estate of the aforesd. Michael Humphrys, formerly of Windsor, late of Simsbury Decd. Jury find for the Defendants, cost of Court.
By virtue of a closing statement in the foregoing record ("which was the proper Estate of the aforesd. Michael Humphrys, formerly of Windsor, late of Simsbury Decd."), Michael is assumed to have d. at Simsbury and interred at Simsbury's Hop Meadow Cemetery where all of his children who remained at greater Simsbury are known to be interred."
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Chris & Julie Petersen's Genealogy
1620 - Bef 1696 (< 75 years)
