Family of Thomas Stanton

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1.  THOMAS2 STANTON  was born Abt. 1614, and died December 02, 1677.  He married ANNE LORD 1637 in Hartford, Hartford Co., CT.  She was born September 18, 1614 in Towcester, Northamptonshire, England.

 

Notes for THOMAS STANTON:

Will: 24 OCT 1677 probated September 20, 1678

 

1. On January 25, 1649 Thomas, fluent in the Indian tongue and prominent as an interpreter was appointed official Indian Interpreter - $25 annual salary.

 

From The Cambridge Press: 1638-1692, Books for Libraries Press, Freeport, New York; , Copyright 1946, University of Pennsylvania Press, Reprinted 1968 by Arrangement. References to Thomas Stanton, interpreter and opinion of Eliot.

 

Pages 157-8 RIVAL CATECHISMS -

 

"Eliot went ahead with his plans confidently. A letter from the Commissioners to Winslow dated September 24, 1653 implies that Eliot had made arrangements with the printer without bothering to consult them, knowing that they would have to pay for whatever he ordered:

 

'Mr. Eliot is preparing to print a Cattichisme of the Indian Langwige which wee shall further (as wee may) by disbursing the charge of paper and printing out of the stock but by some due allowance shall Indeavor to Incurrage Thomas Stanton to assist in the worke; who is the most able Interpreter wee have in the countrey for that Langwige that the worke may bee the more perfectly carried on; Wee have advised Mr. Eliot etcet:

that if heerafter they publish anythinge about the worke of God upon the Indians they send it to the Corporation and leave the dedication to them which wee hope will be attended.

 

It is left to the two Commissioners for the Massachusetts to give order for the printing of five hundred or a Thousand Catechismes in the Indian langwige and to allow paper and the charge of printing: and that the worke may bee carried on the more exactly and to better satisfaction It is ordered that Thomas Stanton's healp be used

in the same.'

 

The reference to Stanton is significant. It shows that from the beginning those who were best informed about affairs had doubts regarding Eliot's mastery of the language into which he was courageously and confidently translating the Word of God. Stanton was a frontiersman who made his headquarters in the Narragansett country, trafficking with the natives who lived west of the bay of that name. The English authorities repeatedly had occasion to realize that he possessed an unusual understanding of what the natives thought as well as what they said. He was highly valued as an irreplaceable intermediary who had proved himself in many delicate negotiations. He did not, however, possess an equally sympathetic appreciation of the thoughts and aspirations of the Apostle and those who supported Eliot in what he desired to convey to the heathen. Even the Commissioners, who were worldly-wise men of affiars, occasionally found both the form and the substance of Stanton's language inconsistent with a proper regard for their own dignity. As a collaborator in the delicate task of expressing in a language hitherto unwritten what the words of the Sacred Scriptures meant to a seventheenth-centurey Protestant divine, Stanton lacked essential qualifications. The persistence of the Commissioners in trying to utilize his knowledge culminated in an interview before them at which Stanton was asked to express his opinion of Eliot's translation in the presence of the translator and other local clergymen. The frontiersman's opening remarks led the ministers to leave the room abruptly, sending back word that never again would they permit him to enter their presence. The civil authorities could not dispense with his services so easily. Within a decade the Commissioners paid for printing another catechism adapted with Stanton's help for the use of the natives living near New Haven."

 

Page. 173 -

 

"The commissioners meanwhile, getting no encouragement from London, endeavored to induce Eliot to accept assistance from those who had known the natives more intimately, with what result appears from a letter to him dated September 25, 1654:

 

'We desired that Thomas Stanton's help might have been used in the Catechism printed and wish that no inconvenience be foudn through the want thereof; and shell now advise that before you proceed in Translating the Scriptures of any parte of them you improve the best hleps the country affords for the Indian language that if it may be these south west Indians (some of whom as we are now informed desire help both for reading and to be instructed in the things of God and Christ may understand and have the benefit of what is printed.'"

 

2. In 1650, with his family remaining in Hartford, Thomas built a trading post on the west bank of the Pawcatuck. In 1651 Thomas joined William Chesebrough, the first white settler in 1649, as one of the early settlers and planters in what would become Stonington, New London County, Connecticut. Thomas' family removed to Stonington in 1657 living in a house close to his trading post.

 

3. Thomas and/or Samuel Chesebrough, Sr. are believed to have originated the word "Stonington" as the name for what became the town of Stonington.

("New England Magazine", New Series, Vol. 20, March - August 1899, Page 244, Warren F. Kellogg, Publisher, 5 Park Square, Boston, MA, )

 

 

More About THOMAS STANTON and ANNE LORD:

Marriage: 1637, Hartford, Hartford Co., CT

     

Children of THOMAS STANTON and ANNE LORD are:

              i.   SAMUEL STANTON, m. BORODELL DENISON; b. Abt. 1651, New London, New London Co., Connecticut; d. January 11, 1701/02, Stonington, New London Co., Connecticut.

 

              ii.   THOMAS STANTON, b. 1638, Hartford, Hartford County, CT; d. April 11, 1718, Stonington, New London Co., Connecticut; m. SARAH DENISON, 1658, Stonington, New London Co., CT; b. Bef. March 20, 1641/42, Roxbury, Suffolk Co., MA; d. December 19, 1701, Stonington, New London Co., Connecticut.

 

More About THOMAS STANTON and SARAH DENISON:

Marriage: 1658, Stonington, New London Co., CT

 

             iii.   MARY STANTON, b. 1643; m. SAMUEL ROGERS.

 

             iv.   HANNAH LORD STANTON, b. 1644, Hartford, Hartford Co., CT; d. Oct 17, 1727, Stonington, New London Co., CT; m. NEHEMIAH PALMER, Nov 20, 1662, Stonington, New London Co., CT; b. Nov 27, 1637, Charlestown, Boston, Suffolk Co, MA; d. Feb 17, 1716/17, Stonington, New London Co., CT.

 

             v.   JOSEPH STANTON, b. 1646; m. (1) HANNAH LORD; m. (2) HANNAH MEAD; m. (3) UNKNOWN PRENTICE.

             vi.   DANIEL STANTON, b. 1648, Hartford, Hartford Co., Connecticut; d. Bef. 1688, Barbadoes, West Indies; m. SARAH WHEELER, 1673; b. 1650, Lynn, Essex Co., Massachusetts.

 

Notes for SARAH WHEELER:

Source: History of the Town of Stonington by Wheeler. Married June 1, 1671, to

Daniel Stanton, Wheeler concludes.

 

 

More About DANIEL STANTON and SARAH WHEELER:

Marriage: 1673

 

            vii.   ROBERT STANTON, b. 1648; m. JOANNA GARDNER.

 

           viii.   DOROTHY STANTON, b. 1651; m. REV. JAMES NOYES, JR, September 12, 1674; b. March 11, 1638/39, Newbury, Essex Co., Massachusetts; d. December 30, 1719, Stonington, New London Co., CT.

 

Notes for REV. JAMES NOYES, JR:

Rev. James Noyes came to Stonington by the invitation from the Town in June, 1664, preaching there as a licentiate. For the services rendered the troops, as physician and minister, during Kings Phillip's War, he was liberally rewarded by the General Court with a grant of land which comprised the 1902 town of Voluntown. No man of his time exerted a wider influence or commanded more respectful consideration from his fellow men.

He was Senior Moderator of the Saybrook Synod which convened on September 9, 1798, and drew up the celebrated Saybrock Platform, being of all ages, and there were admitted to the Church 239 members. After 1694, when the righ twas conferred upon ministers to join persons in marriage, he celebrated 44 marriages. His miniastry in Stonington lasted fifty-five years as a licentiate from 1664 to 1674 when he was ordained September 10. 1674 and then as a pastor to his death. He died in his eightieth year.

 

He was one of the founders of Yale University in New Haven, CT

 

 

 

More About REV. JAMES NOYES, JR:

Graduation: 1659, Harvard

Occupation: June 1664, Minister

Ordination: September 10, 1674

Residence: 1667, Stonington, New London Co., CT

 

More About JAMES NOYES and DOROTHY STANTON:

Marriage: September 12, 1674

 

 

 

Endnotes

 

1.  Olson, Raymond L., Ancestry of  Elihu B. Gifford and Catherine Sandow Barrows,  (Baltimore (1001 N. Calvert St., Baltimore 21202) : Gateway Press, 1989).