♂James Eggleston

James Eggleston (died 1 December 1679) was an early settler of Windsor, Connecticut Colony. He was the eighth great-grandfather of Frederic Roger Curtis (1928–2007), through his son John Eggleston (1659–1731).

Early life

James Eggleston was a son of Begat Eggleston of Windsor; a will Begat made on 13 November 1673, naming “my son James” among his children, records the relationship. James is said to have been born in England about 1620, an estimate drawn from his recorded age of fifty-nine at his death. An 1892 history of Windsor states that he was made a freeman in 1637 and served in the colony’s campaign against the Pequot, and that he received a grant of fifty acres in 1671; these details rest on that later compilation and are not confirmed by the colony’s own records.

Marriage and family

James Eggleston most likely married Hester before 1656; her surname is not known. The same 1892 history describes her as a sister of a Roger Williams and states that she was said to have been the first female child born at Hartford, a claim not otherwise substantiated. A modern genealogical database gives her surname as Kelsey, a claim no record confirms.

The couple had nine children, born between 1656 and 1676; the first, also named James, was stillborn at Windsor on 1 January 1656. Their surviving children included John, Thomas, Esther, Nathaniel, Isaac, Abigail, Deborah, and Hannah. The Windsor records show Nathaniel marrying Hannah Ashley of Westfield in September 1694, and Isaac marrying Mary Stiles in March 1694/5.

Land and town office

By 8 December 1640 James probably owned land in Windsor, and the Windsor land inventory has an entry for him dated that day. On 21 February 1641/2 the town ordered a highway laid out between his home lot and Henry Stiles’s.

His first home lot, beside Henry Stiles’s, was set out to him. Later he bought the lots of James Marshall and Samuel Allen, and after Allen’s death in 1648 he probably lived on the Allen lot, the first south of Broad Street.

On 4 March 1657/8, at the Particular Court, he was sworn constable of Windsor for the year ahead, together with Thomas Stoughton. On 7 October 1669 his name stood on Matthew Grant’s list of Windsor freemen. On 11 June 1676, during King Philip’s War^W, he gave one shilling and sixpence to the town’s voluntary contribution for the poor of the other colonies.

Death and estate

James Eggleston died suddenly at Windsor on 1 December 1679. A jury examining the circumstances of his death found that he was “taken with a swond and so dyed”: he fainted and died. A jury of inquest was the usual step when a man died suddenly, to rule out violence. His estate was inventoried at £275-16-6, and administration was granted to his widow on 4 March 1679/80. In the distribution of the estate on 21 April 1680, the widow received £35, the eldest son £45, six of the other children £21 apiece, and “the defective child” £36, more than any of the other younger children: a disabled child who could not be expected to earn a living or marry was given a larger portion to provide for life. Hester remarried James Enno on 29 April 1680. In 1701, four of James’s sons — John, Thomas, Nathaniel, and Isaac — signed an agreement concerning their father’s estate.

Before he died he had sold a parcel of land to a Thomas Eglestone, but the sale had not been confirmed when he died. On 17 May 1680 the General Court authorized his widow to make, sign and deliver the deed.

Notes

James’s birth year and his service in the Pequot campaign rest on a single later compilation, with no independent record of either. His wife’s surname is not known; two later sources give conflicting surnames for her (Williams and Kelsey), and neither is proven.

Land in Windsor

The 8 December 1640 land-inventory entry comes from Anderson, The Great Migration Begins, vol. I p.624, a compiled work. The first home lot and the purchase of the Marshall and Allen lots come from Stiles, The History of Ancient Windsor, Connecticut (1859), pp.131 and 135, also compiled. The highway order of 21 February 1641/2 is on record in Some Early Records and Documents of and Relating to the Town of Windsor, p.108. The town order spells the neighbor’s name “Styles”, and Stiles’s history spells it “Stiles”.

Marriage date

Anderson reckons the marriage as before 1656, from the birth of the eldest child at Windsor, given as 1 January 1656 (the year may be 1656/7). Woodruff (1935) gives “probably about 1654”. The birth is also recorded in the Barbour Collection of Windsor vital records, printed p.108.

Constable and freemen

The constable office is in Records of the Particular Court of Connecticut, 1639-1663, printed as “March 4th 1657”. The court sat between 3 December 1657 and 18 May 1658, so the year is Old Style, 1657/8. The freemen list of 7 October 1669 and the contribution of 11 June 1676 are in Some Early Records and Documents of and Relating to the Town of Windsor; the 1676 entry spells his name “Jams egelfton”.

The land sale

The sale is recorded in The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, vol. 3, 1678-1689, which writes the buyer as “Thomas Eglestone”. The record does not say whether he was James’s brother Thomas (1638-1697) or his son Thomas (1661-1732). The General Court’s order of 17 May 1680 is in the same source.