Mary REED

Mary married Nathaniel WEED about 1718. Nathaniel (son of Daniel WEED and Ruth ?) was born on 22 Oct 1696 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA; died on 22 Jun 1750 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Nathaniel WEED, Jr. was born about 1719; died on 25 Jan 1783 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA.
2. Nathan WEED was born on 1 Jan 1725/6 in Stamford, Fairfield County, Connecticut; died on 19 Dec 1802 in Stamford, Fairfield County, Connecticut.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Will: 04 Jan 1752
• Will Proved: 13 Mar 1758

Thomas married Mary OLMSTEAD on 09 May 1694 in Norwalk, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA. Mary (daughter of John OLMSTEAD and Mary BENEDICT) was born about 1675. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Name:
The immigrant Reed ancestor was Captain John reed, who was born in England in 1633. In the English revolution he was for some time an officer in Cromwell's army. Born and raised in the tumult of that upheaval in behalf of representative government it is not surprising that he caught the full force of its spirit, and at the earl age of sixteen he became a soldier, rendering important service to the cause.

A souvenir of this service which his descendants would hold priceless could they now recover it--the sword he wore--was preserved in the family for more than a century, but was finally lost sight of.

All traditions agree that he was eminent for the strong will and high-toned moral character for which Cromwell's officers were renowned. He was from Cornwall, England, and is supposed o have belonged to the large family of Reeds in Dorsetshire, one of whom, Col. John Reed, is mentioned in the parliamentary records as having held the Castle of Pool against the King's army.

It was well known that men who had been prominent in the Cromwell regime found England to be an unsafe place for such as they as soon as the throne was re-established in 1660, and this may have been what decided him to emigrate. Coming to this country in 1660 he settled first at Providence, Rhode Island, where he married Mrs. Ann Derby, a widow who had three children by her first husband, Francis Derby, and she became the mother of John Reed's five children.

He was doubtless a man of considerable means, and in 1684 he removed to Norwalk, Connecticut, having purchased a large tract of land there. In time the locality took its name from his family, and became known as "Reed's Farms." Establishing himself in the western part of the town he built his house on a favorable site a short distance easterly of the Five Mile River, a creek which forms the western boundary of the town. it stood on the north side of the old post road, and nearly two miles from Long Island Sound. the site is nearly four miles west of what is now the city of South Norwalk.

After the death of his wife, the date of which is not recorded, John Reed married again, this time also a widow, a Mrs. Scofield of Stamford, Connecticut. he died in 1730 at the age of ninety-seven, and was buried in his own field.

John married Ann ?. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Baptism: 30 Dec 1649, Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut, USA
• Death: 22 Dec 1704, Norwalk, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA

Notes:

"History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield" shows that John Olmstead is the son of Richard.

John married Mary BENEDICT on 17 Jul 1673 in Norwalk, Fairfield Co., Conn.. Mary (daughter of Thomas BENEDICT and Mary BRIDGUM) was born between 1652 and 1653; died about 1693 in Stamford, Fairfield County,Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Birth: 04 Dec 1656, Norwalk, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA
• Birth: Abt 1657
• Birth: 04 Dec 1666, Norwalk, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA
• Death: Aft 1704