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Family/Spouse: Vincent MEIGS. Vincent (son of Lawrence MEIGS and Anne WOODS) was born about 1583 in Dorcetshire, England; died on 01 Dec 1658 in East Guilford, New Haven Co., Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact: 1657, Freeman

Notes:

John changed the spelling of the name to Meigs, its present form. He was married in England, and his eldest child, Mary was born there. John resided in Weymouth, Mass. and in New Haven, Conn. in 1647; removed to Guilford, Conn. in 1654, and to Killingworth, Conn, in 1663, where he was made a freeman in 1669. In 1654 he was admitted a planter in that portion of Guilford now included in Madison, upon certain conditions pertaining to the purchase of land there. He is not represented as having been a quiet man, nor Puritanical in his character, for he was sometimes turbulent and given to having litigation with the town authorities. Yet he was public spirited withal, and rendered some good public services.. He was a man of superior intellectual type, as appears by the manuscripts and books mentioned in his will, and he must have been a man of considerable education and culture. He was many times entrusted with public business, serving as Constable, and Representative to Hartford. Was a tanner , had a large estate, and some books, of which one was a Latin and Greek Dictionary. John was a one time, 1648-1658, second owner by purchase of the Cutler lot (SE corner of Chapel and Church streets, New Haven). The deed of conveyance reads: "Wm Jeanes passeth over to John Meigs his house and house lot lying at the corner over against Mr. Gregson's--betwixt the house lot of John Budd and the highway." Col. Return Jonathan Meigs was a descendant, whose son became Governor of Ohio and Postmaster-General of the United States.
According to Stiles' History of the Regicides, it was John Meigs who rode to New Haven to warn the regicides.

John married Thomasine FRY in 1630. Thomasine (daughter of William FRY and Sarah HILL) was born in 1610 in England; was buried in Guilford Cementary. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]