John BELDEN

Other Events and Attributes:

• Military Service: 12 Dec 1676; Served in King Philip's War, for which he received a grant of land at Norwalk, Connecticut.

Family/Spouse: Ruth ?. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Also Known As: William Beldon

Notes:

Excerpt from "Connecticut Puritan Settlers": tradition says, that two brothers by the name of Belden, were among the first settlers of the colony of Conencticut, and that they made their first location at Wethersfield, but that one of them, (William), after a while, on the settlement of Norwalk, removed thither. As early as Feb. 7, 1641, and among the earliest grants, Richard had eight distnect tracts of land allotted to him by the town, and little or no mention is made of William, save that he had three sons, Samuel, Daniel and John, born by his first wife, Tomisin; yet Williams death is found in Wethersfield, about 1660, and Samuel and John are found at Norwalk, about 1673.

Source: Belden/Baildon by Stephen M. Lawson: William Belden, of Wethersfield, died in 1655. His will dated 27 March 1655, may be found in Hartford County Probate records, in the Particular Court for the years 1650-1663, Volume II, pages 69-70. No land records have been discovered for him although he is mentioned in several records.
Descendants believe William to be the first son of the emigrant Richard, and that he was born about 1622.
In the "Parish Registers of Heptonstall", by Edith Horsfall (Yorkshire Register Society 1925) as cited by Donald E. Poste, there is a William baptized 23 April 1609, shown as a son of Lawrance Beldon of Ayringden.
In this same Register, a Richard Beldon is mentioned although his birth is not shown. William and Richard have been shown as brothers, father and son, and also as cousins. A research agency in 1935, wrote that they were distant cousins, that William Belden came to America in 1646 and established a home in Wethersfield, Connecticut, where he married Thomasine Allen (?). The researcher (name and address now lost), as well as others, made the statement that all Beldens were descended from the large family of the name lving in York County, England.
Most writers have seemed inclined to accept as fact that Richard Belden was the son of Sir Francis Bayldon. Particularly in view of the English history of a Yorkshire manor and family, "Baildon and the Baildons, by Wm. Paley Baildon, ed. by Francis J. Baildon", we used the same assumption in our "Family Hustory of Judge Ellsworth B. Belden (1969).
If Richard Belden was the son of Sir Francis Baildon (Bayldon), then William Belden, of Wethersfield, was not his brother. As Richard was the only one named in Wethersfield records as having a house or land, we have placed William as Richard's first son......

"Belden Ancestry in England" by Stephen M. Lawson states that the parentage of Richard Belden (d. Aug. 1655, Wethersfield, Hartford Co, CT) has not been absolutely proved. The most probable BELDEN ancestry is presented here, summaried from a two part article "the English Ancestry of Richard Belden of Wethersfield, Connecticut, With the Probable Ancestry of William Belden of Wethersfield," by Paul C. REED in "The American Genealogist (76:1-2, Jan and Apr 2001). Refer to the "Appendix on the Belden English Ancestry". Which states the following: The parentage of Richard Belden (d. Aug. 1655, Wethersfield, Hartford Co., CT) has not been absolutely proved. the 'traditional' viewpoint is that he was the son of Sir Francis BAILDON and Margaret GOODRICK who was baptized May 26, 1591 at Kippax, Yorkshire, England. However, there is no documentary evidence identifying Richard BELDEN of Wethersfield as the Richard BAILDON baptized at Kippax. Researcher Paul C. Reed has written a two-part article published in "The American Genealogist" in January and April 2001 in which he concludes, "Richard Baildon, the son of Sir Francis Baildon, died in England. He was not the New England immigrant," and that "The best deduction that can be made is that Richard Belden, born about 1598-1599, was the eldest son of Lawrence Beldon, bnaptized shortly before the commencement of the Heptonstall registry."

Note: For the above reasons, I am putting William Belden as the son of Lawrence Beldon.

William married Thomasine (Tamsen) SHERWOOD in 1646 in Wethersfield, Hartford Co., Conn. Thomasine (daughter of Thomas SHERWOOD and Alice SEABROOK) was born on 24 Oct 1615 in Bocking, England; died on 04 Jan 1684 in Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]