Capt. John REED

1633 - 1730  (97 years)

• Name	John REED  [1, 2]
  	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. [1]
  Prefix	Capt.
  Birth	1633	England   [1]
  Gender	Male
  Death	1730	Norwalk, Fairfield Co., Connecticut   [1, 2]
  Person ID	I46103	Main Tree
  Last Modified	5 Nov 2020

  
  

  Family	Ann ?
  Children	+ 1. John REED, Jr.,   b. Rhode Island d. Bef 26 Oct 1724  [Birth]   2. Thomas REED   d. Between 04 Jan 1752 and 13 Mar 1758  [Birth]
  Family ID	F23804	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	30 Oct 2016

  
  

• Event Map

  Birth - 1633 - England  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Sources

  [S8840] Charles E. Benton, Ezra Reed and Esther Edgerton, Their Life and Ancestry. [S02419] Donald Lines Jacobus, History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield, Vol. 1, (Name: Name: Clearfield Company, Inc.;;), 76-3279.