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| Misc. Notes | ||||||||||||||||||
| JOHN, Fairfield 1668, d. 1674, in his will of 28 Mar. of that yr. ment. w. Ann, s. John, and ds. Eliz. Frost, Martha, w. of James Beers, Deborah, w. of John Sturges, Ruth, w. of Israel Bradlee, and Isabella Clapham. 197 ,437John Barlow was probably born around 1600 and probably in England. This estimate of his birthyear is based primarily on the assumption that he was about twenty years old when his first child was born in 1620-25. John Barlow's parents and birthplace are not known from the records. It has long been a family tradition that he was a descendant of Roger Barlow (ca. 1500 - 1553) who was the first of the name to settle in Pembrokeshire, Wales, where he purchased an estate, Slebetch Manor, from the crown in 1546. The family tradition goes on to say that Joel Barlow, a descendant of John Barlow, applied for and was given the privilege of the Barlow of Slebetch arms by the English College of Arms when he was in England in the late 18th century. Matthews' American Armoury and Blue Book [54] gives Joel as the holder of the arms. Based seemingly upon this, a number of references have stated that John Barlow was born in Pembrokeshire, Wales. However, no record of Joel Barlow's inquiry to the College of Arms has been found and their records do not show any connection between John Barlow and Roger Barlow, according to correspondence with the College of Arms. Mr. P. Ll. Gwynn-Jones, the Lancaster Herald of The College of Arms at London states in a 1993 letter [55] that "There is nothing in the Records of the College of Arms to support the proposition that Joel Barlow sought and obtained the right to use Arms which were identical with or similar to the Arms of the Slebech or Slebetch Barlows, or any other Arms." It has also been suggested that John Barlow's parents were Sir Alexander Barlow and his second wife Mary Brereton, but no proof of it has been given. Sir Alexander was a descendent of the Barlows of Barlow Hall of Lancashire, England, and Sir Montague Barlow says in his book Barlow Family Records that Alexander's children were Margaret Barlow, who married Sir John Talbot; Sir Alexander Barlow; Rudesind Barlow (1585-1656), a Benedictine monk; and Edward Barlow (1587-1641), whose was also a Benedictine monk and was known as Father Ambrose, [56]. John Barlow was an early settler at Fairfield, Connecticut, but he was not among the first [46]. The migration patterns of other settlers seems to suggest that John and his family came to New England in the late 1630's, stayed briefly at Watertown, Massachusetts, then probably following the trail to Windsor, then down the Connecticut River to Wethersfield and then overland for the final leg of the journey to Fairfield. The first group of Fairfield settlers that came in with Roger Ludlow, after he had received permission to settle the area in September 1639 from the General Court at Hartford, included John Green, Thomas Staples, Thomas Newton, Edward Jessop and Edmund Strickland. Others, mostly from Watertown according to Farnham [47], followed shortly, and apparently included John Barlow and his family. Edward Jessop and Edmund Strickland did not stay at Fairfield very long; they moved on to Long Island and sold their Fairfield lands to Robert Hawkins and John Barlow [45], respectively, probably around 1640. Fairfield originally consisted of but eight or ten families, living along five roads that Ludlow established. These roads created four squares, each comprising twenty-five or thirty acres. John Barlow's home-lot, which was originally Edmund Strickland's, was situated with those of Roger Ludlow, Thomas Staples, Thomas Newton and Robert Hawkins (originally Edward Jessop's) in the so-called Ludlow Square. Roger Ludlow was born at Dinton, Wiltshire, England, in 1590 and was a son of a West Country gentry family that had become prominent during the reign of Henry VIII. He attended Balliol College, Oxford, and later studied law at the Inner Temple. A Puritan and an officer of the Massachusetts Bay Company, he sailed to New England in March 1630 on the Mary and John out of Plymouth, England. He was one of the founders of Dorchester, Massachusetts, was Deputy Governor of the Massachusetts colony in 1634, was the principal draftsman of the Fundamental Orders, the basis of government in Connecticut until the Charter of 1662, and in 1651-53 was commissioner of the United Colonies of New England. John Barlow sold his original home-lot to Thomas Morehouse before 1653 and moved to unsettled land north of the village center. This was afterwards called "Barlow's Plain." John Barlow and his son John were accepted as freemen in 1664 and they participated in the various land divisions that were granted to the owners of estates in January 1668/9, February 1668/9, January 1670/1, February 1671/2, March 1681/2, February 1682/3, and April 1688. John Barlow died around the first of June 1674, probably at his home at Fairfield437 John Barlow was a contemporary of Thomas Barlow of Fairfield...see the following article He may have been a brother, a nephew or a cousin, a speculation based solely on the surname - no relationship can be gleaned from the records. It is also an old family tradition or legend that James Barlow of Suffield, Connecticut, was John Barlow's brother. It is not known where this story originated but it has been repeated in Reynold's Biographical Review of Southern New York and in an article by Cholly Knickerbocker in the old New York Journal American. In his book The Israel Barlow Story and Mormon Mores, Ora H. Barlow offers significant proof that James Barlow, who was born in 1659, or some 59 years after John, was a son of the immigrant Edmund Barlow of Malden, Massachusetts, and a grandson of James Barlow of Turton, Lancashire, England ...see the preceding article on Edmund Barlow John Barlow met and married his wife Ann before coming to New England, probably around 1620 and probably in England. It has been suggested that her maiden surname was Ward but there is yet no proof of it. She died probably early in 1685 and probably at Fairfield. The inventory of her estate was taken on February 25, 1684/5, and was filed on March 10, 1685 [41]. With one possible exception, John and Ann Barlow's children are given in his will. Their birth order as given here is primarily based on the custom in colonial wills to list children first by sex and then by birth order. That is, sons were listed first in their birth order and then the daughters in their birth order. The "possible exception" to John Barlow's family is Ann Barlow. According to Jacobus [40], she was "called" John Barlow's daughter in the Colonial Records. She was not, however, listed in either his or his wife's will. She was still living at the time of John and Ann Barlow's deaths, and while she had moved to New York, she was not that far away. If she had been "disinherited" or "disowned" for some reason, she probably would have been mentioned in the will, if only to exclude her. The suspicion occurs that she was either a younger sister or a niece of John Barlow. In any event, until better information is obtained, she continues to be listed as the oldest daughter. 437 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Will | ||||||||||||||||||
| "Imprimus: I Comit my soul into ye hands of my faythfull Creator upon his pleasing shall be to require it and my body to a Comely buriall. And for my wordly goods my funeral expenses first defrayed and my debts discharged I dispose as follows: "I give and bequeath to my loving wife Anne Barlowe all my Lands housing Cattles of all sorts and all my moveable estate. "I give and bequeathe the premises and every part of them to my Loving sonn John Barlow and to my daughters Elizabeth frost Martha Beers Deborah Sturgis Issable Clapham and Ruth Bradlee to be equally divided among them. And whereas Inconveniences may follow by dividing some parcell of land or particulars Chattles or moveables my will is that whichsoever of the six above named Legatees will give the greatest price for the same shall have it. In witness thereof I have hear unto set my hand this eight day of March one thousand six hundred seventy foure. "Witnesses John Barlowe. James Beers Junior Seal Robert Romsie." The inventory of his estate was taken on June 9, 1674, by George Squire Sr., Richard Ogden and John Burr, and the will was proved on November 3, 1674, at Fairfield. An agreement between his son and two of his sons-in-law was entered into on November 20, 1674 [41]. No gravestone has been found for either John or Ann Barlow. 437 | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Last Modified 1 May 2001 | Created 26 Jun 2001 by Reunion for Macintosh |