Hart Research on Obadiah - Part 3

By Frederick C. Hart Jr.
Certified Genealogist
February 22, 1999

Report Information

Address:  1311 Great Hill Road, North Guilford, CT 06437-3649,
Phone:     (203) 457-9383
What:       Client Research Report
Date:        3/13/1999

Report Number:  SGS-3
Subject:  Obadiah Seeley of Stamford, Connecticut
Objective:  Conduct additional research to determine:
(3) If the parish register of St. Martin, Birmingham, Warwickshire contains names that are associated with other Stamford settlers, and
(4) If any clues to the origin of Obadiah Seeley result from examining the known origins of other Stamford settlers.
Limitations:  Estimated 8-12 hours, research and reporting, for these two items.
Other:  None

General

This report completes the planned work on the additional tasks requested in Mr. Waring’s letter of 28 January 1999.

Summary of Results

While my examination of the register of St. Martin’s parish did not produce any names that were clearly identified with Stamford settlers, it did result in a better knowledge of the family of William Seeley, including the discovery of a son named Jonas Seeley, apparently overlooked by earlier researchers. A Chronological list of Stamford settlers was created and analyzed for patterns of origin, without conclusive results.

Records Searched

Parish Register
FHL film #0097316, containing, J. Hill and W. B. Bickley, Transcript of the First Register Book of the Parish Church of Saint Martin, Birmingham 1554-1653 (The Birmingham and Midland Society, 1889).

Secondary Sources for Stamford Settler Origins, Including:
Huntington, History of Stamford
Jacobus, Families of Old Fairfield
Adams, History of Ancient Wethersfield
Savage, Genealogical Dictionary of New England
Miscellaneous Family Genealogies

Miscellaneous
Various secondary sources as cited on the attachments.

Findings and Analysis

1. 1. Although the register of St. Martin, Birmingham contains many common English surnames that are also seen in early Stamford, I did not see any evidence that there were any direct connections. That is, although the name Mitchell occurs there frequently, Stamford’s Matthew Mitchell is known to have been from Yorkshire, etc.
   2. The name of Cornelius Jones appeared in the baptisms of two children: Margaret his daughter on 22 Dec 1644, and Samuel his son on 1 Feb 1645/46. These records were interesting because the origin of Cornelius Jones of Stamford is not yet known, and he was a close neighbor of, and may have been connected with Obadiah Seeley there in some way. However, these two children were not named by Cornelius Jones when he listed his children in Stamford, and these baptism dates would conflict with other known children’s ages. This is most likely only a coincidence and simply another contemporary person named Cornelius Jones.
   3. It was discovered, however, that previous researchers had not made complete listings of all the events for William Seeley of this parish. I felt it to be essential to rectify that for the Society, and therefore made a page-by-page search of the entire book for Seeley records and the results are attached to this report. Since there were also several entries for persons named Bloxish (by various spellings) and this family is thought to be associated with the Seeleys, I also copied all entries for that surname at the same time. (There were no other Bruen / Browen entries, except for the marriage of Obadiah Browen already noted by others.)
   4. One of the most significant findings, and perhaps an excellent argument for pursuing this family, is the discovery that William Seeley of St. Martin parish had a son named Jonas Seeley, baptized on 1 May 1636. Obadiah Seeley of Stamford also named a son Jonas. Based on these developments, I compiled a simple family genealogy for William Seeley of St. Martin, to serve as the basis for further investigation. This simple and very preliminary family genealogy in Register Format is also attached.
   5. Now, regarding the Stamford Settlers and their origins. I made a chronological listing of all Stamford Settlers up to 1700, using existing sources. Then, I looked in several references to find if their origins had been stated, and recorded those results. In order to narrow down the list for consideration, I greyed out the names of any settlers who were involved in the secondary migration to Hempstead, Long Island, or who were otherwise known to have left Stamford early for some other reason.
   6. The resulting list has about 35 settlers who appeared in Stamford before or about the same time as Obadiah Seeley, who could have been residents when he arrived, and for whom the origins are not known, at least not in any readily-available sources. I felt that this was too high a number to begin to search them out. Also, this exercise had no guarantee of success in the first place, and I felt that the Society’s resources could better be spent in other areas. I have therefore discontinued the analysis of this list for now. Put another way, Obadiah Seeley is seen to be only one of many Stamford settlers for whom an origin has not yet been conclusively defined.

Suggestions for Additional or Future Research

• • Although the register of St. Martin, Birmingham contains many common English surnames that are also seen in early Stamford, I did not see any evidence that there were any direct connections. That is, although the name Mitchell occurs there frequently, Stamford’s Matthew Mitchell is known to have been from Yorkshire, etc.
  • The name of Cornelius Jones appeared in the baptisms of two children: Margaret his daughter on 22 Dec 1644, and Samuel his son on 1 Feb 1645/46. These records were interesting because the origin of Cornelius Jones of Stamford is not yet known, and he was a close neighbor of, and may have been connected with Obadiah Seeley there in some way. However, these two children were not named by Cornelius Jones when he listed his children in Stamford, and these baptism dates would conflict with other known children’s ages. This is most likely only a coincidence and simply another contemporary person named Cornelius Jones.

Other Research Notes and Observations

I am still pursuing the source of the identification of the parents of Mary (?Angel) (Miller) Seeley, and expect to receive something in the mail shortly from one of the Buxton – Scofield researchers who appears to have been the source of this information.

Also, I have ordered two films for the parish of St. Stephen Coleman Street, London, in order to investigate any possible connection between the Angell family and Robert Seeley, both of whom are known to have been associated with that parish.

Table of Attachments

A. “Register of St. Martin, Birmingham, Warwickshire, England – Seeley and Bloxisch Families’ Events,” my transcription (2 pages.)
B. “The Family of William Seeley of Birmingham, Warwickshire, England” (2 pages.) [PRELIMINARY, NOT IN THIS REPORT]
C. “Stamford Settlers Before 1700 (By Time of Arrival),” (5 sheets.)

REPORT NUMBER SGS-3