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Foote Family Association of America Inc Our Family History

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Source: Article in Footeprints - Summer 1999 Issue - The Foote Family Association Of

America)

As far as can be determined from

available publications and sources the

majority of the Foote families of America

are all descended with few exceptions

from either Nathaniel Foote of

Colchester England, who initially settled

Watertown, Mass, or Pasco Foote who

settled in Salem Mass.

There were two brothers, Richard (the

elder) and William Foote descended out

of Cornwall, England who were

dispatched by their father Nicholas (who

was a London merchant) to Stafford,

King George County, Virginia. Richard

and William are not thought to be

related to Nathaniel or Pasco.

The Footes' Arrival (source: "Foote History and Genealogy"

- Book 1 By Abram Foote,

Accepted data from the period indicates

that only a few colonists arrived in New

England in the years immediately

following the arrival of the Mayflower. As

an example, It is known that in the

spring of 1630, about 1500 people

crossed the Atlantic in one expedition

organized and led by John Winthrop,

first Governor of the Massachusetts Bay

Colony.

Soon after Governor Winthrop's 1630

expedition Nathaniel Foote, his family,

and Pasco Foote decided to seek their

fortunes in the New World. According to

tradition, they left their homes in

Colchester and sailed to Plymouth

Massachusetts on the brig, "Fortune".

The Colony of Massachusetts"

(Source: The Foote Family or the

Descendants of Nathaniel Foote,

by Nathaniel Goodwin, Hartford Press of

Case, Tiffany and Company, 1849.)

Some sources say Nathaniel, his wife

Elizabeth, and their six children settled

in Watertown, Massachusetts. Pasco

settled in Salem, Massachusetts, and it

is not known where John (or Caleb)

lived. As far as we know, John had no

children.

Old Wethersfeld On the banks of the Connecticut, twenty miles below its last rapid 's and forty miles above its mouth, at one of those graceful bent which the river makes while winding through meadows which it beautifies and nourishes, stands the ancient town of Wethersfield,the eldest born** of the many sweet villages which adorn this valley.

** This is the tradition, and the Rev. Mr. Mix, of Wethersfield, in his manuscripts, says," Wethersfield is the eldest town on the river." Trumbull's History of Connecticut, Vol I, p. 49.

Note: From the Wethersfield Records it

appears, that there was a body of land

next east to the home lots on the east

side of Broad Street, designated in the



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first conveyances as " Adventurers

Land," and from the proceedings of the

Court of Magistrates held at Watertown,

[Wethersfield) September 1, 1636, and

November 1, of the same year, that

Sergeant Seeley recovered against the

town, on an award, (made by Mr.

Hooker, Mr. Welles and Mr. Webster,)

"one hundred and fifty bushels of corn,"

in the right of William Bascome, "as an

adventurer."

From these items, and from the local

traditions, it would appear, that a portion

of the territory, prior to a distribution of

the town among the settlers in 1636,

had been appropriated to themselves by

a company of men known as

Adventurers, and that the rights of these

men were judicially recognized.

To this spot, then known as Pyquag, the

English colonist first turned his steps in,

or prior to, 1635, attracted doubtless by

its fertile soil, its pure and navigable

waters, and its supposed facilities for

internal trade in furs and other traffic

with the Indians.

And to this spot, one year later, came a

portion of that " goodly company" who

left the jurisdiction of Massachusetts

and their newly acquired homesteads

and farms in Watertown, and other

settlements in the neighborhood of

Boston, in pursuit of territory " further

west," where they might " better

maintain their ministers," "find larger

accommodations for their cattle," and

welcome " more of their friends from

England" who were suffering for the faith

once delivered to the Saints.

Among those who voluntarily placed a

wilderness of one hundred miles

between themselves and the

settlements on the coast, and whose

ashes now repose in the burying ground

on which the shadow of the first meeting

house fell, we find the names of:

Nathaniel Foote, Samuel Boardman, James Boosey, Enoch Buck, Clement Chaplin, Leonard Chester, John Deming, Robert Francis, John Goodrich, William Goodrich, John Hollister, John Nott, John Robbins, John Stoddard, Richard Treat, Thomas Welles, Thomas Wright, and others.

These are names which their

descendants, and all the friends of civil

and religious freedom, should hold in

everlasting remembrance. Some of their

descendants, from generation to

generation, have continued to reside on

their ancestral farms, and in the old

town,* whilst others early left the mother

hive for land "still further west," until

some of the same name and lineage are

to be found in every State between the

Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Wherever they are to be found, in

prosperous or adverse fortune, their

hearts still fondly turn to this fountain

head of their family on this Continent, all



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proud to trace back their genealogy to

the heroic age of New England, and to

this quiet resting place of their fathers

on the banks of the beautiful

Connecticut.

Nathaniel Foote (Source: The Foote Family or the Descendants of Nathaniel Foote, by Nathaniel Goodwin, Hartford Press of Case, Tiffany and Company, 1849.)

Nathaniel foote, one of the first settlers of Wethersfield, Connecticut, belongs, not to that class of men who fill a large place in the world's history, because called by some great emergency into positions of power and influence, but to that more meritorious class of pious and excellent persons, who, born to the great inheritance of labor, walk meekly along the paths of common life, perform every duty, public or private, love and help their fellow men, and act always as if in their Great Task Master's eye.

It is to such men that society owes at once, its peace, stability and progress,-and yet history takes no note of such, and hence "The world knows nothing of its greatest men."

His business in life was that of

agriculture, necessarily the leading

pursuit of New England in its early

history, when the forests were to be

felled, the soil broken up, the seeds of

all the grains, and plants and fruits

which constitute the food of men

and beasts to be sown, and its great

staples of commercial exchange

supplied.

And in every period of society the

agricultural population has proved of the

highest importance to the wealth, dignity

and strength of a State.

It is from this class of the population that

the city and the village, that commerce

and the arts, are ever drawing the bone

and muscle of their laborers, and much

of the energy of their directing force.

In no other of the leading pursuits of

Society are there the same facilities for

cultivating bodily energy, and the force

and vigor of mind consequent upon a

vigorous constitution.

The pure air, the rough exposure, the

healthful toil, the constant call for

thought and reflection, the walking with

God in the open field, the study of his

laws as unfolded in the circuit of the

seasons, and in the growth of the seed

and ripening of the harvest, the better



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domestic training under which children

can be reared in the country, all these

things are favorable for converting the

agricultural population into an element

of conservatism, much needed to give

stability to the ever restless desire of

change which animates a young

community, and to uphold society in

moments of danger and trial.

It is the boast of Connecticut, and

of Wethersfield in particular, to

have had from the beginning a large

proportion of intelligent, industrious and

pious farmers in her population, and that

the ranks of her merchants, her

mechanics, her seamen, and her

professional men have.

The first mention of Nathaniel's name is

in the Records of the Colony of

Massachusetts Bay in 1633 when he

took the oath of Freeman. In the records

of the Grants and Possession of the

Lands in Watertown, where he first

located, the following entry is made:

"Nathaniel Foote" "An home stall of sixteen acres by estimation, bounded ye north and northwest with ye highway, the south and southwest with Jeremiah Norcross, granted to him." "Two acres of marsh by estimation, bounded ye south with ye river, the north with Henry Curtis. The east with John Firmin, and the west with John

Smith, granted to him."

A few years later (about the year 1635) the General Court decided that they would allow people of Watertown to move "to any place they shall think meet to make choice, provided they continue still under this Government".

(Note: Here again sources differ. Some sources say that it was in 1633 the court gave its approval.) Consequently several adventurers including Nathaniel, his wife Elizabeth, and their six children ranging in age from sixteen year old Elizabeth to baby Sarah, and others decided to leave from the Watertown Bay Colony. They felt conditions around the Boston area had become to crowded. The group of adventurer's, led by John Oldham, started a new settlement in the Connecticut wilderness. The new settlement was first called Pyquag. Later the name was changed to Wethersfield.

Early maps of Wethersfield (1634-44), (dubbed "the most ancient town for the valley" and the oldest permanent settlement in Connecticut,) show the homesteads of both the Smith and Foote families. Early colonists raised several crops such as corn and rye and grazed cattle on the green pasture lands. The first records describing the distribution of land include Nathaniel's name.



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According to the records of "The Original Distribution of Lands around Wethersfield" recorded in 1640:

1. A short time after arriving in

Wethersfield in 1633-35 Nathaniel

received a ten acre house lot on the

east side of Broad Street. This land was

near the south end of the street.

2. Additionally, he became the owner

of several other tracts laying in part in

the great meadow east of his house and

containing more than 500 acres of land.

(see the Nathaniel Foote link on our

website for more information on his

holdings).

It is thought that Nathaniel may have

taken part in the first public election held

by American people held in Wethersfield

on April 11, 1640. Remember the

general court had stated they must

"continue still under this Government."

For the Adventurers to hold public

elections was a direct defiance of the

Royal Courts of the Crown." This

election took place 135 years before the

Declaration of Independence in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania."

Life in the Early Settlements (Source: The Foote Family or the




Ever since the English first arrived in the

new land, they enjoyed a favorable

interaction with the Mohegan Indians.

The English eventually become close

allies to the Mohegans who were then

under the leadership of Uncas

The family of Nathaniel Foote, as will be

seen from the following well

authenticated narratives, shared largely

in the perils and sufferings experienced

so generally by the early settlers in the

valley of the Connecticut, at the hands

of the Indians. In no part of New-

England were the Indians so numerous

in proportion to the territory as in this

valley, and traditions of the horrors

In no part of New-England were the

Indians so numerous in proportion to the

territory as in this valley, and traditions

of the horrors of the Indian wars are

linked almost with every village

throughout its whole extent.

For ninety years after the first

settlement, there was scarcely an hour

in which the inhabitants, especially of

the frontier towns, could travel in the

forests, work in the fields, worship God

in their churches, or lie down in their

beds at night, without apprehension of

attack from their stealthy and

remorseless foe.

The fact that the attack of the Indians

were preceded by no note of

preparation, gave a sense of insecurity

to the members of the family at home, or



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the heads of the family abroad, which

made the real danger, great as it was,

more formidable.

The blow fell when and where it was

least expected. When the Indian

seemed most intent on his avocation of

hunting or fishing, or in planning some

distant expedition,--then the farmer in

the field would be surprised by an

ambuscade, or on his return home find

his house in ashes, his wife or children

butchered or hurried away into captivity ;

or the quiet of his slumbers would be

broken by the warhoop, and the

darkness of midnight be illumined by the

glare of the village on fire. Those were

trials of which the present generation

can know nothing.

From the Indians who resided in the

immediate neighborhood, it does not

appear that the infant colony at

Wethersfield suffered any wrong.

Neither Sowheag,-who resided at

Mattabesick, and whose jurisdiction

extended from below Middletown to

Hartford, nor Sequin, the Sagamore of

the pleasant meadows of Wethersfield,

then called Pyquag, were hostile to the

whites.

On the other hand, they seemed to have

regarded their presence as a protection

against the exactions and predatory

excursions both of the Mohawks and the

Pequods, both of which tribes seemed

to have exercised the rights of conquest

over the Indians of this portion of the

valley.

Prelude to the Pequot War (Source: The Foote Family or the




The Pequot, the seat of whose power

was on the banks of the Mystic, seemed

early to have imbibed a bitter hostility to

the whites, as if foreseeing that two

distinct races of men, with such varying

character and habits, could not together

continue to occupy the same territory.

As early as 1634, they began the work

of murder and pillage, and in 1636,

conceived a plan to extirpate, or drive all

the English from New-England.

On the 23d of April, 1637, Wethersfield

was the scene of one of those Indian

tragedies which finally led to the

declaration of war against the Pequods

and to their utter extinction as a people.

A party of this tribe, under the command

of Nepaupuck, (who was also called

Meaaatunck,) a subordinate chieftin,

surprised the people as they were going

into the meadow, killing six men and

three women, and taking two young girls

prisoner, besides killing twenty cows

and doing much other damage.

The Indians concealed themselves in

the bushes on the bank of the River



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while the laborers were at home at

dinner, and awaited their return, On their

arrival at the spot before mentioned,

they sprang from their ambuscade, and

seized eleven, (the others, escaping by

flight,) nine of whom were immediately

dispatched by the tomahawk. Among

the slain were two men by the name of

Finch, Abraham and John, who were

near neighbors of Nathaniel Foote.

The names of the others are unknown.

The young girls, one the daughter of

William Swaine, were carried captives to

Mystic, where they were spared from

death at the earnest intercession of the

wife of Mononotto, who, though a

savage, was, also, a mother, and felt a

mother's love. She interceded in their

behalf,' and finally prevailed on her

husband to permit her to adopt them as

her own children.

This well authenticated act of generosity

and maternal love, remarks the author

of Hope Leslie, is precious to all those

who would accumulate proof, that the

image of God is never quite effaced

from the mule of his creatures, and that

in their darkest ignorance and deepest

degradation, there are still to be found

traits of mercy and benevolence.

Every effort was immediately made by

their parents and the colony to recover

the girls. The only medium of

negotiation with the Pequods, was

through the Dutch, who were in

possession of Manhadoes. The Dutch

governor, receiving intelligence of the

circumstance of the two English maids,

sent a sloop to Pequod to redeem them

by what means soever, though it were

with breach of their peace with the

Pequods.

The sloop offered largely for their

ransom ; but nothing would be

accepted. The Dutch, having many

Pequods aboard, stayed six of them,

(the rest leaped overboard,) and with

them redeemed the two maids, who had

been well used by the Pequods, and no

violence offered them.

The Dutch delivered the young women

at Saybrook, just before Capt. Mason

and his party arrived there, who were

bound from Hadford to the Pequot

county,-the General Court having, on

the first day of May, 1637, declared war

against the Pequode as will appear by

the following order :

. The first day of May 1637. Gewalt Corte art Harteford. " Prosenttr-Mr. LUDLOW/, Mr. WILLS, Mr. SWAINS, Mr. STIILF, Mr. Psis, Mr. WARD/. " Comities* : Mr. Whytinge, Mr. Webster, Mr. Whims, Mr. Hull, Mr. Chaplin, Mr. Talcott, Mr. Hozfbrd, Mr. Mychell, Mr. Sherman. "It is ordered that there steal be an offensive warn agt the Pequoitt."

Having declared war, the Court next

resolved to raise an army and supplies



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for its immediate prosecution. It was

ordered that ninety men should be

levied out of the three plantations, in the

following proportions, Hartford, 42 ;

Windsor, 30 ; Wethersfield, 18. Every

soldier was directed to carry with him

one pound of powder, four pounds of

shot, twenty bullets and a light musket.

They were directed to take a barrel of

powder from the fort at Saybrook.

The supplies, like the men, were

apportioned among the plan-tations,

according to their supposed ability to

furnish them.

Windsor was ordered to provide sixty

bushels of corp, fifty pieces of pork,

thirty pounds of rice and four cheeses.

Hartford was ordered to furnish eighty-

four bushels of corn, three firkins of salt,

two firkins of butter, four

bushels of oatmeal, two bushels of

peas, five hundred pounds of fish and

two bushels of salt.

The proportion of Wethersfield was

thirty-six bushels of corn and one bushel

of Indian beans, corn ground, and one

half baked in biscuit.

It was, also, further ordered by the

General Court-' that there should be

furnished one good hogshead of beer

for the Captain, minister and sick men ;

and if there be only three or four gallons

of strong water, two gallons of sack.'

And at the same General Court at

Hartford, May 1, 1837,-" It is ordered

there shalbe 1 hogg provided att

Wythersfeild for the designs in hande,

wich is conceived to be Nathaniell

Footes."

Thus equipped and furnished, the troops

rendezvoused at Hartford, on the 10th of

May,-when a pink, a pinnace and a

shallop were in oreadiness to transport

them down the River.

Here they were joined by Uncas and

about seventy Mohegan and River

Indians, who had agreed to accompany

them.

The command of the whole force was

given to Capt. John Mason,* of Windsor.

Lieut. Robert Seeley, of Wethersfield,

was second in command, and Uncas

leader of the Indians,-subject, however,

to the order of the Commander in Chief.

The Rev. Samuel Stone, of Hartford,

was appointed to accompany the little

army, as chaplain, and Doct. Thomas

Pell, surgeon of the Garrison at

Saybrook, in that capacity.

The result of this war, which was in fact

the life struggle of the colonists, and

especially of those who had made their

lodgments on the River, was the total

extirpation of the Pequod nation, the

most sagacious, brave and dreaded

tribe among the Indians of New-



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England.

With all our sympathy for the sufferings

of the early settlers which provoked this

conflict, and with all our appreciation of

the untold blessings which have

followed to us their descendants and to

the world, from their signal triumph in

this war, we cannot but feel a throb of

pity at the fate of this nation.

The Pequot Indians:War As it is refreshing amid the heart rending

scenes which fill the record of the

doings of the Indians, to turn to the

generous pity of the wife of Mononotto

towards the young captives, as before

de-scribed, so it is good to remember

that the whites in their burning thirst for

blood, provoked by the barbarities of

their Savage foe, did not forget to treat

this noble woman with every respect

when she and her children fell prisoners

into their hands.

Her. modesty, humanity and good sense

are duly commemorated, and * Capt.

Mason removed from Windsor to

Saybrook, and from Saybrook to

Norwich with Rev Mr. James Fitch and

others, and there continued to reside

until his death.

The title of Captain was considered so

appropriately to belong to John Mason,

that in speaking of him on occasion, he

is designated on the Records of

Windsor, as "The Captain." The lives of

her children were spared, and she was

commended to the special care of

Governor Winthrop, at Boston, to whom

she was sent by the victors.

The Pequod captain, Nepaupuck,

whose cold blooded attrocities at

Wethersfield, hastened on the

declaration of war ,against his Tribe,

was tried, found guilty and executed at

New-Haven, as will appear from the

following extracts from the Records of

the Court.

The Record begins October 26, 1639,

the day after the first election of civil

officers.

As you an see from the accounts above

the Pequot Indians war in Connecticut

was largely caused by the differences

between the Dutch and English settlers.

The English were responsible for

bringing back the Indians (the Mohegan)

whom the Peugeot tribe had previously

driven away. As a result, the tribe

launched several devastating raids on

English settlements. See a complete

Peqeot Indian History at

http://www.dickshovel.com/peq.html

In 1637, the Peugeot tribe attacked the

settlement of Wethersfield. Shortly after

an attack force along with of 18 men

from Wethersfied commanded by Major

John Mason, was joined by some 70



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Mohegan warriors for a raid against the

Peugeot village at Mystic. Uncas

provided his knowledge of Peugeot

territory toward that campaign. It is

thought that 17-year-old Nathaniel, Jr.

may have been part of the attack force.

The village of Sassacus was

surrounded, which was the home of the

dreaded Peugeot chief.

In the first attack Mason and his men set

the village on fire. By the time the attack

was over more than 600 Indians (men,

women, and children) were either shot

or burned to death.

As a result of this campaign and the fact

that the Peugeot tribe was vanquished,

The bond between Uncas and the

English was sealed. Years after the war,

Uncas granted large tracts of land to

Major Mason and many of his other

English allies from the Peugeot conflict

Elizabeth (Deming) Foote (Source: Article in Footeprints - Spring 1999

The Foote Family Association Of America

Elizabeth Deming was born in England

in the last part of the 16th Century.

About 1615 she married Nathaniel

Foote who had a crocer business in

Colchester, England. After the birth of

their six children, Nathaniel decided to

sell his grocer business and

emigrate to the new world.

By some he is considered to be

the first settler of Wethersfield. We

do know he was one of the first

ten men who settled along the

bank of the Connecticut River and

eventually named their settlement

Wethersfield (see above). They

are now known as the Ten

Adventurers.

Nathaniel Foote was one of those named in the charter of patentees of Wethersfield. Between 1641 and 1644, he served as a Deputy to the General Assembly, as well as a member of the colony Grand Jury. The Foote family became one of the leading families of the little Connecticut Colony. He became a magistrate, a leading land owner, eventually owning more than 500 acres of land in Wethersfield, some of the great meadow, and his home on the south end of the green, next to the present Broad Street. The family was saddened by Nathaniel's death at age 61. Elizabeth was so respected that she was allowed to be executor of his estate. Elizabeth was left a



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wealthy widow, but did not remain in that status for long. In 1646 she married Thomas Wells who was a widower with several children from his first marriage. Thomas Wells served as Governor of Connecticut Colony for two terms, 1655-1658. When he was not serving as governor he was a Deputy Governor. He died during his last years of being deputy governor, 14 January 1659/1660. Elizabeth was again a widow, having two families instead of one. She was in control of a large estate from both husbands. Elizabeth Welles was a tenacious and feisty old woman. She had not only survived a perilous voyage from England but while tending to six exuberant children and a husband, she had made a new life for herself and her family in a world they knew nothing about. This world was inhabited by Indians who were not always friendly with those pale face people. The rigors of life and managing a household did not daunt her. Things went quite well through the intervening years since arriving on shores of the newly discovered

continent, until she reached old age. In 1676 as she approached the age of 80 years, she ran into trouble with one of her step-grand children.

This was Robert Welles, a favorite of grandfather, Governor Thomas Welles when the governor was alive. Robert had arrived at the Governor's home, there to be taken care of and educated.

But now his grandfather was dead and Robert and his step-grandmother disagreed. Maybe she did not think him old enough to be married at age 24. Never-the-less it was 1676 when Elizabeth brought Robert Welles to court, because he "...hath dammyfield her Barne by Parting with the other part of the Barne that did adjoin to it." Exactly what he did to her barn is not clear. The court's decision was clear. He was ordered to repair the barn and also to pay his step-grandmother rent for it. Elizabeth made sure the barn incident was not here last word.

Two years later, in 1678, she made sure all of the Welles were taken care of when she made her



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will. She left them nothing. She stated someone outside the family would be executor of her will. Everything she had she left to her own family. That is the family she and Nathaniel has raised and nurtured. The Welles family got nothing. Elizabeth died in 1683, at the age of 88. The estate was divided among the Footes. One of the documents in the Probates Court was that of the final disposition, that during that same year Robert

Welles won a lawsuit against his step-grandmother's will that he would have to be paid by those who had been named in the will. John Deming, the brother of Nathaniel's wife Elizabeth, was also one of the first settlers in Wethersfield, Connecticut. He was one of the patentees in its charter and for many years was one of the magistrates of the Colony of Connecticut.

Current Nathaniel Foote Monument

foote family association of america inc

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