Landed

One of the earliest of our family groups to have landed  in North America is the Gillette brothers. Jonathan and Nathan reportedly arrived in Massachusetts in 1633.  The book New England, The Great Migration and the Great Migration Begins 1620-1635 compiled by the New England Historic Genealogical Society documents their arrival from Chaffcombe, Somersetshire. 

Sons of a pastor William Gillett who resided at the church in Chaffcombe, Devon, England (As shown below. We visited a few years ago and took these pictures then.), Jonathan and Nathan presumably left to come to the New World seeking religious freedom, but we really don’t know for sure.   Nathan left behind property which he deeded to his father, so one can imagine that land ownership was probably not the motivation.  

According to the entries in the Bear Bible (Breeches bible…see an earlier blog), Jonathan’s son Benjamin writes that “My father Gillett came into the new-inglan the second time in June in the year 1634…” Our family traces their line back to John (1644-1682), a brother to Benjamin.

The family emigrated with a group of families that came from the West shore of England on the ship the William and Mary.  Although they are found on some passenger lists for this ship, the NEHGS cannot confirm they were indeed on it.  Both brothers are definitely here in 1634, but did they come on the William and Mary? 

The William and Mary group initially settled on the Eastern Seaboard of Massachusetts, but found the Puritan rules to be too restrictive.  They moved further west to Dorcester, but even the rules there were too onerous for their taste.  The group then moved even further into the wilderness, finally settling in Windsor, Connecticut, just north of Hartford. 

In 1634, Jonathan almost immediately returned to Chaffcombe to marry Mary Dolbere and to bring her back to Dorcester.  We know for sure that their names were found on the manifest of the ship Recovery, which brought them back to the New World.  (TAG 15:210; NGSQ 71:171, 77:250)  According to the NEHGS research, Jonathan and Mary left Dorcester sometime before 20 Jun 1638, shortly after their first child Mary was born.  All of their other children were born in Windsor, CN.

In Windsor they bought land, farmed and flourished, founding an incredibly large family tree.  According to the modern day Church Historian in Chaffcombe, the Gillette brothers must have populated the entire United States!  They see more visitors from the Gillette family every year than any other group of Americans.

While the Gillets (Gillette, Gyllet, Jellet…oh so many ways to spell their name) weren’t the first to come to the New World, they certainly were here early.  I’d love to more about what this world looked and felt like when they arrived, wouldn’t you?