This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1852 Excerpt: ...of 1676 may be assigned. Mr. Carpenter lived at Niantic Ferry, of which he had a lease from Edward Palmes. He left an only son, David, baptized Nov. 12th, 1682, and several daughters. His relict married William Stevens, of Killingworth. Alexander Pygan, died in 1701. On his first arrival in the plantation, Mr. Pygan appears to have been a lawless young man, of " passionate and distempered carriage," as it was then expressed; one who we may suppose " left his country for his country's good." But the restraints and influences with which he was here surrounded, produced their legitimate effect, and he became a discreet and valuable member of the community. Alexander Pygan, of Norwich, Old England, was married unto Judith, daughter of William Redfin, (Redfield, ) June 17th, 1667. Children. 1. Sarah, born Feb. 23d, 1669-70; married Nicholas Hallam. 2. Jane, " Feb., 1670-1; married Jonas Green. Mrs. Judith Pygan died April 30th, 1678. After the death of his wife, Mr. Pygan dwelt a few years at Saybrook, where he had a shop of goods, and was licensed by the county court as an innkeeper. Here also he married an estimable woman, Lydia, relict of Samuel Boyes, April 15th, 1684. Only one child was the issue of this marriage. 3. Lydia, born Jan. 10th, 16S4-5; married Rev. Eliphalet Adams. Samuel Boyes, the son of Mrs. Lydia Pygan, by her first husband, was bom Dec. 6th, 1673. Mr. Pygan soon returned with his family to New London, where he died in the year 1701. He is the only person of the family name of Pygan, that the labor of genealogists has as yet brought to light in New England. His relict, Mrs. Lydia Pygan, died July 20th, 1734. She was the daughter of William and Lydia Bemont, of Saybrook, and born March 9 th, 1644.1 1 Her mother is said...

Winner of the New England Historical Association’s James P. Hanlan Book Award Winner the Association for the Study of Connecticut History’s Homer D. Babbidge Jr. Award “Incomparably vivid . . . as enthralling a portrait of family life [in colonial New England] as we are likely to have.”—Wall Street Journal In the tradition of Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’s classic, A Midwife’s Tale, comes this groundbreaking narrative by one of America’s most promising colonial historians. Joshua Hempstead was a well-respected farmer and tradesman in New London, Connecticut. As his remarkable diary—kept from 1711 until 1758—reveals, he was also a slave owner who owned Adam Jackson for over thirty years. In this engrossing narrative of family life and the slave experience in the colonial North, Allegra di Bonaventura describes the complexity of this master/slave relationship and traces the intertwining stories of two families until the eve of the Revolution. Slavery is often left out of our collective memory of New England’s history, but it was hugely impactful on the central unit of colonial life: the family. In every corner, the lines between slavery and freedom were blurred as families across the social spectrum fought to survive. In this enlightening study, a new portrait of an era emerges.