Sergt. Edward Hinman
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A FAMILY RECORD OF THE_DESCENDANTS OF SERGT. EDWARD HINMAN, WHO Jirst awtartb at jtratfnrb in 4tnnntrtitutt ab1ntt 1650. COLLECTED FROM STATE, COLONY, TOWN-AND CHURCH RECORDS: ALSO, FROM OLD BIBLES AND .A.G~D PEOPLE. BY R .. R. ~INMAN, EsQ., OF NEW YOB.It. 1866. PREF ACEw IT is proper in this place to apologise to the public for in~rting this fam ily in No. 5, out of their proper alphabetical order, and contrary to the orig inal design. My excuse for doing so is, first, that I find it impossible to pub lish the work according to the original design, without such a number of · regular subscribers as would remunerate me in the expense of paper, print ing, and binding, each number as fast as issued, amounting to nearly $250, a number, which I do not feel able to do, as often as every 90 days, if the numbers should be issued as originally designed. The postage of letters, railroad charges, stage-fare, clerk's fees, and board while traveling to pro cure the facts, when added to the expense of printing, will leave no compen sation for the time occupied, if all the numbers were sold at present prices. being but 1000 printed. Not only so, men of wealth will often make the excuse, that they want only their own family, a single number, leaving on the author .the expense of collecting and publishing those families whose names have become ·extinct, as many of them have in the State; and some who have not, are unable t-o purchase the work. And many who are of ability to pay, care so little about their ancestors, that the mighty dollar has more interest over their sordid avarice, than all their respect for a worthy · ancestry. The Hinman family have agreed to take such a number of the book published, containing their name, as shall defray the expense of print ing, paper, and binding the work, which enables the author to give Number Five to the public. Though the copy for Number Six and Seven are pre pared for the press, should an opportunity offer to print them without involv ing the author in debt, by doing the descendants of the Puritans of Conn. the favor of looking up their ancestors, and publishing for their benefit, not my own. Few of the Hinman family have rendered much assistance in the following imperfect collection. Uniformly dilatory in answering letters, withou, sending them two letters, and frequently three letters, to the same person, and then perhaps answer by sending no list of the family, or a list without dates, even of a marriage, birth, or death, or place of residence, and little or no history of their family. This has caused great trouble to the compiler, and is the reason why so imperfect a collection of the different ;, branches of the name is now given to the public. And my own age warns me that, unless I publish what is collected, though thus imperfect, it will never find the press, and the labor already bestowed will be lost forever to the family. I am indebted to Hon. John E. Hinman, of Utica, to Miss Phebe 806 GENEALOGY OF THE PURITANS. Hinman, of Southbury, Charles W. Hinman, Esq., of Washington, D. C., and Mr. Samuel Hinman, of New York city, J.E. Hinman, of Vermont, for their assistance in collecting many of the facts here published, of their branches of the family; also, to S. J. Hinman, of Verona,New York, Sidney· Hinma.n, Esq., of New Haven, Vermont, and Samuel S. Conger, Esq., of Newark, New Jersey. It will be noticed by the family that Sergeant Edward Hinman, who was the first of the name, and the only emigrant of the name who early came to this country, and settled at Stratford, Conn., about 1650, or soon after, had four sons, born at Stratford, and some daughters, (the latter not traced.) These sons are take~ according· to their ages, and the descendants of each son, as far as found, are inserted in the line of the different sons of Sergeant Edward. So that any of the name found in this collection can readily know which of the sons of Sergeant Edward was their progenitor or forefather, and readily trace back to Sergeant Edward, the first emigrant. ROYAL R. Hlmr.AN. SERGEANT EDWARD HINMAN, AND HIS FIE.ST SON, CAPTAIN TITUS HINMAN, AND DESCENDANTS. HINMAN, SERGEANT EDWARD, of Stratford, was the first of the name in this country, yet the exact time he.came to New England is not discovered, or the ship in which he arrived. The name is not found in Massachusetts, as most of the first settlers were. The first found of the name in this country was at Sratford, in Connecticut, between 1650 and 1652. There has been a ~di tion in the family from the early settlement of New England, that Sergeant Edward Hinman had belonged and constituted one of the body-guard of King Charles I., as sergeant at arms, and escaped in the days of Oliver Cromwell, the Protector, to save his life from the halter, by Cromwell, as his vengeance was wreaked upon all such as favored the crown of Charles I. This, if true, proves him to have been a most trustworthy loyalist and an honest man, for no others could have received the· confidence of the crown at that critical period of the British government. It would also appear from this fact, that he must have been not only true and trusty, but a respectable Englishman, for no others were selected to be of the life-guard of the king, and as undoubted in his military powers as in his loyalty. Not ·only so, but as he held the title of Sergeant at Stratford, from his first settlement there, he probably acquired his title of Sergeant in the life-guard· of King Charles I. Most of his descendants have been prompted since, by a military spirit, and fond of military glory, as is proved by there hav ing been thirteen of the name from the town of Woodbury, including Captain Elisha Hinman, of New London, who was born at Woodbury, and held military commissions in the war of the Revolution, and did efficient service, as Whigs, for their country, at that period, of all others, which tried the faith, courage, and loyalty, in favor of the settlers and the republican form of gov ernment for which they contended. From the Dutch records at Albany it ap pears that Sergeant Edward had some connection with Captain John Underhill, in offering their.military. services to Governor Stuyvesant to fight the Indians, when Stuyvesant, having as much confidence in the good will of the Indians toward the Dutch as he had in that of the English, rejected the offer. Tradi tion says .Captain Underhill disbanded his aompany at Stamford soon after, ax.id from the latter place Sergeant Edward went to Stratford and located, being sos GENEALOGY OF THE· PURITANS. then unmarried, (but the first ten years of the record at Stratford, having been destroyed by fire, about 1649,) no record shows the time of Sergeant Edward's :first arrival in Stratford with perfect accuracy; perhaps in 1650, or before. He married Hannah, daughter of Francis and Sarah Stiles, of· Windsor, and had . his first child Sarah, born at Stratford, in 1653. About 1651-2, Sergeant Edward had a house-lot in Stratford," which house lot lyeth for 2 acres, be it more or less, butting east upon the street, (now Main street in Stratford,) butting west uppon ye home-lot, at present, of Francis Hall, bounded south-west, John Tomson, senior, and north-west, Mr. Joseph Haw- ley." (Stratford• Rec., 19th of 9th month, 1668.) This house of Sergeant Ed- ward's was located upon the west side of the present Main street in Stratford, a little south-w~st of that no?le old Episcopal church, the be~uty of which is its antiquated structure and plainness. At a town-meeting in Stratford, held March 7, 1654, it was voted "that Edward Hinman should have for his use that parcel of meadow which lyeth west of Mr. Stile's house, on this side of the further Milne river," for his own use, so long as he stays or will make improve ments, only to list it and to," (obliterated on record.) Sergeant Edward sold his interest in the above meadow, (June 10, 1659,) on the west side of Mr. Stile's house on " this side of Milne river." February 2d, 1664, he had 22 acres of the last division of land laid out to him on the east, and another piece on the west side, of 8 acres. Sergeant Edward purchased land in Stratford, June 18, 1662, near the har bor, which he sold to .John Beach, and another tract situated on the fleck. He also sold another tract of land on the neck to John Beach in 1662. He sold land on Q.a.imby neck to Samuel Hawley. He had several lots of land by di vision of the town lands, and by purchase, as the record shows. He was a I farmer while at Stratford, and an extensive land-holder, a man of good judg- ment, and acted firmly and liberally in the controversy between the Rev. Mr. Walker and his opponents in the church quarrel at Stratford, which terminated in the final settlement of the Rev. Mr. Walker, and a part of his church, at Woodbury in 1672. He was the first owner of the old tide-mill between Strat ford and what is now Bridgeport, and some of his descendants have owned and been concerned in milling since.