John BISSELL

1591 - 1677  (86 years)

• Name	John BISSELL
  Birth	1591  [1]
  Gender	Male
  Death	3 Oct 1677	Windsor, Connecticut   [1]
  	In 1947 his gravestone was still standing in good condition.
  Burial	Windsor, Connecticut   [1]
  Notes	He came to Plymouth (Dorchester), Mass. in 1628 from County Somerset, England. and is the only early immigrant Bissell for whom an American record has been found. He removed to Windsor, Connecticut between 1635 and 1639. In 1648 he received from Connecticut 106 acres of land, which he gave to his son, Samuel "E. of the Great River" (at Windsor); established and operated a ferry over the Connecticut River at Windsor, known as "Bissell's Ferry" where he was inn-keeper, selectman and, in 1648, Deputy to the General Court of Conn. His wife, mother of Samule II, died at Windsor, May 21, 1641. Samuel bought a lot on the W. side of Broad Street, Windsor in 1661. From Find a Grave: Birth: Oct. 30, 1591, England Death: Oct. 3, 1677 Windsor Hartford County Connecticut, USA John Bissell, purportedly b. or bapt. on Oct. 30, 1591 in England, d. at Windsor, Conn. on Oct. 3, 1677, Æ 86. He was twice married, but the name of each wife remains unknown. Stile's first version of his "History of Ancient Windsor" (1859) contains a poor outline of the structure of the Bissell family of Windsor, Conn. He gave John Bissell only one wife in this version. Savage, Hinman, Cutter and others also misrepresent the initial Bissell family structure. Stiles' more familiar second version of his "Ancient Windsor," in two volumes (1891 and 1893), does not correct the errors made forty years earlier in 1859. He continued to give the immigrant only one wife in Vol. II (1893 Genealogies). However, in Vol. I (1891 History) he added an obscure reference apparently contained in the 1662 deed to son Nathaniel of his housing at present-day East Windsor that proves the immigrant had two wives. John Bissell, the immigrant, had six known children, all by his first wife, who d. of record at Windsor, Conn. on May 21, 1641. According to the Matthew Grant Records, Grant was aware only one child born to the immigrant at Windsor, and as only John's youngest son is recorded at Windsor prior to the death of his first wife, there were no children by his unnamed second wife. Some writers give the first wife the name of Mary and still others claim she was Mary Drake. But, neither variation has any proof and it is quite likely Mary Drake has been confused with the married name of John Bissell's daughter Mary (Bissell) Drake. On this point, in 1969 the eminent genealogist, Donald Lines Jacobus, wrote: ...May I try to set the record straight once again? [The immigrant] John1 Bissell [Sr.] did indeed die in 1677; there is no authority that I know of for calling his wife Mary Drake. A nameless wife, perhaps the mother of his children, died in 1641; he thereafter had another nameless wife, whose death, as wife of John "Sr.", was recorded in 1665...(NEHGS Register, 123:278-279.) John Bissell's second wife d. of record at Windsor on Mar. 29, 1665 ["the wife of John Biffell senor dyed"]. According to Stiles in 1891, in 1662 when John Bissell was in excess of 70 years old, he gave to youngest son Nathaniel his housing in present-day East Windsor: ..."in part of his portion of his marriage," a part of his land and house "at (S. of) Scantuck," on the E. side of the Conn. River with provision for the remainder at his father's death...Nathaniel doubtless resided on the river bank, below the Scantic, from the time of his marriage. This home was garrisoned at the time of King Philip's War. John Bissell, Senr, evidently died here, having made provision for his second wife, stipulating that Nathaniel should give "his now present mother-in-law [i.e., his stepmother], if she is willing and choose to have the use the parlor for her abode," it should be granted. (History of Ancient Windsor, 1891, Vol. I, p. 152.) The aforementioned death of the immigrant's second wife has been consistently confused as the date that the wife of John Bissell, Jr., died. This caused Stiles to give John junior an unnamed second wife as the mother of his youngest children. John Bissell junior's wife, Israel Mason, outlived her husband. This error is more fully outlined in the Israel (Mason) Bissell memorial page. The earliest in which the immigrant John Bissell appears at Windsor is in the record of youngest son Nathaniel's birth at Windsor, on Sept. 24, 1640. The earliest in which he appears in the Conn. Public Records is as a juryman in Sept. 1641. He was a juryman for numerous sessions of the Particular Court during the mid-1640s until he was elected a deputy to the Conn. Court from Windsor in Sept. 1648. He served as a deputy from Windsor almost continuously until 1656. While some claim John held the title of Capt., he was relieved of the requirement for military training by the Conn. Court in April 1645, when he was about 53 years old. Unless one wishes to attach the title of Capt. to a public ferryman, there is no record of any military rank for the immigrant in the Windsor or Conn. records. Also, none of his sons reached the rank of Capt. during their lifetime. On Jan. 5, 1641/2 Windsor was provided the right to operate a ferry across the Conn. River. However, not until Jan. 1648/9 was John Bissell, Sr. granted the exclusive right to operate the Windsor ferry, for the ensuing seven years (Conn. PR, Vol. I, p. 174-5). This right was extended annually beginning in May 1656 until eldest son John Bissell, Jr. was granted exclusive rights to operate the same ferry in Mar. 1657/8, for the ensuing 10 years. This was followed in May 1677 by the immigrant's youngest son Nathaniel granted the right of operation for the ensuing 7 years. Manwaring's abstract of John Bissell's estate, citing Hartford Probate District vol. III, p. 194, follows: ...John Bissell of Windsor. Inventory of £520-16-03 taken Oct. 22, 1677 by Daniel Clarke, Benjamin Newbery and Return Strong. Will dated Sept. 25, 1673: ...I John Bissell of Windsor doe make this my last Will & Testament: ...I give to my daughter Mary, the wife of Jacob Drake, £10; ...to my daughter Joyce, wife of Samuel Pinney, £30. ...I give to my son John £50. ...The remainder of my estate after my just debts and funeral charges are paid, with 20 shillings a peice to each of my grand children naturally descending from my foure sons and two daughters, I bequeath to my four sons John, Thomas, Samuel, and Nathaniel. ...The remaynder of my estate to be equally divided. ...I appoint my sons John and Thomas Bissell to be executors. ...I desire Deacon John Moore and Daniel Clark to be supervisors. Witness:...................JOHN X BISSELL LS. John Moore sen., Daniel Clarke. ...Court Record, Page 165--6 December, 1677: Will approved. The children of John Bissell, Sr. and his unnamed first wife, the order uncertain, are: • i. Mary Bissell, b. circa 1631 in England, d. testate Sept. 11, 1689 at Windsor, Conn.; m. Apr. 12, 1649 at Windsor, Sgt. Jacob Drake, s. of John Drake & Elizabeth Rogers, b. circa 1624 in England and d. testate at Windsor, Conn. on Aug. 6, 1689. They had no children. • ii. Lieut., also referred to as Cornet, John Bissell, Jr., b. circa 1633 in England, d. intestate before Oct. 15, 1688 at an undefined place in the Province of New York while in the King's service; m. June 17, 1658 at Windsor, Isreal Mason of Saybrook, Conn., dau. of Maj. John Mason and his unnamed first wife, b. circa 1637-38, prob. at Windsor, and d. after Mar. 15, 1693/4. Nine children of the family. • iii. Quartermaster Thomas Bissell, b. circa 1635 in England, d. testate at Windsor on July 31, 1689; m. Oct. 11, 1655 at Windsor, Abigail Moore, dau. of Dea. John and Abigail Moore, b. June 16, 1639 at Windsor and d. at Windsor purportedly on July 31, 1728. Twelve children of the family, three of whom died in infancy. • iv. Samuel Bissell, b. circa 1637 in England, d. testate at Windsor on Dec. 3, 1700; m. 1) June 11, 1658 at Windsor, Abigail Holcomb, dau. of Thomas and Elizabeth Holcomb, bapt. Jan. 6, 1638/9 at Windsor, Conn. and d. there on Aug. 17, 1688. Nine children of the family. Samuel m. 2) after Aug. 1688, Mary Buell, dau. of William Buell and Mary Post, and widow of Simon Mills, who had d. intestate at Simsbury, Conn. on July 6, 1683. There were no children by this marriage, Mary having ten children by her first husband. She d. testate at Windsor, Conn. on June 24, 1718. • v. Joyce Bissell, b. circa 1639 in England, d. after Sept. 8, 1689 when named in her sister Mary's will of the same date; m. Nov. 17, 1665 at Windsor, Samuel Pinney, s. of Humphrey Pinney and Mary Hull, b. Mar. 30, 1635 at Dorchester, Mass. and d. after Dec. 13, 1689 when he was appointed one of the four administrators of his sister-in-law Mary (Bissell) Drake's estate. Three children of the family. • vi. Nathaniel Bissell, b. Sept. 24, 1640 (bapt. Sept. 27) at Windsor, Conn, d. testate at Windsor on Mar. 12, 1713/4; m. 1) Mindwell Moore, dau. of Dea. John and Abigail Moore, and sister of his brother Quartermaster Thomas Bissell's wife Abigail, b. July 10, 1643 at Windsor and d. there on Nov. 24, 1682. Eleven children of the family. Nathaniel m. 2) July 4, 1683 at Windsor, Dorothy Fitch, who d. at Windsor on June 28, 1691 and by whom he had four additional children. He m. 3) on an unknown date after 1691, Deliverance Haines, formerly the wife of 1) John Rockwell of Windsor and 2) John Warner of Middletown, Conn. She d. intestate on June 12, 1718. There were no children by this marriage. Deliverance had seven children between her first two husbands. Family links: Children: Samuel Bissell (____ - 1700)* John Bissell (____ - 1688)* Thomas Bissell (1630 - 1689)* Mary Bissell Drake (1631 - 1689)* Nathaniel Bissell (1640 - 1714)* *Calculated relationship Inscription: Heare Lyeth The Body of John Bissell Deceased- October the: 3: 1677 in the 86 Yeare of his Age. On the day that John died he was 85 years old, and Aetatis (i.e., Æ, "Aged," in the XX year of his Age, etc.) 86. Burial: Palisado Cemetery Windsor Hartford County Connecticut, USA Maintained by: Don Blauvelt Originally Created by: Grant Record added: Nov 05, 2000 Find A Grave Memorial# 5091692 [1]
  Person ID	I2921	Ellingboe
  Last Modified	14 Sep 2012

  
  

• Sources

  [S53] McPherson, Elizabeth Weir, Holcombes, p. 25 (Reliability: 3).