Tracing Our Family To The 1600’s In New England, Part 4

Sgt William Cornwall Jr Atkinson

Updated 12/20/14 to add further evidence of a broad trade network emanating from Mattabessett/Middletown throughout Connecticut.

Updated 12/21/14 to add map showing how Springfield MA, Middletown CT and New Haven CT were connected by a portage site at Middletown.

Updated 12/21/14 to add record date for marriage between William Cornwell and Mary ____

Updated 3/28/15 and 5/16/15 to fix numerous typos.

Since this blog is dedicated to the genealogy of our family I want to step back and establish some context again. The lineage from my father back to Sgt William Cornwell (pictured above and my 10th great grandfather) is clear and unambiguous (see graph below – click all images to enlarge). This series of posts is still the story of one our of ancestors. A story I think my family would like to know. While it attempts to cover some research and explores some theories, it is – in the end – still a story of our family.

Alan J to William Cornwell

This second-to-the-last post in the series brings together a large pool of information, gleaned from numerous sources, to paint a more complete picture of the life of Sgt. William Cornwell (1609 – 1678). As we fill in these details we will discover that over the time of his life here in America, William Cornwell developed special relationships with some of the Indians of New England. We will see how a brutal war on a single tribe (called the Pequot War) affected English and Indians alike, and sent William Cornwell down and interesting (and profitable) path in life. It will postulate a relationship born of battles that founds a special town in Connecticut, and also leads me to conclude William Cornwell’s second wife was very likely an Indian.

In the last post of the series I will address the possibility William Cornwell’s 2nd wife was Mary Hyanno of Barnstable (a distinct possibility from her being Indian).

Read more