Pequot War

Tracing Our Family To The 1600’s In New England, Part 2

treeSleuth

Sgt William Cornwall Jr

Updated 12/31/14 to addressed the alleged connection between Mary Hyanno and Canonicus

In this post I will review our family lineage back to Sgt William Cornell of Roxbury MA, Hartford CT and Middletown CT. I will use the spelling “Cornell” throughout. Early records show he signed his name “Cornell” and during most of his life, but later records and generations shifted the spelling to “Cornwell” and then “Cornwall”. I tend to prefer the spelling used by the individual when doing these posts. I have over time switched between all three spellings, so you will see remnants of them in images and file names.  But for the purpose of this post, I will stick with the original “Cornell”.

I begin with the lineage from myself back to William Cornell:

Alan J to William Cornwell

I have not seen any issue or ambiguity with this lineage, so I will not dwell on it anymore except to bring in other branches of import when needed.  So let’s review not just the life of William Cornell, but the world he lived in based on documented evidence.

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

treeSleuth

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).

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