Nicholas Olmstead (bef. 1612 - 1684)

Born before 15 Feb 1612 in Fairstead, Essex, England

Ancestors

Husband of Sarah (Loomis) Olmstead — married before 28 Sep 1640 in Connecticut

Husband of Mary (Thurston) Olmstead — married 1667 in Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut

Descendants

Died 31 Aug 1684 after age 72 in Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Walt Steesy [send private message], John Owen [send private message], and Lynn Brucker [send private message]

Biography

Nicholas Olmstead immigrated to New England as a child during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640).

This person is an ancestor of President Millard Fillmore^[1]

Nicholas Olmsted was baptized in Fairsted, England on February 15, 1612. His parents were James Olmsted and Joyce Cornish. Nicholas came to the America in 1632 on the ship "Lyon" with his father James, his brother Nehemiah, and cousins Richard, Rebecca, and John. They were among the original settlers of Hartford which was officially founded in 1636 along with the colony of Connecticut (also called the River Colony).

During this period, however, friction between the new settlers and the Pequot Indians of Connecticut was growing. In 1636 Massachusetts settlers accused a Pequot Indian of murdering a colonist and in retaliation they burned a Pequot village in what is now Block Island in Rhode Island. Sassacus, the head chief of the Pequots, began to gather his warriors. The Hartford settlers decided to attack first. In May 1637 the General Court decided to attack a large Pequot village and fort at what is now Mystic, Connecticut.

The population of Hartford at that time consisted of only 800 people but by May 9 ninety men had been formed into a raiding party under the command of Captain Mason. Nicholas and his cousin Richard were included in the party. They embarked on three small boats which they rowed or sailed down the Connecticut River to its mouth. There they were joined by seven Narraganset and many Pequot Indians under the rival Pequot chief Uncas. (Uncas and his followers would later be called Mohicans and Uncas would later be idealized as the perfect Indian in James Fenimore Cooper's novel The Last of the Mohicans). As a result of the Indian reinforcements or perhaps because of some information they brought 20 men were sent back to Hartford.

On June 5, 1637 they attacked the sleeping Indian village and fort. Lieutenant Thomas Bull and Nicholas Olmsted snuck up to the wooden fort walls and set it on fire. When the Pequots discovered what was happening they "ran about as most dreadfully amazed" as Captain Mason would later write. The rest of the raiding party started burning the village and killed about 600 men, women, and children. Only two townsmen were killed and twenty wounded.

The remaining Pequots were defeated in a battle near Fairfield the same year and the survivors were sold into slavery in Bermuda. The colonists would have no more problems with the natives until King Philip's war 40 years later.

Both Nicholas and Richard received land grants for their part in the battle. On September 28, 1640 Nicholas married Sarah Loomis. Sarah was born in 1617 in England to Joseph Loomis and Mary White.

They had the following children in Hartford: 1. Sarah - born 1641; died November 7, 1709 2. Mary - born November 20, 1646 3. Rebecca - born March 12, 1647 or 1648 4. John - baptized February 3, 1649 or 1650; died young 5. Samuel - born 1653; died January 13, 1726 in East Haddam, Connecticut 6. Joseph - born 1654; died October 5, 1726 7. Mabel Elizabeth - born ?; died October 12, 1681 8. Thomas - born ?; died May 28, 1741

CAPT. NICHOLAS OLMSTED was born on 2/15/1612 in Fairsted, England. He was the son of James Olmsted and Joyce Cornish. His father brought the family to America in 1632 on the ship “Lyon.” They were first settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he owned a home lot in town and 1 acre in Wigwam Neck. He moved with his father and Hooker’s followers during founding of Hartford, Connecticut. Not long after, war broke out between the colony and the Pequot indians. Nicholas had an active part in the major fight, called the Mystic Massacre, where he and Thomas Bull snuck up to the fort and set it on fire. Nicholas received a land grant for his service. In 1640 he was in court for foul behavior on Sunday with Mary Brunson. He was fined 20 pounds and had to stand on the Pillery at the next lecture for public shaming. He married Sarah Loomis (1617-1667), daughter of Joseph Loomis and Mary White, on 9/28/1640 in Hartford, Connecticut. They had 9 children: Sarah; Mary; Rebecca; John; Samuel; Joseph (1674-10/5/1726); Thomas; Mabel; and Elizabeth. In 1646 he was the surveyor of roads for Hartford. In 1648 he sued John Halls and was awarded 5 shillings. This same year he also sued Jeans Northam but lost, and was also sued by Jasper Gunn and won his defense. In 1651 he was in court petitioning to be dismissed from training, however his statements were offensive to the court so he apologized and withdrew his petition. He served as a townsman for Hartford in 9 years between 1653 and 1683. In 1658 he was listed as under the command of Maj. Mason and was promoted to Corporal of a Troop of Horse. He was on a jury in 1662 when Nathaniel and Rebecca Greensmith were charged with witchcraft. Sarah died in 1667 and he remarried to Hannah Thurston. In 1669 he was on a list of freemen and held the junior officer’s rank of “Ensign.” That same year he was on Hartford’s coroner’s jury regarding the drowning of Thomas Napp. He served on a grand jury in 1672. He was a Representative to the General Assembly in 1672 and 1673. In 1673 he was appointed Lieutenant of the militia in case there was a conflict with the Dutch. Later in 1673 the General Assembly recognized his officer rank and that he was “laying down” his position. He was also granted land in Hartford in 1673. He was on a committee in 1674 to view and settle Mattatuck (Waterbury). He was also in a land transaction with indians in 1675 to create Tolland, Connecticut. When King Philip’s War began he was commissioned as a Lieutenant and placed in command of 30 dragoons to help Stonington and New London. During the war he was noted in letters by the Winthrop family. A letter on July 9th from Waitsill Winthrop, commander of the Massachusetts militia, to his brother in Fitz-John Winthrop, a Major in Connecticut, said to let Nicholas know his family was well. Nicholas had actually written a letter on July 10th to Waitsill, notifying him that there had been hopeful communications with friendly indians. John Winthrop Jr., former governor to Massachusetts, wrote to his son Fitz-John on July 12th telling him to pass on his love to Lt. Olmsted. Nicholas was stationed for 18 days until he and his troops were recalled. On August 26th he was promoted to Captain. In September, 1675 another letter from John Allen to Fitz-John Winthrop noted that Nicholas had been near Hadley, Massachusetts with 60 men to stop the indians from crossing the river. In 1676 an indian named Joshua, son of chief Uncas of the Mohegan (allies during King Philip’s War), willed a large tract of land to Nicholas and 14 other men. In 1682 he was still involved with Waterbury, as he was helped approve a person’s petition for buying town land. Nicholas died on 8/31/1684 in Hartford, Connecticut.

Migration

Migration-1: 1632, London to Boston on the Lyon Migration-2: 1634, to Hartford, Hartford Co., CT Military: 1675, King Philip's War, Capt. of Dragoons, Hartford, CT

A Digest of the Early CT Probate Records_, Volume I. In this book, which was compiled by Charles W. Manwaring, 1904, Nicholas Olmstead, died August 1684, there is a transcription of his will, etc.

His birth date is estimated and is based on his wife's birth date as well as his marriage date.

Sources

1. ↑ Roberts, Gary Boyd; Ancestors of American Presidents

• Waldo, The early history of Tolland (1861) Pg. 13
• Hinman, Names of the First Puritan Settlers of the Colony of CT (1852) Vol. 1, Pg. 58-9
• The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut. (Hartford, Brown & Parsons, 1850) Vol. 1, Page 446 mentioned in his father's will
• Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, Vol. 1, Pg. 50, 226, 309, 165-6, 169, 172-3, 176, 395, 446
• Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, Vol. 2, Pg. 183, 199, 206, 210, 332, 337, 355, 518
• Turmbull, A Complete History of Connecticut (1898) Pg. 54, 58, 70, 98, 119, 123, 242, 244
• Bodge, Soldiers in King Philips War: A Critical Account of that War (1906) Pg. 13, 466-7
• Savage, A genealogical dictionary of the first settlers of New England (1861) Vol. 3, Pg. 312
• Bronson, The history of Waterbury, Connecticut (1858) Pg. 6, 7, 42
• Hartford Probate Records, Vol. 1, Pg. 28-9, 76, 83, 105, 121, 136, 223, 344
• New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol. 13, Pg. 235
• Earle, Curious Punishments of Bygone Days (1896) Pg. 48
• Stiles, The history and genealogies of ancient Windsor, Connecticut (1891) Vol. 2, Pg. 433
• Shepard, Connecticut Soldiers in the Pequot War of 1637 (1913) Pg. 22
• The Register Book of the Lands and Houses in “New Towne” & ... Cambridge (1896) Pg. 8-9
• The Great Migration Begins Immigrants to New England 1620-1633
• New England Marriages Prior to 1700
• Dawes-Gates Ancestral Lines Vol. II
• Genealogy of the Olmsted family in America : embracing the descendants of James and Richard Olmsted and covering a period of nearly three centuries, 1632-1912, by Olmsted, Henry King, 1824-1896; Ward, George K. (George Kemp), 1848-1937. Pages 12-15, #4. Published 1912. https://archive.org/stream/cu31924029843244#page/n59/mode/2up
• Families of Early Hartford, Connecticut
• Colonial Families of United States
• Roberts, Gary Boyd; Ancestors of American Presidents. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009.

Acknowledgment

This person was created through the import of greenwald-millerGEDCOM.ged on 27 September 2010.