John Breed Jr. (1700 - 1781)

Born 26 Jan 1700 in Stonington, New London, Connecticut

Ancestors

Husband of Mary (Prentice) Breed — married 14 Oct 1725 in Stonington, Connecticut

Descendants

Died 24 Jan 1781 at age 80 in Stonington, New London Connecticut, USA

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Biography

John Breed Jr. is an NSSAR Patriot Ancestor.
NSSAR Ancestor #: P120404
Rank: Civil Service

Story... BREED FAMILY: ALLEN BREED OF LYNN, MASS, AND HIS DESCENDANTS, page 30, 31.

John Breed, 4th from Allen Breed, the second John of Stonington, known first as Junior and later as Captain - the hero of our sketch - was born Jan. 26, 1699/1700 and baptized in the First Congregational Church of which his father had been a staunch member for ten years. Captain John Breed lived to perform a service for his country so patriotic that it is a privilege to relate it here, to be recorded with similar data of more than family tradition. He married Oct. 11, 1728 Mary Prentice, daughter of Samuel and Esther (Hammond) Prentice, and of their eleven children three were sons: John 3rd, born Sept. 5, 1729 (married Silence Grant); Nathan, born Dec. 13, 1731 (married Lucy Babcock); Amos, born Dec. 23, 1744 (married Lucy Randall).

Capt. John and Mary (Prentice) Breed were among the members of the First Church who united with Mr. Eells in organizing a new society, a necessity arising from the need of a church at East of town, Jan. 4, 1733. They had "owned the covenant" May 11, 1729, and on Aug. 2, 1741 "Capt. John Breed and wife were admitted to full communion." All their children were baptized. Capt. John Breed served as Representatives from Stonington in 1735, 1741 and 1746, and was Selectman in 1736, 1740 and 1764.

It was in the twilight of his years that the young and stalwart men were answering to the call to arms. For Stonington was bombarded by the British in 1775 and it was with dismay that citizens learned that one half of their force on defence duty had been ordered to New London. On Oct. 14, 1776, the Committee of Correspondence of Stonington "and sundry of the inhabitants thereof" petitioned the General Assembly at New Haven in a Memorial to return cannon, calling the British "those sons of tyranny and despotism sent by that more than savage tyrant George the 3rd." Among the 105 signers of this Memorial were John Breed Jr. and so many familiar familys names as to claim the interest of every descendant of Capt. John and Mary Breed.

Many by the name of Breed have been recorded as Connecticut soldiers, sailors and patriots in the Revolutionary War. One of the most ardent and certainly the oldest patriot in Stonington was our brave and faithful Capt. John Breed, who, with 76 or more summers behind him, and with sons, grandsons, nephews and cousins marching to the front, remaining at home, bravely protecting his family, his invalid son Amos and his family and the stores of ammunition and supplies hidden within his old mansion home; for it was here where he fired upon the red coats through port holes near his roof. It is easier to believe than to prove that his son Amos loaded the muskats and Amos' mother, his wife and his children all contributed their share in defending this old home. Alas! that no one now remains who can tell us the thrilling tales about that family circle incident to those exciting times in Stonington!

With the Revolution over and peace prevailing once again, the vast wilderness of the west attracted the younger and raising generation from all parts of Connecticut. Amos Breed had died in 1785 at the age of forty, only four years after his old father had passed away....BREED FAMILY page 98,

In the colonial records of CT, it appears that "Mr. John Breed, Jun." was made captain of the 3d Military Co. at Stonington in 1736. The "junior" makes it certain that this reference is to the son of the 1st Stonington John Breed, for the oldest John Breed in the next generation was only 7 years old in 1736. From the date 1736, this John was usually called "Capt. John Breed".

On the records of the First Congregational Church of Stonington, it appears that "Aug. 2, 1741 Capt. John Breed and wife Mary were admitted to full communion".

In the year 1780, the three sons of Capt. John Breed were living on three adjoining farms: his eldest son, Capt. John, Jr. in the house built in 1689 by the first Stonington John Breed, his 2nd son, Nathan, on the farm immediately north of it, and his youngest son, Amos, and Amos' family, whith himself and his wife Mary, on the next farm, north of Nathan's farm. We learn with regret none of the old Breed houses on these three Breed farms are now standing. But, on the first farm, the site of the bark mill built in 1689 by the first Stonington Breed was pointed out, and the mill stone from the old mill, with a round hold in the middle, was seen in the walk leading up to the house which was erected in 1900 when the first Stonington Breed house was torn down, after standing 211 years.

On the next farm, the one once owned by Nathan Breed, is found the old Breed Family burying ground, now sadly neglected, the gravestones at all angles, and accessible to cattle running in the pasture from which it opens. Yet here are inscriptions, plainly decipherable, recording the deaths of twenty-four members of the Breed family, and some are records that have been sought for elsewhere in vain.

John Breed died 24 Jan 1781. His grave is in Breed Cemetery, Stonington, New London County, Connecticut, USA: Find A Grave: Memorial #20849655 Here is the gravestone of Captain John Breed. The inscription does not call him "Captain" as the probate records do, but "Deacon" This gravestone has been uprooted and lies flat upon the ground.

The inscription reads:

In memory of/Deacon John Breed

Who died Jan. 24. A.D. 1781

in 82 yr. of his age

The sweet rememberance of the just

When they sleep in dust.

The stone for his wife reads

In memory of

Mary, wife of Dea. John Breed

Who died Nov. 5, 1799

in the 93d year of her age

Righteous live long on earth

And in old age resign their breath.

Sources

• Breed Family Association #16 (March, 1963), Charles B. Newhall et.al.; p. 4, no. 5: https://archive.org/details/BreedFamilyAssociationVol161963OCR/page/n47

• http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=laplante&id=I101412

• Daughters of the American Revolution, DAR Genealogical Research Databases, database online, (http://www.dar.org/ : accessed November 15, 2018), "Record of John Breed Sr", Ancestor # A013959.

• "Connecticut Births and Christenings, 1649-1906," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F74F-3MZ : accessed 7 July 2015), John Breed, 26 Jan 1699

Acknowledgements

WikiTree profile Breed-149 created through the import of mom_2012-08-01.ged on Aug 2, 2012 by John Stroud.

Merged with Breed-282 was created by Kathy Stewart through the import of francescbreed.ged on Jan 27, 2014.

Merged with WikiTree profile Breed-97 created through the import of Carter _ Hull _ Sutton _ Harri (12).ged on Jan 27, 2012 by Simon Hull.