Just heard back from the reference librarian of history and genealogy at the Connecticut State Library who sent copies of Nehemiah's brother John's will and Nehemiah's own deposition in the court case it involved. Though I found nothing new from what is discussed in the H. Allen book it was cool to see the actual docs. (sorry I can't copy it here, but it is cited as I;254a)
The docs verified that Nehemiah and John had an eldest brother (unnamed) who was asked to send his eldest son, Edward, to live with John. John seems to have promised to make Edward his heir which led to the trial over the will, as John's wife Joanna defended her right to his property. Edward arrived around 1651/2l about age 15 and the doc also quote's Nehemiah who states that Edward arrived "exceding well clothed."
Having had so much difficulty finding Nehemiah's origins, perhaps focusing more on Edward's family might lead us there. Placing his birthday around 1637, there are a good many entries about him including his parents. If these can be verified we will learn who Nehemiah and John's eldest brother was and possibly find their parents, which would go a long way toward solving the mystery. Even if it can only be established where Edward was born, considering the likelyhood that the three brothers lived in the same general area, the search for their origins would at least be narrowed down. We do know Edward was married on 7 June 1663 to Elizabeth Bliss of Saybrook, daughter of Thomas and Elizabth Bliss of Norwich, who was then about 17 years old. They had a son Obadiah , b 7 Feb 1676/7, whose line well traced in the H Allen Smith book. It is through Obadiah that I have found some of my DNA matches. So happy hunting for those of you inclined to investigate.
Back on the Nehemiah front, I have found in my great uncle Walter Burgess Smith's newslatters " News of the Nehemiah Smith Clan" Vol II, Number 2 April 1993, a reference to one of his fellow genealogists, Barbara Achilles, who is said to have found a Nehemiah Smith, born in 1605 in Kent. Though FindMyPast I tried to locate Nehemiah but only came up with 5 listings under just the name "Smith" that were numbered #26, #160, #176, #752 (or #152) and #817. If anyone can help unravel this it may provide a breakthrough. It is interesting that Nehemiah's wife Sarah Ann or Ann Bourne, may also have hailed from Kent.
One final remark; and yet another mystery: Walter Burgess Smith was in the process of writing a new genealogy of Nehemiah when he passed away in 1995. In the newsletter he states that he had fully completed the first 6 generations (which would cover all family members up through about 1800), incuding 1370 individuals in a draft of 350 pages (single spaced! ) My efforts to locate the whereabouts of this doc have come up empty ...so far. The quest continues!