SECOND GENERATION
1.
CAPT. JOHN SCRANTON Jun., is the first of the name born in Guilford, He located in East Guilford, now Madison, within the limits of Hammonasset School District, and in the East Street, about half a mile west of said river, The year he settled there can not be ascertained: but he and several other families were residing there in 1672. He was twice married.
1st. To Mary Seward, March 12, 1673-4. daughter of William. She was born February 28, 1652. [Town Records, p. 77.]
2d. To Widow Elizabeth Clark, December 10, 1691, daughter of John Bishop, and died August, 1727. Farmer, He died 1703, aged 62.
Children.
4
*John, 3d
b.
in Hammonasset district, about 1676; d. March 21, 1723.
5
*Mary
b.
about 1678; m. Joseph Stone, July 9, 1699, who d. February 2, I743. They had eight children.
6
*Mercy
b.
about 1680; m. Sm. Cole or Cowles, of Cheshire, December 27, 1717.
7
*Mahitabel
b. about 1682; of first wife.
8
*Elizabeth,
b. November 4, 1692, probably of second wife, and
was m. to William Rowlson, December 27,1717.
9
*Anne
b.
December 27, 1693; m. Ebenezer Munger.
10
*Ebenezer
b.
March 16, 1696,
11
*Deborah
b.
December 3, 1697; m. Abel Chittenden,
.July 5, 1721.
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NOTE. The planters of Guilford passed a by-law Soon after the plantation was commenced, that each householder should annualIy clear up, at least half an acre of land. This was a slow and laborious process, as they stubbed and dug up the trees by the roots, This process was injurious to the soil. Mr. Scranton was the first planter who ventured to try a different method of clearing up the ground, which was deemed rash and useless, He went out northerly two or three miles, and after clearing away the small undergrowth he girdled the trees of about three-fourths of an acre, and sowed it with wheat, incurring the ridicule of many, at the time of harvest, he reaped about twenty bushels of choice wheat. Hence all admitted his process was both wise and judicious, and adopted it, and accounted him also courageous. So report says.
The inventory of his estate is recorded in the New
Haven Probate
Records, vol., iii., pp. 304-306, October 27, 1671; amount of it,
£410, 13s.
Note. Previous (1662) to the union of New Haven and Connecticut Colonies into one colony, (1665,) several of the Guilford planters had placed themselves under the government and protection of Connecticut colony, which facilitated the union.
In his will he gave to each of his six daughters, besides personal property, from twenty-seven to thirty-two acres of land, except to Mary (Mrs. Stone) who, he says, had already received her share of land in Hammonasset, third division.
His widow, Elizabeth, as executrix, Testified in
probate court to
the inventory, Nov. 9, 1703. The amount
of it was £260, 16s.
John, 3d. admitted in probate court that he had received ten acres of land, with the buildings thereon in Hammonasset, at .£40, and fifteen acres of meadow, at .£31, and five and a half acres of meadow. at .£9.; also, twenty-five and three-quarter acres at .£25, and another lot at £4, 13s., in all, £109, 13s. This, he says, he had received of his father's estate, toward his share of it, in his life-time.
2.
THOMAS SCRANTON, son of John, the first settler. Farmer. He married Deborah Thompson, widow of Ebenezer, and daughter of William Dudley. She died October, 1681.
Remarried Elizabeth Goodrich (of Griswold.) He died where his father resided.
Children
12
Samuel
d.
March 18,1750
13
Hannah
She
was m. to Joseph Evarts, April 21, 1713
NOTE. John, Jun was nominated in 1669, to be made a burgess or freeman of Guilford, and at the next General Court he was privileged to take freeman's oath: therefore he was, prior to this time, a member of the church. Thirty-three others took the like oath at same time. His brother Thomas was nominated October 23, 1676 to be a freeman, and at the next General Court, it was passed to admit him to take the oath. [Colony Records.]
NOTE. Thomas wrote or made his will, March 10, 1710. It was exhibited in probate court, November 30, 1711, and December , 1711. The witnesses to the will were Samuel Evarts and John Collins. He appointed his son Samuel, executor, The amount of his estate is .£132, 8s. 8d.
NOTE. The compiler finds a record of a Thomas Scranton, who died December 10, 1711, leaving a widow, Elizabeth, (as above,) and two sons. Thomas and John, and a daughter, Hannah; and also two sons-in-law, John Lee, who married Elizabeth Scranton, and John Evarts, who m. Sarah Scranton, October 23, 1688. Sam, his son, was executor of his will. Had not Thomas three sons and several daughters?
NOTE. Thomas and John Scranton, sons of Thomas and grandsons of the planter, if they be removed out of the colony, (or state,) to Rhode Island or Massachusetts, and had issue, then we can account for Scrantons, who are Nos. 225 to 241, and Nos. 242 to 247. See No. 82
NOTE. The compiler finds a record of a Dennis and Sarah Scranton, who had a son named Thomas, born Nov. 15, 1672. Also a Dennis Scranton, of Guilford, who died January 31, 1689, leaving a widow named Elizabeth; but no child mentioned. At his death he was in possession of seventy-two acres of land, &c., and of large property.
Nathaniel Scranton, thirteen years after the death of Dennis, administrated on his estate, the final settlement of which was made November 9, 1703, amounting to £436, 8s. The sum of £278, 16s. had peen previously distributed. [New Haven Probate Records, vol. ii., p. 59.]
The probate records of Hartford, mention a Nathaniel Scranton, of Wethersfield, who died March 13, 1692-3. He made his will February I9, 1692-3. Eight days after his death, it was exhibited in said court, i.e. March 21, 1692-3. Having neither widow or child at his death, (if he ever had any,) He bequeathed all his property to his two friends in Wethersfield, viz., William Goodrich and Thomas Fitch. [Vol. v., 257, p. 53]
August 22, 1692, he bought eight acres of land in Wethersfield of Robert Wells, bounded north by Hartford town line, [Town records, p. 352.]
NOTE. There is some reason to conclude that the above Dennis and Nathaniel Scranton, were, in fact, Cramptons.
3.
SARAH SCRANTON, only daughter of John, was married to John Bushnell, of Saybrook, son of one of the first settlers of that plantation, May 15, 1665. He was a millwright.
Children
*John Bushnell
b. March 5, 1665-6, in Saybrook.
*Sarah Bushnell
b. September 17, 1668, in Saybrook.
*Hannah Bushnell
b. November 10, 1670, in Saybrook.
*Mary Bushnell
b. February 20, 1672, in Saybrook.
*Elizabeth Bushnell b.
December 23, 1674, in Saybrook.
The father of John Bushnell, the husband of Sarah S., was Deacon Francis, born in England, 1599, and died December 4, 1681. It appears that Francis was a deacon of the church in Saybrook, and built the first grist-mill in that town. He settled first in Guilford, but soon removed to Saybrook. Married Eliza Chapman, sister of Hon. Robert Chapman, of Saybrook.