Ancestral Glimpses » Nathan Birdsall (1611-1696)

Persoonlijke gegevens Nathan Birdsall 

• Alternatieve naam: Nathan Burchell (ook bekend als / alias)
• Hij is geboren in het jaar 1611 in ENGLAND.
• Alternatief: Hij is geboren in het jaar 1611 in Oyster Bay, Long Island, Nassau County, New York, British America.

  Very doubtful. Mayflower Compact was signed in 1620, eleven years AFTER his birth.

• Hij werd gedoopt op 3 september 1620 in Saint Andrew, Norwich, Norfolk, ENGLAND.
• Hij is overleden in het jaar 1696 in Long Island, Hempstead, Nassau, New York, Verenigde Staten, hij was toen 85 jaar oud.
• Alternatief: Hij is overleden in het jaar 1696 in Nassau County, New York, British America, hij was toen 85 jaar oud.
• Hij is begraven in het jaar 1696 in Hempstead, Nassau County, New York, USA.
• Een kind van Henry Doncaster Birdsall en Judith Agnes Kempe
• Deze gegevens zijn voor het laatst bijgewerkt op 21 maart 2018.

Gezin van Nathan Birdsall

Hij is getrouwd met Temperance Baldwin.

Zij zijn getrouwd in het jaar 1645 te New Haven, New Haven County, Connecticut, British America, hij was toen 34 jaar oud.

Kind(eren):

1. Benjamin Birdsall  1646-1719 
2. Stephen Birdsall  1648-1723
3. William Birdsall  ± 1650-1726 
4. Samuel Birdsall  ± 1665-± 1725

Notities over Nathan Birdsall

Nathan Birdsall
Nathan's age of 21 is accepted by family historians upon his arrival in America. (Ship records on Ancestry.com show him arriving in Boston in 1635 which would make him 23 or 24. -JJS-)

Apparently he did not have fixed residence, but traveled widely among the Indians.

He lived by buying land from the natives and reselling it to the settlers. Wife was not Termperance Baldwin who md. Nathan Burwell, not Nathan Birdsall. First appeared in New Haven, Connecticut, 4 Oct 1643 when he was charged with theft of 13 pounds taken from Mr. Newman's house at which he had worked. He was ordered to repay double the amount. In 1644 he became a Freeholder in New Haven. He also was ordered to rectify his absence from Militia service, and was required to undergo military training. He md. about 1645 but his wife is unknown. His first son was born in 1646. About this time he was paid 3 pounds 17 shillings by the Court of New Haven for work on a bridge. 16 Feb 1653, Nathan Birdsall conveyed to his brother-in-law Henry Cook the lot in Salem which had belonged to his father. 5 Jul 1653 he purchased land at East Hampton, Long Island, to which he moved; the following year it appears he sold his five acres in New Haven. Other land transactions were recorded in 1660 (Southold, Long Island); 1662 (Westmoreland); 1667 (Matinecock, now Nassau County, New York); and 1677 (Birdsall Swamp at Oyster Bay, also now Nassau County, New York). From 1657 to abt. 1666 he lived at the north end of B Street on the east side of the street in East Hempstead. During the winter of 1665-1666 Nathan and six others moved to Matinecock, Long Island, as squatters but offering to buy the land from the Indians who did not wish to sell. In long term negotiations involving Governor Nicholls, the Indians acquiesced to respect the settlers but not accept additional ones. In due course the settlers attempted to found a town Killingworth, but this was unsuccessful; negotiations with the Indians continued leading to hostilities in 1676, followed by more negotiations. Ultimately Nathan acquired more land and the family remained on Long Island until the Revolutionary War. Other events which affected this family was the annexation by Connecticut of the New Haven Colony which was considered to have jurisdiction over Long Island; when Connecticut attempted to collect taxes on the island, the collectors were driven away by the settlers, thus ending Connecticut's claim.
There was also war between the British and Dutch in 1654 and again in 1664, this latter ending the Dutch rule except for a brief period 1672-1674 when hostilities resumed. Died leaving seven sons (alternatively Nathan was the father of three sons, Samuel, Stephen, and Nathan Jr., the latter being the father of the seven sons).
Death: 1698 in Long Island, New York

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The Life and Background History of Nathan Birdsall
1635-1800, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York

[The following is copied from The Birdsall Family: Genealogy and History of Interest to Every Living Descendant and their Posterity, written by George A. Birdsall in 1955 and revised in 1964 (Self-published in Annandale, Virginia in 1955 and 1964.) The book has been out of print for quite a long time, and with so many descendants interested in its contents, I cannot believe George A. Birdsall would mind terribly if I repeat some of the contents here. Please note that anything contained within brackets and italicized has been added by this compiler.]
"Nathan, son of Henry, was 21 years old when he arrived in America, if his birthdate was 1611, and that is one thing everyone seems to be agreed upon. Women were scarce, so he did not marry for another 12 years, at least; anyway, he never stayed in one place long enough to get married, and he traveled mostly among the Indians. He did not marry Temperance Baldwin as Mrs. Bunker first reported in her book. Temperance md. Nathan Burwell, and I believe Burwell and Birdsall are two different people. Nathan apparently made his living buying land from the Indians and selling it to the white people.
"Nathan first appears in [the records of] New Haven [Connecticut], 4 Oct 1643, when he was taken to Court for taking 13 pounds from Mr. Newman's house. He had worked in his house and had a temptation. He was ordered to pay back double the amount. The next year Nathan was made a freeholder in New Haven, 1644, by Theodophilus. He was remitted of his defects in the army, provided he attend training hitherto. At that time every able-bodied male belonged to the army.
"Nathan md. about 1645, age about 34. During Nathan's twenties he must have been working in the wilderness, where he became likeable to the Indians. I can find no trace or record of whom he md. His first son, Benjamin, was born 1646.
"Henry Birdsall, Nathan's father, apparently lived for a year or two with Nathan in New Haven, I presume to keep him out of trouble during his troubles with Mr. Newman, the army and getting md.; and while living there [Henry] was chosen by the Court of New Haven, 3 Dec 1644, to keep the Meeting House clean upon all public meetings for 3 pounds 15 shillings a year. 'Good' Birdsall as he was called, probably to identify him from his not-so-good son, was paid 3 pounds 17 shillings for work on a bridge. ["Goodman" and "Goodwife" or "Good," an abbreviation of the longer terms, were common forms of address used at the time, and are frequently found in court records throughout the colonies.]
"Nathan Birdsall, 16 Feb 1653, conveyed to his brother-in-law, Henry Cook, the lot in Salem which belonged to Nathan's father. A few months later, 5 Jul 1653, Nathan bought land at East Hampton, Long Island. [Henry Cook had borrowed an undisclosed sum of money from his father-in-law, Henry Birdsall, sometime before Henry's death, and Henry had taken as collateral a mortgage on a lot in Salem adjacent to Henry Cook's home. It was this piece of property that was conveyed back to Henry Cook following Henry Birdsall's death.]
"Registry of Deeds (Salem) Vol. 9, pp. 94-95. Nathan Birdsall, 1654, five acres of land. I do not know whether he bought or sold five acres in this transaction, but he must have sold it and used the money to make the following transactions: Southold, L.I., 1668; Westmoreland, 1692; Matinecock, 1664; and Birdsall Swamp at Oyster Bay, 1677. In Matinecock, he was one of seven founders of a settlement they wanted to call Killingworth.
"Nathan died in 1698, leaving seven sons: (1) Benjamin, 1646, md. Mercy Forman 1681, died 1719; (2) Stephen, 1648, md. Mary; (3) Nathaniel, 1652; (4) William, 1650, md. Mary, died 1726; (5) Nathan, 1654, nothing further is known; (6) Henry, 1656; and (7) Samuel, 1658, md. Mary Pratt, died 1725.
"The records show that Nathan bought five acres of land in New Haven in 1654, but it would seem more likely he sold five acres, probably his old home, because he moved to East Hampton, L.I., and bought land on the Northwest Road at East Hampton on 13 Jul 1653. He is next heard from at Southold, L.I., where he purchased some more land. He soon moved to Hempstead, where in 1657 he became one of the first settlers in East Hempstead. He lived for nine years on the north end of B Street, on the east side of the street, in East Hempstead.
"In the fall or winter of 1665-66 seven men, including Nathan, decided to buy land at what is now called Matinecock. They went there as squatters but offered to buy land from the Matinecock Indians. During the time Nathan and his neighbors lived in the Matinecock area, the following events occurred:
"14 Mar 1666 - The Indians sent the governor a letter saying they did not want to sell their land, but they would respect the seven families now living at Matinecock. The governor told the inhabitants of Matinecock to agree with the Indians until they could be induced to sell more land.
"21 Sep 1666 - Governor R. Nicolls sent a letter to the constable of Hempstead County that he received a petition from the Matinecock Indians complaining that the purchasers of their lands did not pay them. The governor appointed John Underhill as the Indians' attorney.
"19 Apr 1667 - One of the seven families (Samuel Dayton) wanted to sell three of his lots, but the governor refused permission so as not to encourage any other families to go against the Indians' wishes.
"24 Feb 1669 - The people of Matinecock wanted to organize a township and be independent of Hempstead, and to name the town Killingworth. The governor put off his decision until such time as anyone from Hempstead should object. He assured them he would allow them to establish the town regardless of objection.
"27 May 1669 - The governor wrote to the officers of Hempstead requesting them to show cause why he should not grant the inhabitants of Killingworth the right to organize a town.
"6 Jun 1669 - The governor advised the Hempstead men to bring proof that (1) Matinecock was at the disposal of the Indian Tackpowsha Mantawkett Sachem, (2) whether said Sachem did sell Matinecock to Hempstead, (3) whether said Sachem did consent to sell, and if so, for what value; and (4) if Mantawkett Sachem by conquest had the power to dispose of land to Hempstead.
"13 Jul 1670 - The governor gave permission to Thomas Terry to purchase enough land from the Indians to make five [sic] farms at Matinecock, one for himself and one each for Thomas Lovelace, M. Matthias, Nicolls, John Payne and John Alcoke. These were in addition to the original seven.
"23 Sep 1671 - The Indians objected to the other people. The justice of the peace at Hempstead called a court. The Indians decided to sell but requested time to think it over. Governor Nicolls had died and Governor Lovelace took his place.
"4 Jul 1672 - Governor Lovelace told the inhabitants of Matinecock to be discourst [sic] in all their dealings so as not to prejudice the Indians against them until some final determination should be made.
"2 Aug 1672 - Constable Jackson appointed inhabitants of Oyster Bay and Indians to run a dividing line between Oyster Bay, Hempstead and Matinecock.
"17 May 1676 - Indians in Connecticut and Rhode Island were driving the people into the sea and destroying their homes. Boats were sent over to relieve them and bring them to Long Island. More land was purchased by the governor from the Indians, which included three parcels near Muskitoe Cove, which is just north of Matinecock. Each parcel was one square mile. The Indians asked the extravagant price of 600 guilders Scawant. Scawant is wun.pum [sic], beads of the insides of seashells and used as currency among the Indians.

"COLONIAL HISTORY
"During a span of about 120 years (1657-1777), the Birdsall family on Long Island saw some of its most turbulent history. Those were the days when Nathan's children, grand-children and great-grand-children were in their prime, getting md., raising children and buying homes of their own. Nathan and his six neighbors seemed to be favored by the Indians around Matinecock more than other white people. Nathan purchased fifty acres from the Indians and later five acres from Mark Meggs. Legal purchases had to be made through the court because Indians had a way of selling the same property over and over again. Matinecock was later adjudged to be in the township of Oyster Bay. These seven neighbors were Quakers and attended the Church of the Society of Friends in Oyster Bay Village, 1669.
"Historical events were the serious problems of the people during the time the events were occurring. The following is an outline of the problems this family had to face.
"Connecticut annexed New Haven in 1662, and they thought it included Long Island. When they sent men to collect taxes, the settlers drove them back after a short battle with clubs. Connecticut never claimed it after that.
"New Amsterdam was only about 30 miles from Oyster Bay, and it was a Dutch-controlled town. The governors of New Amsterdam never could get along with the Indians, and they were generally disliked by their own Dutch people. The Indians were more peaceable than the Dutch people, but when angered enough, they would kill every white person in sight. In 1655, after the Dutch murdered some Indians, the Indians slew 100 men, women and children and captured 152 along the Hudson River. This, of course, had an effect upon the Indians in the New Haven and Long Island areas.
"War between England and Holland broke out in 1654, when Nathan and his family were young and moving to Long Island, but relations between the English and Dutch on Long Island were comparatively peaceful, although Governor Peter Stuyvesant built a wall of upright logs backed by earth along what is now called Wall Street. This was to protect them from the people on Long Island. The settlers in the towns on Long Island sent delegates to a meeting with Stuyvesant so they could work out a defense plan for the general defense and welfare of the colonies. However, the Dutch and English ideas on government were direct opposites and Stuyvesant ordered them out, saying "We derive our authority from God and the Company, not from a few ignorant immigrants, and we alone can call the inhabitants together." Stuyvesant at once lost all support from both the English and Dutch settlers. Nine years later the people had become so hostile to Stuyvesant that he asked the Dutch Company for reinforcements.
"War between England and Holland broke out again ten years later in 1664. King Charles II sent the English fleet to take New Amsterdam. When the fleet came into the harbor, Stuyvesant saw it was hopeless and surrendered the city without firing a shot. The English named it New York, and their laws gradually overcame the Dutch laws both in the Dutch and English towns. Colonel Richard Nicolls became the governor of New York and was well liked by everybody.
"A third war between England and Holland began eight years later, 1672, and ended in 1674, when Nathan's family of seven boys were teenagers. The city was again unprepared and in Aug 1673 the Dutch fleet appeared off Staten Island. After a few shots, the New York garrison surrendered, and New York became New Orange under Dutch rule. The Dutch captain, Anthony Colve, was made governor. During the short period of time, about one year, when the Dutch held the town, they canceled all contracts and agreements, which was quite confusing to all the inhabitants (1673-74). When the war ended, the treaty between England and Holland stipulated that New Orange was to be an English colony and it was again to be called New York.
"The period from 1689 to 1740, when the seven sons of Nathan were marrying and raising children, it was the period known as 'The Forgotten Half Century' in American History. The population of the colonies increased from 200,000 to 1,000,000 in that 50-year period.
"New York City was a mixture of all nationalities, and to the north of it in Albany County was mostly Dutch. Our family knew only two languages, English and Dutch. The colonists resented so many foreigners coming into the country because they feared the predominant language would become something other than English.
"Religious persecution in Germany drove many Germans to America, where they settled in Pennsylvania during this period and are now known as Pennsylvania Dutch [Deutch]. The Swiss Mennonites also came during this period. The Quakers, the Germans and the Mennonites united in forming a conservative peace party in Pennsylvania. Although this took place in Pennsylvania, the situation was similar in nearby New York, where the family of Nathan [probably Nathan b. 1705] moved several years later. The Quakers did not like the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians because they always stirred up trouble with the Indians. The Quakers and Germans were determined to get along with the Indians. [Although Henry Birdsall, the immigrant, remained a member of the First Church of Salem all his life, all seven of his sons apparently became Quakers, most likely in the 1650s when George Fox came through New England and visited Long Island, New York, spreading his new ideas and teachings.]
"England and France went to war in Apr 1689. As a result of this war, the French in Canada led the Indians against the outlying towns and isolated colonists as far south as the middle of Massachusetts and Albany, New York. In Feb 1690, the entire town of Schenectady was destroyed and its people butchered by the French and Indians. The colonists of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York tried unsuccessfully to organize a force to take Quebec. A small volunteer force tried and failed in Oct 1690 to take Quebec. The Quakers did not help much because they were determined to live peaceably with the Iroquois.
"Captain Haight's Regiment of New York provincial troops took part in the above campaign. Isaac Birdsall and his brother Henry were in this regiment. Henry was killed in this war.
"In the 1790s pirates infested the Hudson River, waylaying boats between Albany and New York. These pirates were generally of Dutch people living along the Hudson River in the vicinity of Hyde Park. Franklin D. Roosevelt's ancestors began accumulating their fortune with piracy. A galley was outfitted by the English government and its command was given to Captain Kidd to hunt out the pirates and destroy them. After Captain Kidd left, he was on his own and his crew prevailed upon him to become a pirate himself.
"For twenty years (1690-1710), when Nathan's grand-children were of grade-school age, the colonists were continually molested by Indian raids led by the French. These raids did not affect the inhabitants of Long Island, where our family resided at that time. The colonists begged England for help, but England was more interested in the West Indies. In 1709 England sent a fleet against Quebec, while Montreal was to be taken by the militias from New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, starting from Albany. The British sea captains gave up without a fight before they reached Quebec. Pennsylvania sent practically no help on account of the peaceful Quakers; Connecticut and Massachusetts had no men, so the colonial militias failed to take Montreal, although they did capture Port Royal."

Nathan Birdsall TimeLine:

1657, Nathan1 Birdsall lived on the east side of B street, near the north end in East Hampton, L. I., left there soon.
1666. Mark Meggs sells to Nathan1 Burcham five acres at Matinecock on which N. B. do now live.
1667-8. Indians sold land at Matinecock to Nathan Birdsall.
1678. Agreement that Nathan1 Birdsall, Matthew Pryor, Christopher Hawxhurst and Samuel and Joseph Weeks shall have the great meadow and half the little meadow. Capt. John Underhill, Nathan Birdsall, Matthew Pryor, James Cock and John Feaks formed the neighborhood of Killingworth Oysterbay, L. I.
1679. Nathan Birdsall bought of Lawrence I. Mott, land lyingnear a tract of land called Jerusalem, (Little Britain).
1679. Thomas Ireland sold to Nathan Birdsall land at Jerusalem, called Birdsall's Swamp.

Children of Nathan1 Birdsall, he d. 1696. 
Samuel2 md. 1690, Jane Langdon. 
Benjamin,2 md. Mercy Forman dau. of Samuel and Miriam (Harcourt). 
Stephen2 md. Mary. 
Nathaniel2 md. Mary. 
William2 md. Mary. 
Henry2 md. and had dau. Mary, md. John Dorland. 
Nathan2 md.

"Among the first whites who settled at Bamegat and vicinity, tradition says, were Thomas Timms, Elisha Parr, Thomas Lovelady, Jonas Tow (pronounced like the word noiv) and a man named Vaull. Thomas Lovelady is the one from whom Lovelady's island, near Barnegat, takes its name. The first settlers seem generally to have located on the upland near the meadows, on or near the Collins, Stokes and Mills' farms. There was a house built on the Collins place by Jonas Tow, at least as early as 1720. The persons named above as the first comers, do not appear to have been permanent settlers, and tradition fails to state what became of any of them, with the exception of Jonas Tow, who it is said died here.
"Among the first permanent settlers, it is said, were William and Levi Cranmer, Timothy Kidgway, Stephen and Nathan Birdsall and Ebenezer Mott; and Ebenezer Collins followed soon after. The Cranmers and Birdsalls came from Long Island about 1712 to Little Egg Harbor, and not long after members of the families located at Bamegat."
Source: Salter, Edwin, Historical Reminiscences of Ocean County, New Jersey, New Jersey Courier, (Tom's River, NJ, 1878), p. 43.

"About 1664 the Indians brought complaints before Governor Nicolls, that they had not sold Matinecock to Hempstead, so he recommended that the Matinecock men should make the Indians some gift or gratuity in requital, since they said they never received pay for the land. Pursuant to this suggestion, negotiations were concluded by which at Kelenworth upon Matinecock, on 22 Jun 1669, the Indian Proprietors executed deeds conveying to Robert Williams, William Hudson, William Simson, Henry Ruddock, Christopher Hauxhurst, Matthew Priar and Nathan Birdsall, each a specified tract of upland and an undivided one seventh interest in the adjacent salt meadows, together with a right of commonage of grassing and timber in the unallotted part of the whole tract."
Source: Cox, John Jr., Oyster Bay Town Records, Vol 1 - 1653-1690, Tobias Wright, Publisher (New York: 1916), p. 629.

February the 21th 1678
An agreement made Betwixt Nathan Birdsell and Christopher Hauxhurst and Samuel and Joseph Weekes and Mathew Pryer and William Hudson and William Frost about ye devision of their meadow and it is Concluded upon that Nathan Birdsall Mathew Pryer and Christopher Hauxhurst Samuel and Joseph Weekes Should have ye Great Meadow and half ye Little Meadow and William Frost William Hudson and Lewis Morris is to have ye other half of ye Little meadow and ye Common meadow Lying about ye Island Creeks Lying Westward of ye Great Meadow and it is Concluded yt ye Meadows Lying on ye East Side of ye Creek that Comes up to ye Cedars from a pond Lying over against ye poynt of Trees upon ye Little Meadow yt ye Meadow Eastward from that pond Shall Ly Common tell we See cause to Dispose of it otherways.
Joseph Weekes
William Frost
William (H) Hudson
his mark
Nathan Birdsall
John Pryer
Source: Cox, John Jr., Oyster Bay Town Records, vol I--1653-1690, Tobias A. Wright, printer and publisher, (NY: 1916), pp. 116-17.

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