Family Group Sheet for Thomas BARNUM  WIFE:   HANNAH
By Patrick W. Barnum [email protected]  4/16/2007
FGS Index

~~~Family Group Sheet~~~
Husband's name: Thomas BARNUM
Birth date and place: 1625 Hollingbourne, Kent, England
Death date and place: 26 Dec 1695 Danbury, Fairfield, Connecticut Colony
Marriage date and Place: 1660 Norwalk, Fairfield, Connecticut Colony
His Father's name was: Sir Francis BARNHAM, knt.
His Mother's name was: The Honourable Elizabeth LENNARD
~
Wife's name: Hannah
Birth date and place: 1640 Norwalk, Fairfield, Connecticut Colony
Death date and place: 1683 Norwalk, Fairfield, Connecticut Colony
Her Father's name was:
Her Mother's name was:
~~~
First Child: Thomas BARNUM, Jr.
Gender: Male
Birth date and place: 9 Jul 1663 Norwalk, Fairfield, Connecticut Colony
Death date and place: 17 Dec 1730 Danbury, Fairfield, Connecticut Colony
Marriage date and Place: 1693 Danbury, Fairfield, Connecticut Colony
Spouse's name: Sarah BEARDSLEY
~~~
Second Child: Sarah BARNUM
Gender: Female
Birth date and place: 1665 Norwalk, Fairfield, Connecticut Colony
Death date and place: 1744 Norwalk, Fairfield, Connecticut Colony
Marriage date and Place: 6 Aug 1684
Spouse's name: Meshack FARLEY of Ipswich
~~~
Third Child: Esther BARNUM
Gender: Female
Birth date and place: 1667 Norwalk, Fairfield, Connecticut Colony
Death date and place:
Marriage date and Place: 1685 Fairfield, Fairfield, Connecticut Colony
Spouse's name: John ABBIT
~~~
Fourth Child: Abigail BARNUM
Gender: Female
Birth date and place: 1669 Norwalk, Fairfield, Connecticut Colony
Death date and place:
Marriage date and Place: 1712 Fairfield, Fairfield, Connecticut Colony
Spouse's name: Nathaniel STEVENS
~~~
Fifth Child: Ensign Francis BARNUM
Gender: Male
Birth date and place: 1671 Norwalk, Fairfield, Connecticut Colony
Death date and place: 20 May 1736 Danbury, Fairfield, Connecticut Colony
Marriage date and Place: 1714 Danbury, Fairfield, Connecticut Colony
Spouse's name: Mary
~~~
Sixth Child: Elizabeth “Bess” BARNUM
Gender: Female
Birth date and place: 1673 Norwalk, Fairfield, Connecticut Colony
Death date and place:
Marriage date and Place: 1691 Fairfield, Fairfield, Connecticut
Spouse's name: Thomas BENEDICT
~~~
Seventh Child: Deacon Richard BARNUM
Gender: Male
Birth date and place: 1675 Norwalk, Fairfield, Connecticut
Death date and place: after 14 Jan 1739 Danbury, Fairfield, Connecticut Colony
Marriage date and Place: 1700 Stratford, Fairfield, Connecticut Colony
Spouse's name: Mary HURD
~~~
Eighth Child: Hannah BARNUM
Gender: Female
Birth date and place: 4 Oct 1680 Norwalk, Fairfield, Connecticut Colony
Death date and place: after 1708
Marriage date and Place:
Spouse's name:
~~~
Ninth Child: Ebenezer BARNUM, Sr.
Gender: Male
Birth date and place: 29 May 1682 Norwalk, Fairfield, Connecticut Colony
Death date and place: 17 Sep 1755 Kent, Litchfield, Connecticut Colony
Marriage date and Place: 1710 Danbury, Fairfield, Connecticut Colony
Spouse's name: Abigail SKEELS
~~~
Tenth Child: Ruth BARNUM
Gender: Female
Birth date and place: about 1684 Danbury, Fairfield, Connecticut Colony
Death date and place:
Marriage date and Place:
Spouse's name:
~~~

Sources:
    1. Barnum, Noah G, The Barnum Family, 1350-1907  (Albion, NY: Privately Printed, 1907).
    2. Cutter, William Richard, ed., New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial; a Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of Commonwealths and the Founding of a Nation, 4 volumes. (New York, NY: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1911).
    3. Hall, Edwin, The Ancient Historical Records of Norwalk, Connecticut; with a Plan of the Ancient Settlement, and of the Town in 1847 (Norwalk, CT: Baker & Scribner, 1847).
    4. Vital Records of Fairfield, Connecticut.
    5. Savage, James A., A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England, Showing Three Generations of Those Who Came Before May, 1692, on the Basis of Farmer's Register, 4 volumes (Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co, Inc., 1890-1892).
6. The National Society of Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims, ed., Lineages of Members of the National Society of Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims (Philadelphia, PA: Published by the Society, 1929).
    7. Barnum, Eben Lewis and Fr. Francis Barnum, SJ, Genealogical Record of the Barnum Family, Presenting a Conspectus of the Male Descendants of Thomas Barnum 1625-1695 (Gardner, MA: Meals Printing Co., 1912).
    8. Savage, Mary Tisdale, Savage, Tisdale and Allied Families, Genealogical and Biographical (New York, NY: American Historical Society, 1926).
    9. Wilcoxson, William Howard, History of Stratford, Connecticut, 1639-1939 (Stratford, CT: Stratford Tercentenary Commission, 1939).
    10. Information provided by Dayonne Beisel Barnum <[email protected]>.
    11. Barnum, Noah G, The Barnum Family, 1517-1904 (Albion, NY: Privately Printed, 1904), Page 6.
    12. Orcutt, Reverend Samuel, A History of the Old Town of Stratford and the City of Bridgeport Connecticut (Fairfield, CT: Fairfield County Historical Society, 1886).
    13. Donald Lines Jacobus, History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield  (1930-32).
    14. Clarence Almon Torrey, New England Marriages Prior to 1700 (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1985).
    15. Frederick A. Virkus, The Abridged Compendium of American Genealogy; First Families of America; A Genealogical Encyclopedia of the United States (Chicago: A. N. Marquis and Company (1925), F. A. Virkus and Company (1926, 1928), 1925, 1926, 1928).
    16. Frederick A. Virkus, Immigrant Ancestors: A List of 2,500 Immigrants to America before 1750 (Chicago: Institute of American Genealogy, 1942).
    17. William Richard Cutter, ed., Genealogical and Family History of Southern New York and the Hudson River Valley; a Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Building of a Nation  (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1913).
    18. Barnum, Noah G, The Barnum Family, 1350-1907, Page 4.
    19. G. H. Hollister, The History of Connecticut: From the First Settlement of the Colony (Hartford: Case, Tiffany & Co., 1857), p 349.
    20. Information provided by Nancy E. Backus, 172 Post Avenue, Rochester, NY 14619-1157; 1996.
    21. Information provided by Hal Bradley <[email protected]>.
    22. Barnum, Noah G, The Barnum Family, 1517-1904.
    23. Probate Records of Danbury, Connecticut (vol. 7).
    24. Hughes, Thomas P. and Frank Munsell, American Ancestry: Giving Name and Descent, in the Male Line, of Americans Whose Ancestors Settled in the United States Previous to the Declaration of Independence, A.D. 1776, 12 volumes. (Albany, NY: Munsell, 1887-89).
    25. Connecticut Genealogy, Volume II/Pages 442-443.
    26. Cutter, Genealogical and Family History of Southern New York and the Hudson River Valley; a Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Building of a Nation, Page 506.
    27. James Savage, A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England, Showing Three Generations of Those Who Came Before May, 1692, On the Basis of Farmer's Register (Boston, Massachusetts: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1860-1862), p 141.
    28. Stevens, Frederick S., Genealogy of the Stevens Family, from 1635 to 1891, Tracing the Various Branches from the Early Settlers in America (Bridgeport, CT: J. H. Cogswell, 1891).
    29. Charles J. Hoadly, State Librarian, compiler, The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut (Hartford: Case, Lockwood and Brainard, 1870), Vol V, p. 548.
    30. Information provided by Duane E. Howard, RD1, Box 60, Markleton,  PA 15551; 1994.
    31. Information provided by Ann Manning Tappero <http://members.aol.com/jatappero/newsind.htm>.
    32. Information provided by Barbara Mohler, 13160 Louise Street, Salinas, California  93901; 1979.
    33. Jacobus, Donald Lines, History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield (Reprinted with additions and corrections). (Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1976.
~~~
Narrative:

Postings are occasionally seen suggesting that Thomas Barnum was an English earl, or that he was married to Mary Feaks/Feake, or to Phoebe Park. None of those statements is supported by valid, verifiable source data and they conflict with the weight of documentary evidence developed over the years concerning Thomas and his family.

It should also be noted that, while the connection between Thomas and the English line of Barnham is shown in many genealogies, that connection should be considered "probable but not certain," because of a lack of reliable documentary evidence to absolutely confirm it. Thomas was apparently born with the surname BARNHAM and later in life styled himself as both Thomas BARNAM and Thomas BARNUM

The Barnum Family, 1517-1904 states (without providing documentation) that Thomas Barnam was the 15th child of Sir Francis Barnham and his wife Lady Elizabeth Lennard (or Leonard), Baroness Dacre, and that Thomas left England in 1640 to come to the American Colonies, where he first settled in what is now Bethel, Fairfield County, Connecticut. Tradition, however, says that Thomas Barnum came first to New York and afterwards to Norwalk. Thomas is the immigrant ancestor of the Barnum family and the progenitor of all Barnum lines of descent documented in the Americas.

Although Hannah Hurd is sometimes shown as the first wife of Thomas, the use of that name is not supported by reliable documentation and it has generally been discounted. Most sources agree that Thomas married (1st) Hannah, whose surname is not known, having with her all of his ten children. He married (2nd) Sarah (Thompson) Hurd, after 1688. She was the widow of John Hurd, Sr., of Stratford, who died in 1681.

Thomas purchased land in Fairfield, Connecticut on 28 Feb 1673, and received a grant of land in Norwalk five years later. The grant reads: "Granted by the plantation unto Thos: Barnam a certaine swampe lyinge neere the west side of Stonie brooke and not far of Soabatucke hill, the sayed swampe containinge five acres more or lesse and lyeth bounded of west north and south with the common land. Aprill the 30th, 1678."  That same year, he sold his land in Fairfield to Alexander Bryan and removed to Norwalk. Hall's History of Norwalk says: "Thomas Barnam, of Fairfield, had a grant before 1663."  The same history gives the assessment of his estate in lands in that town in 1671 and 1687 as 40 pounds. (40 pounds in 1687 is the equivalent of $6,473 in 2001 dollars). There is also a mention of Thomas in a Fairfield book of records as follows: "28 Feb. 1673 Thomas Barnam has by purchase of John Crump one parcel of land at Maximus, being in quantity by estimation three quarters of an acre more or less."  The next record is in Norwalk, dated 30 Apr 1678, and another at the same time says that the plantation granted to Thomas Barnam was "three acres lying by the land said Thomas purchased of John Rayment."

At a town meeting in Norwalk, 8 Nov 1681, he was appointed to "oversee and keep good Decorum amongst the youth in times of exercise on the Sabbath and other Publique meetings; and the town doe impower him if he see any disorderly, for the keep of a small stick to correct such with; onely he is desired to doe it with clemency; and if any are incoridgable in such disorder, he is to present them either to their parents or masters; and if they doe not reclaime them, then to present such to authority."  Cutter, in Connecticut Families, notes that Thomas Barnam was one of the first eight settlers of the town of Danbury, Connecticut, in 1684. The History of Stratford and The History of Connecticut make the same statement. The others are listed as: Thomas Taylor, Francis Bushnell, John Hoyt, James Benedict, Samuel Benedict, James Beebe and Judah Gregory. Those eight individuals purchased from the local Indians a large tract of land which now includes the towns of Danbury, Bethel, New Fairfield, Redding, Ridgefield, and a portion of Derby, and established there the settlement of Danbury. Thomas located his homestead in a portion of the new settlement which in 1855 became a part of the town of Bethel, and is known today as the Old Homestead at Grassy Plain. The town patent bears the date May 20, 1702.

He was charged by his fellow settlers with the formulation of the articles of agreement establishing the form of civil government that they were to have in their new town. From that, and other references found in contemporary records of the locality, it appears that Thomas Barnam was a man of more than ordinary intelligence among the immigrants of his time, and was very active in both church and town affairs.

Thomas died on 26 Dec 1695, aged about 70 years. His estate, which amounted to 330 pounds, 4 shillings, 4 pence, was divided among "five sons and five daughters, the eldest son to have a double portion." (That amount is equal to about $61,044 in 2005 dollars). His widow Sarah returned to Stratfield in Stratford, and died there in Jun 1718, aged 76 years.

The will of Thomas BARNAM (BARNHAM / BARNUM) reads as follows:

To the Honorable Cort of Probate to be holden att Fairfield. Thes maye signifie unto yore honnours that we whose names are under written, namely James Beebe and Josiah Starr beeing appoynted by the Honble County Cort held at ffairefeld March ye 10 - 1695/6 to mack at distribushon of the estete of Thomas Barnam Decesed: Wee according to the best of our skills and judgment did in ye said month of March on the afforesaid 1695/6 mack ye following distrebushion of the said estete:

To ye eldest son Thomas Barnam hee offering to tack ye with a single sheere and at halfe provided hee might have his choyce of from perticulers which accordingly we set out to him thirty pounds vallue of ye homsted and twenty one pounds vallue of ye moveables which in all made 51-0-0.

To ye second son ffrances barnam by name Wee set out the rest of the homested being vallued at 65 pounds and a comondall of land purchesed for him by his father before his deth vallued at ffive pounds: and 7-11-6 of ye moveables hee giveing [illegible] to paye to his younger sisterswhen ye come of ye age of twentyone or at maridg what hee had received more then his proportion which proportion was 34 pounds ye whole that hee receved was 99-11-1.

To ye third son Richard barnam by name we set out a [illegible]-lot of upland vallued at five pounds A second divition of meadow vallued att seven pounds and moveables to the vallue of 22 pounds so that hee had in all to the vallue of 34-0-0.

To ye fifth [should be fourth] son Ebenezer barnam by name we set forth it Mill Lot so called vallued at 4 pounds a third divition of meddows vallued at five pounds a little loot vallued at tow pounds the one half of ye land at Shellter Rock vallued at nine pounds the Townehill Lot vallued at six pounds; The halfe of the Cotfeld [illegible] vallued at five pounds ye six acre divition of land three pounds 10 shillings- so that the whole of what hee receved was 34-10-0

Too John barnam the ffifth son wee set out the firt division of meddow vallued at three pounds 10 shillings ye forth divition of meddow vallued at 3 pounds 10 shillings ye swamp lot vallued att five pounds: then one half of ye land at Shellter rock valld at nine pounds the land on Shellter rock hill valld at six pounds the halfe of the Cotfeeld valld att 5 pounds ye half of the baran plain lot and the half of the six acre divition vallued at three pounds and ten shillings-so that the whole of what hee received was 34-10-0.

To Sarah picket the wife of Thomas picket the eldest daughter wee set out In moveables of many particulers in all to the vallue of 34-0-0.

To ye second daughter Esther Abbit the wife of John Abbit we set forth in moveables in many particulers and many due ye estete in all to the vallue of 34-0-0.

To ye third daughter Hannah barnam wee set out moveables in many particulers and depts due to the estete in all to the vallue of 34-0-0.

To ye forth daughter Wee set out Ruth barnam by name-in moveables in many particulers and depts due to the estete in all to the value of 34-0-0.

To ye fifth daughter Abigall barnam by name wee set out in movabels and depts due to ye estete in all to the value of 34-0-0.

//Signed// James beebe Joseph starr Distributers

Know all men by these presents that I Sarah Barnum of Stratford in the county of fairfield and Coloney of Connecticut have received of the heirs of my late husband Thomas Barnum of Danbury deceased in full of all accounts due to me by virute of a contract made between my husband Barnum and my self before marriage therefore I doe soe order remit release acquit exonerate & discharge the administrators Heirs and assignes of the above sd Thomas Barnum deceased from all further demands whatsoever upon [illegible] of any money due to me my Heirs of assigns by virtue of any contract before mentioned in witness wherof I have herewith set my hand in Stratford this fifteenth day of March Anno Domini 1702 (date hard to read) Witnesses Ambros Tompson senior and John Tompson her mark Sarah Barnam.

Probate: 1696 #359 FHL Film #1018731.