BRISTOL GENEALOGY
(version 7/15/98)
modified from BRISTOL GENEALOGY
compiled by W.E. Bristol
Bristol Family Association
1967
Most likely, the name Bristol - which is also spelled Bristow, Bristowe and Bristoll - originated as a place name from the seaport of Bristol in Gloucestershire, England. Harrison's "Surnames of the United Kingdom" derives Bristow from the Anglo-Saxon word "bricq", meaning bridge, and the word "stowe", which refers to a place - the combined meaning idicating a "bridge place". Although other origins for the name have been suggested, no proof exists for these other interpretations.
English ancestors of the family adopted the spelling Bristow(e) in earliest times, and their descendents generally changed it to Bristoll upon arriving in America. Although Bristol is the prefered American spelling of the last century, older spellings persist in some parts of the country.
Richard Bristow and his younger brother Henry arrived from England, probably separately, with Richard settling at Guilford in Connecticut, and Henry settling, somewhat later, in nearby New Haven. Richard was at Guilford when the first division of land took place, receiving "a parcel of upland and rocks" of about five acres, which after his death he left to his nephew Samuel. Richard took the freeman's oath early and generally worked as a barrel cooper. In addition, he held a small office in Guilford in 1650, where he served as an overseer of weights. Legend has it that the Bristow variety of apples are named after him. He married twice, but outlived both wives and died childless in September of 1683. Because Richard had no children, his brother Henry is the immigrant ancestor of most American Bristols (New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 1903, vol. 53, pgs. 262-266).
Henry Bristow (Bristol), younger brother of Richard, was born in England about 1625 and came to New Haven Colony as a stowaway, probably to join his brother in the colonies, just a few years after the settlement was founded. New Haven was first known as Quinnipiac, an Indian name, and was started in 1638 when a company of English Puritans led by the clergyman Reverend John Davenport (1597-1670) and the merchant and colonial administrator Theophilus Eaton (1590-1658) arrived there in search of religious freedom. The name was changed to New Haven in 1640 and was united in 1643-44 with the neighboring settlements of Guilford, Wilford, Branford, and Southold (on Long Island) to form New Haven Colony. These towns, except for Southold, became part of the Colony of Connecticut in 1664, and New Haven was chartered as a city within the newly created and independent state of Connecticut in 1784.
The government of the New Haven Colony that Henry lived in was of the strictest Puritan type and expressly excluded English statute and common law. The "worde of God was adopted as the only rule to be attended unto ordering the affayres of government in this plantation." Among the "blue laws" that governed the colony were:
Other laws forbade work, travel, joy on the Sabbath or fasting day.
Shortly after arriving in New Haven, Henry was indentured to William Davis, a barrel cooper like Henry's brother Richard. Henry was able to take the freeman's oath in March of 1646/47, presumably at the age of 21. He was, like all other New Haven colonists, a member of the congregation of Reverend John Davenport, one of the founders of the colony. Henry and his first wife Rebecca were assigned seats in Davenport's church, with Henry taking at first the seat "before Mr. Tuttle's" and later a seat "next to the soldiers". Rebecca was placed "in the seat before the little short seat".
Henry faced Puritan justice more than once. Colony records reveal that at a court session of October 2, 1659 "Henry Bristow because the scabbard of his sword was broke, so that the point came out which is dangerous, was fined 12d". In December of 1653, he was found innocent of a charge of sleeping while on watch. Although Henry was a barrel cooper by trade, he was appointed "a packer of flesh" on May 19, 1656 and faced the New Colony court again when he was cleared of a charge of "false meat packing".
Henry's home lot in New Haven sat at the present corner of Elm and Temple Streets, which in 1967 was occupied by the New Haven Public Library. His descendents lived there until Miss Mary Bliss Bristol sold it to the city. It is also recorded that on January 7, 1967 he bought from John Morris "be it more or less" 114 acres of land "on the western side side of town", an area now known as West Haven. The minutes of a town meeting held in 1668 mention his land as being at Malbon's (Malebon's) Cove near the Oyster River, which forms the present boundary between West Haven and Milford.
Although Henry was primarily a barrel cooper, he was also a fence-viewer in 1663 and was appointed in 1666 "to gage casks for this year", a job which fitted in with his profession as cooper. Assuming that his Malbon Cove plot was farmland, it appears that in addition to his trade as cooper and occasional meat-packer, Henry was at various times, probably simultaneously, a farmer as well.
Several descendents of Henry Bristol fought in the American Revolution, among them his grandsons the brothers Aaron, Abel and Eliphalet Bristol. The eldest brother Aaron (b. 1743) is one of the progeninators of this genealogy. Aaron's son Moses Bristol (b. 1786), an uncle of the Harris line of descent, fought in the war of 1812.
Henry Bristow, the brother of Richard Bristow, was born in England about 1625 and settled in New Haven Colony, Connecticut shortly after the 1638 founding of the colony. He married his first wife Rebecca in New Haven prior to 1649 and had by her three children before her premature death sometime between 1653 and 1656. He married his second wife Lydia Brown, daughter of Francis Brown and Mary Edwards, in New Haven on Jan. 29, 1656. Lydia was born about 1656 and died in New Haven in 1719. Henry preceded her in death and died in New Haven in 1695.
from the first marriage were born in New Haven:
Rebecca (1649-1739) who married Zaccheus Candee (d. 1721) of West Haven in 1670 and had by him seven children.
Samuel (1651-1692) who married Phebe and had by her four children. He inherited land from his uncle Richard Bristow.
Mercy (b. 1653) who was born in 1653 and probably died young.
from the second marriage were born in New Haven:
Lydia (1657-1752) who married first, in 1680, Joseph Smith (1655-1697) of West Haven, Connecticut and had by him five children. She married second, sometime after 1697, John Plumb.
John (1659-1735) who married first Mehitable and second Merch Mansfield (b. 1662). John was licensed to sell liquor in 1701 and became a surveyor of highways in 1706. He had four children by the ________________ marriage.
Mary (1661-1715) who married a widower named Jobamah Gunn about 1689 and had by him three children.
Hannah (1663-1741/42) who married Thomas Hinde of Milford in 1684 and had by him seven children.
Abigail (b. 1666) who married in 1712 Daniel Terill (1689-1727) of Milford, Connecticut and had by him ten children.
Sarah (b. 1668) who married Stephen Hine (b. 1663) of Milford, Connecticut and had by him four children.
Daniel (1671-1738) who married first Esther Sperry and second Judith Bunnell (d. 1746), the widow of Thomas Hodge. Eight children were born from the first marriage.
Elizabeth (b. 1674) who died young.
Esther (b. 1676) who died young.
Eliphalet (1679-1757) who follows:
Henry (1683-1750) who married first in 1707 Desire Smith (d. 1740) and second in 1742 Damaris Atwater (1700-1770) of New Haven, Connecticut. He had eleven children by the ______________ marriage.
Eliphalet Bristol, the son of Henry Bristow and Lydia Brown, was born in New Haven, Connecticut on Oct. 2, 1679 and married Esther Peck (b. 1679), the daughter of Benjamin Peck and Mary Sperry. He was one of the original proprietors of Waterbury, Connecticut but never lived there. Ho took the freeman's oath of New Haven on April 30, 1717 and was chosen in Dec. 1717 to be a "viewer and hayward for the old field west side". He is listed in 1718 as a "lister", in 1718 as a surveyor, and in 1730 as a tithing man for West Haven. He died on Dec. 1757 having had several children.
children - BRISTOL:
Lydia (b. 1701)who was born in 1701 and in 1723 married Joseph Crofut of Danbury, Connecticut.
Sarah (1703- ).
Dinah (1705- ).
Stephen (1707-1785) who in 1732/33 married a widow named Dorothy Tolles Brown (d. 1785) of West Haven and had five children. He was chosen a grand juror of West Haven in 1745 and became a surveyor of highways in 1751.
Abigail (b. 1709) who married Joseph Pardee (1711-1766) of New Haven in 1737 and had seven children.
Eliphalet (1712-1805) who married Sarah Thomas (1716-1796) in 1735 and had three children.
Aaron (b. 1714) who follows:
Moses (1716/17-1802) who married Rachel Trowbridge (b. 1719) of Stratford, Connecticut. He settled in Oxford, Connecticut and had nine children.
Esther (b. 1718/19) who married a man by the last name of Stevens.
Benjamin (1721-1790 or 1810) who married Thankful Trowbridge in 1745/46 and had five children. He lived in Connecticut and New York and served in the French and Indian Wars.
Aaron Bristol, the son of Eliphalet Bristol and Esther Speck, was born in New Haven, Connecticut on Aug. 31, 1714. His wife was named Abigail. Aaron took the freeman's oath on April 7, 1755, and he was chosen a grand juror on Dec. 13, 1756. He ultimately moved to Harwinton, Connecticut and then in 1791 to Panton, Vermont where he died was buried there in the Hawley Cemetary. He and Abigail had several children, all of whom were born in New Haven.
children - BRISTOL:
Reuben (1734-1828) who married first in 1762 cComfort Barber (b. 1741) of Harwinton, Connecticut, and second Martha Butler (1741-1819), the widow of Samuel Bartholomew. Seven children were born, most likely all from the first marriage.
Miriam (1739-1826) who married John Preston III of Windsor, connecticut.
Aaron (1743-1823) who follows:
Israel (1745-1796) who married Phoebe Olmstead (1742-1828) and had two children.
Abigail (b. 1747).
Abel (1749-1867) who married Mary Norton of Goshen, Connecticut in 1745. He fought in the American Revolution and was listed as a lieutenant in 1793 after the war was over. Later, in 1800 he advanced to the rank of captain with the New York Militia based in Columbia County. He had four children.
Eliphalet (1751-1833) who married Sarah Scoville (1753-1826) of Harwinton, Connecticut in 1774. He fought in the American Revolution, serving with the Connecticut State Troops in Colonel E. Sheldon's regiment. According to one account, he was allowed 60 miles of travel pay for his horse during a 1779 skirmish at Danbury, Connecticut known as Tryon's Raid.
Aaron Bristol, the son of Aaron Bristol and Abigail, was born in New Haven, Connecticut on May 7, 1743. After his family moved to Harwinton, Connecticut, he married Sybil Scovill (b. Oct. 10, 1748), the daughter of Ezekiel Scovill of Harwinton. Aaron fought in the American Revolution, first as a private in Capt. Amos Williams Company, and later in Colonel Gay's 2nd Battalian. He apparently lost his gun in the York Island retreat of 1776. He resided for a time Harwinton, then moved to near the falls at Vergennes, Vermont where he built a log cabin (in Panton) and a brick one in 1822 or 1827. Aaron died in Panton on July 21, 1823 and Sybil on July 31, 1828. Both are buried in Panton in the Hawley Cemetary.
children - BRISTOL:
Aaron (1769-1792) who may have died single?
Sybil of whom nothing further is known.
Chauncy (1775-1868) who married Miriam (d. 1834) in 1798 and had eight children.
Levi (1777-1812/13) who had a wife named Polly and two children.
Rhoda of whom nothing further is known.
Lemon (1780-1811) who had a wife named Betsy and two children.
Olive (b. 1782)
Moses (1786-1826) who had a wife named Mary (c.1790-1843) and had six children. He fought in the War of 1812 and wat at the Battle of Pittsburgh.
Noah (1789-1838) who follows:
Noah Bristol, the son of Aaron Bristol and Sybil Scovill, was born in Panton, Vermont on Sept. 26, 1789. He married on Feb. 27, 1814 Anna Stafford who had been on July 13, 1794. Noah died in Panton on May 12, 1838, and Anna on died there as well on Oct. 8, 1865. Both are buried in Panton's Hawley Cemetary. Noah and Anna had several children, all of whom were born in Panton.
children - BRISTOL:
Philo (1815-1885) who married Prudence Rugg (1814-1892) of Greenfield, Massachusets or Lincoln, Vermont in 1835 and had nine children.
Lydia (1816-1820)
Philemon Levi (1818-1890) who married first in 1838 Betsy Ann Jacobs (1818-1850) and second in 1851 Abigail Betsey Whittier (1819-1898). He had ten children.
Abigail (1820-1898) who married on March 16, 1840.
Russel Titus (1822-1900) who follows:
Sybil (1824-1868) who married Watson Morgan (1821-1895) of New Haven, Vermont in 1846 and had six children.
Benjamin Stafford (1826-1848)
Abel (1829-1891) who married Abigail Thompson (1835-1915) in 1851 and had six children.
Lydia (1832-1876) who married Charles Hayward.
Russel Titus Bristol, the son of Noah Bristol and Anna Stafford, was born in Panton, Vermont on May 29, 1822. He married in New Haven, Connecticut in Sept. 1847 Martha Jane Thompson (b. Jan. 27, 1828), the daughter of James Thompson. Russel died on Dec. 20, 1900 and was followed in death by Martha on May 8, 1919.
children - BRISTOL:
Willard Russel (1848-1925) who married Mary A. Richards (1855-1938) in 1876 and had four children.
Edwin Stafford (1849-1928) who married Alta Amelia Elitharp (1851-1945) in 1888 and had four children.
Ernest James (1852-1940) who married Susan Imogene Harris (1857-1943) in 1878 and had seven children.
Carlton Doran (1857-1943) who married first in 1876 Anna May Elitharp (1853-1892), and second in 1892 Caroline S. Stone (1868-1921).
Alice Jane (1855-1926) who follows:
Arthur Hiram (1857-1917) who married Adeline Sohia Kimball (1868-1941) of Orwell, Vermont in 1896 and had four children.
Wallis (Wallace) H. (1859-1922) who married Cornelia Sibley (1863-1922) in 1885 and had nine children. He was a jeweler.
Alice Jane Bristol, the daughter of Russel Titus Bristol and Martha Jane Thompson, was born in Panton, Vermont on Dec. 24, 1855. She graduated from Middlebury College and married the Rev. Sidney Munson Harris (b. Jan. 21, 1854), a Methodist minister, on Sept. 29, 1881. Like Jane, Sidney had also been born in Panton. Later, Jane lived for awhile in London, England after the Armistice of 1918 and died back in Panton on May 25, 1926. Sidney outlived her by several years and finally passed away in Vergennes, Vermont on Feb. 12, 1937. They had several children.
children - HARRIS:
Corydon Sidney (1882-1972) who was born on Sept. 18, 1882 and died in Vergennes, Vermont about July, 1972 (soc. sec. #009-22-2695). He married Jessie Miller and had two children.
Lionel Munson (1884- ) who married Nina Leone Sedgewick in Rialto, California on Aug. 11, 1914 and had one son.
Jennie Alice (1885-1930) who was born on Nov. 23, 1885 and died on Aug. 30, 1930. She was a secretary in washington, D.C. during World War I.
Woodburn Prescott (1888- ) who was born in Panton, Vermont on July 17, 1888 and married Pauline Jenkins of England on Dec. 12, 1927. Like his mother he graduated from Middlebury College, later becoming an English and Drama teacher. He was still alive in 1985 in a nursing home where he was very happy reading Shakespeare. He had no children.
Arthur Webster (1889-1971) who follows:
Ralph (1892-1894) who was born on July 18, 1892 and died a little over a year later on Jan. 28, 1894.
Kenneth Goodrich (1896-1985) who was born in 1896 and married twice, secondly to Geneva Rose Lowe, but had no children from either marriage. He died about Oct. 1985 (soc. sec. #011-10-7009) while living with Geneva in an apartment in Florida.
Arthur Webster Harris, the son of Alice Jane Bristol and the Rev. Sidney Munson Harris, a methodist minister. Arthur was born in Panton, Vermont on Oct. 2, 1889 and married first on June 30, 1927 in Palmer, Massachusets Helen Louise Weeks. He married secondly Ellen Palmer and died in Woodsville, New Hampshire on March 17, 1971 (soc. sec. #008-03-0647). A daughter was born from the first marriage.
children - HARRIS:
Jean Alice (b. 1931) who follows:
Jean Alice Harris, the daughter of Arthur Webster Harris and Helen Louise Weeks, was born on April 23, 1931 in Amsterdam, New York. After her mother's divorce around 1935 from Arthur Harris, Jean went to live with Bertha Esther Pease Davis Cloon and her recent husband Walter Francis Cloon in Marblehead, Massachusets - "Aunt Bertha" having also raised and adopted Jean's uncle Philip Weeks Davis. Jean moved to San Francisco, California on Labor Day, 1944, and later to Compton, California to stay with her mother and future stepfather Commander Lawrence E. Hall. Helen and Cmdr. Hall were married in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1948. Jean went to college at the University of California at Los Angeles where she met Robert James Carty. They were married in Hollywood, California at Our Mother of Good Counsel Catholic Church on June 21, 1952. For their children please see the CARTY GENEALOGY.
modified from BRISTOL GENEALOGY
compiled by W.E. Bristol
Bristol Family Association
1967
text in the collection of the
Geneaological Library at Salt Lake City
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