As for Samuel's paternal ancestry, many researchers cite from the book "The Phelps Family in America" by Oliver Seymour Phelps, and determine that Samuel was named for his great grandfather Samuel, who had emigrated to Connecticut from Crewkerne, Somerset, England on the Mary and John in 1630 along with his father William of Crewkerne, Somerset England (not to be confused with William Phelps of Gloucestershire, as many trees have conflated). This Samuel the immigrant's mother, by the way, was a descendant of King John of Gaunt of the Plantagenet line via the Neville dynasty.
DNA studies have indicated that Crewkerne Phelps Clan (who settled in Windsor, CT) are not of the same family as the Lyme Phelps Clan (of unknown English origin). It's possible that the Lyme Phelps Clan traces from William of Gloucestershire, but more research is needed here. Here is a link to a wonderful repository which studies the many Phelps clans of old New England.
Now, back to my ancestor, Samuel of Lyme. Samuel's wife was Sarah Tiffany, who was some distant relation to his own mother. Samuel and Sarah had at least six children, including Samuel Jr (1755-1824) and my fourth great grandfather, Niles Phelps (1771-1848). Niles' granddaughter, Esther Phelps Martin, married Leonard Sherman Clark of East Haddam Connecticut (my 2nd great grandparents).
From a Sons of the American Revolution application, I found the following bit of information about Samuel's career during the War...
Samuel enlisted in the Revolutionary War in Captain Coit's Company in April 1775. He fought in the Battle of Bunker Hill.Unfortunately, there were several men with Samuel's name living in Connecticut around his time. One such Samuel who causes the most confusion would be Samuel Phelps of Harwinton CT.
He re-enlisted in 1776 in a Soldiers Regiment, where he served one year from March 1778 as marine and carpenter on board privateer "Sampson" commanded by Captain David Brooks, which sailed from the Connecticut River. He was wounded in fight with a British Sloop-of-War named "Sparrow".
Samuel's son, Niles Phelps (1771-1848) married Esther Peck (1778-1825) in East Haddam, CT in 1790, and had at least five children. Niles and Esther are my fourth great grandparents, and are buried at Tater Hill Cemetery in East Haddam.
I'm really having a hard time finding my Samuel Phelps connection. With some certainty I have a Samuel, father of William, Maxon, Hiram and John. But only info on the William whose War of 1812 pension papers say his father was Samuel. It appears our Samuel was also in the revolutionary war but we have no way of knowing for sure. William moved to Chenango co, NY, married Lydia Baldwin and had a family there before moving west to Ohio. He was born in 1790. His father could have been born anywhere in the 1830's to the 1860's.
ReplyDeleteAny info would be appreciated. Janice
Hi Janice. There were many Samuel Phelps' in Connecticut during the Revolution. How do you arrive at the idea that yours is the one above?
DeleteDear Janice,
ReplyDeleteI have the same information that was given to me by my father. He was raised in WI. One of his relatives was passionate about genealogy. I am 55 and he gave this information to me in my teens. I was told there was a Mayflower connection. i also, of course, am having a tough time. Holly (Miller) Heintz
My great-grandfather’s SAR application completed in 1925, has the following barely readable description of Samuel Phelps', his patriot ancestor, wartime service:
ReplyDelete"Samuel enlisted in the Revolutionary War in Captain Coit's Company in April 1775. He fought in the Battle of Bunker Hill.
He re-enlisted in 1776 in a Soldiers Regiment, where he served one year from March 1778 as marine and carpenter on board privateer "Sampson" commanded by Captain David Brooks, which sailed from the Connecticut River. He was wounded in fight with a British Sloop-of-War named "Sparrow”.”
Wow. How awesome was that?
There are some peculiarities though:
The Samuel Phelps in my tree was a prosperous businessman in Harwinton, CT. He had a wife and 8 children and would have been 42 during this engagement.
Seems like a stretch to think someone like that would take a multi-year leave of absence to become a hard-charging marine/carpenter on board a privateer.
I’ve come to the conclusion that the marine aboard the Sampson was a much younger man of the same name from New York.
Nonetheless, DAR records indicate my ancestor was a Patriot based on civil service and also loaned $700 dollars to the war effort, equivalent to about $20,000 now. Both were all in.
It’s interesting that 250 years later these things are becoming easier to uncover because the information is so much more accessible. I’m sure my great-grandfather wasn’t lying on his application. It was just that having the same name then had to mean they were the same person because it was extraordinarily to prove otherwise.
As a retired Marine it would have been cool to have a Patriot ancestor who was a marine on board a privateer. Who knows? Maybe I do.