John Minor Captain

  Noted events in his life were:

• Occupation. ⁷³
John Minor was a town clerk for 30 years in Woodbury, Connecticut.

• Dates & Events. ⁷²
He settled in Stratford, Conn., removing to Woodbury about 1682.

He served as Deputy for Stratford, Oct 1676, and for Woodbury, Nov 1683. May and Oct 1684, May and Oct. 1685, May and Oct. 1686, May and June 1687, May 1689, May 1692, Oct 1695, May 1696, May 1697, Oct. 1698, May 1703, Oct 1705, May and Dec 1707, May and Oct 1708, May and June 1709, and May 1710.

He was appointed Captain of the Woodbury Train Band, May 1684

Commissioner (Justice) for Woodbury, 1679 to 1687, 1689 to 1697

Justice for Fairfield County from 1698 until his death in 1719.

• Dates & Events. ⁷²
The Eldest son of Thomas and Grace was baptized 30 Aug 1635 in Charlestown, Massachusetts, and came to Nameaug with his father in 1646.

He was a man of good talents: was in part educated by the Colony as a missionary and interpreter for the Indians in the many troubles and treaties with them.

In the year 1658 he moved to Stratford where he married and raised a large family. He served ten years as Town Clerk and was a leading man in the community.

A difference of religious opinions arising in the Church of which he was one of the deacons, he, with a number of others requested the General Court to grant them a tract of land where they might locate a new settlement. This was granted and they started to view "The promised land"! Mistaking their way, they reached the hill country in the north part of the State and not finding it what they wished, theybecame discouraged and began to retrace their way by another route.

In their journeying, they accidently came upon an eminence which overlooked the very spot for which they were searching. The valley where Woodbury now stands. The sight so pleased them after their fatiguing journey that Deacon John knelt down to return thanks to God, and in his prayer made a request that not a generation of his might live without being blessed with a deacon in the family.

This company moved their families to the new settlement where they were joined by many others. Thus was commenced the settlement of the present town of Woodbury where a great many of the Miner descendants still reside. John was Town Clerk of Woodbury for about thirty years and its representative in the General Court for a period of about twenty years. William T. Minor, once Governor of the State of Connecticut, descended from this branch of the family.

This John had left home and established his mode of spelling previious to the time his father received the copy of the grant of the name from England. Captain John, born probably in Charlestown, Mass. 1634, son of Thomas, and Grace Palmer, married Elizabeth Booth, daughter of Richard Booth of Stratford, Conn. 19 Oct 1658; died at Woodbury 17 Sep 1719. She died 24 Oct 1732, aged 98.

• Dates & Events. ⁵⁰⁴
John Minor was one of the first settlers of Woodbury, Connecticut. The town of Woodbury, in Litchfield County, was established in 1673.

• Dates & Events. ⁵⁰⁵
"First among the settlers, men of note in Woodbury, and formost in all difficult undertakings, was John Minor, an interpreter to the Indians, a justice of the quorum among the magistrates, a captain in the militia and a decon in the church. He was a surveyor, a necessary and important character in a new country. All the Indian deeds in this region were executed before him, from his being able to act as interpreter. He was town-clerk of Stratford for ten years from 1666, with the exception of a year, and held the same office in Woodbury for thirty years from its beginning. He was also, for twenty years, almost always a member of the Gernal Court, held an influential position there, and was frequently appointed on committees for the composing of serious differences and solving of difficult questions. Early in life he acquired a good knowledge of the Indian dialects, and conversed in them with ease and fluency. In consequence of this, the rulers of the Colony wished to prepare him for a preacher of the gospel to Indians.

Both John Minor and John Stanton, were received and kept at school and college for two or three years. Minor lived with Mr. Stone for some time after, and acted as interpreter for him when he preached to the Indians. But he did not follow out the plan of his patrons. What induced him to turn his attention to other affairs, does not appear. He became however, an honorable and useful citizen, turning his knowledge of the Indian tongue and his education to goo account. He died at an advanced age, and was buried in the south-west part of the ancient burying ground, but no stone remains to mark the spot-naught save a numerous posterity sleeping around him."

~History of Ancient Woodbury, pgs. 58-60

• Background Information. ⁵⁸⁷ From History of Stratford, Connecticut : 1639-1939, page 221

Captain John Minor was a most useful and prominent citizen of Stratford for about twenty years. He was educated at Hartford at the expense of the Colony to be an interpreter between the British and Native Americans, a valuable service he preformed for many years. He moved to Stratford about about 1659, while the first inhabitants of Stratford were making their first efforts to obtain deeds for their lands from the local Natives. He was elected town clerk in 1666 and served in this position for ten or twelve years, at which time he moved to Woodbury.

John married Elizabeth Booth, daughter of Richard Booth and Elizabeth Hawley, on 19 Oct 1658 in Stratford, Fairfield, Connecticut.⁷⁰ (Elizabeth Booth was born on 10 Sep 1641 in Stratford, Fairfield, Connecticut,⁷² died on 24 Oct 1732 in Woodbury, Conneticut. British American Colonies ^70,72,505 and was buried in Woodbury, Conneticut. British American Colonies.)