Edmund Tapp

  Noted events in his life were:

• Background Information. ⁶⁰⁰
Edmund Tapp was one of the founders of the Church in Milford.

• Grave Stone: Edmund Tapp's Grave.

• Background Information. ⁶⁵³
From Paine ancestry : the family of Robert Treat Paine, signer of the Declaration of Independence, pp. 78-79:

In a schedule prepared before April 1641, exhibiting the name of every proprietor in New Haven, Edmund Tapp is named with seven people in his family, 800 acres of estate land, 52½ acres land in the first division, 11½ acres of land in the Nect, 43½ of meadow lands, 174 Acres given in the second division, and his annual tax £3.06.6.

Among the proprietors of the southwest square of New Haven were at that time William Fowler, Edmund Tapp, etc. With the exception of Osborne, the original grantees of this square removed to Milford. The square was for some years designated as the herefordshire quarter, perhaps because some of the residents had emigrated from Herefordshire or its vincity.

Before Tapp and Benjamin Genn moved to Milford, a church had be orgianed in New Haven by the two men. They did this on 22 Aug 1639. They used this same method of organization when they moved to Mildford. They chose seven men for the founddation, and these admitted others. Among the seven for Milford were Peter Prudden and Edmund Tapp.

At the first general court of the planters held in Milford, 20 Nov 1639, they agreed that the power of electing officers should be in the church only, and that these choices should be among those voting. In this way they chose the judges who would make decisions in all civil affairs whether it be cases of one man vs. another, or to try cases of people accused of crimes. The people who were chosen for New Haven were William Fowler and Edmund Tapp.

Edmund Tapp died in 1643, and his widow, whose name is not know, died in 1673. His daughter, Jane Tapp married Governor Robert Treat.

• Background Information. ¹⁵³⁶
Edmund Tapp migrated to New England in 1637, with his first resident being New Haven. In 1639, he helped establish the neighboring town of Mildord. Tapp was from the Bennington parish of Hertfordshire in England, althought his family origin was in Felmersham, Bedfordshire.

From a lawsuit filed 17 Oct 1639, Richard Barber alias Grigg sued Edmund Tapp, Robert Tapp and William Leach in the Court of Chancery for a reduction in money owed by Barber for purchasing Edmund's lease in Bennington, that Robert Tapp, who lived in Bedordshire in 1639, was Edmund's brother and William Leach was a "kinsman." Also from these records we known that Edmund left England on the last day of May 1637 and arrived in New England of the last day of July. Also assumed from the records of this lawsuit, Edmund was born about 1592.

Records from Bennington reisters:
Baptisms:
1624 - Margerta fil Edwa: Taps 6 Juniuj
1626 - Edmund fil Edmundi: Tapp 20 Julij
1627/8 - Jana fil. Edmundi Tapp 14 Febr:
Burials:
1624 - Edmund fil Edm: Tapp 4 Decemb
1635 - Edmundus Tappe Senex Sepult: May 2nd
[Bennington parish register - FHK, Salt Lake Cirty, film #991, 329]

Edmund's daughter, Jane Tapp, married Robert Treat in New England and was dead in 1703 at the age of 75 [Nathan G. Pond, "Inscriptions of Tombstones in Milford," Papers of the New Haven Colony Historical Society, 5(New Haven, 1894):I-69c]. This date fits with the beptismal date for "Jana fil. Edmundi Tapp 14 Febr." The entry "1635 = Edmundus Tappe Senex Sepult: May 2nd" is for Edmund Tapp Senior, likely father of Edmund the immigrant. Administration of Edmund senior's estate was given to his son, Edumund Tapp Jr. on 28 May 1635 [Archdeaconry of Huntingdon, Hitchin Division, Probate Act Book 5, fol. 7].

Edmund likely moved to Bennington to join a Puritan community, as other future Puritan immigrants who also moved there. From parish records, it is evident that Edmund's extended family liked in Bedfordshire. His brother Robert lived in the parish of Sharnbrock. The name Tapp shows up not only in the parish of Sharnbrook but in Felmersham and Milton Ernest. Felmersham is the most likely parish that was the ancestral home of the Tapp family in Bedfordsire. The earliest records of Tapps in Befordshire were for Michael, Robert and Walter Tapp who lived in Felmersham in 1309 [S.H.A. H(ervy), Two Bedfordshire Subsidy Lists, 1309 & 1332, Suffolk Green Books, 18(Bury St. Edmunds, 1925) 44-45]]

There are records for three Edmund Tapp living at the same time, who most likely were the same person. Edmund of Flmersham was born about 1550. He was the son of Robert Tapp of Felmersham, who held land in Radwell, Felmersham, previously held by Simon Tappe. He also was a student at Cambridge. The second would be Edmund Tapp of Sherington, father of Agnes and husband of Margaret and thirdly, Edmund Tapp Sr. of Bennington fahter of Edmund of New Haven. From the records uncovered in Bedforshire, the author drew up this pedigree.

1. Simon Tapp of Radwell Manor, Felmersham, Bedfordshire, d. by 1536, presumed to be the father of the man who next held his land in Felmersham.

2. Robert Tapp, of Radwell Manor, Felmersham, Bedfordshire, being maybe around b. 1515, making him about twenty years when he is recorded holding land in Radwell. He was the father of at one one child, Edmund Tapp.

3. Edmund Tapp, b. circ. 1550. He entered Caius College, Cambridge, at the age of 18 in 1698, a graduate of the school at Felmersham, Bedordshire. He is assumed to be the same man as Edmund Tapp "senex," buried at Bennington, Hertforshire on 2 May 1635. He had at least two sons, Robert Tapp married to a woman named Mary, and Edmund Tapp, married to Anne.

4. Edmund Tapp, borther of Robert Tapp, was probably born in or near Felmersham, Bedfordshire about 1592 based on his age in a deposition. He lived for some time in the parishes of Great Haddam and Ware in Bedfordshire before settling in Bennington, Hertfordshire, by 1623 or 1624. He sailed for New England on 31 May 1637 and arrived on 31 Jul. He initially settled in New Haven, Connecticut, and was one of the founders of Milford on 29 Nov 1639 and appointed one of its Judges for Civil Affairs [Donal Lines Jacobus, "Milford Church Records," The American Genealogist, 16:18-38; Milford, Conn., Deeds 1:1]. He was admitted to the church in Milford on the date of its founding, 22 Aug 1639 [44]. He died in New Haven before 1 Apr 1653. when his will was proved [New Haven Probate, 1st Book, 2nd part:50].

Edmund married Anne, who was admitted to the Milford Church on 25 Jun 1642 [The American Genealogist, 16:30]. She died in August or early September in 1673.

5. Children of Edmund and Anne Tapp:

Edmund Tapp, bp. Great Haddam, Hertfordshire, 30 Jan 1613/4, and died young.

Mary Tapp, bp. Great Haddam, 10 Dec 1615. Presumed to have died young.

Anne Tapp, bp. Ware, Hertfordshire, 8 Mar 1678/9, d. 1701 [Andrews, New Have Families, 1:4], m. (1) William Gibbard of New Haven, Conn. [New Haven Families 1:641], who di between 6 Aug 1662 & 30 Apr 1663, and m. (2) William Andrews [New Haven Families, 1:40].

Elizabeth Tapp, bp. Ware, 26 Dec 1619, d. New Haven Conn., 1 May 1676 [Nash Family, 23], m. John Nash, who died there 3 Jul 1687, son of Thomas and Marjorie (Baker) Nash [Nash Family, 19-23; Milford Families, 281].

Mary Tapp, b. about 1622, d. between 1 Apr 1669 (birth of her daughter) [Milford Vital Records] and 1 Nov 1670, whe her husband remarried ["Milford Vital Records," The American Genealogist 9:109]; m., as his first wife, by 1745, William Fowler, son of William Fowler of New Haven and Milford.

Margaret Tapp, bp. Bennington, Hertfordshire, 7 Jun 1624; no further records found.

Edmund Tapp, bp. Bennington 14 Feb 1627/8, burried there 4 Dec 1626

Jane Tapp, bp. Bennington 14 Feb 1627/8, d. Milford, Conn., "last of" Oct 1703 [The American Genealogist 9:171], married as his first wife, Robert Treat, son of Richard and Alice (Gaylord) Treat.

"The English Origin of Edmund Tapp of New Haven and Mildord, Connecticut," The American Genealogist, Vol. 72, pp. 65-80

Edmund married Anne.¹⁵³⁶ (Anne died Aug or Early Sep 1673 in Milford Cemetery, Milford, New Haven, Connecticut, British American Colonies ¹⁵³⁶.)