Roger (Terrill) Terrell (abt. 1616 - bef. 1683)

Born about 1616 in England

Husband of Abigail (Ufford) Terrill — married 3 Nov 1644 in Connecticut

Descendants

Died before 22 Feb 1683 before about age 67 in Milford, New Haven, Connecticut

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Roger (Terrill) Terrell migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Disputed Origins

It is frequently seen that Roger Terrill (Terrell, Tyrrell) is directly descended from Sir Walter Tyrrell compatriot of William the Conqueror. There is no documentation of this nor is there definitive documentation of his parents. He has been detached from claimed (without sources) father Roger Terrill.

This Roger has been confused with Roger Tirrell Jr. (abt.1620-abt.1625) who was baptised in London 9 Nov 1620, the son of a Roger Tirrell. (As of this writing, 14 May 2022, it appears as if Tirrell-745 and Terrill-83 represent the same Roger Sr. and are awaiting a merge.) The website, Descendants of Roger Terrill, of Milford, Connecticut, have debunked that theory showing that the London Roger, born ~1620, died 12 Jun 1643 in Reading, Berkshire, England.^[1]

Biography

Birth and Origins

It is unknown exactly when or where Roger was born, but most likely in England. Based on his assumed first marriage by 1644 and his assumed first children born by 1644, he was most likely born by 1620.^[2]

However, three of his children were baptized by August of 1645 - John and Abigail baptized in August of 1644, and Hannah in August of 1645.^[3] Either John and Abigail were twins, or they were born separately and just baptized at the same time. Based on the data, the chronological order was: 1) Roger was admitted to the church July 1644, 2) his two children, John and Abigail, were baptized one month later, August 1644, and 3) three months later Roger's wife, Abigail, was admitted to the church in November 1644. If there were no multiple births, and Hannah was born shortly before her August 1645 baptism, and all of the children were Roger's and Abigail's, and they were married when the first child was born, and they were born approximately two years apart, Roger and Abigail could have been married as early as 1640, putting Roger's birth closer to 1618 at the latest, and possibly much earlier.

Immigration

It is unknown exactly when Roger immigrated to New England since he has not been found on a ship's passenger list. The first known record of him in New England is in New Haven, where on 29 Nov 1639 a list of 44 "Free Planters" was given (those who were in fellowship with the church), then immediately following that was a list of ten who had not received the designation as Free Planters because they did not have fellowship within the church. Roger was among the list of ten non-members.^[4]

An earlier version of this profile stated, without a source, that Roger arrived "about 1637 with a company from London under Eaton and Davenport." The information most likely came from the the book, The Burnett Genealogy which stated that he "left London, England, in the ship Hector, with the Davenport-Eaton Company."^[5] Burnett continues with some unverified assertions concerning Roger. The actions of the company are detailed from original records in Records of the Colony of New-Haven, from 1638 to 1649^[6] and Roger is not mentioned at all.

Marriage and Children

Roger and Abigail (Ufford) married from 1639 (assuming their oldest child was born about 1640) to no later than 3 Nov 1644^[7] and were the parents of at least eleven children:^[8][9]

1. John Terrill, baptized August 1644
2. Abigail Terrill, baptized August 1644. By 1660 she had married William Tyler. They had twelve children born in Milford including twins born in 1670 who died "soon."
3. Hannah Terrill, baptized August 1645. She married John Skeels of Woodbury, CT and they had their first child of record in November 1678. As a younger woman, in 1670, she had a "natural child" by Robert Hudson of Rye, New York. Hannah and John's first child, born in Woodbury, died young, but she had six other children. She died 11 November 1730.
4. Samuel Terrill, baptized 31 October 1647. He settled in Brookhaven, Long Island, NY and raised a family.
5. Roger Terrill, baptized 20 January 1649/50, was a Founder of Woodbury, CT and is listed as a signer of Woodbury's Fundamental Articles in 1673. He joined the church there in 1676. He fathered seven recorded children. He died 17 April 1722.
6. Joseph Terrill, baptized in 1652, had "defective understanding." He died in 1689, or when about 37 years of age.
7. Mary Terrill, born 12 February 1653, baptized 2 March 1654, and died 3 May 1654 when only a little over a year old.
8. Ephraim Terrill, born 8 April 1655, baptized 15 April 1655 and died "soon."
9. Thomas Terrill, born 23 October 1656. He removed to Elizabethtown, New Jersey, then to East Hampton, Long Island in 1688, and then Essex County, New Jersey in 1694 where he died in 1725. He was married twice, his first wife the daughter of Robert Dayton. His second wife was Mary Hampton. Thomas, a blacksmith, named four sons in his will.
10. Daniel Terrill, born 1 March 1659/60, and died 10 June 1727. He remained in Milford and married first Mary, daughter of Thomas and Ruth (Clark) Fitch, and second, Abigail, daughter of Henry and Lydia (Brown) Bristol. He fathered ten recorded children, all by Mary Fitch.
11. Eleazer Terrill, born 20 September 1662 and died the same day.

Civic Life

The Terrill's "original home lot [is] described in the Records of 1646: 'Roger Terrill hath two acres three roods and twenty poles be it more or less being bounded with a high way to the west, Phillip Hatley on the north with other lotts to the east and Sergeant Camp to the south.' Many other acres of land were allotted to Roger for pasture, agriculture and possibly commerce as one of his grants of land abuts the "Comon" on the north and west."^[10] Roger Terrill appears to present a classic case of the pasture is always greener on the other side for "in 1646 [he] evidently had taken over land claimed by another and was duly reprimanded: 'General Court at Milford December 24th 1646 decreed that Roger Terrell is to give back again, that land which is in his possession, which was laid out for Philip Hatley.' Notice the 'give back again'... Philip Hatley was Roger's neighbor to the north, and evidently he found Hatley's land [greener] ... Philip Hatley left town in 1649."^[11]

In his lifetime Roger accumulated considerable wealth for the time. He also held some standing within the community as evidenced when his father-in-law "Thomas Ufford appointed him to represent his son, John, in an issue before the Court at New Haven in 1657."^[12] "John Ufford had gotten himself into a complicated situation by obtaining [a rarely granted divorce] on a claim of impotence, only to then be charged with fornication with his father's servant, Martha Nettleton, when she turned up pregnant. John was allowed to marry Martha, although the Court was miffed at being misled in the matter of his first marriage and subsequent divorce, and his conduct after. Considering the punishments such behavior usually received, Roger must have been quite"^[13] eloquent before the magistrates or held considerable sway.

Death and Probate

Roger died in either late 1682 or early 1683 as there is an inventory of his estate dated 22 February 1682/83,^[14] taken by John Beard, John Sherman and Samuel Clark. It totaled £701, a considerable amount at the time. ^[15][16]

Research Notes

Arrival at Milton. In his 2011 article about the Milford Proprietors,^[17] Robert Charles Anderson included Roger Terrell in a group of ten men granted land at Milton between 1643 and 1646. Anderson writes, "Presumably all ten of these were admitted as inhabitants and proprietors in that three year period."

Immigration. The well-researched site, The Descendants of Roger Terrill of Milford, Connecticut, has a page dedicated to the many theories and assumptions they have debunked regarding Roger's immigration.^[18] When reading that page it is important to note they only summarize their findings there and offer no citations, and most of the pertinent research is found on the DOR Research page.

Sources

1. ↑ Nancy Tyrrel Theodore and Conrad Terrill, "Roger Tirrell baptized 1620—the final chapter." Descendants of Roger Terrill, of Milford, Connecticut, 23 Apr. 2012.
2. ↑ Milford, Connecticut, First Congregational Church, Records 1639-1926, vol. 1; Church records, 1639-1964, Family History Library, United States & Canada 2nd Floor Film # 1012263, Items 2-6, Image Group (DGS) # 8140094; image 23 of 761 at FamilySearch.org; left page, bottom left corner, approximately eight lines from the bottom is the entry for Roger's admittance to the church on July 28, 1644, Abigail's admittance is on the same page very last entry - "Abigail wife of brother {Roger} Terrill" ("Roger" inserted above the line), those with better eyesight have interpretted this date as 3 Nov 1644.
3. ↑ Milford, Connecticut, First Congregational Church, Records 1639-1926, vol. 1; Church records, 1639-1964, Family History Library, United States & Canada 2nd Floor Film # 1012263, Items 2-6, Image Group (DGS) # 8140094; image 23 of 761 at FamilySearch.org; right page, far right column.
4. ↑ Edward Rodolphus Lambert, History of the Colony of New Haven, Before and After the Union With Connecticut. (New Haven: Hitchcock & Stafford, 1838), image of p. 90 at InternetArchive.org.
5. ↑ Edgar Albert Burnett, The Burnett Genealogy... (Lincoln: Brown Printing Service, 1941); image of p. 61 at InternetArchive.org.
6. ↑ Charles J. Hoadley, Records of the Colony of New-Haven, from 1638 to 1649, (Hartford: Case, Tiffany and Company, 1857); pp. 9-19 at InternetArchive.org.
7. ↑ Clarence Almon Torrey, New England Marriages Prior to 1700, 3:1523 (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2011), image of vol. 3, p. 1523 by subscription AmericanAncestors.org.
8. ↑ Donald Lines Jacobus, "The Terrill Family of Connecticut," The American Genealogist, 25 (1949):37; digital images by subscription, AmericanAncestors.
9. ↑ Lucius Barnes Barbour, Milford Vital Records 1651-1854, Barbour Collection, 28:157-58 (Connecticut State Library, 1925); image _ of _, pp. 157-58 by subscription AmericanAncestors.org.
10. ↑ Quoted from, Nancy Tyrrel Theodore, "Roger1 Terrill of Milford," blog entry/family file, revised 14 December 2009; web content, Descendants of Roger Terrill.
11. ↑ Quoted from, citing "LDS #4918," Nancy Tyrrel Theodore, "Roger1 Terrill of Milford," blog entry/family file, revised 14 December 2009; web content, Descendants of Roger Terrill.
12. ↑ Quoted from, citing "Records of the Colony or Jurisdiction of New Haven by Charles Hoadley," Nancy Tyrrel Theodore, "Roger1 Terrill of Milford," blog entry/family file, revised 14 December 2009; web content, Descendants of Roger Terrill.
13. ↑ Quoted from, Nancy Tyrrel Theodore, "Roger1 Terrill of Milford," blog entry/family file, revised 14 December 2009; web content, Descendants of Roger Terrill.
14. ↑ “New Haven Probate Records, Vol. 1-2, 1647-1703”, database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L92K-G9NF-Q : 10 March 2021), New Haven, Connecticut, FHL microfilm 007626739, image 198-199. New Haven Probate Record, 1647-1687, Vol. 1, Part 2, page 102-104.
15. ↑ Abstract of Probate Records at Fairfield, Connecticut, Down to 1721 (n.p., ?) Page 379: "Terrill, Roger, called brother by Thos Ufford, deed." Roger's wife is Abigail (Ufford) Terrill, sister of Thomas.
16. ↑ Nathan G. Parke, The ancestry of Rev. Nathan Grier Parke and his wife Ann Elizabeth Gildersleeve (Woodstock, Vt.: N.G. Parke, 1959), 118 (Roger Terrill); digital images, Hathi Trust.
17. ↑ Robert Charles Anderson, "Milford Proprietors," Great Migration Newsletter, multiple vols., 20 (2011):25, 26, 30-31, in particular 31; digital images by subscription, AmericanAncestors.
18. ↑ Nancy Tyrrel Theodore and Conrad Terrill, "Roger Tirrell baptized 1620—the final chapter." Descendants of Roger Terrill, of Milford, Connecticut, 22 Feb 2021.

See Also:

• The website, The Descendants of Roger Terrill of Milford, Connecticut seems to have current information, is well-researched and sourced based on primary evidence. It also includes a yDNA section.
• Savage, James, A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England..., 4:268 (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1860), [ image 282 of 780, p. 268] at HathiTrust.org.
• Barbour, Lucius Barnes Milford Vital Records 1651-1854, Barbour Collection, 28:157-58 (Connecticut State Library, 1925); image _ of _, pp. 157-58 by subscription AmericanAncestors.org.*
• Cutter, William Richard. Genealogical and Family History of the State of Connecticut (Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1911) Vol. 1, Page 513.
• Tyrrell, Bruce W. Roger and Abigail (Ufford) Terrill (Self-published, Quebec, Canada, 1995)
• Campbell, Hollis A., Rev. Seymour Past and Present (W. C. Sharpe, Publisher, Seymour, Conn, 1902) p. 549.
• Orcutt, Samuel. A History of the Old Town of Stratford and the City of Bridgeport, Connecticut (Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor, New Haven, Conn., 1886) Vol. 2, page 1319
• Jackson, Ron V., Accelerated Indexing Systems, comp. Massachusetts Census, 1790-1890 (Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1999). Microfilmed schedules of the U.S. Federal Decennial Census, territorial/state censuses, and/or census substitutes. Roger Terrell State: CT County: New Haven County Township: Milford Year: 1660. NPN Database: CT 1635-1807 Misc. Records
• Addenda Et Corrigenda, The American Genealogist (1950) Vol. 26, Page 56: "Clues to the origin of Roger Terrill, the immigrant, may be found in the Banks Mss. in the Library of Congress, which mention a Roger Terrill of Wapping (Stepney Parish)"