The Winthrop Tapestry: Boston Iron to Long Island Peace

 This leap into the Massachusetts Bay Colony (and its eventual spillover into New York) is about to blow the furnace doors wide open.

By pulling Anne Winthrop, her daughter Elizabeth Fones, and her son-in-law Captain John Underhill into our direct lineage, we have just stepped into the absolute elite inner circle of the Puritan migration. We are no longer just tracking pioneers; we are tracking the literal rulers, the most scandalous rebels, and the most feared military commanders of early America.

Furthermore, our tree expertly solves a classic historical riddle by tracking how these families fled the rigid dynamic of Boston to become the original founders of Long Island, New York.

GEN 1: Anne Winthrop (1585–1618) — The Blueprint of the Colony

Our 10th great-grandmother, Anne Winthrop, never set foot in America—she passed away in London in 1618—but her DNA shaped the entire destiny of New England.

• The Governor's Sister: Anne was the sister of John Winthrop, the towering, iron-willed Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony who famously envisioned Boston as a "City upon a Hill."
• The Fones Alliance: She married Thomas Fones, a prominent London apothecary. When Anne died young, her brother John Winthrop took a deep personal interest in her children, particularly her daughter Elizabeth Fones. This familial bond ensured that when the Winthrop Fleet sailed for New England in 1630, Anne's children were part of the inner circle of leadership.

MORE ABOUT JOHN WINTHROP:

The Winthrop Fleet, a heavily financed convoy of 11 ships that sailed from England to Massachusetts in the summer of 1630. Led by Governor John Winthrop, the fleet transported roughly 700 to 1,000 Puritan colonists, officially founding the Massachusetts Bay Colony and establishing Boston as a major settlement.

"City Upon a Hill": During the Atlantic crossing aboard the Arbella, Winthrop delivered his famous sermon, "A Model of Christian Charity." It famously described the new colony as a "city upon a hill," a guiding theological framework for the Puritan experiment and American exceptionalism.

The Great Migration: This expedition served as the massive anchor of the Great Migration (1630–1640), during which thousands of English Puritans emigrated to New England.

GEN 2: Elizabeth Fones (1609–1673) — The Winthrop Woman

Our 9th great-grandmother, Elizabeth Fones, is one of the most famous, fiercely independent women in colonial history. If her name sounds familiar, it’s because she is the titular subject of Anya Seton’s classic historical biographical novel, The Winthrop Woman.

• The Dramatic Arrival: Elizabeth married her cousin, Henry Winthrop (the Governor's son). Tragically, the very day after they arrived in Massachusetts in 1630, Henry drowned in a river. Suddenly, Elizabeth was a young widow in a harsh wilderness.
• The Second Marriage: To secure her position, Governor Winthrop arranged for her to marry Robert Feake, a wealthy landowner and investor. Together, they became original founders of Watertown, Massachusetts, and later Greenwich, Connecticut.
• The Rebel Spirit: Elizabeth absolutely refused to conform to rigid Puritan constraints. When Robert Feake suffered severe mental health declines, Elizabeth took control of her own property, defied her powerful Uncle Governor, and eventually aligned with the Dutch in New Netherland and the Quakers to secure religious and personal freedom.

GEN 3 & 4: Elizabeth Feake & Captain John Underhill — The Sword of New England

Through our 8th great-grandmother, Elizabeth Feake, our tree merges with one of the most terrifying, brilliant, and controversial military figures of the 17th century: Captain John Underhill.

• The Mercenary Commander: Captain John Underhill was hired by Governor Winthrop to train and command the Massachusetts militia. He was a professional soldier who fought in Europe and brought total, devastating European warfare to the New World. He was the primary military commander during the Pequot War (1637), leading the controversial and deadly assault on the Pequot fort at Mystic.
• The Match and The Exile: Underhill, like our grandfather Philip Sherman, was an alpha male who eventually clashed with the Boston religious magistrates. He was banished from Massachusetts, moved to Long Island, and later in life, married the much younger Elizabeth Feake.
• The Quaker Shift: In a spectacular twist of fate, the fierce mercenary captain and his independent wife eventually embraced Quakerism. The man who lived by the sword laid it down, spending his final years protecting the early Quaker settlements of Oyster Bay, Long Island—passing that resilient spirit down to their daughter, Deborah Underhill.

GEN 5 & 6: The Townsend Progression — The Long Island Outposts

Through Deborah Underhill’s marriage to Henry II Townsend, our lineage locks into the famous Townsend Dynasty of Oyster Bay.

• The Architectural Note: We noted that our 6th great-uncle was Robert Townsend, clarifying that he was not the famous "Culper Spy" from the American Revolution. However, they are from the exact same Oyster Bay Townsend family network! The Townsends were highly literate, wealthy, and politically astute leaders who dominated Long Island civic life.
• The Migration to Yates County: Our 5th great-grandfather, Capt. Elijah Townsend, represents the post-Revolutionary shift. After the war, many Long Island and Dutchess County families utilized land bounties to push northward and westward into the Finger Lakes region of New York. Elijah settled in Kinney's Corner (Jerusalem, Yates County), establishing the family as wealthy, foundational agricultural pioneers of western New York.

The Massive Tapestry: Boston Iron to Long Island Peace

Look at the extraordinary historical narrative arc that has just opened up across our grandmothers' lines:

1. The Origin: You start at the very top of British Puritan power with Anne Winthrop’s family drafting the charters for the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
2. The Fracture: Elizabeth Fones and Captain John Underhill represent the untamable spirit of the frontier. They were too bold, too independent, and too spiritually rebellious for the "City upon a Hill," so they pushed out into the wilderness of Connecticut and Long Island to create a freer world.
3. The Legacy: By the time Capt. Elijah Townsend is born in 1745, the fiery religious battles of Boston have cooled into the disciplined, patriotic grit that would soon win the American Revolution and clear the frontiers of New York.

We have just unlocked the governing aristocracy of our family tree.

Thank you to Gemini AI for assistance with research and narrative enhancement. -- Drifting Cowboy

A Drifting Cowboy Blogspot Index — May 2026

 

The Sovereign Ground: How the Ellsworths Anchored the Connecticut Valley

https://a-drifting-cowboy.blogspot.com/2026/05/the-sovereign-ground-how-ellsworths.html

May 31

Fort Stanwix, Zepheniah Rogers and the Road to Ohio

https://a-drifting-cowboy.blogspot.com/2026/05/fort-stanwix-zepheniah-rogers-and-road.html

May 31

Our Plimpton family and the geographic expansion of early America

https://a-drifting-cowboy.blogspot.com/2026/05/our-plimpton-family-and-geographic.html

May 31

Major General Nathanael Greene our 3rd cousin 7x removed

https://a-drifting-cowboy.blogspot.com/2026/05/major-general-nathanael-greene-our-3rd.html

May 30

The Brown Family Great Migration Out of Massachusetts

https://a-drifting-cowboy.blogspot.com/2026/05/the-brown-family-great-migration-out-of.html

May 30

The Patriotic Legacy of our Townsend Line

https://a-drifting-cowboy.blogspot.com/2026/05/the-patriotic-legacy-of-our-townsend.html

May 30

Rebel Daughter of the Winthrop Dynasty

https://a-drifting-cowboy.blogspot.com/2026/05/rebel-daughter-of-winthrop-dynasty.html

May 29

Early American Medical Folklore and Revolutionary Heroism

https://a-drifting-cowboy.blogspot.com/2026/05/early-american-medical-folklore-and.html

May 29

The Great Swamp Fight plot thickens into an unbelievable, high-stakes drama for our Tefft family

https://a-drifting-cowboy.blogspot.com/2026/05/the-great-swamp-fight-plot-thickens.html

May 28

The Disarming of Philip Sherman: How Colonial Tyranny Forged the Second Amendment

https://a-drifting-cowboy.blogspot.com/2026/05/the-disarming-of-philip-sherman-how.html

May 28

The Great Swamp Fight, The First American Ranger, and the First Born Pilgrim Child

https://a-drifting-cowboy.blogspot.com/2026/05/the-great-swamp-fight-first-american.html

May 27

The Blacksmith of Freedom: The Ordeal of Richard Maxson

https://a-drifting-cowboy.blogspot.com/2026/05/the-blacksmith-of-freedom-ordeal-of.html

May 25

The Thirty Coats: The Forging of Haddam, Connecticut

https://a-drifting-cowboy.blogspot.com/2026/05/the-thirty-coats-forging-of-haddam.html

May 24

The Keepers of the Castle: A 600-Year McNeill Odyssey

https://a-drifting-cowboy.blogspot.com/2026/05/the-keepers-of-castle-600-year-mcneill.html

May 23

Great-Granddad Minted America's First Coins: The Remarkable Story of Joseph Jenks (Jenckes)

https://a-drifting-cowboy.blogspot.com/2026/05/great-granddad-minted-americas-first.html

May 22

Prince Henry Sinclair and his Alleged Voyages

https://a-drifting-cowboy.blogspot.com/2026/05/prince-henry-sinclair-and-his-alleged.html

May 16

Robert the Bruce and the Tale of the Brave Heart

https://a-drifting-cowboy.blogspot.com/2026/05/robert-bruce-and-tale-of-brave-heart.html

May 15

Captain Donald MacDonald: from the Highlands to the Battlefields of Quebec

https://a-drifting-cowboy.blogspot.com/2026/05/captain-donald-macdonald-from-highlands.html

May 14

Cowboy Wisdom: Sometimes Pet Horses Bite?

https://a-drifting-cowboy.blogspot.com/2026/05/cowboy-wisdom-sometimes-pet-horses-bite.html

May 12

I’m Gonna be a Cowboy When I Grow Up

https://a-drifting-cowboy.blogspot.com/2026/04/im-gonna-be-cowboy-when-i-grow-up.html

Apr 23

Thanks for looking. -- Drifting Cowboy

The Sovereign Ground: How the Ellsworths Anchored the Connecticut Valley

 

The Ellsworth wing of our tree takes us straight into one of the most prominent, politically powerful "First Families" of Windsor, Connecticut. When our ancestors married into the Ellsworths, they connected with a family that helped lay the legal foundation of New England—and eventually the United States itself (this is the direct family of Chief Justice Oliver Ellsworth, a framer of the US Constitution).

Our lineage from Sgt. Josiah Ellsworth immigrant 1629-1689
our 9th great-grandfather to Oliver Ellsworth US Chief Justice 1745-1807, looks like this:

Sgt. Josiah Ellsworth immigrant 1629-1689
Father of Lt. Jonathan Ellsworth

Lt. Jonathan Ellsworth 1669-1749
Father of Capt. David Ellsworth

Capt. David Ellsworth 1709-1782
Father of Oliver Ellsworth US Chief Justice

Oliver Ellsworth US Chief Justice 1745-1807
2nd cousin 8x removed

Part 1: The Historical Biographical Blueprint

GEN 1: Sgt. Josiah "Josias" Ellsworth (c. 1629–1689) — The True Immigrant Progenitor

• The Frontier Arrival: Born in England around 1629, Josiah immigrated to Connecticut as a young man in the 1640s. He didn't settle in the coastal hubs; he pushed inland to the fledgling Puritan town of Windsor, Hartford County. 
• The House on the Rivulet: In 1646, Josiah purchased a homestead lot south of the Farmington River (then called the Rivulet). This very plot of land would remain in the family for generations, later becoming the birthplace of Chief Justice Oliver Ellsworth. 
• The Civic Anchor: On November 16, 1654, Josiah married Elizabeth Holcombe (the daughter of foundational pioneer Thomas Holcombe). Josiah was made a Freeman in 1657, served as a juror in 1664, and rose to the rank of Sergeant in the local Windsor militia. He was highly respected; when his estate was appraised at his death in 1689, it was valued at a prosperous £655, a significant sum for a first-generation farmer. His original gravestone can still be seen in the historic Palisado Cemetery in Windsor. 

GEN 2: Josiah Ellsworth II (1655–1706) — The Landed Gentry of Windsor

• The Firstborn's Duty: Born on November 5, 1655, in Windsor, Josiah II was the oldest son. As the firstborn of a prominent sergeant, he inherited prime shares of the Ellsworth lands along the Connecticut River valley. 
• The Stately Life: Josiah II married Martha Taylor in 1679. He expanded the family's agricultural holdings during a period of relative peace and booming trade in Hartford County, serving in local town offices and solidifying the Ellsworth reputation as part of the "Connecticut River Gods"—the elite class of agrarian and legal leaders of the colony.

GEN 3: Samuel Ellsworth (1697–1766) & Elizabeth Allen (1698–1766) — The Great Awakening Era

• The Agrarian Empire: Our 7th great-grandfather, Samuel, was born in the twilight of the 17th century in Windsor. He inherited the multi-generational family trait of highly successful farming, managing vast crops and livestock. 
• The Allen/Booth Alliance: Samuel married Elizabeth Allen, connecting our branch to the Allen and Booth families of Enfield—a line renowned for building early sawmills and defending the northern borders of Connecticut.
• The Tragic, Unified End: Samuel and Elizabeth's life paths came to a profoundly dramatic conclusion. Church and town records show that both Samuel and Elizabeth died on the exact same day: September 28, 1766, in Windsor. Whether a sudden outbreak of infectious disease or a tragic accident befell them, the couple who had built a massive life together refused to be separated in death, leaving a deep legacy of unity that directly passed down to their daughter, Elizabeth Ellsworth (who married our Revolutionary soldier, Zepheniah Rogers).

Part 2: The Sovereign Ground: How the Ellsworths Anchored the Connecticut Valley

To look into the old graveyard at the Palisado Cemetery in Windsor, Connecticut, is to stand at the cradle of a unique American aristocracy. Long before the United States had a Supreme Court or a federal constitution, the law of the wild Connecticut interior was carved out by men who believed that the land belonged to those who could govern themselves. At the absolute center of this legal and agrarian powerhouse stood the Ellsworth line.

While 19th-century family legends whispered tales of a "Sir John Ellsworth" from an ancient, fictitious English parish called Eelstown, the true flesh-and-blood history of this family required no invented nobility. The real nobility began in the 1640s with a young, determined English immigrant named Sgt. Josiah Ellsworth. Pushing past the safe harbors of the coast, Josiah drove his stakes deep into the rich, dark soil of Windsor. By 1646, he purchased a parcel of land south of the Farmington River. It was a plot of earth that would become sacred to American history—a patch of ground that would eventually nurture the framers of the nation. As a sergeant in the local militia, Josiah defended the settlement with his sword, while as a freeman and juror, he shaped the early legal framework of the colony.

The legacy of leadership was safely passed to his eldest son, Josiah Ellsworth II. Born into the raw dawn of 1655 Windsor, Josiah II took his father’s frontier gains and turned them into a landed empire. He and his peers became known as the elite of the Connecticut River Valley, building a society built on literacy, strict devotion, and immense civic duty.

By the time his son, Samuel Ellsworth, took up the mantle in 1697, the Ellsworth name carried immense weight. Samuel expanded the family’s agricultural domain, marrying Elizabeth Allen and connecting the Ellsworths to the pioneering powerhouse lines of Enfield. Together, Samuel and Elizabeth lived through the great transformations of the mid-18th century, watching the old Puritan colony evolve into a sophisticated, revolutionary-minded province.

Their partnership was so deeply intertwined that history itself refused to break it; in the autumn of 1766, both Samuel and Elizabeth closed their eyes and passed from this earth on the exact same day.

They left behind a unified legacy of strength and commitment that would directly fire the blood of their children. It was their daughter, Elizabeth Ellsworth, who would carry this fierce, legalistic Windsor grit out of Connecticut. When she married the Continental soldier Zepheniah Rogers, she packed the entire weight of the Ellsworth heritage into their westward wagon, ensuring that the same family line that gave the United States its earliest laws would also be the one to tame the wild frontier of early Ohio.

ALSO SEE: 

America 250, Oliver Ellsworth: A Most Underrated Founding Father

https://a-drifting-cowboy.blogspot.com/2026/02/america-250-oliver-ellsworth-most.html

Thank you to Gemini AI for research assistance and the enhanced narrative. — Drifting Cowboy

Fort Stanwix, Zepheniah Rogers and the Road to Ohio

Tracing this branch brings us to a rugged and inspiring trajectory in our family history. Moving through these generations, our tree anchors into early colonial New Haven, pivots through New London and Litchfield Counties in Connecticut, and ultimately pushes out onto the early Ohio frontier in the years following the American Revolution.

Furthermore, exploring Zepheniah Rogers uncovers a true classic narrative of a citizen-soldier who endured rigorous, active service in the Continental Army before packing his family into a wagon to become a foundational pioneer of the Ohio wilderness.

Part 1: Historically Accurate Biographical Details

GEN 1 & 2: The New Haven Bedrock

• John Benham (1623–1691) & Sarah Hurst (1623–1667): John Benham arrived in New England as part of the early wave of Puritan migration. He and Sarah were foundational settlers of the New Haven Colony during its earliest decades. They helped carve out a highly structured, strictly religious trading society along the Connecticut coast, establishing a deep-rooted lineage of civic responsibility.
• Hannah Benham (1661–1695) & Thomas Rood (1651–1684): Born in New Haven, Hannah shifted the family line eastward toward Norwich, New London County. She married Thomas Rood, whose family was intimately tied to the clearing and settling of the rolling hills and river valleys of eastern Connecticut.

GEN 3 & 4: Pushing Inland

• Jonathan Rood (1685–1734) & Margaret Rowe (1689–1733): This generation moved northward away from the coast, pushing into Stafford (Tolland County). They cleared raw, rocky land, establishing generational farms while navigating the complex realities of colonial border adjustments and early agricultural trade.
• Isaac Rood (1726–1792) & Elizabeth Ellsworth (1736–c. 1780): Born in Stafford, Isaac was a highly mobile pioneer. He married Elizabeth Ellsworth—bringing the prominent and politically influential Ellsworth lineage of Windsor into our branch. Isaac later moved across the border to Sturbridge, Massachusetts, where he lived out his final years as the tensions of the Revolution re-shaped the colonies. 

GEN 5: The Revolution and the Ohio Frontier

• Elizabeth Rood (1753–1838) & Zepheniah Rogers (1746–1823): Elizabeth was born in Torrington, Connecticut. On March 7, 1770, she married Zepheniah Rogers in Litchfield. Zepheniah's early life carries a classic story of frontier self-reliance. Historical pension and military rolls reveal that he served as a Private under Captains Satterlee and Davis in Colonel Samuel Elmore’s Regiment of the Connecticut Line. 
• The Military Footprint: Colonel Elmore's regiment was a vital Continental unit raised in 1776. Zepheniah and his compatriots were deployed to the northern theater, garrisoning strategic fortifications like Fort Stanwix (Fort Schuyler) in upstate New York and securing the Mohawk Valley against British advances and frontier raids. After enduring a year of active, grueling wartime service, he returned to his family. 
• The Wilderness Migration: Following the war, Zepheniah and Elizabeth joined the great migration westward. They spent time in Pennsylvania before packing up their children to make the long trek to the Ohio frontier. They settled in Washington Township, Franklin County, Ohio, where Zepheniah passed away in 1823. Elizabeth survived him by fifteen years, successfully drawing his hard-earned Revolutionary War pension until her own passing in Brown Township in 1838. 

Part 2: The Standard of Fort Stanwix: Zepheniah Rogers and the Road to Ohio

The story of the American republic is written in the footsteps of those who marched toward the sound of the drums, and then kept right on marching into the western sun. For the Rood and Rogers families, this path was forged across two centuries of unyielding movement—a journey that began in the strict, timbered meeting houses of 17th-century New Haven and culminated in the clearing of the great Ohio wilderness.

The early foundation was built by independent spirits like John Benham and Thomas Rood, who tamed the coastal shores and river valleys of Connecticut, passing down a legacy of uncompromised resilience. By the mid-18th century, Isaac Rood had joined his line with the proud Ellsworth blood of Windsor, raising a daughter, Elizabeth Rood, who was born into a world on the cusp of an imperial breaking point. In the spring of 1770, Elizabeth gave her hand to Zepheniah Rogers, a young man from Massachusetts who possessed the rugged, indomitable grit necessary to survive on the edge of a changing continent.

When the fire of the American Revolution erupted in 1775, Zepheniah did not hesitate to leave his young family to answer the call of liberty. Stepping into the ranks of the Connecticut Line, Private Zepheniah Rogers shouldered his flintlock under Colonel Samuel Elmore. His regiment was marched directly into the high-stakes, perilous northern theater of New York. Zepheniah spent his service guarding the isolated, vital fortifications of the Mohawk Valley, standing watch at Fort Stanwix—the very outpost tasked with stopping British invasions from splitting the colonies in two. Amidst the biting cold, meager rations, and constant threat of frontier ambush, Zepheniah and his regiment held the line, securing the northern gateway for the young republic.

With independence won, the old battlefields gave way to the promise of the West. Carrying his wartime experience and an unquenchable desire for fresh ground, Zepheniah packed their belongings into a covered wagon. Beside him, Elizabeth held their children steady as they turned their backs on the safety of New England. They drove their team through the rugged gaps of Pennsylvania and deep into the dense, ancient hardwoods of Franklin County, Ohio.

In Washington Township, Zepheniah laid down his musket and picked up the felling axe, clearing the rich Ohio soil to build a lasting homestead for his descendants. When he passed away in the autumn of 1823, he left behind a nation fully forged. Elizabeth lived on for more than a decade, a revered matriarch drawing the pension of her husband's Continental service, surrounded by the fields they had won together.

From the coastal harbors of New Haven to the smoke-filled battlements of the New York frontier, and finally to the quiet, sunlit fields of Franklin County, our ancestors proved that the price of liberty is paid in endurance. They didn't just witness the map of America expand; they were the ones who personally marched it forward.

Thank you to Gemini AI for research help and narrative enhancement. -- Drifting Cowboy