2654–2655. Nicholas Street, III (Rev.) was baptized in Bridgwater, county Somerset, England, on Saturday, January 29, 1603, and died in New Haven, Connecticut Colony, on April 22, 1674. Speculative Female Pole was baptized in Colcombe, Devonshire, England, in—say—1606. Assume that her mother died during her birth. He is the son of Nicholas, II and Susannah (Gilbert) Street. She is the daughter of William, (Sir) and Mary (Peryam) Pole. The order of their five children is from GoCF, III, p. 462.
| i. |
Samuel Street was born
in 1635, and died
in Wallingford, Connecticut Colony,
on January 17, 1717.
He graduated from Harvard College in 1664 and was one of the first settlers of
Wallingford. He was installed as the first pastor there in 1674 and remained
until his death.
He married Anna Miles on November 3, 1664. She was born October 7, 1642,
and died July 19, 1730; daughter of Richard and Katherine Miles.
They had seven children:
| |
| ii. | Susanna Street was born probably in Taunton, Plymouth Colony, America.. She married George Mason (or Macey) of Taunton, Plymouth Colony. | |
| iii. |
Hannah Street was born
_____.
She married Henry Andrews. From Families of Ancient New Haven, vol. VII, p. 1709, comes: "He [Rev. Nicholas Street] named in his will a granddaughter Hannah Andrews." Therefore, his daughter Hannah must have predeceased him. | |
| iv. | Sarah Street [#1327]: She was born in New Haven, Connecticut, about 1644. | |
| v. | Abiah Street was born probably in Taunton in—say—1642, and died on March 9, 1709. She married Daniel Sherman on September 28, 1664; they had three children: Abigail, a second daughter who died at birth, and Daniel. Daniel's (Sr.) second marriage was to Martha Bradley, daughter of William and Alice (Prichard) Bradley. |
His second marriage was to Mary _____. She died on December 13, 1683. Per Genealogies of Connecticut Families, vol. I, p.547, and Families of Ancient New Haven, vol. VI, p. 1313, she was the widow of Francis Newman, Governor of the New Haven Colony; then married Nicholas Street and survived him; then married William Leete, (Gov.) and survived him as well.
A chronology of Rev. Street's life (Julian dates):
From the NEHGR, vol. 46, p. 257, comes:
Parentage of Rev. Nicholas Street, of New Haven, Ct. by Mr. J. Henry Lea, of Cedarhurst, Fairhaven, Mass. ... the discovery, in the Bridgwater Registers, of the baptism of Nicholas, 29 January, 1603, ... and an examination of the Street Wills in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury at once and conclusively settled ... beyond a doubt the identity of Nicholas of Taunton, the emigrant to America, and Nicholas, the son of Nicholas, Jun., of Bridgwater.
Genealogies of Connecticut Families, vol. III, pp. 461+, includes an article, "Rev. Nicholas Street and his Descendants" by Henry A. Street, Esq., of New Haven, Ct.
Rev. Nicholas Street or Streete came from Taunton, England. The place of his birth is unknown [it is now known]. He was matriculated at the University of Oxford, Nov. 2, 1621, and is then described as eighteen, and as from Somersetshire. He received the degree of B.A. at Oxford, Feb. 21, 1624/5. About 1638 he was settled at Taunton in the Plymouth Colony, now in Massachusetts, as colleague with William Hooke, (Rev.). Lechford (Plain Dealing, p.96) says, that Mr. Streete was ordained Teacher of the Church, by Master Hooke, assisted by Bishop, a schoolmaster, and one Parker a husbandman.
Mr. Street followed Mr. Hooke to New Haven, where he took the latter's place as a colleague of John Davenport, (Rev.), Sept. 26, 1659. After Mr. Davenport was called to Boston, Sept. 27, 1667, he had sole charge of the First Church till his own death, April 22, 1674, when for eleven years there was no settled pastor. By his 1st wife, whose maiden name is said to have been Poole, he had five children. His 3rd wife was widow of Gov. Newman.[Note that the only reference to (Rev.) William Hooke in all three volumes of Genealogies of Connecticut Families is in the entry for Rev. Street. Hooke does not appear at all in all eight volumes of Families of Ancient New Haven.]
From History of Bristol County Massachusetts ..., chapter LXIV, is taken:
By Rev. S. Hopkins Emery.
It was in 1637, Rev. William Hooke was instrumental in gathering a church in Taunton. Mr. Savage calls him "the spiritual guide of the settlement." He was its first pastor, having for an associate in the ministry, according to the custom of the times, another eminent man, Rev. Nicholas Street. The former was known as pastor, the latter as teacher. Their church, according to Thomas Lechford, in a pamphlet published in England in 1642, numbered "ten or twenty." ...
Rev. Nicholas Street, the colleague and successor of Mr. Hooke in the ministry of Taunton, was also his successor in the church of New Haven. This was on the "26th of the 9th, 1659." [Hooke returned to England to be chaplain to his cousin Oliver Cromwell.] On the removal of Mr. Davenport to Boston as Wilson’s successor, Mr. Street became sole pastor of the church, so continuing until his death, April 22, 1674. It is not quite certain who was Mr. Street’s first wife. Mr. Bayhes’ statement that it was the sister of Elizabeth Pool lacks confirmation. We are sure, however, that his second wife was the widow of Governor Newman, and his descendants are numerous in Connecticut and elsewhere. The earliest Taunton ministers were not only eminent in their profession, but influential in all town affairs both in Taunton and New Haven. They were resorted to for Counsel, and their words on all subjects were weighty. Their churches, of course, were of the prevailing New England order, and they, as dissenting ministers, were the recognized leaders of the people. The third Taunton minister was Rev. George Shove. Ordained in 1665, he remained sole pastor till his death in 1687.
... Rev. William Hooke, the first minister of Taunton, Rev. Nicholas Streete [who] settled at the same time as teacher of the church, and the successor of Mr. Hooke in the pastoral office, and Elizabeth Pool, sister of Capt. William Pool, who has been called the foundress of Taunton, are the persons referred to by those names in the foregoing grants [not included here].
Rev. Nicholas Street was in New Haven in March of 1661 where it is reported [Genealogies of Connecticut Families, vol. II, p.72] that he and Rev. John Davenport gave kind treatment to Goffe and Whalley, two devout Congregational Puritans, who were being sought for arrest under proclaimation of King Charles.
America's Successful Men of Affairs ..., on page 632 in a item about William A. Street, contains: "William A. Street, merchant, ... born in 1843, descends from the Rev. Nicholas Street, a dissenting clergyman of England, who came to the new world in 1630." This is the only place that a date has been associated with Rev. Street's arrival in America. It is most likely wrong because Street does not appear in The Great Migration Begins which covers all known people who arrived in New England between 1620 and 1633.
In the myriad of entries for Rev. Nicholas Street on Ancestry.com [Sep. 2002], most of which are flagrantly erroneous, one stands out a original. It gives his first wife as Ann Poole and goes so far as to venture a date and place: 1628 in Biddenden, Kent, England. No references are provided (of course), but this is a lead to follow.
The Massachusetts Historical Collection has a letter from Rev. Davenport to John Winthrop, Jr., stating that Rev. Street was installed in New Haven on November 23, 1659. Church records give November 26.
There is no question that Nicholas Street was the father of the children listed above. And it seems likely that his wife and their mother was from the Pole family. However, to date, the compiler of this genealogy has not been able to find a definite name for her. It is quite certain that his first wife was not Ann Pole, daughter of Sir William Pole.
Items supporting the wife of Rev. Street being a Pole:
STREET.—Emery's [Samuel Hopkins Emery] "Ministry of Taunton" [Boston, 1853], Mass. vol. 1, page 157, says that Rev. Nicholas Street, the early minister there, married a sister of Elizabeth Pole, the foundress of the place. Waters's "Gleanings," vol 2, pp. 985–7, gives the wills of Elizabeth Pole's father and grandfather, and notes the names of her sisters and their husbands, but the name Street does not appear. Can any one prove Emery's statement?
The case against Rev. Street's wife being Ann Pole/Poole, daughter of Sir William Pole, the antiquary, is strong and simple:
The "Pedigree of the Family of Walrond of Bovey in the Parish of Seaton and Beer, Co. Devon", obtained from the Devon, England, Record Office, was compiled by A. J. P. Skinner of Colyton and published in the Transactions of the Devon Association in 1907 (vol. 39 pp. 264–266). Skinner quotes Sir William Pole's "Collections towards a Description of the County of Devon" on the Walronds at Bovey House, Beer, including the sentence, "Edmond Walrond is nowe lord of this land, & hath maried Ann my daughter, by whom he hath issue William, John, & others." Skinner also says Ann was buried 9 Mar 1666 at Seaton. [This was provided by Marion Stainsby in September, 2002.]