James Phelps

Notes:

The Phelps family came originally from Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England according to Tewkesbury Abbey church records. Tewkesbury is a town in Gloucestershire, England. It stands at the confluence of the River Severn and the River Avon, and also minor tributaries the Swilgate and Carrant Brook. It gives its name to the Borough of Tewkesbury, of which the town is the second largest settlement. Tewkesbury is named after Theocalious, a hermit who founded Threwshon, adapted to Tewkesbury over the years, in the 7th century. Evidence of a church predating the abbey suggests that a considerable settlement rose up on the site previous to the Norman Conquest and monastic buildings from the years immediately following the conquest can still be seen surrounding Tewkesbury Abbey, which was begun in 1090 and consecrated on 23 October 1121. Tewkesbury was the site of the Battle of Tewkesbury on 4 May 1471. At the "Bloody Meadow," south of the town, Edward IV's Yorkist forces defeated the House of Lancaster in a historic battle of the Wars of the Roses with a bloody aftermath. Tewkesbury was incorporated during the reign of Elizabeth I. Like many towns in the west of England, Tewkesbury played an important part in the development of religious dissent. English Dissenters in Tewkesbury contributed to the Monmouth Rebellion of 1685, and Samuel Jones ran an important academy for dissenters, whose students included Samuel Chandler, future archbishop Thomas Secker and Joseph Butler, in the early 18th century.

Family/Spouse: Joan (wife of James Phelps) [?]. Joan and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Dorothy (wife of William Phelps) [?]. Dorothy died about 1613. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

William Phelps, his wife, six children, and brother George, then unmarried, emigrated to New England in the ship Mary & John sailing from Plymouth, England, 20 Mar 1630. They landed at Nantasket* Massachusetts on 30 May 1630. The company settled in Dorchester** Massachusetts, the first settlers and founders of that place. Dorchester claims the honor of being the first town in the Massachusetts Bay Colony to organize a town government. Mr. Phelps took and active position in town matters and, during the first six months, was made a freeman (for which he applied 19 Oct 1630). - Phelps Family of America
*Nantasket is now Hull, Plymouth County **Dorchester is a suburb of Boston, about 17 miles from Hull past Hull, Hingham, Quincy, and Dorchester Bays.
Tewkesbury Abbey (offically the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Tewkesbury) is a large and magnificent parish church in a small market town just 10 miles north of Gloucester. A Saxon Benedictine monastery was first founded on this site in the 8th century, which was thoroughly destroyed by the Danes. A new abbey, which still stands today, was founded by a Norman nobleman in 1092. Abbot Giraldus and 39 monks moved to Tewkesbury from Cranborne in Dorset in 1102. The nave was complete in 1121 and the entire church was completed by about 1150. In the 14th century, the abbey church was given a Decorated Gothic makeover. The chancel was renovated and the nave roof was given magnificent lierne vaulting, with narrative and decorative bosses. The tombs and chantry chapels added around the chancel in 1350-1450 reflect the importance of such memorials to the local aristocracy. The Dissolution of the Monasteries (1538-41) meant the destruction of the monastic buildings of Tewkesbury Abbey in 1539, but the town saved the church by paying Henry VIII

(Research):Along with William Phelps, Henry Wolcott, grandfather Elizabeth Wolcutt, was among the prominent men of Dorchester Mass then Windsor Conn, both founders of the Colony of Connecticut. Elizabeth was the wife of Daniel Cooley.
-History and Genealogies of Ancient Windsor

Family/Spouse: Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Timothy Phelps resided in Windsor, Connecticut, on the old homstead on land purchased by his father from the Indians. He was propounded* in Octber of 1663 and made a freeman on the second of May in 16??. He was appointed a lieutenant by the General Court, receiving his commission in 1709 and served under Col. William Whiting in Capt. Mathew Allyn's Company in the Queen Anne War.
*propound to suggest or put forward for consideration
On 23 Apr 1662 King Charles II granted Connecticut a charter as a self-governing corporate colony, with an eastern boundary at Narragansett Bay, overlapping part of the Rhode Island patent. Rhode Island did not concede its claim to territory between the Pawcatuck River and Narragansett Bay (the Narragansett Country), but Connecticut quickly took control of the area. (Bowen, Disputes, 32; Swindler, 2:135-136) On 10 May 1666 the Colony of Connecticut created four original counties: Fairfield, Hartford, New Haven, and New London. (Conn. Col. Recs., 2:34-35). Thus, Windsor became a part of Hartford County

Family/Spouse: Mary Griswold. Mary (daughter of Edward Griswold Griswold and Living) was born on 13 Oct 1644 in Windsor, Connecticut Colony; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]