John Plume

  General Notes:

!John Plum appears on the Colonial records of CT, at a court held at Watertown
(Wethersfield) 1 of the 7th month 1636,where he is appointed an appraiser in an
inventory of the estate of "JO. Old's deceased." Feb 9, 1637, "Mr. Plum" is a
member of the Court. March 8,1637, the business of this Court was the
appointment of persons to buy corn from the indians, as the people were in a
starving condition. They were to pay 4, 5 and 6 shillings a bushel for it. "Mr.
Plum "was appointed to receive the corn for Wetheersfield. He is a member of
the Court off and on, and holds various other offices until 1644. He was a
canidate for assistant, March 27 1643, but was defeated. Feb 5, 1644(5) he
was appointed to attend to the clearance of vessels at Wethersfield. On the
2nd day, 5th month, 1644, he makes sale of land in Wethersfield, 13 parcels,
from 2 acres up to 204 in size, and 2 dwelling houses, and he is not aghain
found on the Wethersfield records. He moved to Branford in 1644. He was
probably one of the soldiers in Capt. Mason's little army of 77 men that
defeated the Pequot indians. The State Penitentiary now stands on thespot
where the dwelling house of John Plume stood in 1644, in Wethersfield, CT. He
owned another house in Wetherfield. At the first town meeting in Totoket
(Branford, CT.) he was elected town Clerk and held that office until his death.
The first town meeting was Dec. 15 1645.
!The parish register of the family of John Plume is at the Ridgewell
parish,Essex Co., England.John Plume resided in and probably owned Ridgewell
Hall, by the gift of his father at the time of John's marriage, and he waws
living there in 1634, as reported by the Kings Heralds at the Visitation of
Essex Co., in 1634. All his children were born there except Dorcas, who must
have been born in Wethersfield, CT,as her name was not on the register. It is
well known that John Plum was among the first settlers and proprietors of
Wethersfield, CT in 1635 and now it seems altogether likely that he sold his
little property in Ridgewell, England in early 1635 and bought,if he had not
previously owned, a ship and immigrated to Wethersfield in his own vessel,as he
was from the first a ship owner there and traded up and down the river with the
indians. It is also probable that it was his ship that was used in 1637 to
carry the 77 men down the river and around to Narragansett Bay from which the
march was made to Pequot Hill -now in Groton- to suprise the indians.The ship
returned after landing the men at Narragansett, to the mouth of the Connecticut
river in full view of the Pequots. The Pequots supposed the men had given up
the war and gone home,so they themselves had a drunken spree that hnight and
were taken by suprise by the English attack in the morning just at daybreak.
The Pequots were totally defeated and the remnant driven west and either killed
or captured in the Fairfield Swamp. This pusuit showed the land to the whites
and in 1639, Milford was settled.
Robert Plume,who proves to be the eldest son and not the second
son, was one of the settlers at Milford where he lived, married and died.

Nothing is known to a certainty of John Plum Jr. but it may be well to
say that he, from the indications, probably married somewhere and hadchildren.
A John Plum had a lot in Newark, in 1667, or before,(as the land wasbought
from the indians). John Plum is mentioned in a distribution of lots in the
town, as having owned a lot-"the seventh to John Plum, now William Camp's." He
was not afterwards known there, and what became of him is not known.I think
this John Plum Jr. is the son-in-law of Mrs. Justice Banbury/Bainbridge, widow
of Guy Banbury.
! All information is from the Plumb Family Album by H.B. Plum, Published in
1893.

John married Dorothy Wood about 1616 in Ridgewell, Essex, England. (Dorothy Wood was born on 2 Jul 1598 in Stanford Rivers, Essex. England and died after 1669.)