1655 - 1735

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• Birth	1655	Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut   [1, 2, 5, 6]
  Gender	Male
  Died	1735	Waterbury, New Haven, Connecticut   [1, 2, 5]
  Person ID	I85213	Brainard (Brainerd) / Foster / Fish
  Last Modified	11 Jun 2003 00:00:00
  Father	Thomas UPSON, b. 1600, England
  Mother	Elizabeth FULLER, b. 4 Apr 1626, Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts
  Family ID	F37218	Group Sheet
  Married	28 Dec 1682	Waterbury, New Haven, Connecticut   [1, 2, 5]
  Family ID	F37290	Group Sheet

• Notes

  Stephen Upton joined the Company of Mattatuck or Waterbury, where on December 29, 1679, he signed the Articals of Association. He was surveyor, on school committee, grand juror, often townman, and three times Deputy to the general Court. Stephen Upson and wife were buried in Grand Street Cemetery, Waterbury. Descendants who look for his grave will not find it. Anderson's History, pages 235 and 666 reads: "In certain towns settled at an early date it was the custom to bury the dead in the garden of the minister, and the first burial in Waterbury was likewise at the foot of the minister's garden, for Mr. Peck's house-lot extended through to Grand Street, and the part of the Grand Street Cemetery in use during the seventeenth century was but a continuance of the house lot. The earliest mention of a burial place is in 1695 when Edmund Scott was granted a parcel of land butting east on the burying yard. This was the only place of burial until 1709. By 1890 the Grand Street Cemetery was greatly neglected and there were only eight gravestones standing which bore a date prior to 1740. After much opposition, on the part of a few, in 1892, 'the city of Waterbury dishonored itself by desecrating the graves of one hundred and seventy six years, by blotting from the face of our fair township the last vestige of its founders.'" Many bodies were removed to Riverside Cemetery and various nearby cemeteries, and some gravestones were plowed under. This is now the site of the Bronson Library. Sergeant Stephen Upson is sometimes erroneously called a Proprietor of Waterbury. In 1702, it was declared that the only men who were qualified to act in giving away lands were the proprietors for the first purchasing of the place, together with Stephen Upson, Richard Porter and Jonathan Scott. His will was dated November 28, 1733, and proved July 3, 1735. His estate amounted to five hundred twenty pounds, seventeen shillings. The will of Stephen Upson follows: In the name of God, Amen. The twenty eight day of November in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and thirty three. I STEPHEN UPSON of Waterbury in the County of New Haven and Colony of Connecticut in New England, Husbandman, being far advanced in years but of perfect mind and memory, thanks be given unto God, and calling to mind the mortality of my Body and knowing that it is appointed to all men once to Dye do make and ordain this my last will and testament, that is to say principally and first of all, I give and recommend my Soul into the Hands of God who gave it, and my Body to the earth to be buried in Decent and Christian Manner at the Discretion of my Executors, nothing doubting but at the Generall Resurrection, I shall receive the same again by the Almighty Power of God. And as touching such worldly estate as it has pleased God to glorify me for this Life, I give devise and dispose of same in the following Manner and Form: Imprimis: Unto my beloved Son Stephen Upson, whom I constitute, ordain and make my sole Executor of this my last will and testament, I give and grant my Bever Meadow Lott estimated two acres and three roods, butted to the east on Pritchard's land, to the west on Hop Meadow Hill, to the north on land that was John Welton's deceased, to the south on land belonging to the heirs of Daniel Porter, deceased. Also I give him four Acres of Land lying in the Horse Pasture, so called, butting south on his own Land, to the east on Thomas Upson's Land, to the west and to the north on Common Land. These two pieces of Land as above described, be it more or less than six acres and three quarters of an Acre, I give unto him as an acknowledgement of his being the eldest son, to have and to hold the sd Land with the appurtenances thereunto belonging unto Him and His Heirs and Assigns forever. Also I give him four acres more of Land lying in the Horse Pasture, so called, butting west on Thomas Upson's Land to the north, east and south on Common Land. Also I give him two Stears which he has already received, to have and to hold the same to Him and His Heirs forever, to His and their own sole benefit forever and none of the above given Premises to be counted in the following distribution: Item--I give unto my well beloved Daughter, Mary Welton, one piece of Land south of Buck's Meadow called Upson's Island which piece of Land is Estimated Twelve acres but be it More or Less as it is, butted and bounded, I give the whole to her and her heirs forever and with what she has already received to be the whole of her Portion. Also, I give unto my Daughter, Thankful Blakeslee, twenty shillings in money to be paid or distributed to her out of my estate and this with what she has already received to be the whole of her Portion. Item--I give unto my well beloved Daughter Tabitha Scoville fifteen pounds to be distributed or paid her out of my estate and this with what she has already received to be the whole of her Portion. Also it is my will that all the remainder of my estate, real and personall, after my lawfull debts are paid, shall be equally divided between my Sons Stephen Upson, John Upson, Thomas Upson and my Daughters Elizabeth Bronson and Hannah Bronson in the following Manner and Form, that is to say, my Son Stephen Upson not to be accountable for the division for what I have already given him by Deed or Gift, nor anything above given Him in this my last will and testament; nor my Son Thomas Upson to be any way accountable for this division for what I have given him by Deed or Gift: nor my Son John Upson to be any ways accountable for what I have given Him by Deed or Gift; but my Daughter Elizabeth Brownson to be accountable in this division for what she has received and my Daughter Hannah Brownson to be accountable for what she has received, and for this manner and Division to be made of all the remainder of my estate of every kind between my three Sons and two Daughters Elizabeth and Hannah Brownson (having given my Daughters Mary Welton, Tabitha Scovill, and Thankful Blakeslee, their Portions in full already with what I have particularly given them and sot out to them in this my last will and testament and to my three Sons and Two Daughters to be equal in this Division, only the Daughters Elizabeth and Hannah are to have portioned to them what they have received as Portion out of my estate in my lifetime and I would Have it Known to be my will and pleasure and the design of the testator (though I think it might be conjured otherwise) that my Sons Deeds and Gifts and what I have particularly given any of them in this will or otherwise, shall never be reckoned anyways in the Distribution, but intend they shall have so much more than their sisters. I do hereby disallow and disannul any other or former testaments, Wills and Executors by me in any ways before named, ratifying and confirming this and no other to be my last will and testament, in witness hereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal the day and year above written. His Stephen Upson Mark Signed, sealed pronounced and declared by the sd Stephen Upson as his last Will and Testament in the presence of us, the Subscribers John Southmayd Thomas Porter Jogn S. Southmayd Thomas Judd Clerk

• Sources

  [S449] World Family Tree Vol. 5, Ed. 1, Brøderbund Software, INC., (Release date: August 22, 1996). [S463] World Family Tree Vol. 1, Ed. 1, Brøderbund Software, Inc., (Release date: November 29, 1995). [S1203] #1328. [S1204] #1329. [S1196] stewart download.FTW. Date of Import: Sep 9, 1999 [S1232] Ancestral File ver. (1990) 4.01 LDS.