Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

op. John Edgerton, only child of John
and Mary was born February 26, 1691,
and married, December 28, 1714, Ruth
Adgate, who was born March 27, 1693, in
Norwich, eldest child of Thomas and
Ruth (Brewster) Adgate. Ruth Brewster
was born September 16, 1671, third daughter
of Benjamin and Anne (Dart) Brewster.
Benjamin Brewster, born January
17, 1633, died September 14, 1710, in Norwich.
Ann (Dart) Brewster died May
9, 1709. Benjamin Brewster, son of Jonathan
Brewster, was born August 12,
1593. '" Scrooby, England, and died 1659
in Connecticut. He married, April 10,
1624, Lucretia Oldham of Darby, Eng-
land. John Brewster was the eldest child
of Elder William Brewster of the famous
"Mayflower" party, the organizer and
head of the Plymouth Pilgrims of 1620.
The name of Brewster appears among the
oldest families, in the reign of Edward
III as ranking among the English landed
gentry. As early as 1375 John Brewster
lived in the parish of Henstead in Suffolk,
England, and in the reign of Richard
II John Brewster was prebend of Godwich,
in the county of Norfolk. By marriage
the Norfolk branch was connected
with several distinguished houses of
Ivlolkham. Robert Brewster owned lands
in Henstead and from the Suffolk branch
lines are established at Castle Hedingham
in Essex, where it was connected
with several knightly families.
It was supposed that Elder William
Brewster, probably of this connection,
was born at Scrooby in Nottinghamshire,
where he was active in the organization
of dissenters from the established church.
In 1607 he was imprisoned at Boston in
Lincolnshire for his activity against the
established religious order. With great
difficulty and expense, his release was se-
cured and he went to Leyden, whence he
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
150
came with the Pilgrim band to Plymouth,
Massachusetts. In early life he held a
responsible position in the service of Wil-
liam Davidson, one of Queen Elizabeth's
ambassadors, and afterward a secretary of
state. From this service he went to
Scrooby, which is supposed to have been
his native village and there aided in form-
ing the company which first settled at
Plymouth, Massachusetts. His eldest
son, Johnathan, born at Scrooby, some
thirteen miles distant from Doncaster in
Yorkshire, came to Plymouth in 1621 and
in June, 1636, had command of the Plymouth
trading house on the Connecticut
River. He gave notice to Governor John
Winthrop of the evil designs of the Pequots.
Later he settled at Duxbury, Mas-
sachusetts, which he represented in the
General Court in 1639. Before 1649 he
was a resident of New London, Connecti-
cut, where he was selectman in that year
and where he died before September. His
wife, Lucretia Oldham, was the mother of
Benjamin Brewster, born November 17,
1633, in Duxbury. He settled on his
father's homestead at Brewster Neck,
which he acquired by purchase, the farm
originally in the town of New London,
now in Ledyard, then a part of the former
town. He was much in the public serv-
ice ; long deputy to the General Court,
lieutenant of the New London troop, later
captain of the Norwich Military Com-
pany. He married, February 28, 1660,
Anne Darte, who was probably the widow
of Ambrose Darte of Boston. The lat-
ter's wife was Anne Adis, daughter of
William Adis of Cape Anne. Ruth, second
daughter of Benjamin Brewster, became
the wife of Thomas Adgate and the
mother of Ruth Adgate, who married
John Edgerton of Norwich. Her second
son, Elisha Edgerton, was born February
28, 1727, in Norwich, and married there,