Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

the committee from Durham which settled
the boundary line between that town
and Guilford. Their son, Ashur Wright,
born May 9, 1755, in Durham, was a
farmer of that town, where he married
Beulah Strong, born March 13, 1757,
daughter of Lieutenant Eliakim and Hannah
(Seward) Strong. Jesse Wright, their
son, was a farmer in KillingTvorth, and
married Nancy Hull.
The Strong family is one of the oldest
and most prolific in New England, was
founded by Elder John Strong, who was
born in 1605, in Taunton, England, and
arrived in Massachusetts, May 30, 1630.
The family was originally located in
Shropshire, and by marriage with an
heiress of Griffith County, Caernarvon,
Wales, secured a residence in that prin-
cipality. Of this family was Richard
Strong, born in 1551, removed in 1590 to
Taunton, Somersetshire, England, where
he died in 1613. His son, John Strong,
lived at London and Plymouth, and came
to New England, as above related, in the
ship "Mary and John." In 1635 he was
among the founders of Dorchester, was
admitted a freeman at Boston, March 9,
1636, and was a proprietor of Taunton,
Massachusetts, December 4, 1638. He
was prominent in that community, repre-
sented the town at the general court of
Plymouth in 1641-43-44-45. Later he removed
to Windsor, Connecticut, and was
one of a committee appointed to advance
the settlement of that place. In 1659, he
was among the active founders and set-
tlers of Northampton, Massachusetts,
where he engaged in business as a tanner,
and was long the ruling elder of the
church there and died April 14, 1699. His
first wife died on the passage to America
and he married, in December, 1630, Abi-
gail Ford. Thomas, son of John Strong,
born between 1630 and 1640, at Windsor,
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
was a trooper there in 1648 under Major
Mason. With his father, he removed to
Northampton, where he died October 3,
1689. He married, December 5, 1660,
Mary, daughter of Rev. Ephraim Hewitt
of Windsor. She died February 20, 1671.
Their eldest child, Thomas Strong, born
November 16, 1661, removed shortly
after 1708 to Durham, Connecticut, where
he was a farmer. He married, November
17, 1683, Mary Stebbins, born September
10, 1666, daughter of John and Abigail
(Bartlett) Stebbins, of Northamp-
190
ton. Lieutenant Eliakim Strong, son of
Thomas and Mary, born September 26,
1688, was a farmer in Northampton and
removed after 1725 to Durham, where he
engaged in farming, and died January 24,
1746. He married, April 13, 1712, Mehitable
King, born March 13, 1690, daughter
of John and Mehitable (Pomeroy)
King of Northampton, the latter born
July 3, 1666, daughter of Medad Pomeroy.
Lieutenant Eliakim Strong, eldest son
of Eliakim and Mehitable, born March 7,
1720, was a large farmer for many years
in Durham. In 1693 he removed with his
sons to Durham, New York, where he
died in 1800. He married, June 3, 1751,
Hannah Seward, born February 21, 1730,
in Durham, daughter of Lieutenant Joseph
and Hannah (Crane) Seward of that
town. Their daughter, Beulah Strong,
became the wife of Ashur Wright as be-
fore noted, and the mother of Jesse
Wright, grandmother of Julia Wright,
who became the wife of Alvin Davis.
Ashur Wright was a soldier of the Revo-
lution and died in 1853.
Sydney Talcott Davis, eldest son of
Alvin and Julia, was born June 24, 1837,
on Pea Hill, where he grew to manhood.
He is the subject of extended mention
elsewhere. He married, January 28, 1858,
Mary Ann Nettleton, who was born