Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

there is frequent reference to the name
Mallett.
(I) David Mallett, hereinbefore men-
tioned, fled from France, in 1687, after the
death, by torture on the wheel, of his
brother and brother-in-law. He took
refuge in England and there established
himself as a physician in Yorkshire. He
had five sons, one of whom went to Germany.
His third son, John, was the progenitor
of the family in America.
(II) John Mallett, son of David Mallett,
was born in France, went to Eng-
land in 16S7 with his father and a
brother, who also became a physician in
Yorkshire. After the death of his father
in England in 1691, John Mallett returned
to France, secured some money
and sailed with his wife and children in a
company of Huguenots bound for South
Carolina. His vessel landed at Santee;
two other ships which made the same voyage
discharged their passengers at Beaufort.
His wife and children died, and he
later returned to Europe, going to his
brother in Germany, where for two years
he served in the army. He again set sail
for America, coming by way of New York
to Santee. He finally located in the Huguenot
town of New Rochelle, New York,
about 1695. There are contradictory opin-
ions as to the status and occupation of
John Mallett, the immigrant ancestor.
One is that he was a man of wealth, and
succeeded in bringing some of his prop-
erty with him to America. The other is
that he was a ship carpenter, and that he
escaped from France, probably Lyons,
with only his broad-axe and his Bible. A
further version of the second theory tells
of his being secreted in a carpenter's chest
by his young wife and thus carried on
board ship, and that his Bible was hidden
in a block of wood shaped like a foot-
stool. The former theory is substantiated
by the position of John Mallett in Amer-
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
33^
ica and his various extensive land pur-
chases, which would seem to indicate that
he was a man of means. There is no
proof of that latter theory. The branch
of the family herein dealt with uphold the
former. According to a letter written by
General Peter Mallet, of Wilmington and
Fayetteville, North Carolina, a grandson
of John Mallett, John Mallett purchased
lands on the Santee river, in South Carolina,
and settled his nephew Peter, who
came to America on the first voyage,
there ; he also bought land in Boston,
Massachusetts, and settled his brother in
that place. For himself he bought land
at New Rochelle, New York, but soon
changed it for other land at Fairfield,
Connecticut, where he was residing as
early as 1710.
He married, in 1695, Johanna Lyon,
born in France in 1663, and died at the
age of one hundred and one years, September
16, 1764. She was a woman of
great physical strength and endurance.
Her will is dated March 18, 1763, and bequeaths
to her sons John and David. On
the west side of Division street (or Mut-
ton lane), now known as Park avenue in
Bridgeport, but at that time the dividing
line between Bridgeport and Fairfield, and
even earlier the line between Stratford
and Fairfield, there stood until 1893 a
plain frame dwelling, known for many
years as the Mallett homestead. This
house originally stood on a tract of land
of forty acres, originally the property of
John Mallett, as is evidenced in several
deeds and in the land records of the towns
of Fairfield and Stratford. This land is
now occupied by many of the fine residences
and by a portion of the park at
Seaside, Bridgeport. The farm, bounded
on the north by the highway, south by
the sound, east and west by the lands of
Timothy Wheeler and Isaac Hall, was
deeded to John Mallett's sons on March