Email #3 From: JamesGibbsAIA@aol.com Date: January 25, 2006 9:22:10 PM GMT-05:00 To: d.a.macd@comcast.net Cc: tcolegrove1@msn.com Subject: Re: Corwin/Colegrove David, First off, there should be no surprise that any early RI Colegrove might marry someone from New London County, CT. The immigrant Francis Colgrove was settled in Westerly, RI, by as early as 1690 (when he appears a witness to a deed in Westerly) and at least by 1700 when he was made a Freeman of Westerly. Westerly borders on New London County, CT. Westerly was where the Second Sabbatarian Church of Newport was established in 1708, which is why Francis' adult baptism (the Sabbatarians did not practice infant baptism) in 1698 was recorded back in Newport (before the church was built in Westerly but after the Sabbatarians had spread to Westerly), though he most likely never lived in Newport. The first generations of Colegroves were all Sabbatarians (later known as Seventh Day Baptists). Do you have any Sabbatarian Corwins? Francis' first confirmed homestead in Westerly was less than a mile from the RI/CT border, in what is today the village of Ashaway (now part of the Town of Hopkinton, but then still part of Westerly). Hopkinton borders on New London County. The immigrant's own son, Francis, Jr., was living just across the border in RI in what is today North Stonington, in New London County, at the end of his life -- this is documented by Stonington town records. Many if not most of the first two or three generations of Colgroves straddled the RI/CT border: Westerly, Hopkinton, Exeter, West Greenwich, Coventry, & Foster, all in RI bordering on CT, and in Stonington/North Stonington, Voluntown, & Stirling, all in CT bordering on RI. For instance, the Riverside Cemetery in the Village of Oneco in today's Town of Stirling, CT, is full of Colegroves who lived less than a mile away, in Coventry, RI. Oneco was the closest village to the Stephen (son of the immigrant) Colegrove homestead in Coventry -- his homestead bordered on the colony (state) line. The John you speak of was the son of this Stephen -- I have personally seen John's tombstone in the Riverside Cemetery. In fact, all that has been written about the Colegroves being based in Warwick is false. It is possible that the immigrant passed through Warwick, but the only connection to Warwick of any merit is Coventry, which originally was part of Warwick, and this was home to just one of the immigrant's sons. The ancestral home of the Colegroves in America was Westerly, not Warwick. The genealogy of the family that was published more than a century had no clew that the first generation lived in Westerly, though the town records of Westerly, and of the towns that were created from Westerly -- Charlestown, Hopkinton, and Richmond -- are full of early vital and land records related to the family. The first generation born in America soon spread into the surrounding towns of West Greenwich, South Kingstown, Coventry and Foster in RI, but also into Stonington/North Stonington and Voluntown across the border in CT -- in New London County. Again, the town records prove this. With regard to Corwin, Oneco has a number of tombstones which I personally deciphered in the field as "Colvin", not "Corwin", though I subsequently found that several secondary published sources claimed that these were one and the same families. A worn tombstone could easily be read either way. One of these tombstones reads: "Mrs. Martha Colegrove wife of John Colegrove" and adds "died in the 39 year of her age". John Colegrove's tombstone is nearby -- John being the one born in 1742 or 1743. Given all the Colvins in the graveyard, I would not be surprised that Martha was a Colvin/Corwin, but I have no proof of her last name. The tombstone of John's second wife is for a woman named by the tombstone as as "Nancy, Wife of John Colegrove". Again, apart from all those Colvins buried there, I have no proof as to her last name. If your main interest is in the Corwin/Colvin family, you should research the Riverside Cemetery, in the Village of Oneco, in the Town of Stirling, in New London County, Connecticut. As to Corwins being from Long Island, the North Fork of eastern Long Island is just a few miles offshore from New London County, and there are a number of other North Forkers who had kin on the CT mainland. But perhaps the Corwins are not the same as the Colvins. Look at a map and you will seen that New London County borders what is today Washington County, RI. In fact, I live in New London County but work in RI. I have a lot more, but will have to get back to you when I have time to dig into my files... JIM GIBBS