Robert Seeley: A Puritan Pioneer’s Journey in Early America

Robert Seeley is one of my many Puritan ancestors. He came to New England during the Great Puritan Migration (1620-1640), when about 80,000 English colonists left Europe due to religious persecution and settled in America. While Seeley has an interesting story, it is not without controversy. Follow along as I delve into Robert Seeley’s life in England, emigration to America and his role in the nascent colony. 

Robert Seeley’s Life in England

Robert Seeley was born in 1602 in Huntingdon, Huntingdonshire, England, to William Seeley and Grace Prett. His father was a cabinet maker. In 1623, Seeley moved to London where he secured an apprenticeship as a shoemaker, also known as a cordwainer. 

In 1626. Seeley married Mary Mason. Mason was the name of Mary’s first husband. No one knows what her maiden name was and WikiTree notes that she had 10 children who had all passed away by the time she married Robert Seeley. On September 16, 1626, Seeley had his first and only child, Nathaniel Seeley.

Seeley reportedly became a dedicated Puritan in 1627, the same year he had allegedly begun attending the church of the Puritan minister John Davenport after meeting Dr. Thomas Beard. 

Arrival in Massachusetts Bay

Robert Seeley, his wife and his only child arrived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630 as part of the Great Puritan Migration on the Winthrop Fleet. In October 1630, he was living in Watertown in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Watertown was one of Massachusetts’ earliest Puritan communities with Seeley being one of its original 40 settlers.

In Watertown, Seeley was employed as a surveyor, creating the layouts and plans for the land plots for the settlers. As of May 18, 1631, Seeley was granted freeman status, meaning he had the right to hold public office. 

Settling in Connecticut

In either 1633 or 1634, Robert Seeley was part of a ten-man expedition that John Oldham led where they found the Connecticut River. The group established Wethersfield, the first English settlement on the Connecticut River. 

The Pequot War

Robert Seeley was a lieutenant in the Pequot War in 1637, an early American war where the British settlers deliberately targeted women and children, leaving less than 200 of the 2,000 Pequots who were alive at the beginning of the war.

Seeley served as second in command to John Mason. During the war, Seeley was hit in the eyebrow with a flat-headed arrow during a British attack on a Pequot fort along the Mystic River. Mason pulled the arrowhead out of Seeley’s eyebrow himself, which left the former with a permanent scar from the wound.

Move to New Haven

In 1638, Seeley joined John Davenport’s group and helped establish the New Haven Colony. Seeley played an important role in the colony as New Haven’s first town marshall and lieutenant of the militia. He also participated in an expedition to Long Island Sound. 

As of August 1642, Seeley was lieutenant in the New Haven Train Band, a local militia. He was a lieutenant in the Artillery Company in March 1645. By May 1648, he was captain of the artillery.

Migration to New Amsterdam

Although it is reported that Robert Seeley received permission to move back to England in 1646, he returned to America a few years later and settled in New Amsterdam, present-day New York City. He bought all the land known as “Eaton’s Neck,” located east of Oyster Bay, and some additional land on Long Island.

Seeley led soldiers from New Haven against New Netherlands in 1654. In 1662, he was awarded £15 by the General Court for his role in 1662. He was also tasked with being in charge of the ammunition at the fort in Say-Brook and was provided a home there. 

On December 22, 1666, Seeley married his second wife Mary Manning; however, almost two years later, Seeley died on October 17, 1668, in New York. 

My Connection to Robert Seeley

I am related to Robert Seeley in only one way through my mother. 

1. Robert Seeley (1602 – 1668) and Mary Mason (1590 – 1647) 
2. Nathaniel Seeley (1627 – 1675) and Mary Turney (1631 – 1675)
3. John Seeley (abt. 1661 – 1710) and Rebecca Sanford (1672 – aft. 1725)
4. Hannah Seeley (abt. 1693 – 1732) and Matthew Sherman (1683 – 1754)
5. David Sherman (1724 – 1805) and Abiah Wheeler (1730 – 1822)
6. Abigail Sherman (1770 – abt. 1820) and Prindle Hubbell (abt. 1760 – abt. 1828)
7. Lucinda Hubbell (abt. 1790 – 1871) and John Cornwall (1775 – 1822)
8. Mary Cornwall (1799 – 1877) and Jarius Rood Jarvis Brush (1795 – 1870) 
9. Nathan Brush (1836 – 1903) and Elizabeth Jones (1839 – 1931)
10. Amelia Isabella Brush (1864 – 1935) and Joseph Eli Bondy (1858 – 1944) 
11. Pearl Leafy Bondy (1885 – 1966) and Edward Walter Grondin (1886 – 1973) 
12. Walter Grondin (1910 – 1998) and Mary Catherine Higgins (1908 – 1983)
13. Martha Grondin (Born 1950) and Gary Willis (Born 1946) – my parents

Are you related to Robert Seeley? Let me know!