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| Monument in Founders Cemetery |
Nehemiah Smith is the 6th great-grandfather of Belle Champlin (Nehemiah Smith, Elizabeth Smith, Joshua Raymond, Elizabeth Raymond, Edward Champlin, John Champlin, Erastus Champlin, Henry Charles Champlin, Birdie Belle Champlin).
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| Detail of monument |
Reverend Nehemiah Smith was born 1605 in New Castle, Staffordshire, England. He died abt. 1686 in New London, Connecticut. He married Sarah Ann Bourn, daughter of Thomas Bourne and Elizabeth, last name unknown. She was born abt. 1615 in Marshfield, Plymouth, Massachusetts. They had 9 children.
In 1637, Nehemiah Smith had come to Plymouth, Massachusetts from England and made application to be admitted as a Freeman. That same year he 'desired land' towards the Six-Mile Brook (Nawascutte)..
-Plymouth Town Records
In 1639, Nehemiah removed to Marshfield, Plymouth, Massachsetts, known as Greens Harbor, where he married, and was the first religious teacher there.
Later, Nehemiah and (Sarah) Ann spent a year or two on Long Island, New York.
In 1644, after disputes regarding his keeping of sheep, they removed to Stratford, Connecticut, where he kept sheep on the west side of the Oyster River.
By 1652, Nehemiah is involved in several land agreements regarding the keeping of sheep. He is referred to as sheperd Smith, and weaver Smith, indicating religious teaching was not his sole occupation.
In 1659, Nehemiah Smith purchased, with other settlers, land at Norwich from the Indian Chief Uncas and his sons of the Mohegan tribe. He was the largest landholder of the group.
-A genealogical history of the descendants of the Rev. Nehemiah Smith
of New Haven, Henry A. Smith
By 1686 when he died, he had transferred his house and land at Norwich to Deacon Joshua Raymond, the husband of his daughter Elizabeth Smith.
Nehemiah and his wife Sarah Ann are buried in the Post and Gager burying ground, known now as Founders Cemetery, where a monument is erected to the first settlers of Norwich.
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| Plaque |
