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a.
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Note: The date and place of birth of Richard Edgerton, Sr. is uncertain. According to one source he came from the Parish of
Ashford, Kent County, England. [Charles Edward Banks,
[IT:Topographical Dictionary of 2885 English Emigrants to New England,
1620-1650:IT], 1957, p 74] Other sources suggest he may have come
from the Parish of Brook, Kent County, England, the son of Richard
Edgerden and Ellen Strood or Strude, baptized at Brook, 22 November
1622. [Compiled from original records of Wye and Brook by Duncan
Harrington, Canterbury, Kent Co, England, 24 November 1982) In either
case, it would seem likely that Richard Edgerton, Sr. was from Kent
County, a hotbed of Puritanism in England during that period.
The fact that Richard Edgerton first appears in Saybrook, Connecticut, a Puritan colony established at the mouth of the
Connecticut River in 1635, would tend to confirm Kent County as his
place of origin. The colony of Saybrook was founded under the
auspices of an English company whose leading members were William
Fiennes, Lord Say and Sele and Robert Grenville, Lord Brooke.
"Saybrook" was named in the honor of the two English lords.
Immigration from England declined because of the Puritan Revolution and the colony was sold to Connecticut in 1644. It was in
Saybrook that Richard Edgerton and Mary Sylvester were married in
1653. Their first three children were born in Saybrook. Richard
moved his family to Norwich Connecticut about 1660.
Richard Edgerton, Sr. was one of the first settlers of Norwich, CT. His death in March 1691/92 is recorded in the Vital Records of
Norwich, CT in Vol 1, p 35 of the original records. The births of the
first three children of Richard Edgerton and Mary Sylvester are also
recorded at Saybrook, CT before the settlement of Norwich. Richard
Edgerton left a will, which has not been found; it was probably
destroyed at New London, CT, September, 1781. "Richard Edgerton, sold
to his brother, Samuel Edgerton, all that my thirty acres of land
lying on Middle Hill which was given me by my father as appears by his
will, which thirty acres was part of my father's Third Division."
(Land Records, Norwich, CT, Vol 2A, p 208)
Certain lands in Norwich were "laid out to the heirs of Richard Edgerton formerly of Norwich, Deceased, who was one of the first
settlers of the town." (Book of Grants, pp 561 and 564)
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