JOHN BANNING

• Birth Notes
  • as born in England about 1650 

• Death Notes
  • wand died in Lyme, CT, shortly before September 1717 when his will was probated (New London Probate District #292). He married first, in England at an unknown date, a woman whose name may have been ELIZABETH. 

• General Notes
  • JOHN1 BANNING was born in England about 1650 and died in Lyme, CT, shortly before September 1717 when his will was probated (New London Probate District #292). He married first, in England at an unknown date, a woman whose name may have been ELIZABETH.  There exists in the Register of St. Martin in the Fields, County Middlesex, England, a record written 31 Oct 1673 of the baptism of Frances, daughter of John and Elizabeth Baning in October 1673. Baning was an alternate spelling of John's name. He married second, about 1689, place unknown, the widow ABIGAIL NILES, whose first husband, John Niles had died about 1687. (The date of this marriage is earlier and the death of John Niles is later than those usually given; they have been adjusted to fit new facts found in the New Shoreham Town Book , and are described in detail in my paper in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 153:323-343).
    
    His first appearance in America was at a town meeting of New Shoreham, Block Island, RI in 1685, and he attended these meetings regularly until he left the island. Peter George, a wealthy landowner, gave him three acres of land, perhaps as a wedding gift, in 1689 "for the reall good will and Respectt we have to John Baning taylor."(NSTB,292); such an unusual gift to an outsider suggests that John may have been in some way related to Peter George. He was made freeman 10 Jan 1692 and in June of 1702 was called as deputy constable to inspect and bury a body washed up on the beach. Usually he was addressed as "Mister", although he could not sign his name, printing instead his mark, a rough JB. When he married Abigail Niles, he acquired four stepchildren, Penelope, Abigail, John and Ambrose Niles; the two eldest girls are included following a suggestion of Moriarity in the Register.
    
    On 11 June 1701, John Banning joined in partnership with two Tiffany brothers, Consider and Ephraim, in the purchase of roughly 1000 acres in Lyme, CT. called Joshua's Town. Ephraim Ball, but later owned the whole third. Consider was married to John's step-daughter, Abigail Niles. John Banning and his son John, Jr., calling themselves "late of Block Island, now of Lyme,"sold their three acres on Block Island on 15 August  1702 ( New Shoreham Town Book and my paper in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 153:323-343).The first of the partnership to settle in Lyme, John apparently picked for his home lot what he thought was the best place in the whole 1000 acre tract. 
    
    It was in the southwest part of Joshua's Town, near what is still called Joshua's Rock; where a natural seat is found in the rock of the cliff overlooking the Connnecticut  River, the favorite seat of the sachem who sold the land to the white settlers. His name was chief Attawanhood, who called himself Joshua after he became a Christian. John Banning thought so much of this land that he deeded his home lot to his grandson John when the latter was only five years old, to make sure it stayed in the family. It did for about 100 years until the Bannings were bought out by larger and richer landowners. Immediately upon purchase John gave half of his third to Abigail's sons, John and Ambrose Niles. His will mentions his wife Abigail, son John2 and daughter Frances, as well as his little grandson, John3.
    
    

Click here for details of JOHN's family with WIDOW ABIGAIL NILES

Source/Citation

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