General Notes

[spelman.FTW]

REFN: 628
16th generaltion English, 1st generation American.

The son of Richard Spilman or Spelman and his wife, Alice, was born in
Danbury, County Essex, England. As appears above, his baptism was
record ed in the parish register of Danbury Church.
Richard Spilman the son of Richar d & Alice his wife Bapt: March: 7.
1674.  According to the inscription on his tombstone, however, he was
eighty-five years old in 1750, the year of his de ath, which would have
made his birth about 1665.
The earliest knowledge foun d of him is in 1695, when he obtained a
license from the Archdeacon of Chelms ford, near Danbury, to marry Mary
Baker of Tillingham. At this time he appear s to have been living at
Southminster. In the license it is stated that the m arriage is to take
place at Danbury.
In the registers of the latter place th ere is no mention of this
marriage, nor is it recorded at Tillingham, the Ric hard Spelman and Mary
made their home in Danbury, and there was their child b orn. In the
registers of the Church of St. John the Baptist appears: "Aaron, son of
Richard Spilman and Mary his wife, baptized Aug. 9, 1696." Some time
between the birth of their little son and 1700 both the child and his
mother died. They were probably buried at Danbury, but the burial records
are lost between the years 1687 and 1700. Many of the old stones in the
churchyard hav e been removed or have fallen into the earth, and so
probably have disappeare d the gravestones of the Spelmans who were
undoubtedly buried there.
In 1700 Richard set sail for the new land across the seas. Just what were
the motive s that brought about this departure we may not know. Probably,
as in the case of so many of our immigrant ancestors, more than one
influence played a part in his decision to leave his English home for the
sea's perils and an unknow n country. With him on the ship went Alcey
French, who has been thought to ha ve been the daughter of one Hannah
French, a widow, who was buried in St. Mar y's Churchyard at Chelmsford 28
February, 1683. The registers of St. Mary's g ive the item of her burial,
with a note of a certificate for her burial in wo olen, and the statement
that she had resided in the house of Beaumont Oates i n Chelmsford.
Whether Richard Spelman had known Alcey French in England or whe ther
their first meeting was on shipboard has never been decided. The ship on
which they sailed is unknown, but it is family tradition dating far back
t hat they came together to America, and that they were married here soon
after their arrival.  A quaint old story which has been handed down
in the S pelman family is that Alcey embarked "with a finger of worsted on her hand."
I n the old way of spinning it was customary to wind the worsted close around t he first finger of the left hand, from which it was untwisted by the large wh eel, turned by the right
hand. The idea seems to have been that the suddennes s of Alcey's
departure gave her no time even to remove from her finger the wo rsted
which she was spinning.
A Spelman tradition is that Alcey French was o f Welsh ancestry. She was
born about 1674, as she was ninety-three years old at her death, in 1767,
as appears below. Wherever Richard Spelman and Alcey l anded, their
marriage speedily followed, and together they journeyed to Middl etown,
Connecticut. Here they lived during Richard's lifetime, and here were
their six children born.