General Notes

[spelman.FTW]

REFN: 691
RICHARD SPILMAN, the son of Richard Spilman of Great Baddow and Widf ord,
County Essex, and his first wife, Barbara Stabell, was born about 1590-1 ,
as evidenced by the record of his baptism in Saint Mary's Church at Great
Baddow, as quoted above. It would be interesting to know if he received
his education at the King Edward VI Grammar School in Chelmsford, which
would hav e been natural, as Widford, to which his father removed in the
younger Richar d's boyhood, probably, was a part of Chelmsford Parish.
Sometime between Augus t, 1637, and March, 1638-9, was baptized Richard,
the son of Richard Spilman of Chelmsford, and Luce, his wife, as entered
in the church books. The exact dates are not found in the register at
this period.
Both Great Baddow and Ch elmsford were influenced by the Puritan party of
the time, and Thomas Hooker, the celebrated preacher, who became one of
the founders of Hartford, Connect icut, was for a time at Great Baddow. In
1626 the Puritan sympathizers in Che lmsford invited him to come to that
place to preach. The Vicar of Chelmsford then was John Michaelson, and it
was not long before Archbishop Laud put an e nd to Hooker's preaching in
Chelmsford. It is said that a number of his heare rs there followed him to
Little Baddow, where he dwelt and preached in a hous e on Danbury Hill.
Here with him was John Eliot, later known as "The Apostle to the Indians."
Among Hooker's followers when he emigrated to New England was William
Cornwell, and he was one of the men of Hartford in Connecticut who, about
1654, settled in Middletown, Connecticut, where the great-grandson of
Richard Spilman of Chelmsford married the great-granddaughter of William
Cor nwell.
It is of interest to the descendants of the colonists of New England to
know that Springfield, Massachusetts, received its name from settlers who
came from Springfield in Essex, one mile away
from Chelmsford.
Richard Spilma n died at Chelmsford early in 1640-1.
The date of his wife's death is unknown. Of their children, Abraham
remained in Chelmsford, dying there aged fifty-ni ne years. No record of
his marriage or of births of children have been found, nor is
there mention, other than her baptism, already quoted, of his sister,
Rebecca.