Know all men by these presents, That I, Ralph Hall, of Charletowne in New England, Pipe stave maker, for a certaine valluable consideration by mee in hand Received, by which I doe acknowledge myselfe to be fully satisfied, and payed, and contented; Have bargained, sould, given, and granted, and doe by these presents Bargaine, sell, give, and grant unto william Luddington of Charletowne aforesayd, Weaver, Twenty Achors of Land, more or less, scituate, Lying, and Beeing in Maulden, That is to say, fifteen Acres of Land, more or less which I, the sayd Ralph formerly purchased at the hand of Thomas Peirce, of Charltowne, senior, Bounded on the Northwest by the land of Mr. Palgrave, Phisition, on the Northeast by the Lands of John Sybly, on the South Easte by the Lands of James Hubbert, and on the South west by the Land of widdow Coale, And the other five Acres herein mencioned sould to the sayd William, Are five Acres, more, or less, bounded on the southeast by the Land of Widdow Coale aforesaid, on the southwest by Thomas Grover and Thomas Osborne, Northeast by the Ground of Thomas Molton, and Northwest by the forsayde fifeteen Acres: which five acres I formerly purchased of Mr. John Hodges, of Charltowne. To Have and to hould the sayd fifeteen acres, and five Acres of Lands, with all the Appurtenances and priviledges thereoff To Him, the sayd William Luddington his heigres and Assignees for ever: And by mee, the sayd Ralph Hall, and Mary my wife, to bee bargained sould, given, and confirmed unto him, the sayd william, and his heigres and assignes for him, and them peasable and quietly to possess, inioy, and improve to his and their owne proper use and usses for ever, and the same by us by vertue hereoff to bee warrantedtised (sic) mayntained, and defended from any other person or persons hereafter Laying clayme to the same by any former contract or agreement concerning the same: In witness whereof, I, the sayd Ralph Hall with Mary my wife, for our selves, our heires, executors and Administrators, have hereunto sett our hands and seales.
Dated this Tenth day of December 1649.
This is testified before the worshipfull Mr. Richard Bellingham.
On November 30, 1651, William Ludington was mentioned in the will of Henry Sandyes, of Charlestown, as one of the creditors of his estate, and in 1660 he was enrolled as a juror in Malden. Early in the latter year, however, he removed from Malden or Charlestown to the New Haven, Connecticut, colony, and there settled at East Haven, adjoining Branford, on the east side of the Quinnipiac River. Five years before there had been established at that place the first iron works in Connecticut. The raw material used was the rich bog ore which was then found in large quantities in the swamps of North Haven and elsewhere, precisely like that which at a still later date was abundantly found and worked in the swamps of southern New Jersey, where the name of “Furnace” is still borne by more than one village on the site of a long-abandoned foundry. This industry flourished at East Haven until about 1680, when the supply of bog ore was exhausted and the works were closed. Although William Ludington had been a weaver at Malden, he appears to have been interested in these iron works, and indeed probably removed to East Haven for the sake of connecting and identifying himself with them. But his career there was short. On March 27, 1660, evidently soon after his arrival there, he was complainant in a slander suit, and in either the same year or the next year he died, at the East Haven iron works. The manner of his death, whether from sickness or from accident, is unknown. But it evidently produced some impression in the community, since it is the only death specially recorded in the early annals of the place.
The precise date of his death, even the year in which it occurred, is a matter of uncertainty. Mr. Patrick quotes a passage from the East Haven records which says: “In 1662 John Porter obtained a piece of land to set his blacksmith shop upon … and about the same time William Ludington died.” Therefore he concludes that William Ludington died in 1662. But was it 1662 according to the chronology of those times or according to that of our time? Wyman’s records of Charlestown and Malden, which mention William Ludington’s departure thence for East Haven, relate that on October 1, 1661, John White made petition for the appointment of an administrator of William Ludington’s estate in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, and Pope’s “Pioneers of Massachusetts” confirms that record, giving the name of the petitioner as Wayte or Waite, and adding that the inventory of the estate was filed by James Barrat, or Barret, on April 1, 1662. Mr. Patrick has the name Bariat and the date February 1, 1662. Here we have, then, the same discrepancy of exactly two months in statement of date which was noticed in the case of Matthew Ludington’s birth and death. Of course, if the petition for administration of William Ludington’s estate was made on October 1, 1661, his death must have occurred before that date, instead of in 1662 as the East Haven records suggest. The explanation of the apparent conflict of dates is doubtless to be found in the changes of calendar to which reference has been made, one historian giving the date according to the chronology then prevailing and another according to that of the present day. Concerning the date of the probating of his estate at East Haven, however, there is apparently no doubt, since in the records of it the dual year-dates are given. That estate was inventoried and appraised by John Cooper and Matthew Moulthrop, and their inventory, according to Hoadly’s “New Haven Colonial Records,” was filed in court at New Haven on March 3, 1662, according to the chronology of that time, or 1663 according to ours. This interesting document was entitled “An Inventory of ye Estate of William Ludington, late of New Haven, deceased, amounting to £183 and 10s., upon Oath attested yt ye Aprizents was just to the best of their light, by John Cooper, Sen., and Matthew Moulthrop in Court at New Haven, 1662-63.” It ran in detail as follows:
The marke, i. e. of
| John Cooper, | } Apprisers. |
| Mathew Moulthrop, |
Again, in the “Records of the Proprietors of New Haven” we find that “At a Court held at New Haven March 3, 1662-3 … an inventory of the Estate of Willm. Luddington deceased whas presented.… The widdow upon oath attested to the fulness of it to the best of her knowledge.… The widdow being asked if her husband made noe will answered that she knew of none for she was not at home when he died.… The matter respecting the childrens portions was deferred till next court & the … widdow with him that shee was to marry & all her children above fourteen years of age was ordered then to appear.…” At this date, therefore, William Ludington’s widow was engaged to be married again, and that engagement was publicly announced. Moreover, she was actually married to her second husband, John Rose, a few weeks later, for on May 5 following, in 1662-63, according to the “Proprietors’ Records,” the court was again in session, and “John Rose who married widdow Ludington was called to know what security he would give for the childrens portions that was not yet of age to receive them.” It is true that in those days the period of mourning before remarriage was sometimes abbreviated, but it is scarcely conceivable that this widow’s marriage took place within a few months of her husband’s death, or sooner than a year thereafter. It may therefore be assumed that William Ludington’s death, at the East Haven iron works, occurred at least as early as March or April, 1661-62.
There is reason to believe that William Ludington was not only a man of note in the East Haven community but that also he was a man of considerable property—more than would be suggested by the item of “house and land 60 lbs.” in the inventory. For the New Haven Land Records show that in 1723 his son, William Ludington, 2nd, sold to Thomas Robinson “part of that tract of land set out to my father, William Luddington, which tract contains 100 acres.” This property was in East Haven, just across the river from Branford.