I don't know if this will help BUT you might consider contacting the  
Long Island Collection of the East Hampton Library.
Its collection is vast and most assuredly is not limited to Long Island.
Marci  Vail is the Collections director. Her email is  
[log in to unmask] The library number is 631 324-0222.

You might also contact Connecticut Colonial Records, vols. I-III (via  
U. of Connecticut). All on the nternet and names easily are searchable.

Nancy Hyden Woodward



On Aug 21, 2008, at 11:02 AM, Rebecca Walch wrote:

> I am looking for information regarding the Englishmen of Westchester
> Village in 1656.  Here's an overview of what I know--
>
> 1654, June:  Thomas Pell purchased land from Indian owners in an area
> claimed by the West India Company.
>
> 1654, November:  English settlers made an agreement with Thomas  
> Pell to
> move onto the land.
>
> 1655:  Dutch representatives visited the settlement.  They were met  
> with a
> show of force by the settlers who claimed they were under English
> jurisdiction.  The settlers were warned to leave.
>
> 1656, March:  Dutch soldiers entered the village--under cover of  
> darkness
> if I understand the records correctly--and arrested the leading  
> men.  Most
> of the men were easily disarmed, but 5 managed to take up arms and  
> only
> laid down their weapons after being promised fair treatment.
>
> On March 15, the men who had been arrested (except the final 5) were
> released.  On the 16th, many men of the village petitioned for  
> permission
> to remain on the land.  The petition was granted the same day and  
> Thomas
> Wheeler was appointed magistrate.
>
> On March 25, the 5 Englishmen who had taken up arms against the  
> Dutch were
> released.  Gehring's 1995 transcription lists the men as:  Captain  
> Richard
> Ponton, William Elit, Black March, Jan Gray and Roger Wheales.   
> Captain
> Ponton's identity is established.  The other four men are not  
> identified
> in any source I have found.  I am trying to identify these men.
>
> Help would be greatly appreciated...
>
> Richard Ponton - I believe he was a resident of Flushing before  
> going to
> Westchester Village.  In 1654, Goodwife Harck complained to the
> authorities against Richard Pontum.  She suspected he had burned  
> down her
> barn.  I am trying to learn more about this incident: her husband  
> had gone
> to Virginia; claims to tobacco were involved.  Did Richard become a
> fugitive from the Dutch?  (About 1670, Richard's daughter married  
> Thomas
> Farrington of Flushing.  There was an issue between Harck and  
> Thomas when
> he was a minor.)...
>
> William Elit - I suspect he was the William Ellit of the New Haven  
> Colony
> who was one of Thomas Baxter's men.  I suspect he was also the William
> Ellit who got into trouble with Hannah Spencer.  Note:  Robert  
> Bassett was
> arrested with William during the Thomas Baxter incident.  Robert  
> was one
> of the men in Westchester who petitioned on March 16, 1656.  If I have
> this correctly, Robert's wife was executed for witchcraft.  Robert  
> himself
> had been very outspoken about going to war against the Dutch, etc...
>
> Black March - this man has me stumped.  I am wondering if he could  
> have
> actually been Lieut Marsh, as in Lieutenant Alexander Marsh.   
> Alexander
> was married to the sister of Josiah Gilbert's wife.  Josiah was one  
> of the
> men who petitioned on March 16; his name has sometimes been  
> transcibed as
> Isaiah.  Josiah's brother Obadiah was also one of the March 16
> petitioners.  The Gilberts' mother or sister-in-law, Lydia Gilbert,  
> had
> been executed for witchcraft by November 1654.  (Note:  their brother
> Jonathan was the marshall assigned to arrest Thomas Baxter.)  Another
> possibility for the identity of Black Marsh:  There was a Jonathan  
> Marsh
> of Westchester who died about 1670.  A Jonathan Marsh of the New Haven
> Colony was on a carpenter committee with Robert Bassett in the  
> 1640's...
>
> Jan Gray - I believe this was the John Gray of Newtown who was  
> banished by
> the Dutch in 1653, was accused of abusing the magistrates in 1654, and
> called a fugitive from justice on January 26, 1656.  (No wonder he  
> took up
> arms!)
>
> Roger Wheales - On January 1, 1657, Richard Pointom and Rochier  
> Wyls were
> absent from Westchester Village when the Dutch administered the oath.
> Roger Wiles, Robert Bassett and Richard Ponton are listed in a 1658
> document.  Possibly his surname was Willis...
>
> I will be spending tomorrow at the Family History Library in Salt Lake
> City, digging for more information about these men.  Any suggestions?