Nathaniel Chesebrough Sr.

Biography

Nathaniel Chesebrough belonged to the first generation raised around the settlement his father, William Chesebrough, helped establish at Stonington, on Connecticut’s southeastern coast. He married Hannah Denison in 1659. Their family included a son also named Nathaniel and the younger Samuel, whose births belong to the years when the town’s institutions were still taking shape.

Nathaniel’s place in that community appears particularly clearly in the founding of its church. He was one of the nine original members of the Stonington church in 1674.

Property brought less harmonious business. In September 1673, the county court considered differences between Nathaniel and other branches of the Chesebrough family over the wills of William and Ann Chesebrough. The dispute involved the widow and heirs of his brother Samuel and the interests of another branch represented through a guardian. An agreement reached on October 9 settled the differences and received the court’s approval. It gives Nathaniel a place in the practical, sometimes contentious work of dividing an early settler’s estate.

Nathaniel died on November 22, 1678. Hannah survived him and married Joseph Saxton in July 1680. His youngest son Samuel was only a small child when the household lost its father.