Francis Stiles 
      Sex: M
Individual Information 
     Birth Date: 
    Christening: 1 Aug 1602 - Milbroke, Bedfordshire, England 2
          Death: Bef 1665
         Burial: 
 Cause of Death:
Parents 
         Father: Thomas Styles (      -1614) 3
         Mother: Marie (      -1614) 3
Spouses and Children 
1. *?Joan (       -       ) 4 
       Marriage: 
       Children:
                1. Mary Stiles (Bef 1640-      )
                2. Ephraim Stiles (1645-1714)
                3. Lieut. Samuel Stiles (      -      )
                4. Benjamin Stiles (Abt 1651-1711)
                5. Thomas Stiles (      -1683)
                6. Hannah Stiles (      -1677)
Notes
General:
A detailed account of the life of Francis Stiles and the project that brought him and his brothers to America can be found in the book The Stiles Family in America -- Genealogies of the Connecticut Family (Henry Reed Stiles, 1895) a facsimile copy of which can be seen at

http://content.ancestry.com/Browse/BookView.aspx?dbid=24705&iid=dvm_GenMono006180-00001-0

An important source for the 1895 book was a careful study carried out over a period of several years by the Rev. Ezra Stiles, pastor of the Second Church in Newport, Rhode Island and then President of Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut, which was mostly complete in manuscript form by 1764.

A summary follows:

"Mr." Francis Stiles, the third son of the Milbroke family, was baptized in St. Michael's Church, Milbroke, Bedfordshire, England August 1, 1602, and for some time previous to his coming to America had been a master carpenter and citizen of London. Though the third, in order of birth, of the four emigrant Stiles brothers, he was by far the most enterprising and energetic in character, and it was through his influence and means that the family came to America.

In some way he came to the attention of Sir Richard Saltonstall, one of a company of English noblemen who, having become thoroughly dissatisfied with the conduct of affairs under the then reigning monarch King Charles I, had decided to seek a new home in the New World and had obtained a patent for a large tract of land on the Connecticut River where they planned to establish a settlement. They appointed Francis Stiles as a steward or manager to lead a small group to the settlement site and prepare it for the subsequent arrival of others.

Francis did not forget his family. His older brother Henry, already established as a carpenter in London, and John, and Thomas, who was a husbandman (farmer) in Milbroke, and perhaps their sister Joane were all included in his plans for a new home. The other brother, Christopher, for some reason preferred to remain behind.

By February 14, 1634-5 the preparations of the Saltonstall party, under Francis Stiles, were evidently very nearly completed, and they were awaiting orders to sail. On that date Henry sent a letter from London to his younger brother Thomas in Milbroke, asking him to procure a copy of the records of the family births from the Parish Registers. Thomas got them and sent them to Henry and asked that he be informed as soon as possible when he should go to London to meet his brothers as he was involved in certain work and was anxious to continue with it as long as possible.

The ship "Christian" whose master was John White sailed from London March 16, 1634-5 and arrived in Boston June 16. There exists a list of all the passengers, which states that all the men have taken the oath of Allegiance and Supremacy. There are 22 adult males, three adult females, and two children (two of the women and both the children belonging to the Stiles family) under the charge and direction of Francis Stiles, to whom, (or to his elder brother Henry, also a master carpenter and a freeman of London) nearly all the adult males were apprenticed, some before and some after their coming to America. John Stiles brought with him his wife and two children. The Joan Stiles on the passenger list may be Francis's wife or his sister.

The ship remained in Boston for about 10 days and then set sail for Saltonstall's plantations on the Connecticut River, near the later town of Windsor, Connecticut. They arrived about July 1 and unloaded their supplies on the west side of the river. Very soon a party of men arrived who had been sent from the Massachusetts Bay Colony to look for a suitable location for an expansion of their colony. They claimed that Stiles's party was within the jurisdiction of Massachusetts and proceeded to put a stop to the settlement. There was a protracted dispute in which the superior numbers of the settlers subsequently sent from Dorchester in the Massachusetts colony prevailed. These settlers established the Windsor settlement into which the Stiles party ultimately became assimilated. Sir Richard Saltonstall's project came to naught, but Francis Stiles and his siblings had successfully arrived in the New World.

After the abandonment of the Saltonstall enterprise, Mr. Stiles appears to have purchased from his patron some 1000 acres of his lands at Windsor, which, together with between 400 and 500 acres which he had already received by allotment from the Town, was, for that day, an unusually large amount of real estate for one man to hold; and it is probable that Stiles was obliged to borrow money, or make some sacrifices, in order to pay for it. At all events his debt to Saltonstall ultimately forced him to sell his estate. He resold it, or a portion thereof, to Saltonstall, or his son Robert, and in his deed, dated Sept. 12, 1647, is named as "Francis Stiles, late of Windsor, but now of Saybrook." This transfer left Stiles not poor, but reduced in circumstances.

He was the only one of the four Stiles brothers to whom the title of "Mr." -- which was in those days no unmeaning phrase, but a veritable index of social position -- was ever given; and he was, undoubtedly, as Gov. Wolcott informed President Stiles, "a man of great business". Court records seem to indicate this and that he was a man of quick, passionate nature (known to be something of a family trait); stout in asserting his rights and consequently frequently involved in lawsuits.

He was admitted a Freeman at Windsor September 10, 1640. He was actively engaged as a carpenter and building contractor, which activity sometimes resulted in his being sued. It is not clear when he left Windsor nor where he went. He may have moved to Stratford, Connecticut. In any event his widow remarried, and both her second husband and her children by Francis Stiles are prominently associated with Stratford. She petitioned the General Court in 1665 concerning the estate of her first husband; she made her will June 5, 1677 and died in 1682.
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Sources

1 Henry Reed Stiles, The Stiles Family in America -- Genealogies of the Connecticut Family, 1895, pgs 462-74. Repository: Clayton Library, Houston, Texas.

2 Henry Reed Stiles, The Stiles Family in America -- Genealogies of the Connecticut Family, 1895, pg 20 -- Milbrooke: Stylle extracts from the parish registers. Repository: Clayton Library, Houston, Texas.

3 Henry Reed Stiles, The Stiles Family in America -- Genealogies of the Connecticut Family, 1895, pg 20. Repository: Clayton Library, Houston, Texas.

4 Henry Reed Stiles, The Stiles Family in America -- Genealogies of the Connecticut Family, 1895, pg 470. Repository: Clayton Library, Houston, Texas.

5 Henry Reed Stiles, The Stiles Family in America -- Genealogies of the Connecticut Family, 1895, pg 471. Repository: Clayton Library, Houston, Texas.

6 Henry Reed Stiles, The Stiles Family in America -- Genealogies of the Connecticut Family, 1895, pgs 471, 475-479. Repository: Clayton Library, Houston, Texas.

7 Henry Reed Stiles, The Stiles Family in America -- Genealogies of the Connecticut Family, 1895, pgs 472-73. Repository: Clayton Library, Houston, Texas.

8 Henry Reed Stiles, The Stiles Family in America -- Genealogies of the Connecticut Family, 1895, pgs 473, 479-81. Repository: Clayton Library, Houston, Texas.

9 Henry Reed Stiles, The Stiles Family in America -- Genealogies of the Connecticut Family, 1895, pg 473. Repository: Clayton Library, Houston, Texas.

10 Henry Reed Stiles, The Stiles Family in America -- Genealogies of the Connecticut Family, 1895, pg 474. Repository: Clayton Library, Houston, Texas.

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