Page:Recollections of John Howard Redfield.djvu/24

 Paternal Ancestry.

In 1639 William Redfin occupied a house and four acres of land in that part of the town of Cambridge Mass., which lay south of Charles River, about six miles from Boston. See Jackson's History of Newton, Mass., pp. 9, s3, where the name is erroneously cited "Redsen." He was one of the first settlers upon that side of the river, and was no doubt of English origin, and one of that numerous band of emigrants which from about 1630 continued for twenty years to seek refuge in the wilds of America, from the religious and political oppressions which led to the great civil war of that century. The location he had chosen was near the present town of Brighton, sloping from Nonantum Hill to the river meadows, and afforded a fine view eastward towards Boston and its vicinity. He continued to reside there until August, 1646, when he sold his house and land, and before 1654 he had removed to Brewster's Neck, about seven miles north of the present city of New London, Conn., where he built a dwelling and where he resided until his death in 1662, leaving a widow, Rebecca, and four children, three of whom were