Jonathan Marsh (1621–1672) was a founding

settler A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established a permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. A settler who migrates to an area previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited may be described as a pioneer. Settl ...

of the

New Haven Colony The New Haven Colony was a small English colony in North America from 1638 to 1664 primarily in parts of what is now the state of Connecticut, but also with outposts in modern-day New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. The history of ...

, and of Norwalk,

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

.An Historical Discourse in Commemoration of the Two-hundredth Anniversary of the Settlement of Norwalk
/ref> He came to Norwalk from New Haven sometime prior to March 1656. He was the settlement's

miller A miller is a person who operates a mill, a machine to grind a grain (for example corn or wheat) to make flour. Milling is among the oldest of human occupations. "Miller", "Milne" and other variants are common surnames, as are their equivalent ...

. He was born about 1621, in Braintree,

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, the son of John Marsh and Grace Baldwin. Jonathan and his brother Samuel came to America from England, and are recorded in Boston in 1641. On May 7, 1650, he is recorded as having sold his land in New Haven to Lancelot Fuller who was married to Jonathan's sister Hannah Marsh.Ancient Town Records: New Haven
/ref> To this day his last surviving relative is still living in Heybridge Essex, Also called Jonathan Marsh he is a well known face and was featured in battling the Bailiffs with Chrisy Morris and can be found walking the streets of maldon helping the needy. At a town meeting in Norwalk on January 6, 1654, a vote was taken which determined that the settlement's milling apparatus was insufficient, and already commenced improvements would be inadequate. The three settlers who were responsible for the mill at the time, Thomas Fitch, Nathaniel Richards, and Richard Olmsted, were to consult with Lieutenant Samuel Swayn, who built the mill in Stamford. They constructed a dam at the mouth of Mill Brook, and Jonathan Marsh built, "a corn mill sufficient for all purposes." Marsh ran the mill for about six years, and then sold the operation to Richards.The Ancient Historical Records of Norwalk, Connecticut
/ref> Marsh sold his lot to Ephraim Lockwood in 1664. He is listed on the Founders Stone bearing the names of the founding settlers of Norwalk in the

East Norwalk Historical Cemetery __NOTOC__ Established in , the East Norwalk Historical Cemetery is Norwalk's oldest cemetery, and many of the area's first settlers are buried there. The cemetery is owned and maintained by the Third Taxing District, formally known as the East Nor ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marsh, Jonathan 1621 births 1672 deaths Millers American Puritans Settlers of Norwalk, Connecticut People from Braintree, Essex People from New Haven, Connecticut