| Notes |
- From Libby’s Knowles genealogy:22 “As a boy Nathaniel Knowles evedently woud rather go to sea than to school; for, although he belonged to an educated family, he did not learn to write. After his marriage his father attempted to establish him by giving him a large quantity of land in the new settlement at Windham, Conn., in that part of the town which is not wht town of Scotland; but in a few years he had evidently run through with this, and in a Windham deed he is called ‘of Branford, Conn.,” 27 Mar 1724, when he sold the last of his land at Windham. At Branford he bargained for a house, a shop, and two acres of land, in an instrument dated 8 Aug. 1722, but he did not get his deed until 21 Aug. 1724. Two years from that time he quit claimed his equity in the house and a half acre of the land, an acre and a half having been already levied on by a creditor, 18 Mar. 1724/5. At Branford he attempted to keep a store, and also was licensed as an innkeeper, enterprises which only a keen man could carry on successfully without an elementary education. After his house was gone he continued to live at Branford, doubtless going back to his early choice as sailor. Suits for debts appear in the court, and he was also arrested for having in his possession a man’s purse containing a large sum, but on surrendering this and showing penitence he was discharged with a small fine. A lawsuit in Apr. 1730 gives us his last appearance at Branford, except what we may infer from the marriage of his daughter a few months later; and the only evidence that he removed to Provincetown is found in a military roll in which his youngest son gave his birthplace as ‘Cape Cod,’ an expression which at that time meant Provincetown, where all the inhabitants were squatters, a law of the Province prohibiting the purchase of lands from the Indians. Whether he died at Provincetown or in his father’s house we can only doubtfully infer from his father’s will, which was evidently prompted by his prodigal but beloved son’s lying at death’s door. In one part of the will the father speaks of his son Nathaniel as alive, and in another part he calls Elizabeth a widow.”
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Puffer Genealogy
1686 - 1732 (45 years)
[1, 2]