By Lester Warren Fish
DURING THE FIRST THREE DECADES after the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth there were at least nine individual immigrants bearing the name of Fish, seven of whom were probably grandsons of (1) John and Margaret Fyshe of Great Bowden, Leicestershire, England, who settled in different local- ities on the New England shores and were the progenitors of numerous citizens scattered throughout the northern states. The first three of this group to land on the shores of the new world were the brothers, (60) Jonathan, (61) John and (62) Nathaniel, sons of (5) Thomas2 and Mary (Sprigge) Fysh of Wedgenock Park, Warwick, England. Thomas was a tenant and close neighbor of Lord Brook and the enthusiasm of the three brothers for the new land beyond the sea perhaps was kindled by this lord who may have had large holdings in the New England. The brothers first landed at Lynn, Mass., and were among the first settlers of Sandwich, Mass., on Cape Cod. Jonathan, however, remained there only until 1659, when he removed with other colonists to a new settlement called New- town on Long Island; he was the ancestor of famous statesmen of New York State including Col. Nicholas Fish, and Hamilton Fish who was Governor, Senator and Secretary of State. Nathaniel remained at Sandwich and was the ancestor of a large branch of the Fish family, some of whom settled in Pennsylvania and others went into the far West. The third brother, John, it appears, also remained at Sandwich. His descendants are fewer in number. Another three brothers, (72) Thomas, (73) John and probably (77) Joseph, sons of (68) Robert and (12) Alice (Fyshe) Fysh, of Market Harborough, Leicestershire, and cousins of the three immigrant sons of Thomas2, came to Rhode Island and Connecticut colonies. Thomas was granted land in 1643 at Portsmouth, and became the ancestor of Preserved7 Fish, the famous sea captain and an early founder of the New York stock exchange, and of large Rhode Island and Vermont families. It is probable that necessity rather than adventure brought these brothers to the American shores as their father died young
18 THE FISH FAMILY
leaving a large family in overcrowded Leicestershire. John and
Joseph were of Stratford and Stamford, Conn., in 1651: just
when they came to America is unknown, but it would seem that
they came early, although they failed to settle permanently
until about that date. John finally settled at Mystic in Stoning-
ton, and became the ancestor of a large and illustrious Con-
necticut Family, among whom was JOhn Dean10 Fish, the gen-
ealogist and historian, correspondent of the N.Y. Genealog.
and Biograph. Record and researcher into the early history of
the Fish Family. (He contributed the history of the John3 Fish
Family and the early history of the family in England.)
Joseph3 of Stamford, Conn., a soldier in the Great Swamp
Fight at Kingston, R.I., in 1676, may have been this younger
brother of Thomas and John Fish, as Robert and Alice (Fyshe)
Fysh did have a son Joseph, b. 1626. Nothing is known concern-
ing any descendents of Joseph3, however.
William3, son of (2) Augustine and Christian Fysh, and cousin
of these two sets of brothers, settled at Windsor, in the New
Haven, Conn., colony, when only sixteen, lured to New England
perhaps by the tales sent home by his cousins, as well as by his
own adventurous spirit. No descendents of William have been
discovered, however.
Another immigrant was (87) Gabriel Fish*, of unknown ances-
try, an early inhabitant of Boston where he was engaged tempor-
arily in the fisheries. In 1638 he removed to Exeter, N.H.;
returned soon to Boston, and remained there until 1646. It is
thought that he did not take root in this soil. By his wife Deborah
he ahd two children: (87a) Deborah, bapt. at Boston, Dec. 11,
1642; and (87b) Elizabeth, bapt. Oct. 4, 1646. He may have had
a son (87c) Abel, and wife Elizabeth. On Aug. 8, 1639, he gave a
letter of attorney for collection of money at Thorsbrop and
Alford, Co. Lincoln, England.
There was also (88) Edward Fish, of Talbot Co., Md., in 1669.
Nothing more is known concerning him.
Also (89) Stephen Fish, of Salem on Sept. 22, 1680; nothing
can be found concerning his ancestry, either in England or
America, but his many descendants have been chronicled. It is
very probable that he was son of one of the heads of families
above-mentioned; possibly of (87) Gabriel, but more likely of
(61) John or (62) Nathaniel of Lynn and Sandwich. Or he could
have been a grandson of one of these immigrants. He will be
designated hereafter as Stephen4.
There was (90) Justa Fish, constable of Chester Twp., Burl-
ington Co., N.J., in 1698, said by Prowell, in "History of CAm-
den, N.J.," to have been of Swedish ancestry.
* from Volume 146 of the New England Historical and Genealogical Society:
p.243n Gabriel Fish was a member of Wheelwright Company (no wife or child mentioned) some of the followers
of Wheelwright moved from Lincolnshire villages to Boston,MA maybe on the ship Defence in 1636.
ALSO: Publications of Colonial Society of MA Vol.1: 275n: of Exeter Colony, founders of Exeter
Colony, MA 1637 "Lincolnshire [England] men in the Exeter Colony were Wentworth, Storre, Helme,
Lawson, Rishworth, Hutchinson, Pormortt, Fish, the Wardwells & the Littlefields
Vol. 1: 276 early Exeter history: first year at Exeter one Gabriel Fish was arrested
for "speaking against his Majesty"
EARLY FISH FAMILIES IN ENGLAND 19
There was also (91) Isaac Fish in business there in 1762 who
had sons, (91a) Charles, (91b) Benjamin and (91c) Jeremiah.
At a much later date, some time after 1804, (92) Luke Fish of
Cumberland, which was the original home of the family in
Northern England, settled in Shelby Co, Ohio.l He was b. in
Stanwix, Co. Cumberland, in 1760 (one year after Wolfe defeated
Montcalm at Quebec). He d. in Ohio in 1844 (the year of the found-
ing of the Adventist Church by Capt. Joseph Bates and James
White). (A comprehensive "Genealogy of the Luke Fish Family"
was compiled by David Fish of Philadelphia.)
see also The Luke Fish Family Book--ed.
The descendants of these immigrants have been successful
and prominent in the fields of Statecraft, Industry, Banking,
Merchandising, Finance, Shipping, Medicine, Law and Farming.
They have played as great a part in the development of the
country as did their ancestors in the founding of the nation. They
are noted for their courage, loyalty, fixity of purpose, thrift-
iness, business ability, industry, religious faith, and strength of
character. No, no "horse thieves," not one has been found
among them.
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A great part of this work is devoted to the descendants of
Thomas3 Fish who settled at Portsmouth, R.I. He and his
son Robert remained in Portsmouth, but Robert's son Daniel
migrated northeastward into Massachusetts and settled at
West Dighton, the first of the Vermont line to leave the home
state of Rhode Island.
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The old Daniel5 Fish Homestead at West Dighton where Pre-
served7 Fish who settled in Ira, Vt., was born, has been visited
by the author. His cousin once removed, Charles A.10 Fish of
Middletown Springs, Vt., who did much research on the early
families, also visited the homestead. His interest in the Fish
genealogy was first aroused when his daugher Orilla applied
for membership in the D.A.R. At West Dighton Charles was
directed to the sexton at Horton Corners, Mr. Horton, a
nephew of Betsey Horton who m. Abner8 Fish, nephew of Pre-
served, and with the help of Mrs. Witheral, daughter of Abner
Fish, they found the old Daniel Fish homestead, and also the
gravestone of Daniel's son Robert6, father of Preserved, hidden
in the underbrush which has over-run the old farm land.
THOMAS3 and JOHN3 Fishe, sons of (68) Robert and (12) Alice
(Fyshe) Fish, left the shores of England for America, and landed
at Portsmouth,R.I., in 1643.
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This period was marked by great intellectual advance in Eng-
land; the translation of the Bible, the King James version, was
completed in 1611, the first weekly newspaper appeared in 1622,
in 1628 Harvey published his treatise on the circulation of the
blood.
Charles I ascended the throne in 1625, succeeding James I,
the first of the Stuarts; he was executed in 1649 and England
became a republic under Oliver Cromwell, who died in 1658,
however, and the Stuarts returned to power upon the ascension
of Charles II, May 8, 1660. At this time many were withdrawing
from the English Church and forming new religious bodies.
There were three main groups of dissenters from the established
church, the Puritans, the Pilgrims, and the Seekers or Quakers;
all were severely persecuted, and looked for a land of religious
freedom. The Pilgrims, who were true separatists, left their
native land and lived in a colony in Leyden, Netherlands, for
ten years. They were not content, however, to bring up their
children in another nation, and so decided to migrate to America
and found a new colony. The Puritans were not separatists, but
wished to remain a part of the church but simplify its estab-
lished ritual. The organization of the Society of Friends, or
Quakers, was begun in 1643 by George Fox, also born in Leicester-
shire, and in 1644 William Penn was born.
THE AMERICAN COLONIES---THE FOUNDING OF RHODE ISLAND
The Pilgrims had landed at Plymouth, Mass., in 1620 and
establishes a permanent settlement there. The Puritans, under
the control of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, settled at Charles-
town, Salem and Boston, for the purpose of engaging in the fur
trade with the Indians. What the landing of William the Con-
queror was to England, the landing of the Pilgrims was to Amer-
ica; the beginning of modern history.
In 1636, Roger Williams, a learned teacher and preacher of
religious liberty, a man of great intellectual ability and deep
EARLY FISH FAMILIES IN ENGLAND 21
convictions, brilliant, eloquent, and deeply religious, was ban-
ished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony because of his mili-
tant advocacy of complete separation of church and state in the
colonies, as the Pilgrims had at Plymouth. Williams was born
in Wales in 1598 (ten years after the defeat of the Spanish Armada,
and four years before Captain Bartholomew Gosnold, the first white
man definitely known to have set foot on New England soil, landed
at South Dartmouth near New Bedford, Mass.). He was liberally
educated at Cambridge under Sir Edward Coke and became a
preacher of the gospel. His favorite theme was liberty of con-
science in religious matters, he contending that civil magistrates
as such have no power in the church, and that Chirstians are
subject to no laws or control but those of God alone. His teach-
ings brought severe persecution upon him in England, and on
Feb. 5, 1631, he and nineteen others embarked on the good ship
"Lyon" seeking in America a land of freedom of religious thought
and practice. He finally settled at Salem, and at the age of
twenty-five began to preach, in connection with the Rev. Mr.
Skelton, and to teach his principles of religious liberty. And now,
because of these teachings, he was banished from the shores of
America by action of the board of councilors of the Massachus-
etts Bay Colony, which voted. Jan. 11, 1636, that he should be
returned to England at once.
Williams escaped during the night, however, and sought refuge
in the wigwam of Massasoit, chief of the Wampanoags at Sea-
cunck, now Seekonk, R.I., having previously made friends with
him, and in fact, during his five-year stay in the Massachusetts
colony Williams had spent much time among the Indians, be-
friending them, learning their language and studying their ways
of living and worship, and their mode of fighting. He therefore
had no difficulty in entering the alnd of the Narragansetts,
farther to the West and South. The authorities having learned,
however, that he was still within the borders of the Grant to the
Massachusetts Bay Colony, ordered him to move farther to the
west, or face arrest. Rowing down the Seekonk past what is
now Taunton, and through Rehoboth and Dighton, Mass., a
countryside that a few years later was to be settled by the Car-
penter and later by the Fish families, and then rowing up the
Providence River, he came to a spring which to this day is called
Roger Williams' Spring. It wasa beautiful location, and here
Williams decided to found a new colony which like William Penn's
Colony in Pennsylvania was to become a haven for those who
longed to worship God in a freedom separate from state control.
He was accompanied to the land of the Wampanoags by his