Daniel² Terrill Record of Commerce - 24 July 1717

Nancy Tyrrel Theodore, August 2009

(See the original record: PDF 1.8 MB)

Milford July ye 24^th 1717:ⁱ

Shiped on board ye Sea flower slope wheat 10 bushells & of Indian Corn 14 bushels for Daniel Terrill of s^d Milford w^t ye order to sell s^d wheat & Corn at Boston or other place of good market: And make Returns to s^d Terril in s^d Milford in Convenient time by one Gun suitable to train with & a Cross Cut saw not of ye Larger but middle [size] & ye Remainder in money. Received four bushels of barley malt w^t two new bags & three shillings of Sider.

This record of commerce for Daniel² Terrill reflects the shipping center that Milford was becoming by the early 1700s. Shipbuilding, in the old yard a few rods below Fowlers mill, had already begun by 1690. The "Sea-Flower," that took Daniel's goods to the Boston market, was built for Richard Bryan of Milford and launched in 1717.ⁱⁱ

Daniel² has crops to trade as a "husbandman," as he so describes himself in a deed of 3 June 1717 where he, along with his widowed mother-in-law Ruth (Clark) Fitch Wheelerⁱⁱⁱ, bequeath to his eldest son Daniel³ for his "Encouragement for a livelyhood and part of his Portion," several parcels of land and meadow.

So, in 1717 as Daniel² was seeing to land for his son, one is led to wonder if the "Gun suitable to Train" and the "Cross Cut saw" Daniel² was purchasing through the Sea-Flower weren't also for Daniel³ who was setting up house having married Zerviah Canfield on 12 December 1716^iv.

i. Milford Land Records, Vols. 5-6, LDS Film #4919

ii. The Connecticut Magazine, Vol. V, No. 3, March 1899, by M. Louises Greene, "Early Milford."

iii. For more on Ruth (Clark) Fitch Plumb Wheeler see DOR Newsletter Volume VII, Number 3, pages 25 -26, "Daniel's² Mother-in-law" under the "DOR1" tab on this site. Note: There is an error in the fourth paragraph of the article, the date of death for Thomas Fitch should be 1684.

iv. Connecticut Vital Records, Barbour Collection for Milford.