The Minor Family of Somerset

History of Stonington, Connecticut, by Richard Anson Wheeler, Call no 929.37465 in Conejo Valley Gen. Soc. collection in Thousand Oaks, Ca. library. page 448:

He came in 1670 and in 1672 received a Grant of land from the town of Stonington. this history does not have his marriage date, and thinks he married shortly before his arrival in Stonington.

THE DECENDANTS OF EZEKIEL MAINE OF STONINGTON CT. by Algernon Aikin Aspinwall. Washington DC 1905 pp 3,4:

The first mention of him in the records is the following under date of March 9, 1660/1. "Ezekiel Mayn for accompanying and countenancing of the said parties in their extravagant course for the accomplishing of their eregrelar purpose", was finetwenty shillings. This referred to what was called the disorderly conduct of Robert Whitcomb and Mary Cudworth in coming together without concent of parents and lawful marriage "As Ezekiel Maine aided these parties in their elopement". It is presumed at this time he was a young man and unmarried.

Under date of October 20, 1668, the Plymouth Colony Records give the following: "It was at the same time ordered likewise by the Council of War in reference unto Ezekiel Mayne of Scituate, that whereas there doth appear a willingness in the Military Company of Scituate, that in regard that hath but one yey, it is difficult and in some respect dangerous for him to be in arms and training as formerly.
Soon after he moved to Stonington, Connecticut, for on February 2, 1668/9, when a census of the inhabitants of that town was taken, Ezekiel Maine is enumerated as one of the forty three heads of families. A number of people from Scituate settledat Stonington about this time. His fortunes at this time were presumably at lowebb, for the Plymouth Colony Records show under the date of June 3rd, 1673, in the settlement of an estate there worth four shillings and five pence. Let us hope that he subsequently liquidated this debt. In 1672 Ezekiel Maine received a Grant of land from the town of Stonington. He subsequently purchased other land, and in 1680, he received another Grant from the town. All of this land adjoined, and waslocated in that part of Stonington which is now North Stonington, and on the North by the land of Joshua Holmes.

Ezekiel Maine was a farmer and does not appear to have been conspicuous in the affairs of the town, as his name is seldom menti
oned in the records. He was admitted to the Church at Stonington on September 3rd, 1676. In 1690, he was a Deputy to the General Court at Hartford, Connecticut, USA He died at Stonington on June 19th, 1714.
In his will, dated May 5th, 1711, which was admitted to probate on July 13th, 1714, he gives, "to Mary my dearly beloved wife the one third part of all my moveable estate.... To my two daughters, Hanna Main and Phebe Kingbury, one third of moveables to be equally divided between them. To my well beloved sons, Ezekiel Main and Jeremiah Main, to be equally divided between them the other one third of all mymoveable estate."

The descendants of Ezekiel Maine are not in accord in their spelling of the name, some using and some omitting the final "e". The children given are all that have been disclosed in the records at Stonington, and if there were others, they undoubtedly died young, as evidenced by the Will of Ezekiel Maine.

Ezekiel Main(e) was born on the land given by the King to his father, John Mayne in 1629. It used to be called Maine's Point, now part of the York harbour inlet in York, York County Maine (near Casco Bay, Portland, Cumberland County). This is where the name for the state of Maine came from. According to the information I have seen, family members still own some of the land. In 2029 it will have been in the family for 400 years. This is a record for the USA.

Ezekiel was the first Main(e) of any branch of anywhere born in the USA.

Now Brunswick, Maine, USA.