John³ Meigs (John², Vincent¹); born 29 Feb 1639/40 Weymouth, MA; married Sarah Wilcoxson, daughter of William Wilcoxson and Margaret Birdsey, 1 Mar 1665/66; married Lydia Thompson after 1691; died 9 Nov 1713 at age 73.

John Meigs, Jr. was born in Weymouth, Massachusetts on February 29, 1639/40 and came to Connecticut with his father. He married Sarah Wilcoxson on May 1, 1665/6 in Killingworth, Connecticut. She was the daughter of William Wilcoxson and Margaret Birdsey.

Soon after his father's death, John Meigs, Jr., returned to Guilford and settled in the east part of the town (now Madison). His wife Sarah died in 1691 and sometime thereafter he married Lydia Thompson. In 1694, The Rev. Mr. Jared Eliot died and a committee of five, including John Meigs, was appointed "to take care, as our present case requires, for sanctifying the Sabbath & to take what advice and discretion may be given by those proper to give advice, in such a case as ours is for supply in the ministry."⁽⁹⁾

Because the Madison area of Guilford was closer to Killingworth than to Gilford, several citizens petitioned the court in October of 1695 to be allowed to pay "what rate shall be raysed upon them towards the mayntenance of the ministry to Kenilworth (Killingworth) ministry and not to Guilford because of the remotness of their dwellings from the worship of God viz. five miles farther from Guilford than to Kenilworth. . . ." Their petition was granted provided "they make up their acco^ts and pay what is due from them to Guilford ministry for the time past. . . ."⁽¹⁰⁾ He was elected a deacon of the Second Church and Society of Guilford in East Guilford (now the First Church and Society in Madison) in 1696 and served until his death in 1713.

When the town of Guilford received a new charter in 1703, John Meigs was listed as one of the proprietors of the township of Guilford. He died on November 9, 1713.

Children of John³ Meigs and Sarah Wilcoxson were as follows:

11 i. Sarah⁴ Meigs; born 14 Feb 1666/67; married Daniel Bartlett 11 Jan 1685/86; died 8 Apr 1688 at age 21.

+ 12 ii. John Meigs, born 11 Nov 1670; married Rebecca Hand.

+ 13 iii. Janna Meigs, born 27 Dec 1672; married Hannah Willard.

14 iv. Ebenezer Meigs; born 19 Sep 1675; married Mercy Weeks 7 Oct 1700; died 1711.

15 v. Hannah Meigs; married Jeremiah Foster; born 25 Feb 1677/78.

16 vi. Hester Meigs; born 10 Nov 1680.

17 vii. Mindwell Meigs; born 1682; married Samuel Crittendon 8 Oct 1702; died 31 Mar 1762.

There were no children of John³ Meigs and Lydia Thompson.

1. ____________, "Meigs, Vincent," Search for the Passengers of the Mary & John 1630, Vol 25, Part 1, p. 48. Will transcribed by Robin Bush.

2. ____________, "Strong, John," Search for the Passengers of the Mary & John 1630, Vol 17, Part 1, , p. 64.

3. The earliest stones in the cemetery are for twins Silence and Submit, daughters of Janna Meigs, who died shortly after birth in 1711.

4. New Haven Colonial Records, 1653-1665, pp. 449-50.

5. Edward E. Atwater, History of the Colony of New Haven To Its Absorption Into Connecticut,

6. Bernard Christian Steiner, A History of the Plantation of Menunkatuck and of the Original Town of Guilford Connecticut. . . (Baltimore: by the author, 1897), p. 88.

7. Steiner, p. 90.

8. J. Hammond Trumbull, ed., The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, (Hartford: Brown & Parsons Publishers, 1850, v1, p. 405.

9. Steiner, p. 121.

10. J. Hammond Trumbull, ed., The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut (Hartford: Brown & Parsons Publishers, 1850), p. 4.

11. Trumbull, p. 246.

12. Aunt Irene Callaway thought it was Return Jonathan's father who was the suitor, and quoted it as "Return, Robert, and I will marry thee." However the father of the first Return was not named Robert.