A Short History of Peter Cross, Son of Peter Cross 1

A Short History of Peter Cross, Son of Peter Cross 1

Peter Cross 2 was born in Windsor Connecticut June 3, 1650 and died April 9, 1739. He was twice married, first to Mary Crane of Mansfield, CN about 1678 and probably in Norwich, CN; second to Mary Wade of Mansfield, CN.

Peter Cross resided in Norwich, CN in 1672, and was there in 1696. He was among the first settlers of Windham, CN in 1690 going there from Norwich and was among the grantees of land in that place, authorized to organize the town in association with Jonathon Crane and others. The fact that his name appears first in the grant indicates that he was a man of standing and this is further attested by the fact that he stood at the head of the company which was authorized to (and did) organize that town of Mansfield, CN from territory belonging to Windham in 1693.

The general court appointed him one of the administrators of the Wade estate. In 1698 he was a leading citizen of Windham and the head of a body engaged in building a home of the minister. He purchased a thousand acres in Windham Dec 20 1693. He located in what is now Mansfield and his home lot was #16 at the Ponds. He settled in the southern part of North Parrish. He was one of the 22 original freemen of Windham May 30 1693, and was probably a member of the Windham Church with his wife. The name of several of the original members on the church records are illegible. His estate was distributed in 1749. (Taken from "Some genealogical data concerning the Cross, Bradford, Clemmons, Havley, Mobley, Hessey, Dillman, and Rhorer families" by Ira Brown Cross).