Richard Frisbie (Frisby) and his parents lived in Saint James, Clerkenwell an ancient parish in central London, England. His parents were most likely from Leicestershire, England, location of the Frisian village “Frisby on the Wreake.” On November 30, 1618 Richard Frisbie married Margaret Emerson in the Church of St. James in Clerkenwell, England. (Margaret, b.1597 in Folkingham, England was the daughter of Richard and Anne Emerson). Richard and Margaret’s first child Mary was born a year later, in 1619.

In February of 1620 Richard, Margaret and infant Mary joined an expedition to the Virginia settlements in North America (New England records list Richard on the manifest of the “Jonathan,” a ship of 350 tons carrying 200 passengers). Sailing from London, England on their three and a half month ocean voyage they arrived at Jamestown, Virginia, North America on May 27, 1620 (the “Jonathan” lost 25 passengers and 4 crew members during the journey). That same year their daughter Mary died, and son Edward was born. Indentured to the “Virginia Company of London,” Richard would have entered a half-share contract in which the Virginia Co. paid the cost of his passage, tools, food, clothing and a house (with the promise of receiving its title at end of his service). In exchange Richard would have agreed to labor for the Virginia Co. for seven years during which he was to receive half of what he produced and the Virginia Co. the other half. A November 1624 muster (census) of Sergeant William Barry in Elizabeth City, Virginia lists Richard Frisbie as one of his servants, giving his age as 34. (In 1619 the Jamestown plantations and developments were divided into four “cities” Charles City, Elizabeth City, Henrico City and James City. Richard probably lived and worked on the plantation of Mr. Buck Roe. With disease, the harsh living conditions, and the Virginia Co.’s unfilled promise to provide supplies and food needed for survival, settlers died in alarmingly large numbers. In 1620, the year Richard arrived in Virginia, the Virginia Co. had sent 840 new colonists of which over 600 died within that same year. By 1624, after shipping over hundreds of settlers from England and failing to produce a profit, the financially distressed Virginia Co. went into bankruptcy, with King James I withdrawing their charter. Between February and August 1625 Richard and family sailed back to London, and Clerkenwell.

Richard and Margaret had six more children, born during London’s outbreaks of the Plague. Five children lived very short lives, infant Ann dying in 1625, three-year old Richard, infant Zachary and twin Henry dying in 1629, and infant George dying in 1633.

England was a Protestant (Anglican) country, under the Church of England. A group inspired by John Calvin wanted to “purify” the Church of England of its excessive hierarchy and unnecessary ritual which they felt prevented man from communicating with God directly. These “Puritans” grew steadily in political and religious influence until in 1625 King Charles I declared Puritanism illegal, driving many followers to escape to the New World. Richard Frisbie who associated with influential Puritans, mainly the Whitaker family in Virginia, was most likely a Puritan.

Richard’s (probable*) second immigration to America with wife Margaret, son Edward aged fourteen and infant daughter Jane occurred in 1634 (at the time of the Great Puritan Migration) on the ship “Abigail” sailing for Boston (many aboard were fellow residents of Clerkenwell bound for the town of Wethersfield in the Connecticut Colony). The “Abigail” lost sixty passengers at sea during its ten week voyage from England, reaching Boston with an outbreak of smallpox aboard. Governor Winthrop of Bay Colony noted that many of the remaining passengers who were debilitated by the long journey “came sick on shore” and without adequate protection against the bitter New England weather died miserably during their first winter. Winthrop also noted “the poorer sort of people (who lay long in tents) were much afflicted with the scurvy and many died, especially at Boston and Charlestown.” Due to hard conditions on arrival, smallpox and disease upon the ship, many passengers died en route or shortly thereafter, among them were likely Richard, Margaret and infant Jane (since there is no further mention of the three in New England records). Richard’s son Peter, who remained in London, became a constable in the Clerkenwell parish (married twice and had six children). Edward presumably made a life for himself in the New World.*

*Many historians (including Frisbie researchers Nora Frisbie and Edward Selah Frisbie, p.15) have scoured land deeds, ship logs, church, marriage and death certificates and other documents to trace the histories of Richard and Edward Frisbie. Records from this period are few. All that is certain about the possible last voyage of Richard and family is that around the mid-1600s Richard, Mary and Jane Frisbie disappear from England’s records and a young Edward Frisbie appears in American records. From the fair amount of evidence historians have surmised that the family link from Richard of Clerkenwell to Edward Frisbie who settled in America are presently the strongest historical truth.

(For more on Richard Frisby of London see pgs.862-870 in “Edward of Branford and his Descendants” Vol. I)

This original Frisbie house built c1730 still exists in Branford, Connecticut. It is 285 years old, in fine condition, and still serves as a private residence. Researchers for many years claimed that the “Hearthstone” house was built c1685 by Edward Frisbie, citing that in his will when referring to his “new dwelling house, built on the outskirts of Branford three miles east out on the old Boston Post Road” that Edward meant the “Hearthstone” house. The “Hearthstone” house has since been determined by architectural historians to have been built about 55 years later by Edward’s grandson Joseph, son of John Frisbie and Ruth (Bowers). The house passed to his son Lieutenant Timothy Frisbie (the cow house and barn are mentioned in Lieutenant Timothy’s will when he died in 1776). The house then passed to Lieutenant Timothy’s son Jonathan and his wife Peggy Plant Frisbie, according to 1790 and 1800 census records.

The house went through years of un-notable owners until the 1930s, when it became a tea room named “Hearthstone.” In the early 1940’s it stood vacant, neglected and in danger of demolition until Dr. and Mrs. John P. Riesman purchased and restored the house. In the early 1950s Olin Eli Frisbee, founder of the Frisbie-Frisbee Family Association, made a pilgrimage to Branford to visit the house. Olin commented that “Hearthstone was in sore straights (at the time of its purchase by the Riesmans) The hearthstones from which it derives its name were sagging; the floors were painted a barn red; plaster had fallen from the walls and ceilings; doors had been cut off to fit the sagging floors. The mammoth central chimney which measures about 14 feet square** in the cellar was sadly in need of repairs. Like many of these early colonial homes, Hearthstone has its ‘Indian stairway’ a narrow, secret stair reached from upstairs by removing a wall panel, and winding down about the chimney to the cellar.” Indian stairways were said to have been built for escape in case of an Indian attack, but the few Indians living in Branford in Joseph’s time were peaceful and never a threat to the settlers. At the rear of the house a one-story section had a “borning” room for births, and an extra wide “death door” to accommodate the passage of coffins into and out of the house. The floor joists that held up the rear of the house were great dense hand-hewn oak beams. The floor planks were one inch thick and ran the full length of the room. The planks were cut 12”-14” wide, tapered wider at one end and narrower at the other following the length and shape of the oak trees from which they were cut. They were then laid alternately wide end-to-narrow to make them fit. The house has an unusual cornice over the front door. The colonial windows are “twelve-over-twelve” (twelve small glass panes per sash, two sashes per window). On December 1, 1988 the New England Colonial-style “Edward Frisbie house” at 699 E. Main Street in Branford, New Haven, Connecticut entered the National Register of Historic Places #88002638.

(This history of the “Edward Frisbie house” researched by Diane A. Davis with the help of Jane Bouley, Town Historian, Branford Historical Society, Branford, CT, and Betsy Goldberg at the New Haven Museum, Whitney Library, New Haven, CT)

The Frisbee House was built in 1797 in Delhi, NY at the junction of Elk Creek and the Delaware Rivers, by Judge Gideon Frisbee (1758-1828) great- great-great-grandson of Edward Frisbie, founder of Branford, CT. The son of Lieutenant Philip Frisbee, Judge Gideon moved with his parents and siblings from Branford, CT to New Canaan, NY before settling in Delaware County, NY c1788. An early pioneer to the Delaware frontier region, Judge Gideon Frisbee built a log house, sawmill, and operated a brickworks. During the first years Judge Gideon was primarily a farmer but also bought logs from landowners upstream, floating them downriver for sale in

Trenton and Philadelphia. He eventually built the prominent “Frisbee House” which in its early years was the site for several public functions. In his lifetime Judge Gideon was a Justice of the Peace, County Treasurer and Associate Judge of the Courts of Common Pleas, Captain of the militia during the Revolutionary War, tavern keeper, farmer and entrepreneur. His house served as an inn, tavern, courthouse and 1797 meeting place for the first Delaware County board of supervisors. In 1960 the 200-year-old two-story federal-style home became “The Frisbee House & Museum.” The grounds include the house (which presently houses the Delaware County Historical Association), original barns, a one-room schoolhouse and the Frisbee family cemetery. It became a designated National Register of Historic Places on Dec. 12, 1976 (76001211).

(This history of the “Judge Gideon Frisbee House” researched by Diane A. Davis with the help of Tim Duerden, Director of the Delaware County Historical Society DCHA-NY, Delhi, NY.)

(For more on the “Judge Gideon Frisbee House” visit DCHA-NY.org)

At the turn of the 20th-century inventors Thomas Edison, Henry Ford and others were hard at work in garages and small workshops across America creating the future! Among them were three generations of Frisbie men—Russel, Charles, and Russell Abner Frisbie—inventors and salesmen. All three Frisbie men would be closely tied with the J.&E. Stevens Company of Cromwell, manufacturers of cast-iron products and mechanical banks. The leadership, then ownership, of the J.&E. Stevens Company would be passed down through the Frisbie family as

the company grew to become the largest producer of cast-iron mechanical banks in the world. Today J.&E. Stevens banks are highly prized by collectors. Their intricate mechanisms that make whimsical characters kick pennies, shoot them from guns, and open mouths to devour them, fascinate and delight to this day!

Russel Frisbie, born in Branford, Connecticut, moved to Cromwell and joined the J&E Stevens Co. in 1866, becoming the firm’s general superintendent, designer & inventor. During this period factory buildings rapidly replaced farm fields as the Industrial Revolution roared into the 1900s. Connecticut was a major center of manufacturing in the U.S., home to firearm, watch, clock, hardware, and machine tool companies. Soon after Russel Frisbie’s arrival, John D. Hall walked into the J.&E. Stevens offices and presented plans for a mechanical bank, a new genre of product that would change everything for the company. A line of J.&E. Stevens mechanical banks were produced, of gaily painted buildings and figures full of action, as intricate mechanisms deposited coins into openings. In 1877, Russel’s son, Charles Brown Frisbie, also joined the J.&E. Stevens Company, eventually taking over as president/ treasurer. At the start of the 20th century, with the automobile industry in its infancy, Charles’s son Russell Abner Frisbie created his Frisbie “Red Devil” automobile. His Frisbie Motor Company

manufactured engines for boats, motorcycles, generators, pumps, and stationary machinery as well as precision parts for airplanes. Upon the death of his father Charles in 1935, Russell Abner Frisbie stepped into the position of president of J.&E. Stevens. He directed the company until WWII. Upon Russell Abner Frisbie’s death, he bequeathed the family home on Main St. to the Cromwell Historical Society. The Stevens-Frisbie House serves as a historic museum and headquarters for the Cromwell Historical Society.

(This history of the “Frisbies of Cromwell” researched by Diane A. Davis with the help of, Cromwell, CT.)

(For more on these three generations of Frisbies, see our PUBLICATIONS section for “Red Devils & Penny Shooters, the Frisbies of Cromwell” or click here to purchase)

(For more information on the Cromwell Historical Society visit cromwellhistory.org).