CAFFINCH, John (d. 1658)

John Caffinch came from Tenterden in Kent. He joined the settlement established by Henry Whitfield* and others at Guilford, on the shores of Long Island Sound. He was not a signatory of the town covenant on 1 June 1639. However, he put his name to agreements with local Indians on 29 September 1639 and 17 December 1641, and to a declaration about land use on 2 February 1641/2. By 1643 Caffinch had moved to New Haven, where his brothers Samuel and Thomas had settled. He and his wife Sarah had children baptised at New Haven: Sarah, 9 March 1650/1; Mary 9 July 1654; Elizabeth 8 February 1656/7.

Caffinch travelled back to England ahead of his family. He was there on 14 October 1658, when he made a will describing himself as ‘now of Tenterden, Kent, and late of New Haven in New England’. He specified that ‘my wife Sarah Caffinch and my three daughters Sarah, Mary and Elizabeth Caffinch which were coming to England about a year since should have and enjoy my house and land in Tenterden which I lived in before I went to New England’ (together with other property in Tenterden and New Romsey). He made provision in case his wife and family failed to reach England. He died before 19 January 1658/9, when probate was granted.