Robert Feake (or Feke) was born in London, England, in 1602 and at the age of 28, came to America with Winthrop's Fleet. The following year, on Nov. 2, 1631, Governor Winthrop's 21-year old niece, Elizabeth Fones, arrived on the ship Lyon. She was born on January 21, 1610, in Groton, Suffolk, England, a daughter of Thomas Fones, a London apothecary, and Governor Winthrop's sister, Anne.
Governor Winthrop arranged the marriage between Lt. Robert Feake and Elizabeth Fones, which occurred within a year, in 1632. The match resulted in five children and God knows how many descendants. (I'm one of them and so are all my relatives descending from my mother and Margaret (Dickinson) Reese, Delaphina (Decker) Dickinson, Lydia (Mayo) Decker, Oscar Mayo, and/or Hannah Saloma Underhill, etc.).
Robert Feake was appointed as Lieutenant to Captain Patrick, chief military officer at Watertown, Massachusetts. Feake and Capt. Patrick purchased land in 1639 and 1640 in what is now the town of Greenwich, Fairfield County, Connecticut. For 200 years, Greenwich Point was known as Elizabeth's Neck, in memory of Elizabeth Feake.
Shown here are photos of the home Robert and Elizabeth Feake built in 1645. The "Feake-Ferris house", which still stands today, is located at 181 Shore Road, in Old Greenwich. It was the first house built in Greenwich and is one of the oldest houses still standing today in Connecticut and in America. It is privately owned and was restored in 2018. Thanks to the current owners and the efforts of the Greenwich Point Conservancy, our ancestral home is preserved!
Take a look around!
Robert Feake's daughter, Hannah, and her husband are among those credited with laying the foundations for religious freedom in America. See my previous blogs, The Flushing Remonstrance and John Bowne for those stories. Their other daughter, my ancestor, Elizabeth Feake, married Capt. John Underhill.
Sources:
John Underhill (captain) [Wikipedia]
Elizabeth Fones [Wikipedia]
Greenwich Free Press, June 2, 2016, "Spared from the Wrecking Ball, Elizabeth Feake House was 'A Hidden Treasure under Our Noses'". [Link]
Greenwich Sentinel, July 13, 2018, "Restored Feake-Ferris House to be Unveiled at Founder's Day Reception". [Link]
Greenwich Free Press, July 18, 2018, "Founder's Day Features Unveiling of Restored Feake-Ferris House c1645 in Old Greenwich". [Link]
Feake-Ferris House [Wikipedia]
Ancestral records and portraits : a compilation from the archives of Chapter I, the Colonial Dames of America, p.307-308 [Link]
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