Attorney's Genealogy Letter to Legatees of the St John Jr Family 

“To the Legatees of Samuel St. John, late of New Haven, Connecticut: IN publishing a now edition of the Will of SAMUEL ST. JOHN", to sup. ply the demand for copies made from time to time by those interested in that instrument, I determined, by the advice of some of your number, to have it made up in a manner more likely to be valued by you and preserved with care, than if printed in the ordinary form ; and to connect with it a correct engraved likeness of Mr. St John at the age of 69 years, copied from an excellent painting by Inman, in possession of Joseph E. Sheffield, Esq. of New Haven. On the title page also is a view of the Tomb of Mr. St. John in the New Haven Cemetery, the building of which he commenced, but the same was not completed until several months after his decease. As a matter of interest to such as are not already acquainted with the genealogical history of tho St. John family in this country, and with the names and residence of the Legatees of Mr. St. John, and the relationship which you sustain to each other, I annex such information on these points as has come to my knowledge since I commenced the settlement of his Estate. For all that relates to the early history of the family, I am indebted to the Eev. TheOphilus Smith of New Canaan, (whose wife was a St. John,) who has studied their history in this countrv and is probably possessed of more information on the subject than any other person. S. D. PARDEE. ' New Haven, August, 1852.
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A L L the St. Johns in this country are believed to have descended from Matthias St. John, Sen, who, with a large family of sons and daughters, settled in the town of Norwalk, in Fairfield County, Connecticut, before the year 1054[sic]. The name is written " Sention" on the town records down to the year 1700, when it first appears as "Saintjohn" In 1725 it is first written " St. John,'' and it was generally accented on the first sllable down to the year 1800. Although the town records are somewhat imperfect and do not make it absolutely certain, yet the following appears to be the genealogy of that branch of the family to which the late Samuel St. John belonged, viz: Matthias,•{ Matthias,•{ Matthias, •{ Benjamin” [i]

Additional links;
The Patriarchs that came to America in 1632 and 1634.
​Joshua B. Leavens, last will and testament is available by clicking on this line.
Revere Family records of the 1828 bell(s), delivered.
The history of the Tuscaloosa bell in the 20th and 21st century.
Return to Tuscaloosa Bell's main page

[i] Available at ExLibris Rosetta, Descendants of Mathias St John of Dorchester, Massachusetts . . . et. Al.
https://dcms.lds.org/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?from=fhd&dps_pid=IE45534  1904