 1633 - 1688 (55 years)
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| Name |
Simon Couch [1, 2, 3] |
Previously, the parents of Simon were given here with his father as Lewis (as received from someone who visited England and did research there). Upon later reviewing (as the records became available to me as "The Register Baptisms Marriages & Burials-Parish of Hartland Devon {England}), the Lewis who married in Hartland, Devon, England and had a son, Symon, I do not believe this Symon born 1615 is our Simon born 1633. Even though I have unlinked them, you can still view that lineage here. In further support that our Simon Couch (by any spelling) was not born in Hartland, Devon, England in 1633, I'm providing the pages showing the baptisms for Hartland in 1633. Reviewing other years back several decades also do not show him, except for Symon born in 1615. View 1633 Baptisms — For now, I am retaining the birth information for Simon as 1633 in Devonshire, England because various sources give this date...and because Devon is a very large area, with Hartland being only a very small town as part of it at the time. Devon West District and the middle of Devon overall is roughly 40 miles from Hartland; which lies further west and north. Simon could have a birth record elsewhere in Devon (Devonshire).
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| Born |
1633 |
Devonshire, England  |
| Gender |
Male |
| Died |
15 Mar 1688 |
Greens Farms, Fairfield Co, CT |
- Simon Couch - Will 22 Dec 1687, probated 1689.
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| Buried |
Couch Burial Hill, Greens Farms, Fairfield Co, CT |
| Person ID |
I2771 |
adkinshorton |
| Last Modified |
22 Sep 2023 |
| Family |
Mary Frances Andrews, b. Abt 1645, Fairfield, Fairfield Co, CT , d. 1691, Fairfield, Fairfield Co, CT (Age ~ 46 years) |
| Married |
1664 |
Fairfield Co, CT |
| Children |
| | 1. Thomas COUCH, b. 1659, d. 1689 (Age 30 years) |
| | 2. Mary Couch, b. 1663 |
| + | 3. Capt. Samuel COUCH, b. 1666, Westport, Fairfield Co, CT , d. 11 Dec 1739, Westport, Fairfield Co, CT (Age 73 years) |
| + | 4. Martha COUCH, b. 1667, d. 1725 (Age 58 years) |
| + | 5. Simon Couch, II, b. 1669, Fairfield, Fairfield Co, CT , d. 1713 (Age 44 years) |
| + | 6. Sarah Couch, b. 1669 |
| + | 7. Hannah COUCH, b. Est 1671, Fairfield, Fairfield Co, CT |
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| Documents |
 | Simon Couch & Mary Frances Andrews - Marriage Record (compiled)
New England Marriages Prior to 1700, page 186 |
| Histories |
 | History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield - Couch References
Compiled & Edited by Donald Lines Jacobus, 1902
(retyped as searchable PDF 2011) |
| Family ID |
F20130 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
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| Documents |
 | Simon Couch - 1687 CT Will
Note: This document incorrectly included the 1713 Will of his son, Simon born 1669. That portion can now be found on his son's page.
(A note formerly here said this document names slaves. As now edited, it does not. His son, Simon did have slaves and their names are given in his son's Will of 1713.) |
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| Notes |
- Simon treated slavery as indentured servitude. He became a free man in 1665 having endentured himself to the Andrews family for his passage over from Plymouth. Plymouth is close to Cornwall, England. By the time of his death, he owned two neighboring "bankside farms," on Long Island sound in CT and had 3 businesses. In his will, his slaves were to be set free and were each given 8 acres of the farm lands.
Unfortunately, when I copied the above statement about Simon Couch's treatment of slaves, I did not record the source. It is important to note that despite any benefit received by indentured people (of all colors including white), indentured people were essentially owned and treated poorly. Some did become free and climb to success, but this was not typical. If they did not in their "owner's" view prove to be loyal, many were sold into slavery. During Simon's lifetime, freeing slaves and giving them land may have been a good thing, and yet it was really only a small thing compared to what slaves endured in slavery. In later years, slave owners were required by law to support slaves they had liberated, and were also required to give them 50 acres each...so Simon's gifts, while perhaps better than many slave owners of his time, were not special and good, but were minimal, and could easily leave his freed slaves to a life even worse than slavery in his care. In fact, it was practices such as his, of freeing slaves and not necessarily assisting them afterward, that prompted the passing of laws to prevent such practices or penalize them to ensure freed people could survive without criminal activities they were often forced to engage in just to stay alive.
— Footnote by Doug Couch, 2020
- Buried at Couch Burial Hill, Fairfield Co., CT
Will 22 Dec 1687, proved 15 Mar 1687/8; wife Mary; eldest son Thomas; 2nd son Simon; 3rd son Samuel; brother's son Thomas Couch that lives with me; brother's daughter living at John Grumman's; cousin Susannah Couch living at Milford; eldest daughters, Mary and Martha; daughters Sarah and Hannah. - "History & Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield" by Donald Lines Jacobus, Eunice Dennie Burr Chapter DAR, Fairfield, CT, 1930. Allen Co. Public Library, Ft. Wayne, IN. Gc 974.602 F161j
Simon Couch was made a freeman 13 Oct 1664 - "History of Fairfield Vol 1 1889" pg 364 ("50 Puritan Ancestors")
The History of Fairfield Co, CT 1700-1800 Vol.1 gives Simon's will as 22 Dec 1687, proved in 1689. If his death date is 15 Mar 1687/88, the sequence is correct, allowing for transcription errors in how the dates were to be recorded.
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| Sources |
- [S18732] History & Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield, Jacobus, Burr, DAR 1930.
- [S18733] History of Fairfield.
- [S18734] 50 Puritan Ancestors.
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