Genealogy of the Olmsted family in America : embracing the ...

SECOND GENERATION
(4) NICHOLAS OLMSTED, b. in England; bap. at Fairsted, Eng., Feb.
15, 1612; d. Aug. 31, 1684; m. (1) Sept. 28, 1640, Sarah Loomis, of Windsor,
Conn.; b. 1617; dau. of Joseph and Mary (White) Loomis; d. 1667; (2) Mrs.
Mary Lord, of Wethersfield, Conn., widow of Dr. Thomas Lord.
8, Sarah; b. at Hartford, Conn., 1641; d. Nov. 7, 1709; m. 1661-2, George
Gates, of Hartford and E. Haddam, Conn.; d. Nov. 12, 1724. He was
an original proprietor of Haddam. Removed about 1658 to the east side
of the river. 9, Maky; b. Nov. 20, 1646; d. 1646. 10, Rebecca; b. Mar.
12, 1647-8; m. John Bigelow; b. Oct. 27, 1643; d. prob. 1721; son of John
and Mary (Warren) Bigelow, of Watertown, Mass. He settled in Hartford,
where his land was listed May 3, 1669. His residence was in Cooper
Lane, now La Fayette St. 11, John; bap. Feb. 3, 1649-50; d. young.
12, Samuel +. 13, Joseph +. 14, Thomas +. 15, Mabel +. 16,
Elizabeth +.
Nicholas Olmsted came to Boston and to Hartford with his father and
the family. Soon after the settlement of Hartford, it was evident that the
Indians were " jealous and seemed determined upon the destruction of the
infant town, and it became a question, either to abandon the country, or
conquer the foe.
" On the first of May, 1637, just eighteen months after the settlement
was begun, and when there were only eight hundred souls in the Colony,
the Court met and resolved upon an offensive war against the Pequots. On
the 9th of May ninety men were drafted and ready for the expedition.
" They embarked in three little floats that were to convey them down
the river, and on the 15th were at the mouth of the river, whence 20 men
were sent back to guard their own defenceless homes. On the morning of May
28th the little army, consisting of seventy-seven Englishmen and a party
of Narragansett and Mohegan Indians, was before the fort of the Pequots
at Mystic. Then began the ' direfxil fight ' in which, in one hour, 600 Indians
were slain and their power broken forever.
" In three days the little army was at home again with a loss of two
killed and twenty wounded. The Colony had peace for nearly forty years,
when King Philip's war began."
Nicholas served in the Pequot war, under Capt. Mason, and is mentioned
by him in his account of the burning of the Indian fort: " Lieutenant Thomas
Bull and Nicholas Olmsted beholding, came up; and when it was thoroughly
kindled, the Indians ran about as most dreadfully Amazed."—Bodge's Soldiers
in King Philip's War, etc., p. 13. Both Nicholas and Richard Olmsted, his
cousin, " received grants of land for services in the Pequot War." Id., p.
466.
Nicholas Olmsted was appointed by the General Court, with Thomas
Bull and Robert Webster, a committee to view and settle Mattatuck, now
Waterbury, and on April 6, 1674, made a favorable report.
"The Court appointed Ensign Samuel Steel, Ensign John Wadsworth
and Lieut. Nicholas Olmsted a committee to regulate the settling of a plan-