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George Colton, called in the records of the time "Quartermaster", was born, tradition says, in the town of Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire, England, probably between 1610 and 1620. The records in the parish church in Sutton Coldfield (originally much larger than it is now, though the parish church was the only one for the district extending many miles about it), which seem to be full and complete from 1603 down, have been examined at different times for facts relating to our ancestor, but without results, and it seems possible, therefore, that he may have been born and recorded elsewhere, but from having spent much of his early life in that place, that he spoke of it, as his old home in England. How or when he came to America is unknown. The suggestion has been made that he probably came in the ship Lion's Whelp on one of her many trips between the old country and the colonies, but no positive proof has been found. About 1644, George married Deborah Gardner at Windsor, Connecticut. The name "Gardner" is not found among the early colonists of Windsor, but there was a Thomas Goodner who lived in Salem and who subsequently settled in Hartford. Some researchers are confident that Gardner is a clerical error, or a misreading of Goodner, and that the family name of Quartermaster George Colton's wife was Deborah Goodner, but there so far is no proof. Deborah died at Springfield on September 5, 1689. George married secondly, Lydia Wright on March 1, 1692/3 at Springfield. There were no children from this marriage. Lydia, daughter of Deacon Samuel Wright and Margaret Stratton, died at Springfield on February 13, 1699/1700. Lydia had been married three times previous to marrying George. She first married Lawrence Bliss, son of Thomas Bliss and Margaret Hulings, on October 25, 1654. After he died in 1676, Lydia married secondly, John Norton on October 31, 1678 at Springfield. He died August 24, 1687 and Lydia married thirdly, John Lamb on January 7, 1688 at Springfield. He died on September 28, 1690. George reached the Springfield settlement as early as 1644, and located in Masacksick, Longmeadow, Springfield. He took the oath of allegiance in 1665, and was made a freeman in 1669-71, and in 1677 was a Representative in the General Court of Massachusetts. For seventeen years he was one of the Selectmen, having first been chosen in 1657. In 1669 he was chosen Deputy to the General Court, to which office he was twice re-elected. In 1670 he and Capt. John Pynchon, Benjamin Cooley, Lieut. Thomas Cooper, Rowland Thomas and Capt. Elizur Holyoke were appointed commissioners to lay out lots, and organize and sell the lands in the new Plantation (of Suffield) by the General Court of Massachusetts. On the March 20, 1672, the General Committee instructed Lieut. Cooper and Quartermaster George Colton, to lay out and establish the bounds of Suffield, and Charles Ffeury, Joseph Leonard, Samuel Harmon and Joseph Harmon were appointed to attend them while performing that duty. He received his military title of Quartermaster from the General Court. He was appointed Quartermaster of the Hampshire troop, of which John Pynchon was Captain, in 1668, Ensign of the foot company in 1671 and Lieutenant in 1688. George died at Longmeadow on December 17, 1699. In the year 1722 fifty acres of land were laid out in Suffield, to the assigns of said George Colton, then deceased, in recognition of public services. Other honorable mention is made of him in the old records, from all of which it is apparent that he was a prominent, trusted and public-spirited member of the community in which he lived. While no records mention anything of Quartermaster's physical characteristics, tradition and a knowledge of later generations leads to the belief that he was spare and wiry in figure, and possessed of the powers of endurance and conspicuous in so many of his descendants. Please send e-mail to Sam Behling.  See lineage of Colton Family Read the Biography of George's son, Isaac Colton Return to Story Page
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