Seiko Champion

From my family tree, and before that from several books from prior centuries, an interesting set of historical tales about my Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandfather…

Tradition has it that in the year 1692 there came from the Channel Islands to New London, Connecticut, a lad named Eleazar Bischoppe. Two stories have come to us regarding his coming.

First: the lad Eleazar, at about the age of seven years, was playing by the shore of the Island of Guernsey (or Jersey, for both places are spoken of) with a large handsome dog. It was presumably a seaport, and he was playing near the wharf, when the captain of a British ship which had called there, saw the dog, and was so determined to secure it that he sent men ashore with instructions to bring the dog aboard under any circumstances. The lad refused to part with his companion, and so both dog and boy were brought on board the ship, which was bound for America. Before the long voyage across the Atlantic had ended, the ship’s crew had so far won the affections of the dog that it was willing to remain on board, and as the captain had no further use for the boy, whom he had kidnapped, he was determined to dispose of him at the first opportunity. Arriving in port at New London, Connecticut, he was able to attain his purpose, and disposed of the boy to one Richard Dart, a tailor of New London, who paid for the boy’s passage by giving the captain a yoke of oxen.

Second: Eleazar ran away from home in the Island of Jersey, was a stow-away on an America bound British ship, and at the age of fourteen found himself in New London, in the home of Richard Dart. Dart, a wealthy farmer, had paid for young Bishop’s passage, took the boy as his own and brought him up with his family. Some years later, Eleazar married Richard Dart’s daughter Sarah. It is recorded that two companions of Eleazar Bishop, one Deshon and the other John Sharpe, were brought by a British ship to New London, CT. A wealthy farmer, Richard Dart, paid.

Interesting, hard to say which is true. Certainly if I was a young lad who had stowed away, making up the first story would be a way to avoid the negative press associated with the second.

In either case, Eleazar married Sarah, the daughter of the wealthy farmer who was his sponsor. Either a wise move, or more likely a shipboard romance between two children of the same age with few peers and very little else to do.

9 generations later, here I am.