Nathaniel Munn

Nathaniel was born at Springfield on 25 July 1661, probably the youngest son of Benjamin Munn, who "serv. in the war with the Pequots, 1637," moved from Hartford to Springfield, and married in 1649 Abigail, the widow of Francis Ball and daughter of Henry Burt (source). Their children were Abigail (1650), who married Thomas Stebbins Jr.; John (1652); Benjamin (1655); James (1656); and Nathaniel (The First Century of the History of Springfield, 2:612). His mother was a sister of Jonathan Burt (2:538-539), so Sarah Burt, the wife of Luke Hitchcock, was his first cousin.

King Philip's War. His father died in November 1675, a month after Springfield was burned, when Nathaniel was fourteen; that December his mother married Lt. Thomas Stebbins (Savage; Burt 2:612). Nathaniel was too young for the companies, but his elder brothers John and James rode with Capt. William Turner to the Falls above Deerfield on 19 May 1676, and with them Japhet Chapin, whose daughter Nathaniel would marry, and Thomas Stebbins, probably his sister Abigail's husband. Sixty years later the list of "the Soldiers yt were in ye falls fight" has "Mun, James, Alive: Colchester" and "Mun, John, Deerfield"; James claimed his own right ("James Mun, Colchester, James Mun") and John's son his father's ("Benj Mun, Dearfield, son John Mun") (Soldiers in King Philip's War, pp. 251, 253). James, then about eighty, was one of four Hampshire men of the fight still living in 1736 (History of Hadley, p. 165); he died on 18 Dec 1744, aged 86. John, who had moved to Westfield, had died on 16 Sept 1684 (Burt 2:612).

On 24 Mar 1689/90 Nathaniel married Sarah, daughter of Japhet Chapin. Their children included Nathaniel, Sarah (1692-1716, wife of Samuel Taylor of Deerfield) and Benjamin (b. 12 Aug 1700), probably the Benjamin Munn of Brimfield and Monson (source). He was chosen a selectman in 1703 and 1710 (Burt 1:30), and "He was a Deacon of the first church of Springfield, and a man who was highly respected" (2:613). He died on 31 Dec 1743.

Research: Patricia Hatten's Browne–Chapin side: the pedigree, notable ancestors and famous kin; the war: King Philip's War: the Connecticut valley, the Colony of Connecticut, Long Island and New Paltz.