Catherine Evans
History of Middlesex County, Connecticut (New York, NY, 1884) p. 152; James E. Richmond, War on the Middleline (Lulu Publishing, 2016), p. 65.
Born in Biddenden, Kent, Samuel Stow arrived in Boston, MA on 17 May 1634 with his parents, John and Elizabeth Stow, on the Elizabeth Boneventure. He was the youngest of their four sons. Stow was educated at Harvard College, graduating as part of the first class in 1645. He studied for the ministry and worked in Massachusetts for a short while. He moved to Middletown in 1651, becoming the founder and pastor of the first Ecclesiastical society in the town, and was recognised as the engaged minister. However, there were differences between Stow and his congregation, and in 1661, an appeal to the General Court left the people of the town 'free from Mr Stow as their engaged minister'. He continued his ministry and founded several churches, taking up a post in Simsbury in 1680. He married Hope Fletcher, daughter of William Fletcher of Chelmsford, Massachusetts, and had several children, most born in Middletown. After retiring from the ministry he wrote several books, including one of the earliest histories of New England (no longer extant).