Henry Townsend (Norwich)

Henry Townsend (1626–1695) was an early settler of the American Colonies.
Early life.
Henry Townsend was the son of Thomas Townsend (1594-1677) and Mary Newgate (1595-1692). His older brother was John Townsend (1608-1668), one of the original settlers of Flushing.
Career.
Townsend settled in Flushing, where his brother John Townsend was granted a patent by Gov. Willem Kieft in 1645. Due to political difficulties with the Dutch governor, Peter Stuyvesant, the Townsend brothers moved to Warwick, Rhode Island.
In 1656, Townsend and his brothers, John and Richard, again attempted to settle in Long Island, this time obtaining the patent of Rustdorp (now Jamaica). The following year in 1657, he was arrested, imprisoned and fined. Records from 15 September 1657 show Henry Townsend was asked to pay £8 Flanders or depart the Dutch province within six weeks, "upon the penalty of corporeal punishment." His penalty was handed out due to his practice of allowing meetings of Quakers in his house, which Stuyvesant had outlawed by banning the practice of all religious activity outside of the Dutch Reformed Church.
Later a petition, known as the Flushing Remonstrance was signed by Henry, his brother John and many others on 27 December 1657. Stuyvesant rejected the petition. Henry Townsend was arrested, imprisoned and fined £8 Flanders for harboring Quakers in his house.
In the following year, 1658, Townsend moved with his brothers to Oyster Bay, which was out of the jurisdiction of the Dutch. Here he spent the remainder of his life.
Personal life.
In 1649, Henry Townsend married Ann Coles, with whom he had seven children:
Townsend died at Oyster Bay in 1695.
Descendants.
Henry Townsend (1670-1709) was the son of Henry Townsend and Deborah Underhill. He bought the mill his grandfather had built from his uncle John Townsend, and when his Uncle John died, he was elected town surveyor, being the third generation in direct descent engaged in surveying and to operate the mill. He married Eliphal Wright, daughter of his aunt Mary Townsend and John Wright.