The Hand Family

JOHN HAND, in 1635, left Maidstone, Kent County, England, with his father and other Englishmen for the New World. John first settled in Lynn, Massachusetts. In 1644, he purchased a tract of land on Long Island from the Indians, naming it South Hampton. In 1649 he became one of the proprietors of the Commonwealth of East Hampton. John Hand married Alice Stanborough, a sister of Josiah Stanborough, who came to Lynn, Massa­chusetts, in 1639. John Hand died in January, 1660, at East Hampton, L. I. Among the nine children born of this marriage was Joseph Hand.
JOSEPH HAND, born about 1640. He was reared in East Hampton, moving to Guilford, Connecticut, prior to 1670. In 1664, Joseph Hand married Jane Wright, daughter of Benjamin Wright, one of the first settlers of Guilford. She was born in England. Joseph Hand built and owned ships. In 1720, he was a deputy to the General Assembly. He died in East Guilford in January, 1724, age 85. His widow died in December of the same year. Nine children was born of this marriage, the sixth of whom was Elizabeth Hand.
ELIZABETH HAND, born March 12, 1677, at Guilford, Connecticut. On April 5, 1705, she married her first cousin, Benjamin Wright, II, son of James Wright and Hannah Walstone. Benjamin Wright and his wife, Eliza­beth, moved to Saybrook, Connecticut, where they spent the remainder of their lives. The dates of their deaths are unknown.
The Hand family thus merges into the Wright family.