2646–2647.  Nathanial Turner, (Capt.) was born in England about 1595, and died at sea aboard the Lamberton in January, 1646. He was living in New Haven at the time. Margaret Leachland was born in England in 1602, and died in Connecticut. They had six children:

i. Mary Turner [#1323]: She was born in England and died in Connecticut Colony on October 15, 1704.
ii. Rebecca Turner [#1341]: She was born in—say—1629, and died in 1731.
iii. Abigail Turner was born in—say—1631, and died in 1693. She married John Hudson on September 2, 1651, in New Haven.
iv. Nathaniel Turner was born in—say—1633, and died before 13 Jan 1661/2. There is no record that he married or had children.
v. Hannah Turner was baptized in New Haven Colony on November 17, 1639. She married Samuel Hopkins on December 5, 1667, in New Haven.
vi. Isaac Turner was born in New Haven Colony on June 7, 1640, and died on March 27, 1699. On Wednesday, August 19, 1668, he and Mary Todd were married in New Haven. She is the daughter of Christopher and Grace (Middlebrook) Todd [#1332 and #1333].

Her second marriage was to Samuel Van Goodenhauser.

The Great Migration Begins has the following entry on Nathaniel Turner.

From Families of Ancient New Haven, page 238, comes:

The Pequot War
The Pequot War, fought in 1637, the year before New Haven was settled, was participated in by 130 Connecticut men of whom not more than 95 have been identified. The best authority on this subject is James Shepard's pamphlet entitled "Conn. Soldiers in the Pequot War," Meridan, 1913. The following veterans of the Pequot War later became proprietors of New Haven:— ...
 
    5. Turner, Nathaniel (   –1646); of Lynn, Mass., 1630, where he was constable, 1634; enlisted from Lynn; an original proprietor of New Haven, 1639; Captain (ranking officer) of New Haven train band, 1640; m ______; 6 children.

From Turner Family:

Nathaniel Turner was a captain in the Piquot War. He was of Lynn, New England; admitted as a freeman in 1632; was a representative of the first court 1634 and 1635. Moved to New Haven, N.E., in 1638; was one of the purchasers of Stamford, N.E., from the Indians in 1640. He was lost at sea in 1646 and left a large family.

In Search for the Passengers of the Mary and John, 1630 is an entry: "Margaret Lechland — She m. _____ Turner." Her brother, William, was born in 1608 so her date of birth is consistent with this entry. If this is, indeed, the Margaret Leachland of this family, then this book provides five generations of her ancestors (recent to past):

  1. Roger Lechland and Margaret Jones; she was the daughter of William Jones and Jane Bishop of Bridgewater, Devonshire.
  2. Thomas Lechland and Alice Viney; she was the daughter of William Viney of Somerset.
  3. John Lechland and Agnes Starre of Beare, Devonshire.
  4. John Lechland married first, Isabell _____; second, Johane _____. (No indication which is the mother of John, Jr.)
  5. _____ Lechland and _____St. Lowe of Devon.
Thanks to Roy Aber for finding this information [2001].

From a reference to History of Lynn, Massachusetts, Annals of Lynn, is taken the following.

In 1639, Capt. Turner, in connection with Rev. Mr. Davenport and four others, at New Haven, was appointed to have "the disposing of all house lotts, yet undisposed of about this towne, to such persons as they shall judge meete for the good of the plantation ; and that none come to dwell as planters here without their consent and allowance, whether they come in by purchase or otherwise." In 1640, Capt. Turner, as agent for New Haven, made a large purchase of lands on both sides of the Delaware river—sufficient for a number of plantations. The purchase was made chiefly with a view to trade, though the establishment of Puritan churches was an object. Trading houses were erected, and nearly fifty families sent out. In all fundamental matters the Delaware colonies were to be under the jurisdiction of New Haven. In the same year he made the purchase of the Indian territory of Rippowams—Stamford—as noted by Mr. Lewis, partly of Penns and partly of Wascussue, another chief. He gave for the whole, twelve coats, twelve hoes, twelve hatchets, twelve knives, two kettles, and four fathom of white wampum." In a sale to the people of Wethersfield, a while after, the tract was valued at thirty pounds sterling.

In a list, made in 1643, giving the names of a hundred and twenty-two New Haven planters, with the number of their families—including only parents and children— and the value of their estates, the family of Capt. Turner is put down at seven, and his estate at 800 pds, the latter being as high as any on the list, with the exception of ten. But the land speculations of New Haven do not seem to have turned out in any degree profitable. The Delaware trade was not successful; and the Dutch were troublesome at Stamford. And she seems literally to have struck a vein of ill-fortune, in which she was destined to struggle for some time. It was under a desperate effort to retrieve ber fortunes, that the planters sent to Rhode Island* and had a ship of a hundred and fifty tons built, hoping to open a profitable foreign trade. By joining their means, the planters were able to freight her in a satisfactory manner. Capt. Turner, with five others of the principal men embarked, and she sailed from New Haven in January, 1647. Nothing was ever heard either of the vessel or any on board, unless the apparition which appeared in the harbor, the next June, immediately after a great thunder storm - the renowned phantom ship be regarded as tidings. Capt. Turner, had kept alive his friendship for the people of Lynn, and while New Haven's heart was sad," there were many here to mourn his fate.

* There is good evidence that New Haveners built the ship themselves, but attributed it to Rhode Island to "cover their tracks in its walty construction."

The Phantom Ship
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
In Mather's Magnalia Christi,
Of the old colonial time,
May be found in prose the legend
That is here set down in ryhme.
A ship sailed from New Haven,
And the keen and frosty airs,
That filled her sails at parting,
Were heavy with good men's prayer.
"O Lord if it be thy pleasure"—
Thus prayed the old divine—
"To bury our friends in the ocean,
Take them, for they are thine!"

But Master Lamberton muttered,
And under his breath said he,
"This ship is so crank and walty,
I fear our grave she will be!"
And the ships that came from England,
When the winter months were gone,
Brought no tidings of this vessel
Nor of Master Lamberton.
This put the people to praying
that the Lord would let them hear
What in his greater wisdom
He had done with friends so dear.		 And at last their prayers were answered:
It was in the month of June,
An hour before the sunset
Of a windy afternoon,
When, steadily steering landward,
A ship was seen below,
And they knew it was Lamberton, Master,
Who sailed long ago.

On she came, with a cloud of canvas,
Right against the wind that blew
Until the eye could distinguish
The faces of the crew.
Then fell her straining topmasts,
Hanging tangled in the shrouds,
And her sails were loosened and lifted,
And blown away like the clouds.
And the masts, with all their rigging,
Fell slowly, one by one,
And the hulk dilated and vanished,
As sea-mist in the sun!
And the people who saw this marvel
Each said unto his friend,
That this was the mould of their vessel,
And thus her tragic end.
And the pastor of the village
Gave thanks to God in prayer,
That, to quiet their troubled spirits,
He had sent this Ship of Air.

From The Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Connecticut, which cites The mystery of the phantom ship, comes:

As early as 1644 Theophilus Eaton, Stephen Goodyear, Thomas Gregston and perhaps other merchants at New Haven entrusted the construction of an ocean-going vessel to John Wakeman, Joshua Atwater, Jasper Crane and Richard Miles. Though ill built and very "walt-side," in due course the ship was completed. Entrusted with a cargo of wheat, peas, hides, beaver and peltry and manuscript writings of John Davenport at New Haven and Thomas Hooker at Hartford, about the middle of January, 1646, the vessel ploughed its way through three miles of ice in New Haven harbor and tackled the stormy Atlantic. On board were Thomas Gregson, Nathaniel Turner, George Lamberton, the wife of Stephen Goodyear, and Francis Austin. After many months, a mirage of the ship was said to have appeared over the harbor at New Haven, but the vessel itself neither reached its destination nor returned to its port of departure. Despite this initial setback, on October 7, 1646, a second vessel was about to be launched at New Haven; in the summer of 1648 a third vessel was under construction; and in the spring of 1661 Charles Glover laid a fifty-foot keel at Southold.

Two of Capt. Turner's daughters contributed directly to this genealogy and a son contributed indirectly. Mary Turner married Capt. Thomas Yale and Rebecca Turner married Thomas Mix; these two lines joined four generations later with the marriage of Enos Atwater and Lois Alling in 1773. His son, Isaac, married Mary Todd, daughter of Christopher Todd who is also an ancestor of Lois Alling.

Sources: