Samuel Narramore was born about 1680, probably at Boston, although no birth record exists. He was the son of Thomas and Hannah Narramore, as evidenced by records of Boston's Second Church, which show his baptism there on May 29, 1681, the same day on which his mother Hannah became a member of the church. He joined the church himself in January 1703 and in 1705 intentions of marriage were filed at Lynn, Massachusetts between Samuel, then "of Charlestown" and Rachel Paul, daughter of John and Lydia (Jenkins) Paul. John Paul was a former Scots prisoner of war, who had been captured at the Battle of Dunbar and transported to indentured servitude in the Massachusetts colony, which needed laborers for its economic projects, most notably the Saugus iron works. Samuel and Rachel settled on land that Rachel had inherited from her parents, land that is now in Saugus but at the time straddled the Lynn/Boston line.
In 1725, Samuel was received into fellowship in the church at Killingly, Connecticut. His move was part of a "mini-mass migration" from the Malden, Massachusetts area into what was then an undeveloped wilderness in the northeastern corner of Connecticut. Both familial and "Dunbar POWs" connections played a part in the migration. James Coates, husband of Rachel's niece Martha, was also an earlier settler of Killingly, and the nearby town of Danielson was founded by former Dunbar prisoner James Danielson. In 1729, Samuel purchased land in Killingly from Philip McIntyre, whose father of the same name had likewise been one of the Dunbar transportees.
The couple's two oldest daughters, Hannah and Sarah, remained behind, with Hannah marrying Joseph Downing (grandson of yet another Dunbar POW) at Lynn in 1738 and Sarah marrying a former neighbor of the Narramores, Samuel Breeden, in 1730. The road on which they lived still bears the family's name - Breedens Lane, in the town of Revere - and three generations of their descendants, the last of whom died in 1877, bore the name Samuel Narramore Breeden.
The oldest son, also named Samuel, soon followed his parents to Killingly, after first marrying Lydia Davis in Boston in 1727. Samuel and Rachel had four younger children, the last (John) born in 1722, but only two of them are known to have survived to adulthood: Lydia and Mary, who were both admitted to fellowship in 1738 in the Congregational Church that their father had helped to organize in Killingly's North Society (later to become the town of Thompson) in 1730. This is the last known record of Lydia, but Mary married James Dike, of neighboring Dudley, Massachusetts, in 1741.
Getting on in years, Samuel and Rachel made an agreement in 1746 with their new son-in-law to rent him their house and farm, and to give him all their personal property at their deaths, on the condition that he would care for them at their home for the remainder of their lives. Samuel, his signature noticeably shakier than in 1746, sold his land to James Dike in December of 1750; there is no mention of Rachel, who had likely pre-deceased him by this point. A note on the deed indicates that it was received for record on February 9, 1751, but was "to be keept on file till ye Grantors Deseas". On October 15, 1754, the deed was officially recorded. According to Dike family tradition, Samuel and Rachel were buried in the little family burying ground on the farm, although the earliest burials were marked only by rough fieldstones. The cemetery today is at the intersection of Gawron and Brandy Hill Roads in Thompson, and is well kept, with a gated fieldstone wall surrounding it.
The former Narramore farm remained in the Dike family for several generations. The original document by which Samuel and Rachel rented their property to James Dike in return for his promise of care and maintenance was preserved among the Dike family papers, and the text of it is reproduced below.
Artakels of a Greement and a Covenant made and agreed apon by and with Samuel Narrowmore of Killingsley in the Count(y) of Windham In the Colloney of Connectticut In New England Weaver and Rachal his wife and James Dick of said Killingsley husbandman do by these presents agree and Covenant togather to wet the sd Samuel Narrowmore Douth Let farme Let and Demise and Devise unto the said James Dick his house and all his Lands In the sd Killingsley with all the preveledges and appurtainances thereto belonging for the full time that is of his natuerel Life here apon Earth and the Life of Rachale his wife Even tel it shall please God to Take them Both out of the Land of the Liveing to have and to hold the same free and Clereley so Long with all the Benefets thereof and the sd Samuell Narrowmore Douth and Rachal his wife Douth agree and Covenant with the said James Dick he being thare Loveing Son In Law that marid there daughter Mary that he the said James Dick shall have all his Moveable Estate that he the sd Samuel Narrowmore now hath and Rachal his wife at there Decease that is to Say one feather Bed and all the Bed Close with all the furnetuer thereto Belonging tow plain Chestes and an Iron pot and hucks that hold about two pails full two Sider Barels a fier Lice and tongs a Lombe and all the weaveing gears a Cow and a Calfe a mare and Colt and five sheep and what So Ever other Estate that the said Samuel Narrowmor hath that is moveable then or now In possession or Revartion or Rachel his wife to be the said James Dicks and his heires forever and the sd James Dick to have the use of all the moveables for the maintainance of the sd Samuel Narrowmore and Rachel his wife as here after mentioned and the sd James Dick to have all the In Crese of the stock he keeping them winter and sumer and furtheare more the sd James Dick Douth In Consideration for the Rent of the sd house and Lande and the moveables above mentioned Douth agree and Covenant by these presents to and with the sd Samuel Narrowmore and Rachel his wife his Honoured Fathare and Mothere In law to Maintaine them Dureing there naturel Lives with meet Drink washing and Loging and all Close and all Nessasaris of Life he the sd Samuel Narrowmore Remaining In the House with the said James Dick seutable a Cording to there age and Degree and to the fullfilment of the above written agreement and Covenant the sd James Dick Douth In gage and promise him selfe and heires Executors and administrators by these presents to fullfil. In Confarmation of this agreement and Covenant made by these presents and in witness hereof the sd Samuell Narrowmore and Rachel Narrowmore his wife and the sd James Dick have set to our hands and seales this fifth Day of November anno Dom: 1746
Samuell Neremoer
Rachel her x mark Narrowmore
James Dike
Signed sealed and Delivered
In presents of us witnesses
Henery Pollok
Joseph Cady
