Jasper Gunn

Jasper Gunn stands at the head of one of America’s oldest continuous Gunn family lines. Baptized on 9 August 1607 at St. Mary Magdalene Church in Great Burstead, Essex, England, he was the son of Henry Gunne and Sarah Hawkley. Raised in the intellectually active and deeply Protestant culture of East Anglia, Jasper acquired the literacy, discipline, and reforming spirit that would shape the remainder of his life.

Before leaving England, Jasper married Christian, whose family shared his religious convictions and later joined the migration to New England. (Her maiden name is not established by record; the identification of her family is discussed in her own account.) Their decision to emigrate during the Great Migration was one of conviction rather than necessity. In 1635, Jasper and Christian sailed aboard the Defence to Massachusetts Bay before settling first in Hartford and then helping establish Milford in the New Haven Colony.

Jasper became one of Milford’s respected early citizens. Town records reflect his service as a teacher, sealer of weights and measures, brass and copper mender, and participant in civic affairs. He was also recognized as a physician, providing valuable medical care in a frontier community where trained practitioners were scarce.

Jasper and Christian raised a family whose descendants spread throughout New England and eventually across the United States. Their known children include Jobamah (“Job”) Gunn, Nathaniel Gunn, Daniel Gunn, and Dr. Abel Gunn, together with additional children who died young or whose surviving records are incomplete.

Jasper died at Milford on 2 January 1670/71, leaving a legacy of faith, literacy, public service, and civic responsibility that became recurring themes throughout the succeeding generations of the Gunn family.

Timeline

Date	Event
c. Late July/Early August 1607	Born in Great Burstead, Essex, England
9 Aug 1607	Baptized at St. Mary Magdalene, Great Burstead
Before 1635	Married Christian
1635	Sailed aboard the Defence
1635–1639	Resident of Hartford
1639	Helped establish Milford
1640s–1670	Physician and civic officer in Milford
2 Jan 1670/71	Died at Milford

Family

Parents

• Henry Gunne
• Sarah Hawkley

Wife

• Christian Gunn (c. 1615/16–1690)

Known Children

• Jobamah Gunn
• Nathaniel Gunn
• Daniel Gunn
• Dr. Abel Gunn
• Additional children documented in Milford records

Related Articles

• Christian Gunn
• The Great Migration
• The Voyage of the Defence
• Hartford: Jasper Gunn’s First New England Home
• Founding Milford
• Jasper Gunn: A Provincial Physician
• Jasper Gunn’s Almanac and Journal
• Dr. Abel Gunn
• The River Made Visible

Sources & Further Reading

Primary Sources

• Parish Register, St. Mary Magdalene, Great Burstead, Essex.
• Passenger list of the Defence (1635).
• Hartford Town Records.
• Milford Town Records.
• Milford Land Records.
• Milford Probate Records.

Secondary Sources

• Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Directory: Immigrants to New England, 1620–1640.
• Susan Emma Woodruff Abbott, The History of the Families of Early Milford, Connecticut.
• David Hackett Fischer, Albion’s Seed.
• Francis J. Bremer, The Puritan Experiment.
• Andrew Wear, Knowledge and Practice in English Medicine, 1550–1680.

Research Notes

Jasper Gunn’s medical education is not documented in surviving university or guild records. His later recognition as a physician in New England strongly suggests training through the provincial English system of apprenticeship in physic. This represents the most likely historical interpretation rather than a documented fact.