• Late in March of 1659, Thomas Bingham, his wife Ann, and their 17 year old son Thomas, left England for the new world. From the cold and exposure the elder Thomas was taken ill, died, and was buried at sea. On his death bed he exerted a promise from Ann to find a good man in America and marry him. Widow Ann was comely but no longer young and did not want for suitors among the eligible men of Saybrook. William Backus was a widower and the choice of Widow Ann, which shows the respect with which William Backus was held within the community.
2622, pp 1-2
• William Backus, of Saybrook, 1638, was the common ancestor of the Norwich and Windham Backus families. He removed to Norwich, 1660, was one of the original proprietors of that town, freeman there, 1663, and d. June, 1664, leaving a 2d wife, Ann, who the Norwich records call the mother of Thomas Bingham, sen., (she was probably his step-mother) who d. May, 1670.
1439, p 58• Although William Backus of Saybrook and Norwich, Connecticut, has been said to have been in New England as early as 1637, no actual record of him prior to 1659 has been found.
2879, p 253• About 1659, he moved to Norwich being one of the first settlers under the leadership of Rev. James Fitch and John Mason. He brought with him three daughters, two sons, and his stepson, Thomas Bingham.
2880, p 7