He was the son of Oliver St John and Sarah Bulkeley.[1], and the brother of Sir Oliver St John.
Settlement in Massachusetts Bay Colony
He came to Dorchester, in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1632.[4] He was named a freeman on September 3, 1634.[4] He received a grant of twenty acres of land there on January 14, 1635.[4] In 1638, he sold his house to a Mr. Withington, and in 1639, he sold his land to Withington too.[4]
Settlement in Connecticut Colony
"Matthias Senchion's" property can be seen on this map of the settlement of Windsor
He moved to Windsor, Connecticut Colony in 1640.[4] He was granted land ten rods wide and 18 rods deep adjacent to the palisades (the protective fence of the settlement).[4] In 1643 and 1644, he served as a member of a Grand jury.[4]
Matthias is listed as a settler in Wethersfield as early as 1648.[4] Jonas Weede sold Matthias his land in Wethersfield in 1640.[4] On several occasions he served on a jury, and was also himself challenged in court in Hartford.[4] In some cases, the issue was either a debt owed of or to him.[4] On one occasion, he was brought before the court accused of selling "syder to Indians by which they was Drunke" [sic].[4] On another occasion he won a judgment against Stephen Beckwith for defamation.[4] In February 1658, Thomas Wickham bought Matthias' land in Wethersfield.[4]
He moved to Norwalk in 1654.[4] In 1657, he is recorded as working with Isacke More, and Edward Nash to "make and provide a good and sufficient wolfe-pit." [sic][4] The record states that Matthias was chosen in 1660, as a townsman "to act and agitate all such affairs and occasions as the orders of the court authoriseth and that for the Yere ensuinge." [sic][4]
