here are several versions of the "arrival" story for John Olin, the immigrant ancestor of the Olin family in the United States:  that in 1678 or 1690, he left Wales at the age of 14 for the American colonies, either forcibly or voluntarily, aboard a man-of-war ship on which he was either a cabin boy or a "powder monkey" (a boy employed on a sailing warship to carry powder to the guns), and once close to Boston, he jumped ship and swam ashore, or he was brought ashore but the ship sailed away without him, after which he changed his name from Llewellyn to Olin.

Regardless of the version, it is generally agreed that John Olin arrived in West Greenwich, Rhode Island in 1678 at the age of 14.  On 4 October 1708, he married Susannah Spencer, daughter of John and Susannah Spencer who emigrated from Wales.  It seems likely to me that John Olin came from Wales as well, not only because he married into the Welsh Spencer family, but also because his son Joseph married Mary Aylesworth whose parents, Joseph Aylesworth and Dorcas Jones, both came from Welsh families. Nevertheless, there are some interesting theories about the Olin family origins that look at France and Sweden as possibilities.

John Olin died in Newport, Rhode Island on 10 June 1725, aged 61 years.  Thus, his birth date was 1664, which aligns with his being age 14 when he first arrived in the colonies in 1678.

My third great-grandmother, Susan Olin of Canterbury and Griswold, Connecticut was my first ancestor in the Olin line. She was a great-great granddaughter of John the immigrant.  Her branch of the Olin family moved from East Greenwich, Rhode Island to New London County, Connecticut about 1765 and remained there at least for the next seven generations.

My line of descent from John and Susannah (Spencer) Olin, down to my maternal grandmother, is as follows: