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Newton, Smith

12 for ’25: Woodruffs, Part 4: Thomas Newton & Joan Smith, 1600s

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This is the last couple to be covered in this series whose name isn’t Woodruff, as their daughter, Hannah Newton, married John Woodruff the Younger.

Thomas Newton and Joan Smith married on 31 March 1648, possibly in Newtown, New York or in Rhode island.

While Joan’s family origins are well documented, there are no such proofs for Thomas Newton’s origins.

Unverified data found in online trees gives a name for his father, which won’t be perpetuated here since it appears to be a name plucked out of thin air.

Volume 1, page 47 of East Hampton, New York town records provides a deposition given by Thomas newton on 18 October 1653 in which he states that he is 41 years old, giving a birth year of c1612.

It is thought that Thomas Newton arrived in the colonies about 1639.

Thomas Newton was a bit of a colorful character. He is called the “widower of Dorothea Newton” in O’Callaghan’s History of New Netherlands, 2:222, where a footnote gives this tidbit of information:

We find it recorded that he was married in April 1648, at Flushing, to Joan Smith by Wm. Hark, then Sheriff of that place, against the consent of the woman’s parents, and without being legally authorized so to do by the Supreme Authority.

Reportedly, the sheriff was fined 600 carolus guilders, and `the indecent marriage’ was declared null and void. The bride and groom were fined 300 guilders and ordered to post public banns the required three times before marrying again, which they did.

Further: Thomas was accused of having fathered a child, Benoni Newton, with Mrs. Elizabeth Johnson in 1650, in Fairfield, Connecticut and he then fled to New Netherlands, where the Dutch allowed him to settle.

Thomas Newton is, indeed, found in the records of Fairfield. In fact, he was one of the first five proprietors of the town.

Now, Benoni Newton is an important clue tying together Thomas Newton and his reputed daughter, Hannah Newton.

Early colonial records identify four children for Thomas Newton and Joan Smith, if only by name. No vital records are extant and the birth order is uncertain.

Thomas Newton died before 28 May 1683, as stated by his son in a Fairfield County, Connecticut land deed. Joan died before 1664, the date her father wrote his will and left a bequest to the children of “my deceased daughter Joan Newton.”

  1. Thomas, possibly the eldest son, so born c1649, probably in Fairfield County, Connecticut. He is said to have been a mariner, had at least one son, Smith, but the name of his wife is unknown. His death date is also unknown, but said to have been by 1683.
  2. Israel, born c1651, probably New Netherlands; will proved 9 June 1720, leaving all to his brother. He apparently never married.
  3. Hannah, born c1654, New York; reportedly died by 1703, but no proof found; married John Woodruff the Younger, c1675. He was born c1650, probably Southampton, New York.
  4. James, born c1655; died 9 February 1739, Colchester, New London, Connecticut; married (1) Mary Hubbell, c1680 (2) Mrs. Mary Barnard, widow, 1 January 1734, Wallingford, New Haven, Connecticut
  5. Abigail, born c1661, probably New Netherlands; reportedly died 1745; married Lodowick Updike. He was born in 1646; Abigail was said to be 17 years younger than her husband.

The names of Thomas’s four children – Thomas Jr., Israel, James and Abigail – appear in a number of printed works, some created 1125 years ago. There is no new evidence to doubt their names, but much is still not known about this family.

Notably, Hannah does not appear as a child of Thomas and Joan Newton, but that is where Benoni Newton becomes an important figure.

Since Benoni’s mother, Elizabeth Johnson, was not married to Thomas Newton and Thomas had children by his wife, Joan, that means that any of Thomas’s and Joan’s children were half-siblings to Benoni Newton.

The Woodruffs of New Jersey Who Came from Fordwich, Kent, England, by Way of Lynn, Massachusetts and Southampton, Long Island by Francis Eben Woodruff, published in 1909, includes this fact:

Dongan’s Patent referred to land in East Hampton, Suffolk, New York. I haven’t yet figured out “So. Red Book of Deeds, folios 77, 78” and haven’t found an image of the deed in Suffolk County, New York deeds.

However, in this deed, Benoni Newton called John Woodruff (the Younger) his “brother.” since Benoni Newton didn’t marry a Woodruff wife, then the relationship has been presumed to be through Hannah Newton, who would be Benoni’s half sister.

In the many intervening decades, no new records have come to light to cast doubt on the relationship of Benoni Newton to Hannah Newton, wife of John Woodruff the Younger.

Just as aside – Benoni wasn’t a terribly common given name at any time in U.S. colonial history, but when it was given, it frequently indicated that the baby’s mother died during childbirth. It is known that his mother was Mrs. Elizabeth Johnson, but nothing more is found after Benoni’s birth and there is a strange comment in Woodruff books that Thomas Newton’s jail keeper raised the baby. The primary source of that detail is not known.

Today’s researchers may make of it what they will, but it’s still the only evidence connecting John Woodruff’s wife, Hannah, with Thomas Newton and his wife, Joan Smith.

After a few days break, we’ll take a look at family sketches for multiple generations of the Woodruff family.

Barton, Smith

12 for ’25: Woodruffs, Part 3 – Richard Smith & Joan Barton, 1600s

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Today, we’ll examine the interesting lives of Richard Smith and Joan Barton, daughter of the subjects of Part 2 – William Barton and Eleanor Burnell of Thornbury, Gloucestershire, England. Neither Richard nor Joan could ever have imagined the path their lives would take when they left home due to their nonconformist religious beliefs.

Today’s Woodruff collateral family was treated in The American Genealogist in October 2010 in the article “The English Ancestry of Joan Barton, Wife of Richard Smith of Narragansett, Rhode Island” by John C. Brandon and Leslie Mahler, FASG.

Richard Smith was born c1596, possibly in Gloucestershire, England and died before 22 August 1666, Southampton, Suffolk, New York. Joan was Barton was born c1601, probably in Gloucestershire, too. They married there at Thornbury, England on 28 May 1621. She died before 6 October 1651, when Roger Williams (yes, that one, of Rhode Island, who was a long time friend) stated that Richard Smith “is like to have Mrs. Chester, ” e.g. in marriage. However, if he did indeed marry a second time, his second wife also predeceased him as she is not named in his 1664 will.

While the parents of Joan Barton are now proven, the parents of Richard Smith remain unknown [in spite of claims of his father being from Virginia!!!.]

The story of Richard and Joan’s life together begins with Rev. Francis Doughty, a nonconformist minister from the nearby village of Oldbury, also in Gloucestershire, England. About 1636, the reverend immigrated to New England with his followers, including the Smiths, who first settled in Taunton, Bristol, Massachusetts.

Richard Smith took the oath of allegiance on 3 December 1638 and was a freeman in Taunton by 1640. Around that time, he purchased land in Narragansett, Rhode Island along what was called the “Pequot path.”

Rev. Doughty was expelled from Massachusetts and the Smiths followed him first to Portsmouth, Rhode Island and then to New Amsterdam, New York, held at the time by the Dutch.

Richard Smith had some social stature at the time as he was one of eight men who signed a treaty between the Dutch and the Indians in 1645.

Richard Smith was an ambitious man with a long term business plan. Although living in New Amsterdam, he retained ownership of his property in Narragansett. He became the first white settler in that area and ran a trading house with the Indians in the area.

His Dutch trading house in New Amsterdam burned down in August 1646 and it is thought that he may have moved permanently to Rhode Island at that time.

Richard Smith died in Wickford, Rhode Island, near North Kingstown, and his will was recorded on 22 August 1666.

His will:

In the Name of God, Amen. The fourteenth day of July in the year of Our Lord, one thousand, six hundred, sixty and four, in the Sixteenth year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord, Charles the Second by the Grace of God of England and Scotland, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Father, etc. I, Richard Smith, of Wickford, in the Narragansett Countrey, in New England, Yeoman, being in health of Body, and of good and perfect memory, (Thanks be unto God) Do make this my last Will and Testament, and I do hereby revoak and renounce all former and other Wills and Testaments whatsoever heretofore by me made, by Word, Writing or otherwise And make and ordain this to be my very true, last Will and Testament, and no other Concerning my Lands, Chattels, debts, and every part and parcel thereof, in manner and form as followeth.

First: I Commend my soul to Almighty God, and to his Son Jesus Christ, my Saviour and Redeemer, by whom I have to obtain full pardon, and remission of all my Sins, and to Inherit Everlasting Life. And I will that my Body be decently buryed by the Discretion of my Executors hereunto named.

Item. I will that my debts which I shall owe unto any Person or Persons at the time of my decease either by Law or Conscience be well and truly Contented and paid, within Convenient time, out of my Goods and Chattels.

Item, I give unto my Son Richard Smith all my Right, Title and interest of, in and to my Dwelling house, and Lands thereto belonging, Situate, being and lying in Wickford aforesaid, and is bounded on the Southwest by Annoquatucket river, and by the Lands of Capt. William Hudson, Northeasterly and on the East by a fresh river or brook and Creek and Cove.

Item, I give unto my Son the s’d Richard Smith, all my right title and interest of, in, and to my propriety of Lands lying in Cunnanicot Island and Dutch Island, with the privileges and appurtenances to them or either of them belonging or in any way appertaining.

Item, I give unto my daughter Elisabeth, wife of John Vial of Boston, Vintner, all that my Share, which is a oe Third part of Land lying on the Southerly side of my son, Richard Smith’s two thirds part of a tract of land lying on the Easterly side of the aforesaid fresh river, or Brook, and Creek and Cove, Commonly Called by the name of Sagag. Item, I will that all my share and part in the Great Neck of Land beyond Capt. Edward Hutchinss house, Westward and Southward and all the rest of my share of Land belonging to that purchase And also my share of Land of the last purchase and all my Cattle, Horses, Mares, Sheep, Goats, & Swine and all my Goods and Debt whatsoever to me appertaining be (after my decease) Divided into Four Equal parts and portions, the which after my debts paid & funeral Charged thereout, I give and bequeath as followeth. That is to say. To my son Richard Smith, and his heirs, the one fourth part or portion thereof, and to my Daughter, Elisabeth, wife of John Vial and her issue, I give one other Fourth part thereof, and to my Grand Children, the Children of my dec’d daughter Katharine, sometime wife to Gilbert Updike, one other forth part thereof to be Equally Divided amongst them. And to my Grand Children, the Children of my deceased daughter, Joan, sometime wife to Thomas Newton, one other fourth part thereof to be Equally divided amongst them my S’d Grand Children, parts to be paid to each of them, Viz. To Each of my Grandsons as they Come to the age of Twenty one years; And to Each of my Grand Daughters as they Come to the age of Eighteen years, or on day of marriage which shall first happen, And in Case that any One of my Grand Children, the Children of my daughters Katharine and Joan, do Dyue before they come to be of the age aforesaid or Marr’yd, then such part or share, as should have been to such deceased, shall be to the Survivours of them, part and part alike to them to be divided.

Item, I make and ordain my sons, Richard Smith, and John Vial, to be my full whole and only Executors of this my last will and Testament. And my Well beloved Friend Capt. Edward Hutchinson of Boston. [Here the document is torn.]

Before John Leverett Assistant, Entered and recorded at the request of the s’d Vial the 22d. of August, 1666. Robert Howard, Not. Pub., An attested Copy.

Children of Richard and Joan (Barton) Smith:

  1. Joan, baptized 22 January 1623, Thornbury, Gloucestershire, England; died before 14 July 1664, the date of her father’s will and she is called deceased; married Thomas Newton, 31 March 1648, possibly Newtown, New York
  2. Katherine, baptized 26 August 1627, Thornbury, Gloucestershire, England; died before 14 July 1664, the date of her father’s will and she is called deceased; married Gysbert Updike, c1643, probably New Amsterdam, New York
  3. James, baptized 13 December 1629, Thornbury, Gloucestershire, England; died before his father’s 1664 will; no further record
  4. Richard, baptized 19 December 1630, Thornbury, Gloucestershire, England; died 16 March 1691, Wickford, Washington, Rhode Island; married Esther (MNU), who survived him. However, based on his will, Richard had no surviving children:

“In the name of God, Amen. I, Richard Smith of Rochester in the King’s Province att Naragansett in New England, Gent, being of sound mind and perfect disposing memory, doe make this my last will and Testament, revoking all wills by me formerly made, first I bequeath my soul to God that gave itt, in hopes that through the mercy and meritts of my Saviour Jesus Christ to obtain everlasting life in the Kingdome of Heaven, and my body to be buried at the discretion of my Executors hereafter named; and for my lands and worldly goods I bequeath as followeth. First I order my debts to be truely paid, and my funerall Expenses discharged. Item I give unto my beloved wife the Rents, issues and profitts of all during her naturall life and no longer and after her decease I give unto my kinsman Lodowick Updick the housing and lands I now dwell on as far southward as now fenced in by me and as far northward as my bounds goeth of this homested joyning to Joseph Dallavar with all my lands at Sagaoe with all Rights and Titles thereto belonging outward without the fence north and westward the breadth of said lands to he and his heirs forever: provided he gives up and and resigns all his right he owneth and hath in Wesquoge farme, to remain as I have ordered itt in this Will after herein mentioned, otherwise he said Lodowick shall not have Sagoe lands nor Caulfsnecke; also I give to Daniel Updick my land now in possession of Jacob Pinder and John Thomas, one moity, and to James Updick the other moity of said lands with back out-Lett the breadth of said neck north westward with all Rights thereto belonging, to they and their heirs forever. Item I give unto Israeli Neuton and to James Neuton all my lands at Wasquoge farme with all priveledges thereto belonging to they and their heirs forever. Item I give unto Thomas Neuton of London and to him and his heirs forever my house at Bristoll [England] and land thereunto belonging: also hog Island alias Chisewanack, near adjoyning to he and his heirs forever. Item I give unto my sister Elizabeth Violl alias Newman my farme on Boston Neck which Alexander King lived on after my wifes decease to her and as she shall dispose of itt to hir children and them and their heirs forever. Item I give to Aquila Ketch all the house and land within fence, and an hundred acres to be lay’d — to it where Thomas Withers lives, and his Mother and to him and his heirs forever. Also I give unto my Negro Ceasar, and to his wife Sarah their freedome after my decease, and one hundred acres of land in convenient, place to be lay’d out by Lodowick Updick on some of my out Sheares of land either mortgage or Surplices of the neck. Also I give unto Ceasar’s children all their freedome when thirty years old and to Ebedmelish the like freedome: and the land Ceasar is to have, to him and his heirs forever, this after my wifes decease not in her lifetime, for she shall possess her life in all. Item I give unto Mr. Francis Brinley all my right in rny housing and lands on Rhode Island during his naturall life, and after him to his sonn Thomas Brinley and to his heirs forever. Item I give unto all my sisters children and to their childrens children all my sheare of land besides what is already given in this Will, both in the Surplices of the Boston neck and mortgage land,_ equally between them and their heirs forever. Item I give unto Richard Updick, LodoiDick’s sonn, twenty pounds, Smith Neuton, Thomas Neuton’s sonn, ten pds to be paid after my wifes decease. Also I Impower my wife to dispose of part of my goods to my Relations as she shall see best cause for, and their necessity’s require, and do make my wife Ester Smith, and Lodotdck Updick, whole and sole Executrix and Executor of this my last Will and Testament, only my wife to enjoy all during her natural life. And I give Captain Fones 10s. to buy him a ring. And do set my hand and seal this 16th. day of March, 1690-1.

Richard Smith and a seal.
Signed and Sealed and owned in presence of us, Joseph Pendleton, John Shelden, March 16th., 1690-1.
The above written Will and Testament was owned and acknowledged by the above written Testator before John Fones Justice of the Peace.”

5. Elizabeth, baptized 18 March 1631, Thornbury, Gloucestershire, England; died 29 September 1693, Swansea, Bristol, Massachusetts; married (1) John Viall, 25 November 1667, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts (2) Deacon Samuel Newman, c1688

Next is the family sketch of Thomas Newton and Joan Smith, whose daughter Hannah married John Woodruff the Younger.

    Smith

    Lt. Samuel Smith & Elizabeth Smith, England to Massachusetts, 1634

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    This is part of a series about my New England colonial ancestors who arrived by during the Great Migration. If you have early Massachusetts ancestry, be sure to check out AmericanAncestors, as the Great Migration Study Project can be viewed there with a membership to the New England Historic Genealogical Society.

    I’ve written about the Smiths in the past, but there has been much new information uncovered about their English origins in the last year. The English Ancestry of Elizabeth Smith, Whose Husband Was Samuel1 Smith of Hadley, Massachusetts by Myrtle Stevens Hyde was published in the New England Historic Genealogical Register in the spring and summer issues of Volume 174 (2020). The articles are only accessible through membership.

    BSO (bright shiny object) teaser – Samuel’s parents have been identified and Elizabeth’s ancestral lines have been documented through her grandparents and several great grandparents.

    Lt. Samuel Smith, as he came to be called in Massachusetts, was baptized on 6 September 1601 in Burstall, Suffolk, England. His wife, Elizabeth Smith, was apparently not related to her husband. She was baptized on 22 July 1599 at Erwarton, Suffolk, England.

    The two towns are about 25 miles distant from each other, but Elizabeth’s family moved to Whatfield, where Samuel and Elizabeth married on 6 October 1624.

    Samuel and Elizabeth lived in Whatfield for a short time and where their first child was born.  They then removed to Hadleigh, a village about 3 miles south of Whatfield, where three more children were born to them. Their two youngest sons were born after the family left England.

    On 30 April 1634, the young Smith family were enrolled as passengers on the Elizabeth, bound for New England.

    Samuel was active in town matters after he arrived in the colonies, living first at Watertown, then removing to Wethersfield, Connecticut in 1635 and finally to Hadley, Massachusetts in 1661.

    His occupations have been identified as fellmonger (one who deals in hides and skins) and glover (one who makes gloves).

    Children:

    1. Samuel, baptized 6 February 1624/25, St. Margaret Whatfield, Suffolk, England; died after 1688, probably in the Carolinas; married Rebecca Smith, c1649. However, Samuel abandoned his wife in 1664, leaving with Sarah Clay, and living first in Roanoke, Virginia and then “Carolina.” Rebecca divorced him by 1669. Samuel had a young wife after he left, but it isn’t evident whether he had been divorced before that time. There was quite a local scandal over his behavior towards his wife and reported dalliances with other women in town.
    2. Elizabeth, baptized 28 January 1626/27, Hadleigh, Suffolk, England; died after 5 January 1702, when she swore to her husband’s estate inventory; married (1) Nathaniel Foote, January 1745/46, Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut (2) William Gull, c1656.
    3. Mary, baptized 9 October 1628, Hadleigh, Suffolk, England; died by 1660; married John Graves, 18 May 1654, Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut.
    4. Philip, baptized 25 October 1632, Hadleigh, Suffolk, England; died 10 January 1684/85, Hadley, Hampshire, Massachusetts; married Rebecca Foote, c1657.
    5. Chiliab, born c1636, probably Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut; died 7 March 1730/01, Hadley, Hampshire, Massachusetts; married Hannah Hitchcock, 2 October 1661, Hadley, Hampshire, Massachusetts.
    6. John, born c1638, probably Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut; died 30 May 1676, Hatfield, Hampshire, Massachusetts in an Indian attack during King Philip’s War; married Mary Partridge, 12 November 1663, Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut.

    Elizabeth (Smith) Smith survived her husband, passing away on 16 March 1685/86 in Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut. Samuel died sometime between 28 September 1680, when his name appears in a town record, and 17 January 1680/81, when Elizabeth filed his estate inventory with the Hampshire County, Massachusetts court.

    My line of descent:

    1. Samuel Smith & Elizabeth Smith
    2. Nathaniel Foote & Elizabeth Smith
    3. Daniel Belden & Elizabeth Foote
    4. Benjamin Burt & Sarah Belden
    5. Seaborn Burt & Susannah Lobdell
    6. Benjamin Burt & Rebecca Follett
    7. Philip Crouse & Sarah Burt
    8. Peter Crouse & Rebecca Jones
    9. William Coleman & Sarah Moriah Crouse
    10. Hartwell Thomas Coleman & Anna Elisabeth Jensen
    11. Vernon Tarbox Adams & Hazel Ethel Coleman
    12. George Michael Sabo & Doris Priscilla Adams
    13. Linda Anne (Sabo) Stufflebean – Me!