1695/[96?] Caleb Wright of Oyster Bay wrote his will on 2 February 1695. In it he names his wife Elizabeth, daughters Elizabeth and Penelope (not yet 18, there born after 1677), and son William (not yet 21, so born after 1674). [1]
1695[/96?] "Caleb Wright died on 5 February 1695[/96?]" in Oyster Bay, New York. [2] [3]
1697 Gershom Lockwood and Elizabeth Wright were married in Oster Bay, New York, on August 3. [4] [5]
These are to Infform all people to whome It may Any wise Consern that Gersham Lockwood of Greenwitch In ye Collony of Coneticut & &c & ye Widdow Elizabeth Wright of Oysterbay In Queens County on Long Island were published According to order and stood up & took themselves as man & wife before Edward White justice of ye peace ye 3 day of August 1697
1718/19 Gershom Lockwood died on March 12 and was buried in the Tomac Burying Ground in Greenwich, Fairfield County, Connecticut. His grave stone inscription is "Here lyes ye body of Mr Gershom Lockwood aged 77 years Dec'd March ye 12 1718". [6]
1719 Administration of the estate of Gershom Lockwood was granded on April 1.. Jacobus summarizes the estate records, [7]
Fairfield Probate Records
Administration was greanted, 1 Apr. 1719, to widow Elizabeth and son Gershom. The inventory mentions "about thirty acres of land at Windsor which came to him by his first wife." The prenuptial contract of Gershop with his widow was dated 2 Oct. 1716. Agreement of heirs 28 Mar. 1719: Widow Elizabeth; Gershom and Joseph Lockwood of Greenwich, sons Gershom; Hannah wife of Thomas Hanford of Norwalk and Sarah wife of Benjamin Hecox of Stamford, daughters of Gershom; and John, Nathaniel, Elizabeth and David Bates, children of Elizabeth Bates of Stamford dec'd, one of the daughters of Gershom.
Research Notes:
Daniel Mead states, "Lieut. Gershom Lockwood was the principal carpenter and builder in the town of Greenwich, and filled many offices of trust and importance." [8]
Jacobus states that the first wife of Gershom "is unknown; he m. second, 3 August. 1697, Elizabeth (Townsend widow of Gideon) Wright, per Oyster Bay Records, 1:515; and third, about Oct. 1716, Elizabeth ____. The first wife seems to have been of Windsor." [9]
Jacobus provides the following information about Gershom Lockwood, [10]
Lockwood, Gershom, s. of Robert.
Born at Watertown, Mass., 6 Sept. 1643, d. at Greenwich, 12 Mar. 1718/9 ae. 77 (g. s.); m. (1) Ann [?Millington] of Windsor.He m. (2) abt. Oct. 1716, Elizabeth, widow of Gideon Wright, and dau. of John and Elizabeth (Montgomery) Townsend.
Adm'n granted, 1 Apr. 1719, to widow Elizabeth and son Gershom. The Inv. mentions "about thirty acres of Land at Windsor which came to him by his first wife."
Agreement 28 Mar. 1719: Widow Elizabeth; Gershom and Joseph Lockwood of Greenwich, sons of Gershom; Hannah wife of Thomas Hanford of Norwalk and Sarah wife of Benjamin Hecox of Stamford, daus. of Gershom; and John, Nathaniel, Elizabeth, and David Bates, children of Elizabeth Bates of Stamford dec'd, one of the daus. of Gershom. The prenuptial contract of the widow with Gershom was dated 2 Oct. 1716.
Children [by first wife]:
Gershom, Deputy for Greenwich, May and Aug. 1710, Oct. 1715, May and Oct. 1719, Oct. 1720, Oct. 1721, May 1723, May and Oct. 1724, May and Oct. 1726, Sept. 1727, May and July 1728; Justice; m. Mary [perhaps dau. of John Weed, born at Stamford, 21 Apr. 1684].
Hannah, m. (1) abt. 1686, John Burwell; m. (2) Thomas Hanford. [Footnote: Will of John Burwell, last day of Apr. 1690; wife, Exec'x; child; if wife should be with child; father Gershom Lockwood, and cousin John Browne of Newark, New Jersey, overseers.]
Elizabeth, d. at Stamford, 23 May 1702; m. (rec. Stamford), 18 Jan. 1693/4, John Bates.
Joseph, d. at Greenwich in 1748; will 16 Dec. 1748, proved 2 Jan. 1749; m. [perhaps Sarah Green, born at Stamford, 19 Apr. 1684, dau. of Benjamin Green whose will 1725 named dau. Sarah Lockwood].
Sarah, born abt. 1679, d. at Wilton, 27(?) Feb. 1765 ae. 86 (g. s.); will 10 Jan. 1765, proved 23 Feb. 1765; m. (1) (rec. Stamford) 25 Jan. 1699/1700, Nathaniel Selleck; m. (2) 3 Feb. 1713/4,Benjamin Hickock; m. (3) 9 Mar. 1755, Samuel Kellogg of Norwalk.
Bartley proposes that it was Caleb Wright's widow Elizabeth, not Gideon Wright's widow Elizabeth, who married Gershom Lockwood in 1697. [11]
Pelletreau's abstact of the will of Anthony Wright indicates that Gideon Wright and his wife Elizabeth were married by 20 May 1673 and that Caleb Wright, son of Anthony's brother Nicholas, was not yet married on that date. [12]
Page 400.—Anthony Wright, Oyster Bay, makes his sister Alse Crabb, of said town, executor and leaves her his whole estate except the following Legacies. To his brother Nicholas Wright 5s. and to his wife Ann the same, and to his son Caleb 2s. 6d. To Rebecca Frost, Sarah Lattin, John Wright, Gideon Wright, Elizabeth Wright his wife, Adam Wright and his wife Mary, Job Wright, Mary Andrews, Jacob Townsend and wife Elizabeth, Lidia Wright, Richard Crab, 2s. 6d. each. To Isaac Doty, a cow. Dated 20th of 3d month (May), 1673. Proved at Court of Sessions at Jamaica, December 8, 1680.
Holden and Lockwood state that Gershom Lockwood's first wife was Ann Millington, however, other evidence suggest that Ann Millington was the wife of Gershom Lockwood's son Gershom. Holden and Lockwood provide the following account of Ann Millington [13]:
This lady came to this country in pursuit of her lover, a British army officer. Failing to find him, she taught school, and subsequently married Gershom Lockwood of Greenwich, Conn. In 1660 her parents sent her a large oak chest, ingeniously carved on the outside, and strongly built; tradition says "it contained half a bushel of Guineas, and many fine silk dresses," etc., etc. This identical chest is now (1888) at Mr. Samuel Ferris's house in Greenwich, Connecticut. Lady Millington's granddaughter, Ann Lockwood, born 1713, married Samuel Ferris.
Donald Line Jacobus, citing a Ferris family memoir, states that Stephen Ferris born about 1740 remembered his grandmother Ann (Millington) Lockwood. The Ann Lockwood who married Samuel Ferris was the granddaughter of Robert Lockwood's son Gershom Lockwood and his unknown first wife. Jacobus' quote or paraphrase of the the Ferris memoir states, [14]
Samuel Ferris, born 1706 [hence probably the Samuel son of James Ferris Sr. recorded in Greenwich, Conn., as born 21 Sept. 1706], married Ann Lockwood, daughter of Gershom and Ann (Millingon) Lockwood, and sister of Betty Lockwod who married a Mead of Horseneck and of Gershom Lockwood Jr. who died early leaving a son Millington and a daughter who married a Hendrie. Ann (Millington) Lockwood was remembered by her grandson Stephen Ferris [born 1740, see below] as a round-faced, short, stout woman. Children of Samuel and Ann (Lockwood) Ferris: … vi. Stephen, b. 27 Dec. 1740. It was he who remembered seeing his grandmother. …
[1] Scott Andrew Bartley, "Who is Elizabeth, Wife of Caleb Wright of Oyster Bay, Long Island?" The Mayflower Descendant 55 (2006), 4-15 at 10, citing NYGBR 65 (1934):246, [AmericanAncestors].
[2] Scott Andrew Bartley, "Who is Elizabeth, Wife of Caleb Wright of Oyster Bay, Long Island?" The Mayflower Descendant 55 (2006), 4-15 at 10, citing Oster Bay Town Records, 3:137, [AmericanAncestors].
[3] John Cox, ed., Oyster Bay Town Records, Vol. 3, 1704-1720 (New York: Tobias A. Wright, 1929), 137, [GoogleBooks].
[4] Scott Andrew Bartley, "Who is Elizabeth, Wife of Caleb Wright of Oyster Bay, Long Island?" The Mayflower Descendant 55 (2006), 4-15 at 11, citing Oster Bay Town Records, 1:515, [AmericanAncestors].
[5] John Cox, Oyster Bay Town Records, Volume 1, 1653-1690 (New York: Tobias A. Wright, 1916), 515, [HathiTrust], [InternetArchive], [GoogleBooks].
[6] Find A Grave Memorial 21447946, [FindAGrave].
[7] Donald Lines Jacobus, "The Gershom Lockwoods of Greenwich, Conn.," The American Genealogist 31 (1955), 224-227, at 225-226, [AmericanAncestors].
[8] Daniel Mead, History of the Town of Greenwich (NY: Baker & Godwin, 1857), 113, [GoogleBooks].
[9] Donald Lines Jacobus, "The Gershom Lockwoods of Greenwich, Conn.," The American Genealogist 31 (1955), 224-227, at 226, [AmericanAncestors].
[10] Donald Lines Jacobus, History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield, Vol. 1, Reprinted with additions and corrections (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2007), 384, [GoogleBooks].
[11] Scott Andrew Bartley, "Who is Elizabeth, Wife of Caleb Wright of Oyster Bay, Long Island?" The Mayflower Descendant 55 (2006), 4-15 at 5, [AmericanAncestors].
[12] William S. Pelletreau, Abstracts of Wills on file in the Surrogate's office: city of New York, Vol. 1, 1665-1707 (New York: The New York Historical Society, 1893), 106-107, [HathiTrust], [InternetArchive], [GoogleBooks].
[13] Frederic A. Holden and E. Dunbar Lockwood, Descendants of Robert Lockwood: Colonial and Revolutionary history of the Lockwood Family in America (Philadelphia: 1889), 15-16, [GoogleBooks].
[14] Donald Lines Jacobus, "A Ferris Family Record," The American Genealogist 31 (1955), 218-219, at 218, [AmericanAncestors].