Jeffrey Ferris, of Greenwich - The Ancestors and Origins of Jeffrey Ferris (c.1610-1666)

Bummer those youngster ministers were not better record keepers.

Don’t give up on the thought. Bergen’s book may have something. (my favorite subway station named after him).

That's my motto: never give up... at least not until thoroughly flummoxed. :)

Okay. I took the red-eye to JFK, went to the Bergen Street station and looked for the book, but couldn't find it. :)

It has been a number of years since I researched New Amsterdam ancestors. What is Bergen's book?

Yes, I was blanking on his first name.

https://books.google.com/books?id=gi2OJypMncAC&dq=theunis+berge...

Register in Alphabetical Order, of the Early Settlers of Kings County, Long Island, N. Y., from Its First Settlement by Europeans to 1700: With Contributions to Their Biographies and Genealogies, Comp. from Various Sources

Front Cover
Teunis G. Bergen
S. W. Green's son, printer

Theres probably an archive.org version for easier reading.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teunis_G._Bergen

Teunis G. Bergen Needs a tree build and add to genealogists project.

Thanks for posting that link to the Register of Early Settlers of Kings County. I checked it but unfortunately found nothing of note.

But it did lead me to a couple of other sources that better described the situation around New Amsterdam in the 1650's by using Newtown as an example. (See the quotes below.) In short, it appears to me that the Dutch West India Company wanted to increase settlement in New Netherlands by opening its territory to other immigrants, such as the English Puritans. Those settlers got good terms, such as free land for 10 years, and they had freedom of religion. But, they had to submit to Dutch civil authority, i.e. Peter Stuyvesant.

Newtown is a good window because the Dutch allowed new English Puritans to settle essentially next door, on Long Island just across the East River from New Amsterdam, Manhattan. In fact, the first owner of the underlying land was Rev. Francis Doughty, a Puritan from Taunton, Mass. Rev. John Moore replaced him about 1652 after moving to Newtown from Hempstead.

It also appears that the English who began to settle nearer to New Amsterdam may have felt more protected from the Dutch when an English fleet was dispatched to Boston to fight the Dutchin 1654. But before the fleet could sail to Manhattan the Dutch and the English made peace.

And, it also appears that smaller outlying settlements, like Westchester, relied on Flushing or New Amsterdam for civil and religious services. A footnote in "The Annals of Newtown" at page 26 states that "The public records of Newtown now in the clerk's office, begin in the year 1659, in which allusion is made to records of an earlier date, not now to be found."

A 1656 list of the residents of Newtown includes William Palmer (Judith Feake's husband), Henry Feeke, Elias Bayley and Brian Newton. ("The Annals of Newtown," p. 43.) I presume this Brian Newton is the same Brian Nuton who wrote the journal during the Dutch visit to Westchester at the end of 1656. Perhaps Brian remembered that breakfast cooked by Jeffrey's first wife and helped Rev. Moore get to Westchester to provide a funeral a couple of years later.

***********

The story of Newtown, Long Island under the Dutch is instructive, contains some familiar names and the names of some Puritan clergy. Newtown was originally known as Mespat by the Native Americans and then initially as Middleburg by the first settlers before becoming Newtown.

From "History of Queens County, New York" (1882), p. 330
https://archive.org/details/historyofqueensc00newy/page/n6

In 1652 "a goodly company of Englishmen arrived from New England... Some of the new comers were from Greenwich, Stamford, Fairfield and villages along the Connecticut shore; ... Of these was Lieutenant William Palmer... Others were Henry Feeke... Their lands were to be held without rent or tax for ten years... They were to enjoy the free exercise of their religion..."

Rev. John Moore, who had been at Stamford and a clergyman at Hempstead then moved to Newtown to become its pastor circa 1652.

From "The Annals of Newtown, in Queens County, New York," James Riker (1852)
https://archive.org/details/annalsofnewtowni00rike/page/n3

p. 26
"The new colonists were also joined by some respectable individuals from ... Hempstead, but who had previously resided at Stamford, among whom were Robert Coe... and from the first named place also, came the proposed pastor of the new settlement, the Rev. John Moore, of whose previous history nothing has been learned, except that he had been the 'clergyman of the church of Heemstede.'"

p. 29
The residents of the out-plantations were not a corporate community, but continued for many years to be dependent for civil and religious advantages upon Flushing or New Amsterdam. Disputes at law arising in this district were usually taken to the last named place for trial.

p. 35
"Stuyvesant was soon called to witness the evil of his impolitic course. The colonies of Connecticut and New Haven had made such representations to the English government that a fleet was despatched for the reduction of the Manhattans, and on its arrival at Boston in the spring of 1654, New England immediately began to raise troops to aid the expedition. The Director-general bestirred himself to meet the expected invaders, but found his strength paralized. "The occurrences of 1653 had seriously weaned men's aftcctions from the government, and oaths of allegiance were no longer considered binding." Some of the English villages openly discarded the authority of Stuyvesant, and when the news arrived of the intended invasion, Middelburg proposed that the English should commence hostilities. At this crisis, when the enemy's fleet was about to sail from Boston, a vessel arrived there with the news of peace between England and Holland. The intelligence reached the Manhattans on July 16th, in a ship which brought also the rejection by the Directors at Amsterdam, of the remonstrance of the previous year.

p. 39
The year 1656 was productive of events not less dangerous to the peace of the community... To secure the public ordinances of religion, had been a primary object with the settlers at Middelburg, who could not but attach value to those sacred institutions for which many of them had periled the ocean and wilderness. The people were partly Independents and partly Presbyterians. The latter were too few or too poor to support a minister, but the former enjoyed the services of the Rev. John Moore, who preached, but administered no sacraments.

If the Brian Newton (Nuton) living in Newtown was the same Brian who mentioned in his journal the breakfast with Jeffrey Ferris on January 1st, 1657, perhaps he recorded in his journals the death and name of the kind lady who cooked that breakfast.

I would quibble that the Puritan settlements in New Netherlands had no pastor. Lady Moody bought her Gravesend Plantation in 1643.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deborah_Moody

Now, as Anabaptists, they may have pastored themselves. But they surely had services and records in their community. But she was sociable and entertained her neighbors, including the Notorious Turk. I would imagine plenty of others paid their respects.

Your idea of looking in diaries and other correspondence is a good one.

Who was the Notorius Turk?

I uploaded another revised version of my memo about the Origins of Jeffrey Ferris. The revisions are in pages 31 to 33. Essentially, they add the issues discussed above about tradition and memory as well as the significance of Brian Nuton's journal.

I found the following in "Narrative of New Netherland 1609-1664," J.F. Jameson, Ed. (1909). First, it states that Brian Newton was English, which is supported by his residence in Newtown. Second, the extended quote below by Revs. Megapolensis and Drisius written in 1657 paints their picture of the insufficient number of English ministers. I thought you might find their first hand views of interest.
https://archive.org/details/narrativesofnewn01jame/page/n9

***********

The Representation of New Netherland, 1650, p. 285
The Administration of Director Stuyvesant in Particular
...
p. 338
"Brian Newton,(2) lieutenant of the soldiers, is the next. This man is afraid of the Director, and regards him as his benefactor. Besides being very simple and inexperienced in law, he does not understand our Dutch language, so that he is scarcely capable of refuting the long written opinions, but must and will say yes."

[fn 2] "An Englishman who had served under the company several years at Curacao."
...

Answers to the Representation of New Netherland, by Cornelis Van Tienhoven, 1650
p. 367
"It can be shown that Brian Newton not only understands the Dutch tongue, but also speaks it, so that their charge, that Newton does not understand the Dutch language, is untrue. All the other slanders and calumnies uttered against the remaining officers should be required to be proven."

p. 399 et seq
Revs. Megapolensis and Drisius to the Classis of Amsterdam (October 25, 1657).

"We are at this time in great want of English ministers. It is more than two years since Mr. Doughty, of Flushing which is a town here, went to Virginia, where he is now a preacher. He left because he was not well supported. On October 13, Mr. Moore, of Middelburg, which is another town here, died of a pestilential disease, which prevailed in several of our English towns and in New England. He left a widow with seven or eight children. A year before, being dissatisfied with the meagre and irregular payments from his hearers, he went to Barbadoes, to seek another place. Mr. Richard Denton, who is sound in faith, of a friendly disposition, and beloved by all, cannot be induced by us to remain, although we have earnestly tried to do this in various ways. He first went to Virginia to seek a situation, complaining of lack of salary, and that he was getting in debt, but he has returned thence. He is now fully resolved to go to old England, because his wife, who is sickly, will not go without him, and there is need of their going there, on account of a legacy of four hundred pounds sterling, lately left by a deceased friend, and which they cannot obtain except by their personal presence. At Gravesend there never has been a minister. Other settlements, yet in their infancy, as Aernem,^ have no minister. It is therefore to be feared that errorists and fanatics may find opportunity to gain strength. We therefore request you. Rev. Brethren, to solicit the Hon. Directors of the West India Company, to send over one or two English preachers, and that directions may be given to the magistracy that the money paid by the English be paid to the magistrate, and not to the preacher, which gives rise to dissatisfaction, and that at the proper time any existing deficiency may be supplied by the Hon. Directors. Otherwise we do not see how the towns will be able to obtain ministers, or if they obtain them, how they will be able to retain them. Complaints continually reach us about the payment of ministers. Nevertheless in New England there are few places without a preacher, although there are many towns, stretching for more than one hundred leagues along the coast. Hoping that by God's blessing and your care something may be effected in this matter, we remain,
Your friends and fellow laborers,
Johannes Megapolensis.
Manhattans, Samuel Drisius.
Oct. 22, 1657."

Based on the account by Revs. Megapolensis and Drisius, if Jeffrey's wife died in 1657 or 1658 in Westchester, the only ministers available to perform a service would have been themselves or Rev. Denton. As you mention, Lady Moody might have been another alternative. And, perhaps some English ministers arrived after their October, 1657 letter. But, of course, Rev. Denton returned to England sometime in 1658.

Wonderful read. I’m going to save the link to a couple of projects, and to the Rev’s profile.

I was hoping you’d bite on the Notorious Turk - Anthony van Salee.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Janszoon_van_Salee

He owned what was then known, perhaps, in English as Rabbit Island, better known now as Coney Island. His wife was also notorious - there’s a salacious story in her profile Grietje Reyniers (tree needs cleanup).

—-

More relevant to our inquiry:

He was the first grantee of land on Conyne Eylandt (Coney Island). Van Salee helped found Long Island settlements including New Utrecht and Gravesend. In 1660 he founded Boswijck (now known as Bushwick), along with twenty-three other settlers, including free blacks Francisco and Anton.[12]

Van Salee was known for frequently reading his Qur'an.[13] He petitioned to have Christian missionaries assigned to new settlements. Once he was fined for housing an English Quaker at his home on Bridge Street, as they were excluded as Dissenters from the English colony; the man was there to repair a Dutch church.[14] Van Salee appeared to be on good terms with his neighbor Lady Deborah Moody,[14], the founder of Gravesend.

——
Chase some of the footnotes ...

The Notorious Turk definitely has some interesting looking footnotes. Thanks.

For future reference re the history of the Bronx (and Westchester), its settlers families, etc. An investigative reporter apparently fascinated by the history of the Bronx describes some very specific early history of the Bronx. I thought you might want to at least scan it.

The Fabulous, Fantastic Timeline of Hunts Point, Bronx (Published on Oct 8, 2018)
https://www.slideshare.net/pderienzo/the-fabulous-fantastic-timelin...

Just as an example, item 22 reads in part:

Grove Farm passes to the Ferris family On Sept. 6, 1664, Col. Nichols took possession of "New Amsterdam" and the English took over from the Dutch. Thomas Hunt moved on to his Westchester Grove farm and in October 1664 he is described as "a delegate from Westchester." From 1664 until his death in 1695 he resided on his Grove Farm. He left a will in which he identified his children as Thomas, Joseph, John, Josiah, and Abigail, and left his Grove Farm, entailed (to pass on to eldest sons of successors) to his grandson Josiah, son of Josiah, who was subsequently known as "Grove Siah."

Possible Cause of Death and Timing for Jeffrey's wife

In the quote above from "Narrative of New Netherland 1609-1664," Megapolensis and Drisius state that:

"On October 13, [1657,] Mr. Moore, of Middelburg [aka later as Newtown], which is another town here, died of a pestilential disease, which prevailed in several of our English towns and in New England..."

So, Rev. John Moore of Newtown died in October 1657 of a "pestilential disease." Then Susanna Norman (Jeffrey's second wife) lost her husband, Robert Lockwood, in Fairfield in Sept 1658, leaving her with 11 children, one only 4 years old. Jeffrey Ferris lost his first wife, likely in 1657 or 1658.

It appears that influenza epidemics (for which we now have flu vaccines) were common in America and Europe between 1655 and 1658. See the following quotes from Webster. If Rev. John Moore died of a "pestilential disease" in October, 1657, an outbreak of influenza may have killed others in the area around the same time, including Jeffrey's wife. The flu may also have hit Fairfield in 1658.

"A brief history of epidemic and pestilential diseases," In two volumes.
Webster, Noah, 1758-1843. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=evans;cc=evans;rgn...

p. 191
The influenza in America was also succeeded by fatal epidemic diseases, altho I have no means of determining what they were. The account recorded is that there "was a great sickness and mortality, throughout New-England in 1658. The season was intemperate and the crops light." Trumbull, p. 244.
...
p. 193
It will be remarked that the year 1647 when the influenza invaded America, was a sickly year in Europe. In 1655 when the plague was epidemic in Europe, the influenza again prevailed in America. In 1658 when the influenza invaded Europe, great sickness and mortality occurred in America. These alternations of epidemic diseases will be observed in the subsequent stages of this history.

I have uploaded to the Sources tab a revised timeline for Jeffrey Ferris in America. The changes are mostly typo corrections.

I also uploaded a revised Origins of Jeffrey Ferris memo. The only change is the addition of the following paragraph on page 33:

If Jeffrey married Susanna Norman in about 1659 after her husband died in September 1658, that suggests Jeffrey's first wife died in Westchester between 1657 and 1659. It further suggests Westchester is likely where she was buried. In addition, her death in 1657 or 1658 would coincide with deadly influenza outbreaks in New Netherlands and New England during those years. In fact, Reverends Megapolensis and Drisius of New Amsterdam noted two weeks after his death that Rev. John Moore of Newtown had died of a "pestilence" (an epidemic) in October 1657. Newtown was less than 10 miles south of Westchester where Jeffrey Ferris lived in 1657. (See Jeffrey's timeline in America below.) Narrative of New Netherland 1609-1664, J.F. Jameson, Ed. (1909), p. 399; A Brief History of Epidemic and Pestilential Diseases, Webster, Noah, (1799).

Nicholas Bayly/Baly/Baylie in Westchester/East Town

As noted earlier Brian Nuton's (Newton) journal mentioned that at a meeting on 31 December 1656 "Mr. Baly made prayer..." Mr. Baly was an original Westchester/ East Town settler in 1654 whose given name was Nicholas. Also as noted previously, Rev. Thomas Bayly, who married Jeffrey F/Harris and Dorathy Sheapherd in Manningford Bruce in 1632, had a son baptised in Manningford Bruce in 1633 named Nicholas.

Two other Bayleys were present in Long Island at the same time. They are mentioned in "The Name and Family of Bailey" (1984) but were not connected to any other Bayly/Bailie families. They were:

Elias Bailey, of Newton, Long Island, in 1656
Joseph Bayley, of Huntington, Long Island, before 1654

http://www.hollingsworthassociates.com/Protected_Files/THE_NAME_AND...

I wonder if Nicholas, Elias and Joseph were related, perhaps as father and sons or all as brothers.

I have uploaded a revised Origins of Jeffrey Ferris memo and a revised Timeline for Jeffrey in America to the Sources tab. The changes are noted below.

Jeffrey's First Wife

There is no evidence that the name of Jeffrey's first wife was Mary. Internet postings claiming her name was Mary do so without stating any sourcing for that name. To the contrary, when Rev. Huntington in 1874 published a book listing all recorded births, marriages and deaths in Stamford, he did not provide the given name of Jeffrey's wife upon her death. Rather, he listed her death as "Wife to Jeffry, d. 31, 5, 1658." Then in 2011, Paul Finch published his own new listing of the Stamford town records in which he recites the entry for Jeffrey's wife as "(____) wif to Jeffery Ferris, died 31:5:58." Robert C. Anderson in his Great Migration study also agrees that no given name is yet available for Jeffrey's first wife.

See the excerpts below showing changes to my "Origins of Jeffrey Ferris" memo for citations to the sources.

The second paragraph below also may put a nail in the claims that a tombstone for Jeffrey's first wife exists and displays her name as Mary. There are no tombstones in the Greenwich or Stamford cemeteries for burials prior to 1718. And that was true even in a 1934 inventory of tombstones.

The fourth paragraph below describes an influenza epidemic that hit New Netherlands and New England in 1657-58. Jeffrey's first wife died 31 July 1658 and that death was recorded in the Stamford town records. The recording of her death in Stamford seemed odd since Jeffrey and his wife appear to have been living in Westchester at that time. But they had married sons (Peter and Joseph) in Stamford and Greenwich in 1658 and they had a new grandson, Joseph, born to Peter on 20 August 1657. In addition, Jeffrey's son Joseph, had married Ruth Knapp in November 1657. It seems quite plausible that Jeffrey and his wife would visit their children and grandchildren in Stamford and Greenwich and that Jeffrey's wife may have become ill there. And, Ruth Knapp's mother, Elinor Knapp, was buried in Stamford in August 1658. In fact, all 17 of the deaths in Stamford during all of 1658 curiously occurred between the end of May and the middle of September. The list of those deaths below includes numerous members of the same families. This pattern suggests these Stamford deaths may well have been the result of an epidemic.

1658 Stamford Deaths from Rev. Huntington's "Registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths of Stamford Families:"

Mary Crissy/Cressy died May 25 1658
Mary Bishop dau of Mr. Bishop died May 25 1658
John Waterbury b.c. 1621 died May 31 1658
unknown child of John Rockwell died May 31 1658
Jeremy Jagger died June 14 1658
Mary Elliot, wife of John Elliot, died Jun 17 1658
Nicholas Theale b. 1603 d. 19 June 1658
Peter Brown died June 21, 1658
Eleanor Brown died June 21, 1658 (wife of Peter)
Ebenezer Brown died June 21, 1658
Seely Habakuk died July 13, 1658
Wife of Jeffrey Ferris died 1658 Jul 31
Elinor Knapp, wife of Nicholas Knapp, buried Aug 16 1658
Thomas Stevens d. Aug 19, 1658
Peter Brown b.c. 1610 died 22 Aug 1658
--unnamed son died 21 Aug 1658
--wife Elizabeth died 21 Sep 1657

**************

Origins of Jeffrey Ferris Revisions

pp. 32-33

Some people on the internet recite the given name of Jeffrey's first wife as Mary but none of them give a credible source for her name. The only contemporary source for her existence that has been found is the record of her death in 1658 which reads "(____) wif to Jeffery Ferris, died 31:5:58." (Died “31:5:58” translates to 31 July 1658 because March was the first month of year under the Julian calendar.) Stamford Town Records, Vol. 1, 1641-1723, Paul R. Finch, NEHGS (2011) and Registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths of Stamford Families, Rev. E.B. Huntington (1874), p. 33 (also see electronic version at CTGenWeb). This entry for Jeffrey's first wife indicates the original Stamford record of her death gives her no first name whatsoever. Given that Rev. Huntington's 1874 review of the original records coupled with Paul Finch's 2011 review of the records both concluded no first name was given for Jeffrey's first wife, any suggestion to the contrary is extremely doubtful. Also see “The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635,” Robert C. Anderson, (NEHGS, 2011), Vol II, p. 517-520.

Someone on the internet has also fabricated the existence of a tombstone for Jeffrey's first wife claiming it reads “Mary ...ne.” But the First Congregational Church of Greenwich which maintains the Tomac Cemetery in Greenwich says there are no tombstones in the cemetery for burials prior to 1718. Even a 1934 inventory of the Tomac Cemetery revealed no tombstone for Jeffrey or any of his wives. Also see Research Paper, Tomac Historic Burying Ground, John Buckland, (1997). Since the death of Jeffrey's first wife was recorded in the Stamford Town Records, perhaps she was buried in Stamford. But the original common burying ground in Stamford was moved to the Northfield Cemetery in 1806 to build a road. And, there is no marker like the one described above in the Northfield Cemetery.

The recordation in Stamford of the death of Jeffrey's wife in July 1658 raises the question whether they had returned to Stamford or Greenwich by then. We know from the journals of a Dutch delegate named Brian Nuton (Newton) that Jeffrey Ferris was living in Westchester (East Town) on January 1st, 1657 (Gregorian date) when Jeffrey signed (with his mark) an acknowledgment of Dutch authority over Westchester. Brian Nuton also noted that after their meeting they “went to Mr Ferris' who invited us to breakfast.” Since the meeting had included all of the adult males, and considering the customs of the times, it is likely that Jeffrey's first wife cooked that breakfast. Documentary History of the State of New York, Vol. 3, C. Morgan (1850), p. 559. In addition, Robert C. Anderson places Jeffrey in Westchester in late 1658 and early 1659 when he was involved in a “lengthy lawsuit.” “The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635,” Vol II, (NEHGS, 2011), p. 517-520. But Jeffrey's sons Peter and Joseph and their wives lived in Stamford and nearby Old Greenwich in 1658, giving Jeffrey and his wife reason to visit those settlements. In fact, their son Peter and his wife, Elizabeth Reynolds, had their son, Joseph, in Stamford on 20 August 1657. And, their son Joseph and his wife, Ruth Knapp, may have had a son, John, in Greenwich in August 1658. See "Ancestry of Elizabeth Barrett Gillespie," Paul W. Prindle, (1976), pp. 117-129 (accessed at this link on RootsWeb).

The death of Jeffrey's first wife in 1658 would coincide with deadly influenza outbreaks in New Netherlands and New England in 1657 and 1658. In fact, Reverends Megapolensis and Drisius of New Amsterdam noted two weeks after his death that Rev. John Moore of Newtown had died of a "pestilence" (an epidemic) in October 1657. Newtown was less than 10 miles south of Westchester where Jeffrey Ferris lived in 1657. (See Jeffrey's timeline in America below.) Narrative of New Netherland 1609-1664, J.F. Jameson, Ed. (1909), p. 399; A Brief History of Epidemic and Pestilential Diseases, Noah Webster, (1799), pp. 191,193. In addition, a review of Rev. Huntington's 1874 Registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths of Stamford Families shows all of the 17 deaths in Stamford during 1658 curiously occurred between May 25th and September 21st. Three members of one family all died on June 21st and three members of another family died on August 21st and September 21st. And, Jeffrey and his wife may have visited their married sons in Old Greenwich and Stamford in 1658.

p. 35

Timeline additions and revisions:

1642 Jan - Jeffrey assessed for a mill and a Captain's house in Stamford. [fn.14]

1654 July 5 - Son Peter married Elizabeth Reynolds at Stamford. [fn.1]

1657 Aug 20 - Grandson Joseph born in Stamford to son Peter and Elizabeth Reynolds. [fn.14]

1657 Nov 20 - Son Joseph married Ruth Knapp of Stamford. [fn.1]

1658 Jul 31 - Jeffrey's first wife died. Death recorded in Stamford Town Records. [fn. 1 & 14]

1658 Aug - Grandson John Ferris born in Old Greenwich, near Stamford, to son Joseph and Ruth Knapp.

1665 Jan 6 - Jeffrey executed his will. [fn.1; 1665 is the Gregorian year.]

*************

Links

Stamford Town Records, Vol. 1: https://openlibrary.org/books/OL25125687M/Stamford_Town_Records_Vol...

Registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths of Stamford Families: https://openlibrary.org/books/OL25125687M/Stamford_Town_Records_Vol...

Registration of Births on CTGenWeb: https://www.ctgenweb.org/county/cofairfield/pages/stamford/hr_index...

Julian calendar: http://libguides.ctstatelibrary.org/hg/colonialresearch/calendar

FCC Greenwich: http://www.fccog.org/about-us/our-building/our-cemeteries/

1934 Inventory: http://www.ctgenweb.org/county/cofairfield/pages/cemetery/cm_grnwch...

Tomac Research Paper: http://www.fccog.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Tomac-Research-Pape...

Original Stamford cemetery moved 1806: http://www.stamfordhistory.org/adv_cem3.htm

Northfield Cemetery Stamford: http://www.ctgenweb.org/county/cofairfield/pages/cemetery/cm_stmfrd...

Erica Howton, I would suggest changing the name of Jeffrey's first wife to something like "Unknown First Wife." As I said above, there is no evidence of her first name. Stating that her name is Mary could lead someone finding a marriage record for Jeffrey to someone else, such as Elizabeth, to ignore the record because the wife's name was not Mary.

I would also note that the current profile for Jeffrey's first wife, "Mary Ferris," begins with the statement "Mary ---ne was the first wife of Jeffrey Ferris..." The name "Mary ---ne," however, is derived from a bogus, non-existent tombstone. That persistent, false and misleading statement should be labelled as such, in my opinion. That name seems to have been planted to argue Jeffrey's first wife was a non-existent Mary Anne Howard.

As I have said all along, if someone can produce some evidence supporting the given name Mary, I would be glad to look at it. But after viewing all of the various sources noted throughout this discussion, I have not seen any evidence supporting that given name for Jeffrey's first wife.

Agreed and done. See updated 1st wife of Jeffrey Ferris

Thanks. :)

By the way, did you notice the six Browns who died in Stamford in the summer of 1658 (as listed by Rev. Huntington above)? It looked like the parents and at least one child in each Brown family. I cannot see that they would be related to the Browns of Calne or Newbury, but their plights are tragically interesting.

Peter Brown, of Stamford, Connecticut

“Peter Brown Was one of the Governor Theophilus Eaton, and Rev. John Daverport Company that made a settlement at New Haven in the spring of 1638. This company was partly from the City of London, where Rev. John Davenport had been a Celebrated minister, and Partly from the counties of York, Hertford, Kent, Surry, Sussex, and sailed from London, England, in the ship Hector, which arrived at Boston on the twenty-six day of june, 1637. Peter Brown signed the compact appertaining to the government of the New Haven Colony in 1639. He sold out in 1647, and removed to Stamford, Connecticut, where his wife Elizabeth died September 21, 1657, and his son Ebenezer, August 19, 1658. He married again at Stamford, May 25, 1658, Unity Buxton. (taken from records of New Haven Colony)”

I was asked a fewweeks ago to try to find a link between a Henry and Agnes Ferrers of Sutton Benger Wilts. and John 11 of Blunsdon born c 1480. he married Jone Fowler.
Some of their children are listed but not this Henry
I have seen a Henry & Agnes ferrers who married in London in 1582
Can anybody help with his father please.....who ispossibly a brother of Roger b 1510-1516
I truthfully have spent way over a 100 hours coming against every brick wall imaginable and have not yet given up on this but some help would be great

To ray riegel What a wonderful piece of work you have produced on Jeffrey Ferrers

So I decided to go follow some other pages of possible ancestors and got this notice from Geni when visiting Henry de Ferrieres and a few other Ferrieres pages... did by chance Geni get their hands on more genetic material to gather dna from to make this assumption?
Shortest blood relation: https://www.geni.com/path/Zackary-Ferris+is+related+to+Henry-de-Fer...

Geni 'paths' are not based on DNA; they are simply a result of the explicit family connections from one profile to the next.

Where DNA results might come in is when two conflicting DNA results propagate back to the same profile. That typically indicates that somewhere along the way some 'explicit' connection is incorrect. The "detective work" is in finding where the linkages might be incorrect.

carole preston, thanks for the kind words. Sorry for the delayed response (family medical issues). I looked but could find nothing about Henry and Agnes Ferrers of Sutton Benger, Wilts. I did notice, however, that John Ferris and Jone Fowler had a daughter named Dorathie (b.c.1520) who married a Corie Henry. “Visitation of Wiltshire, 1565,” Harvey (1897), p. 18-19.

A random thought about assumptions and Jeffrey Ferris.

Because Jeffrey acknowledged Dutch authority over Westchester in 1657 using his mark, a natural first assumption is that he was not well educated because he could not read or write. But what if he used a mark because he was unable to write due to a physical injury? For example, what if he had lost a thumb or index finger in an accident at his mill?

Jeffrey was assessed for a mill in 1642 and likely ran it until about 1650 when he likely moved to Greenwich. Mills would have been dangerous places to work where losing fingers in the gears or heavy grind stones would have been possible.

While we can only speculate about the reason Jeffrey signed with a mark in 1657, it would seem wise to maintain an open mind about Jeffrey's education or lack thereof.

Personally, I lost a finger in an accident, as did my father-in-law and as did my old French history professor who lost his to torture by the Gestapo in World War II. Stuff happens.

Erica Howton, I think the following three paragraphs could be useful for anyone researching Jeffrey Ferris. They are intended to be inserted in the section of Jeffrey's Overview titled "Jeffrey Ferris' Origins in England." They would go after the paragraph beginning "Feriers family descendants can be found in many places throughout England..."

I placed a copy of these paragraphs on my own profile page (at the end). It includes the links so that it can be more easily copied and pasted.

*********

One particularly interesting branch of the Ferrers-Ferris family included the brothers William Ferris-Ferrers (c.1549-1625) and Edward Ferries-Ferrers (1573-1639). They were among the 14 children of Roger Ferris (1516-1579) and Margaret Badger of Ashton Keynes, Wiltshire. The surname of Roger, his parents and siblings was spelled as "Ferris" in The Visitation of Wiltshire 1565, William Harvey (1897), p. 18-19.

William Ferris-Ferrers (c.1549-1625) was a member of the Virginia Company of Plymouth and was named in its charter. He was also the Master of the Mercers Company in 1620 and an Alderman for the City of London from Aldgate in 1622. The City of London records show William's surname as "Ferris" and "Ferrys." Another member was Edward Bennett, a wealthy London merchant. In 1622 a Thomas Ferris (relation to William Ferris-Ferrers undetermined) was among those massacred by the Powhatan Indians at Edward Bennett's plantation in Virginia.

Edward Ferries-Ferrers (1573-1639) apprenticed with his brother William and became a Member of Parliament for Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire. When King James I began liquidating Royal mills around 1609, Edward Ferries-Ferrers and his partners purchased hundreds of them and became "the most extensive mill-owners the kingdom has ever known." Perhaps Jeffrey Ferris learned about operating a mill from this Edward Ferries-Ferrers.

***********

The Visitation of Wiltshire 1565, William Harvey (1897), p. 18-19. https://archive.org/stream/visitationofwilt00harvrich#page/18/mode/2up

The Third Virginia Charter 1612
http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/documents/1600-1650/the-third-virginia-ch...

Edward Bennett
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bennett_(colonist)

Massacre at Bennett's plantation & Thomas Ferris:
The Records of the Virginia Company of London, Vol III, Kingsbury, Susan Myra (ed.), 1933, pp. 571, 650
https://archive.org/details/recordsofvirgini03virg/page/570/mode/2up/

Mercers Company
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worshipful_Company_of_Mercers

British History Online, Chronological list of aldermen: 1601-1650
https://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/london-aldermen/hen3-19...

History of Parliament: Ferrers, Edward (c.1573-1639)
http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/fe...

History of Corn Milling, Vol III, Richard Bennett, John Elton, (1900), p. 17.
https://books.google.com/books?id=9YxEAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA24&lpg=...

Erica Howton, I would also note that Jeffrey Ferris has once again become the husband of the non-existent "Anne Howard" (sometimes aka Mary Anne Howard) supposed daughter of Thomas Howard and Alethea Talbot. They had six sons, but no daughters.

R Riegel Cleaned up and locked down, including the Howard family.