Chris & Julie Petersen's Genealogy

Atalanta Clay

Female Bef 1698 - 1748  (> 50 years)


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  • Name Atalanta Clay 
    Born Bef 1698  of Jamaica, Queens, New York, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Female 
    Died 26 Nov 1748  of Greenwich, Fairfield, Connecticut, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Person ID I3171  Petersen-de Lanskoy
    Last Modified 27 May 2021 

    Family Solomon Denton,   b. Abt 1690, Jamaica, Queens, New York, United States Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. From 16 May 1727 to 19 May 1727, Jamaica, Queens, New York, United States Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 37 years) 
    Married 3 Jun 1717  Jamaica, Queens, New York, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Last Modified 28 May 2021 
    Family ID F1567  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Notes 
    • RESEARCH_NOTES:
      1. The periodical "The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record," 120[1989]:10-17, 94-97, 160-163; 121[1990]:221-225, etc., "Descendants of the Rev. Richard Denton," by Walter C. Krumm. I have divided up this article and included each generation with the individual detailed (see notes of Rev. Richard Denton for summary of all other publications and researchers prior to this publication):
      "Solomon4 Denton (Samuel3, Nathaniel2, Rev. Richard1), the second son listed on his father's will, was born say 1685-90 in Jamaica; the will, drawn in 1699, granted him "a lot" to be his when he came of age. On 3 June 1717 he married Atalanta (there are various spellings) Clay in the Anglican Church (now Grace Episcopal) in Jamaica, the Rev. Thomas Poyer officiating (REC. 19:55). Atalanta was the youngest daughter of Humphrey and Rebecca (___) Clay of Jamaica and later of Perth Amboy, Middlesex County, New Jersey (Combes, p. 43). [Combes may have erred in giving the maiden name of Atalanta's mother Rebecca as "Van Gall." It would appear that it was Atalanta's brother Humphrey Jr. who married a "Vangall." See abstracts of wills of Humphrey Sr. and Jr., NJA 30:98.]
      Very few records of Solomon exist; he witnessed two land sales (JTR 3:165 and 287) and flied an unspecified suit against Robert Allison (Combes' correspondence of 6 February 1937, supra). In his tenth year of marriage, Solomon left a will, no occupation listed, drawn 16 May and proved 19 May 1727 (NYCW 10:428, WNYHS 2:383). It designated his wife "Athalana" and his brother Jacomiah Denton as executors, and listed five children by name, to inherit as they came of age. Because Atalanta was pregnant it provided for a possible sixth child (a son who did survive).
      Genealogists have differed about Atalanta's subsequent activities, making it is useful to clarify them here. [The idea advanced by Combes and other researchers that Atalanta married (2) Joseph Denton (#24 [Richard3, Nathaniel2, Rev. Richard1]) of Greenwich, Conn., will be considered in the next installment of this article.] In 1732 her father's will was drawn and proved in New Jersey (NJA 30:98), mentioning "Eathalenth Denton" among his seven children. On 1 October 1734 she married John Coe of Greenwich, Connecticut, not to be confused with the John Coe of Newtown who died in June 1735 (see brother Hezekiah, below). Also in 1734 Solomon Denton's eldest son, Samuel, aged 14, chose his stepfather John Coe for a guardian, preparatory to his being apprenticed. John Coe of Greenwich was dead by 5 May 1741 when letters of administration were given to Jabez Mead; Atalanta died 26 November 1748. John Coe had five children in all, three by a first wife and two sons, Samuel and Joseph, by Atalanta (J. Gardner Bartlett, "Robert Coe, Puritan, His Ancestors and Descendants 1340-1910," 1911, pp. 520-1).
      Children of Solomon and Atalanta (Clay) Denton, all born in Jamaica, Long Island:
      i. Mary5, b. say 1718; perhaps m. to Joseph Field (from a letter by Martha Taber, dated 16 May 1902, who listed three generations of Joseph and "Molly" [Denton] Field's descendants).
      ii. Samuel, b. 1720, apprenticed 1734; no more known. He prob. d. bef. 5 Aug. 1735 when his mother gave birth to another Samuel (Coe).
      iii. Humphrey, b. say 1722; prob. moved to Conn. when his mother remarried. His grandson Harvey Denton (1805-1905) recorded in a letter dated 19 January 1905 that Humphrey was "bred on Long Island, [and] bound to the Tannery Curriers and Shoemakers trade in New Haven" before moving to Horseneck, Fairfield Co., Conn., where he d. intestate Mar. 1799 (S.A.R. Appln. #50734). With his wife Abigail Smith he fathered five sons and four daughters, all of whom married (Spencer P. Mead, "Ye Historie of ye Town of Greenwich" [1911, repr. 1979], p. 536).
      iv. Solomon [Jr.], b. say 1724 (Combes, p. 67, suggests 1718), and moved with his mother to Greenwich, Conn.; he m. twice, to cousins: (1) Susanna (also called Lydia) Husted, dau. of Moses and Susanna (Mead) Husted, by whom he had seven children; and (2) Judith Husted, dau. of David and Johanna (Brundage) Husted, by whom he had eight children (Mead, pp. 534-6). Sometime before the 1790 Federal Census he moved to Pawling, Dutchess Co., N.Y., where he drew his will in 1813 and died 3 August 1818 (Dutchess County Wills E:415), leaving many descendants.
      v. Rebecca, b. say 1726; sup. m. Jeremiah Lockwood and had six children (Wm. Derel Denton's interlineations to Combes, p. 43).
      vi. Peter, b. late 1727; sup. m. Susannah Husted (Ibid.); no more known."

      MARRIAGE:
      1. Worldconnect reports a second husband name Joseph Denton, md. 1718; he was the son of Jonas Denton and Jane Seaman.