Chris & Julie Petersen's Genealogy

Samuel Denton

Male Abt 1680 - 1718  (38 years)

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  • Name Samuel Denton
    Birth Abt 1680  Jamaica, Queens, New York, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male
    Death From 25 Apr 1718 to 3 Jan 1718/1719  Jamaica, Queens, New York, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Person ID I2944  Petersen-de Lanskoy
    Last Modified 21 Jun 2026

    Father Samuel Denton,   b. Abt 1655, Hempstead, Queens, New York, United States Find all individuals with events at this locationd. From 13 Mar 1698/1699 to 19 May 1699, Jamaica, Queens, New York, United States Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 44 years)
    Mother Mary   d. Aft 28 Apr 1704
    Marriage Abt 1676  of, , New York, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Family ID F417  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Martha,   b. Abt 1685   d. Aft 25 Apr 1719, of Jamaica, Queens, New York, United States Find all individuals with events at this location (Age > 34 years)
    Marriage Abt 1702  of, , New York, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Family ID F1610  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 30 Jun 2026

  • 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):
      "Samuel4 Denton, Jr. (Samuel3, Nathaniel2, Rev. Richard1) may be assumed to have been born say 1680 in Jamaica, for he was the second child of parents who were married say 1676, and he was not yet of age in April 1699 (his father's will). His wife, whom he married say 1702, was identified only as Martha on several land deeds (he signed his name, she made a mark, e.g. JTR 3:162-5); both Eardeley (p. 12) and Combes (p. 23) tentatively suggest, without attribution, that her family name was Mills. By occupation Samuel was most frequently identified as "blacksmith" (e.g. JTR 3:72-4), but does appear once as "victualer" (JTR 3:431).
      Samuel was active in town affairs, appearing often in the town records. On 5 March 1705, he was voted liberty to set up a pound on his land adjoining the country road and to collect customary fees for the next seven years (JTR 2:76). In the period 1708-14 he was repeatedly appointed Town Constable and Collector (e.g. JTR 3:431), and Town Assessor as well 1713-18 (e.g. JTR 3:433). In addition he (often with his wife) appeared in land sale transactions (e.g. JTR 3:156-7), and witnessed documents (e.g. JTR 3:162), which have no direct genealogical interest. His wife appeared on the record in her own right in a legal tiff with Deborah Stead, who formally apologized for calling Martha Denton "a whore and other scandalous words" ("Abstracts of Deeds, Queens County, New York," typescript [microfilm, NYG&BS], D:18-19).
      Samuel's will, drawn 25 April 1718 and proved 7 April 1719, identified him as a blacksmith of Jamaica and named wife Martha; "my mother" ("to have Liberty to pasture two cows"); two loving brothers, Jacomiah and Hezekiah Denton; children of my sister Sarah Mills, viz. Samuel, Clement, and Sarah; and children of my sister Clement Smith, viz. Robert, John, Mary, Abraham, Ebenezer, and Samuel (NYCW 9:42, WNYHS 1:187). The will omitted any mention of his still-living brother Solomon, who only two years earlier witnessed a bill of sale for Samuel (JTR 3:162-5). Attached to the original will (No. 583, Historic Documents Collection, Queens College; microfilm, NYG&BS) is a document dated 3 January 1718 (i.e., 1718/19) whereby Martha renounced her appointment as executrix; therefore Samuel was deceased by that date. Wife Martha is last mentioned on a land sale of 25 April 1719 (JTR 3:178-80). She probably remarried.
      Samuel and Martha (___) Denton had no children."

      2. Miscellaneous comments from Worldconnect accessed 14 Feb 2010:
      A. "Surrogate 9-42 Will of Samuel Denton of Jamaica, blacksmith, dated April 25, 1718, proved April 7, 1719. Mentions wife Martha, mother (not named), two brothers - Jacomiah and Hezekiah, also Samuel and Clement and Susannah, children of my sister Sarah Mills and Robert, John, Mary, Abraham and Ebenezer and Samuel, children of sister Clement Smith."

      3. NEHGS Register, vol. 156, April 2002:
      "Samuel Mills3, Sadler, of Jamaica, New York, and Greenwich, Connecticut" Helen Schatvet Ullmann (Helen Schatvet Ullmann, CG, is Associate Editor of the Register. She may be reached at hsu@world.std.com or 713 Main Street, Acton, MA 01720-4802.) [See notes of Samuel Mills(3) for full transcript of which the following is a partial excerpt]:
      "...Samuel3 MILLS, son of Samuel2 and Susannah (Palmer) Mills, and grandson of George1 Mills of Jamaica, Long Island, New York, was born by 1673 [based on his marriage about 1693] and probably earlier, possibly even as early as 1660 (9).
      Samuel3 Mills married about 1693 Sarah Denton, daughter of Samuel and Mary (___) Denton of Jamaica (10). On 13 March 1698 Samuel Denton of Jamaica, planter, aged about 43, named in his will his wife Mary and children including son Samuel Denton and daughter Sarah Mills (11). Dated 25 April 1718, her brother Samuel's will includes bequests to the children of "my sister Sarah Mills," Samuel, Clement and Sarah (12)...
      Footnotes...
      9. Until this year, the best, indeed the only, documented treatment of this family was in Lewis D. Cook's excellent "Documentary History of the Family of Mills" (1939), a typescript at the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society [FHL 1,697,455]. However, Cook did not follow Samuel3 in Greenwich records. The only lengthy treatment of Samuel of Greenwich is in a typescript by Samuel H. Mills, "Samuel Mills Ancestry or George Mills and the Samuel Mills Line of Jamaica, Long Island, New York, and Greenwich, Connecticut," (1958-60), copies of which are at the Greenwich Public Library, the Historical Society of the Town of Greenwich, and the Connecticut State Library. While this is probably quite reliable for later generations in Greenwich, the earlier part evidently copies from various secondary materials, which contain errors. Samuel H. Mills clearly consulted Greenwich land records to some extent, but he must not have read all of the early deeds. Most importantly, he missed the daughter Sarah who married Jabez Mead.
      10. Walter C. Krumm, "Descendants of the Rev. Richard Denton," The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, 120 (1989):10-17, 93-97, 159-64 at 161, 222-25; 121 (1990):22-24, 144-49, 221-25, et seq.
      11. Krumm, "Rev. Richard Denton" [note 10], 120:161, citing Record 65 (1934):248.
      12. New York County Wills, Liber 9, p. 42 [FHL 0,874,518]; Abstracts of Wills in the Surrogate's Office, City of New York 17 vols. Collections of The New-York Historical Society for 1892-1908, 2:187, erroneously calls the third child "Susannah." Krumm, "Rev. Richard Denton," [note 10], 120:161, cites the original will as well..."

      4. 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):
      "Samuel3 Denton (Nathaniel2, Rev. Richard1) was born say 1655 [based on his will which gives his age as about 43] in Hempstead, Long Island. He is variously described as carpenter (JTR 2:315) and planter (his will).
      Samuel married say 1676 Mary [Eardeley supplies a family name of "Brush" but cites no source; in his excellent account of the Long Island Brush family (REC. 66:201f.) Conklin Mann mentions no such marriage.] Mary appears in the records only twice: as "wife Mary" on Samuel's will, "to have use of the estate till the children come of age"; and in the following item dated 28 April 1704: "John Griss, of Queens County in relation to violations of the excise; affidavit of Mary, widow of Samuel Denton ... and warrant ... for the arrest of said widow Denton." (CEM 328)...
      Samuel died in Jamaica in the spring of 1699. His will, drawn 13 March 1698/9 and proved only two months later, 19 May 1699 (QCDW A:140, REG. 65:248), lists his wife and his children by name, four sons and three daughters - all under age except for a married daughter. The executors were: Captain John Carpenter [his neighbor to the south (JTR 2:254)] and Lieutenant Thomas Smith, perhaps a close friend.
      Children of Samuel and Mary (___) Denton, all born in Jamaica, Long Island:
      i. Sarah4, b. c1677; m. c.1693 [aged c.16] to Samuel Mills Jr.; he was a saddler of Jamaica, moved in 1712 to Greenwich, Conn., and was living there 1729. They had three children: Samuel, Clement, and Susannah (Lewis D. Cook, "A Documentary History of the Family of Mills" [typescript, 1939], pp. 24-7).
      ii. Samuel, Jr., b. say 1680 (not 21 in 1699).
      iii. Clement, b. say 1681-2 (not 18 in 1699); m. (1) c.1700 Ebenezer Smith of Norwalk, Conn., who d. Jamaica 1717, (2) John Gregory of Norwalk, Conn. She had 6 children by her first husband: Robert, John, Mary, Abraham, Ebenezer, and Samuel; and was still alive in 1734 (TAG 25:80).
      iv. Mary, b. say 1683, d. 1 Mar 1714 intestate, her eldest brother Samuel appointed to administer her estate at Jamaica (QCDW C:55, REC. 65:321).
      v. Jacamiah, b. say 1685.
      vi. Solomon, b. say 1690.
      vii. Hezekiah, b. sup. 10 March 1697/8."