| Notes |
- RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. The book "One branch of the Miner family...," by Lillian Lounsberry Miner Selleck (New Haven, 1928), pp. 142-43:
"EPHRAIM2 PALMER, of Greenwich, Conn., married in 1668 SARAH2 MESSENGER, daughter of Andrew1
Messenger. He died 19 Aug. 1684, and she married second, ___ Gregory. His estate was inventoried at about £205, and the names and ages of his seven children were stated.
Children:
1. Joanna3, b. about 1669.
2. Sarah3, b. about 1671.
+ 3. Judith3, b. about 1673; m. Samuel3 Raymond.
4. Susannah3, b. about 1675.
5. Ephraim3, b. 24 Oct. 1677.
6. Mary3, b. about 1679.
7. John3, b. about 1681; m. (1) Sarah Close, who d. 1 Sept. 1748 aged 64; m. (2) Mary ___."
2. The book "One branch of the Miner family...," by Lillian Lounsberry Miner Selleck (New Haven, 1928), pp. 127-28:
"ANDREW1 MESSENGER was an original signer of the Fundamental Agreement at New Haven, 4 June 1639, but removed shortly to Greenwich, where he sold land in 1642.
He was an early settler in Jamaica, Long Island, where lands were granted him, 18 Feb. 1656. On 11 Apr. 1662, an agreement was made between the town of "Rustdorp," as Jamaica was called while under Dutch rule, and Andrew Messenger and his son Richard Darling, who were to build a house for the minister. He was a carpenter, was often referred to as "Goodman" Messenger, and invariably signed with his mark in Jamaica records.
He was named as a Patentee of Jamaica in Gov. Nicolls' Patent, 5 Feb. 1665/6. His name appears in the rate list as late as Aug. 1673, and he died before Apr. 1681, when we find mention of the Widow Messenger.
The record of his children is incomplete:* (* This account is based largely on printed sources, hence may be subject to correction. Children 1 and 5 are probably identical.)
1. (probably) a daughter2 who m. Richard Darling.
+2. Sarah2, m. (1) abt. 1668, Ephraim Palmer of Greenwich; m. (2) ___ Gregory.
3. Mary2 , m. Thomas Benedict, Jr., of Norwalk.
4. Samuel3, b. in or before 1649, as he held land in 1670, d. in 1685; m. Susannah ___. He lived in Jamaica, and his will in 1685 named his wife Susanna, his four sons, Samuel3, Andrew3, Daniel3, and John3, and his brother Zachariah Mills. His widow Susannah on 26 Mar. 1686 confirmed to Zachariah Mills an exchange of lands made by her deceased husband Samuel. The son Daniel3 was of Norwalk in 1702, but on 14 July 1703 called himself of "Wolingford" in conveying rights in Jamaica as heir to Samuell Messenger; he m. at Wallingford, Conn., 28 Jan. 1703/4, Lydia Royce, b. 28 May 1680; soon removed to Hartford, Conn., where he was in 1715 and 1727; and by 1730 had settled in Harwinton, Conn., dying abt. 1751.
5. (probably Abigail2), m. Zachariah Mills of Jamaica. In 1686 Zachariah and Abigaill Mills conveyed to their son Thomas Darling.
6. Andrew2, settled in Norwalk, where he m. (1) in 1685, Rebecca (Pickett), widow of James St. John; m. (2) Rachel Hayes. He left no issue. His will, dated 19 Aug. 1727, proved 9 Nov. 1730, named his wife Rachel; Cousin Zachariah Mills Sr. of Bedford, Westchester County; cousins Samll Messenger, son of Mr John Messenger of Jamaica, L. I., and Nehemiah Messenger, second son of Mr Dan'l Messenger of Hartford; gave ₤20 to Abigail Messenger, younger sister to said Samll Messenger; and gave 40 shillings to his Executors, John Bartlet and Thomas Fitch Jr. of Norwalk. The will of Rachel Messenger, dated 17 Apr. 1738, proved 1 Sept. 1740, mentioned her cousin Thos Hayes; gave half the residue of her estate to brother Samll Hays, a quarter to brother James, and a quarter to John, Nathll and Eleazer Boughtens; and appointed her brother James and friend Mr Samll
Fitch Executors."
3. The periodical "The American Genealogist," 26(1950):95, 183-84, "Palmer of Westchester," by Winifred Lovering Holman, S.B., F.A.S.G. My interest in this article is in the William Palmer of Yarmouth, who is an ancestor, and not the William Palmer of the article. The following are applicable quotes:
"Various assertions, quite erroneous, have been made in print about William Palmer of Westchester County, New York. It has been claimed that he was identical with others of the name, such as William of Watertown, Mass., who was clearly later of Newbury, and finally of Hampton, N.H. [see Gen. Dict. of Me. and N.H., 527; Essex Files, 2:347-9; New Eng. Register, 51:309; 68:259; 69:284, 342; 75:79, 158, 318; 98:184); Lieut. William of Yarmouth, Mass., and Newtown, Long Island, a son of whose did later settle in Westchester, thereby adding to the confusion [N. Y. Record, 71:362; Selleck, Miner Family (1928), 142-3], William of Plymouth and Duxbury; William Jr. of the same, perhaps a nephew of the last-named; and others.
There was also a William, early of Wethersfield, and never of Watertown, and a William of Branford, both in Connecticut. It is the writer's opinion, based on research thus far made, that William of Westchester was identical with both the Wethersfield settler and the Branford sojourner…
As an addendum, a few notes will be given relating to the Palmer family [of Yarmouth] … Mead's Hist. of Greenwich (1911), 618-628, reprints the usual errors about the early generations. However, Lieut. William Palmer of Yarmouth, Mass., and Newtown, Long Island, died about 1661, and the subsequent remarriages of his widow brought the children to Greenwich, Conn. Among them, were Ephraim2 and William2.
Ephraim married in 1668, Sarah, daughter of Andrew Messenger and had but two sons: Ephraim3 and John3.
William2, born about 1658, married Mary Tyler of Milford, Conn., and removed to Westchester County. He had: William3, b. 6 Nov. 1694, d. 1786, of Charlotte Precinct, Dutchess County, a Friend; m. Rachel -___, and had issue, see N.Y. Wills, 14:87. Phebe, by 4 July 1696. Peter, b. 23 July 1703, removed to Dutchess County and had issue, see N.Y. Wills, 13:114. Abraham, b. about 1705, removed to Dutchess County…"
4. The periodical "New England Historical and Genealogical Register," 152(July 1998): 358-63, "The Three Messengers: Clearing the Decks," by Helen S. Ullman:
"ANDREW1 MESSENGER was born in England, probably before 1618 as he was probably at least 21 years of age when he signed the New Haven Fundamental Agreement. He died, probably at Jamaica, Long Island, New York, before 12 April 1681 (see below). He married, perhaps about 1641, RACHEL ___, who died at Jamaica after 1688, when "Widow Messenger" was listed as remembering no marriages, christenings or burials in her family during the last seven years.[23]
Wright and Adams asserted unequivocally that Rachel's maiden name was Manning or Seeley.[24] This idea came probably from a deed of 15 July 1669:
"Mary Seely, widow, of the City of New York, and Captain John Manning, of the City of New York, aforesaid, executor in trust to the aforesaid widow," sold to Andrew Messenger of Jamaica, Long Island, yeoman, "all our right, title and interest in an accommodation or allotment situate and lying in Huntington upon Long Island ... formerly in the tenure or occupation of Captain Robart Seely deceased and since confirmed unto me Mary Seely widow, late wife of the said Captain Seely deceased, and to my trusty and well beloved brother Captain John Manning."[25]
Giving no evidence, Winthrop Messenger claims that Andrew was a close friend of Robert Seeley of Watertown, Mass., New Haven, Conn. and Hempstead, Long Island. The two were surely acquainted, both having signed the New Haven agreement in 1639. Thus they were together around the time of Andrew's marriage and perhaps at Hempstead in the early" 1650s, though Anderson writes of Seeley being in Huntington rather than Hempstead.[26] Mary H. Chase in her book on the Seeleys,[27] presents copious detail on Robert Seeley's life, from Watertown in 1630 to Wethersfield in 1635, New Haven from 1638 to at least.1649 if not 1665, with associations in Saybrook, Conn., Huntington, Long Island and Elizabeth, N.J. While many men are named, there is no mention of Andrew Messenger.
As shown above, Robert Seeley's second wife's brother was Capt. John Manning who lived on an island in the East River, not far froth Jamaica where Andrew ended his days. William H. Manning discusses two Capt. John Mannings whom he feels were actually the same person. The first "was owner and captain, as early as 1653, Nov., of a vessel in which he made trading voyages along the coast of Conn., N.Y. and Va. ..." He was fined and his vessel confiscated by New Haven for trading with the Dutch, and apparently he was the man of the same name in New York in the 1660s.[28] Since his sister, Mary (Manning) Walker, did not marry Robert Seeley until 1666,1291 it seems even less likely that Rachel (___) Messenger was a Manning. The fact that Mary Seely and John Manning sold land to Andrew Messenger in 1669 is hardly grounds for assuming a marital connection some 37 years earlier.
Andrew Messenger was present at the beginnings of the New Haven Colony. He may well have arrived on the Hector or her sister ship. He did indeed sign the "Fundamental Agreement" of 4 June 1639.[30] His name does not appear on a 1641 list of planters and division of lands at New Haven.[31]
On 18 July 1640 Andrew Messenger and Robert A. Heusted witnessed the deed from the Indians to Robert Feake and Daniel Patrick for land in Greenwich, Connecticut. While Heusted signed, Andrew made his mark which looks like I with a horizontal line from the top to the right.[32] Daniel M. Mead in his history of Greenwich listed Andrew with the other early settlers and said they proceeded to build their houses.[33]
On 22 October 1641 at Fort Amsterdam Richard Lengh [Lang?] and "Andrew Messinjour" sold 25,000 pipe staves to the Hon. Willem Kieft, director general of New Netherland, to be delivered "to the strand" for 80 Carolus guilders per thousand.[34] On 27 November 1642 "Goodman Lengh and Messingjour" were ordered to appear concerning a contract with Jaques Bentyn.[35] On 12 December 1642 at Amsterdam in New Netherland, it was ordered that "Mr. Bentyn shall pay to Messinjour and associates the sum of fifty Carolus guilders when the house shall be completed according to previous contract."[36] Since Greenwich is within a day's sail of Manhattan, it seems plausible that Andrew was conducting this business from there.
It also seems quite possible that Andrew bought and sold land in Boston around this time or earlier, but there seems to be no way to resolve the question discussed above.
On 5 October 1648 "Andrew Messenger of Greenwich" sold "all my Right in Land ... sixteen acres of upland ... five acres of meadow in Myanes Neck which is promised to be layd out ... a home loft and keeping on it with Tenn ... of Medow and upland with all Rights and Privileges belonging therunto which was John Rockwels" to Robert Heusted of Stamford. Andrew's mark was the reverse of that on the Indian deed: a I with a horizontal line to the left.[37]
On 29 March 1649 [N.S.] Andrew wrote a letter to John Winthrop, Jr., who was "Livinge at Pequot" (i.e., New London). Concerning the estate of "mr. fealcs," "I have gathered up the bills which were left at Greenwich ... I Remaine your Lovinge friend, Andrew Messengers [sic]."[38] Feaks was Robert Feake, second husband of Winthrop's sister-in-law, Elizabeth (Fones) (Winthrop) Feake. [39]
Nothing further is known of Andrew's life for the next seven years. Apparently he moved to Hempstead on Long Island. The first book of Hempstead records, 1643-1653, is lost, but on 16 April 1657 a list of "the number of every mans gattes that they have at the necke" included "Androwe Mesinger hath sixe gattes."[40] A later list said that Andrew Messinger's "6" on Mr. Ogden's neck were now Joseph Scot's.[41] So Andrew was at Hempstead before Jamaica was formed.
On 18 February 1656 the Town of Jamaica granted Andrew Messenger a house lot, on 25 November 1656 ten-acres of planting land and twenty of meadow, and on 27 February 1658 ten more acres of planting land.[42] Having purchased land from the Indians and requiring the permission of the colonial government, on 10 March 1656 Andrew was one of the fourteen residents of Hempstead on Long Island who petitioned (their third attempt) Governor-General Peter Stuyvesant asking for a grant at "Conorasset." The request was granted at Fort Amsterdam, 21 March 1656.[43]
On 25 November 1656 seventeen men including Andrew Messenger, signed a declaration that they owned land at Jamaica. Andrew was also on a list of those dividing the "meadowing" at Jamaica 1 July 1657.[44]
On 24 January 1661 Stuyvesant appointed three magistrates for Rustdorp (the Dutch name for Jamaica) including Andrew Messenger, and on 11 February 1661 Andrew made his mark, this time with the horizontal line going to the left of the vertical, with eighteen others, promising to give information "against any such person or persons called quakers." In January 1662 Andrew made the same mark on a letter to Stuyvesant nominating four men as magistrates, and on 4 March Andrew was again one of three magistrates appointed from Fort Amsterdam.[45] On 11 April 1662 Andrew and his son-in-law, Richard Darling, contracted with the town of Jamaica to build a house for the minister.[46] On 25 August and 2 September 1662 Nicholaes Meyer "drew an obligation against Andries Messenger."[47]
On 11 January 1663 Jamaica authorized Andrew to buy land from the Indians. He made his mark as a witness to a deed 14 February 1663 and again in town records on 2 and 6 March 1663 and 12 March 1665/66.[48] On 18 January 1664/5 Andrew appealed to Judge Richard Nicolls at Fort James in New York saying that he was being required by the Overseers of the Poor at Jamaica to pay a debt due them from Francis Finch because Andrew had purchased Finch's land and not recorded it. Richard Nicolls' decision on 3 February 1664/5 left the matter up in the air, requiring a further decision as to whether it was customary to record land sales in Jamaica or not.[49] In 1665 Andrew bought an ox:
"Ocktobar the :27:AN 1665 Sooeld By mr Richard Gul dersleve: Twoo Andraw: Mashenger of geameacooe one oxe black with A hoole in y'e of Aere branded in y'e of horn with "C" ageed 12 yaers."[50]
In August 1673 Andrew's name appears on the rate or tax list in Jamaica, but in 1676/77 town records refer to a 10-acre lot "which was Andrew Messengers" which he had evidently sold to Abraham Smith. On 12 April 1681 "the widow Messenger" was listed as owning five acres of meadow and 36 of upland.[51]
Children, actual order unknown:
i. SAMUEL2 MESSENGER, b. say 1642; d. 1685/6; m. 20 April 1669[52] SUSANNAH ___, her given name from Samuel's will dated 20 Dec. 1685, proved the 2nd Tues. in March 1685/6.[53] In spite of what has appeared in print in numerous places, her maiden name was probably not Mills. When Samuel gave to his daughters Alice and Susannah five acres of land "I bought of my brother Zachariah Mills;[54] he was referring to the husband of his own sister Abigail. On 26 March 1686 Zachariah Mills sold land to Susannah Messenger and on the same date Susannah confirmed an exchange of land "made betwene my deseaced husband Samuell Mesinger and Zachariah Mills." The next deed was that from Zachariah to Samuel, dated 20 Dec. 1676.[55] Cook does not claim Susannah Mills as a child of George' Mills;[56] nor does it seem that Richard' Mills who lived for a short time in nearby Newtown (now in Queens) had a daughter Susannah.[57] Some of Samuel's children appear in his brother Andrew2 Messenger's probate and in Norwalk deeds.[58]
ii. ABIGAIL MESSENGER, b. say 1644; m. (1) 1662 RICHARD DARLING of New Haven; they were divorced 7 July 1674;[59] she m. (2) between 1 Sept. 1674 and 10 June 1686, ZACHARIAH MILLS, son of George1 Mills of Jamaica.[60]
iii. MARY MESSENGER, b. say 1646; d. in or after 1699; m. Jan. 1665 THOMAS BENEDICT; res. Norwalk.[61]
iv. SARAH MESSENGER, b. say 1648; m. (1) ca. 1668 EPHRAIM PALMER, of Greenwich,[62] who d., prob. at Stratford, as the probate file for an Ephraim Palmer of Stratford contains an inventory saying he died 19 April 1684, leaving a widow Sarah, seven children, and land;[63] m. (2) bef. 15 Oct. 1699, ___ GREGORY, prob. JOHN, b.1638-40, d. ca. 1720.[64]
v. ANDREW MESSENGER, b. say 1651 (perh. age 21 when he settled in Norwalk in 1672); d. at Norwalk Oct. 1730; m. (1) at Norwalk in 1675 REBECCA (PICKETT) ST. JOHN, who d. 9 May 1684; m. (2) RACHEL HAYES.[65] Andrew's will dated 19 Aug. 1727 and proved 9 Nov. 1730 mentioned, besides his wife Rachel, "Cousin [actually his nephew] Zachariah Mills, Sr., of Bedford in Westchester £10 ... my loving cousins Samll Messenger son of Mr. John Messenger of Jamaica and Nehemiah Messenger, 2nd son of Mr. Daniel Messenger of Hartford." They were to pay £20 to Abagail Messenger, younger sister to sd Samuel. He also gave John Bartlett and Thomas Fitch Jun. of Norwalk two shillings each. Witnesses were John Brown, Francis Barlow and Abraham Smith. Rachel's will dated 17 April 1738 and proved 1 Sept. 1740 named, among others, her brothers Samuel and James Hays.[66]"
Footnotes:
23. "Return of Marriages, Christenins [sic) & Burials in the Town of Jamaica for 7 years preceding 1688," The Documentary History of the State of New York, E.B. O'Callaghan, ed., vol. 4 (Albany, N.Y.: Weed Parsons & Co., 1849-51), 3:197.
24. Wright and Adams, Messenger Family in Conn. [note 13], 1.
25. Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society,1995),1648, from Huntington Town Records, 1:137-38.
26. Ibid., 3: 1648.
27. Mary H. Chase, The Saga of the Seeleys from Southern New Jersey to Illinois and Texas (n.p., 1963).
28. William H. Manning, Genealogical and Biographical History of the Manning Families of New England, (Salem: The Salem Press Co., 1902), 802-03.
29. Anderson, Great Migration Begins (note 25], 3: 1649.
30. Charles J. Hoadly, Records of the Colony and Plantation of New Haven from 1638 to 1649 (Hartford, 1857), 18; a couple of sources (Hickok (note 8), 386; Anne Higgins Wood, The Paternal Lineage and Some of the Descendants of Isaac Messenger of Connecticut, 2 vols. (n.p., 1964], 6), say he was at Hartford in 1639 but give no evidence. One suspects they were confused with New Haven.
31. Edward E. Atwater, History of the Colony of New Haven to its Absorption into Connecticut (Meriden, Conn.: The Journal Publishing Co., 1902), 109-11.
32. Spencer P. Mead, Ye Historic of Ye Town of Greenwich (New York: The Knickerbocker Press, 1911), 6.
33. Daniel M. Mead, A History of the Town of Greenwich (New York, 1857), 23, 26.
34. New York Historical Manuscripts: Dutch, Arnold J.F. Van Leer, transl. and ed., v. 1, "Register of the Provincial Secretary, 1638-42," (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1974), 379-80. A pipe is a large cask and staves are the narrow, shaped pieces of wood which form its sides.
35. Ibid., v. 4, "Council Minutes, 1638-1649," (1974), 176.
36. Ibid., v. 2, "Register of the Provincial Secretary, 1642-47," 95.
37. Greenwich Deeds, 1:8; some sources say this was in 1642, but the date on the deed is clear. There is no other deed for Andrew in Greenwich records (Greenwich Deeds indexes; Spencer P. Mead, Historie of Greenwich [note 32], 461).
38. Allyn B. Forbes, ed., Winthrop Papers (Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1929-92), 5:323-24.
39. George E. McCracken, "The Feake Family of Norfolk, London and Colonial America," New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, 86 [1955]:212.
40. "Gates" are defined as "the right or privilege of pasturage for cattle, &c., either free on common ground, or by arrangement on private ground; pasturage." (The English Dialect Dictionary, Joseph Wright, ed. [London: Oxford University Press, 1898], 2:571).
41. Records of the Towns of North and South Hempstead, Long Island, N.Y. (Jamaica: Town Board of North Hempstead, 1896), 1:5, 19-20, 116, from Liber A:6, 165 [hereinafter Hempstead]. My thanks to Henry Hoff for discovering that in an article, "Early Spraggs of Hempstead, Long Island" in "The Genealogist" 12[1998]:21, John Russel Sprague III, J.D., defined six gates as "the right to pasture six cows, horses, etc."
42. Josephine C. Frost, ed., Records of the Town of Jamaica, Long Island, New York, 1656-1751 (Brooklyn: Long Island Historical Society, 1914), 1:14, 4.
43. O'Callaghan, ed., Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York, vol. 14 (Albany: Weed, Parsons & Co., 1883), 14:339-40.
44. Ibid., 14:504-05; the authors of Henry Messinger claim that Henry Messenger was also on the November 1656 list (p. 2), but he was not.
45. O'Callaghan, Documents [note 43],14: 492, 509.
46. Frost, Jamaica [note 42],1:14-15.
47. Kenneth Scott & Kenn Stryker-Rodda, eds., New York Historical Manuscripts: Dutch: The Register of Salomon Lachaire, Notary Public of New Amsterdam, 1661-1662 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1978), 188, 198.
48. Frost, Jamaica [note 42], 1:25, 20, 22, 35, 97.
49. O'Callaghan, Documents [note 43], 14: 563-64.
50. Hempstead, 1:192, from Liber B, p.89.
51. Frost, Jamaica [note 42], 1:91, 69, 119-20.
52. Names of Persons for Whom Marriage Licenses were issued by the Secretary of the Province of New York Previous to 1784, Gideon J. Tucker, Secretary of State (Albany, 1860; repr. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1984), 262. This source gives no place and no name at all for his wife.
53. NYGBR, 65:116.
54. Queens County Deeds, Liber A:30, per Lewis D. Cook, "A Documentary History of the Family of Mills, Descended from George Mills of Hempstead and Jamaica, Long Island, 1656," ms. at New York Genealogical and Biographical Society (FHL 1,697,455),15n.
55. Frost, Jamaica [note 42], 1:295-97.
56. Cook, Mills ms. [note 54], 9.
57. This author is preparing a study of Richard1 Mills.
58: Fairfield District Probate File 4225; Norwalk Deeds, 7:135, 300; 9:16-17.
59. Hickok [note 8], 386; Fernow, New York Colonial Manuscripts, 2:729-30.
60. Cook, Mills ms. [note 54], 15, 18, citing several documents from Frost's Jamaica records.
61. Hickok [note 8], 386; Henry Marvin Benedict, The Genealogy of the Benedicts in America (Albany: Joel Munsell, 1870), the source of the marriage date unknown; Frank A. Randall, Randall and Allied Families (1943), 474, an account which merges Andrew Messenger Sr. and Jr.
62. Hickok [note 8], 386.
63. Fairfield District Probate File 4802.
64. Hickok [note 8], 386; Grant Gregory, Ancestors and Descendants of Henry Gregory (Provincetown, Mass.: the author, 1938), 54.
65. Hickok [note 8], 387.
66. Fairfield District Probate Files 4225, 4226."
SOURCES_MISC:
1. FHL book 929.273-K727kf: "Knapp's N' Kin, The Ancestral Lines of Frederick H Knapp and Others," compiled by: Frederick H Knapp, Rt. #2, Box 438C, AB Hwy, Richland, Missouri, 65556; 1987; Revised/Updated 1991. It notes the following sources, none of which I have yet reviewed:
-NYG&H Rec V11 & 86.
-7 Gen. of Judith's, by A. Gibson.
-Gen Frangments, by J.J. Latting.
-Feake Fam. Gen, by G. McCrackern (1955).
-Ancient Heads of Fam., by Holmes.
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Chris & Julie Petersen's Genealogy
Abt 1648 - 