Chris & Julie Petersen's Genealogy

Joseph Ferris

Male Abt 1632 - 1699  (~ 67 years)


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  • Name Joseph Ferris 
    Born Abt 1632  , , England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Died From 9 Jun 1699 to 24 Jul 1699  Greenwich, Fairfield, Connecticut, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Person ID I380  Petersen-de Lanskoy
    Last Modified 27 May 2021 

    Father Jeffrey Ferris,   b. Abt 1604, , , England Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 31 May 1666, Greenwich, Fairfield, Connecticut, United States Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 62 years) 
    Mother Mrs. Jeffrey Ferris,   b. Bef 1610, , , England Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 31 Jul 1658, Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut, United States Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age > 48 years) 
    Married Abt 1629  , , England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Family ID F320  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Ruth Knapp,   b. 6/06 Jan 1640/1, Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Abt 1702, of Greenwich, Fairfield, Connecticut, United States Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 60 years) 
    Married 20 Nov 1657  Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Last Modified 28 May 2021 
    Family ID F179  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Notes 
    • RESEARCH_NOTES:
      1. "Nicholas Knapp Genealogy," compiled by Alfred Averill Knapp, M.D. "This Genealogy of the Descendants of Nicholas Knapp, first found mentioned at Watertown, Massachusetts in 1630, is the result of the work and research of many individuals. The four principal collectors of data were Charles Ruggles Knapp, Henry Eno Knapp, Ezra Fred Knapp and the author, Alfred Averill Knapp, but they were assisted through correspondence by a large number of individuals who furnished much valuable family and local information...":
      "Ruth, b. 1-6-1640/41. m. 9 or 11-20-1657, Joseph Ferris, son of Jeffrey Ferris. Joseph b. 1638. d. 1699. They moved to Stamford, Conn. in 1646. He was made Proprietor at Greenwich, Conn. 2-5-1664. Jeffrey Ferris was made Freeman at Watertown, Mass. 5-6-1635. Moved to Stamford in 1640. d. 5-31-1666. (See Ferris Genealogy.) The children of Ruth and Joseph Ferris were: (1) John, oldest son, m. 2-13-1695, Abigail Hait of Norwalk. (2) Peter, b. 11-8-1660. d. 1-23-1690. Perhaps m. 12-12-1686, Mary ___. No heirs. (3) James, m. ca. 1705, Rachel, widow of Nathaniel Mead. (4) Ruth, m. 11-27-1685, Samuel Peck and d. 9-17-1745. (5) Moses, m. Eunice and d. in 1748. (6) Joshua, d. 2-2-1746, single, estate distributed to brothers and sisters or their heirs. After his father's death, he purchased from his mother all her rights in her late husband's estate. She probably lived with her son Joshua or dau. Lydia. (7) Benjamin, d. 7-10-1710. m. Sarah (perhaps Weed). (8) Hannah b. ca. 1673. d. 4-14-1711, m. Jonathan Austin. He b. 1685. d. 1769. (9) Lydia, m. John Runnolds. (10) Caleb, m. Elizabeth ___. (11) Joseph, m. Abigail and d. 4-7-1735.
      The executors of Joseph Ferris's estate were his brother Peter and son-in-law, Samuel Peck, in 1699. He left his lands in Horseneck to sons John and James. His lands on Cos Cob Neck to Moses, Benjamin and Caleb. Sons Joseph and Joshua and dau. Ruth Peck, "Lidia Runolds" and Hannah were mentioned. Probably Hannah was not yet m.
      Jeffrey Ferris came to the part of Stamford that later became Greenwich. He m. 1st (name unknown). She was mother of all his children. m. 2nd Susannah, widow of Robert Lockwood. d. 1666. m. 3rd Judith (Judy) Feake Palmer, who m. after Jeffrey's death, ___ Bowers, erroneously sometimes called Burns. Jeffrey's only dau. m. Jonathan Lockwood, son of Robert and Susannah. There were 4 Ferris sons: John of Westchester, Peter of Stamford, Joseph and James of Greenwich. Both Peter and Joseph left widows named Ruth, and it was Peter's widow who m. John Clapp, not Joseph's."
      ...Ruth's father's "will can be found in Fairfield, Conn. Probate Records, Vol. 1665-1675, page 55, as follows: (Many of the "ss" are written "f".)
      "In Stamford, ye 15th 2 mo. Anno 1670. The last will and Testament of Nicholas Knap of Stamford concerning the disposal of his worldly estate.
      1. I give to my son Moses Knap my house and land in Stamford with all the meadows and upland belonginge to me. Also, I give to my said sonn Moses, my cart and plowe or plowes, with all the furniture of Irons, yokes and Chaynes belonging and a small gun in the house and a Sword.
      2. I give to my son Timothy the monies remayning due to me upon the bill for the house of John Bats lives in.
      3. I give unto my Sonn John Caleb the Loom and half the gears and the other half of the gears I give to my Sonn Joshua.
      4. I give to my dau. Sarah Disbrowe, the monies due me from her husband, about 37 pounds concerning the horses.
      5. I give to my dau. Hanna, one mare.
      6. I give to my dau. Lidia the mare that was Mr. Bishops with the increase shee hath.
      7. I give to my dau. Ruth Twenty Shillings.
      8. I give to my two daughters-in-law, viz: Sarah and Unica Buxton, all their Mother's Clothes as a free gift, except one hat and one new petticoat, which my will is they should have onward of their portion. Also, I will and bequeath unto Uneca Buxton the new bible as a free gift.
      9. My will is that the portions due to my two daughters-in-law, viz: Sarah Buxton and Uneca Buxton, out of the estate of their father, Clement Buxton. I say that ther and portions be currently payd, according to their proportion of that Inventorie.
      10. Lastly, my Will is that my son Jushua Knap be sole executor of this my Will to receive all and pay dues according to this my last will as also all debts to or from me. If in case that mare be not found that I have given to Lydia, that then shee to have a nother mare in the Lue of that. This being my Last Will, renouncing all other former Will as wills made by me.
      Witness my hand. Witness John Weed. Eleazur Slawson. Nicholas (Y-type symbol) Knap his mark."
      Jeffry Ferris was b. in Leicestershire, England about 1610 and came to America about 1634. His widow, Susannah, had a dau. Mary by first marriage perhaps- perhaps by second."

      2. The following partial excerpt concerning this individual is from the biography of Jeffrey Ferris in the "Great Migration" book. These are highly reliable summaries of early pre-1636 colonists and the entire biography can be read in Jeffrey's notes:
      "Jeffrey Ferris
      Origin: Unknown.
      Migration: 1634
      First Residence: Watertown
      Removes: Wethersfield 1635, Stamford 1641, Greenwich by 1650, East Town 1655, Greenwich by about 1659...
      Estate: ...In his will, dated 6 January 1664(/5?] and proved 9 March 1666/7, "Jeaffrey Ferris" bequeathed to "my wife that now is, all the estate which she can make appear that she brought with her" and £l0; to "her four children, that is to say, those four boys which I brought up and kept," £10 apiece; "in case my wife that now is shall see cause to remain a widow alter my decease, ... I give for her use five acres of land that now is in till, the one half in my home lot and the other half at Tomuck," also "one of my allotments that is on Mihanoes Neck," also some household goods to "my son James Ferris," £20, some moveables, and "half my farm, that is to say, that land that I now gave him"; to "my daughter Mary Lockwood, that now is, twenty pounds besides the quarter part of my before mentioned jades I gave to her husband, Jonothan Lockwood"; to "my son Peter Ferris, his three children, one mare colt"; to "my son Josep[h]'s two children one mare colt"; residue to "be equally divided amongst all my children"; "in case God should please to give my wife a child born of her body whilst she remains my wife, that is to say, whilst I live, or if I leave her with child when I die," that child to have "the other half of my farm" and a young mare; "my loving friend, John Holly, now in Stamford, and my son Peter Ferris" to be executors [Fairfield PR 2:20-21].
      The inventory of the estate of "Jeffrey Ferris, deceased," taken 23, 24, 26 and 29 November 1666, totalled £493 6-¼d., of which £170 was real estate: "house and lands," £170 [Fairfield PR 2:29-32]. Appended to the inventory is a division of the estate, dated 22 March 1666/7: to "brother Jonathan Lockwood"; to "brother James Ferris"; to "brother Joseph Ferris"; and to "brother Joseph Ferris" [Fairfield PR 2:32] (perhaps one of the entries for Joseph Ferris is intended for one of the other brothers).
      On 21 June 1687, "Peter Ferris & Jonathan Lockwood & Joseph Ferris & Jeames Ferris, being administrators of the estate of our deceased father, Jeffere Ferris," agreed "that all lands that are dividable that were formerly our foresaid deceased father's, ... that any or each person of us do possess, that he or they shall have ... the said land ... as his own proper right" [Greenwich LR 1:124].
      On 16 July 1705, "John Ferris, inhabitant of Westchester, ... son unto Jeffre Ferris of Greenwich," gave a receipt for his share of his father's estate from "my brother[s] Peeter Ferris & Joseph Feris & James Feris & Jonathan Lockwood, ... as they were administrators of the estate of my deceased [father] Jeffere Feris" [Greenwich LR 1:173]...
      Marriage:
      (1) By about 1629 ___ ___. She died at Stamford 31 July 1658 (TAG 10:45, citing Stamford TR 1:20]...
      Children:
      With first wife...
      ii. Joseph, b. say 1632; in Stamford 20 November 1657 Ruth Knapp [TAG 10:112, citing Stamford TR 1:74], daughter of Nicholas Knapp {1630, Watertown) [GMB 2:1136]...
      Bibliographic Note: In 1976 Paul W. Prindle prepared a comprehensive account of this immigrant and his family [Gillespie Anc 117-36]."

      3. "The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Volumes I-III (Online database: NewEnglandAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2002), by Robert Charles Anderson, 1995. Note that the entry was later edited and republished in 2014 by the same author; see "The Winthrop Fleet; Massachusetts Bay Company Immigrants to New England 1629-1630" (NEHGS; Boston, 2014). The version below is the most current version:
      "NICHOLAS KNAPP...
      CHILDREN...
      vi. RUTH KNAPP, b. Watertown 6 January 1640[/1] [WaVR 1:8; NEHGR 7:162]; m. Stamford 20 November 1657 Joseph Ferris ["The American Genealogist" 10:112], son of JEFFREY FERRIS {1634, Watertown} [GM 2:2:517-21]..."

      4. From the "Great Migration" book by Robert Charles Anderson, which are highly reliable summaries of early pre-1636 colonists:
      "Jeffrey Ferris
      Origin: Unknown.
      Migration: 1634
      First Residence: Watertown
      Removes: Wethersfield 1635, Stamford 1641, Greenwich by 1650, East Town 1655, Greenwich by about 1659.
      Church Membership: Admission to Watertown church prior to 6 May 1635 implied by freemanship.
      Freeman: 6 May 1635 (second in a sequence of eight Watertown men) [MBCR 1:370].
      Education: Signed his will by mark. His inventory included "one Bible [and] 2 psalm books" valued at 6s.
      Offices: Connecticut petit jury, 1639 [CCCR 1:29].
      His inventory included "a gun barrel" valued at 5s.
      Estate: The estate of John Oldham owed £3 15s. to "Jeffery Ferris," 6 February 1639/40 [CCCR 1:43].
      On 26 [May?] 1641, "the lands of Jeffery Ferris lying in Wethersfeild" consisted of eight parcels: "one piece whereon his house standeth containing four acres"; "one piece in the great meadow containing three acres"; "one other piece also in the great meadow containing seven acres"; "one piece in the west side of middle field in the dry swamp containing ten acres"; "one piece on the east side of Conecticutt River containing forty & five acres"; "one piece in pennie wise containing four acres"; "one piece lying in the west field containing thirteen acres"; and "one piece also in the west field containing thirteen acres" [WetLR 1:189].
      In a list of "acres of marsh and upland allowed" at Stamford in 1641 "Jeff[rey] Firries" had ten acres [TAG 10:41, citing Stamford TR 1:6].
      On 25 November 1650, "William Hallet of Grenwich" sold to "Jeffere Ferris & his heirs, all his housing & lands in Grenwich, his whole right & title, & his wife's right also, in the lands purchased by Daniell Pattrick & Robert Feke in the New Netherlands, the parcels of lands that William Hallet doth own" are a house lot, "a piece of salt meadow of five acres more or less, also upland by the side of it on Elizabeth Neck, also the half of the land in the said Elizabeth Neck that is not already given out, both upland & meadow, also six acres of meadow, more or less, with a piece of upland by it ..., also a piece of upland in consideration of the ox pasture Goodman Sherwood did & should take in, ... also a piece of upland & meadow on Myanos Neck that was William Hallett his particular lot" [Greenwich LR 1:169]. (On 18 July 1640, Robert Feake and Daniel Patrick purchased from several Indians land that would become Greenwich; an annotation of unknown date to this deed states that "Keofrum hath sold all his right in the abovesaid neck unto Jeffere Ferris [Greenwich LR 1:455].)
      On 28 May 1661, "Jeffery Ferries, by marriage with his wife Susanna, now deceased, stands engaged to pay certain legacies due to the children of Robert Lockwood, deceased, according to the administration entered in Court 20 October 1658" [Fairfield PR 1:65].
      In his will, dated 6 January 1664(/5?] and proved 9 March 1666/7, "Jeaffrey Ferris" bequeathed to "my wife that now is, all the estate which she can make appear that she brought with her" and £l0; to "her four children, that is to say, those four boys which I brought up and kept," £10 apiece; "in case my wife that now is shall see cause to remain a widow alter my decease, ... I give for her use five acres of land that now is in till, the one half in my home lot and the other half at Tomuck," also "one of my allotments that is on Mihanoes Neck," also some household goods to "my son James Ferris," £20, some moveables, and "half my farm, that is to say, that land that I now gave him"; to "my daughter Mary Lockwood, that now is, twenty pounds besides the quarter part of my before mentioned jades I gave to her husband, Jonothan Lockwood"; to "my son Peter Ferris, his three children, one mare colt"; to "my son Josep[h]'s two children one mare colt"; residue to "be equally divided amongst all my children"; "in case God should please to give my wife a child born of her body whilst she remains my wife, that is to say, whilst I live, or if I leave her with child when I die," that child to have "the other half of my farm" and a young mare; "my loving friend, John Holly, now in Stamford, and my son Peter Ferris" to be executors [Fairfield PR 2:20-21].
      The inventory of the estate of "Jeffrey Ferris, deceased," taken 23, 24, 26 and 29 November 1666, totalled £493 6-¼d., of which £170 was real estate: "house and lands," £170 [Fairfield PR 2:29-32]. Appended to the inventory is a division of the estate, dated 22 March 1666/7: to "brother Jonathan Lockwood"; to "brother James Ferris"; to "brother Joseph Ferris"; and to "brother Joseph Ferris" [Fairfield PR 2:32] (perhaps one of the entries for Joseph Ferris is intended for one of the other brothers).
      On 21 June 1687, "Peter Ferris & Jonathan Lockwood & Joseph Ferris & Jeames Ferris, being administrators of the estate of our deceased father, Jeffere Ferris," agreed "that all lands that are dividable that were formerly our foresaid deceased father's, ... that any or each person of us do possess, that he or they shall have ... the said land ... as his own proper right" [Greenwich LR 1:124].
      On 16 July 1705, "John Ferris, inhabitant of Westchester, ... son unto Jeffre Ferris of Greenwich," gave a receipt for his share of his father's estate from "my brother[s] Peeter Ferris & Joseph Feris & James Feris & Jonathan Lockwood, ... as they were administrators of the estate of my deceased [father] Jeffere Feris" [Greenwich LR 1:173].
      Birth: By about 1604 based on estimated date of marriage.
      Death: Greenwich 31 May 1666 [Gillespie Anc 118, source not cited].
      Marriage:
      (1) By about 1629 ___ ___. She died at Stamford 31 July 1658 (TAG 10:45, citing Stamford TR 1:20].
      (2) About 1659 Susanna (Norman) Lockwood, daughter of Richard Norman {1626, Salem} [GMB 2:1334-36] and widow of Robert Lockwood {1634, Watertown} [Fairfield PR 1:65]. She died at Greenwich 23 December 1660 (recorded at Stamford) [TAG 10:118, citing Stamford TR 1:98].
      (3) By about 1662 Judith (Feake) Palmer, daughter of James Feake of London and widow of William Palmer {1636, Watertown} [NYGBR 86:211-12, and arguments presented there]. She married (3) John Bowers soon after the death of Jeffrey Ferris, for, on 9 March 1666/7, "Judah Bowers, lately widow Ferris sometimes wife to Jeffery Ferris, do openly acknowledge I have received in full satisfaction what was given me by my husband's will" [Fairfield PR 2:21].
      Children:
      With first wife
      i. Peter, b. say 1629 in. (1) Stamford 15 July 1654 Elizabeth Reynolds [Stamford TR 1:55]; m. (2) Stamford 25 July 1705 Ruth (___) Weed [TAG 11:91, citing Stamford TR 1:128], widow of Daniel Weed [Gillespie Anc 537-38], son of Jonas Weed {1630, Watertown} [GMB 3:1956-59].
      ii. Joseph, b. say 1632; in Stamford 20 November 1657 Ruth Knapp [TAG 10:112, citing Stamford TR 1:74], daughter of Nicholas Knapp {1630, Watertown) [GMB 2:1136].
      iii. Mary, b. say 1636; m. (1) by an unknown date Jonathan Lockwood, son of Robert Lockwood {1634, Watertown); m. (2) soon after 3 June 1696 Thomas Merritt [Gillespie Anc 128, citing prenuptial agreement, location not stated].
      iv. John, b. about 1640 (deposed 5 December 1705 aged 65 years old (Gillespie Anc 128, citing an unknown source]); m. (1) by about 1666 Mary Jackson (eldest known child m. in 1686 (Gillespie Anc 128-29, and arguments presented there]; m. (2) Grace ____ [Gillespie Anc 128].
      v. James, b. say 1642; m. by about 1670 ___ ___ [TAG 26:230-32 (which was apparently not seen by Prindle [Gillespie Anc 129], with whom we do not concur)].
      Comments: On 6 February 1639/40, "Jeffery Ferris" was fined for various misdemeanors in the case of Mr. Plum and Richard Westcott [CCCR 1:44].
      Jeffrey Ferris was in East Town on 1 January 1657, when he signed a declaration [Gillespie Anc 124], and was of East Town when he prosecuted a lengthy lawsuit in late 1658 and early 1659 [Westchester Court 11-15].
      Bibliographic Note: In 1976 Paul W. Prindle prepared a comprehensive account of this immigrant and his family [Gillespie Anc 117-36]." "The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record," 86(1955):132-148, 209-221, "The Feake Family of Norfolk, London, and Colonial America," by George E. McCracken.

      5. The book "Ancestry of Elizabeth Barrett Gillespie (Mrs. William Sperry Beinecke)," by Paul W. Prindle, 1976, pp. 117-129:
      "JEFFREY FERRIS was born in England about 1610. He married three times. The death of his first and unidentified wife, mother of all his children, is recorded in "Stamford Town Records," 1:20, the edge of the page being worn away: "[--]wif to Jeffery Ferris, died 31:5:58," i.e., 31 July 1658. Shortly thereafter Jeffrey married, second, Susanna, widow of Sgt. Robert Lockwood of Stamford, Connecticut, and daughter of Richard Norman of Salem, Massachusetts Bay Colony ("History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield," 1:380, by Donald Lines Jacobus). Susanna died 23 December 1660 at Greenwich, Connecticut ("Stamford Town Records," 1:98) and Jeffrey took as his third wife Judith, widow of Lt. William Palmer of Newtown, Long Island, New York, and daughter of James and Audrey (Crompton) Feake of London, England. Jeffrey Ferris died 31 May 1666 and Judith married, third, John Bowers ("The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record," 86:211). "Mr. John Bowers, Leftenant of ye Traned Band in grenwich, Deseased, departing this World upon ye 17 daye of March 1693/4" ("Greenwich Early Records": 85).
      According to "The Story of Jeffrey Ferris," a typescript compiled in 1937 by Charles P. Stauback, Jeffrey Ferris "with the first settlers at Watertown, Mass., in 1630, is on the list of those who paid for the survey and received ten acres of land on the first assignment."
      The name of "Jeffery fferris" appears on a list of freemen of Boston dated 6 May 1635 ("The New England Historical and Genealogical Register," 3:93). In that year a group of men from Watertown, Massachusetts Bay Colony, founded a town on the Connecticut River which they also called Watertown, the name being changed in 1636 to Wethersfield. The land within the bounds of Wethersfield, at a place called Naubuc, on the east bank of the river, was laid out sometime prior to 1640. Jeffrey Ferris drew farm No. 26 of 45 acres. It was 7 1/2 rods wide and ran from the river inland for three miles. Next to his was farm No. 27 of nine acres, owned by John Whitmore, mentioned below. In 1645, after Jeffrey had moved to Stamford, he sold his farm to John Deming (Glastonbury for Two Hundred Years: 159-61, 177, by the Rev. Alonzo B. Chapin).
      In "The History of Ancient Wethersfield, Connecticut," I:269, Henry R. Stiles wrote that Jeffrey Ferris received a homestead 26 April 1641 and a home lot and four acres. He sold one acre "to Wm. Comstock in 1641; the rest to John Deming, 1645. He came fm. Wat. to Weth. prob. 1635; rem. to Stamford, 1640 [sic -- it was 1641] , where he became a prominent citizen." Jeffrey Ferris was living at Wethersfield in April 1639 when he was placed on a jury which awarded £ 3 to a Mr. Williams for corn destroyed by cattle due to defective fences owned by the defendants in the suit ("The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, 1636-1665": 6, by J. Hammond Trumbull). Less than one year later, on 6 February 1639/40, Jeffrey himself was found guilty of the same offense by a General Court sitting at Hartford (ibid.: 44). He was required to provide the plaintiff with two bushels of corn to replace that damaged by Jeffrey's swine, to reimburse the plaintiff for his 10-shilling expense in bringing witnesses to the court, and was fined £1 for questioning the impartiality of the men appointed by the court to determine the facts of the case.
      That same General Court accepted the inventory of the estate of a Mr. Oldams, which included details of debts owed to others in the amount of £504:09:03, of which £3:15:00 was due to Jeffery Ferris.
      Church controversies and a growing population in Wethersfield brought about the exodus in 1641 of a group of settlers, led by the Rev. Richard Denton, to a site purchased 1 July 1640 from the Indians for £33 by Capt. Nathaniel Turner as agent for the New Haven Colony. On 4 November 1640 that colony gave to the Wethersfield group the right to occupy the newly acquired lands provided the £33 expended by the colony was refunded ("Ancient Wethersfield," op. cit., 1:142). The new settlement, known first as Toquam, then Rippowam, was renamed Stamford in 1642.
      The first "Stamford Town Record" is a book originally used briefly by William Collinson, agent for Mr. Edward Bradley and Mr. John Mount. The last of his entries in the book is dated 16 September 1631. Then follows, on page five of the original book, a partially illegible entry:
      "[16]40. A towne book [of the] freeholders of the towne [of Stamford as it] was afterward called, but now Rippowame, conta[ining agreements] and conclusions of the Companie of Weathrsfeld men to [the] removall thith'r this winter, and also theire most matteriall agreements touching the place; how they came by it, theire rat[es] , accounts, theire divisions and grants of land, 84 records of every mans land and passages of land from one to anoth'r ...
      "And whereas the purchase of ye place and vewing of it first maide by our frends of New Haven, and Wee stand indebted to them for it, it [is] Ordered at the same time that 100 bushells of come, at 3 s. a bushell, be paid in towards it, w'ch raised and sent them as followeth..."
      In the list which follows (now partially illegible) of the contributions by 30 men of the 100 bushels of corn, "Jeff. Firries" is credited with three bushels, one peck.
      On page 6 of this book there appears a statement, also partly illegible, concerning the allotment of lands, at two pence per acre, and three pence per home lot. The record bears no date but was recorded probably as of the fall of 1641:
      "Also, this is to bee noted, That in a full meeting of the company yt was intend[ed] to come ‘hither the same spring yt wee came, every of these every of these [sic] 28 men aforementioned, and Jo. Jisop, were severally considered of, and what quantitie of aland was meete for every man determined of (the man under consideration absenting himselfe whil his case was in hand and so successivly, &c when hee was called in againe & demanded if so much gave him content; and so contentment and satisfaction was by every one of these men acknowledged; and they sett downe these numbers of acres of marsh and upland after the same proportion, as followeth..."
      Then were listed the names and acreage of each of "these 28 [sic] men aforementioned, and Jo. Jisop." "Jeff. Firries" was allocated 10 of the 276 total acres.
      On 18 July 1640, before Stamford was settled but soon after the date of the Turner purchase, Capt. Daniel Patrick and Lt. Robert Feake, also on behalf of the New Haven Colony, purchased from the Indians the area just west of the Turner purchase, which became known as "Old Town," later called Sound Beach, the eastern section of the town of Greenwich, now called Old Greenwich. The deed, recorded in "Greenwich Early Records": 2, and also in "Greenwich Land Records", 1:455, is transcribed below because of the part the subject Jeffrey Ferris played in the transaction:
      "Wee, Amogerowe, Sachem of Asamock; Ramahtthoe Nawhorone, Sachem of Tatannick; Amssetthettowe, whith his Brother, Owenoke, Sachems of asamuck, have Sould Unto Robert Feacks 8c Daniell Patrick all theire Rights & Interest in all ye severall Lands betwene asamuck River and Tatomuck, which Tatomuck is a littill River which Divideth ye Bounds betwene Capt. Turners Purchase & this, except ye neck of Land by ye Indians Cauled Monakawoge, by us Elizabeth Neck, which Neck is ye Perticaler purchas of Elizabeth Feaks, ye s'd Robert Feacks, his Wiffe, to bee hers &c her heaires or assignes for ever, or else to bee at ye disposing of ye Afore mentioned purchasers for ever, to them & theire heaires, exequetors or asignes, & theye to Injoye all rivers, Iselands & ye severall naturall adjuncks of all ye fore mentioned places; neyther shall ye Indians fish within a mille of aney English Ware, nor Invite or permitt aney other Indians to sett downe in ye fore mentioned Bounds. In consideration of which Land ye fore mentioned Purchasers are to give unto ye above Named sachems twentie five Coates, whereof Thaye have Reseved Eleven in part of payment; to wittnes all Which thaye have hereunto sett theire hands this 18 of Jully 1640.
      Witnes [each Indian signed by mark]: Robert Heusted, Andrue Messenger [by mark], Rasoabitt, Saponus, Whowhoron, Paaowhas, Powiatoh
      Keofrum hath sould all his Right in ye above s'd Necke unto jeffere Ferris, as wittnes under written
      Testifieth: Amogerowe, Whowhoron, Akeroque, Amsetthettowe, Keofferam
      Wittnes or Testimones to ye Last name: Richard Welliams, Angell Heusted [by mark]
      This above written bill of Sale was Entered in ye Years 1686 p'r Sam'll Peck, recorder"
      The significance of Keofrum's sale to Jeffrey Ferris of "all his Right in ye above s'd Necke" eludes this compiler. The only neck mentioned in the deed is Monakawoge, or Elizabeth Neck, stated to be her property.
      This Elizabeth, after whom the neck was named, was a most unusual woman for those times. She is the subject of a sympathetic historical novel, "The Winthrop Woman," by Anya Seton. A less favorable but more objective biography is given in the article, "The Feake Family of Norfolk, London and Colonial America" ("The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record," 86:221-221) by Dr. George E. McCracken, successor to the late Donald Lines Jacobus as editor-in-chief, owner and publisher of "The American Genealogist." Elizabeth, née Fones, widow of Henry Winthrop, was the daughter-in-law and also niece of Governor John Winthrop of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. She married second, Robert Feake, who died 1 February 1660/1 at Watertown, Massachusetts Bay Colony. He had been insane since the early 1640's. Whether or not Elizabeth and Robert were ever divorced is a question never settled, for no record of such an action has ever been found. Nor is there any record of her marriage, if indeed it took place, to William Hallett, Robert Feake's business manager, although William and Elizabeth lived together as man and wife and had two sons born to them while Robert was still living.
      On 25 November 1650 Jeffrey Ferris made a most important purchase of property from William and Elizabeth Hallett ("Greenwich Land Records," 1:169):
      " now witnesseth yt William Hallet of Greenwich in new Netherland, for &c in Consideration of three Score 8: Tenn pounds, hath Sould, & by this present doth Sell & allienate from him Selfe & his heares forever unto jeffere fferris & his heares, All his housing 8c Lands in grenwich, his Whole Right & Tittull, & his wiffes Right also, in ye Lands purchased by Daniell Pattrick & Robert Feke in ye New Netherlands. thee Persales of Lands yt William Hallet doth owne are thee house Lott bounded on ye North East with Goodman Meakocks & goodman Heusteds Land, from whence it Runs up Elizabeth Neck to ye two acres of Meadow that Edmon Sticklands is to Mowe ye next yeare, then that Meadow is to Retume to s'd Ferris. also a peace of Salt Meadow of five Eacres more or les; also Upland by ye Side of it on Elizabeth Neck. also ye halfe of ye Land in ye s'd Elizabeth Neck yt is not Already given out, both Upland & meadow. also six acres of Meadow, more or les, with a pease of upland by it, Lying betwene Goodman Heusted, his six acre Lott, & other of his Meadow. also a Pease of Upland in Consideration of ye Oxe Pasture good Man Sherwood did & should take in. William Hallett doth sell Jeffere Ferris of Stanfford his Right in all these Parsels of Land & also his Right in all thee rest of that Purchas which is undevided. also a Peace of Upland & Meadow on Myanos Neck yt Was William Hallett, his perticuler Lott. in Wittnes hereof hee hath sett his hand.
      Witnes: Petter Mecok, Richard [T?]owles
      [Signed by] William Hallett, Elizabeth Hallett
      William Hallett Reseved full payment of this Sale except twentie one pounds, which is by bill to bee payd by three pounds a Yeare following ye Date here of.
      1650 Decmbr. ye 5"
      Another association between Jeffrey Ferris and the Feake family was his third marriage, after 1661, to Judith Feake, widow of Lt. William Palmer, late of Newtown, Long Island, New York, and niece of Lt. Robert Feake ("Record, op. cit.," 6:211).
      A third such connection is found in the marriage of Jeffrey's son, Peter Ferris, to Elizabeth Reynolds, whose brother, John Reynolds, married Judith Palmer, daughter of Jeffrey's third wife, Judith Feake, by her first husband, Lt. William Palmer.
      Still another association between Jeffrey Ferris and the Feakes is the marriage of Mary, daughter of John and Mary (Jackson) Ferris and granddaughter of Jeffrey, to Nathaniel Underhill, son of John and Elizabeth (Feake) Underhill. Elizabeth was a daughter of Lt. Robert Feake and his wife, Elizabeth (Fones) (Winthrop) Feake.
      William Hallett is called in the indenture transcribed above, "of Greenwich in new Netherland." In that early period jurisdiction over the Greenwich area was claimed by both the Dutch and the English. Capt. Patrick and Lt. Feake had on 9 April 1642 submitted to the authority of the Dutch and become patroons of Greenwich although, perhaps due to Robert Feake's disturbed mental condition, his wife Elizabeth had signed the act of submission in his stead. Stamford, however, claimed Greenwich as a section of itself, and actually exercised jurisdiction over it. In 1650 the Dutch acknowledged Greenwich to be part of the New Haven Colony, although the residents themselves considered Greenwich to be an independent state until 6 October 1656, when 12 heads of families, including Peter Ferris, subjected themselves, under pressure, to the jurisdiction of the New Haven Colony ("Records of the Colony or Jurisdiction of New Haven, 1653-1665": 216, by Charles J. Hoadly). In 1665 the General Court in Hartford formally declared Greenwich to be a separate town.
      The boundary line between the Turner purchase (Stamford) and the Patrick and Feake purchase (Greenwich) remained the subject of dispute for at least 44 years. On 2 November 1641 an agreement was signed between Daniel Patrick and Robert Feake, representing the Greenwich plantation, and Andrew Ward, Robert Coe and Richard Gildersleeve, representing the "Wethersfield Mens Plantation" (Stamford), defining the border but, as noted in John Mead's section herein, he and two other Greenwich men were named in 1686 to settle a boundary dispute with Stamford.
      By 1655 Jeffrey Ferris had, with a number of other Stamford men, started a settlement in Westchester County which they called East Town, known by the Dutch as Oostdorp, and now called Eastchester. The Dutch, concerned over this settlement within their jurisdiction, arrested these trespassers and took them to Manhattan, where they were deprived of most of their guns before being permitted to return to East Town. An interesting account of the settlement and the subsequent acknowledgment by the Englishmen of submission to Dutch authority appears in "The Documentary History of the State of New-York," III: 71, 557-9, by E.B. O'Callaghan.
      The Rev. Johannis Megapolensis and the Rev. Samuel Drisius on 5 August 1657 wrote a long letter from New Amsterdam in New Netherland to the Classis in Amsterdam, Holland, reporting on the state of the churches in New Netherland. They reported, in part, "On the West side of the East river, about one mile through Hellgate (as we call it), opposite Flushing on the main, another English village has been begun over two years. It was named Oostdorp. The Inhabitants of this place are also Puritans, alias Independants. They also have no Preacher. They hold Sunday meetings, reading from an English book a sermon, and making a prayer."
      On Saturday, 30 December 1656, Director General Peter Stuyvesant sent Capt. Lt. Brian Nuton, Secretary Cornelis van Ruyven and Commissary Carel van Brugge to Oostdorp with instructions to have the Englishmen take the oath of allegiance to New Netherland. Their detailed and interesting report stated they had "gone ashore during the ebbing of the tide, on this side of Hell-gate, where William Hallet's house & plantation formerly stood, which were laid waste by the Indians about September of the year 1655." The party arrived late in the day. The inhabitants refused to meet with them on the following day since it was the Sabbath, so the party attended their religious services, at which Robert Bassett "read a Sermon from a printed Book composed & published by an English Minister in England." That evening Bassett had them as his guests at supper.
      Early Monday morning the Englishmen assembled, summoned by the beating of a drum. When the nature of the mission was announced, Bassett objected to the wording of the oath of allegiance and offered a substitute of his own devising. This was acceptable to the Dutch and by all the inhabitants except Anthony Gill, who was thereupon ordered by the Dutch to leave the Province of New Netherland within three weeks. The statement drawn up by Robert Bassett, which avoided use of the word "oath," was signed by him and by 14 others, including "Jeffery fferris" (by mark), Jonathan "Llockwood" (Jeffrey's son-in-law),and John Finch. It read:
      "This first Jannuary Ao 1657: in east towne in the N. Netherlands. Wee, hose hands are under writen, do promes to oune the governor of the manatas [Manhattan] as our governor and obay all his magastrates and lawes that ar mad acordin to god, so long as we live in his Jurisdiction."
      The report goes on, "The business being completed and leave taken, we went to Mr. Ferris', who invited us to breakfast. This done, the tide being favorable after breakfast, we resolved to depart, though it rained hard." How long Jeffrey Ferris remained at East Town before returning to Greenwich is not known. His wife's death was recorded in Stamford in the summer of 1658 and he presumably had returned by then. He was certainly back in Greenwich by 5 February 1664, when the "constitution" of that town was adopted at "A metin 1664 Februare fift" ("Greenwich Early Records": 5):
      "The propriators having taken in to Consideration what wee thought might make best for ye Comfortable Settlement of our towne, in Refference to which wee do conclude to Laye downe our Rites in Common lands lying without fence, mens perticuler Alotment exemted. wee do agree & Conclude that our Rites as above Spesified is now to bee Setled upon all Inhabitants that now are or Shall hereaffter bee added unto us, yt thay Shall bee [entitled?] unto all our out Lands as afore s'd with ourselves and as ourselves, by a Rule of proportion according to what each mans estate Shall bee visablez upon these Considerations, that they with us Shall Constantly endevor to mainetaine & too upholde thee ministrie amougst us. Secondly, yt thay with us Shall mainetaine & uphold, Strengthen & confirme ye Privileges of ye towne. the Proprietors are as followeth: Jeffere Ferris Sen'r, Joshua Knap Sen'r, Joseph Ferris, Jonathan Renalds, Angell Heusted, John Mead Senior, John Hobbe.
      Why Jeffrey Ferris should have been designated "Sen'r" is not clear. There was no other of that name in either Greenwich or Stamford.
      The name of Jeffrey Ferris seldom appears in contemporary Greenwich records. On 13 February 1648 he brought an action in court against John Finch, declaring that "John Fensh cam upon my ground and feld my tember and cared it away w't out my leave ...S entenc of ye Court. the tree in question ... appeers to be in Jeffery Feris ground and is his tree, and therefore John Fensh shall giv Jeffery Feris on[e] hundered of clabbord yt shall be answerabl to ye losse yt ye tree did make, and paye ye charge of ye Court, and for ye war'nts."
      On 8 December 1648 Jeffrey Ferris and Robert Hustis took the inventory of the estate of John Whitmore, late of Stamford ("Jurisdiction, op. cit.": 159). Whitmore, previously a next-door neighbor of Jeffrey, had been murdered by Indians ("History of Stamford": 46, by the Rev. E.B. Huntington).
      These two men, Jeffrey Ferris and Robert Hustis, brought an action in court 3 May 1649 against James Steward on behalf of local Indians:
      "Declearation. ye sayd Jams Steward was by agreement w't ye townsmen to keep ye town oxen, and to have 12 s. ye week and on[e] man to helpe hem for on week, and then to Keepe himselfe and to hav 14 s. ye week, and he was to du his best indevors to Keep them from coming horn and out of ye Indien corn, but he hath neclleckted his duty and went about of other work w't other men and for hemself, and by yt means ye cattell did du damedge to ye Indiens in their Corne, it being duly proved ye damed[ge] was 12 boushell and half of Indian corn as 2 boushelles and halfe of pease ... Sentenc of Court, yt ye sayd Jams Steward shall pay ye Indians 12 boushell and half Indion corn and 2 boushell and half of pease, and bear ye charg of ye Court."
      In the move in 1641 from Wethersfield to Stamford, Jeffrey must have settled in that part which was later known as Sound Beach (now Old Greenwich), a part of Greenwich. The record of the first allotment of Greenwich lands appears on page five of "Greenwich Early Records." "Jeffere feris" drew lot No. 8 of the 19 distributed, no date or acreage being noted. "Greenwich Land Records" reflect only two deeds in which Jeffrey Ferris was a principal, the purchases from the Indian sachem Keofrum, and from William and Elizabeth Hallett, both noted above.
      "Fairfield Probate Records," 1:65, contain an acknowledgment that "Jeffery fferries, by mariage with his wife Susanna, now Deceased, Stands ingaged to pay certain Legasies Due to the Children of Robert Lockwood, deceased, acording to the Administration enterd in Courte 20 october 1658."
      The inventory of the estate of Jeffrey Ferris, deceased, was taken and appraised on the 23rd, 24th, 26th and 29th of November 1666 by Joseph Mead, Angell Husted and John Holly. The listing, in great detail, represented a total value of £493:00:06, a large estate for that period. Among the literally hundreds of items listed were five pewter dishes weighing 18 pounds, five pewter plates weighing 18 pounds, Bible, Psalm books, earthen pot with honey, flint musket, beaver hat, etc. His house and lands were appraised at £170 (ibid., 2:29).
      Jeffrey Ferris made his will on 6 January 1664. It was probated 9 March 1666/7 (ibid., 2:20-1):
      "I, Jeaffery fferris, being now at this time, through The mercy of God, in Indifferent good health and good memory ... give unto my wife that now is, all the estate which Shee can make apeare that shee brought with her, And alsoe Ten pounds of my estate I give her alsoe. Item, I give alsoe to her four Children, That is to say, thos four boys which I brought up and kept, forty pounds, that is to say, Ten pounds a peace; that yf they Stay and live with any of my Children untill they be of the age of eighteen years, then it shall be put out for them and for ther use untill theyer Twenty years of age, And then To receive it into Ther possesyon. further, in case my wife that now is Shall See cause to remain a widdow after my decease, for soe Long as Shee Soe remayneth, I give for her use five Acres of Land that now is in till, the one half in my home lot and the other half at Tomuck. Alsoe, I give her free, for her and hers, one of my alotments that is on Mihanoes [Mianus] necke that is now fenct in. Alsoe, yf Shee Sees cause, I will that Shee Shall live in one part of my now dwelling house Soe Long as Shee Shall remain a widdowe. Alsoe I give her two of my Pewter Platters, one great, the other small.
      Item. I give unto my Sonn James fferris, Twenty pounds, That is to Say, besides his Cattell that now is. And alsoe, besides the quarter part of thos Jades [i.e., worn-out horses] which I gave between my Sonn Jonothan Lockwood and James, That is to Say, thos Jades running remote in the woods. Alsoe, I give unto my Sonn James my great Copper kettell and alsoe my bed that now Standeth in the Low Room of my house, that is to Say, that bed, with all the furniture, which my wife and my Self commonly Lodg on. Alsoe, I give unto my Sonn James that bed with the furneture that Commonly that commonly [sic] James Lay on in the other fore Room of my now dwelling house. I give alsoe unto my Sonn James fferris half my farm half my farm [sic], that is to Say, that Land that I now gave him, be the one part of the half. Alsoe, I give unto my Sonn James fferris all my Carts and plowes and all materials therunto belonging. Alsoe, I give unto James my Iron pot and three Pewter Platters.
      Item, alsoe I give unto my Daughter Mary Lockwood, that now is, twenty pounds besides the quarter part of my before mentioned Jades I gave to her husband, Jonothan Lockwood.
      Alsoe, I give unto my Sonn Peter fferris, his three Children, one mare Colte that Shall run in Stoeke, to be equal] Proportion between the thre Children.
      Alsoe I give unto my Sonn Joseps two Children one mare Colt to run for Stock for them, and for ther use and portion.
      Farther, my will is that what more of my estate Shall be found after these above mentioned Legasies payd, Shall be equally devided amongst all my Children; further, it is my will that in case God Should please to give my wife a Child born of her body whilst Shee remayns my wife, that is to say, whilst I live, or yf I leve her with Child when I Dye, that then I given unto that Child, male or female, the other half of my farm that now I posses, with the rights and prevelidges therunto belonging; farther, it is my will that this Child Shall have a yong mare alsoe, which I give it by this my will, but in case this Child Should Dye before it hath any Issue, then this my gift to reaturn to the rest of the estate as before mentioned; further, it is my will and I Doe Depute my Loving freind, John Holly, now in Standford, and my Sonn Peter fferris as my overseers to See this my will performed acording to the Just expression extent of this my wrighting. in witnes that this is My free will and act, I Set to my hand.
      This is the marke of Jeffery F fferris
      Testis: Phillip Minthorn
      Judith, widow first of Lt. William Palmer and second, of Jeffrey Ferris, who died 31 May 1666, did not wait long before remarrying. By 9 March 1667 she had married John Bowers. "Judah Bowers, Lately wife of Jeffery fferris, and Joseph ferris & James Ferris," swore to the authenticity of Jeffrey's will and Judith, by mark, signed a receipt: "I, Judah Bowers, Lately widdow fferris, Sometimes wife to Jeffery fferris, Doe hearby aknowledg I have Received in full Satisfaction what was given me by my husbands will, and I Doe hearby fully acquitt and Discharge, for me and mine for ever" (ibid., 2:21).
      Judith and her first husband, Lt. William Palmer, had four sons, William, Ephraim, James and Joseph, and one daughter, Judith. The sons, stated by Jeffrey in his will to have been "brought up and kept" by him, had actually lived with him less than four years.
      In his will, Jeffrey Ferris made provision for a child he felt might subsequently be borne by Judith. There is no indication, in the distribution of the estate or in other records, that Judith ever gavebirth to a Ferris child.
      It is worthy of note that Jeffrey Ferris was one of the known founders of four towns: Watertown, Stamford, Greenwich and East Town; and perhaps also of Wethersfield. He must truly have been imbued with the pioneer spirit, for the difficulties of moving households at that time seem almost insurmountable. Overland journeys by these pioneers, traversing almost pathless woods and bridgeless rivers and streams, required driving before them their sheep and cattle, and of transporting in their crude vehicles their food, household furnishings, and tools for farming and building, not overlooking their Bibles -- and their guns.
      Jeffrey Ferris and his first and unidentified wife had five known children:
      i. Peter Ferris, born say, in 1633.
      ii. Joseph Ferris, born about 1635, married 20 November 1657 ("Stamford Town Records," 1:74), Ruth Knapp, born 6 January 1640/1, daughter of Nicholas and Elinor Knapp ("Nicholas Knapp Genealogy": 1, by Alfred A. Knapp). Joseph died after 9 June 1699, the date of his will, and before 24 July 1699, when the inventory of his estate was taken ("Fairfield Probate Records," 4:190b).
      iii. Mary Ferris, born circa 1638, married twice. Her first husband was Lt. Jonathan Lockwood, born 16 September 1634 at Watertown, who died 12 May 1688 in Greenwich, son of Sgt. Robert and Susanna (Norman) Lockwood. Jonathan was, accordingly, Jeffrey Ferris' son-in-law as well as stepson. Mary married second, in 1696, Thomas Merritt of Rye, their prenuptial agreement being dated 3 June 1696. Mary died 1708 in Greenwhich ("Old Fairfield, op. cit.", 1:382).
      iv. John Ferris, born circa 1640, stated in a deposition dated 5 December 1705 that he was 65 years old. He was not mentioned in his father's will and presumably was given his portion of his father's estate when he married. John lived in Stamford and later in Throgmorton's (now Throggs) Neck, Bronx County. John Ferris was twice married, first to Mary Jackson, daughter of Robert Jackson, and second to Grace, surname unknown, who died 31 December 1716 at Flushing, Long Island. John died between 9 May 1715, date of his will, and 25 February 1716, when it was probated ("The Ferris Family," by Harriet Scofield, a chapter of the "Jeffrey Ferris Family Genealogy," by Floyd I. Ferris).
      Proof that John was a son of Jeffrey Ferris is provided by a receipt dated 16 July 1705 and recorded in "Greenwich Land Records," 1:173:
      "I, John Ferris, inhabitant of Westchester in her Majesties provence of new york, son unto Jeffre ferris of greenwich in ye countie of Fairfield in her majesties collonie of conecticut, have received of my brother peeter ferris & Joseph feris & James feris & Jonathan Lockwood, all of ye countie & collonie above s'd, as thay were administrators of ye estate of my deseased Jeffere feris; I say, I have received of ym all singuler, every part ... willed by to mee by above s'd father, Jeffere feris."
      At first reading it seems that, since John acknowledges receiving property "willed" to him by his father, he must have been the unborn child Jeffrey appears to have believedJudith was carrying when he executed his will. But that cannot be, for John, aged 65 in 1705, was 24 years old when Jeffrey made his will. Even if John's age at the time of the deposition was misstated or misread, he had a daughter Mary whose marriage intentions dated 27 February 1685/6 were recorded in Quaker records. She married, probably on 10 December 1686, Nathaniel Underhill, born 22 February 1663, son of the famous Indian fighter, Capt. John Underhill, and his wife, Elizabeth Feake. Thomas Underhill, first child of Nathaniel and Mary, was born 4 December 1687 ("Underhill Genealogy, Descendants of Capt. John Underhill," 2:63-4, by Josephine C. Frost). Surely, had John Ferris been born after the 1664 will of Jeffrey was drawn, he could not have had a grandson born in 1687, only 23 years later! v. James Ferris, born about 1642, was one of the original patentees named in the patent granted to the town of Greenwich by the General Court at Hartford in May 1665. He died 6 November 1726. As shown in Fairfield Probate Records, 8:57, his widow Mary had by 4 April 1727 married a man named Reynolds.
      References:
      As cited.
      Greenwich Early Records, sometimes called the Common Place Books.
      Stamford Town Records."

      6. The periodical "Connecticut Ancestry," vol. 50, no. 4 (May 2008), " Ancestry of William Weed of Stamford and Darien, Connecticut (Continued), by Frederick C. Hart, Jr., CG, FASG, pp. 146-48:
      "NICHOLAS1 KNAPP was in Watertown, Massachusetts by 1 March 1630/31...
      Children of Nicholas and Eleanor (___) Knapp, first seven born and recorded at Watertown[17] and last two born probably at Stamford:
      i. JONATHAN2 KNAPP, b. Nov 1631, bur. Watertown 27 Dec 1631 "aged 7 weeks."
      ii. TIMOTHY KNAPP, b. 14 Dec 1632, m. BETHIA ___, said to have been the daughter of John Brundish or Brundage.[19] He moved to the town of Rye, (then in Connecticut but now in New York) about 1667 when he purchased a house and homelot there. He was active in community affairs and was constable of Rye in 1681 and 1682. He apparently moved to Greenwich by 1697.[20]
      iii. JOSHUA KNAPP, b. 5 Jan 1634/35, m. at Stamford 9 Jun 1657 HANNAH CLOSE.[21]
      iv. CALEB KNAPP, b. 20 Jan 1636/37, m. HANNAH SMITH.
      v. SARAH KNAPP, b. 5 Jan 1638/39, m. at Stamford 6 Apr 1657 PETER DISBOROUGH / DISBROW.[22]
      vi. RUTH KNAPP, b. 6 Jan 1640/41, m. (1) at Stamford 20 Nov 1657 JOSEPH FERRIS,[23] and (2) 19 Jan 1707/08 JOHN CLAPP.[24]
      vii. HANNAH KNAPP, b. 6 Mar 1642/43,[25] living at the time of her father's will in 1670.[26]
      viii. MOSES KNAPP, b. say 1645, perhaps at Stamford, m. by 1669 ABIGAIL WESTCOTT.
      ix. LYDIA KNAPP, b. say 1647, probably at Stamford, m. at Fairfield 16 Jan 1666/67 ISAAC HALL.[27]
      Footnotes...
      17. Henry Bond, "Genealogies of the Families and Descendants of the Early Settlers of Watertown, Massachusetts, Including Waltham and Weston ..." (Boston: The New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1860), 327.
      18. All data are as given in The Great Migration Begins (note 3), 2: 1136-7 except where noted. Lists of spouses given in the Knapp Genealogy (note 7) and other secondary sources are similar, but have additional marriages for many of the children that have not yet been verified. This list follows Anderson who discounted many of these additional marriages for lack of proof. Also note his discussion and rejection of the claims that William Knopp of Watertown was a close relative of Nicholas Knapp.
      19. Although Bethia's identity is given as fact by Norman Davis in his "Westchester Patriarchs" (Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, Inc., 1988), 36-7, 140, it is not confirmed by Anderson, or by Donald L. Jacobus in his, "History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield," 2 volumes in 3 (Fairfield: Eunice Dennie Bun Chapter, DAR, 1930-1932), 1: 108.
      20. All from Charles W. Baird, "Chronicle of a Border Town: History of Rye Westchester County, New York 1660-1870" (Camden, ME: Picton Press [reprint], 1994), 416.
      21. Stamford Town Records, 1: 20, transcription copy, 26.
      22. Stamford Town Records 1: 19, 74, transcription copy, 74, 87. Some authors have claimed that she had an additional first marriage to John Disbrow, but this is unlikely since she was called Sarah Knapp in 1657.
      23. Stamford Town Records, 1: 74, transcription copy, 87.
      24. Stamford Town Records, 1: 128, transcription copy, 164. See also Ferris Genealogy (note 5), vol. 2, ID no. 12.
      25. Mr. Bond gave the year as "1643-4" in his Watertown Genealogies (note 17) but Anderson gives it as 1642/43 based on the original (The Great Migration Begins [note 3], 2: 1137.)
      26. Early Settlement (note 10), 174, lists a marriage for her to Zerubbabbel Hoyt in 1673, but there is no such marriage in the generally reliable David W. Hoyt, "A Genealogical History of the Hoyt, Haight, and Hight Families with Some Account of the Earlier Hyatt Families..." (Providence and Boston: the author, 1871, repr. Somersworth, NH: New England History Press, 1984), 311-2.
      27. Old Fairfield (note 19), 1: 250. It is sometimes claimed that she married Richard Mills but Jacobus explained that this Mills marriage instead belonged to Lydia the daughter of Roger Knapp of New Haven and Fairfield (Old Fairfield [note 19], 1: 365, 411.)"

      7. The periodical "Connecticut Ancestry," vol. 51, no. 1 (Aug 2008), " Ancestry of William Weed of Stamford and Darien, Connecticut (Continued), by Frederick C. Hart, Jr., CG, FASG, pp. 2-6:
      "FERRIS
      As with so many other early Stamford families, we are fortunate to have the biographical and genealogical work on the Ferris family by Paul W. Prindle, FASG, available to us in published form.[1] Prindle's discussion of the careers of both Jeffrey Ferris and his son Peter is second to none, and cannot be improved upon here. The reader will want to make a complete reference to those biographical compilations.
      The Ferris family of Stamford and Greenwich was also studied in detail by a descendant, retired U.S. Navy chaplain Capt. James S. Ferris, whose "A Ferris Genealogy" is available in typescript form.[2] Capt. Ferris has since passed away, but the present writer had the pleasure of corresponding with him several times and appreciated his helpful and always interested discussions regarding all branches of this Ferris family. Although Jim Ferris was not rigorous about resolving questions regarding these early generations using the primary records, his work on the entire family is by far the most substantial work to date on the later generations of this Jeffrey Ferris clan.
      JEFFREY1 FERRIS was born in England say about 1610, and died at Stamford, Fairfield County, Connecticut probably about November 1666.[3] Various reports circulate on the Internet[4] giving his birthplace in England in an assortment of places, usually Leicestershire, and some of these give his father as one Richard Ferris, born in 1585. None of these reports has been confirmed or substantiated for this present compilation. As recently as 1981, a group of Ferris researchers including Capt. Jim Ferris himself was conducting research in England to determine Jeffrey Ferris' place of origin, but still without any conclusive or even encouraging results.[5]
      He was married (at least) three times, but none of the marriages seem to have been recorded in Connecticut records. The death of his first (?) wife, probably the mother of all of his children, was recorded at Stamford, but her name has not yet been determined. She died at Greenwich on the 31st day, 5th month (July) 1658,[6] during the time of the epidemic of what is thought to have been malaria that claimed so many Stamford lives in that time period. The Stamford record of her death is partially lost because the original page is deteriorated, but Donald L. Jacobus transcribed the entry in 1933 as "[ ]ne wife of Jeffrey Ferris."171 No further identification or explanation has been found.
      The Rev. Elijah Baldwin Huntington, Stamford's first historian, while not naming Jeffrey's first wife, reported a tradition regarding her that may or may not eventually be confirmed by future researchers:
      "Tradition invests the emigration of this [Jeffrey Ferris] family to this country with the hues of romantic adventure -- the ancestress, high born, following her plebian lover out into this western world, to share with him here the fortunes which English aristocracy would not allow there."[9]
      Jeffrey married second, possibly in December 1658,[10] Mrs. SUSANNAH (NORMAN) LOCKWOOD, born say 1615, the daughter of Richard Norman of Salem, Massachusetts, and widow of Robert Lockwood who died in Fairfield before 11 September 1658 when his inventory was taken.[11] Robert Lockwood was at Watertown during the period 1634-1646, and the couple must have been acquainted at that time and place. She had 11 children from her first marriage, 10 of whom were living in 1658, and many of them were young enough to move to Stamford with her when she married Ferris. Susannah (Norman) (Lockwood) Ferris died at Greenwich on 23 December 1660.[12]
      Jeffrey Ferris' third wife was JUDITH (FEAKE) PALMER, daughter of James Feake and widow of Lieutenant William Palmer.[13] She had four young boys with her when she joined Jeffrey's household. His will set aside ten pounds apiece "to her four children that is to say this four boyes which I brought up and kept."[14] After Jeffrey's death in 1666, she married as her third husband, John Bowers, and used his name in 1667 when receipting for her share in the settlement of Jeffrey's estate. [15]
      He was in America by 6 May 1635 when he was made a freeman of the Massachusetts Bay Colony,[16] presumably a resident of Watertown at the time. He joined with other Watertown residents in their establishment of Wethersfield, Connecticut, probably later in that same year of 1635. He recorded his homestead in the Wethersfield land records on 26 April 1641, prior to selling a portion to William Comstock in that same year. He continued to hold land in Wethersfield until 1645, when he disposed of the remainder of his property there to John Deming.[17] An early Glastonbury historian found by analyzing the Wethersfield Land Records that Jeffrey Ferris owned land in the eastern portion of Wethersfield at Naubuc Farms, on the east side of the Connecticut River at what is now Glastonbury.[18]
      In 1640-1641 he joined with those other members of the Watertown / Wethersfield party who went on to become the founders and settlers of Stamford, and his name appears on most of the surviving lists of the earliest Stamford residents.[19] He then purchased land in Greenwich from William Hallett and moved there about 1650.[20] His connections with both Stamford and Greenwich constituted almost a dual citizenship, considering the different jurisdictions that controlled these two towns during their infancy.
      Paul Prindle's description of this period in Jeffrey Ferris' life is outstanding for its attention to the political and jurisdictional changes that affected the two towns in their early years. An excellent historical novel by Anya Seton also covers this area and time period in a popular fashion, and makes wonderful reading for any descendants of these early settlers, many of whom are named and described (of course with some literary liberties being taken), including Jeffrey Ferris himself.[21] One of the most interesting aspects of this entire historical scene has to do with the Feake family, including Judith (Feake) (Palmer) (Ferris) Bowers, Jeffrey's third wife, not repeated here but again treated amply by Prindle, and a central feature of the Seton novel.
      According to historian Jeanne Majdalany, Jeffrey Ferris was the operator of Stamford's town mill in the early years, and his sons were probably a great help in this endeavor.[22]
      Paul Prindle transcribed the will of Jeffrey Ferris in full for his book, Gillespie Ancestors. The following excerpts provide us with information on his children and grandchildren that cannot be found anywhere else: "...my sonn James Fferris my sonn Jonothan Lockwood ... my daughter Mary Lockwood ... her husband Jonothan Lockwood ... my son Peter Fferris his three children ... my sonn Joseps two children... [23]
      Children of Jeffrey Ferris and his (still unknown) first wife:[24]
      i. PETER2 FERRIS, b. say 1633, m. (1) ELIZABETH REYNOLDS, m. (2) MRS. RUTH (___) WEED.
      ii. JOSEPH FERRIS, b. say about 1635, d. between 9 Jun and 24 Jul 1699, m. at Stamford 20 Nov 1657 RUTH KNAPP,[25] b. 6 Jan 1640/41 at Watertown, MA, dau. of Nicholas and Eleanor Knapp.[26]
      iii. MARY FERRIS, b. abt. 1638, d. bef 31 Jan 1707/08 at Greenwich, m. by 6 Jan 1634(/35?) [author's typo for 1664/5?] (1) LT. JONATHAN LOCKWOOD, b. 10 Sep 1634 at Watertown[27] and d. 12 May 1688 at Greenwich, son of Robert Lockwood and Susanna Norman,1281 m. (2) 1696 SGT. THOMAS MERRITT of Rye, Westchester County, NY, having a prenuptial agreement dated 3 June 1696.[29]
      iv. JOHN FERRIS, b. abt. 1640, d. betw. 9 May 1715 and 25 Feb 1716,[30] m. (1) MARY JACKSON, dau. of Robert Jackson, m. (2) the widow GRACE (___) PAWLING,[31] who d. 31 Dec 1716 at Flushing, Long Island, NY. Not mentioned in his father's will but proved by his receipt in the Greenwich Land Records referring to his deceased father Jeffrey Ferris of Greenwich and naming, his brothers Peter, Joseph and James Ferris and Jonathan Lockwood.[32]
      v. JAMES FERRIS, b. abt. 1642, d. possibly abt. 1706,[33] married and had children including James3 who m. Mary ___.[34]
      Footnotes:
      1. Paul W. Prindle, "Ancestry of Elizabeth Barrett Gillespie (Mrs. William Sperry Beinecke)" (New York: The New York Public Library, 1976).
      2. James S. Ferris, "A Ferris Genealogy" (5 volumes, typescript, Coronado, CA, 1980), copies at the Ferguson Library in Stamford and other selected repositories.
      3. His death was not recorded at Stamford or Greenwich, but his inventory was taken on November 23, 24, 26 and 29, 1666 (Gillespie Ancestors [note 1], 125, citing Fairfield Probate Records, 2: 29.)
      4. And in Family History Library materials such as the Ancestral File and Pedigree Resource File, both widely available to researchers.
      5. Letter from Capt. James S. Ferris to Edith Wicks dated 16 January 1981, Edith Wicks Papers, IC-10, Stamford Historical Society.
      6. Recorded at Stamford, Stamford Town Records, 1: 20, transcription copy, 26.
      7. Donald L. Jacobus, "Stamford (Conn.) Town Records," "The American Genealogist," 10(1933-34): 45.
      8. I have examined the original record myself at the Government Center, and although there do seem to be possibly two letters remaining of the first name, it is impossible to make them out with any certainty. I hesitate to question Jacobus on this point, but it is a fact that the official transcription of this same record (i.e. as on Connecticut Ancestry Society microfilm #1), made decades before Jacobus, and usually very reliable, leaves the entire first name blank. So does Prindle (Gillespie Ancestors [note 1], 118.) Some earlier researchers, quoted by Jim Ferris without comment in his Ferris Genealogy (note 2), 1: 6, have reported that the first name of his first wife, "Mary ", could be determined from her gravestone at the South Beach Avenue Cemetery [sic -- this should be Sound Beach] in Old Greenwich, and that this stone could be read to give the last two letters of her surname as "... ne," and some have further speculated based on this that her surname might have been Bowne or Browne or Thorne, based on other associations the Ferris family had with persons of these names. This material may have come from an earlier researcher, perhaps Charles P. Staubach, and was certainly not the work of Jim Ferris himself (Capt. Ferris left the name of Jeffrey Ferris' first wife blank on his final family group sheets.) Both Capt. Jim Ferris in 1977 (reported in a letter from him to Edith Wicks of 19 May 1977) and myself on 28 Dec 2000 have physically visited this cemetery to see if any trace of this inscription could be found. There is none now, there was none in 1977 or at the time of the transcriptions for the Charles R. Hale Collection at the CSL, and there was none in 1908 when Spencer P. Mead made a complete survey of the Cemetery (actually on Tomac Avenue in Old Greenwich.) There are many burials marked with field stones in this fine old cemetery, and it is possible and even likely that Jeffrey Ferris and his wife(ves) are buried there. But if there ever were gravestone inscriptions for them, they did not survive until the 20th Century. In my opinion, the entire case for a first name of Mary, or first or last name ending in "... ne" is a fabrication based on the questionable reading of the death record by Jacobus, and some kind of a spec