6) Joseph Booth Sr (Deacon) my eight times great grandfather.
BIRTH 08 MAR 1656 • Stratford, Fairfield, Connecticut, DEATH ABT 1703 • Stratford, Fairfield, CT.
I've already posted about his wife Hannah Willcoxson Booth HERE.
I just read his will in his own handwriting. And so I found out he had another wife by August of 1703, which is when it was written, and probated. So he must have died pretty close to the time he wrote it.
But the other wife had not been mentioned in any of the other documents. But there he says he's leaving property and money to his loving wife Elizabeth.
He was married to Hannah Wilcoxson Booth, who died in 1701 and she is mentioned as his wife on the huge marker of the Booth family in the Old Congregational Cemetery. Joseph Booth's parents, his wife, then his 7 children. And the marker actually doesn't have the all the children's birth and death dates added. So we can guess the marker was made after 1766, since that's the latest death date on it, but the 4 without dates of death were still living at that time.
Well, except David is listed as living until 1773 in my ancestry records...and if he had still been alive when this date of death at 1753 was carved into stone, he probably would have had it changed while he was still alive. (I'll be looking at his information and hints soon, but for now this is a question to consider.)
The marker reads:
James born 1688 Died 1766;
Joseph Born 1687 Died 1763;
Robert;
Nathan;
Zechariah;
David born 1679 Died 1753;
Hannah
If it had been erected by daughter Hannah (as the youngest child) it would have included her birth date. So my guess is a family member of one who had recently died erected it, but didn't get the information from the siblings as to their birth dates.
After I finish looking at the siblings of Grandpa Joseph, I can spend a bit of time looking at his children, right? (Don't hold your breath!)
I'm adding this to the Sepia Saturday meme for this week, though I kind of missed the topic in my posting. But I'll go over and see what others have been up to! My photo is of course just a hand written will from 1703...not exactly an old photo, but a photo of an old document!
That is an ambitious and expensive monument for someone not to have gathered all the pertinent information. Interesting nonetheless. I like reading old wills like this.
ReplyDeleteAnd when I tried to find more information about this David, b. 1679 d. 1753...ancestry told me he was born before mother's age of having children...namely when she was 14. Interesting that another mistake might have been made on that "expensive monument." If the children are listed in order of birth, it's more likely he was born in 97 than 79.
ReplyDeleteI find his handwriting fascinating.
ReplyDeleteIt must have been thrilling to read such a legal yet personal document in the handwriting of your ancestor. The cursive style is interesting especially with the capitalization of nouns. On the other hand the stone marker's typeface doesn't look old enough for 18th century. The letter spacing and font style seems too uniform for that period. Could it be a 19th century replacement? That might account for errors.
ReplyDeleteGood thought, Mike. I'll do some research on the monument. I've come to the conclusion that the David that is listed on the marker was buried in Woodbury CT, not here in Stratford, and he probably is not even the one of this family. That sure does sound like some descendants that only had limited resources as to their information.
ReplyDeleteCongrats, this is quite a discovery. One of the witnesses is Ebenezer Booth. Have you determined his relationship to your ancestor? That might make for an interesting story as well.
ReplyDeleteIt is really special to have something written in a forebear's own handwriting, and especially in their own words. I had and still have a copy made by my grandmother of her father's journal kept during a trip he made, and a secondary copy made of grandmother's copy by her daughter (my aunt). Then one day I came into possession of my great grandfather's actual journal and found that my grandmother had edited out anything she didn't like in what he'd written so hers and my aunt's copies were abridged leaving out some very interesting things great grandfather had written about which made his character all the more interesting to me. :)
ReplyDeleteSusan, I thought there was a possibility he was a left handed man because of his handwriting.
ReplyDeleteMike, I have a new post with the other 3 sides of the marker included...at least a list of who is on each side. Still no idea who actually put it up.
Molly, Ebenezer was the name of Joseph's brother. He was a few years older than Joseph, and still alive at the time Joseph wrote his will. Though there may have been others by that name, I would guess he was the one mentioned on this will.
Gail, that's great that you got the unabridged journal of your great grandfather. It irks me no end when people edit other people's lives!