The last sibling of Bethia and Joseph Booth

Author's Introduction: I'm spending a lot of time looking at the Booth Family of early Connecticut colony. Sometimes I may interrupt this series to look at other ancestors, but I am very interested in getting some more information about my mother's family roots.

Johannah Booth Sherwood - BIRTH 21 MAR 1660 • Stratford, Fairfield, Connecticut, DEATH 6 DEC 1728 • Stratford, Fairfield, CT

I just discovered this aunt (great times eight) was on my family tree.  She's the youngest daughter of Richard and Elizabeth Hawley Booth.  She's also sister to a couple of my great grandparents (times eight or nine greats).  She does not appear on the Booth memorial marker in the Old Congregational Cemetery of Stratford CT.  But I'm beginning to think that it confuses more than helps my ancestry.

At first I thought she was an addition so someone could claim kinship to this family.  But apparently she didn't have children. So that means that even though she lived long enough to marry, she didn't procreate.

She was 36 when her husband died, but she lived to be 68 herself.  I would imagine she helped with other relative's children, and probably lived with her sibing's family.

Since she is not engraved on the great monument to the Booth family in Stratford CT, I still wonder if she hadn't been a cousin, rather than a sibling of Joseph and Bethia.  For now she's on my tree.

She isn't listed on the memorial listing of Richard and Eizabeth Booth's children. But there were a couple of records about her.

Monument with supposed siblings of Johanna Booth.

Some details of Richard and Elizabeth Booth's family

Author's Introduction: I'm spending a lot of time looking at the Booth Family of early Connecticut colony. Sometimes I may interrupt this series to look at other ancestors, but I am very interested in getting some more information about my mother's family roots.

The children of Richard and Elizabeth Hawley Booth....

Daughter 1). Elizabeth Booth Minor. Born:10 SEP 1641 • Derby, Fairfield, CT, Death 24 OCT 1732 • Woodbury, Litchfield, CT.  Married at age 17 to John Minor. They had 9 children. She died in Woodbury CT. 

How far is that from Stratford (or Derby) in Fairfield County, CT?  I don't know why these children of Richard and Elizabeth have Derby as their birth places...which is 20 miles upriver from Stratford.  And Woodbury is another 20 miles upriver from Derby.  There is a map of Stratford which shows some property owned by different Booth families.  Perhaps there are records of births and deaths in Derby and Woodbury.  It is just a detail that belongs to great aunts and uncles way back in early settling stages of the country.

Next birth was 2) Anna Booth, supposedly born Feb. 14, 1643 and died Feb 14, 1644. How sadly romantic. Valentines day.  No more comments.

3) Ephrahim Booth - Born: 1 MAY 1648 • Derby, Fairfield, CT, Death 9 MAR 1683 • Stratford, Fairfield, CT.  He married twice, and both wives were named Mary.  Actually, he may have only married once, and two sets of genealogical records give different Marys as his wife, because the children are all born after the first Mary's death. I'm not going to try to figure it out...there were about 4 children, and the marriages were either in 1674 or 75.

4). Ebenezer Boothe, Birth 18 NOV 1651 • Stratford, Fairfield, Connecticut, Death 1732 • Stratford, Fairfield, CT. Fortunately (for me) I now find that he and his brother John were not born and died the same year, as previous records had shown.  Hoorah for more hints at ancestry to get that straightened out.  I now will go back to my comment on Richard and Elizabeth Hawley Booth's posts about that and make a note.

Ebenezer has several names listed in Ancestry as his wife, and I think again there is confusion in records as to which generation perhaps is being referenced.  They had some children, and I haven't gone any further into this line of the family. I notice some of the records include his name spelled "Boothe." There were descendants in Stratford who also spelled their name that way.  Ebenezer did have a will which has children listed, but not whoever his wife might have been. There are about 8 children with each wife according to the 37 public Ancestry family trees...and they don't agree. 

5)  John Booth, Sgt. Birth - 5 NOVEMBER 1653 • Stratford, Fairfield County, CT,  DEATH 6 DECEMBER 1728 • Stratford, Fairfield, Co.   It's worth looking at the various documents which are listed under "hints" at Ancestry, if I have the time.  I didn't look at the half dozen about a John Booth in England, since I knew his parents lived in Stratford CT.  But I did find a Barbour Collection document listing of the date of John Booth's death (as used on all the Ancestry listings) but he was "s. of John and Elizabeth Booth," not son of Richard and Elizabeth.  It's possible the other listing which states he died in 1717 might have been accurate.  

John married Dorothy Hawley, in 1678.  They had around 9 children (some with same birthdates again). Then he married again at age 61 in 1714 to Hannah Jones.  They may have both died in 1717. Or he may have lived until 1728.

A descendant has added his information at Find A Grave...

The son of my ancestors, RICHARD & ELIZABETH (HAWLEY) BOOTH, he married Dorothy Hawley on June 14, 1678 in Stratford. He married second, widow Hannah Clark on January 31, 1714.

His father gave him the homestead in Stratford on March 15, 1688. He served in the Pequot Indian War.

I'm leaving his death date as it stood, 1728, on my Ancestry tree.  Need more information (maybe a document more primary than the Find A Grave listing, which was written within the last 20 years.


6) Joseph Booth Sr (Deacon) my eight times great grandfather.    I'll dedicate another blog post to him.  

Happy birthday Elizabeth Hawley Booth Abt.1618-1689

Author's Introduction: I'm spending a lot of time looking at the Booth Family of early Connecticut colony. Sometimes I may interrupt this series to look at other ancestors, but I am very interested in getting some more information about my mother's family roots.
 
Her birthday is also celebrated March 5, but I've got someone else's birthday already posted then.  So I don't think my 9 times great grandmother will mind a day or so either way.

She was mentioned in my blog for Richard Booth, who is listed on ancestry as having the same birth date and death date as his wife Elizabeth Hawley Booth.  I think it's more likely that someone in the Church of Later Day Saints (Mormons they have asked to be called) listed their ancestors with fabricated birth and death dates.  And since the LDS runs (?) the Ancestry site, I can't very well complain.  They do a fabulous job of providing all of us some good programs which serve to collect information about ancestors.

She supposedly was born in Parwich Derbeyshire England.  But we don't really know her dates, nor who her parents were.  She at some point immigrated to the American colonies. Whether it was before or after her marriage to Richard Booth, is not known.  Some descendants give her a marriage date of 1640 in Fairfield County, CT. 

 

 

Their 7 children included one who died before her first year.  And Ancestry is listing 2 of the children as having same birth and death dates...as I mentioned in Richard's post yesterday. (I'm going to spend some time looking at new information about the siblings.)**

Joseph was the son who became my great times 8 grandfather.  His family marker is quite large in the Congregational Cemetery in Stratford, CT.

As I look at her children's dates, (listed on ancestry) there are additional children added to Elizabeth Hawley Booth and Richard's family.  And it was already stretching things for Elizabeth (the mother) to have had her last child when age 51.  Now there's one who would have been born in her 53rd year.

Sorry folks, these are unrealistic.  It is far more likely that her own birth was not in 1607.  Let's agree that her marriage to Richard was in 1640.  She was unlikely to have been 33.  It's much more likely that she was in her early 20s.  So I'll say about 22 years old.  Just shifting that to a probable birthday in 1618 means she was only 42 at the time of her last daughter's birth.

It's a shift for me to arbitrarily make.  But the people who listed her birthday as exactly the same date and year as her husband's and exactly the same death date made their guesses based on what they knew at the time.  And the many times that these dates have been copied since someone guessed them doesn't make them any more a fact than the one I am suggesting.

Now I see how cumbersome it is to write about the children on the same post, and that I need to split this post up into more than one posting...so next I'll be sharing about some of the Booth children.

** I found out and will share tomorrow, that the 2 sons didn't have the same birth dates after all!

Happy birthday Richard Booth (1607-1687)

Author's Introduction: I'm spending a lot of time looking at the Booth Family of early Connecticut colony. Sometimes I may interrupt this series to look at other ancestors, but I am very interested in getting some more information about my mother's family roots.

This grandfather was my 9 times great grandfather on my Booth Family Tree (my mother's mother's mother's tree!)

Back this far into my ancestry, the Booth family is full of confusion.  I've been warned that someone paid to have a fabricated family tree showing some connection of the Booths to members of the aristocracy of England.  So I am not sure who was really a person and who was fabricated.

So I know someone came from England to America, and I think Richard Booth (born 1607) may be the one.  He may have been with family members, because the only records say he was 13 when arriving in Fairfield County, CT in 1620.  In 1633 he married Elizabeth Hawley, another immigrant to America.

They may have had 7 children.  It's not certain because both John and Ebenezer have the exact same dates of birth and death**.  And one daughter only lived a year.  Their son Joseph Booth Sr. became my 8 times great grandfather, born in Fairfield County, CT.

Grandpa Richard died Sept 1, 1703 in Stratford, Fairfield CT.

Old Congregational Burying Ground, Stratford, Fairfield, CT.

This monument is referencing Richard, father of ...

Joseph Booth Birth: Mar. 8, 1656 Stratford Fairfield County Connecticut, USA Death: Sep. 1, 1703 Stratford Fairfield County Connecticut, USA Monument: Erected/ over the graves of Joseph Booth son of Richard Booth who died Sept. 1, 1703 AE 46 and Hannah wife of Joseph Booth daughter of John & Elizabeth Wilcoxson who died July 10, 1701 AE 38. Their children were James born 1688 Died 1766; Joseph Born 1687 Died 1763; Robert; Nathan; Zechariah;David born 1679 Died 1753; Hannah  The son of my ancestors, RICHARD & ELIZABETH (HAWLEY) BOOTH, he married Hannah Wilcoxson. Family links: Parents: Richard Booth (1607 - 1688) Elizabeth Hawley Booth (1607 - 1689) Spouses: Hannah Wilcoxson Booth (1665 - 1701) Hannah Wilcoxson Booth (1664 - 1701)* Children: James Booth (____ - 1766)* Joseph Booth (1689 - 1763)* Zechariah Booth (1693 - 1762)* *Calculated relationship Inscription: Here Lyeth/ The Body of Joseph Booth/ Who Died in The/ __ Year of His/___ September __ 1703 Burial: Old Congregational Burying Ground Stratford Fairfield County Connecticut, USA Created by: Nareen, et al Record added: Apr 18, 2004 Find A Grave Memorial# 8652132

And a final historic record (whether true or not, it sure looks likely) is the settlers map of Stratford.

Stratford settlers map

The first settlement was made at a place now known as Sandy Hollow, an arm of the Sound or creek, which penetrates a short distance from the Housatonic River, the ancient name of which was Potatuck. 3. Thomas (and then his son John) SHERWOOD 4. Elizabeth BEARDSLEY (widow of ?______ ) 5 and 8. Jeremiah JUDSON 6. John MINOR 7. William BENNETT 9. Nathaniel PORTER 10. David MITCHELL, ancestor of the late Prof. MITCHELL of North Carolina. 11. John HURD 12. Thomas SEABROOK, then 12th to John BIRDSEYE, Jr., 13. Thomas FAIRCHILD, Jr. 14. John PEACOCK, and then to his daughters, Miss Phebe BURGESS and Mrs. Deboarh (James) CLARKE. 15. Henry WAKELYN, now written WAKELEE. 16. Thomas UFFOOT. This property is still in the family. 17. Robert COE. Afterwards exchanged with UFFOOT for a place across the street, which UFFOOT had bought, and where the COES have ever since lived. 18. Samuel SHERMAN; then John PICKET. Mr. SHERMAN seems to have afterwards moved to the western part of Stratford (Pequonnock), and the PICKETS were among the first settlers of DURHAM. 19. Philip GROVES, the first and only ruling elder in Stratford Church. 20. Rev. Adam BLAKEMAN, first minister of Stratford. His descendants are written BLAKEMAN AND BLACKMAN. His only daughter, Mary, married Joshua ATWATER of New Haven and Rev. Thomas HIGGINSON, of Salem, Mass. 21. John BARLOW; then John HURD, then UFFOOT, then COE. 22. Mr. BRYAN bought James HARWOOD (original owner) and sold to Rev. Adam BLAKEMAN, who gae it to his son, Joseph B. Through J. HARWOOD, the BLAKEMANS became acquainted with Joshua SCOTTOW, merchant of Boston, whose daughter, Rebecca, Benjamin BLAKEMAN married. 23. Edward HIGBEE. 24. John JENNER; then John WELLS; then Widow Elizabeth CURTIS, who, with her two sons William and John, originated that name in Stratford. 25. Arthur BOSTWICK. 26. Jeremiah JUDSON. His gravestone yet stands in STRATFORD. 27. Joshua JUDSON (brother of Jeremiah; then John HURD. 28. Thomas FAIRCHILD. 29. Richard BOOTH, whose land extended beyond the lots north and ran northerly to the rocks. 30. Isaac NICHOLS, Sr., west side; Silles (?Stiles or Silas?) NICHOLS, and then Caleb, east side. 31. Adam HURD. 32. Francis NICHOLS; then Caleb NICHOLS. 33. Thomas QUENBY; then Joshua ATWATER; then Henry TOMLINSON. 34. William CURTIS; afterwards west end, Thomas CURTIS, who subsequently went, among the first settlers to Wallingford. 35. Adam HURD's duplicate lot. 36. John BEACH, ancestor of the WALLINGFORD and STRATFORD name. 37. Joseph HAWLEY'S Original lot. 38. John THOMPSON. 38a. Francis JACOCKES. 39. William READ; then by exchange, Joseph HAWLEY. 40. William CROOKER. 41. Joseph JUDSON; in 1640 William JUDSON, the father. The original stone house stood about four rods from the northeast corner. 42. Rev. Zachariah WALKER's half of parsonage lot. 43. Rev. Israel CHAUNCEY's half parsonage lot. 44. Hugh GRIFFIN, then John WHEELER. 45. Richard HARVEY; then John BOSTWICK; then Congregational society for parsonages. 46. Francis HALL 47 and 47a. John BLAKEMAN 48. A strip of lowland, given to widow of Abraham KIMBERLY in 1680. 49. Daniel SHERMAN, son of Samuel, Sr., then Ebenezer SHERMAN. 50. Common or highway, now the west half of B. FAIRCHILD's lot. It was originally the outlet of a short highway (coeval with the town settlement) that passed from Main Street round the low, wet land, now W. A. BOOTH's lot and led into the old mill road through No. 60, as above said. Of this road the recent burial-ground lane is all that encroachments have left, from Main Street to the burial-place, through its width, resurveyed and confirmed in 1738, is above four rods. 51. Land of Isaac NICHOLS. 52. House-lot of Samuel SHERMAN, Jr. (now the Roswell JUDSON lot.) 53. The eastern section of the street, of which No. 50 was a portion. 54. John BEERS; then Samuel BEERS; then, after 1700, BURTON, PRINDLE, TOMLINSON, McEWEN. 55. Nathaniel FOOTE; then Benjamin LEWIS; then Congregational parish, for Mr. CUTLER; then Rev. Mr. GOLD. 56. Burial place. 57. Daniel TITTERTON, Jr. 58. Timothy WILLCOXSON 59. Jabez HARGER, who went to Derby at its settlement, 1670. 60. John HULL, ancestor of Commodore Isaac; went to Derby, 1670. 61. John PICKETT; went to Durham. 62. Robert LANE; above him was John COOKE, bounded north by Esek Lane or Street. 63. John YOUNG, who died April 1661, and his lot went to John ROSE; afterwards Robert WALKER. 64. Thomas Wells, above whom James BLAKEMAN owned eight acres. 65. John THOMPSON, who lived on No. 38. 66. John WELLS. 66 a. Daniel TITTERTON, Sr. 66 b. John WILLCOXSON, Sr. 67. John PEAT (sometimes spelled PEAKE). 68. Moses WHEELER; then, very soon, Richard HARVEY; then his sons-in-law. 69. Thomas CURTIS, from his father, John (now Chatfield and Gorham lots). 70. William WILLCOXSON, ancestor of all of that name in and of Stratford. 71. William BEARDSLEE, ancestor of all of that name in and of Stratford. 72. John BRINSMEADE. 73. Nicholas KNELL, whose wife was Gov. Francis NEWMAN's daughter. 74. Robert RISE; then WHEELER; then Richard BENCH; then Rev. Israel CHAUNCEY. 75. First church edifice and burial-ground. 76. Originally UFFOOT's, who in 1661 sold to Nicholas GRAY, if he maintain his dam wide enough for a passable cartway. 77. Granted in 1671 by town to N. GRAY, if he maintain his dam wide enough for a passable cartway. 78. Jehiel PRESTON, 1662. 79. Site of the second church edifice, from 1670 to 1743. WHITEFIELD preached in it, October 26, 1740. 80. Site of the third church edifice, from 1743 till burned by lightening in 1785. A. Site of the first church edifice and burying-ground. B. Site of the second church edifice, from 1670 to 1743. Whitefield preached in it October 26, 1740. C. Site of third church edifice, from 1743 till burned by lightening in 1785. D. Site of fourth church edifice, from 1786 to 1850. E. Burial-place, opened 1678. F. Site of first Episcopal church edifice in Connecticut, 1723, with its graveyard, which still occupies the spot. G. Site of second Episcopal church edifice, from 1744 to 1858. Site of present Episcopal church edifice, erected in 1858. H. Methodist Episcopal church. I. Richard Booth's house-lot. J. Joseph BOOTH's house-lot K. John BOOTH's house-lot.

** Further research diligently carried forth by this descendant found that they had different birth and death dates after all! See the post about Elizabeth Hawley Booth for more on the children of Richard and Elizabeth Hawley Booth.