Person:Margaret Unknown (1682)

Marriages

In a 16 Mar 1640/1 [History of Ancient Wethersfield 1:276 gives the year as 1649] bond by her son Benjamin Hilliard, for behavior, Benjamin mentions ".. my father-in-law [step-father], Thos. Wright" and land ".. that was given me by my father-in-law [step-father], John Elsen, in his last will & Testament."^[1] This proves that Margaret married first a Hilliard (identified as Hugh Hilliard of Salem in History of Ancient Wethersfield 1:276, where her son is identified as the son of Hugh^[3]], then John Elsen, and then Thomas Wright.

The dates of her marriages have been very confused, due to incorrect information being printed in several books. This incorrect information includes the death of John Elsen in the 1637 Wethersfield massacre, and the apparently incorrect dating of Benjamin Hilliard's bond (Mar 1640/1^[1] instead of 1649^[3]). It appears from Manwaring that John Elsen died shortly before 9 Mar 1647/48, when the inventories of John Elsen and Abraham Elsen were "brought into Courte" - presumably to be assigned to be taken, since both were taken May 1648.^[1]

Will & Probate

Her will dated 19 January 1670/1 says:

I Margaret Wright, Widow, being in perfect Memorie although weak in Body, my will is that Estate which I have & shall leave at my death, & all my Lawfull debts being satisfied, & what remains my will is that my Grand Child William Hilier, son of Jobe Hilier deceased, that he shall have a double portion ; & my will is that Sarah Hilier, the daughter of Jobe Hilier, should have sumething more than a single portion, & the other three children of my sonn Jobe Hilier Should have a Single portion a peice; & My will is Margaret Wanton, the Daughter of the wife of my sonn Benjamin Hilier, that she should have forty shillings given her. My will is that the wife of my Son Thomas Wright should have my Cowe, & If it be not Sufficient for her Labour of Love, I leave to the discression of my Overseers to give more. My will is that my Christian brethren Samuel Hale & John Deming Should be my Overseers.

Margaret X Right.
Witness: John Deming, Samuel Hale.
Codicil: My earnest desire is that my loveing Friend Mr George Gardiner would be pleased to Joyne with John Deming senr & Samll Hale senr as an overseer of this my Last will and Testament. Margaret X Wright.
Witness: Samuel Talcott, Thomas Wright.

Court Record, Page 110 dated 5 April 1671: Administration to John Deming and Samuel Hale sen.^[2]

[The following found in the Probate Record Book, page 199]. Contents of debts payd out of the Estate of Margaret Wright according to the Will:

Here she names grandchildren (of son Jobe, deceased) William (eldest), Sarah (Sarah Holanworth), & three others; Margaret Wanton (dau of the wife of my son, Benjamin Hilier). Also names Wife of son Thomas Wright.

The inventory of the estate totaling £82-19-06 was taken 4 April 1671 by James Treat and Samuel Wright.^[2]

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} John Elsen, in Manwaring, Charles W. A Digest of the Early Connecticut Probate Records. (Hartford, Conn.: R. S. Peck & Co., 1904-06)
   1:8-10.

   'Elsen, John, Wethersfield. Invt. ... Prysed the sixteenth of May, ...'
   The year is not given, but this record was taken from page 480, and page 479 indicates that the inventory of Abraham Elsen was taken 8 May, 1648 (Manwaring 1:7), so presumably the year was 1648.
   
   'Wethersfield Records, Vol. I, Page I. (1640) 16 March, 1641. [History of Ancient Wethersfield 1:276 gives the year of this bond as 1649]
   Hillyard's Bond: This present writing witnesseth, that I, Benjamin Hillyard, of Wethersfield; ... being fined by the Cou(rt) ten pounds, ... my father-in-law, Tho Wright, begin bound for me for my good behavior in ten pounds, ... my father, Tho. Wright, ... that was given me by my father-in-law, John Elsen, in his last will & Testament, ...'
   
   'At a Court held 9 March 1647.
   The Inventories of John Elsen & Abraha Elsen are brought into Courte.'

2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4} Margaret Wright, in Manwaring, Charles W. A Digest of the Early Connecticut Probate Records. (Hartford, Conn.: R. S. Peck & Co., 1904-06)
   1:261-263.

   'Wright, Margaret, Widow, Wethersfield. Invt. ... Taken 4 April, 1671, ...'

3. ↑ ^3.0 3.1 Adams, Sherman W. (Sherman Wolcott), and Henry R. (Henry Reed) Stiles. The History of Ancient Wethersfield, Connecticut: Comprising the Present Towns of Wethersfield, Rocky Hill, and Newington; and of Glastonbury Prior to its Incorporation in 1693, from Date of Earliest Settlement Until the Present Time with Extensive Genealogies and Genealogical Notes on Their Early Families. (New York: The Grafton Press, 1904)
   1:276.

   'HILLIARD, Benjamin (s. of Hugh, of Salem, Mass.), ... principal in a bail-bond in 1649, his step-father, Thos. Wright, being surety. Wright was his mother's third husband, her second one having been John Elsen, who d. 1648.'

4.   Savage, James. A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England: Showing Three Generations of Those Who Came Before May, 1692, on the Basis of Farmer's Register. (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co, 1860-1862)
   4:660.

   "Margaret, wid. of John Elson (wh. had been wid. of Hilliard, perhaps Hugh, and had s. Benjamin, Job, and John H.)"

5. ↑ Birth year estimated based on second husband's christening date.