Philippa (Smith) b. [say 1622]; d. by 1687; m. b. 1640, Dea. John Birdsey, who d. at Stratford, Conn., 4 Apr. 1690. John and Philippa Birdsey were admitted to the Milford church, 23 Aug. 1640, and were dismissed to the Stratford church, 19 Mar. 1649. He m. (2) in 1688, Alice, widow of Henry Tomlinson.
Philippa is placed as a daughter for the following reasons. The will of Rev. Henry Smith, 8 May 1648, speaks of two married daughters, but Mary is the only daughter married so early unless Philippa or some other is accorded a place in the family. In 1662 the will of John Blackman, husband of Dorothy2 Smith, appointed for overseers of his estate "my father, my brother Birdsey, my uncle Wheeler, and brother James Blackman." Three of the overseers were his own relatives, and it may reasonably be supposed that Birdsey was related to his wife. It is certain that Blackman did not marry a sister of Birdsey, since his wife was Dorothy Smith; and he had no sister who married Birdsey; the only other likely explanation is that they married sisters, which makes Philippa a Smith. Philippa named her only daughter Johanna, and she had a sister Joanna Smith.
