"I now have definitive proof that Elizabeth Knights was second wife of William Wentworth (not wife of his son Ezekiel)"
Paul Reed, FASG, has been working on the Wentworth line for years. Our family has been most fortunate to hire him to look into more detail, especially concerning Ezekiel Wentworth; his mother, Elizabeth Knights; and her father, Ezekiel Knights. The following notes are from his reports on the research he has done.
Paul Reed Report dated 3/20/2019
Ezekiel Knights was born say 1607, Chediston [between 1606 and 1610], Suffolk, England, but the parish registers of that parish do not survive that early (it is his father’s will that proves his parentage and his father’s place of residence), died testate in 1687, Wells, York County, Maine, will dated 18 April 1687, will presented at court on 16 September 1687, probate granted 24 December 1687. Ezekiel Knights must have married (first) say 1628, Suffolk, England, ___ [name not known yet], who died say 1632, Suffolk, England. New England documents prove that Ezekiel married (second) Elizabeth ___, who would be Elizabeth Westgate, marriage license dated 3 August 1633], who died at Braintree, Norfolk County, Massachusetts in 1642, buried 28 2nd month [April] 1642, Braintree, Norfolk County, Massachusetts. After her death, Ezekiel moved his family from Massachusetts and settled near Dover, New Hampshire, eventually moving on to Wells, York County, Maine. Ezekiel married (third) Anne ___, living 1655, Wells, York County, Maine, and after her death, married (fourth), circa 1668 (John Lovering was drowned 27 July 1668, but when her son John “Loverell” was apprenticed in 1670, it was with the consent of his father-in-law [i.e., step-father] Ezekiell Knight[s] and “his own mother Ester Knights, formerly Loverell”), Esther ___, widow of John Lovering. Near the end of his life, Ezekiel married (fifth), after 1675 (when Esther was still alive), as her second husband, about 1680, Mary Eaton (daughter of Governor Theophilus Eaton), which Mary Eaton died 24 April 1708, who had married (first) by 1646, Valentine Hill, b. say 1603m d. between 10 December 1660 and 28 June 1661 (Mary was mother of six children by Valentine Hill).
Ezekiell Knight[s] arrived in Salem in 1637 with a household of five people (apparently accompanied by Thomas Flatman, who had a household of three). We would normally assume that was Ezekiel, his wife and three children, but he might also have brought a sister or two, so their identities are not certain. “Ezekiell Knights is admitted for inhabitant” of Salem at the town meeting in August 1637, and still resided there on 15 May 1639, when he requested “accommodation” (the granting of land as an inhabitant). Ezekiel then moved to Braintree, which was officially incorporated on 13 May 1640 (but specific vital records do not survive until 1643). Thomas Flatman also settled at Braintree and continued to reside there after Ezekiel left. Ezekiel’s son and first wife Elizabeth died at Braintree in 1642. He moved to Wells (York County, in what eventually became the state of Maine) the following year, after which he was a prominent citizen. It is understandable that his surname should frequently be recorded as the more common surname Knight, as that was most familiar to local clerks and the public—the surname Knights (with the ultimate “s”) was localized to the counties of Suffolk and Norfolk in England. Ezekiel signed his will “Knights,” and there are enough examples in other records of his surname being recorded as Knights or Knightts that there is no doubt about his preference, which was also his son ane namesake Ezekiel Knights’ preference.
The given name Ezekiel is extraordinarily rare in the Knights family in England in the period Ezekiel would have been born (almost unique). The only instances of the given name in the Knights family in England have now been proven to all belong to the same family.
The parish of Syleham, Suffolkm where an Ezekiel Knights married in 1633
Ezekiel’s father, Ezekiel Knights [II], owned land in Stradbroke when he made his will in 1630. His home was in the parish of Chediston, several miles southeast, but he also owned land only two parishes away from Syleham. The wording of the will of Ezekiel Knights implies that he had already been provided for—therefore perhaps already married, though no grandchildren were mentioned in his father’s will (grandchildren would not necessarily need to be mentioned).
The only remaining candidate who could be your ancestor is Ezekiel Knights (sic) of Syleham, Suffolk, England, at the time of his marriage. He obtained a license dated 3 August 1633 to marry Elizabeth Westgat[e] at Wingfield (both were single).
Though there had been an Ezekiel Knight in London (pointed out in the Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire and other places) I can prove he could not be your ancestor (he is accounted for as son of William Knights of Great Yarmouth, who in turn was son of your ancestor William Knights of Halesworth, Suffolk, England, who died testate in 1572, below).
The following footnote is copied from the Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire (abbreviations expanded for ease of reading the text).
It is likely that there were children born who died young, both in England and in New England, but I only list children we know the names of from documents which do survive.
Child of Ezekiel Knights (of England and Wells, Maine, died 1687), apparently by his first wife who died in England:
Elizabeth Knights, b. say 1630, Suffolk, England, married William Wentworth.
