Person:Isaac Newton (19)

"Isaac, b. Aug. 24, 1696, probably; m. at Marlborough, Dec. 8, 1719, Grace Garfield. It is supposed (I saw the statement as though written by John Ward Dean) she was the daughter of Joseph and Sarah (Gale) Garfield of Watertown, born July 6, 1688. If so, she would have been several years the elder. I suppose he was the Isaac Newton of Stafford, Conn., whose pedigree is much searched for." ^S2

In the passage above and in other places in the Newton Genealogy, Ermina Leonard makes several educated guesses about this Isaac Newton. Additional information is added below regarding these conjectures.

Marlborough to Stafford: The author does not explain why she "supposes" Isaac of Marlborough was Isaac of Stafford. It is probably based on the fact that his sons Moses and Amos were found in Southborough (created from a part of Marlborough) where they both married daughters of John Bellows and lived for a time before returning to Connecticut. Confirming mention of them is easily found in Southborough VRs.

"Of Stafford": This appellation is probably based on "...his name occurs on the Stafford land records in 1740, 1749 and 1752". But the births of none of his children appear in Stafford, only those of his son Moses, and there seems to be no record of him from the time of his marriage in Marlborough in 1719 until his appearance in Stafford in 1740. In the meantime, the records of Mansfield, Connecticut show an Isaac Newton m. 1723 Sarah Fuller and having several children from 1723 to 1731, including sons named Moses and Amos (family page, births here (there are also baptisms p. 359-361), marriage here, Mansfield is about 12 miles from Stafford). Son Isaac is not listed in these records, but Isaac's marriage in 1758 to Sarah Levett only requires that he be born by 1737 to be of legal age, leaving an undocumented gap of 6 years where he could easily fit.

The Newton Genealogy does not appear to mention this Isaac Newton of Mansfield at all, or an Isaac Newton that married Sarah Fuller. It is speculative to think that it is the same Isaac Newton that married Grace Garfield, but such an arrangement would be consistent with the author's speculation that Isaac's first wife Grace died. Such an arrangement would suggest that Grace died before 1723 when Sarah was born to a mother Sarah and it would suggest that the child Josiah who is baptized in Mansfield is probably Grace's child. There are no obvious gaps between Isaac and Sarah's children where one could guess that the unrecorded birth of Josiah would fit, so explaining Josiah seems to imply an earlier marriage for Isaac. (Although... Since Sarah's baptism is not part of the group baptism in 1727, there remains the possibility that Josiah is simply a misreading of Sarah. This would remove the hard evidence of a previous marriage, making the idea that this is the same Isaac Newton who married Grace Garfield more tenuous.)

Death date 1771: "It is stated that Isaac Newton, Sr., of Stafford, died in 1771, also that his grandson Isaac (son of Moses) died May 19, 1771. I have not seen the record. Unless there were two deaths recorded, I fancy the full date is that of the grandfather, and there was no grandson (s. of Moses) Isaac." (p. 186) Despite this statement, the grandson Isaac is listed as individual #1612, identified as the son of Moses on p. 187 with his date of death exactly as reported in Stafford records. Meanwhile no record is found at Stafford for the grandfather Isaac, so the reported death date of 1771 at Stafford for the this Isaac is questionable.

1. ↑ Marlborough, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States. Vital Records of Marlborough, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849. (Worcester, Massachusetts: Franklin P. Rice, 1908)
   138.

   NEWTON, Isaac, s. Moses and Sarah, [Aug. 24], ___.

2. ↑ ^2.0 2.1 1489. ISAAC NEWTON(4) of Stafford, Conn., in Leonard, Ermina Elizabeth (Newton). Newton Genealogy: Genealogical, biographical, historical, being a record of the descendants of Richard Newton of Sudbury and Marlborough, Massachusetts 1638, with genealogies of families descended from the immigrants Rev. Roger Newton of Milford, Connecticut, Thomas Newton of Fairfield, Connecticut, Matthew Newton of Stonington, Connecticut, Newtons of Virginia, Newtons near Boston. (De Pere, Wisconsin: B. A. Leonard, 1915)
   p 185.
3. ↑ ^3.0 3.1 Isaac Newton [1], in 5 New England Newton families.

   "Birth: 24 AUG 1696 in Marlborough, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA
   Death: 30 DEC 1775 in of Mansfield, Tolland, Connecticut, USA
   Note:
   
   birth: Marlborough vital records (without year)
   marriage to Sarah: Mansfield vital records
   marriage to Grace: Marlborough vital records
   death: Corbin Collection (Paxton) 81y 4m"

4.   "Stafford Vital Records", in Connecticut, United States. The Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Vital Records
   Vol. 44, p. 113.

   Newton, Isaac, s. Moses & Persis, d. May 19, 1771 [2, 16]
   
   (This is the mentioned death record of the grandson Isaac, mistaken by some researchers for the grandfather.)