Person:Thomas Townsend (1)

Subj:Re: Townsend family Date:98-06-28 18:18:14 EDT From:PM4853 To:Delijim

Dear Jim, I will enclose a GEDCOM that I have downloaded from my Macintosh REUNION file. I output a file, of all the Townsends that I have in my master file. This is the first time that I have tried to send a file along with e-mail so I would appreciate a short note back that you received it (if you have).

My genealogy digging is based almost exclusively on published books or articles. For example, I have used:

(1) Underhill Genealogy - Vol I - IV, 1932; (Available through Higginson) Vol V & VI, 1980 The Underhill Society of America (Gateway Press). The Underhill Society also have a web site: http://www.underhillsociety.kvi.net/

(2) General History of the Burr Family, 4th Ed 1902, Charles Burr Todd Available through Higginson

(3) A Memorial of John, Henry and Richard Townsend and Their Descendants, 1865, The Townsend Society

(4) Oyster Bay - A Sketch by Frances Irvin, Published by the Oyster Bay Historical Society

(5) Genealogies of Long Island Families, From the New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, Edited by Henry Hoff, 1987.

to establish my connections to various families that lived in Oyster bay Long Island. I have not used data that was available on the net or through CD disks. My connection is basically through the Burr Family (Ref 2), my great great grandfather was Townsend Burr who lived most of his life in Cold Spring Harbor, which is next to Oyster Bay. From the Burrs, I can trace connections to the Underhills and Townsends. Oyster bay was founded in 1653 primarly by people who came over from Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, but also by Dutch who moved out on to Long Island from the Brooklyn area.

One of the very early family names in the Oyster bay area is the Townsend family. John Townsend with his younger brothers, Henry and Richard, came to Massachusetts in Governor Winthrop's vessel from the county of Norfolk in 1630. He had already settled in three different places before reaching Oyster Bay, having been converted to the Society of Friends in 1645; he is mentioned in a patent grant by Director Kiefft in that year, and in 1648 signed the famous Remonstrance in Flushing. In 1660, he left Flushing and settled finally in Oyster Bay, where Quakers were tolerated (Ref 4).

I have use reference 3 as my prime source for Townsend data. Note that it is over 130 years old and is currently being updated. The Townsend Memorial does not give the name of the father of John, Henry and Richard so in my database his name is: ________ Townsend. Most of the names are followed by (TG-P #) which implies Townsend Genealogy, page number, where the person is indicated. UG - # implies Underhill Genealogy - Number and BG - # implies Burr Genealogy - Number. My GEDCOM download contains the children on any Townsend that is listed. Note that I have not included all of the Townsends that are in the Memorial and I can not say that my data is correct. New diggings into the Townsend Family may have caused modifications that I know nothing about. For example, I am questioning whether John Townsend's wife was Elizabeth Montgomery (as indicated in ref 3) or Elizabeth Coles (as implied in ref 5). I hope this helps Phil Mason pm4853@@aol.com

1. ↑ Ancestry.com. One World Tree (sm). (Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., n.d.).

   Online publication - Ancestry.com. OneWorldTree [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: MyFamily.com, Inc.