Person talk:Benjamin Severance (2)

Benjamin Severns of Newtown, New York [16 December 2013]

Benjamin Severns seemingly went to Newtown New York. Benjamin Severns went to Newtown NY between 1674 and 1678. He got in trouble for fornication with Martha Lamson as indicated by the Essex County Court Records in 1674. He would have been 20 years old. And the next time I find him is in Newtown, NY in the Newtown Court records for 1678. He was a defendant in an action by John Write being the plaintiff. I don’t know what the action was. I have never seen him in other records in Massachusetts.

I can associate him in New York with the Pettit family who moved from Hampton, NH to Newtown. Thomas Pettit I and John Severance, Benjamin’s father, served in several courts together according to the Essex County Court records, so perhaps his father sent him away after he got into trouble with the Lamson girl. In 1686 he bought land from Thomas Pettit II in Newtown, so there is at this point a two generation association, later there are other associations between the families.

Benjamin Severns married a woman named Elizabeth Lynch, a daughter of a man named Gabriel Lynch who had lived in Hartford, CT. They were married before March 26, 1686 when she was named with Benjamin on another land transaction with Thomas Pettit II. Her brother, Gabriel Lynch, was the blacksmith in Newtown, NY. The Lynch’s mother Margaret apparently married a man named Jonathan Strickland, after Gabriel Lynch I died, as there are records in Newtown of Benjamin and Elizabeth receiving their portion of Gabriel Lynch’s estate from Jonathan Strickland. Elizabeth had a sister, Margaret, who married a man named John Furman/Firman, who moved to Hunterdon County, NJ.

By 1689, Benjamin was working as the Constable of Newtown and as a deputy sheriff of Queens County, NY. He also later became the Pound keeper for Newtown. Elizabeth must have died because in his will, which was probated 22 May, 1717, he leaves estate to his wife Mary and to his son John. Whether he had other children is unknown.

In several of his Newtown NY activities he is associated with a man named Theophillus Phillips. And he is also mentioned in the will of Edward Hunt that he is supposed to help divide the land he is leaving to his sons who live in Hunterdon County, NJ. Or it is possible that this could be another Benjamin Severns, a son of Benjamin Severns of Newtown.

Then we find a John Severns in Hunterdon County, NJ associated with a Theophillus Phillips and Edward Hunt. So we conclude that Benjamin’s son John moved to New Jersey, where he is associated with lots of folks from the Newtown, New York area.--Jaykaymc 14:46, 16 December 2013 (UTC)