Person talk:Jonathan Willis (2)

Two Jonathans [27 July 2015]

This person is probably a combination of two different men named Jonathan Willis. Bridgewater records list births for "Jonathan, ch. Jonathan and Abigail, Feb. 26, 1713-14" and "Jonathan, ch. Stoughton and Hannah, Aug. 19, 1742." Based on their birth dates, it must have been the elder Jonathan who married Judith Packard in 1752 and the younger Jonathan who married Susanna Allen in 1764. [3]

"[3]" appears to be a citation of Mitchell's History of Bridewater, which is apparently being refuted, since it does not support the conclusion given. I assume this is based entirely on age of the participants, as no evidence for refuting Mitchell is given otherwise. His reputation is not good, but he does know Bridgewater.

This is difficult as there is no death record for Judith, nor children born to Jonathan Willis, or will of Jonathan Willis in Plymouth County to show who his widow might be. So I collected the following, the division of Stoughton Willis' real estate providing a description of his land, and all the deeds found in Pymouth Deeds where somebody named Jonathan Willis sells land after that distribution:

Plymouth Probate

Vol. 19, p. 111

23 Apr 1764: Inventory of the real estate of Stoughton Willis late of Bridgewater includes

Homestead near 40 acres

Cedar swamp near four rods wide being westerly or southwesterly side of the 3'rd lot in the 6th share in the old Cedar Swamp

3/4 of the 22'd lot of Cedar swamp in the little Cedar Swamp

page 112 [facing]

8 Oct 1764: Represented that it can't admit of Division ... the eldest son of the s'd dec'd consenting to have s'd Estate setled upon hime & to pay the other Children ... assign all the s'd Real Estate of the s'd dec'd unto his s'd Eldest Son Jonathan Willis ... he paying the other heirs that is to say Stoughton, Hannah & Abigail ...

Plymouth Deeds

8 Mar 1770: Vol. 67, folio 185 "Jonathan Willis of Bridgwater ... Yeoman", for £12=13=4, to "John Robes of said Bridwater Yeoman", sells "Part of Lot lying in the little Cedar Swamp in two Pieces being twelve Rods wide in the little Cedar Swamp so called being the twenty second Lot in Number as on Record may appear". No wife mentioned or signing.

6 Oct 1774: Vol. 58, folio 162 back "Jonathan Willis of Bridgwater ... Yeoman", for £38=5=4, to "John snow of the said Bridgwater Yeoman", sells land in Eagles Nest Meadow, It being five acres three quarters & ten rods in said Bridgwater". Signed by wife Susanna.

16 May 1783: Vol. 69, folio 173 "Jonathan Willis of Bridgewater ... Gentleman", for £64=10=0, to "William Swift of Bridgwater Husbandman", sells "land situate in Bridgwater aforesaid containing twenty one acres, one Quarter and eighteen rods". Signed by wife Susanna.

3 May 1786: Vol. 55, p. 108 "Jonathan Willis of Bridgwater ... Gent:", for £54=13=6, to "Solomon Ames Trader of Bridgwater", sells land "on the South Side of the road that leadeth from the South meeting house to the above mentioned Solomon Ames Dwelling house containing thirteen Acres & one Quarter". Signed by wife Susanna.

18 May 1786: Vol. 66, p. 107 "Jonathan Willis of Bridgwater ... Gent.:", for £343=13=9, to "Caleb Bassett of said Bridgwater Husbandman", sells "Sixty Nine Acres & three Quarters and thirty rods of land lying and being in the South Precinct of Said Bridgwater, with my Dwelling house, barn and Corn house Standing thereon, it being my homestead where I now live". Signed with wife Susanna. [The deed immediately prior to this one, Caleb Bassett is given a mortgage by Jonathan Willis for £159=7=2 using the same property as collateral.]

31 Jan 1787: Vol. 70, folio 213 back "Jonathan Willis of Oakham in the county of Worcester Gentleman", for £9=15=0, to "Susanah Hooper of Bridgwater ... taylor", sells one quarter part of the second lot of ceder swamp in the sixth share in the old ceder swamp (so called) in the south precinct in Bridgewater. No wife signed.

Conclusion

I only focused on deeds selling land because those are where the seller sometime identifies how they obtained the land (not in any of these cases), and/or have their wife sign to release her dower. A fuller picture may be garnered by reviewing all deeds, but given the results this subset gives, it did not seem worth the tedium. I did not find a sale of Stoughton's 40 acre homestead. It could be Stoughton's son kept this and passed it on by will. Wills for Worcester County are only online for A-K of the alphabet, so his will would be unavailable. It could be the deed is misindexed (grantor deeds indexed as grantee deeds is one such case I've seen a couple of times), but the hundreds of volumes of deeds means they can realistically only be located based on the index contents.

• The deed dated 1770 appears to sell parcel 3 of Stoughton's estate.
• The deed dated 1787 appears to sell parcel 2 of Stoughton's estate [discrepancy of 2nd versus 3rd, but all other details in the description suggest it is the same piece of land]

Neither of these deeds have a wife signing. The last shows Stoughton's son apparently moved to Oakham.

All the other deeds involve the Jonathan who married Susanna. They involve considerable real estate not from Stoughton's estate, and strongly suggest an older man based on the volume of real estate sold, and the ability to carry a mortgage.

I believe Mitchell got the marriages correct. --Jrich 14:53, 27 July 2015 (UTC)

Worcester Deeds

Thinking deed in Worcester might give the wife's name of Jonathan of Oakham I perused a few of those.

2 May 1765: Vol. 57, p. 367 "Jon'a Willis of Brookfield ... Yeoman", for £80, to "John Packard of Brookfield, 34 acres in Brookfield. No wife signing.

7 Apr 1770: Vol. 61, p. 500, "Jon'a Willis of Brookfield ... Yeoman", for £23=13=4, to John Barnes of Bookfield, land in Brookfield containing 6 acres.

18 Apr 1770: Vol. 62, p. 502 Jonathan Willis of Brookfield Yeoman, for £53=6=8, to Tilly Rice and Joseph Gilbert both of Brookfield, tract in Brookfield "where I now live" about thirty four acres. Signed by wife Judith.

29 Jun 1786: Vol. 107, p. 547 Jonathan Willis of Bridgewater, for £100, mortgage to Jesse Allen of Oakham Gentleman, a farm in Oakham eighty acres and ninety-one rods.

30 Jun 1789: Vol. 108, p. 258 "Jonathan Willis and my Wife Susannah of Oakham ... Gentleman", for £30, to Azariah Willis of the same Town ... Yeoman, part of the land that I bought of Jonathan Cunningham containing ten acres and t[h]ree quarters. Signed by wife Susanna.

26 Aug 1793: Vol. 120, p. 568, "Jonathan Willis of Oakham ... Gentleman, for £6, to Benj'a Sprague of Oakham, land lying in Oakham part of a lot bought of Jonathan Cunningham containing three quarters of an acre of land. Signed by wife Susannah.

26 Aug 1793: Vol. 122 p. 367 Jonathan Willis of Oakham ... Gentleman, for £320, mortgage to Benjamin Sprague of Oakham, land in Oakham about 70 acres, mentions a lot conveyed to his son Azarish as one of the bounds. Signed by wife Susannah.

2 Oct 1795: Vol. 123, p. 560 JOnathan Willis of Oakham ... Gentleman, for $1667, to Nathan Willis of Bridgewater Gentleman, land in Oakham with buildings, containing sixty nine acres & three quarters. Signed by wife Susannah.

Reassessment [27 July 2015]

So it now appears that Judith was alive in 1770 in Brookfield, suggesting it was indeed the son of Stoughton that married Susanna in 1764, contrary to the indications above. The younger Jonathan apparently moved to Oakham about 1786. Further the activity extending into the 1790's of the Oakham man suggests it is the younger man too.

But the deed in 1789 names a son Azariah Willis. I find records of two different Azariah Willis, one in Oakham and and one in Brookfield, with marriages that overlap, so it appears that both Jonathan's had sons named Azariah. Re-reading Mitchell, I believe that it is the two sons named Azariah that caused his confusion, he assuming there was only one Azariah. He probably thought the older Jonathan went to Oakham because, based on Bridgewater records, the Azariah of Oakham got married in Bridgewater, and according to Bridgewater records, it was the older Jonathan that had a son Azariah. Presumably knowing that the Jonathan of Oakham has a wife named Susannah, he attributed that marriage to the older Jonathan as well. It is now clear he got this wrong. --Jrich 05:22, 28 July 2015 (UTC)