William Havens (abt. 1609 - bef. 1683)

Born about 1609 in Aberystwith, Cardiganshire, Wales [uncertain]

Ancestors

Husband of Mary Sarah Brown — married 1625 (to before 1638) in Dorset, England [uncertain]

Husband of Dionise Ruth (Allen) Havens — married 24 Jan 1639 in Portsmouth, Rhode Island

Descendants

Died before 25 Sep 1683 before about age 74 in Portsmouth, Newport, Rhode Island, New England

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William Havens migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Immigrant Ancestor

Immigration: Date: 1638

Biography

William Havens (aka "Heauens" in a 1639 document) is a complex character whose life, while amply documented as having existed, has few primary documents proving genealogical details. Most genealogies state that he was the son of John Havens (1575-1622) and that he was born in Aberystwyth, Cardiganshire, Wales, between 1609 and 1618. The surname Heauens/Havens is derived from the Welsh language name: "Ieuan," meaning "John"; alternate spellings include "Evans" or "Heavens". ^[1]

Some family trees state his father was John Havens, born in England, and some associate him with Richard Haven (no "s"), born in 1621 in Shropshire (Welsh borderlands), and who emigrated to Lynn, Massachusetts in the 1650s. No documents prove these assertions.

At some time during his youth, William Havens became disillusioned with the doctrines and practices of the Church of England (Anglican), becoming a "seeker-dissenter" or perhaps even a Calvinist or Presbyterian. He may have been acquainted with the ideas of George Fox, founder of the Society of Friends (Quakers) but he left Great Britain before Fox officially founded that Society in 1850, and he was never listed in Quaker Meeting records in America, so it would be wrong to call him a Quaker. Some of his children, however, lived as Quakers in New Jersey, later in the 17th Century.^[2]

It is possible, if he was born in 1609, that he married first in England to a wife (some say a "Mary Sarah Brown") who died young,^[3] leaving him with at least one son (John Havens, b. ca. 1629) who emigrated with him from Great Britain to New England in 1637.^[4]

What is known is that William Havens settled in the religiously-tolerant society of Rhode Island, founded in 1636 by Roger Williams and followers who disapproved of the strict Puritanism of Massachusetts. There he married Dionise (aka Denise) Allen (b. June 23, 1623 in Wales, South Yorkshire, England), also a recent immigrant, on January 24, 1639.

William Havens is mentioned in the establishment of the government of Portsmouth (Indian name = Pocasset) on the island of Aquidneck in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island. On April 30, 1639, he and 28 others signed the following compact: "We whose names are underwritten do acknowledge ourselves the legal subjects of his Majesty, King Charles, and in his name do hereby bind ourselves into a civil bodie politicke unto his laws according to the matter of justice. "^[5]

In 1644 he received a grant of four acres of land near Portsmouth, which, in 1662, he leased to his oldest son John Havens for a term of seven years at £5 a year. On May 23, 1650, the following order was enacted at the General Court, Newport, for the colony of Providence Plantations:^[2]

“Captain Richard Morris, George Bliss, James Badcock, Peter Busserole, William Havens and Gabriel Hick, all excuses sett apart, shall mende and make all lockes, stocks and pieces that by order from the Warden of each town shall be from any of the inhabitants thearof presented to them, for just and suitable satisfaction in hand payed.”

This indicates that William was a blacksmith as well as a farmer. His name does not appear in other town records, indicating he took little part in town government; nor did he join a Quaker meeting when followers of that religion officially arrived in Rhode Island in the 1670s. He signed his name with just Initials, indicating he had little formal education, not uncommon for farmers of his time and place.

William and Dionis Havens had 13 children between 1640-1669 as follows:^[6]

1. John Havens b: 1640, in Portsmouth, Newport County, Rhode Island^[7]
2. Mary Havens b: 1644 in Portsmouth, Newport County, Rhode Island
3. Sarah Havens b: ABT 1646 in Portsmouth, Newport County, Rhode Island
4. Thomas Havens b: 1650 in Portsmouth, Newport County, Rhode Island
5. Robert Havens b: 1652 in Portsmouth, Newport County, Rhode Island
6. George Havens b: MAR 1653 in Jamestown, Newport County, Rhode Island
7. Ruth Havens b: 1658 in Portsmouth, Newport County, Rhode Island
8. Dinah Havens b: 1659 in Portsmouth, Newport County, Rhode Island
9. Elizabeth Havens b: 1661 in Portsmouth, Newport County, Rhode Island
10. William Havens b: 1663 in Portsmouth, Newport County, Rhode Island
11. Martha Havens b: 1665 in Portsmouth, Newport County, Rhode Island
12. Rebecca Havens b: 1667 in Portsmouth, Newport County, Rhode Island
13. Margaret Havens b: 1669 in Portsmouth, Newport, Rhode Island

As per the "Rhode Island Genealogical Register" vol. 3, pp. 24, "Portsmouth Wills;" - Havens, William, of Portsmouth. William Haven's Will was signed on March 13, 1680, and proven on September 25, 1683, pp. 213. The Will mentions: Wife "Dennis" Havens. Sons: John Havens, Thomas Havens, Robert Havens, George Havens and William Havens. Daughters: Sarah Tiler (Tyler, Wife of John), Mary Cook, Ruth Card, Dinah Havens, Elizabeth Havens, Martha Havens, Rebecca Havens and Margaret Havens.^[8] William Havens died shortly before September 25, 1683, in Portsmouth, Rhode Island.

Will of William Havens: March 30, 1680^[9]

The Last will and Testament of William Havens Sr now Living in the Town of Portsmouth on Road Island in the Colony of Road Island and Providence Plantations is as followeth. To all people whom these presents may Concern. Know yee that I William Havens through the mercy of God, Being perfect in mind and memory but not well in Body, for the preventing future Trouble amongst my Children make this my Last Will and Testament as followeth

Imprimiss, I doe will and bequeath unto my Loving Wife Dennis Havens my now Dwelling house and Land and fencing, Orchard and out houses with all appurtenances and privileges thereunto belonging I also give unto my Wife all my movables within dores [doors] and without My will is to give unto my son John Havens one shilling in silver, and unto my daughter Sarah Tiler [Tyler] one shilling in silver, and unto my son Thomas Havens one shilling in silver, and unto my son Robert Havens one shilling in silver, and unto my daughter Mary Cooke one shilling in silver, and unto my Daughter Ruth Carde one shilling in silver and unto my Daughter Dinah Havens one shilling in silver and unto my Daughter Elizabeth Havens one shilling in silver and unto my son William Havens one shilling in silver, and unto my Daughter Rebekah Havens one shilling in silver, and unto my Daughter Margaret Havens one shilling in silver, to be payd within twelve months after my decease if Demanded by either of them and unto the younger when they come to full age according to law.

Also my will is that my Wife take care and see this my Last will and Testament performed and she, I doe ordain, Constitute and make my whole and sole Executrix to see this my Will in all things performed and fulfilled according to the true intent and meaning of he same, In Witness Whereof I have hereunto Set my Hand and Seal this Thirtieth day of the first month Called march in the year of our Lord God one Thousand six hundred and Eighty.

Walter R (Dick) Motz's Research says: ^[10]
NOTE: Apparent confusion with possible Father's Birth Data (John Havens) ID: P2796: Death: Sep 1693 in Jamestown, Newport, Rhode Island [sic 1683], Birth: 1575 in Earles Colne, Essex, England, Name: William Havens, Sex: M
NOTE: Apparent confusion with Father's dates (John Havens)
Marriage: Dionis Allen b: 1575 in Yorkshire, England [sic=1623]
Children: Mary Havens b: 1602 in Netherbury, Dorset, England [sic=1644; may be a confusion with possible 1st wife: "Mary Sarah Brown," d. 1629 in Dorset]
Event: 1637 - Arrival in New England. [Other sources = 1638]

Sources

1. ↑ Common Welsh Surnames web.archive link
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Havens Family History - Religion web.archive link
3. ↑ One source indicates that she died in Dorchester, England, in 1629 - see Source in Note 2 above.
4. ↑ See Ancestry.com: "Passenger & Immigration List Index, 1500s-1900s," Source Code: 1262, Name: William Havens, Year: 1637, Arrival Place: Rhode Island. Cited on: Havens Family History - Havens Might Mean Harbor web.archive link
5. ↑ Card-Kenfield-Ludlow-Haris Connection
6. ↑ Applegate/Springer Tree
7. ↑ Other genealogies say b. 1629 in England by 1st wife.
8. ↑ Will cited on same Source as preceding Footnote.
9. ↑ Havens Family in America, archived website, Wayback Machine, captured 8 January 2009.
10. ↑ Research conducted by Walter R (Dick) Motz 2011

See also:

• Robert Charles Anderson, FASG [Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists], "The Great Migration Directory: Immigrants to New England, 1620–1640; a Concise Compendium" [Boston: New England Historical and Genealogical Society, 2015], pg.155.
• Dick Moltz Research on RootsWeb: William Havens 2011
• Ancestry.com. "Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s." Farmington Hills, MI, USA: Gale Research, 2006. Original data: Filby, P. William, ed.. Arrival date: 1637 - Arrival place: New England. http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=sse&db=pili354&h=1607058&ti=0&indiv=try&gss=pt
• William Havens on Geni.com
• The Havens Family
• Applegate/Springer Tree on RootsWeb
• "Havens Family Bible Records,” New York Genealogical & Biographical Record, Vol. V-XCII, No. 3, 1961.
• New Jersey Archives Abstracts of Wills, Vol. 1, p.220; Vol. 2, p.226.
• History of New London, Connecticut, Caulkins, p.537.
• Caulkins, Francis Manwaring. History of New London, Connecticut. From the First Survey of the Coast in 1612, to 1852. 1852. . P.537.
• “Gravestone Inscriptions: Havens and Osborn Cemetery at West Point Pleasant, Ocean County, New Jersey,” Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey, Vol. 1, p.22.
• Havens Family in New Jersey, Henry C. Havens, 1933.

• Passenger List: "U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s", database, Place: Rhode Island; Year: 1638; Page Number: 139, Ancestry Record 7486 #3692525 (accessed 26 January 2024), Name: William Havens; Arrival Year: 1638; Arrival Place: Rhode Island; Primary Immigrant: Havens, William; Source Publication Code: 1262; Annotation: Date and place of settlement or date and place of arrival. Names not restricted to the Order of Founders and Patriots of America.; Source Bibliography: COLKET, MEREDITH B., JR. Founders of Early American Families: Emigrants from Europe, 1607-1657. Cleveland: General Court of the Order of Founders and Patriots of America, 1975. 366p.; Household Members (Name): William Havens.
• Marriage: "U.S., New England Marriages Prior to 1700", database with images, Genealogical Publishing Co.; Baltimore, MD, USA; Volume Title: New England Marriages Prior to 1700, Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 3824 #52879 (accessed 26 January 2024), William Havens marriage to Dionis Havens in about 1630 in New England, USA.

• Chronological table of town meetings: "The early records of the town of Portsmouth", database with images, Chronological table of town meetings, January 25, 1648 Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Image (accessed 26 January 2024)

Acknowledgements and Merges

1. A profile for this person was created through the import of Lynch-Tree.ged on August 6, 2010.
2. A profile for this person was created through the import of Corey Dawkins Family Tree.ged on September 19, 2010.
3. A profile for this person was created through the import of MASTER2011WIKITREE.GED on January 27, 2011.
4. A profile for this person was created through the import of Terry Fisher Family Tree.ged on May 9, 2011.
5. A profile for this person was created through the import of Place Family 2011.ged on May 15, 2011.
6. Thank you to Chet Snow for creating WikiTree profile Havens-476 on February 14, 2015, from personal knowledge and on-line research and for researching, writing and editing this biography, adding sources, on April 26, 2015. Chet Snow merged Havens-476 into Havens-6 on May 6, 2015, consolidating the biography and sources.