Desire Virtual Person (Havens) Gardiner (1668 - 1733)

Born 1668 in Shelter Island, Suffolk County, New York

Ancestors

Wife of Lion Gardiner Sr. — married 1688 (to 23 Sep 1723) in East Hampton, Suffolk County, New York

Died 20 Sep 1733 at about age 65 in East Hampton, Suffolk County, New York

Problems/Questions Profile manager: David L. Gardiner [send private message]

Biography

The Desire Havens of this profile is not a real person, but rather is a fictional or virtual person created by an error created and perpetuated in the secondary, published genealogical records. The identity error is with the adult, married identity of Desire Havens; the record is very clear that Desire Havens was indeed the daughter of George Havens, what is incorrect and creating a virtual identity is the assertion that as an adult she married Lion Gardiner--it may be demonstrated from reliable records that Desire Havens, daughter of George never married Lion Gardiner. However, there are published, but erroneous, secondary records which insist (incorrectly) that she did, thus creating a character of genealogical fiction. It is important that this "virtual person" profile remain connected as child of George Havens Sr. as a flag to declare this identity error has been solved, so as to avoid having this identity error continuously resurface from an abundance of erroneous, published, secondary source information.

In October of 2020, Randolph Beebe published an essay in the Wikitree Freespace pages entitled Desire Havens, Wife of Lion Gardiner or Henry Gardiner? ^[1] This essay is an in depth study of the historical and genealogical record of the life of Desire Havens, and was inspired by an existing data conflict in the Wikitree profile pages which offered two incompatible adult identities for Desire Havens. This profile is one of the two conflicting profiles and identifies Desire, daughter of George Havens Sr. and Eleanor Thurston to have been born about 1668 and to have been married to Lion Gardiner Sr. of of East Hampton, New York, from 1688 to 1723. The second Wikitree profile for Desire (Havens) Gardiner, also declares her to be the daughter of George Havens and Eleanor Thurston, but offers a 1690 birth date, and identifies her husband as Henry Gardiner Jr. of Kingtown, Rhode Island to whom she was married from 1710 to 1733. It may be noted that these marriages overlap and were lived out in two different states, therefore it is impossible for the marriages to have been a first marriage then a second marriage; thus these two identities are fully incompatible and logic demands that only one of the two options may be correct..

Since it is impossible for both marriage scenarios to be correct, and both marriage assertions are supported with what appears to be reliable data, the essay then examines all internet accessible evidence in an attempt to answer the question regarding which of the two asserted husbands is most likely to be the correct choice. The short answer to this question is that the evidence supports, with near certainty, the assertion that Desire Havens, daughter of George Havens and Eleanor Thurston was married to Henry Gardiner Jr. of Kingstown, Rhode Island; furthermore, the evidence affirms there is only a vanishingly small probability that she married Lion Gardiner Sr. Please refer to the essay for further details and for access to a large body of supporting source evidence and analysis supporting this conclusion.

Published Genealogical Information

• Secondary Source, Clarence Almon Torrey, U.S., New England Marriages Prior to 1700 ^[2] Data extract:

1. ) NE Marriages; Page 597; Lion Gardiner (1665-1723) and Desire Havens (1668-1723) by 1688; East Hampton, Long Island. {References: Easthampton, LI 279; Gardiner (1927) 106, 119.}

• Secondary Source, Curtiss C. Gardiner; Lion Gardiner and His Descendants; ^[3] Data:

1. ) Lion Gardiner Genealogy; page 106: Lion Gardiner (7), son of David Gardiner, of Gardiner's Island, was a farmer in East Hampton. He was accidently shot 22 Sept 1723 by Samuel Bennett while hunting deer, near Three Mile Harbor. His widow d. 20 Sept. 1733 ae about 65. Her name is not mentioned. (Ref; Vide, East Hampton Church Records).
   1. ) In the Southold Town Records Lion's name appears with his brother John 27 Dec 1676 as winesses to the deed of confirmation of the patentees of Southold. In the same records Lion's name appears with his brothers John and David, 2 July 1690, in a deed of settlement as heirs to the estate Of their father "Mr. David Gardiner, deceased," Lion did not leave a will.
   2. ) Children:
      1. ) Lion (14), b. 1688; d. 1781 ae 93.
      2. ) Giles, d. unm
      3. ) Mary, d. 14 May 1714 ae 20 of measles.
      4. ) A Child, d. Feb 1700/1 about two days old.
   3. ) At a court of Oyer and Terminer held by Chief Justice Morris at Brookhaven, 30 July 1724, Samuel Bennet was indicted for the murder of Lion Gardiner, but at the trial was found "not guilty." Vide Thompson, Vol I, p 256.

• Secondary Source, Josephine C Frost, Ancestors of James Wickham and his wife Cora Prudence Billard, ^[4] Data Extract:

1. ) Ancestors of James Wickham and his wife Cora Prudence Billard; Page 146, 147: George Haven, son of William and Dionis Havens was born in 1655; married Eleanor Thurston, in 1674. George Havens Sr. was deceased well before 21 June 1707, as that date is noted to be when his son Son George Havens Jr. distributes the assets of the estate. George Havens Sr. is noted as a freeman in Rhode Island in 1680, taxed in Kingstown, RI in 1687, removes to Jamestown, in 1695 but sold his property there in 1696 and is noted to be "of Shelter Island" {NY} in 1701. Eleanor marries for a second time to Thomas Terry, and is, for a second time, made a widow on 24 March 1723/4.
   1. ) Austin in the Rhode Island Vital Records (Austin’s Rhode Island Families, p. 93.) only cites two children for George Havens and Eleanor (Thurston) Havens, George and Jonathan. However there is a last will and testament available for William Havens (New York Wills, Vol. 4, page 97}, another child of George and Eleanor, who as he died childless, names all of his siblings as heirs in his will. This will leaves 250 acres of Shelter Island land to his mother now Eleanor (Thurston) Havens Terry for her lifetime and then to be divided among his brothers George, Jonathan, and John Havens. He also names his sisters: Ruth Terry, Content Paine, Patience Loper, Desire Gardiner, and Abigail Havens.
   2. ) Patience was the executrix of George Havens, will, but her son George Havens was in charge of making distributions from the estate. On 21 June 1707 George Havens Jr. conveyed 50 acres of land from their father to brother John Havens of Shelter Island, and on the same day he paid his sister Patience Loper her share of the estate. (Town Records of Southold, New York. VII. pp 420-1) Children of George Havens and Patience Thurston:
      1. ) George Havens Jr.
      2. ) Jonathan Havens
      3. ) William Havens
      4. ) John Havens
      5. ) Ruth (Havens) Terry
      6. ) Content (Havens) Paine
      7. ) Patience (Havens) Loper
      8. ) Desire (Havens) Gardiner
      9. ) Abigail (Havens) Havens.

Research Notes

1. ) 2020-10-11 Conflated Desire Havens identities: Desire Havens, wife of Henry Gardiner
2. ) The following definitions and syntax conventions apply to the preceding text of this profile:
   1. ) A Primary Source contains data that was recorded by the person in the profile; or by someone known to or with first hand knowledge of that person, during the person's lifetime, death or within two generations thereafter.
   2. ) A Secondary Source is a genealogical reference created as the result of a extensive study of available source material and it provides some evidence of the source documentation used to generate the text data.
   3. ) A Tertiary Source is a genealogical data source which is a collection of genealogical information that does not cite Primary or Secondary information sources, and the data may be factual or hearsay.
   4. ) Braces {Editorial Note Example} are used to insert editorial comments; that is to say, information or clarification that is not contained in the original, cited source material.

Sources

1. ↑ Beebe, Randolph, Desire Havens, Wife of Lion Gardiner or Henry Gardiner?; Oct 2020.
2. ↑ Torry, Clarence A. New England Marriages Prior to 1700. Baltimore, MD, USA; Genealogical Publishing Co., Copyright,1985. Seventh printing 2004. Available at:

   1. ) Ancestry.com -- seachable on-line database; data access fee required. Ancestry.com Operations Inc, Provo, UT, USA, 2012.
   2. ) New England Marriages prior to 1700; at American Ancestors. IMPORTANT NOTE American Ancestors cites the version of Torrey which includes Torrey's Source References, the version at Ancestry does not!
      1. ) Torrey uses a coded abbreviation for his source citations; a cross reference manual which expands Torrey's abbreviations into a title string having sufficient information to perform a source verification search may be found HERE.
   3. ) Print edition. This manuscript is still in print and may be available at Amazon.com or Abebooks.com or other rare booksellers. Note the edition without the references is a single volume, with references is a multivolume set.

3. ↑ Gardiner, Curtiss C.; Lion Gardiner and His Descendants; St. Louis, A. Whipple, Publisher, 1890. Public Domain.Lion Gardiner Genealogy; page 106:
4. ↑ Frost, Josephine, C.; Ancestors of James Wickham and his wife Cora Prudence Billard, Brooklyn, NY., 1935. Also available at Ancestry.com scanned Image

Other Sources

1. ). John Lion Gardiner, Gardiners of Gardiner's Island; (The Star Press, East Hampton, NY, 1927, Publisher, John T. Gardiner; Reprinted by Higginson Book Company, Salem, MA, May 1998). In the possession of David L. Gardiner). page 120. Source names George Havens as father of Desire.
2. ). George Schuyler Gardiner & Catherine Larison Marshall, A Chronicle of Everyday People; (Edited by Harry D. Sleight, Sag Harbor, NY, 1929; Reprinted by Higginson Book Company, Salem MA, 1997). In the possession of David L. Gardiner. Havens; page 42;
3. ). https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/136864655
4. ). Our Havens in America, by Stephen Nebeker;
5. ) Hedges, Henry Parsons, A History of the Town of East-Hampton, N.Y., Sag Harbor; J. H. Hunt Printer, 1897. page 279-280 Lyon 3 {Gardiner}, s. of David 2 had w{ife} (name not given) who d. 20 Sept 1733 ae about 65. He was accidently shot Sept 23, 1723, near Three Mile Harbor, by Samuel Bennett, while huntting deer. They had ch. Lyon 4 b. 1688, d. 1781 ae 93; Giles 4 d. s. p.; Mary4 d. May 14, 1714, ae 20 of measles; a child 4 d. 1700-1 abt 2 days old.

• Records of the town of East Hampton, Long Island, Suffolk Co., N.Y.; page 570: The widow of Lion Gardiner, abt 2 of clock in morning aged (I suppose) abt 65 years. (East Hampton, NY)