Josiah Phelps (1667 - aft. 1715)

Born 15 Dec 1667 in Windsor, Hartford County, Connecticut Colony

Ancestors

Husband of Sarah (Winchell) Phelps — married 26 Apr 1690 in Windsor, Hartford County, Connecticut Colony

Descendants

Died after Feb 1715 after age 47 in Poquonock, Hartford County, Connecticut Colony

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Larry Gardner [send private message]

Biography

Josiah Phelps was born 15 or 16^[1] December 1667 in Windsor, Hartford County, Connecticut Colony to parents Samuel Phelps Sarah Griswold. He married Sarah Winchell 26 April 1690 in Windsor.^[2]

They had eight children, all born in Poquonock, Hartford County:^[3]

• Samuel, born 21 January 1691. (Page 226.) Note record gives date as 1690. Since parents not married until 26 April 1690, it is likely that the year was intended to be 1690/91. The Phelps Family of America..., page 101, gives a birth year of 1698. Since he married in 1712, that year is obviously incorrect.
• Sarah, born 18 August 1693. (page 230.)
• Lois, born 14 July 1696. (page 227)
• Damaris, born 7 July 1699. (page 222.)
• Mary, born 18 August 1702. (page 227.)
• Jerusha, born 8 November 1705. (page 225)
• Josiah, born 24 August 1708. (page 226.)
• Ruth, born 21 October 1715. (page 229.)

Josiah died sometime after January 1715, which was nine months prior to his last child's birth.^[4]

Research Notes

• Former birth location was shown as Simsbury. Birth records recite Windsor (see profile of Samuel Phelps for more information.
• The Phelps Family of America... is a notably unreliable genealogy. Apart from the date error in Samuel's birth date above, there are three more serious errors in list of children. 1. Lois, supposedly born 10 March 2011/2 was NOT born on that date, and was not the child of Josiah and Sarah. She was, instead, the daughter of Nathaniel Phelps and wife Lois, of Northampton, Hampshire County, Massachusetts Bay Colony. Her birth in fact was 10 March 1718, and her correct profile is Lois (Phelps) Viets born in East Granby Connecticut, and a later resident of Simsbury, where she is buried. 2. It lists 2 daughters named Ruth. The one born 13 January 1714 was not the daughter of Josiah and Sarah, but rather the daughter of William Phelps, and was born 13 January 1713/14.^[5] The other Ruth, born 21 October 1715 was in fact the daughter of Josiah and Sarah.^[6]

Sources

1. ↑ There are two entries: Dec. 15 in Matthew Grant's Diary, and Dec 16 in the town records. Strange, since Matthew Grant was the town clerk who entered the birth in the town records. See next footnote for source.
2. ↑ Connecticut Vital Records to 1870 (Barbour Collection), (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2011.) From original typescripts, Lucius Barnes Barbour Collection, 1928. Volume: Windsor, page 226.
3. ↑ Barbour Collection, Volume Windsor, page number following each name.
4. ↑ Find A Grave Memorial No. 148239116 recites that Josiah died 4 March 1773 without giving any source for such assertion.
5. ↑ Barbour Collection, page 229.
6. ↑ Ibid. The third error is: "Says Simsbury Record, 'Josiah Phelps had son Isaac died 25 Feb. 1715' – must have died young." There is no such record in Simsbury records. Instead, Isaac was son of Josiah of Colchester, not Josiah of Windsor/Poquonock: “Isaac, s. Josiah d. Feb.25, 1715/16.” Barbour Collection, Colchester, page 130. (https://www.americanancestors.org/DB414/i/13125/130/0)