Eliasaph Preston (1643 - 1707)

Born 7 Apr 1643 in New Haven, New Haven Colony

Ancestors

Husband of Elizabeth (Beach) Preston — married about 1675 (to about 1692) in Wallingford, New Haven, Connecticut [uncertain]

Husband of Martha (Bradley) Sherman — married 1693 in Connecticut

Descendants

Died 1707 at about age 63 in Wallingford, New Haven, Connecticut

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Edward Ettel [send private message]

Biography

...was baptized with his twin brother Hackaliah, April 9, 1643: was a son of William Preston, one of the first settlers of New Haven (CT).^[1][2] Their mother was probably William Preston's 2nd wife, who at one time was believed to be a daughter of Robert Seabrook.

Eliasaph Preston removed to Wallingford soon after its settlement in 1674, and was the first Deacon of the Congregational church in that place.^[3]

Marriages^[1]

• About 1672: Mary _____________
• About 1675: Elizabeth Beach (b. 1652), daughter of John and Mary Beach.
• About 1694: Martha (Bradley) widow of Samuel Munson. Her third husband was Daniel Sherman..

Eliasaph Preston was a first planter of the new village of Wallingford., Connecticut, which was an offshoot of New Haven. He and 37 other men signed the covenant establishing the village at the end of 1669. He and twelve other men were chosen to lay the foundations for the church in Wallingford on 15 April 1675, and he became the first Deacon. He was a schoolmaster, the town clerk (1682-1687) and Deputy to the General Court at Harford from Wallingford 1679, 1691, in 1696.^[4]

Eliasaph died intestate by 3 Mar 1706/7 when Martha Preston and Eliasaph Preston were named administrators of his estate.^[5]

Children by 1st marriage :^[1]

1. Mary, b April 25, 1674, m Caleb Merriman, July 9, 1690.

By 2d marriage :^[1]

1. Elizabeth, b Jan. 29, 1776
2. Hannah, b July 12, 1678; d.s.p.
3. Eliasaph, b Jan. 26, 1679, m (1) 1705 Rebecca Wilcoxson, widow of Benjamin Royce; m. (2) 1717 Deborah Merwin.
4. Joseph, b March 10, 1681, m Jane Cook, July 7, 1708
5. Esther, b Feb 28, 1683;
6. Lydia, b May 5, 1686
7. Jehiel, b Aug. 25, 1688, d Nov. 24, 1689.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Jacobus: Vol 6, page 1479
2. ↑ Bradford
3. ↑ Davis
4. ↑ Davis, Charles Henry Stanley. History of Wallingford, Conn., from its Settlement in 1670 to the Present Time. (Meriden, Conn.: 1870) pp 78, 86, 98, 425, 886 (contains some incorrect information), 943
5. ↑ Connecticut State Library (Hartford, Connecticut); Notes: Probate Packets, Pratt, O-Prout, R, 1683-1880. Eliasaph Preston, Wallingford 1706/7 #8486 New Haven Probate. https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/9049/007628834_00409

• Abstract of Probate Records at Fairfield, Connecticut, Down to 1721 (n.p., ?) Page 17: see wife's father's will.
• Jacobus, Donald Lines. Families of Ancient New Haven (Clarence D. Smith, Rome, New York, 1922-1932) Volumes 1-9
• Bradford, Mildred. Moses S. Curtis Descendants and Ancestors (Gateway Press, Baltimore, Md, 2000) Page 147-8
• Ancestral File(R) The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Ancestral File Number: CCQL-S1
• Davis, Charles Henry Stanley. History of Wallingford, Connecticut (Charles Henry Stanley Davis, Wallingford, Connecticut, 1870) Page 32
• McClaughry, Charles. Genealogy of the Beach Family of Connecticut (n.p., 1900) Page 38
• Orcutt, Samuel, Rev. (1886) A History of the Old Town of Stratford and the City of Bridgeport, Connecticut, Part II Genealogies. Published by the Fairfield County Historical Society. vol. 2, page 1123
• Savage, James. A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England (Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1862);p.504,144