Samuel Townsend (1717 - 1790)

Born 1717 in Jericho, Queens, New York

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 24 Nov 1790 at about age 73 in Oyster Bay, Nassau, New York, United States

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Samuel Townsend performed Patriotic Service in New York in the American Revolution.

Samuel Townsend is a DAR Patriot Ancestor, A115721.

Biography

Samuel Townsend (1717-1790) was the son of Jacob Townsend and Phebe Seaman. Samuel was a prosperous merchant who dealt in a variety of goods. He owned four ships that sailed Europe, South America, and the West Indies, bringing back items including lumber, molasses, pottery, wine, fabric, dye, and rum. He is most noted perhaps for purchasing the property now known a Raynham Hall in 1738.

Samuel was a merchant and a member of the Provincial Congress. He favored the Loyalists during the American Revolution. Following the colonists' defeat in 1776 at the Battle of Long Island, the British army occupied Oyster Bay until the end of the Revolutionary War in 1783. For a six-month period from 1778 to 1779 the Townsend home served as British headquarters for the Queen's Rangers led by Lt. Col. John Graves Simcoe.

After the Revolution he was a member of the New York State Senate. 10 April 1783 he served a committee representing Queen's County.^[1]

Samuel Townsend died 24 Nov 1790 and is buried at the Townsend Cemetery on Fort Hill in Oyster Bay

Sources

Named in Father's 1739 WILL New York, New York Probates. Vol 17, page 443

Jacob Townsend of Oysterbay, Queens, Nassau Island, yeoman

Wife: Phebe

Eldest son: Samuel Townsend

Son: Jacob Townsend (not yet 21)

Son: Benjamin Townsend (not yet 21)

Youngest son: James Townsend (not yet 21)

Daughter: Almy Townsend (not yet 18)

Father: James Townsend, deceased (received land from his estate)

Executors: wife and sons Samuel and Jacob

Witn: Nathaniel Townsend; Jacob Seaman; Zebulon Seaman; Samuel Willis

Will written: 13 June 1739

Will proven: 9 September 1751 at Oyster Bay

.......

Genealogical and Family History of Southern New York and the Hudson River Valley, Vol. III page 1116

• Samuel Townsend, born in 1717 at Jericho, Long Island, died Nov 24, 1790, and was buried in the graveyard at the south side of old Fort Hill. ..... He was engaged very actively in the English and West India trade ... Samuel Townsend md Sarah, daughter of William Stoddard of Oyster Bay, formerly of Rhode Island, and she died April 10, 1800. Children:
  • Solomon Townsend
  • Samuel Townsend
  • Robert Townsend
  • William Townsend
  • David Townsend
  • Audrey Townsend
  • Sarah Townsend
  • Phoebe Townsend

1. ↑ Daughters of the American Revolution, DAR Genealogical Research Databases, database online, (http://www.dar.org/), "Record of Samuel Townsend", Ancestor # A115721.

• Find a Grave
• Reynolds, Cuyler, editor, Genealogical and Family History of Southern New York and the Hudson River Valley, Vol. 3, New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company (1914), 1116, Google Books (Digital Library).
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Townsend_(Norwich)
• http://www.antonymaitland.com/hptext/hp0308.txt
• New York: Long Island Cemetery Inscriptions, 1652-1910, Vol. 12, p. 79, New England Historic Genealogical Society (Online Database).
• Kilmeade, Brian and Don Yaeger, George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved the American Revolution, New York: Sentinel, a member of Penguin Group (2013), 70-71.
• Seaman, Mary Thomas, The Seaman Family in America as Descended from Captain John Seaman of Hempstead, Long Island, New York: Tobias A. Wright, Inc. (1928), 39, Heritage Quest (Digital Library).
• Thompson, Benjamin F., The History of Long Island; from Its Discovery and Settlement, to the Present Time, Vol. 2, New York: Gould, Banks and Co. (1843), 347, Google Books (Digital Library).
• http://famouskin.com/family_group.php?name=25408+robert+townsend&ahnum=2
• p308, family history compiled by Herbert Armstrong Poole between 1905 & 1960, transcribed by AAA Maitland 1998.
• Townsend, W. A. A Memorial of John, Henry, and Richard Townsend, and Their Descendants (New York, 1865) Page 97