Robert Lockwood (abt. 1664 - abt. 1715)

Born about 1664 in Fairfield, Connecticut

Ancestors

Husband of Mary (Clements) Lockwood — married about 1710 in Fairfield County, Connecticut Colony

Descendants

Died about Jun 1715 at about age 51 in Fairfield, Fairfield, Connecticut

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Biography

Robert Lockwood of Fairfield, son of Sergt. Joseph Lockwood, died in 1715. Since he had three children at that time who did not require guardians, we estimate the oldest of them to have been age 24-25 and thus his first marriage around 1688-89. Perhaps Robert, who was probably the eldest son of a father born in 1638, was born around 1664.

Robert's mother was a daughter or step-daughter of Robert Beacham, but her name isn't known. Robert Beacham of Fairfield executed his last will on 24 November 1688, bequeathing to "my grandchild Robert Lockwood all my lands and housing in... Fairfield, to enter upon & ses [seize] ye same after my wife's decease, and paying within one year after ye same fourscore pounds to my grandchild Susana Lockwood, and threescore pounds apiece to my other two grandchildren John Lockwood and Sarah Lockwood as they respectiely arrive at age according to law; except my second division at Compaw [Compo] which I have already given to Edward Jesup."^[1]

Robert Lockwood's widow was Mary (Clements), formerly widow of John Butler and John Latham. For details on her identification as widow of both men, see Mary's profile. His earlier wife or wives have not yet been identified.

Mary (Clements) was probably mother to all of John Butler's three children, but of Robert's she was only mother to the two youngest, Jehiel and Gershom. The evidence for this conclusion:

• Mary's daughter Wait Butler married Robert's son Robert.
• When guardians were assigned for her husband Robert's children, the court "[did] appoint Mary Lockwood, mother to... Gershom and Jehiell Lockwood, to be their guardian, and John Silliman to be guardian to... Abigail and Joseph, and John Lockwood to be guardian to... Dan'll Lockwood."
• When Robert's daughter Sarah's estate was distributed, only Jehiel and Gershom received land "by their mother."
• When Robert's son Jehiel's estate was distributed, the heirs of Gershom Lockwood received all of Jehiel's real property, in addition to a one sixth share in his moveable property. The other heirs, Jehiel's half-siblings, received only a one sixth share each in the moveable property.

The following should be complete list of the documents in Roberts probate file, along with portions of the probate records of his wife Mary, his daughters Sarah and Abigail, and his father Joseph. Robert's real estate was inventoried in 1715. Portions were divided among his children in 1716. His eldest two sons received additional real estate from their grandfather in 1716. Sarah's and Abigail's portions were reallocated among their siblings in 1716 and 1723. The dower portion was divided in 1736. If it becomes useful to trace real estate in this family for purposes of identifying members of future generations, there is mountain of evidence here of what tracts we would expect the seven surviving children of Robert Lockwood to possess.

• 14 June 1715: Inventory of the estate of Robert Lockwood, late of Fairfield, taken by Nathan Squiers, Senr., and Edward Jessup.^[2]
• 17 June 1715: Joseph Lockwood, father of Robert, executes his last will, no doubt revising it upon the recent death of his son Robert.^[3]
• 3 August 1715: Inventory of the estate of Robert Lockwood is recorded. This is probably also the date administration was granted to Segt. Joseph Lockwood and widow Mary Lockwood, surety Jedediah Canfield, though the record of it is undated.^[2][4]
• 9 November 1715: John Lockwood [likely Robert's brother] is made guardian of Daniel Lockwood. John Silliman is made guardian of Abigail and Joseph Lockwood. Mary Lockwood is made guardian of Gershom and Jehiel Lockwood.^[5]
• 9 November 1715: Accounting of the estate is returned, and division is ordered of Edward Jessup, John Andrews and Thomas Nash to the 9 children. It seems the children were listed in age-order. We would thus conclude that Robert, Sarah and Mary were born before 1694, and that Abigail, Susannah and Daniel were born after 1694. Joseph, Jehiel and Gershom's ages are given more precisely.^[6]
  • Robert
  • Sarah
  • Mary
  • Abigail [ward of John Silliman]
  • Susannah [no guardianship record but petition for one per below]
  • Daniel [ward of John Lockwood]
  • Joseph 7 years old around May 1716 [b. abt. May 1709, ward of John Silliman]
  • Jehiel, 4 years old on 16 September 1715 [b. 16 September 1711, ward of his mother]
  • Gershom, 2 years old on 8 October 1715 [b. 8 October 1713, ward of his mother]
• 22 November 1715: An unsigned petition pleaded that Joseph will be age seven in half a year, that a horse is wrongly accounted, that "ther is no gardin [guardian] for Susanah at my houis at Stratford Mil," that Jehiel's name was left out of the original distribution order, and for the court to allow more time. This was probably written by Joseph Lockwood, who had married a Milford widow and seems to have ventured over toward Stratford and Milford for some time.^[7]
• 31 January 1715/16: Distribution is made of Robert Lockwood's estate.^[8]
• 18 December 1716: The estate of Sarah, daughter of Robert Lockwood is distributed to her siblings. In the distribution, two tracts are noteworthy. Jehiel and Gershom Lockwood each received a tract labeled "by his mother." No other siblings received part of such a tract, and no other sibling was referred to in these terms with respect to a relationship with widow Mary. Sarah's brother Robert was administrator.^[9]
• 10 June 1717: The last will of Segt. Joseph Lockwood is proved. He bequeathed real estate to his grandsons Robert and Daniel, sons of his son Robert deceased, and to Robert's other children, £10 each.^[3]
• 19 December 1723: The estate of Abigail, daughter of Robert Lockwood, is distributed to her siblings.^[10][11]

Mary Lockwood, Robert's widow, must have died around August 1735.

• 20 August 1735: The heirs of Robert Lockwood executed an agreement, at least in principle, on a division of Mary's dower property. They agreed to a division of eight tenths of her dower. This would be consistent if their sisters' shares in the dower were already counted and distributed, but this would not have been the norm.^[12]
  • Robert Lockwood of Forkenurs Purchase, Westchester, New York to have two tenths;
  • Daniel Lockwood of Fairfield, one tenth;
  • Joseph (x) Lockwood of Fairfield, one tenth;
  • Jehiel (x) Lockwood of Fairfield, one tenth;
  • Gershom Lockwood of Fairfield, one tenth;
  • John and Mary Dunkins of Fairfield, one tenth;
  • Nath'll and Susnnah (x) Dickinson of Stratford, one tenth.
• 11 Dec 1735: Dower ordered to be divided by Capt. John Osburn, Capt. Gershom Bulkley.^[13][14]
• 2 April 1736: Division of the dower is made.^[13][15]
• 10 December 1736: Inventory of the estate of Mary Lockwood, late of Fairfield, taken by John Andrews and Joseph Wakeman. Sworn 18 February 1736/7 by Gershom Lockwood, administrator. She had no real property, her dower having been addressed as part of her late husband's estate prior to the inventory of her own.^[16]

On 7 September 1762, the estate of Jehiel Lockwood, late of Fairfield, was distributed to his siblings or their heirs, he apparently having deceased without progeny. One sixth part each of the moveable property was distributed to:^[17]

• ch. of Robt. Lockwood [II] dec'd
  • Daniel Lockwood
  • Abigail
• Joseph Lockwood
• Wait [(Butler)] Lockwood [apparently in her own right as half-sister of Jehiel]
• ch. of Susannah Dickinson dec'd
  • Zadoc Dickinson
  • Bennajah Dickinson
  • Nathan Dickinson
  • Nathaniel Dickinson
  • Robert Dickinson
  • Abigail, wife of John Kinny
  • Sarah, wife of Samuel Casteen
  • Naomi
• ch. of Mary Dunkin dec'd
  • William Dunkin
  • John Dunkin
  • Mary, wife of Eben Monro
  • Daniel Dunkin
• ch. of Gershom Lockwood dec'd
  • Gershom Lockwood [II]
  • Stephen Lockwood
  • Frost Lockwood
  • Mable

Only the children of Gershom Lockwood, dec'd, were included in the distribution of Jehiel's real property, surely because only Gershom was Jehiel's sibling of the full blood. The others were his half-siblings.

Daniel Lockwood, son of Robert, the elder, must have died without heirs. Portions of his former land were in Jehiel's estate and he was not among the beneficiaries.

Wait (Butler) Lockwood, widow of Robert, received her own 6th share in Jehiel Lockwood's estate, as his half-sister. This shows that they shared a mother, which also proves that their mother was not the mother of Robert Lockwood, the younger, Wait Butler's husband.

We wouldn't expect to see Ellinor Butler on this list, as she died in 1732. Her daughter Prudence was apparently born out wedlock, so not an heir at law.

We would expect to see the two children of John Butler, the younger, on this list, if they survived, because John is believed also to have been Jehiel's half-brother. Did they die young? Or was John Butler, the younger, not a son of Mary (Clements)?

Sources

1. ↑ Estate of Robert Beacham. Last will, ex. 24 November 1688, pr. 10 March 1690/1. Connecticut. Probate Court (Fairfield District). "Probate records, 1648-1916. Probate records v. 1-5 1648-1750." FamilySearch, film # 7,627,300, pages 4:36-7 / images 347-8.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Estate or Robert Lockwood. Inventory, 14 June 1715 by Nathan Squiers Sen., Edward Jessup, rec. 3 August 1715, image 998-9, image 1006, images 1008-9.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Estate of Joseph Lockwood [father of the proband]. Last will, ex. 17 June 1715, 10 June 1717. Fairfield Probates, page 6:29-29b / images 33-34.
4. ↑ Estate of Robert Lockwood. Administration to Sergt. Joseph Lockwood and Mary, widow, sur. Jedediah Canfield, undated, image 1011.
5. ↑ Estate of Robert Lockwood. Guardianship of Daniel, Abigail, Joseph, Gershom and Jehiel, 9 November 1715, image 1010.
6. ↑ Estate of Robert Lockwood. Accounting and order to distribute, 9 November 1715, image 999, image 1007. The latter page also gives that Jehiel Lockwood was 4 years old on 16 September 1715, and Gershom Lockwood was 2 years old on 8 October 1715.
7. ↑ Estate of Robert Lockwood. Petition, unsigned, 22 November 1715, image 1000.
8. ↑ Estate of Robert Lockwood. Distribution, 31 January 1715 [1715/16], by Edward Jessupe, Thomas Nash, John Andrews, images 1002-5.
9. ↑ Estate of Sarah Lockwood. Order for distribution, 12 December 1716, image 1111. Distribution, 18 December 1716, image 1108. Robert Lockwood, brother of Sarah, must have been born by 1695 to be an estate administrator in 1716.
10. ↑ Estate of Abigail Lockwood. Administration to John Silliman, 29 November 1723. Fairfield Probates, page 6:153 / image 128.
11. ↑ Estate of Abigail Lockwood. Distribution 19 December 1723 [the record erroneously reads 1713, as multiple entries on 6:153, previously cited, confirm], images 205-7.
12. ↑ Estate of Robert Lockwood. Distribution agreement, 20 August 1735, images 1012-14.
13. ↑ ^{13.0 13.1} Estate of Robert Lockwood. Order to divide dower, 11 December 1735, and division of dower, 2 April 1736. Fairfield Probates, page 7:175-7 / images 344-5.
14. ↑ Estate of Robert Lockwood. Order to divide dower, 11 December 1735, image 997.
15. ↑ Estate of Robert Lockwood. Division of dower by John Osburn, Jos. Wakeman, Gershom Bulkeley, ord. 11 December 1735, ex. 2 April 1736, images 993-6.
16. ↑ Estate of Mary Lockwood. Inventory, 10 December 1736, rec. 18 February 1736/7. Fairfield Probates page 8:389 / image 680.
17. ↑ Estate of Jehiel Lockwood. Distribution, 7 September 1762. Fairfield Probates, pages 313-16 / images 172-4.

• Estate of Robert Lockwood. Fairfield Probate District. Connecticut State Library (Hartford, Connecticut). "Probate files collection, early to 1880. Probate packets - Lewis, N.-Lyon, Abigail, 1648-1880." FamilySearch, film # 7,628,175, images 992-1014.
• [Fairfield Probates] Connecticut. Probate Court (Fairfield District). "Probate records, 1648-1916."
  • "Probate records v. 6-8 1717-1750." FamilySearch, film # 7627301.
  • "Probate records v. 13-14 1753-1764." FamilySearch, film # 7,627,296.