Daniel Beckwith (abt. 1715 - 1762)

Born about 1715 in Lyme, New London County, Connecticut Colony

Ancestors

Husband of Miriam (Smith) Beckwith — married 1 May 1740 in Lyme, New London County, Connecticut Colony

Descendants

Died 1762 at about age 47 in Lyme, New London County, Connecticut Colony

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Biography

Born 1715 Lyme, Connecticut.

Died 1762 Lyme, Connecticut.

Daniel Beckwith of Lyme married Miriam Smith of Lyme on 1 May 1740 in the East (or Second) Congregational Church of Lyme, Connecticut.^[1] In The Beckwiths, Paul Beckwith gave the date of this marriage as November 13, 1740, with no indication of where he got that date.^[2] Daniel Beckwith and his wife Miriam ("his w. miriam" in the record) owned the Covenant on 19 July 1741 to become members of the East Congregational Church of Lyme.^[1]

Apparently there were two Daniel Beckwiths in Lyme at this time, but the birth of only one (the man born in 1704) was recorded in the usual places. The Daniel Beckwith that Miriam Smith married was probably not the one born in Lyme, Connecticut in 1704. That Daniel Beckwith was married to Ruth Rice or Royce in 1728, and the Lyme vital records show that Ruth died in 1757. That Daniel Beckwith and his wife Ruth are recorded as baptizing a child at Lyme on 15 January 1739/40,^[3] less than four months before the marriage of Daniel Beckwith and Miriam Smith. Daniel and Ruth Beckwith apparently belonged to one of the Lyme churches whose records were available for the compilation of the published vital records for Lyme. In contrast, most life events for Daniel and Miriam (Smith) Beckwith apparently recorded in a church whose records were unknown for many years, but some relevant records are found in a collection in the Connecticut Historical Society that has been identified as the records of the Rev. George Griswold (1692-1761), the first minister of the East (or Second) Congregational Church of Lyme (a church whos records were thought to have been lost).^[4]

This Daniel Beckwith is often identified as a son of [Captain] Joseph Beckwith (1677-1741; buried in Old Stone Church cemetery in East Lyme,Connecticut) and Elizabeth Pember (born 1692). This second Daniel Beckwith is said to have been born in 1710, 1715, 1718, or 1720 (closer to the birth of Miriam Smith) and died in Lyme in 1762.^[5]

A. M. Smith identified the children of Daniel Beckwith and Miriam Smith as follows (birth order not certain):^[6]

1. Eleazer Beckwith, b 1741, m. Hannah Lewis
2. Ruel Beckwith, b. Aug. 18,1742; d. Dec.11,1790., m. Dec. 9, 1773, Sarah Wood
3. Mary Beckwith, b.Oct. 9,1743; d. June 1823; m. Samuel Miller of Lyme, Conn.
4. Elizabeth Beckwith, b. ___, d.1814; m.Richard Lampshire of Lyme, Conn.
5. Titus Beckwith, b.Dec. 30,1746; d.1802, Chelsea,N.Y.; farmer.
6. Amos Beckwith, birthdate uncertain (reported in "The Beckwiths" as April 17, 1730, which A.M. Smith notes "must be wrong"), m. Susanna Trueman.
7. Amon Beckwith, b. 1752, m. Sarah Brown.
8. Ira Beckwith, b. 1760; m. Hannah Wheelock.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Diebold, R. Bruce. "Abstracts of the Records of the East (or Second) Congregational Church of Lyme, Connecticut 1724-1761," Connecticut Nutmegger, Vol. 52, No. 1 (July 2019), page 55. Photocopy of article provided by New England Historical Genealogical Society, 29 Sep 2021.
2. ↑ Beckwith, Paul Edmond. The Beckwiths (Joel Munsell's Sons, Albany, N.Y., 1891)
3. ↑ Barbour Collection of Connecticut Vital Records, Lyme, page 12: Lydia, [d. Daniell & Ruth], b. Jan. 15, 1739/40.
4. ↑ Diebold, R. Bruce. "Abstracts of the Records of the East (or Second) Congregational Church of Lyme, Connecticut 1724-1761," Connecticut Nutmegger, Vol. 52, No. 1 (July 2019), pages 54-78. Photocopy of article provided by New England Historical Genealogical Society, 29 Sep 2021.
5. ↑ See:
   • Edmund West, comp.. Family Data Collection - Births [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2001. Two entries for Daniel Beckwith, born in Lyme, son of Joseph Beckwith: (1) Daniel Beckwith, Father: Joseph Beckwith, Birth Date: 1710. (2) Daniel Beckwith, Father: Joseph Beckwith, Mother: Elizabeth, Birth Date: 1720.
   • http:/www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/pember/14/ - ELIZABETH PEMBER, daughter of Thomas Pember and Agnes Way, b. Abt. 1692, New London, New London, Conn., USA; m. JOSEPH BECKWITH, September 24, 1714, New London, New London, Conn., USA; b. Abt. 1688, New London, New London, Conn., USA.
   • http:/www.cemeteries.eastlymehistoricalsociety.org/index_files/oldstonechurch.htm
6. ↑ Smith, page 5. citing "The Beckwiths" by Paul Beckwith (which he says is considered "a fraud throughout," but the brief sketch about Daniel "may be right"); Mr. E.A. Jones, and "letters yellow with age."

• Smith, Rev. Alven Martyn. John Smith of Lancaster, Mass. (So. Pasadena, California, 1931)