Mary (Clements) Lockwood (abt. 1672 - abt. 1735)

Born about 1672 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut Colony

Ancestors

Wife of John Butler — married 23 Nov 1694 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut Colony

Wife of John Latham — married about 1703 in Norwalk, Fairfield, Connecticut Colony [uncertain]

Wife of Robert Lockwood — married about 1710 in Fairfield County, Connecticut Colony

Descendants

Died about Aug 1735 at about age 63 in Fairfield, Fairfield, Connecticut Colony

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Hal Smith [send private message] and Daphne Maddox [send private message]

Biography

Overview

Mary Clements, daughter of William and Elizabeth Clements of Stamford, Connecticut, was born perhaps around 1672.

Mary was married three times:

• to John Butler of Norwalk in 1694;
• to John Latham, sometime after around 1702
• to Robert Lockwood of Fairfield, around 1710.

She was widowed for the last time in 1715.

Of John Butler's three children, Mary was certainly mother of two, and almost certainly mother of all three, pending further research. By John Latham she apparently had no children. By Robert Lockwood she had two sons.

Mary had a step-daughter, Elizabeth Latham, daughter of John, and seven step-children by Robert Lockwood.

Mary died around August 1735 in Fairfield.

Children of John Butler and Mary (Clements), b. bet. abt. 1695-1702 in Norwalk:

• John Butler II.
• Wait Butler.
• Ellinor Butler.

Children of Robert Lockwood and Mary (Clements), b. in Fairfield:

• Jehiel Lockwood, b. 16 September 1711.
• Gershom Lockwood, b. 8 October 1713.

In a curious double twist of step-siblings, Mary's daughter Wait Butler married her step-son Robert Lockwood, and they had a son, Daniel Lockwood. Mary's step-daughter Elizabeth Latham married a man named Samuel Richards, who co-administered the John Butler with Mary and was guardian to Mary's granddaughter Prudence Butler. Richard and Elizabeth had a daughter, Thankful Richards. Daniel Lockwood and Thankful Richards married each other, thus three of the four parents of the couple were step-siblings of each other -- a tight family, yet there is no endogamy in these relationships.

Reasoning for the above assertions of Mary Clements' marriages is strong, though not altogether straightforward. It can be summarized as follows:

• Reasoning that Mary, daughter of William and Elizabeth Clements was married to John Butler of Norwalk and Robert Lockwood of Fairfield:
  • Mary Clements, one of the daughters of William and Elizabeth Clements of Stamford, married a John Butler in Stamford in 1694. We don't know John's origins. There were few Butlers in Fairfield County in this period.
  • A John Butler of Norwalk is associated with a John Bolt and Ebenezer Canfield, both of whom were married to sisters of Mary (Clements).
  • Mary, widow of Robert Lockwood, late of Fairfield, was coadministrix, with her son-in-law Samuel Richards, of the estate of her former husband, John Butler, late of Norwalk, in 1723.
  • Surety for widow Mary in her administration of the estate of Robert Lockwood of Fairfield in 1715 was Jedediah Canfield of Norwalk, brother of Mary's brother-in-law Ebenezer Canfield. Jedediah Canfield and Sarah (Clements) Canfield coadministered Ebenezer Canfield's estate in this same time period.
  • Wait (Butler) Lockwood, widow of Robert and daughter of John and Mary Butler of Norwalk, was an heir-at-law, in her own right, of Jehiel Lockwood, a son of Robert and Mary Lockwood, equally sharing in Jehiel's estate with his other half-siblings or their heirs. This could only mean that Wait Butler and Jehiel Lockwood shared a mother.

The records clearly reflect that the same woman was married to John Butler of Norwalk and Robert Lockwood of Fairfield. We see ties to sisters of the Clements family from Mary's life in both Norwalk and Fairfield, thus John and Mary Butler of Norwalk were the same couple who married in Stamford in 1694.

• Reasoning that Mary, wife of John Butler and Robert Lockwood, was also the wife of John Latham:
  • "Samuel Richards and Mary Lockwood his mother in Law" coadministered the estate of her former husband John Butler, late of Norwalk, as recorded on 1 March 1722/3 in the John Butler probate record. To be mother-in-law of Samuel Richards, she must be some sort of mother to him or to a wife of his.
  • A letter from Samuel Richards' sister informs us that his parents died in England in 1715 and 1717, foreclosing the possibility that Mary was married to Samuel's father, and implying a mother or step-mother relationship between Mary Clements and the wife of Samuel Richards.
  • Samuel Richards was married to Elizabeth, daughter of John Latham, in 1714 in Norwalk.
  • The only space in Mary's life for her to become mother or step-mother to Elizabeth was between around 1702 and around 1710 -- too late for Mary to be Elizabeth's biological mother.

The only conclusion we can draw is that Mary (Clements) was Elizabeth Latham's step-mother, thus Mary married John Latham, father of Elizabeth by a previous wife, some time between 1702 and 1710.

We will proceed, below, through the records which provide us with evidence behind the above reasoning. We will travel chronologically through Mary's life, citing records in the order that the records were made, even though that requires us to confront the probate of Mary's third husband before that of her first husband. Since Mary's genealogy is complicated, this review will be limited to the aspects of her records which help us to determine Mary's relationships and dates. For more fulsome reviews of the records, as they pertain to her sisters, husbands, children, in-laws, etc., please see the other parties' profiles.

Early life and marriage to John Butler

Of Mary Clements birth we have no record. Given her relative date of marriage, she was probably among the older of the six daughters of William and Elizabeth Clements of Stamford. Perhaps she was born around 1672.

On 23 November 1694 [9th mo., 23 1694 by the Julian calendar], Mary Clements married John Butler, per Stamford town records. The same day, Hannah Clements married Caleb Knapp and Elizabeth Clements married John Bolt.^[1][2]

Robert W. Hull's article, "Sarah (Clements) (Dibble) (Canfield) Youngs of Stamford, Sometime of Norwalk....", discusses the daughters of William and Elizabeth Clements of Stamford and easily concludes that the various Clements women married in Stamford in the 1690s were daughters of William and Elizabeth. Mr. Hull was not focused on Mary Clements, though, and concluded only that she was one of the sisters, stating "no further information on John Butler has been found."^[3]

This was Mary's first marriage. It seems most probable that it was also John's first marriage, or at least the only one by which he had surviving children, given the ages of his children and the timing of his probate process.

We have but one record of John Butler alive after their marriage. On 4 December 1694, the Town of Norwalk ordered that "all persons who are members of town meetings, who have a vote and suffrage in towne affaires" were to attend town meetings or pay a fine. A subsequent undated roll taken at such a meeting records about 100 names. Toward the bottom of the list, two names appear in succession: John Butler and Ebenezer Camfield.^[4] This list certainly predates Ebenezer's marriage to John's sister-in-law, Sarah (Clements) (Dibble), but may be a hint of a friendship between the two men, perhaps a seed that blossomed into a later marriage between the widow Sarah (Clements) Dibble and widower Ebenezer Canfield.

We estimate that John Butler died between about 1702 and 1708, but most likely around 1702. From his probate record, we know that upon his decease, Mary was expecting their last child, they had another child age four, and at least one age seven or older. His estate went unadministered until 1723, which suggests the possibility that the precipitating event was that his children were reaching their collective majority and desirous to make a division. This would be consistent with a youngest child born around 1702. If we assume that John and Mary had their first child in 1695, then that child would be seven by 1702, and three children evenly separated over about seven years is a fairly typical family pattern. We don't know the order of their births, but Wait was listed before Ellinor in their father's probate record.

Marriage to John Latham

We have no record of Mary's marriage to John Latham. It was most likely between 1703 and 1709. His daughter Elizabeth is said to have been born in 1692, which fits her marriage date, so she may have been around age eleven or twelve when Mary (Clements) came into her life.

They probably lived in Norwalk, where Elizabeth Latham was married in 1714.

John Latham probably died in or before 1709, certainly by 1710.

Marriage to Robert Lockwood and marriage of Elizabeth Latham

We can infer from the birthdates of Robert Lockwood's three youngest children that his wife prior to Mary died between 1709 and 1710, and that Robert and Mary were married between 1709 and 1711. It's most likely the former wife died in 1709 and that Mary and Robert married in 1710.

Aside from the births of Mary's two Lockwood sons, one item of note occurred while Mary was living with Robert in Fairfield, which is that her step-daughter Elizabeth Latham was wed to Samuel Richards on 4 March 1714 [whether this is an old- or new-style date is unclear].^[5][6]

Robert Lockwood of Fairfield died in 1715, leaving his widow Mary and nine children, two by Mary, and five who required guardianship.

Final widowhood

Given the delayed probate of her first husband and a dearth of extant and available non-probate matter, almost all of the records which inform us of Mary's life were made after the deaths of her three husbands. Having prepared the ground with outlines of her life and of the reasoning to her genealogy, we'll proceed chronologically through the records, keeping in mind that the probates of husbands numbered one and three happened out-of-order.

Robert Lockwood estate

Probate of the estate of Robert Lockwood, late of Fairfield, began on 14 June 1715,^[7] administration was granted, probably on 3 August 1715, to Sergt. Joseph Lockwood [his father] and to Mary, his widow. The surety for the administration bond was Jedediah Canfield of Norwalk, brother of Ebenezer Canfied, brother-in-law of the widow Mary.^[8]

Regarding Jedediah Canfield, it is worth noting that he was quite involved with the Clements sisters in this period. Not only did he provide the funds to put Robert Lockwood's estate into probate on Mary (Clements) Lockwood's behalf in August 1715, but upon his brother Ebenezer's death around January 1715/16, he took on the role of co-administrator, with Sarah (Clements) (Dibble) Canfield, of Ebenezer's estate, and guardianship of Ebenezer's son Matthew Canfield, age 7.^[9]

On 9 November 1715, "Daniel Lockwood, Abigail, Joseph, Gershom and Jehiell Lockwood children of Robert Lockwood late of Fairfield being in their nonage...[the court did] appoint Mary Lockwood, mother to the said Gershom and Jehiell Lockwood, to be their guardian, and John Silliman to be guardian to the said Abigail and Joseph, and John Lockwood to be guardian to the said Dan'll Lockwood."^[10]

The ages of Robert's three youngest children were recorded in the accounting of the estate, because they were under seven and support for them would come from the estate until they reached that age. Joseph was born around May 1709, Jehiel was born in September 1711 and Gershom was born in 1713.^[11][12]

On 31 January 1715/16, Robert Lockwood's estate was distributed to his children and Mary, as her dower. Of the land, Gershom Lockwood received, among other tracts, "one acre and 16 rods of meadow next to his mothers," and Jehiel Lockwood received "one acre and 16 rods next to Gershom's meadow." No other such relationship is stated among the distributees.^[13]

Sarah Lockwood estate

Robert Lockwood's daughter Sarah died in 1716, and her portion of Robert's estate was distributed to Robert's surviving children on 16 December of that year. Two tracts are again noteworthy. Jehiel and Gershom Lockwood each received a tract labeled "by his mother." Again, 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.^[14]

John Butler estate

No legal activity appears to have taken place regarding the John Butler estate until 1722/3, around 21 years after his death, which was also after the deaths of both of Mary's subsequent husbands.

By 1722/3, Mary was living in Fairfield, thrice widowed with children from two marriages and step-children from two marriages in the general vicinity of Fairfield and Norwalk. Her oldest step-child was probably about age 36 and her youngest child was around ten. Her Butler children were probably about age 20-27.

On 1 February 1722/3, in the Fairfield Probate District, "John Butler late formerly of Norwalk being deceased and leaving an estate whereof administration remains to be done, ... Samuel Richards of Norwalk and Mary Lockwood, widow, relict of Robert Lockwood late of Fairfield deceased, formerly the widow of sd. Butler" were appointed to administer the estate, giving £100 bond.^[15]

"Inventory of John Butler deceased in Norwalk," taken 20 February 1722/3, show real estate appraised at £118:14, in several tracts. One was a dwelling house and another was 15 acres lying on the east side of the ''road which leads to John Bolt's."^[16] John Bolt was Elizabet (Clements) Bolt's husband.

On 1 March 1722/3, an accounting was delivered to the court by "Samuel Richards and Mary Lockwood his mother in Law who was formerly the widow of John Butler formerly of Norwalk." On the same date, a (premature) order to distribute the estate was issued:^[16]

• one part of the lands to the widow during her natural life;
• there being three children, namely John Butler, only son of the deceased, who shall have a double portion;
• there being also two daughters, namely Wait Lockwood, wife of Robert Lockwood, and Hellinah [Ellinor]^[17] Butler, who shall have an equal share of the estate.

We refer to the distribution order as premature, because around two months later, it was reported that the estate was unable to cover its debts with moveable property.

On 26 April 1723, Samuel Richards exhibited a new accounting of debts, showing among other items:^[18]

• to estate of Mr. John Belden desesed, £9:17
• to Samuel Richards upon the account of his wife, £5
• to bringing up the two youngest children until 7 years old, one was aged 4 years old and the other from its birth, £20
• the charge of laying in with the youngest, £19:9:2
• to the charges of relaying out the land 1714/15 by Cap. Jno. Raymond & John Stuerd survairs... 12s.

These old debts that the moveable property couldn't cover were largely due to the widow Mary.

Apparently some of the above debts were settled with what was left of moveable property, for a somewhat smaller sum was left to be covered by real estate. In the May 1723 session of the Connecticut General Assembly, "upon the petition of Samuel Richards, of Norwalk, administrator of the estate of John Butler, late of Norwalk, deceas'd, ... praying... that himself with Mr. John Read the 2d of Norwalk may be impowred to sell so much of the lands of John Butler, late of Norwalk, deceas'd... to the value of thirty-six pounds five shillings and two pence, by and with the advice of Capt. Samuel Hanford and Capt. Joseph Piatt of Norwalk... and it being made evident.. that said Butler... left his estate indebted the sum aforesaid... [the Assembly did] impower said Read and Richards, by and with the advice of said Piatt and Hanford, to sell so much of the lands of said deceas'd's estate as to procure the sum abovesaid..."^[19]

It's interesting that, upon widow Mary being documented as the primary creditor of the estate, her name has been omitted in favor of John Read the 2d in this petition. Perhaps she was considered conflicted for purposes of the petition -- perhaps she, as principle creditor, was considered a potential buyer, and thus unable to continue her role as administrator for purposes of real estate sales to cover what she was owed.

Unfortunately, Samuel's petition is the last record we have of the estate itself.

For want of a review of deeds, we assume that such sales as above authorized were made and the probate case was closed with some division of the remaining land. The difference between the value of real estate appraised and the amount Samuel petitioned to raise is £82:8:10, so there should have been property left to set aside dower for Mary and distribute the rest to the three heirs.

We do have a partial record of a couple of transactions which appear to be related. According to Abner Morse, writing on the subject of this Samuel Richards in 1861, in his Genealogical Register of the Descendants of Several Ancient Puritans:

"in 1723 and ’25, [Samuel Richards] bought of John and Ebenezer Butler, a £49 right in the real estate of their father, John B.; and in 1723, of Samuel Keeler, a £100 right in the undivided lands of [Norwalk]."^[20]

There was no "Ebenezer Butler," son of John Butler. The probate record is very clear that John Butler's only son was named John Butler. It seems Mr. Morse or the correspondent who provided this information misread some form of the name Ellinor/Hellinah. So, we see here two of the three Butler heirs selling property to Samuel Richards. Perhaps there was another transfer from Wait (Butler) Lockwood overlooked or lost?

A letter to Samuel Richards concerning his parents

Before we move on to our next probate case, and while we are still on the subject of Abner Morse' work on Samuel Richards and the year 1725, let us mention that he offers an even more important bit of information on another event in Samuel Richards' life, which also occurred in that year:

"In 1725 [Samuel Richards] received a letter from his sister Sarah, lately married, acquainting him of the death of his mother about 1715, of his father about 1717, of his grandmother in 1718, and of his brother Moses, in Ireland, about 1719 ; and also of the marriage of his brother James, and of the apprenticeship of his youngest brother at Walsall. This letter, now in the possession of Mrs. Diana Richards, No. 305, was dated Aug. 8, 1725, at Lichfield, in the county of Stafford, 110 miles N. N. W. of London..."^[20]

If Samuel's parents died in 1715 and 1717 in England, there is no room for widow Mary to have been any sort of mother or step-mother of Samuel Richards, which is the evidence that allows us firmly to conclude that she was some sort of mother or step-mother to his wife, Elizabeth Latham. Since Samuel and Elizabeth were married in 1714, Elizabeth must have been born in the 1600s, which leaves no room for Mary (Clements), whose first marriage was to John Butler in 1694, to have been her biological mother. Therefore, Mary was her step-mother by virtue of what must have been a relatively brief "middle" marriage to Elizabeth's father, a widower named John Latham.

Ellinor Butler estate

On 5 April 1732, administration on the estate of Ellinor Butler, late of Fairfield, was granted to Samuel Richards of Norwalk with surety William Hill of Fairfield. On 4 July 1732, inventory was taken on her estate in the West Parish of Fairfield by Thomas Nash and Nathan Moris, and sworn on 5 July 1732 by Samuel Richards, administrator. The inventory showed no land, so whatever portion she held by her father's estate had been sold prior to this date, quite likely to Samuel Richards "under the pseudonym" of Ebenezer Butler. A glance at her name, Elenor, as written on the top of the inventory, may aid us in imagining how her name written hastily could be wind up being interpreted as Eben'er or Ebenezer.^[21]

Ellinor apparently had a natural daughter named Prudence. On 4 April 1732, Sam'll Richards of Norwalk was appointed guardian of Prudence Butler, daughter of Ellinor Butler of Fairfield, dec'd, under £100 bond.^[22]

If we take a step back and look at the trajectory of the Butler estate, we notice that a large portion of the real estate has made its way into the hands of Samuel and Elizabeth (Latham) Butler, despite not having specifics on the form of that real estate. We see, too, that administration of the final affairs of Ellinor Butler, late of Fairfield, was handled by Samuel, and that he became guardian to her daughter, for whom she'd been caring as a single mother. One wonders if Samuel and Elizabeth had already been looking after Prudence to some extent in Norwalk, even when her mother was living, perhaps occupying the Butler estate. This might explain why its was they who appear to have purchase the balance of it.

No later relevant documents have been found covering the period of Mary's final widowhood.

Mary's death and subsequent probate matters

Mary may have been living with three separate thirds of three separate estates, by dowers from three deceased husbands. She was not outright owner of any land in her own right.

We don't have dower records of the Butler estate, nor any records from a Latham estate, but we do have records of her Lockwood dower. Her Lockwood children and step-children began the process of dividing the land in August 1735, which we take to be the approximate date of her death.

Subsequent to the eventual division in April 1736, inventory of the estate of Mary Lockwood, late of Fairfield, was taken by John Andrews and Joseph Wakeman, and sworn on 18 February 1736/7 by Gershom Lockwood, administrator. Mary owned a healthy complement of household items and an old cow, a brown white faced cow with black round her eyes, a young cow, a yearling, a mare, a yellow white tailed steer and 10 sheep.^[23]

Mary's son Jehiel died without progeny and his estate was distributed to his siblings, both of the half- and full-blood on 7 September 1762, one sixth part each of the moveable property was distributed to:^[24]

• the children of Robt. Lockwood [II] dec'd
• Joseph Lockwood
• Wait [(Butler)] Lockwood
• the children of Susannah Dickinson dec'd
• the children of Mary Dunkin dec'd
• the children of Gershom Lockwood dec'd

But -- only the children of Gershom Lockwood, dec'd, were included in the distribution of Jehiel's real property, because only Gershom was Jehiel's sibling of the full blood. The others were his half-siblings. If Joseph Lockwood, the next youngest child of Robert Lockwood, had been Mary's son, then he would have had a share of the real estate with Gershom's heirs.

Daniel Lockwood, Abigail Lockwood and Sarah Lockwood all predeceased Jehiel with no heirs.

The state of affairs with Robert and Wait (Butler) Lockwood is interesting. Aside from Gershom, Jehiel's full brother, Wait Butler was a half-sister to Jehiel just like everyone else in this list, except that she and Jehiel shared a mother, instead of a father. Thus both Wait (Butler) Lockwood and her husband Robert Lockwood, dec'd, were each entitled to one sixth of the moveable property. Robert having died, his share went directly to their two children.

This distribution helps to solidify a few matters:

• Mary's identity as widow of both her first and third husbands
• Her motherhood of the older (and thus also the younger) of John Butler's two daughters
• That Jehiel and Gershom Lockwood were her only children with Robert Lockwood.

Research Notes

John Butler's identity

Donald Lines Jacobus wrote, in Families of Old Fairfield, that "we suppose that the Dr. John [Butler] of Stratford who d. 1696 leaving a widow Mary and a farm at Saugatuck... is identical with" [the John Butler of Norwalk who is discussed here as husband of Mary Clements].^[25] This notion is pretty clearly wrong, once the details of the two men are reviewed at a level deeper than Jacobus appears to have gone. See the profile of Mary's husband, John Butler of Norwalk, for a refutation of this notion.

Elizabeth Latham's identity

Genealogists studying Samuel Richards subsequently to Abner Morse have sometimes attached Elizabeth Latham to a family in New London, Connecticut, that of John Latham of New London, whose wife was Mercy Plumbe or Plume.

This identification appears problematic. First, John Latham and Mercy Plumb were both baptized in 1677 and had their eldest daughter, Elizabeth, baptized in 1699. A girl born to parents who were baptized in 1677, herself baptized in 1699, might be a bit young -- probably age 15 -- to be marrying in 1714. Second, she would be especially young to be marrying and launching a new life on the other end of the Connecticut, where her family had no known ties. No evidence appears to support this claim, except that people have found an Elizabeth Latham within the bounds of Connecticut Colony who had a father named John and was almost the right age to be Samuel Richards' wife.

Second, we actually have evidence of the birth date of Elizabeth (Latham) Richards.

Her Find a Grave profile features an image of her gravestone. Frustratingly, we can see that there was a full birth date inscribed on her stone, but there is brush covering the area where the year of her birth should be.^[26]

Luckily, a photo of the gravestone showing one more line of its inscription was included by Melvin E. Jones in Genealogy of Jones, Hathaway, Richards, Gooding.^[27] Mr. Jones mostly recites what is given by Mr. Morse, but the inclusion of a moderately legible photo of Elizabeth's grave is quite welcome to find in his rendition. Her gravestone reads "Here lies ye Body of Mrs Elizabeth Richards wife to Mr Samuel Richard born Octo'br ye 24 169[2?] Died..." [with the last line(s) again obscured by brush. Whether the last digit in the year of Elizabeth's birth is a 2 or a 0 is not entirely clear, but what is clear is that it is certainly not an 8 or a 9.

Mr. Morse described Elizabeth Latham as born in 1692, perhaps informed by her gravestone, and he described John Latham as "of Norwalk." While he does not back up his assertion about her father, Samuel Richards of Norwalk wedding a 22-year-old from Norwalk in Norwalk does seem more probable than marrying a 15-year old from New London. It would be quite irregular for a couple who were both baptized in 1677 to have a child born in 1690 of '92, when they were perhaps 13 or 15 years old, then wait nine or seven or nine years to show up to have her baptized.

But the stronger evidence that the young lady from New London was not married to Samuel Richards is that which we've already reviewed -- the evidence that clearly implies that Mary (Clements) was Elizabeth's step-mother. Since John Latham of New London died in 1733 and Mercy (Plumbe) Latham died in 1755, Mary Clements wasn't married to John Latham of New London, and this New London family can be rejected.

The question of who John Latham, father of Elizabeth (Latham) Richards and second husband of Mary (Clements) actually was remains unanswered.

Sources

1. ↑ Marriage of John Butler and Mary Clements. Huntington, Elijah B. Stamford registration of births, marriages, and deaths... found in Stamford registers... Stamford: W.W. Gilespie, 1874, page 20.
2. ↑ Marriage of John Butler and Mary Clements. "Stamford Vital Records 1641-1852." White, Lorraine Cook, ed. The Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Vital Records. Vol. 1-55. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1994-2002; consulted as Ancestry.com. Connecticut, U.S., Town Birth Records, pre-1870 (Barbour Collection) [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006. Stamford Vital Records 1641-1852 > page 49 / image 55 (subscription) (free image)), citing Stamford Town Records, page 1:104.
3. ↑ Hull, Robert W. "Sarah (Clements) (Dibble) (Canfield) Youngs of Stamford, Sometime of Norwalk...." The Connecticut Nutmegger. Glastonbury, CT: Connecticut Society of Genealogists, June 2010, page 43:10.
4. ↑ Hall, Edwin. The Ancient Historical Records of Norwalk, Conn..., Norwalk: Andrew Selleck, 1865, pages 86-7.
5. ↑ Hall, The Ancient Historical Records of Norwalk, Conn..., page 210.
6. ↑ Marriage of Samuel Richards and Elizabeth Latham. "Norwalk Vital Records 1651-1850," White, Lorraine Cook, ed. The Barbour Collection..., page 118 / image 128 (subscription) (free image), citing Norwalk Land Records, page 4:9.
7. ↑ Estate or Robert Lockwood. Inventory, 14 June 1715 by Nathan Squiers Sen., Edward Jessup, rec. 3 August 1715. Fairfield Probate Packets (Lewis-Lyon), image 998-9, image 1006, images 1008-9.
8. ↑ Estate of Robert Lockwood. Administration to Sergt. Joseph Lockwood and Mary, widow, sur. Jedediah Canfield, undated. Fairfield Probate Packets (Lewis-Lyon), image 1011.
9. ↑ Estate of Ebenezer Canfield. Inventory, 20 January 1715/16, guardianships, 4 April 1716. Fairfield Probates, page 5:338-9 / images 824-5.
10. ↑ Estate of Robert Lockwood. Guardianships, 9 November 1715. Fairfield Probates, page 5:321 / image 812.
11. ↑ Estate of Robert Lockwood. Accounting and order to distribute, 9 November 1715. Fairfield Probate Packets (Lewis-Lyon), 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.
12. ↑ Estate of Robert Lockwood. Petition, unsigned, 22 November 1715. Fairfield Probate Packets (Lewis-Lyon), image 1000. The petition states that Joseph Lockwood was half a year shy of his 7th birthday..
13. ↑ Estate of Robert Lockwood. Distribution, 31 January 1715 [1715/16], by Edward Jessupe, Thomas Nash, John Andrews. Fairfield Probate Packets (Lewis-Lyon), images 1002-5.
14. ↑ Estate of Sarah Lockwood. Order for distribution, 12 December 1716. Fairfield Probate Packets (Lewis-Lyon), image 1111. Distribution, 18 December 1716, image 1108.
15. ↑ Estate of John Butler. Administration to Samuel Richards and Mary Lockwood, 1 February 1722/3. Fairfield Probates, page 6:140 / image 116.
16. ↑ ^{16.0 16.1} Estate of John Butler (probate book). Inventory taken, 20 February 1722/3, inventory recorded and distribution ordered, 1 March 1722/3. Fairfield Probates, page 6:148 / image 124.
17. ↑ In addition to the records in the probate book, there are extant working documents in an associated probate packet associated with the John Butler estate. It should be noted that the later documents in the file are "officially unofficial" ones. They were placed in a packet in the file referring to it as "non-official information.... received from parties interested in the records of this estate." While the route the documents took before landing in this file which such a disclaimer isn't clear, what is clear is that they are a bit different in wording than the official record. One difference is that a couple of the documents misidentified Mary as the wife or mother of Samuel Richards, which is obviously false. The official record calls her his mother-in-law, which is the only relationship they could have had. Another difference is in the naming of Mary's younger Butler daughter. In this case, from subsequent records, it appears that the draft document is the one which correctly named her as "Ellinor," rather than "Hellinah." Estate of John Butler (probate files). Accounting recorded and distribution ordered, 1 March 1722/3. Fairfield Probate Packets (Burrows-Carr), images 425-6.
18. ↑ Estate of John Butler (probate files). Accounting, 26 April 1723. Fairfield Probate Packets (Lewis-Lyon), images 420-2.
19. ↑ Hoadly, Chares J. Connecticut (State). Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, Hartford: Case, Lockwood & Brainard, 1872, page 6:369.
20. ↑ ^{20.0 20.1} Morse, Abner. A Genealogical Register of the Descendants of Several Ancient Puritans, Vol. III: Richards. Boston: H.W. Dutton,1861. Chapter XI: Samuel Richards, pages 198-200. Aside from a letter from Samuel's sister, this source provides no evidence to support the back story of Samuel Richards that it presents. Caution is urged before accepting the whole story at face value. Perhaps it is all true, and it might make an entertaining project to document it, given sufficient access to pertinent records.
21. ↑ Estate of Ellinor Butler of Fairfield, 1732. Fairfield Probates, No. 1500. Fairfield Probate Packets (Burrows-Carr), images 405-9.
22. ↑ Estate of Ellinor Butler. Guardianship of Prudence, 4 April 1732. Fairfield Probates, page 7:100 / image 304.
23. ↑ Estate of Mary Lockwood. Inventory, 10 December 1736, rec. 18 February 1736/7. Fairfield Probates page 8:389 / image 680.
24. ↑ Estate of Jehiel Lockwood. Distribution, 7 September 1762. Fairfield Probates, pages 13:313-16 / images 172-4.
25. ↑ Jacobus, Donald L. History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield... New Haven, CT: Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor, 1930, pages 1:6:708-9.
26. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (accessed 22 December 2022), memorial page for Elizabeth Latham Richards (24 Oct 1692–17 Feb 1751), Find a Grave Memorial ID 18137484, citing Old Five Mile River Cemetery, Norwalk, Fairfield County, Connecticut, USA; Maintained by Jan Franco (contributor 46625834).
27. ↑ Jones, Melvin E. Genealogy of Jones, Hathaway, Richards, Gooding. Boston, Mass., 1934, photos between pages 133 and 134.

• [Fairfield Probates] Connecticut. Probate Court (Fairfield District). "Probate records, 1648-1916."
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• Connecticut State Library (Hartford, Connecticut). "Probate files collection, early to 1880." Fairfield Probate District.
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• Majdalany, Jeanne and Edith M. Wicks. The Story of the Early Settlers of Stamford, Connecticut, 1641 - 1700. Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 1990, pages 162-3. Also references Paul W. Prindle records. Question: what does this book add about Mary Clements?