William Gifford Sr. (abt. 1615 - abt. 1687)

Born about 1615 in England

Husband of Mary (Mills) Gifford — married 16 Jul 1683 (to 21 Dec 1687) in Sandwich, Plymouth Colony

Descendants

Died about 21 Dec 1687 at about age 72 in Sandwich, Barnstable County, Plymouth Colony

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Randy Seaver [send private message] and Robert Geary [send private message]

Biography

William Gifford Sr. migrated from England to Massachusetts Bay Colony.

William Gifford Sr. was an early settler in Massachusetts.

William was a Friend (Quaker)

4X great-grandfather of famous landscape artist, Sanford Gifford through his son Jonathan Gifford.

William Gifford was most likely born in England, circa, 1615, but there is no reliable source which offers an estimate. William Gifford was a member of the Society of Friends. Although he suffered the persecutions visited upon the Quakers of that time, he prospered in material affairs and became a large land owner.^[1]

William Gifford immigrated to New England some time after 1643.^[1] He was first listed in the records of Plymouth Colony on 4 December 1647 as owing the estate of Joseph Holway (or Holloway) the sum of 3 shillings, 4 pence. He was a member of the Grand Inquest at Plymouth in 1650, and with Thomas Tupper, Thomas Burges, Senior, and Nathaniel Willis, was given the power to call a town meeting in Sandwich in 1651.^[1]

The following is based on research done by Ethel L. Severinghaus, Albany, New York, that was found on Rootsweb.com before Ancestry.com shut down the site. It was derived from the Register article cited here repeatedly. It covers the fact that William of Sandwich was a tailor & speculates about a potential marriage:^[1]

"On the grounds that William had been a tailor, the records of the Tailors' [Taylors'] Guild of London were explored. Three Williams were listed, only one of whom fits into the appropriate dates. Under apprenticeship of 7 years, they could not marry until free. [There was a] William [who] married Elizabeth Grant in 1635. William H. Gifford was apprenticed to Thomas Southerne, 7 December 1628. (The other listed William Giffords were apprenticed in 1564 & 1650).... There were 7 other Giffords apprenticed between 1573 and 1682, three of whom were apprenticed to other Giffords."

The Register article also points out that there is a 1606 marriage license for an Ananias "Gyfford" of St. Peter's Eastcheap, which says he was a merchant tailor living in London & that he married a Hester Grigge.^[1][2] This is added, because of the rarity of the given name "Ananias", variously spelled: Hannaniah, Hananiah, Annaniah, etc... This is a given name of a son of William of Sandwich & is found in various lines of the family. This naming pattern could suggest a family connection, but does not prove the connection.

In 1665, William Gifford, George Allen, Peter Gaunt (George & Peter cannot be sourced), and others were among the first proprietors of the Monmouth Patent in New Jersey, but there is no evidence he actually settled there.

He stayed in Sandwich, unless perhaps he left temporarily, to escape heavy fines for refusing to take the Oath of Fidelity, the first being 5 pounds on 2 October 1658, due to his Quaker practices. He owned land in Sandwich, Falmouth and Dartmouth and was styled as a "taylor" in deeds from 1670.

On 10 November 1670, Mr. Gifford bought of mistress Sarah Walker-1262 Warren of Plymouth, widow of Nathaniel Warren-71, one half her share in the land at Dartmouth, which by deed dated 6 May 1683, he gave equally to his sons Christopher Gifford and Robert Gifford.^[3][1]

William Gifford was a Surveyor of Highways in Sandwich in 1677, and lived at Sandwich until his death 21 December 1687.^[1]

The below statement is utterly false:^[4]

"The following is from Documents Relating to the Revolutionary History of the State of New Jersey, Vol IV concerning a meeting in Trent on December 20 (year unknown). Included in the acts passed was: item #2. "An Act to dissolve the marriage of William Gifford, with Elizabeth his wife."

The cited New Jersey history (which now has a direct link) is from 1779/1780! Just about a hundred years after Elizabeth died & William Gifford married Mary Mills. The year is found in the upper right hand corner of the two pages.

In multiple trees, it's asserted that Wm. married a Patience Russell, the dau. of Joseph & Mary Tucker Russell. However, Patience, b. c. 1727, was the wife of William Gifford, b. 1722, great-grandson of William Sr. (Christopher 2, Christopher 1, Wm. Sr.), & they were married a full century after Wm. Gifford Sr. would have married. This inclusion of Patience Russell has led many family trees to state that Wm. Gifford was married three times, but there appears to be only two marriages for this Wm. Gifford.

William Gifford may have married Elizabeth Grant on the 11th of February, 1635 at St Martin-in-the-Fields, London, Middlesex County, England.^[5] This possibility is mentioned in the Register article, but the author, rightly, does not attribute her as the mother of William's children, as there is no direct evidence proving that William of Sandwich, was the same William who married Elizabeth Grant.^[1]

Children of William Gifford and perhaps, Elizabeth Grant:^[1]

1. John, b. circa, 1642 m. Elishua Crowell
2. Patience, d. 1673 or 1675; m. Richard Kirby 9 October 1665
3. Hannaniah m. Elizabeth Wardell 1 December 1676
4. William, m. Lydia Hatch
5. Robert, b. 3 February 1657; m. Sarah Wing 5 March 1680
6. Christopher, b. July 1658 in Sandwich, Barnstable, Massachusetts^[6]
7. Mary, birth unknown, but she is mentioned in Wm.'s Will of 1687.

William Gifford married Mary Mills 16 July 1683 at Sandwich, Barnstable, Massachusetts^[1][7]

Children of William Gifford and Mary Mills:^[1]

1. Jonathan Gifford, b. 4 May 1684^[6] m. Lydia Abbott 3 August 1708
2. James Gifford, b. 10 March 1685/6;^[6] m. Deborah Lewis on 30 March 1710

FindAGrave memorial, does not have a gravestone photo, but has a photo, of an apparent descendant, from the 1860's & uses the unproven birth location of Devon without sources. ^[8]

NOTE: Here is a link to a "William Gifford" Find A Grave: Memorial #132904389 William Gifford 1794-1865, which has the identical photo ! as that presently on the Find A Grave memorial of William Gifford 1615-1687. An Edit was submitted to correct this on 15 December 2022. The photo is on the following WikiTree profile William Gifford

Will of William Gifford

William Gifford died testate, having written a Will dated 9 April 1687. Below is an abstract of the Will. Please read the original which is attached.^[9] The Will reads in part (abstracts and excerpts found in Cape Cod Genealogical Society, Volume XXII, Number 1, Winter 1996.)(NOTE: This source can not be found & verified.):

"...besides what I have already given unto all my Sons and also to my Daughters," he made bequests of 20 shillings to son John, 10 shillings to son Hananiah, "one stock of Beese" to son William, a crosscut saw and a new pair of shoes to son Christopher; 5 pounds to son Robert two years after his decease; 5 pounds in two years and a cow in four years to daughter Mary; 20 shillings to granddaughter Temperance Kirby; 5 shillings each to grandsons John and Robert Kirby; 5 shillings each to granddaughters Experience and Sarah Kirby; one shilling each to all the other grandchildren; all other gifts to be paid two years after his decease. To sons Jonathan and James, ten acres of upland "at Suckanesit & Lying by old Rowlies Land in the twenty acres Lotts and also one qua[rter] of a sheare of ye undevided Lands in Suckanesit." "...besides what I have before disposed of having a parcel of Land then Remaining in my po[sses]sion and having since disposed of it to my son William, the produce of this land do I or[der] for the satisfaction of the perticulers above mentioned, and of what is yet Remaining I do give five pounds to be improved for the use and Service of truth by my Friends in Sandwich Called quakers."

William Gifford appointed his wife Mary as executrix of his estate, Jacob Mott the Elder of Rhode Island, Edward Perry and William Allen were appointed overseers of the Will. If anything remained of the estate after the legacies were paid, it was to be disposed of by the executrix and the overseers.

The Witnesses to the Will were John Easten, Jr., Samuel Perry and Edward Perry. The Will was proved on 7 March 1688, and recorded on 9 March 1688. The inventory of the estate was taken by William Bassett and John Nye on 30 January 1688. The estate was valued at 45 pounds, 10 shillings. Mary Gifford swore to the inventory on 7 March 1688.

Research Notes

Other information on the Gifford family was obtained from the book "Ancestors of Elihu B. Gifford and Catherine Sandow Barrows" by Raymond L. Olson, published by Gateway Press, Inc., Baltimore MD, 1989. The biography of William Gifford was summarized by Carl Boyer the 3rd, in his book "Ancestral Lines, Third Edition," published by the author in Santa Clarita, California in 1998. Boyer states that the English ancestry of William Gifford is not proven, and his alleged noble lineage has not been substantiated.

Disputed Existence of the name "Ambrose" : According to the most trustworthy accounts, a fictitious "William Ambrose Gifford" was created to connect the Giffords of New England with a prestigious family in England. (In the 1600's, people in England didn't have second names, which also leaves most genealogists suspicious of this particular line.) In the 1800's many people paid genealogists to find their family trees, and many of these genealogists created connections with English aristocracy and nobility, which is what most people wanted "proof" of. These were called "vanity genealogies".

He is also identified as William Gifford, grandson of Walter & great-grandson of Sir Ambrose Gifford in the work, Representative Men and Old Families of Southeastern Massachusetts, Vol. 3, pg. 1772.

This William Gifford is proven; His first wife is not known for certain, but may be Elizabeth Grant; and his second wife was certainly Mary Mills.

Disputed Parents: It has been proven that Philip Gifford and Mary Turner are not William's parents. William's parentage has been searched for many times and has not been found. Philip and Mary being his parents was first published as fact in 1926. And there was a William born to Philip and Mary around 1615. However, this William has been identified as a draper who died in Turkey in 1649, working for his step-father's brother in the military there. Letters were sent to other sons of Philip and Mary about it.

Timeline: Nathaniel B. Shurtleff and David Pulsifer, eds., Records of the Colony of New Plymouth, in New England, 12 Vols. (New York: AMS Press, 1968).https://www.sec.state.ma.us/arc/arcdigitalrecords/pcolony.htm

June 4, 1650, William Gifford and 21 others were appointed to the Grand Inquest. The Grand Enquest was thus a special jury of freemen, impanelled periodically, which would hear charges of suspected criminal conduct by persons in the Colony. If the Grand Enquest issued its own presentments finding the charges credible, the accused would be tried in the appropriate Court (the General Court for capital crimes, the Courts of Assistants for lesser crimes) and he would have an opportunity to defend himself.

June 1, 1658, William Gifford of Sandwich was summoned to Court and gave reason for refusing to take the Oath of Fidelity to the government and the State of England

October 2, 1658, for refusing to take the Oath of Fidelity, William Gifford was fined five pounds to the Colony’s use.

October 6, 1659, A complaint of obstruction of a highway near a bridge was brought against William Gifford by George Barlow-941, appointed Marshall of the Towns of Sandwich, Barnstable, and Yarmouth, on June 1, 1658, by Governor Prence (https://archive.org/details/recordsofcolonyo0304newp/page/n154/mode/1up?q=Barlow). The court suspended their judgment until the location could be viewed and the matter “bee made more evident”.

June 13, 1660, William Gifford was summoned and appeared at court where he was demanded whether he would take the Oath of Fidelity, which he refused.

October 2, 1660, William Gifford was convicted for refusing to take the Oath of Fidelity, and fined for being at Quaker Meetings.

March 6, 1676-1677, William Gifford and his wife, were fined five pounds each for committing fornication before marriage or contract.

June 5, 1677, William Gifford, appointed joint Surveyor of Highways in Sandwich

March 5, 1683-1684, William Gifford for taking his wife without orderly marriage, many circumstances did alleviate the fault, the court abated the fine to only fifty shillings.

June, 1684, A fine of fifty shillings was received by the Treasurer from William Gifford.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10} "William Gifford of Sandwich, Mass. (d. 1687)", by Almon Daniels & MacLean W. MacLean, edited by Anne Borden Harding, The New England Historical & Genealogical Register, Vol. 128, Oct., 1974, Pgs. 241-261.
2. ↑ See also "London, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812," Ancestry.com database online, images for St. James, Clerkenwell $ [1].
3. ↑ Plymouth Colony Records, Vol. 5, pg. 354.
4. ↑ Documents relating to the Revolutionary History of the State of New Jersey, Vol. IV, pgs. 116 & 150.
5. ↑ "Guilelms: Gifford duxit Elizabetham Grant, vtr: de hac pochia [pr] licen:" Parish registers for St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church, Westminster, 1550-1926, Familysearch.org image database online, FHL 005108407 [2].
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1 6.2} Town of Sandwich, MA Births 1682-1842 Marriages 1720-1812 Death 1701-1841, pgs. 6 (Christopher) & 22 (Jonathan & James).
7. ↑ Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire, by Noyes, Libby, Davis, reprint 1983, p. 482.
8. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #148618931 William Gifford
9. ↑ Barnstable County Probate Records, Vol. 1, pgs. 14 & 15.

• History of Barnstable County, Massachusetts: 1620-1637-1686-1890, edited by Simeon L. Deyo, pgs. 168, 172, 185-86, 193-94, 268, 283, 633, 672 & 688-89 (last two pgs. state unproven info. about his parentage & immigration year, 1630.)

• Wilbour, Benjamin Franklin. Little Compton Families (Genealogical Publishing Co., 1997, 1998, 2000, 2003); pg. 276. Duplicates information & leaves out dau. Mary.

• Second marriage, Mary Mills : New England Historical and Genealogical Register, V128:247-50

Acknowledgements

Sara V Mosher