John Lewis Jr. (bef. 1650 - 1717)

Born before 1650 in New London, Connecticut Colony [uncertain]

Husband of Elizabeth (Huntley) Lewis — married 24 May 1677 in Lyme, New London, Connecticut Colony

Descendants

Died 8 May 1717 after age 67 in New London, New London, Connecticut Colony

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Puritan Great Migration Project WikiTree [send private message], Jimmy Lewis [send private message], RM Noble [send private message], and Cathi Gross [send private message]

John Lewis Jr. is currently protected by the Puritan Great Migration Project for reasons described in the narrative. Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: PGM

This profile is labeled as "Puritan Great Migration Adjunct" so that it can be monitored to avoid recreation or re-attachment to the disputed parents mentioned below.

Disputed Parents

Many genealogies have a John Lewis listed as a child of Sarah (Meed) Lewis and her husband, John Lewis . There are no reliable sources that indicate that John and Sarah had a child named John. Their oldest known child was Sarah Lewis, who, according to an article in NEHGR, was the only child who accompanied them on the ship Hercules in 1635.^[1] (see "Research Notes" below for excerpts from the passenger lists)

One possible misconception comes from Caulkins' book of 1895 in which he believes that the John Lewis who was in Scituate (Kent, England migrant aboard the Hercules) disappeared from the Scituate records after 1637 and then a John Scituate (the person of this profile) who appears in New London, Connecticut in 1648, are one and the same.^[2] What Caulkins must not have known is that John Lewis went to Boston, not New London.

Biography

It is unknown where or when this John Lewis was born, or who his parents were. It has been surmised that his father was also named John Lewis, as per Jacobus' TAG article.^[3]

In 1670, John Lewis was presented by the grand jury for absenting himself at unseasonable hours of the night, to the great grief of his parents. And with Sarah Chapman, presented for sitting together on the Lord's day under an apple tree in Goodman Chapman's orchard.^[4]

He was a young man in 1670 and was over 30 years old in 1685; he was constable in New London in 1681 and was sergeant of the train band after 1700.

He died at New London, May 8th, 1717, being killed by being hit on the head by the limb of a tree that he was having felled for the bark thereof, while he sat on horseback under the tree, and was buried in New London, May 9th, 1717.^[5] He married at New London, Conn. May 24th, 1677 to Elizabeth Huntley^[6] (daughter of John and Jane (____) Huntley of Lyme, Connecticut. ^[7]

An inventory of the estate of John Lewis, late of New London, deceased, was taken 11 July 1717 and presented in court the same day, Elizabeth Lewis, widow and relict, making oath.^[8] 8 April 1718, Elizabeth Lewis, admx., gave an accounting of debts paid from the estate.^[9]

Research Notes

The disputed parents emigrated soon after their first child's birth, daughter Sarah, aboard the ship "Hercules", arriving in Scituate, Massachussets, in 1635. From Hotten's The Original Lists of Persons of Quality...

"Jno. Lewis of Tenterden and Sarah his wife," and under the column "Children" it lists "One".^[10]

In NEHGR vol. 75:

"John Lewis of Tenterden & Sarah his wife" as well as the only other member of the family, "Sarah Lewes".^[11]

Not John Lewis of the Ship Hercules

It has been proven that the John Lewis this profile represents is neither the same as the John Lewis (bef.1606-aft.1669) who emigrated to America aboard the ship Hercules, nor is he the son of that man. They should neither be merged nor should a father/son relationship added between them.

Donald Lines Jacobus, "John Lewis of New London, Conn.; Joseph Lewis of Simsbury, Conn.,” American Genealogist 37[1961]:123-28 as copied from Mattocks Family Heritage Resources, https://mattocks2.wordpress.com/2008/05/04/john-lewis-of-new-london-conn-joseph-lewis-of-simsbury-conn/. Copy/paste follows:

John Lewis of New London was there before 1650; he was certainly there continuously from then until his death in 1676, since Miss Caulkins cites various records pertaining to him in different years through this period and I have a note of two such records: he sold land, signing by mark, 1 March 1659/60 [New London Deeds, 3:76]; and he requested certain land from the town, 26 Jan. 1662/3 [Town Meetings 1662-1664, p. 2]. Hence he cannot be the John who emigrated on the Hercules 1635, who, as we have shown, was living in Scituate and Boston during this period. I also find that John Lewis [the younger] sold land in 1692 that was his father John’s deceased [Deeds, 5:156]. This proves that he did have the son John ascribed to him. I have seen no records to indicate that he had other surviving sons, and if Miss Caulkins in her combing of New London records had found any proof of the existence of other sons, she would certainly have mentioned them in her account of the Lewis family, as she did in other family accounts.

Hence it is disproved that John Lewis of New London was the emigrant with whom he has so often been identified. No proof that he had a son Joseph has been seen.

Sources

1. ↑ Henry Edwards Scott, ed., "Two Early Passenger Lists," The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 75 (1921): (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1921), image of p. 220 at Google Books.
2. ↑ Frances Manwaring Caulkins, History of New London, Connecticut: From the First Survey of the Coast in 1612 to 1860 (New London: H. D. Utley, 1895); image of pp. 295-6 at InternetArchive.org.
3. ↑ Donald Lines Jacobus, "John Lewis of New London, Conn.; Joseph Lewis of Simsbury, Conn.,” American Genealogist 37[1961]:123-28
4. ↑ Caulkins, Frances Manwaring. History of New London, Connecticut, from the First Survey of the Coast in 1612 to 1860. New London: H. D. Utley, 1895. Page 250.
5. ↑ Hempstead, Joshua. Diary of Joshua Hempstead of New London, Connecticut. New London, CT: New London County Historical Society, 1901. Page 66.
6. ↑ "Connecticut, Vital Records, Prior to 1850," database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPS5-TZBT : 15 April 2022), John Lewis, 24 May 1677; citing Marriage, New London, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America, Compiled by Lucius A. and Lucius B. Barbour, housed at State Library, Hartford, Connecticut; FHL microfilm 007833262.
7. ↑ Totten, John R. "Thatcher-Thacher Genealogies," The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, New York. 1914. vol 45, page 259. GoogleBooks.
8. ↑ "Probate records, 1675-1916". Catalog: Probate records, 1675-1916 Probate records v. B(p.185-end)-C 1716-1734. Film number: 007629910 > image 49 of 616. FamilySearch Image: 3QS7-L92Y-LZ82 (accessed 30 March 2023).
9. ↑ "Probate records, 1675-1916". Catalog: Probate records, 1675-1916 Probate records v. B(p.185-end)-C 1716-1734. Film number: 007629910 > image 64 of 616. FamilySearch Image: 3QS7-L92Y-LZZ2 (accessed 30 March 2023).
10. ↑ John Camden Hotten, The Original Lists of Persons of Quality... (London: Chatto and Windus, 1874), image of p. xx at InternetArchive.org.
11. ↑ Henry Edwards Scott, ed., "Two Early Passenger Lists," The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 75 (1921): (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1921), image of p. 220 at Google Books.

• Greene, Richard H., et al; Title: New York Genealogical and Biographical Record; Publication: Name: New York Genealogical & Biographical Society; NOTE1914 Edition A Google E-book Greene NY Genealogical Record
• John Huntley, Immigrant of Boston & Roxbury, Massachusetts and Lyme, Connecticut 1647-1977 and some of his Descendants. Author: Virgil W. Huntley. Books I, II, III. 1978, 1993, 1996. Material from the books used with written permission of the author.