Deborah (Palmer) Towner (1642 - aft. 1727)

Born 5 Feb 1642 in Wethersfield, Hartford County, Connecticut Colony

Wife of Lewis Jones — married 4 Dec 1660 in Wethersfield, Connecticut

Wife of Henry Champion — married 21 Mar 1698 in Lyme, New London, Connecticut

Wife of Henry Crane — married 26 Dec 1709 in Killingworth, Connecticut

Wife of Richard Towner Sr. — married 6 Mar 1717 in Haddam, Middlesex, Connecticut

Descendants

Died after 18 Sep 1727 after age 85 in Saybrook, New London County, Connecticut Colony

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Biography

Deborah Palmer was a daughter and the first recorded child of Henry Palmer and Katherine Palmer. She was born 5 February 1642 (or possibly 5 February 1642/3) in Wethersfield, Connecticut.^[1] Citing Wethersfield Deeds 1:16.

Deborah, d. Henry & Ruth*, b. Feb. 5, 1642 *(correction Ruth crossed out, Katharine handwritten at end of entry in original manuscript.) ^[2]

Family

Deborah was married four times. Several researchers traced her biography through two of these marriages, but failed to identify all of them, or incorrectly assumed that her last name at the time of a marriage was her maiden name, when in fact it was the name of the previous husband. Jean Rumsey worked out her complete marital history and described it in a 2004 article in The Genealogist.

Deborah's first husband was Lewis Jones. They were married in Wethersfield, Connecticut, on 4 December 1660.^[3][4] That Lewis Jones' wife was Deborah Palmer is established by a deed that Lewis Jones recorded around the time of the marriage for a 10-acre parcel of land in Wethersfield that he said was "given him by his father in law Henr Palmer."^[5]

Children of Deborah and Lewis Jones included:

1. Hannah, birth or baptism record not known; probably born in Wethersfield; married (1) Matthew Ransom and (2) Stephen de Wolfe.
2. Margaret, born "middle Thursday of August" in 1667 at Saybrook, Connecticut. Married (1) at Lyme, Connecticut, on 4 October 1688 to Wolston Brockway Jr. Married (2) at Lyme, Connecticut, on 7 February 1710/2 to Thomas Ennis. Died at Lyme 17 January 1738/9.^[6][7]
3. Katherine, born at Saybrook, Connecticut, 28 May 1671.^[6][1]
4. Jonathan, born at Saybrook "2nd Wednesday in November" 1673.^[6][1]
5. Samuel, born at Saybrook on 18 May 1676. Married Mary Lay of Lyme in Saybrook on 8 December 1697.^[6][1]
6. Ephraim, born at Saybrook on 1 May 1685.^[6][8]

Lewis Jones died before June 1696, when his estate was proved. Administration was granted to his widow, whose first name is not in the probate record.^[9]

Deborah's second husband was Henry Champion, a widower. They were married on 21 March 1697/8 in Lyme, New London, Connecticut. She was his second wife.^[1][10] Henry Champion died at Lyme, Connecticut, on 17 February 1708/9, "in his 97th year."^[11] The couple had a prenuptial agreement. It provided that "whatever estate Deborah Jones shall carry with her to Henry Champean's habitation shall remain her own," would not become part of his estate, and would be distributed to her children from her first marriage after her death. Additionally, it stated that Henry would not dispose of any of his real estate by gift or sale without his wife's permission and that Deborah would be entitled to the widow's share of Henry's estate after his death. Henry was older than Deborah by about three decades, and a passage in The Champion Genealogy indicates that Henry Champion's descendants believed that Deborah took advantage of him through this prenuptial agreement:

"[Henry Champion's] second wife was a shrewd, scheming woman, for she induced this old man to make a very advantageous marriage settlement upon her, and finally involved him in a law suit with the widow of his eldest son, who resisted the resumption of the gifts her father-in-law had made her husband, and maintained in a very spirited manner the rights of herself and children."^[12]

Henry Champion died 17 February 1708/9, "said to be aged about 98 years."^[13] Deborah was his widow when she married Henry Crane on 26 December 1709.^[14][15] Henry Crane died at Killingworth, Connecticut, on 22 April 1711.^[16]

On 6 March 1716/7, Deborah Crane was married at Killingworth, Connecticut,^[17] to Richard Towner of Branford, Connecticut. He died in Branford on 22 August 1727, and his will was proved on 18 September 1727. Deborah was living as of that date, but no later record of her is known.^[18]

Research Notes

Profile Palmer-14106, citing Ancestry Family Trees, etc., gave her the first name of Dorothy.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4} Harris, Gale Ion. "Henry and Katherine Palmer of Wethersfield, Connecticut, and Newport, Rhode Island." The Genealogist, Fall 2003, Volume 17, No. 2, pp. 175-185.
2. ↑ Wethersfield, Connecticut Vital Records to 1850 (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2011.) (From original typescripts, Lucius Barnes Barbour Collection, 1928.)
3. ↑ Barbour Collection of Connecticut Vital Records, Wethersfield, page 168: Jones, Lewis, m. Deborah ______, Dec. 4, 1660.
4. ↑ Torrey's New England Marriages Prior to 1700, vol. 2, page 868: JONES, Lewis, & Deborah [PALMER], dau Henry, m./2 Henry CHAMPION, 1698; 4 Dec 1660, by 1667; Wethersfield, CT/Saybrook, CT.
5. ↑ Harris, page 183. Citing Wethersfield Deeds 1:142 and Adams, "Early Inhabitants of Wethersfield," 1:281.
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4} Vital Records of Saybrook, 1647-1834, page 9
7. ↑ Harris, page 183, citing several sources.
8. ↑ Harris, page 184.
9. ↑ Rumsey, pages 97-98
10. ↑ Torrey's New England Marriages Prior to 1700, vol. 1, page 294: CHAMPION, Henry, ( -1709, 1708?, ae 98) & 2/wf Deborah JONES, m/2 Henry CRANE, m cont 21 Mar 1697/8, Saybrook, CT/Lyme, CT.
11. ↑ Rumsey, page 98
12. ↑ Trowbridge, page 19.
13. ↑ Trowbridge, page 20
14. ↑ Torrey, Clarence Almon. New England Marriages Prior to 1700. page 143: CHAMPION,Henry, & 2/wf Deborah JONES, m/2 Henry Crane.
15. ↑ Cothren, William. History of Ancient Woodbury, Connecticut, 1872, page1484
16. ↑ Rumsey page 98, citing Killingworth Vital Records, and Cothren, William. History of Ancient Woodbury, Connecticut, 1872, page1484.
17. ↑ Connecticut: Vital Records (The Barbour Collection), 1630-1870 (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2011.) From original typescripts, Lucius Barnes Barbour Collection, 1928. Killingworth, page 119: TOWNER, Richard, m. Deborah Crane, Mar. 6, 1716
18. ↑ Rumsey, page 98

• Robinson, Shirley Amacher (Researcher) 1002 South Brown Street, Mt. Pleasant, Michigan 48858.
• Rumsey, Jean, "Two More Marriages for Deborah (Palmer) (Jones) Champion: Henry Crane of Killingworth and Richard Towner of Branford, Connecticut," The Genealogist 18 (Spring 2004): 97-98.
• Tharp, Joyce Darlene, Deborah Jones / Burwell / Champion. November 12, 2014
• Towner, James William. A Genealogy of the Towner Family; The Descendants of Richard Towner, Who Came From Sussex County, Eng., to Guilford, Conn., before 1685, Los Angeles, Cal.: Times-Mirror Prtg. and Binding House, 1910. http://www.archive.org/stream/genealogyoftowne00town/genealogyoftowne00town_djvu.txt. " ... Deborah Crane, whom he married in Haddam Mar. 6, 1716-17, 0. S. ..."
• Trowbridge, Francis Bacon. Champion Genealogy: History of the Descendants of Henry Champion, Saybrook and Lyme, Connecticut. New Haven, Conn.: 1891.
• Vital Records of Saybrook, 1647-1834 (Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford, 1952)
• Wethersfield Vital Records, In Land Records, Vol. 2, The American Genealogist (1933) Vol. 10, Page 107. Marriage record.