Deborah (Parke) Williams (1696 - abt. 1759)

Born 5 Aug 1696 in Preston, New London, Connecticut Colony

Ancestors

Wife of John Fanning Jr. — married 1716 in Groton, Connecticut

Wife of Benajah Williams — married 14 May 1722 in Stonington, New London County, Connecticut Colony

Descendants

Died about 11 Dec 1759 at about age 63 in Salisbury, Litchfield, Connecticut Colony

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Biography

Deborah Parke, daughter of William Parke and Hannah (Frink) Parke, was born at Preston, Connecticut, August 5, 1696. She was a great-granddaughter of Robert Parke, who married in Edmondsbury, England, Martha Chaplin, and who came to America in 1630 in the ship "Arbella."

Deborah Parke married (first) at Groton, Connecticut, about 1716, John Fanning, son of Lieutenant John Fanning, who was born about 1688 in New London. They settled in that part of New London in which John was born, later set off as Groton. John Fanning was admitted an inhabitant of Groton, May 22, 1712. The children of John and Deborah (Parke) Fanning were:

1. John Fanning, born in Groton, 28 Oct 1717/18

2. Thomas Fanning, born in Groton, about 1719, posthumously to his father

John Fanning died intestate at Groton in December, 1718. His death was caused by accidentally cutting an artery in his leg. The two sons of this marriage were raised essentially by Deborah's father, William Parke.

The widow Deborah (Parke) Fanning married (second), May 14, 1722, Benajah Williams, son of Captain John and Martha (Wheeler) Williams ^[1]; henceforth they resided at Stonington, Connecticut, until after their fifth child was born in 1735.

In about 1739 this family moved away from southeastern Connecticut to Goshen, in the northwestern corner of the colony; see the biography of Benajah Williams for further details. Their sixth and final child was born at Goshen, about 1740. This family did not remain long at Goshen, and relocated to Salisbury, Connecticut, in 1742.

Deborah (Parke/Fanning) Williams died 11 Dec 1759 at Salisbury, Connecticut.

Thereafter some of their children moved to Vermont, and their father Benajah Williams probably moved with them.

Siblings marrying siblings: Deborah's older sister Hannah married John Fanning's older brother Edmund.

Sources

1. ↑ Ellery Bicknell Crane, "Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of Worcester County, Massachusetts," The Lewis Publishing Company, 1906, Vol II, p 9

• History of Stonington etc. (Wheeler, 1900), p. 668 no. 162: https://archive.org/stream/historyoftownofs00whee_1#page/n690/mode/1up