Lydia (Unknown) Hallett (abt. 1705 - abt. 1785)

Born about 1705 in Newtown, Queens, Province of New York [uncertain]

Descendants

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Biography

It has been asserted that Lydia, wife and widow of Joseph Hallett II of Newtown Queens, New York, was born Lydia Alsop. A previous version of this profile asseeted she was the daughter of Thomas Alsop and Susanna Blackwell. However, Thomas Alsop's will, executed in 1743, refers to his daughter Lydia repeatedly as Lydia Alsop, even while naming his daughter Mary Way by her husband's name. As such, in order to believe that she married Joseph Hallett, we would have to either suspect that Thomas used her maiden name for his own reasons, or that she married, subsequent to Joseph's death, one of her first cousins. Both of these possibilities seem rather far fetched. As such, she has been detached from Thomas and Susanna (Blackwell) Alsop and her LNAB is Unknown. An "a.k.a." of Alsop has been added to her name so that people seeking her based on secondary sources making this assertion can still find her.

Lydia, origins unknown, must have married Joseph Hallett in or before 1731.

They had two children:

• Joseph Hallett, bap. 1731^[1][2]
• Lydia Hallett, b. 1732^[1][3]

Her husband Joseph died in 1731, intestate, before their daughter Lydia was born. It is likely that Joseph's probate record suggested to earlier genealogists that she may have been an Alsop:

Richard Alsop, yeoman of Newtown, Joseph's "principal creditor", was assigned by the court as administrator of Joseph's estate, Lydia having renounced administration,^[4] and Thomas Alsop and Jacob Blackwell performed the inventory and appraisal thereof.^[5]

The inventory included one "negro boy", valued at £26.

If she was Thomas and Susanna (Blackwell) Alsop's daughter, the above men may have been her brother, her father or other brother, and her uncle.

It is not known what happened to Lydia after Joseph's death. It is rumored that she lived until 1785. It is possible that she was buried in the old Hallett grave yard in Hallett's Cove.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Greene, Richard H, Henry R. Stiles et al. The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record. New York: New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, 1870-. Print., Vol. VI (1875), p. 110.
2. ↑ Greene, Richard H, Henry R. Stiles et al.. The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record. New York: New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, 1870-. Print., Vol. XIX (1888), p. 12, citing The Register Book for the Parish of Jamaica.
3. ↑ Poyer's register of baptisms in the Parish of Jamaica ends before 1732, thus her baptism record is not found.
4. ↑ Estate of Joseph Hallett Jr. Letters of administration, 1731. New York County Wills, 11:196. "New York, Probate Records, 1629-1971," images, FamilySearch (accessed 22 May 2015), New York > Wills 1730-1732 vol 11 > image 141 of 303; county courthouses, New York.
5. ↑ Estate of Joseph Hallett Jr. Inventory, 1732. New York County Inventories 1732-1750, p. 62. "New York, Probate Records, 1629-1971," images, FamilySearch (accessed 22 May 2015), New York > Inventories 1709-1752 and 1776-1786 > image 60 of 718; county courthouses, New York.