Daniel WEED

Notes:

Name:
"Connecticut Ancestry": Daniel Weed 3rd and Keziah, wife of Daniel Weed 3rd, were already members of the Stamford Congregational Church in December, 1746 when a complete listing was made by the incoming minister, the Rev. Noah Welles.

This Daniel Weed is easily confused with his second cousin, another contemporary Daniel Weed (Daniel, John, Jonas). In fact, responsible genealogists have reached differing conclusions over the years regarding their careers. Edward Franklin Weed (Genealogical Notebook, Weed Family Genealogical Collection (GE-24), New Canaan Historical Society, 58-9), perhaps the most knowledgeable Weed researcher of all, reached the conclusion that this present Daniel Weed married Susannah Garnsey, without explaining his reasoning. This marriage was also reported by William Applebie Daniel Eardeley, a contemporary of E.F. Weed's, whose work also survives entirely in manuscript. Paul Prindle also followed this path in his outstanding essay on the Weed family for his Gillespie Ancestry, which is so useful for the earlier generations of this family.

In the course of the present investigation, the conclusions of Mssrs. Weed and Eardeley were given great weight because of the depth of their previous analysis. unfortunately, their conclusion that this present Daniel Weed, son of Lt. Daniel, had married Sussannah Garnsey had to be abandoned in the light of many significant discrepancies that arose in trying to make the primary records fit this situation. For example, as alread noted, it was this Daniel Weed who was generally known as Daniel "3rd" when paired with his wife Keziah in the Stamford Congregational Church records, and also known as Daniel "3rd" in the same time period when mentioned by his father Lt. Daniel, in the land records. The Susannah Garnsey marriage must therefore instead be assigned to Daniel Weed (Daniel, John, Jonas), his second cousin.....

Daniel married Keziah BRUSH about 1737/8. Keziah (daughter of Jacob BRUSH and Mary ROGERS) was born about 1710; died after 1745. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Keziah WEED was born in 1737; died after 1796.
2. Brush WEED was born on 2 Apr 1739 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA; was christened on 18 Aug 1751; died about 1776.
3. Daniel WEED was born on 17 Feb 1741/42 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA; died about 1783 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA.
4. Zephaniah WEED was born on 15 Feb 1744/45 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA; died after 1797 in Salem, Westchester Co., New York.
5. Mary WEED was born on 20 May 1748 in Stamford, Fairfield County,Connecticut; was christened on 5 Jun 1748.
6. Aranias WEED was born on 20 May 1748 in Stamford, Fairfield County, Connecticut; was christened on 5 Jun 1748; died on abt. Oct 1748 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut.
7. Sarah WEED was born in Connecticut; was christened on 9 Sep 1750 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut.
8. Elizabeth WEED was born in Stamford, Fairfield Co., Connecticut; was christened on 8 Sep 1754.
9. Deborah WEED was born in Stamford, Fairfield Co., Connecticut; was christened on 10 Apr 1757 in Stamford, Fairfield Co., Connecticut.

Notes:

Name:
"Connecticut Ancestry": In a few records, notably in 1714 at the time he and his wife Elizabeth were parties to the agreement regarding her father's estate, he was known as Daniel Weed Junior to distinguish him from the other contemporary Daniel Weed in Stamford at the time. soon afterward, however, the number of Daniels Weeds in town doubled to 4 heads of families, and the nomenclature problem became more difficult. In later years this present Daniel Weed was sometimes identified with his militia officer's title in the Stamford records and sometimes not, causing some confusion in interpretation of those records for us today. Paul Prindle noted that there were several Daniel Weeds in the Stamford records and admitted with understatement that, "It is sometimes difficult to distinguish one Daniel from another in the public records," so that whenever Lt. Daniel WAS identified with his militia title, it gave us a benchmark with which to place the other contemporary Daniels in their proper positions.

In one interesting case, the Stamford assessors chose to eliminate numerical titles altogether and named the four different Daniel Weeds on their 1738 tax list simply (and very effectively ) as "Lef Dan Weed", "Dan Weed Lef son," "Dan Weed," and "Dan Weed Dan son."

Part of the confusion with titles is due to the fact that Daniel's military offices were not held until rather late in his life. His commission as ensign of the Stamford 1st Militia company or trainband was created by the Connecticut General Assembly in October 1733 when Daniel was already 48 years old. Four years later on 13 October 1737, he received his commission as lieutenant of the same Stamford Company from the General Assembly, and this important title was used more frequently thereafter in the Stamford records.

Once again, the reader is referred to Paul Prindle's Gillespie book for a reliable and fairly thorough account of Lt. Daniel's career, but with the caution that some errors in the Prindle account of this family have been discovered as noted below.

Lt. Daniel's real estate transactions, many of which shed important light on his family relationships, were not detailed in Prindle's treatment. Whenever he chose not to use the military title in his transaction, care must be taken to be sure of the identity of the "Daniel Weed" that was meant......

The will of Daniel Weed of Stamford was made on 11 Sept 1762, witnessed by Abraham Davenport, Anne Belding and "Elizabeth Davenport Jr.," and proved 5 August 1766. His inventory was taken by Abraham Hait (Hoyt) and Benjamin Weed on 24 September 1766. A distribution was made and accepted by the Court on 16 March 1767 in which his lands were distributed subject to the widow's right of dower to his daughter Elizabeth Seeley, 8 acres plus 2 roods; daughter Deborah Scofield, 4 acres plus 3 roods; a grandson Silvanus Haity, 3 acres plus 2 roods and 12 Rods; and the remainder according to a complicated formula equally divided into four units, 3 to the surviving sons Daniel, Hezekiah and nehemiah Weed, and the fourth to four grandchildren, all sons of Reuben Weed, deceased, namely Reuben (Jr.), John, Eliphalet and Elnathan Weed.

On 8 May 1767, the "Legatees of our Honoured Father and Grandfather Lieut. Daniel Weed Late of Stamford," being Daniel Weed Jr. and Hezekiah Weed (sons) and Reunen Weed, John Weed Jr. and Eliphalet Weed (grandsons) quit claimed land at Strawberry Hill to (their brother and uncle) Nehemiah Weed. Zephaniah Weed, son of Daniel "Jr." witnessed his father's signature on this document.

Daniel married Elizabeth SCOFIELD about 1708 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA. Elizabeth (daughter of Daniel SCOFIELD and Abigail MERWIN) was born about 1690 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA; died in 1728 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]