John EDWARDS

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John Edwards appears often in records of local affairs after 1640, though he was in Wethersfield before his son John was born in December 1638. He served on juries at Hartford twelve times between July 1640 and September 1648.Edwards and Nathaniel Foote were co-defendants in a trespass action by Leonard Chester in July 1640, and with John Hollister he gave security for Robert Bedle's appearance at court in December 1644. In March 645/6, John Edwards and Samuel Ireland's widow, then wife of Robert Burrows of New London, presented Ireland's inventory to the court. Ten years later in Mach 1655/, William Gibbons's brother-in-law Luke Hitchcock sued John for a debt, and he was sued in May 1657 by William Gull.

John had recorded his three-acre lot with a house and barn on 26 April 1641 and sold it to John Lattimer in 1654 (Wethersfield Deeds, l:220). Stiles's brief sketch cited above shows that Edwards was townsman in 1648/9, that he bought the homestead of his wife's former husband, Abraham Finch, in 1651 (also stated as 1657), that he was Town Drummer and caretaker of the meeting house in 1659, and that in February 1661/2 he was consignee on account of his stepson, Abraham Finch, for two hogsheads and one tierce of sugar from Barbados to be delivered at New London on the 'Tryall'. John Lattimer, the buyer of Edwards's homelot in 1654, was in Hartford by 1639 and had returned to England in 1642 as an agent for Gov. Wyllys or his steward, William Gibbons. in light of other affiliation noted in the introduction, it is of interest that Lattimer, Samuel Gardner, and Richard Risley, were among the several grantees of lands in the (modern) East Hartford section of Hockanum in 1640 and 1641. Risley's inventory was taken in 1648 by William Gibbons, and his descendants appear later as spouses of Edwards's descendants. Samuel Gardner and Edward's son Thomas became the first settlers in the adjacent Wethersfield part of Hockanum, and Lattimer's widow the second-largest creditor of John Edwards's estate.....

In his last years, John was called "John Edwards, Senior, of Wethersfield" when Winthrop treated him in April 1661, in February 1663/4 (prescription "sent by his son Tho: Edwards"), in July 1664, and shortly before he died in December 1664. Aside from the local religious dissension which divided the community and the Edwards family itself, another discord had surfaced between the older half-brother Thomas, and the rest of the family. On 9 May 1665, the son John Edwards and the widow Dorothy Edwards, administrators of John Edwards's estate, sued Thomas "for illegal possessing and misprouving two allotments of the said John Edwards on the East Side of the Great River at Nabuck to the damage of L30".

John died intestate. His inventory was taken by the townsmen on 27 December 1664.

Family/Spouse: ? UNKNOWN. ? died before Dec 1638 in England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

John married Dorothy MOULTON before Dec 1638. Dorothy was born in 1618 in England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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The estimate of his age at death appears to be high. On 27 August 1667, stating his age as 43 years or thereabouts," he gave a deposition about land prices and rents at Hocknum in a lawsuit between Samuel Wyllys and Mrs. Ursula Gibbons, and he was "about 47" on 10 November 1670 when he testified to Samuel Benjamin's oral will at Hockanum. He married soon after September 1649 the widow ? LOVELAND (sometimes Lovenam). Thomas's "wife" was living 28 June 1667 when Winthrop treated her for a "hurt on side by fall". Jacobus and Waterman showed that widow Loveland had children by her unknown previous husband, surname LOVELAND: Thomas, born ca. 1641 who resided in Glastonbury, May, born ca. 1644 and living at Hockanum in 1663; and John, born "say 1646 but perhaps before 1641," who died in 1670.

Thomas married Widow LOVELAND after Sep 1649. Widow died after 28 Jun 1667. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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John Edwards, Jr., aged 20, and his brother Joseph, 10, "sons of John" at Wethersfield, were seen by Winthrop on @4 March 1658/9. In 1664, John bought from John Graves 42 acres on the east side of the river, which he sold to James Richards, the Hartford merchant who married William and Ursula Gibbons's daughter Sarah. As administrators of his father's estate, John and his mother sued his half-brother Thomas in May 1665 over east-side lands, but in Sept. 1667 John provided the cider for the funeral of his cousin Samuel Molton at Thomas's house in Hockanum. John was presented for freeman at Wethersfield in May 1669, and he owed money to the estate of his brother Thomas's stepson John Loveland in Nov. 1670.

On 21 April 1675, John Edwards was granted liberty "for two years to build upon his house lott," perhaps in contemplation of marriage, but as "Corporal John Edwards" he was killed that December. Four weeks later, Benjamin Adams and Samuel Williams testified "that being in the late service against the enemie in the Company of John Edwards of Wethersfield, the said Edwards being mortally wounded did order that his estate should remaine to his mother her lifetime and after her decease he willed that his brother Joseph should inherit all the estate." The nuncupative will and inventory were presented at court in April 1676, and administration was granted to his other, then "widow Towsley" of Saybrook. the inventory included part of his father's estate "which was put into his hands by the Court as joynt administrator with this mother".

Hester married John COLT between Mar and Oct 1665 in Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut, USA. John was born in 1637 in Colchester, England; died after 1713 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Ruth married Richard MORTON before 26 Feb 1665/6. Richard died on 5 Apr 1710 in Hatfield, Hampshire Co., Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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She was allowed an extra portion of her father's estate in March 1664/5 "because of her impotency." A legacy from her half-brother Abraham Finch was confirmed to her by the New London county Court on 19 Sept. 1667. She may be the "hanna" who was allowed 10 shillings on 25 Sept. 667 "for her time in sitting up with "Samuel Molton who died at Thomas Edwards's house in Hockanum.

Joseph married Sarah ? on 12 Nov 1670 in Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut, USA. Sarah died between 25 Mar 1716 and 1719. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Lydia married John HUNNEWELL on 1 Jan 1679/80 in Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut, USA. John died before 5 Aug 1706. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]