Lydia Phelps, my 5x great grandmother:
I originally had Lydia's parents and Jonathan Phelps and Beulah Parker of
Groton, Ma. and then Hollis, New Hampshire. Sampson Read had cast doubt
on that in his genealogy of his family because of an interview with Betsey
(Ames)Putnam, my 4x great grandaunt, Betsey claimed that Jonathan Phelps
was a Scotsman because of stories Lydia had told her as a child.
The death date I had for Lydia's father Jonathan was 25Nov 1758. Looking in the
Middlesex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1648-1871 on the American Ancestors
website, I found this file:
((Middlesex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1648-1871.Online database.
AmericanAncestors.org.
New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014.
(From records
supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives.)
I opened the file and looking at the first image I knew it was the right Jonathan
Phelps:
(From records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives.) ))
The document reads:
To the Honourable Saml Danforth, Esq, Judge of
Probate for the County of Middlesex
These are to inform your Honour that it is my Desire
that you would appoint Capt Abel Lawrance of Groton
Administrator to ye estate of my husband Jonathan
Phelps Late of Groton Deceased & in so doing you oblige
your Humble Servt.
Groton March 12th 1759 Bulah Phelps
P:S: It is my desire my Brother Robert Parker
should be Gardian for my children Viz Joanna
Lydia Jonathan and Francis.
The rest of the file consists of images of the inventory of the estate, most of which
went to Beulah (Parker) Phelps.
Next I went to website for the Memorial Hall Library of Andover, Ma. , specifically to
the page for the Abbott Genealogies. These are collected genealogies written by my
distant cousin Charlotte Helen Abbott . She was a well known genealogist who wrote
a series of columns on the histories of Andover families for the local town newspaper.
One of those families was the Phelps family.
I'll discuss what she wrote about Jonathan Phelps and Beulah Parker in my next post.
To be continued...
5 comments:
Very interesting! I, too, am a descendant of Lydia Phelps and her second husband, John Ames, via their daughter Sally Ames Fuller. I had not previously been able to prove who Lydia's parents were, so it is interesting to see your thoughts on the subject.
Bill-does the will require a membership to access (I'd love to read the Phelps estate contents,too!) I met Jade via our autsomal DNA match thru Ancestry ...have you also submitted yours (100s I've not checked!)Deb Tripp Probert
Jade, email me if you have any questions about the Ames or Phelps families I can help with.
Deb, I haven't taken the Ancestry autosomal test. I took one from another company three years ago and it didn't help break down my West brick wall.
I just viewed this record in Salt Lake City at the Family History Library. I am related to Francis Phelps, Lydia's youngest brother. He moved to Vermont and married Anna Sephira Pratt. Very interesting! Three of the four children requested different guardians.
Hi cousin Mackenzie!
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