THE QUESTION OF LYDIA PHELPS' PARENTS PT3

Continuing the story of my search to confirm the identities of the parents of
Lydia Phelps, my 5x great grandmother:

Having looked at the probate file of Jonathan Phelps at the American Ancestors
website, I next decided to see what I could find in Charlotte Helen Abbott's EarlyRecords Of The Phelps Family Of Andover on the Memorial Hall Library of Andover,
Ma. website. Since Beulah is a distinctive name I used that in the Find function of my
Firefox browser. I found two mentions of Beulah Parker. The first is on page 5 in the
list of the children of Samuel Phelps and Elizabeth Andrews.

It says their son Jonathan Phelps was born in 1726, that he married Beulah Parker
(but no date is given) .that he died in Groton, Ma in 1758, and that Beulah's second
husband was Peter Gilson. Notice the name of Jonathan's sister above his name.

The next mention of Jonathan and Beulah is the list of their children on page 9:

They match the names of the children in the probate file for Jonathan Phelps.

I decided to Google search next using the words Beulan, Parker, and Groton to
see if I could find more on Beulah. Old reliable William Richard Cutter came through for me again:

(III) John Parker, son of Samuel Parker (2), was born at Groton, in 1694. He married in that town, May 22, 1719, Joanna Ames. Children, born in Groton: 1. John, December 12, 1719. 2. Robert, January 20, 1720. 3. Jerusha, June 20, 1725. 4. Sarah, June 8, 1727. 5. Beulah, October 10, 1729. 6. Jonathan, December 1, 1732 (twin). 7. Relief (twin), December 1, 1732. 8. Deborah, June 4, 1736. 9. Oliver, mentioned below...-p1865

William Richard Cutter, Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of Boston and Eastern Massachusetts, Volume 4(Google eBook) Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1910 Boston (Mass.)

When I saw the name of Beulah's mother, I recognized it immediately.

To be continued.

THE QUESTION OF LYDIA PHELPS' PARENTS PT2

Continuing the story of my search to confirm the identities of the parents of
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:

((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.) ))



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...

THE QUESTION OF LYDIA PHELPS' PARENTS PT1

A few years back I posted about the question of the identities of the parents of
Lydia (Phelps) West, my 5x great grandmother. The original information I had
was that she was the daughter of Jonathan Phelps and Beulah Parker of Groton,
Massachusetts. Then seven years ago I found this:

"My father was John Ames, who was born in Groton, Mass., and
mother was Lydia Phelps, who was born in Hollis, Mass... When
father married second wife, the widow of Sampson Read, she had
three children, Sampson, Lydia and Amy, then children by John
Ames were: John, Jonathan, Zekiel, Polly, Betsey, and Ralph;
all born in Groton, Mass., except Ralph, who was in Merrimac,
Mass., and myself in Hollis." --Aunt Betsey Putnam, as told to Axel
H. Reed, Genealogy, p. 17.

"Lydia Phelps, my mother, was of Scottish decent [sic], whose
parents were born in Scotland, and from whom the Reads got
their light eyes, so father Ames used to say."
--Aunt Betsey Putnam, as told to Axel H. Reed, Genealogy, p. 17.

((The source for the quotes is: "Genealogical Record of The Reads,
Reeds, the Bisbees, the Bradfords of the United States of America"
in the line of Esdras Read of Boston and England, 1635 to 1915.
Thomas Besbedge or Bisbee of Scituate, Mass. and England, 1634
to 1915. Governor William Bradford, of Plymouth, Mass., and
England, 1620 to 1915." By Axel Hayford Reed, Glencoe, MN,
1915. I found them here at “The Ancestry of Overmire, Tifft, Richardson,
Bradford, Reed,” by Larry Overmire, RootsWeb World Connect Project,
2000-2007))

On the strength of that I unlinked Jonathan Phelps and Beulah Paker as Lydia's
parents because their families had been in Massachusetts for nearly a century
before Lydia's birth. But I didn't remove them or their families from my database
until I found more definite proof one way or the other . Then a few months back
the NEHGS added the Middlesex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1648-1871 
images to their American Ancestors and I started searching there for for the probate
files belonging  to my Middlesex County ancestors. One of the names I searched
for was Jonathan Phelps.

What I found there and one other place has I think settled the question of who
Lydia Phelps' parents were for me.

To be continued