Joshua STODDARD

Joshua married Bethiah SMITH on 15 Aug 1684 in Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut, USA. Bethiah was born in 1660 in Connecticut; died on 28 Apr 1725 in Wethersfield, Hartford Co. Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Excerpt from "The Descendants of Nathaniel Foote Sr. & Elizabeth Deming" by Ellwood Court Curtis:
There is a tradition concerning the origin of the name Stoddard that the first of the family came over to England with William the Conqueror as standard-bearer to Viscompte De Pulesdon, a Norman nobleman. the name is derived from the office of a standard-bearer and was anciently written as De La Standard. It became corrupted to Stodder, Stoder, Stodker, Studard, or Stodart. Some of these forms appear in various Wethersfield records.
He was an early settler of Wethersfield. Records there show he was a juror on 2 Marth 1642/1643' a plaintiff in an action of trespassing against John Plum where he claimed 20 shillings on 6 April 1643; having land recorded to him on 18 June 1645; and as a defendant in an action brought by William Boreman on 4 December 1645.
The inventory of his estate was taken 20 December 1664 by John Chester, William Goodrich, Samuel Hale, and John Deming, townsmen, and had a value of L407-08-00. Administration of the estate was granted to his widow.

John married Mary FOOTE in 1642 in Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut, USA. Mary (daughter of Nathaniel FOOTE and Elizabeth DEMING) was born about 1623 in England; died after Aug 1685 in Wethersfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Birth: Abt 1593, England
• Emigration: 1633
• Death: 20 Nov 1644, Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut, USA
• Fact: 20 Nov 1644, Inventory of estate taken.

Notes:

Excerpt from "The Descendants of Nathaniel Foote Sr. & Elizabeth Deming" by Ellwood Count Curtis:
From all that we an learn Mr. Foote came from Shalford, in Colchester, England, and settled in Watertown, Massachusetts. The first mention I find made of his name is in the Records of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, in 1633, when he took the oath of freeman.........
Mr. Foote married in England, about the year 1615, to Elizabeth Deming, sister of Mr. John Deming, who was one of the first settlers of Wethersfield, and for many years one of the magistrates of the Colony of Connecticut, and one of the patentees named in its charter. His children were all born in England, except perhaps the youngest. Mr. Foote died in 1644, aged about 51 years, and was buried in the ancient burying ground in the rear of the Meeting House, where are gathered together the ashes of nine generations. He left behind him, surviving, a widow, two sons and five daughters. He left no will. At a Particular Court held at Harford, 20 November 1644, the following inventory of his property and distribution of his real estate were exhibited, and an order of court granting distribution of his estate and directing a distribution to be made, was passed.
"An inventory of the good and lands of Nathaniel Foote, of Wethersfield, deceased, being truly taken and indifferently apprised by Richard Treat, Samuel Smith, and Nathaniel Dickinson. The estate was valued at over L380."

Excerpt from "Dawes-Gates Ancestral Lines": Nathaniel, with his wife and probably six children, emigrated to New England where he became a freeman of Watertown, Massachusetts,on September 3, 1634, owned a homestead of sixteen acres and a two-acre marsh and was still a proprietor as late as 1642, but removed before that date to Wethersfield, Connecticut, probably with the first group of its settlers in 1634-6.
In this new home he was the wealthiest man and the largest holder of the so-called "Adventurers' lands." He held a ten-acre home lot and gradually added various other tracts including the southern part of "Pennywise Island." In 1639 he laid out a road two rods wide which ran east from the Connecticut River "to the Wilderness" through his "3 mile lot." Farming was his occupation and, apparently, he established a good reputation as a stock raiser, or else he had superior breed of swine, for in May 1637, when the time "army" of ninety men under Captain John Mason was being provisioned to go against the Pequots, the Colonial authorities specified that "there shalbe 1 hogg provided att Wythersfield for the designe in hande, wch is conceiued to be Nathanial Footes.........."
He acted as Representative to the General Court from 1641-4 and served the community in other useful capacities.
This family, as a whole, had a large share in the tragedies of that early day for Philip Smith, husband o Rebecca Foote, was announced to have been "murdered with an hideous witchcraft"; among the members of the early generations, Nathaniel Foote had, (a), a daughter-in-law and two of her children taken captive by the Indians and another child killed; (b), a daughter and three of her children killed, while (c), her husband and two other children were made captives; and (d), two more of her children wounded; and Frances Foote lost two husbands by the Indians as well as one son-in-law killed and another, with four of his children, taken into captivity.
Nathaniel, aged about fifty-one, died intestate before December 11, 1644.

Nathaniel married Elizabeth DEMING about 1615 in England. Elizabeth (daughter of John DEMING, Sr. and ? UNKNOWN) was born about 1595 in Colchester, England; died on 28 Jul 1683 in Wethersfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut; was buried in Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Will Proved: Between Aug and Sep 1683
• Will: 16 Aug 1682

Notes:

Name:
There is a difference of opinion as to the name of the father for Elizabeth and John Deming. The book "The Descendants of Nathaniel Foote and Elizabeth Deming" by Ellwood Count Curtis, list Elizabeth's father's name as Richard. However, the book "Genealogy of the Descendants of John Deming of Wethersfield, Connecticut" lists John's father's name as John. Since the latter book gives reason for their conclusion, I am using the name of John.

I have placed the "Sr" after his name to be able to distinguish him from his son.

John married ? UNKNOWN. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]