Dorothy MOULTON

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact: Daughter of Robert and Alice Moulton

Notes:

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In 1943, Mary Walton Ferris cautiously suggested, as a "theory justified by circumstantial evidence," that Dorothy was the daughter "Dorothy Edwards" whose bequest was 20 marks and two pullobers in Robert Moulton's will dated 20 February 1654/5 at Salem, Massachusetts (Dawes-Gates Ancestral Lines (Milwaukee, 1943), 1:452). Except for dates, names, and the implication that Dorothy probably lived at a distance since she was to receive no share of the household goods, Mrs. Ferris had little specific evidence for this conjecture. However, it is confirmed by a combination of records in Connecticut which show that Dorothy Moulton's nephew Samuel Moulton (Robert2-1) of Salem was temporarily residing at Wethersfield when he died 25 September 1667 at the home of John Edwards's son Thomas in Hockanum (JWJ Med. rec., 759; Hartford Probate District, 3:60). the presence of this young man at Wethersfield, whose estate was also administered at Salem in June 1668, is naturally explained if Thomas Edwards's stepmother, Dorothy, was Samuel Moulton's aunt Dorothy Moulton. The two pillobers may have been in Dorothy's possession long before her father formally gave them to her in 1655. Her husband Abraham Finch's inventory a Wethersfield in 1640 included "2 prre of pilloberes" (Charles William Manwaring, 'A Digest of the Connecticut Probate Records, Hartford District (3 vols. Hartford, 1904-6; hereinafter Manwaring, 1:11).

Dorothy married Abraham FINCH before 1637. Abraham was born in 1610; died on 23 Apr 1637 in Wethersfield "massacre". [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Dorothy married John EDWARDS before Dec 1638. John was born about 1600 in England; died on 27 Dec 1664 in Wethersfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Dorothy married Richard TOWSLEY before 5 Jun 1667. Richard died before 12 Apr 1676. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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By her first husband, Dorothy had a son, Abraham Finch, who was with her at Saybrook and died unmarried between November 1666 and June 1667 leaving legacies to his mother, "Dorothy Tousley of Saybrook", his "sister" Hannah Edwards, and Lydia Bement, daughter of Saybrook's William Bement.(New London Court records, 1:89, 105; 2:25, Connecticut State Library). (Apparently this son was the Abraham "Edwards", born 12 August 1637 placed in the John Edwards family by Stiles on the authority of James Savage in his 'Genealogical Dictionary of the Firs Settlers of New England'. No known evidence shows that John Edwards was the father of a son Abraham, but his stepson,Abraham Finch, was the major creditor of his estate in 1664 (Hartford Prob. Dist., File 1818). The dates show that the child Abraham was born four months after Abraham Finch was slain by Nepaupuck, thus no doubt his posthumous son.

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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]