Deacon Edward Stebbins

Biographical Summary:

Deacon Edward Stebbins (Stebbin), Cambridge, 1633; freeman, Massachusetts, May 14, 1634; on Committee to consider Endicott's "defacing the colors," May, 1635; an original proprietor of Hartford; his home-lot in 1639 extended from the Meeting-House Square to the street now Front St.

He served as constable in 1638; deputy various times from 1639 to 1656; leather sealer, 1659.

His will is dated August 24, 1663; inventory August 19, 1668, £669. 2. His widow Mrs. Frances Stebbin's will is dated May 20, 1670, and November 12 1673; inventory December 23, 1673; both wills name "son, Mr. John Chester, now living in or near London."

Children:

i. daughter; married John Chester in England, [NO - disproved]

ii. Mary, married April 29, 1648, Walter Gaylord, of "Windsor; died June 29, 1657.

iii. Elizabeth, married (1) Robert Wilson, of Farmington, who died in 1666; (2) 1658, Thomas Cadwell (q. v.), of Hartford,

iv. Lydia; married Deacon John Wilson, of Hartford. [NO - disproved]

SOURCE: James Hammond Trumbull, editor, The memorial history of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884, Volume 1 (Boston, Massachusetts: Edward L. Osgood, 1886), page 261. Retrieved: 3 May 2011 from Google Books

Notes

QUOTE: By some curious error, James Savage in Geneal. Dict. Of New England, under “Stebbins,” says that Lydia was a dau. of Edward and Frances Stebbing, whereas of course she was in fact theirgranddaughter-in-law. [Quoted from page 204, in TAG Vol 30 (1954) by Coddington] ::: In Wilson’s will, he called Edward and Thomas Cadwell (his half-brothers) “my Cousins.” [Clearly this innocent mistake on Wilson's will compounded the confusion over the identity of Lydia Cole.] ::: To further confuse the issue, the identity of John the son of John Wilson and Elizabeth Stebbins, has been conflated and mixed with the identity of John Chester the son of Sampson Chester and Frances (Tough) (Smith) Stebbins. John Wilson is a nephew of John Chester, who is a half brother to Elizabeth Stebbins. The Memorial History of Hartford County, Connectiut, 1633-1884, database, Internet Archive, extracted from J. Hammond Trumbull Editor, The Memorial History of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884 (Boston,Massachusetts: E. L. Osgood 1886), page 261. (NOTE: some of the factsin this source are proven erroneous in TAG Vol 30, pages 193 - 212)

Christened Feb 24, 1595

GEDCOM Note

{Puritan Great Migration}
[Category:Puritan Great Migration]
[Category:Founders of Hartford]

Biography

Deacon Edward Stebbins (Stebbin), Cambridge, 1633; freeman, Massachusetts, May 14, 1634; on Committee to consider Endicott's "defacing the colors," May, 1635; an original proprietor of Hartford; his home-lot in1639 extended from the Meeting-House Square to the street now Front St.<ref>James Hammond Trumbull, editor, The memorial history of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884, Volume 1 (Boston, Massachusetts: Edward L. Osgood, 1886), page 261. Retrieved: 3 May 2011 from Google Books</ref>
Probably the Edward Stebbing baptized at Black Notley, Essex, 24 February 1594/5, son of William Stebbing. Came (probably) from Braintree, Essex to Massachusetts Bay in 1633. First settled in Cambridge (called at the time Newtown).

Deacon Edward Stebbing was a follower of Reverend Thomas Hooker of Braintree, England. Edward, with twenty-four other men, left Cambridge October 15, 1635 to settle Hartford and prepare for the main group of settlers who followed in May of 1636. He is believed to have returned with eleven other men to Cambridge November 26, having completed their mission of helping those who would stay the winter, building the palisade, etc. "The Colonial History of Hartford: Gathered from the Original Records", Google Books: 2008. by William DeLoss Love, Ph.D. (Hartford, Connecticut, William DeLoss Love, 1914). page 7-16.</ref> <ref>History of Early Hartford, database, Society of the Descendants of the Founders of Hartford, entry for History of Early Hartford, entry for Edward Stebbins, image of 'Courageous Adventurers' plaque.

Married by about 1629 Frances (Tough) (Chester) Smith, daughter of Ralph Tough of Burrough-on-the-Hill, Leicestershire, and widow of Sampson Chester and Thomas Smith. She died between 12 November 1673 (date of codicil to her will) and 23 December 1673 (date of inventory of her estate).

Edith (Stebbins) (Day) (Maynard) Holyoke, wife successively of Robert Day, John Maynard and Eliazer Holyoke, was a younger sister of Edward Stebbins. In his will, Edward left "forty shillings apiece to the children of mysister Holyoke".<ref>Hale, House and Related Families: Mainly of the Connecticut River Valley,, database, FamilySearch.org: (accessed 13 Nov 2013), entry for Edward Stebbins, extracted from Donald Lines Jacobus and Edgar Francis Waterman, book of the same name (Baltimore, Massachusetts: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1978), page 510</ref> Edward and Edith Stebbins may have been related to the brothers Rowland and Martin Stebbins.<ref>Find A Grave Memorial#34128306, Created by: Linda Mac, Record added: Feb 23, 2009.

He served as constable in 1638; deputy various times from 1639 to 1656; leather sealer, 1659.The Memorial History of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884, Internet Archive, Hammond Trumbull Editor, (Boston, Massachusetts: E. L. Osgood 1886), page 261.

Died between 8 October 1663 and 19 August 1668 (date of inventory), and probably closer to the latter date. His will is dated August 24, 1663; inventory August 19, 1668, £669. 2. His widow Mrs. Frances Stebbin's will is dated May 20, 1670, and November 12 1673; inventory December 23, 1673; both wills name "son, Mr. John Chester, now living in or near London."

Birth

Alt birth: 24 FEB 1594/95, Braintree, Essex, England; (note: Black Notley is a village 2.3 miles south of Braintree)

Christening

: 24 FEB 1594/5, Black Knotley, Essex, England

Marriage

: ABT 1629, England : Alt marriage 1622/3, London, England

Children

Edward Stebbins and Frances (Tough) (Chester) (Smith) Stebbins his wife, had two daughters:

• Mary (Stebbins) Gaylord, and
• Elizabeth (Stebbins) (Wilson) Cadwell.

A daughter, Lydia Stebbins, is falsely attributed to Edward and or Frances Stebbins in various trees. See her profile for details of how this confusion came to exist, and documentation of why Lydia Stebbins is a

"Legend"

In addition, Frances had a surviving son John Chester from her first marriage, to Sampson Chester. Edward, in his will in 1663, referred to John Chester as "our beloved son John Chester", and Frances in her will in 1670 referred to "her dear and beloved son Mr. John Chester now living in or near London".

Erroneous Interpretation of Codicil to Will

: Why do we often see trees with "Lydia Stebbins" married to John Chester, or John Wilson, Jr.? Did either of them marry a daughter of Edward Stebbins? The short answer is: no they did not. Did Edward Stebbins OR his wife Frances have a daughter named Lydia? Again - no, definitely not.
: The longer answer is in a misinterpreted codicil to the will of Frances Tough who married Sampson Chester, Thomas Smith and Edward Stebbins aka Stebbing. She left some clothing to her grandson's wife but, in combination with other wills, this was misunderstood until Coddington brought together enough evidence to sort it out. :: Deacon John Wilson of Hartford, 1650-1698, eldest son of Robert Wilson and Elizabeth Stebbing, married Lydia Cole, who received a bequest of clothing in the 1673 codicil to the will of Mrs Frances Stebbing. page 204, in TAG Vol 30 (1954) by Coddington ::: QUOTE: By some curious error, James Savage in Geneal. Dict. Of New England, under “Stebbins,” says that Lydia was a dau. of Edward and Frances Stebbing, whereas of course she was in fact theirgranddaughter-in-law. [Quoted from page 204, in TAG Vol 30 (1954) by Coddington] ::: In Wilson’s will, he called Edward and Thomas Cadwell (his half-brothers) “my Cousins.” [Clearly this innocent mistake on Wilson's will compounded the confusion over the identity of Lydia Cole.] ::: To further confuse the issue, the identity of John the son of John Wilson and Elizabeth Stebbins, has been conflated and mixed with the identity of John Chester the son of Sampson Chester and Frances (Tough) (Smith) Stebbins. John Wilson is a nephew of John Chester, who is a half brother to Elizabeth Stebbins.

Sources

• EdwardStebbins at FAG, Find A Grave, database and images, (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 29 April 2018), memorial page for Edward Stebbins (24 Feb 1594–1663), Find A Grave Memorial no. 34128306, citing Ancient Burying Ground, Hartford, Hartford County, Connecticut, USA ; Maintained by Linda Mac (contributor 47062703) .
• The American Genealogist. New Haven, CT: D. L. Jacobus, 1937-. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009 - .) The Family of Frances (Tough) (Chester) (Smith) Stebbing, wife of Edward Stebbing of Hartford, Connecticut, by John Insley Coddington, F.A.S.G. of Washington, D.C. (Part I) and Mrs. Florence E. Skillington of Leicester, England (Part II) Vol. 30, page 193-212
• The Memorial History of Hartford County, Connectiut, 1633-1884, database, Internet Archive, extracted from J. Hammond Trumbull Editor, The Memorial History of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884 (Boston, Massachusetts: E. L. Osgood 1886), page 261. (NOTE: some of the facts in this source are proven erroneous in TAG Vol 30, pages 193 - 212)
• "The Colonial History of Hartford: Gathered from the Original Records", database, Google Books: 2008. Extracted from William DeLoss Love, Ph.D. The Colonial History of Hartford: Gathered from the Original Records. Hartford, Connecticut, Publisher: William DeLoss Love, 1914. page 7-16.
• Hale, House and Related Families: Mainly of the Connecticut River Valley,, at HathiTrust.org, entry for Edward Stebbins, extracted from Donald Lines Jacobus and Edgar Francis Waterman, book ofthe same name (Baltimore, Massachusetts: Genealogical Publishing Co.,Inc., 1978), page 510
• Barbour, Lucius Barnes, 1982, Families of Early Hartford, Connecticut, Genealogical Publishing Co. Inc., Baltimore, Maryland and Connecticut Society of Genealogists, Inc., Glastonbury, Connecticut pp.575
• History of Early Hartford, database, Society of the Descendants of the Founders of Hartford, entry for History of Early Hartford, entry for Edward Stebbins, image of 'Courageous Adventurers' plaque.
• entry for Edward Stebbins at Geni.com
• Entry for Edward Stebbins at RootsWeb WorldConnect.
• Ancestral File Number: 2P9Q-0G
• For the work on the Founders of Hartford - including the Monument image, and the map image, both with linked names of the Founders of Hartford, thank the following persons: Michael Lechner, Jillaine Smith, Daniel Thompson, Sheri Havens, Becky (Nally) Syphers.
• GEDCOM Source Ancestry Family Trees Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members.