Ann Elizabeth Freeman

Not the daughter of Judge James Bowne & Mary Penelope Bowne; not the daughter of Capt. John Bowne & Lydia Bowne

Elizabeth Petit, aka Baignoux, was born in New Amsterdam; her mother was Elizabeth Hall Petit, or Baignoux. Elizabeth has been mixed with the Bowne family of Massachusetts and New Jersey on family tree sites, but there is no connection.

Elizabeth Baignoux, Henry Freeman’s wife

Birth: 1673 Death: Dec. 5, 1760 Woodbridge Middlesex County New Jersey, USA

She was born in New Amsterdam and died in Woodbridge, Middlesex, New Jersey. Father was Jean Baignoux, a Hugenot from France, called Benue. Mother was Elizabeth (Hoedt) Hall.

She was the wife of Henry Freeman, and mother of Ann Elizabeth, John, Johnathon, Mary, Sarah, Rachel, Samuel, Joseph, Hannah, Benjamin, Isaac, Henry Jr., and James. Her maiden name is listed as Baignoux, Benue, and others. Mother of Ann Elizabeth, John, Johnathon, Mary, Sarah, Rachel, Samuel, Joseph, Hannah, Benjamin, Isaac, Henry Jr & James Maiden name is a version of Baignoux. She was Elizabeth Benue/ Baignoux, a French Huguenot. -

Family

• Husband: Henry FREEMAN (1671-1763)
• Wife: Elizabeth PETIT (1673-1760) alias Benoue, Baignoux

Children:

• Ann Elizabeth FREEMAN (1695-1763)
• John FREEMAN (1698-1761)
• Jonathan FREEMAN (1700- )
• Mary FREEMAN (1702-1784)
• Sarah FREEMAN (1703- )
• Rachael FREEMAN (1705- )
• Samuel FREEMAN (1708-1778)
• Joseph FREEMAN (1709- )
• Hannah FREEMAN (1711- )
• Benjamin FREEMAN (1713- )
• Isaac FREEMAN (1715- )
• Henry FREEMAN Jr. (1717-1784)
• James FREEMAN (1719- )

Marriage 16 May 1695 Woodbridge NJ

Family links: Spouse: Henry Freeman (1670 - 1763)

Children: Ann Elizabeth Freeman Runyon (1695 - 1763) John Freeman (1698 - 1761) Mary Freeman Dunham (1702 - 1784) Samuel Freeman (1707 - 1778) Joseph Freeman (1709 - 1797) Benjamin Freeman (1713 - 1789) Isaac Freeman (1715 - 1777) Henry Freeman (1717 - 1784) Hester Freeman Bird (1725 - ____)

Disproved Origins

First Settlers of Piscataway and Woodbridge, pages 796-797 "Judge James Bowne and wife Mary Stout had at least 4 sons,.....and certainly two daughters, Elizabeth who married Henry Freeman....." [NO]

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Baignoux-1

Posted by another member: Genforum 21 Jan 1999 Patty Myers: Henry Freeman of Woodbridge,NJ did not marry Elizabeth Bowne, as Orra Eugene Monnette insisted in his books on Woodbridge & Piscataway. Monnette's works (six volumns) are terribly flawed & should not be taken with a grain of salt but with a whole shaker. Joe Klett, editor of Newsletter of Gen.Soc. of NJ, examined the original Woodbridge vital records, which were reported as lost, but are extant at Rutgers Univ.Library. Joe and several archivists came to the conclusion that Elizabeth's name is written BENUE. Willis Freeman, whose research is at NEHGS in Boston claimed that Elizabeth was born Baignoux, and Benue was a phonetic spelling of that. This would support the tradition that Henry's wife was a daughter of a Huguenot.

“Joe Klett also checked baptismal and land records in New York for Baignoux and PetIt and sent the following to compiler: Marriage license granted in New York for Jean Baignoux ["Baignouix"] and Elizabeth, daughter of Ralph Hall, 6 Dec 1670.” [2]

https://olsonsumner.wordpress.com/2013/12/23/henry-freeman-2/

Her name was most probably properly spelled “Baignoux”, but has been misspelled by many because of a phonetic spelling error made by a marriage records clerk which was written :Benue. For a complete discussion on Elizabeth’s maiden name and potential parentage, see “Ancestors and Descendants of Lewis Ross Freeman with related families”. [Florence (Patty) B. Myers, 15 Campden Circle, San Antonio, TX 78218]

Inscription: Here lies Interr'd the Body of ELIZABETH wife of HENRY FREEMAN who Departed this Life Decr 5, 1760 in the 87 yer of her age. Our days began with Trouble here Our life is but a Span And Cruel Death is always ner So frail a thing is Man.

Notes

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/158814878/jean-john_petit_a-bai...

Jean's daughter baptized as "Anna" on 8 Dec. 1673, in the Reformed Dutch Church of New York, is thought to be the same as Elizabeth Benue (d. 1760), wife of Judge Henry Freeman (d. 1763) of Whitewood Hall, Woodbridge Twp., Middlesex Co., NJ. According to family tradition, Elizabeth was from a Huguenot family. Her age at death (she was in "her 87th year") fits well with the 1673 baptism. It is thought that her full name was probably Ann Elizabeth, as she gave her first daughter this name in 1696. Double given names were not uncommon in French and Dutch families, though rare in English families at that time.

The death of Jean Baignoux's first wife in 1679/80 (when Elizabeth Benew Freeman would have been about 6 years of age), and then his and his son's--apparently 11-year-old Benjamin's--drowning in 1692 (when Elizabeth would have been about 18), are thought to be the reason for the following epitaph on Elizabeth's gravestone (see Find A Grave memorial 11050741):

• Her days began with Trouble here,
• Our life is but a Span,
• And Cruel Death is always near,
• So frail a thing is Man.

Jean Baignoux's untimely death might also be the source of the Freeman family tradition that Henry Freeman's father had drowned when Henry was a minor. In other words, the story of the tragic loss of one grandfather of the 13 Freeman children might have been eventually passed down in the family as relating to the other grandfather.

Joseph R. Klett

baptism

8 Dec [1673]; Jean Bejonge, Anna Hodde; Anna; Nicolaes de Lapleine, Anna Reynouts

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/11050741/elizabeth-freeman

Marriage record of Henry Freeman and Elizabeth Benue from the original Woodbridge town records at Rutgers' Special Collections and University Archives, New Brunswick, NJ. The entry reads as follows:

References

• http://dougwilson.com/family/reports/fam526.html
• http://www.rootsweb.com/~njmiddle/WoodbridgePresby.html
• https://olsonsumner.wordpress.com/2013/12/23/henry-freeman-2/
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/11050741/elizabeth-freeman
• Patty Barthell Myers' work, Ancestors and Descendants of Lewis Ross Freeman ... (1995), p. 8.

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