Sarah Bemis (Diamond) - Is Sarah Bemis' maiden name Diamond or Coit?

Cross ref discussion http://www.geni.com/discussions/127677
"Edward Griswold of Killingworth - Maiden Name of his wives"

I'm having trouble finding a "sister of Joseph Coit" who could match this - unless I'm looking in the wrong generations.

The Coit Genealogy is here

http://archive.org/stream/coitfamilyordesc00chap#page/14/mode/2up

There's a "tree fragment" of unnamed children I've now put together into one here

unknown Coit

This is the one that I thought might be
Joseph Coit

I will Highlight the part that matches that of James Bemis widow, from the source below.

"Mr Coit was elected constable, July 24, 1665 and 1683 was on town committee to procure a minister."

3. Joseph Coit, son of John and Mary (Jenners) Coit, born __________, was probably, one of the younger children of his parents, and born (perhaps) in Salem, probably came with his father from Gloucester to New London about 1651, and spent the remainder of his life there, carrying on the trade of ship-building with his brother-in-law, Hugh Mould. One of their first works was "the ship 'New London,' of seventy ton," built for Charles Hill, of London, Christopher Christophers of New London, and delivered June 25, 1666. In 1668, they bulit the same parties the barque Regard, and 1672 the sloop Charles of 20 tons. Between 1666 and 1674 they construced for Thomas Beeby, William Keeny and Matthew Beckwith the barques Speedwell, Hopewell and Endeavor, ranging from 12 to 20 tons, and in value from 50 to 82 pounds sterling. The largest vessel, The John and Hester, is stated at 90 and 100 tons. The last one that can be named is Edward and Margaret, built in 1791 from Edward Stallion. In 1689, the New London brought from Europe "two large brass bells with wheels, one of which was suspended in the turret of the meeting house and was the first bell that ever vibrated in Easter Connecticut." In 1667 Hugh Mould and Joseph Colit were freed, by the county court from common training. Mr Coit was elected constable, July 24, 1665 and 1683 was on town committee to procure a minister. He married Marth Harris of Wethersfield, daughter of William and Edith Harris, July 15, 1667. He and his wife were added to the church, April 3, 1681, and he is mentioned as deacon in the church records in 1683, together with William Hough. His colleague soon died, and he seems to officiated alone for ten years. He died March 27, 1704, and his wife died July 14, 1710. Nearly, if not all the the Coits of American, are descended from him. His estate was valued at L312 17s, 4d., and was divided between the widow, Martha, John, who received a double portion, Joseph the heirs of William deceased, and Solomon.

Source: Coit Family Genealogy. page 16-17.

The following is the will from the possible father of the Widow of James Bemis... Is Sarah one of the missing daughters? It's possible...

Timeline
1650 Sarah marries James Bemis New London, CT
1652 Sarah's daughter Rebecca is born in England
1654 Sarah's daughter Mary is born in Killingworth, CT
1659 John Coit dies in New London, CT
1665 James Bemis died in New London, CT
1675 Sarah marries Edward Griswold Windsor, CT

~~~~~~~~~~~

From John Coit (Goit) Last Will and Testament, New London 1 Aug 1659;

I give unto my two daughters, Mary and martha my farm up Mougegin River. Also two thirds of the sheep, as also my other lot of 30 acres upon the other side of the river, as also half my meadow, as also the other half of my lands on the work.

Also I give to my two sons and two daughters 20 shillings apieced, I meane those abesent from me, in case they be living, to be paid out of the whole.

I give to my son Joseph one third part of my sheep. Also after all my debts be paid, I give the remainder to my wife, son, and two daughters with me.

Also I leave my loving friends, Mr Thompson and James Avery and Willima Nickols, to be my executors, to look after the dispose of my children and my wife.

And if any of the children die before marriage, then that estate to be divided by the others at home.

John Goit

Source: Coit Geneology, Appendix, Note A, page 299.

This website "http://www.ourgenerationsancestors.org/getperson.php?personID=I7219...; states:

"MAR #2: No mar rec found. Sarah, widow of Edward Griswold, is mentioned in agreement of the heirs of Edward Griswold of Kenilworth, 7 Jun 1694 (New London Deeds, 5:195 [FHL #005084]). The document shows that she is the mother of Rebecca Bemis who married Tobias Minter. The mar rec of Tobias Minter and Rebecca Bemis indicates she is the dau of James Bemis ("New London Births, Marriages, Deaths, 1646-1854," Barbour Collection [typescript, 1919; Conn. State Library, Hartford], 215 [FHL #005082]). Sarah was apparently the widow of James Bemis of New London who died in Jul 1665 (Elwood M. Avery, ed, "Marriage, Birth and Death Records from theTown Records of New London" [typescript, n.d.], 74 [FHL #974.65/N2 V2a]). Sarah's maiden surname is unknown. She is not the dau of John and Rebecca Dimond as alleged in Esther Griswold French and Robert Lewis French, THE GRISWOLD FAMILY (Wethersfield, CT, 1990), 13 (FHL #929.273 G889fe)."

There are some issues with the timeline for John Coit, Sr.

Supposedly "Emigration: 1630 from Chopstowe (Glamorganshire) Wales to Salem MA. "John Coit and family were among over 700 emigrants that sailed on several ships from England; the Arabella, the Jewel, the Ambrose and the Talbot sailed from Southampton England Mar 23 1630; the Arabella landed near Cape Ann MA 76 days later, Jun 12 1630."

Yet the children named in his will seem to have been born in Wales or England (as usual, contradictory IGI records from the LDS) and perhaps all baptized in Salem in 1643.

This suggests back and forth to England, which also fits the occupation of "shipwright.". But of there's a Sarah daughter in America, wouldn't she have been named the way Mary & Martha were?

There is no "Sarah" as a name used in the known Coit families that I see; Mary is the repeating name.

I wonder if "a sister of Joseph Coit" could refer to a STEP sister in the next generation, or a sister in law.

Erica Howton While what you are saying is very true about Sarah's name, so let look at if she fits in with John Coit's family and the other possibility of being an in law.

Per the Coit family Genealogy, page 14
"He married Mary Ganners or Jenners in England, where all his children were born previous to his emigration to America.

The genealogy shows four of his eight children:
John (1636-1675) married Mary Stevens
Joseph (1643-1704) married Martha Harris
Mary (1642-1730) married John Stevens
Martha (1643-1730) married Hough Mould & Nathaniel White
Note: I added the dates which show on Geni
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here is the timeline that Geni shows for John Coit:
1592 Birth of John Glamorganshire, Wales
1636 Age 44 Birth of John Coit Essex, England
1638 Age 46 immigrated on 1638
1642 Age 50 Birth of Mary Stevens (Coit) Glamorganshire, Wales
July 20, 1643 Age 51Birth of Joseph Coit, Sr. Salem, Essex , Massachusetts
July, 1643 Age 51 Birth of Martha White (Coit) Salem, Essex, Massachusetts
1643 Age 51 Marriage of John to Mary Coit Wales
August 1, 1659 Age 67 Death of John New London, New London, Connecticut

If he immigrated to the New world in 1638, then all of his children should have been born already, but they weren't. Please it shows that he married Mary in Wales in 1643. Did he have another wife prior to this marriage?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sarah her dates show (1620-1670)
None of James Bemis siblings married into the Coit family, nor does it seem that Edward Griswold's silblings married into the Coit family.

Her daughters were named Mary and Rebecca and if Sarah's mother was Mary Jenner's then it is highly possible that she named her daughter after her. Her daughter, Rebecca married two different Sea Captains, Tobias Minter, whom died at sea and John Dymond, whom also died at sea.

More information regarding Sarah's grandchildren:
Rebecca Dymond Sweezy (Satterlee) as Joseph's wife is obtained from Hempstead's Journal, under date of 1749-He is recording a visit that he had made to Long Island, and says:

"I called to see Joseph Sweezy and Rebekah his wife, formerly of Occubauk (Aquebogue) in Southold. She was a New London woman; her maiden name was Satterly, born in an old house that belonged to her mother in old Mr. Coit's lot that joins to mine."

The Bemas house-lot lying next to Robert Hempstead's, with a run of water between was purchased of the heirs of John Coit, the deed of confirmation being signed by Tobias Minter, grandson of James Bemas, June 8th, 1694.....

Source: http://sweezey.com/genealogy/getperson.php?personID=I28689&tree...

Note: Tobias Minter, grandson of James Bemas was the half sister of Rebbeca (Satterlee) Sweezy.

Rebecca Dymond Sweezy (Satterlee) mother died soon after giving birth to her half brother William Satterlee and it believed that she and her sister were adopted by Benedict Satterlee, Rebbecca would have been about five when William was born and Sarah would have been about seven years old.

I think it is very likely that Sarah could have been one of the missing children in John Coit's will.

One of the issues is reconciling the 1874 Coit Geneology with records from registers in England filmed by the LDS; luckily we do have clearer records from the Vital Records of Massachusetts & the Barbour Collection for Connecticut.

I think we all know that Mary & Sarah sometimes refer to the same person - I don't know why, though.

Known son John Jr was missing from the will.

Perhaps make a geographic study of possible Sarah's possible movements?

Another thought is the property clue, I've seen relationships proved out by property sales / transfers many years later. There are probate books for Connecticut that might be worth looking into.

Here is a timeline of Sarah's movements and other family members.
Based Timeline from Geni

1620 Birth of Sarah Kenilworth, Warwickshire, England
1638 John Coit came to Salem, MA
1644 John Coit removed to Gloucester and was appointed selectman
1647 John Coit admitted freeman
1648 John Coit appointed selectman
1650 John Coit recieved land grant in New London, CT (called Cape Ann's Lane)
1650 Age 30 Marriage of Sarah Griswold to James Bemis New London, CT
1651 John Coit Jr helped lay a house on a lot in New London, CT with his father
1652 Age 32 Birth of Rebecca Satterlee (Bemis) Kenilworth, Warwickshire, England
November 18, 1654 Age 34 Birth of Mary Griswold (Bemis) Killingworth, CT
1659 John Coit dies New London, CT
1665 James Bemis dies New London, CT
1672 Daughter Mary marries John Griswold Windsor, CT
April 3, 1672 Daughter Rebecca marries Tobias Minter New London, CT
June 17, 1674 Daughter Rebecca marries John Dymond New London, CT
1675 Age 55 Marriage of Sarah to Edward Griswold Windsor, CT
1676 Mary (Jenner) Coit dies
August 2, 1682 Daughter Rebecca marries Benedict Satterlee New London, CT
August 22, 1690 Age 70 Death of Sarah Killingworth, CT

Of course, there isn't much documentation for this. I found some of the information in the Coit family genealogy, relating to John Coit's movements.

Questions and thoughts

Edward Griswold, of Killingworth

Was of Kenilworth in Warwickshire, so a wife from the same area, as the widow Bemis seems to the Geni profile, makes sense.

Kenilworth does not seem to be an ancestral area for Coit, they seem pretty firmly of Glemorgan Wales, so family associations in New London CT would make more sense.

There's an LDS fragment profile:

Mary (Sarah) BEMIS

An this tree has the (theoretical) "other" children of John Coit, perhaps there are clues to more complete FamilySearch records

unknown Coit

The following is a time line I found on this website for John Coit, it appears that the information was taken from an LDS file:
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=bfowo...

Birth: 1592 in Chopstowe (Glamorganshire) Wales
Emigration: 1630 from Chopstowe (Glamorganshire) Wales to Salem MA
Note: John Coit and family were among over 700 emigrants that sailed on several ships from England; the Arabella, the Jewel, the Ambrose and the Talbot sailed from Southampton England Mar 23 1630; the Arabella landed near Cape Ann MA 76 days later, Jun 12 1630
Event: Land 1638 Salem, Essex, Massachusetts, USA
Event: Moved 1644 from Salem MA to Gloucester MA
Event: Freeman Admitted 1647 Gloucester, Essex, Massachusetts, USA
Event: Selectman Admitted 1648 Gloucester, Essex, Massachusetts, USA
Event: Land 19 Oct 1650 New London, New London, Connecticut, USA
Note: John Coit and his family moved to New London CT with a party of friends: "Mr. Blynman, the preacher, Obediah Bruen, Hugh Calkin, Hugh Roberts, Andrew Lester, James Avereye and Robert Isbell - all Welshmen by way of Gloucester"; John Coit and his friends would receive land grants in the section of New London known as Cape Ann's Lane on 19 Oct 1650, and John Coit would become the first shipwright in New London, on Close Cove
Event: from Gloucester (Essex) MA to New London (New London) CT Moved 1651
Will: 1 Aug 1659 New London, New London, Connecticut, USA
Death: 29 Aug 1659 in New London, New London, Connecticut, USA

Here is the children's dates:
Children
Coit b: Abt 1618 in (Prob) Essex. Eng
Coit b: Abt 1620 in (Prob) Essex. Eng
Coit b: Abt 1622 in (Prob) Essex. Eng
Coit b: Abt 1630 in Wales
Coit b: 1632 in Wales
Coit b: 1634 in England
John Coit b: Abt 1636 in Essex, England
Joseph Coit b: Abt 1639 in New London, , Connecticut, USA
Mary Coit b: Abt 1642 in Chopstowe (Glamorganshire) Wales c: 30 Jul 1643 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts, USA
Martha Coit b: Jul 1643 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts, USA c: 30 Jul 1643 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts, USA
Coit b: 1645 in England
Coit b: 1647 in England

If you notice one of the birth years is about the same as James Bemis' wife, Sarah, which comes from the same. I tend to agree with you [363677820350011581], that the families must have gotten to know each other in New London, CT they would have been there during the same time period.

Do you think Mary (Sarah) Bemis is the same as Sarah Bemis (Diamond)?

The sticking point is when she married Edward Griswold. If that marriage was in Kenilworth, Essex, it doesn't work for me geographically. If its much later in New London, we're getting warmer; the property conveyance is interesting.

So perhaps look at Edward's marriages again. 3 wives?

Also I don't trust the "Essex England" notations for Coit. I think his children may have been baptized in Salem, Essex, MA & LDS has that mixed up. The Wales connection seems much more solid, and as a shipwright, I can believe back & forth to England - he certainly roamed around New England plenty!

I did see some place that Edward might have had 3 wives. My question is where did the name Sarah, as James Bemis wife come from. So far, I haven't seen any where that her first name has been stated. I have only seen her referred to as James Bemis widow.

That's another good question - take a look at the Torrey citations for the wife of James (Bemas). I think it's cited in full in Edward's profile.

http://books.google.com/books?id=mOgK8dM9qqUC&q=James+bemas#v=s...

New England Marriages Prior to 1700 By Clarence Almon Torrey, Elizabeth Petty Bentley. Page 327

WINDSOR, CT GRISWOLD, Edward (-1691); t; 2/wf Sarah? [BEMAS], w James; ca 1672; in 1672-1673

I interpret that as:

In (seen as both 1672 & 1683), in Windsor, CT, Edward married, as his 2nd wife, the widow of James BEMAS. Perhaps her name was Sarah.

http://books.google.com/books?id=mOgK8dM9qqUC&lpg=PA327&vq=... Torrey, page 61

Bemis, James (-1665) & Sarah _?_, m/2 Edward Griswold ca 1672; ca 1650/3; New London, CT

===

In the Bemis record there's more certainty her forename was Sarah. Based on a marriage between 1650/3 her birth date could be as late as 1635.

From this notation:

http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/BEMIS/1998-09/0905360329

I have recently found out that I have a Bemis ancestor, but know very
little about him. Here's what I have seen (from Lineal Ancestors of
Susan (Mulford) Cory wife of Captain James Cory 1937 pp169-175):

James Bemas/Bemis was in New London, CT as early as 1647; he died prob.
in July of 1665; he married ?? (Sarah Diamon/d??). His children were:
Rebecca m. John Dimon/d and Mary. My line follows Rebecca and John.

There are various references to land transactions as well as the mention
that he was one of six men to gather the town rates (taxes) and the fact
he was elected constable in 1665. His death date is inferred from the
fact that someone else was appointed in his place and his wife was soon
mentioned as Widow Bemas. She married Edward Griswold in 1672 or 1673.

As you can see, not a lot to go on! Can anyone help me determine his
lineage or life? wifes name? Any and all help greatly appreciated.

And this is a "traditional" Griswold description based on Savage

http://aleph0.clarku.edu/~djoyce/gen/report/rr01/rr01_436.html#P3883

I think the idea that the Dimon / Diamond comes from her daughter's marriage is the right idea.

Coit is seeming more probable.

So the question is that can we change her maiden name to Coit from Diamond on her profile. The only source which points to her having the maiden name "Diamond" is the Griswold families, they don't give a source with how they have arrived to this information.

New England Marriages Prior to 1700 By Clarence Almon Torrey, Elizabeth Petty Bentley, page 327

Griswold, Edward (1607-1691), Kenilworth, Warwickshire & 1/wf Margaret (Hicks?) (-1670); Killingworth, CT

Griswold, Edward ( -1691) & 2/wf Sarah? (Bemas), w James; ca 1672, in 1672-3; Killingsworth, CT

It appears they even question that her first name could be Sarah... from the Satterlee family website it states that her maiden name was Coit with a given source.

1. Please go ahead and remove / detach the Diamond references (note in profile is all needed). The birth date & place also need to be changed.

2. I'm not sure about the death date either - do we have a ref?

3. For attaching to Coit I'm feeling OK with caveats that its unproven. She could not have been Mary except as a nickname. I would have thought she's a later daughter and therefore with the crowd baptized at Salem, but there are the 3 "unknown name" children in the Coit genealogy, and it is only Coit's deduction that they were "older." The salient terms from the Coit will is "taken care of elsewhere" (as was indeed the case for John Jr)