Bethiah Garnzey

Notes for Bethiah Garnsey:

1. Various spellings of last name are Garnsey, Guernsey.
2. There is a document showing that Bethia had her son Ezekiel l out of wedlock and no father is listed. It is possible that he was the son of Ezekiel Johnson. No documentation has been found proving him to be the father. All that can be proved is that Ezekiel wrote in his diary that he was named after his father. It is uncertain if Bethia's son Ezekiel was conceived by this Ezkiel Johnson.
3. The date "1 Jan 1776" was the date on which Jonathan King and Bethia Garnzey announced their Intention to Wed -- the actual marriage likely occurred several days later.

Links

• http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/g/i/b/Elva-Gibson-1/WEBS...

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Bethia is the mother of Ezekiel Johnson who was the husband of Julia Hills Johnson and the father of Joel Hills Johnson. Ezekiel’s father, also named Ezekiel, did not meet his demise at the infamous Battle of Bunker Hill as per the Johnson family legend. Bethia had become pregnant out of wedlock and the Bunker Hill story was a fabrication. Ezekiel (1751) lived only a few miles from Bethia Guernsey and in May of 1772 fathered Ezekiel the younger. In support of this alleged indiscretion of Ezekiel Johnson is another record naming him as being the father of “at least one other (illegitimate) son by another woman.”

Apparently, once his transgression had become known Ezekiel either left the area or denied his relationship with Bethia and her child. In the Worcester County court archives there is a record of a “Bethiar Gansee” (Bethia Guernsey) paying a fine of five shillings for having borne an illegitimate child with “the act” having been committed on 31 May 1772 with “a male person being to the said jurors unknown.” Perhaps Bethia chose not to reveal the name of the father to the authorities to protect him from prosecution and she possibly hoped that he would return and assume his proper role. This unfortunately never occurred.

When Ezekiel was about three, his mother married Jonathan King. Bethia Guernsey King died at the age of eighty-eight and shortly thereafter both she and the truth were laid to rest at Ye Ancientest Burial Grounds in New London, Connecticut.

SOURCE: Find A Grave.com

Created by: Carl W. McBrayer

Record added: Aug 06, 2004

Find A Grave Memorial# 9274312