Deborah Towner

Deborah Palmer

• Born 5 Feb 1643 in Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut
• Died after 18 Sep 1727 in Saybrook, Middlesex, Connecticut
• Daughter of Henry Palmer and Katherine
• Wife of Lewis Jones — married 4 Dec 1660 in Wethersfield, Connecticut
• Wife of Henry Champion — married 21 Mar 1698 in Lyme, New London, Connecticut
• Wife of Henry Crane — married 26 Dec 1709 in Killingworth, Connecticut
• Wife of Richard Towner — married 6 Mar 1717 in Haddam, Middlesex, Connecticut

Deborah Palmer was a daughter and the first recorded child of Henry Palmer and Katherine Palmer. She was born 5 February 1642 (or possibly 5 February 1642/3) in Wethersfield, Connecticut.[1]

Family

From https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Palmer-1650

Deborah was married four times. Several researchers traced her biography through two of these marriages, but failed to identify all of them, or incorrectly assumed that her last name at the time of a marriage was her maiden name, when in fact it was the name of the previous husband. Jean Rumsey worked out her complete marital history and described it in a 2004 article in The Genealogist.

Deborah's first husband was Lewis Jones. They were married in Wethersfield, Connecticut, on 4 December 1660.[2][3] That Lewis Jones' wife was Deborah Palmer is established by a deed that Lewis Jones recorded around the time of the marriage for a 10-acre parcel of land in Wethersfield that he said was "given him by his father in law Henr Palmer."[4]

Children of Deborah and Lewis Jones included:

1. Hannah, birth or baptism record not known; probably born in Wethersfield; married (1) Matthew Ransom and (2) Stephen de Wolfe.
2. Margaret, born "middle Thursday of August" in 1667 at Saybrook, Connecticut. Married (1) at Lyme, Connecticut, on 4 October 1688 to Wolston Brockway Jr. Married (2) at Lyme, Connecticut, on 7 February 1710/2 to Thomas Ennis. Died at Lyme 17 January 1738/9.[5]
3. Katherine, born at Saybrook, Connecticut, 28 May 1671.[6]
4. Jonathan, born at Saybrook "2nd Wednesday in November" 1673.[6]
5. Samuel, born at Saybrook on 18 May 1676. Married Mary Lay of Lyme in Saybrook on 8 December 1697.[6]
6. Ephraim, born at Saybrook on 1 May 1685.[7]

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Deborah's second husband was Henry Champion, a widower. They were married on 21 March 1697/8 in Lyme, New London, Connecticut. She was his second wife.[6][9] Henry Champion died at Lyme, Connecticut, on 17 February 1708/9, "in his 97th year."

Henry was older than Deborah by about three decades, and a passage in The Champion Genealogy indicates that Henry Champion's descendants believed that Deborah took advantage of him through this prenuptial agreement:

"[Henry Champion's] second wife was a shrewd, scheming woman, for she induced this old man to make a very advantageous marriage settlement upon her, and finally involved him in a law suit with the widow of his eldest son, who resisted the resumption of the gifts her father-in-law had made her husband, and maintained in a very spirited manner the rights of herself and children."[8]

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Capt. Henry Crane married twice:

1) Concurrence Meigs, born 1643, at Weymouth, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, ca. 1663. Concurrence was the daughter of John Meigs (1612 - 1672) and Thomasina|Tamzin Fry Meigs (1612 - 1672).She died in Killingworth on October 9, 1708.[10] Henry Crane and Concurrence Meigs had ten children.

2) Deborah Champion, widow of Henry Champion (a.k.a. Champin) of Lyme. Connecticut, on Dec. 26, 1709. After Henry Crane's death on April 22, 1711, Deborah, his widow, married Richard Towner.

On 6 March 1715/6, Deborah was married at Killingworth, Connecticut, to Richard Towner of Branford, Connecticut. He died in Branford on 22 August 1727, and his will was proved on 18 September 1727. Deborah was living as of that date, but no later record of her is known.[16]

Origins

Children of Henry and Katherine Palmer:

2. Han(n)ah, born at Wethersfield, 14 August 1645.[3][4]

References

• https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Unknown-307299 cites
• 3. Wethersfield Vital Records, 1635-1665, in Land Records Vol. 1," The American Genealogist 9 (1932-33):28
• 4. Barbour Collection of Connecticut Vital Records, (Wethersfield, page 205.
• Rumsey, Jean, "Two More Marriages for Deborah (Palmer) (Jones) Champion: Henry Crane of Killingworth and Richard Towner of Branford, Connecticut," The Genealogist 18 (Spring 2004): 97-98