Elizabeth Northup

Evidence needed to support Elizabeth Northup as a daughter of Elizabeth Pray & Benjamin Harrington, of Providence. Her estimated birth date is 1635, but the Harrington’s do not appear have married until say 1649.

Disputed Origins

“Benjamin Harrington of Providence, Rhode Island.” Copyright 1999 Perry Streeter (Content updated 8 January 2001) < PDF >. Does not list a daughter of Benjamin Harrington & Elizabeth White called Elizabeth, nor any daughter who married a Northup.

GEDCOM Note

Parents cannot be her parents.

Biography

Per memorial on Find a Grave:

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/112916740/elizabeth-northup

Note: The maiden name given in many accounts is Herrington, but the Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island gives the family name as Hearnden. The above birth year is a crude approximation, based on her oldest known child being born about 1656. Dates for Elizabeth's birth have been given in a wide range from 1634 to 2 April 1677, but without sources.

The provenance of Elizabeth is uncertain. Family tradition has called her the daughter of Benjamin Hearnden/Harrington who married Elizabeth White, but the dates don't add up. Benjamin Harrington was a contemporary of Elizabeth's husband, Stephen Northup, and their names appear together in the Providence records. Benjamin married Elizabeth White about 1647, and they had a family of nine children (there is no Elizabeth among them) who were only slightly older than the children of this Elizabeth. It would be almost impossible for this Elizabeth (born in the 1630s) to be the daughter of Elizabeth White, likely born in the late 1620s. It would still be possible for Benjamin to be the father of this Elizabeth, with an earlier wife, but we have no records suggesting an earlier wife. Since Benjamin is a name used early among the children of Stephen Northup, it is possible that Stephen's wife was the daughter of an earlier Benjamin Hearnden, and that the Benjamin Hearnden who married Elizabeth White was a brother to Northup's wife.

The name of this wife of Stephen Northup appears on no public records, and is inferred from various private sources. There is no marriage record. She and Stephen lived in Providence, Rhode Island until 1666 or later, but were living in the Narragansett country (later Kingstowne) by 1671. Together they had six known children.

Though there is no documentary evidence that she is buried here, it is highly likely that many of the early Northups were interred here, herself included. See discussion in the memorial for her son David.

Family

Chatfield, Carrie Eastman. Some Records of the Northrup and Tucker Families of Rhode Island (Minneapolis, 1914) Page 6. < GoogleBooks >

The name of Stephen1 Northup appears for the last time in 1687 when with the other inhabitants of Kingstown he was taxed by Gov. Andros. The destruction of the records has left no trace of a will or settlement of his estate:

He left five sons and one daughter :

• 2. i. STEPHEN, b. 1660; d. June 12, 1733; m. 1684, Mary Thomas of Jamestown.
• ii. HENRY, b. 1663; d. 1740; m. Mary
• iii. JOSEPH, d. before 1726.
• iv. David, d. 1724; m. Susannah Congdon.
• v. BENJAMIN, b. 1662; d. 1750; m. July 3, 1681, Susannah Almy.
• vi. MARY, d. Oct. 1724; m. John Mowry

References

1. http://dgmweb.net/FGS/H/HarringtonBenjamin-ElizabethWhite.html Cites
   1. 1. Patricia Ann Scherzinger. 1996. Colonial Americans of Royal and Noble Descent: Alleged, Proven, and Disproven. Heritage Books, Bowie, MD. p. 248