Thomas Whitehead

Biography

“The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, Volume 33.” edited by Richard Henry Greene, Henry Reed Stiles, Melatiah Everett Dwight, George Austin Morrison, Hopper Striker Mott, John Reynolds Totten, Harold Minot Pitman, Louis Effingham De Forest, Charles Andrew Ditmas, Conklin Mann, Arthur S. Maynard. Page 103-104. GoogleBooks

4 THOMAS, Daniel, Daniel,' b. about 1674; d. 1732; m. Jane, daughter of William Creed, marriage license, 1703, Dec. 24. She m. (2) William Cornell, Esq., marriage license 1735, April 8.

Children: *Abigail,' b. 1705; d. 1762, April 20, in 57th year, tombstone at Rockaway; m. 1722, Jan. 9, John Cornell. * Daniel, bap. 1710, Feb. 14, buried 1710, March 23. *A daughter, m. Cornell.

Thomas Whitehead is named in his father's will in 1803. William Creed in 1710, appoints as executors, his brothers-in-law Thomas Whitehead and Thomas Cornell. (The testator married Mary Cornell, sister of Thomas Cornell.) Thomas Whitehead was Justice of the Peace and captain of militia in the expedition to Canada in 1711. In 1711, and in 1717, acts were passed by the Colonial Assembly, authorizing him to sell lands devised to him by his father under the limitations of a general entail. He died intestate and 1732, Nov. 30, administration on his estate was granted to Jane Whitehead (his widow).

He lived in Hempstead about a mile south of Foster's Meadow, near the line of the town of Jamaica.

It has been thought by some that the Jane Whitehead who married William Cornell in 1735, was a daughter, instead of the widow, of Thomas Whitehead, but this seems quite improbable. If there was any evidence to show that Thomas ever had a daughter Jane, we might admit that there was some ground for such a belief, but in fact we know only one Jane Whitehead, and she was the widow of Thomas.

• QUERY: Was she buried 1717, Oct. 15, or did she marry Benjamin Doughty 1722, June 92

William Cornell “Esquire,” as he is called in the marriage record, (N. Y. Gen. Record, XII., 80), son of Richard of Rockaway, was a man of high repute, large wealth, a magistrate, 68 years old, and many times a grandfather, being the father of seven children of whom all but one were married. He would hardly be considered a suitable or desirable match for a girl hardly out of her teens, of good family, fortune, and high social position.

There are no records of any children of Thomas Whitehead, except Daniel who died in 1710. It is however certain that he had at least one child, if not more. The will of William Cornell, son of John and Abigail (Whitehead) Cornell above, (and grandson of William Cornell, who married Jane Whitehead), proved in 1798, devises to his eldest son Samuel, “all the farm and meadow which did lately belong to my said'son's grandfather Thomas Whitehead."* It is true there is an error here, for Thomas Whitehead was great-grandfather, not grandfather of Samuel Cornell, an error which may be due to carlessness on the part of the lawyer who drew the will, or of the scribe who copied it in the Records. The will is, however, in the nature of a conveyance of real estate, and it is incontestible proof that Thomas Whitehead was the ancestor of William and Samuel Cornell, ergo, he was a father of a daughter whose name is at present unknown, as to which fact no other direct evidence exists.

“The Refugees of 1776 from Long Island to Connecticut.” By Frederic Gregory Mather. GoogleBooks

SCUDDER—The common ancestor of the Family on L. I. was Thomas 1, who was b., in Eng., and is believed to have been among the earliest settlers at Plymouth, Mass. His wife's name was Elizabeth. He resided at Salem from 1642 to 1657; and the Records of that Town show grants of land to “Old Goodman Scudder" (the term “Goodman" indicating an honorable position in the Puritan Church). He d. at Salem, in 1657. (Hon. Henry C. Platt's “Huntington Address "–1876) Thomas i, m. Elizabeth Lowers; d. in 1658. His son, Thomas 2, m. Mary, dau. of William and Clemence Ludlam; d. Nov. 14, 1690. Timothy 3, son of Thomas 2, m. Sarah Wood (1650-1738); d. about 1740. Timothy 4, son of Timothy 3, b. in 1696; m. Feb. 5, 1728, Mary, dau. of Thomas and Mary Whitehead; d. Apr. 25, 1976. 1798 (Mrs. Gilbert Scudder)

• Reference: FamilySearch Genealogy - SmartCopy: Jul 28 2021, 18:14:12 UTC