| Sources |
- [S273] FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch FamilyTree, Ancestry.com.
Thomas Armitage marriage #1 about 1626; she died about 1650
children by his 1st wife:
daughter Armitage born about 1626; married about 1646, Daniel Whitehead
- [S273] FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch FamilyTree, Ancestry.comOriginal article at New York Genealogical & Biographical Record, v. 118, issue 3, (July 1987): 154–155.https://www.newyorkfamilyhistory.org/online-records/nygb-record/592.
Daniel Whitehead's Lost Will
Posted 07 Sep 2008 by EricBJones39
Daniel's will was lost in the manuscript collection of the New York Historical and Biographical Society for almost a century. Without the evidence of family members it contained, genealogists created several improbable or incorrect family structures for Daniel and his sons. Analysis of the information contained in the will, and the inventory of Daniel Whitehead's estate, suggest a more likely sequence of events and marriages. The following information is from "The Family of Daniel Whitehead: a Century and a Half of Fact and Fiction", by Harry Macy, Jr., FASG, FGBS, and published in the New York Historical and Biographical Record, Vol. 131, Number 4, October 2000, pp. 262-275:
The RECORD for July 1987 contains the text of the 1668 will of Daniel Whitehead of Newtown, Long Island, which was found in the NYG&B Library's manuscript collection after being reported missing for nearly a century. In this will Whitehead named "my loveinge wiefe gene" and sons Daniel, Jonathan, David,and Adam. With the discovery of this document, it became clear that this Daniel had to be the husband of the Jane Whitehead who was the mother of Adam, Thomas, Jemima, and Elizabeth Whitehead later of Huntington, Long Island -- a matter which had been the subject of debate for nearly a century. Along with other evidence, particularly the abstract of Daniel's estate inventory published in 1970, it was also now clear that Jane was the daughter of Thomas Ireland of Hempstead, and that she was too young to be the mother of Daniel's other known children, Daniel, Jonathan, and David, who were most likely the issue of his prior marriage to a daughter of Thomas Armitage of Hempstead and Oyster Bay.
Over the past 148 years (as of 2000), many accounts of this family have appeared in print. While it might be hoped that these successive accounts would move progressively towards an ever more accurate genealogy, in fact almost the opposite happened. Many genealogists divided Daniel's family in two, separating Jane and her children from Daniel and assigning them variously to two of Daniel's sons by his prior marriage; to Thomas Whitehead of New Haven; or to a fictitious second Daniel of Long Island. Other genealogists kept the family of Daniel intact, but assigned all his children to Jane in spite of rather obvious evidence to the contrary.
Incorrect published genealogies are hardly rare, but because some well-known names in American genealogy have been involved in this case, it is a particularly interesting one to examine...
...Rev. John Cornell's "Genealogy of the Cornell Family"...correctly named Daniel as the father of both the children listed by Riker and those in Adam's estate settlement. However, he also made "Jeanne Skidmore" the mother of all these children. He made no mention of the Ingersoll connection, but it is possible that he took both "Jeanne" and "Skidmore" from Huntington records. Cornell's version of the family would be copied by several later genealogists. It had "Jeanne" bearing children from the birth of Daniel in 1645 to no later than 1668 when Daniel died, an acceptable number of years. None of these writers mentioned that "Jeanne" subsequently married Ingersoll and continued having children until 1680, 35 years after the birth of Daniel. While it is not physically impossible for a woman to bear children from say ages 15 to 50, it is unusual enough to deserve careful examination. Another problem that these writers failed to mention was that the older Whitehead children should have been named as heirs-at-law in the settlement of Adam Whitehead's estate if they had the same father and mother. There is no indication that either Cornell or those that copied him gave any thought to these matters.
......(the inventory of the estate of Daniel Whitehead read:) "One cowe which was a calfe ten yeres ago it being then given to his son Adam by his grandfather Ireland."
One may read from this that in 1658 Daniel was married to a daughter of Thomas Ireland, and that his son Adam was probably born at that time. Ireland was another of the original (1644) proprietors of Hempstead, and he and Daniel Whitehead appear in the records together only once, in February 1659, when they were involved in a dispute with Richard Britnel, the details of which are not known. Ireland left a will dated 30 September 1669. According to two published versions of this will, the testator had a daughter Jane but she was not yet 18 years old,obviously making it impossible for her to be the then widow of Daniel Whitehead, with four children. The will actually reads quite differently:
"I doe give to my Eldest Daught' Jane one Cowe besydes what she is already possessed of to be Delivered when she Departeth from living wth (sic) her mother, & also I do give to my Second Daught' Jone Ten pounds to be paid her when she is full Eighteen yeares of age..." (Note: an early published version of the will somewhat sloppily reversed the names Jane and Jone and was widely referenced, giving rise to a number of incorrect genealogies.)
Ireland's other children were Thomas and Elizabeth, names to be repeated among Jane's children. Both were under age in 1669,and thus like their sister Joan were born after Thomas and Joan (--) Ireland came to Hempstead in 1644. For Jane to marry in 1658, however, she surely was born several years earlier, probably in England. She also had to be some 35 years younger than her husband, a seemingly unlikely match but the evidence unquestionably supports it. Jane was, in fact, only slightly older than her Whitehead stepsons, and her marriage to their father may not have been popular with them, as there is no evidence that they had anything to do with her after Daniel's death. In all liklihood the farm which Daniel left to Jane had to be sold to pay his debts, forcing her to return to live with her parents as indicated by her father's will.
Up to 1970 many accounts had continued to refer to Jane as a Skidmore, though differing as to where to place her in the Long Island Skidmore family. In 1985, in the second edition of his excellent Skidmore genealogy, Warren Skidmore concluded that the discovery of Daniel Whitehead's inventory "effectively eliminates Jane as a child of Thomas Skidmore." He suspected, however, that there might be some other connection between the Skidmore and Whitehead families...
... Between the inventory and newly-discovered will, the structure of Daniel Whitehead's family finally became clear: He married a daughter of Thomas Armitage, probably shortly after arriving at Hempstead in 1644, and she was almost certainly the mother of his sons Daniel, Jonathan, and David. By 1658 this wife had died and Daniel married Jane Ireland, by whom he had Adam,Thomas, Jemima, and Elizabeth. The last three were not named in his will, possibly because of their very young age -- it had been suggested that Thomas might have been posthumous -- but their connection to the family is established by the Huntington records. If Daniel was really born about 1603 he may also have had an earlier marriage, of which nothing is known. His widow Jane (Ireland) Whitehead married secondly John Ingersoll.
The children listed above do not include a daughter Sarah. Herbert F. Seversmith was descended from Thomas Oakley, whom Daniel 2 Whitehead referred to as his "brother" in his 1703 will (Note: it was common to refer to in-laws as blood relatives, so Thomas Oakley was likely Daniel 2's brother-in-law)...Seversmith may have been the first to propose that Sarah, the first known wife of Oakley, was a daughter of Daniel 1 Whitehead. This wife appears on record only twice, when making deeds with her husband in 1682 and 1689; Daniel 2 Whitehead witnessed the first deed and the second was acknowledged before him as a justice, and he and Thomas Oakley appear elsewhere on record together, but no relationship between them is stated until 1703. Thomas Oakley appears to have been about the same (age) as Daniel 2 and could have married his sister, but judging from the likely birthdates of Thomas's children the marriage would have occurred after Daniel1's death in 1668, and if Daniel 1 had a daughter of near-marriageable age it is odd that he did not mention her in his will...
Note: Other sources place the marriage of Sarah Whitehead and Thomas Oakley in 1665, three years before Daniel 2 Whitehead's death. As a married woman, not a daughter of near-marriageable age, she would not have necessarily been mentioned in Thomas's will.
(SOURCE: Ancestry.com).
- [S273] FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch FamilyTree, Ancestry.com.
Daniel Whitehead listed as one of the original owners by their bargain with the Dutch Governor, Kieft on 14 November 1644
for the Dutch Settlement of Heemstede, confirming their Indian title, & freeing them from Dutch control. It authorized the to
exercise the Reformed Religion, & to name their own magistrate, subject to approval, & to pay quit-rents.
- [S273] FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch FamilyTree, www.genealogy.com - Joyce - A - Kintzel - User Tree.
The Leeds Family of New Jersey:Information about Daniel Whitehead
Home Page |Surname List |Index of Individuals | |Sources
View Tree for Daniel WhiteheadDaniel Whitehead (b. 1622, d. Abt. 13 Nov 1668)
Daniel Whitehead was born 1622 in Probably England, and died Abt. 13 Nov 1668 in Newtown, Queens Co., LI NY.
Includes NotesNotes for Daniel Whitehead:
John Hunt, in an article published in TAG 36:62-64, said that Daniel Whitehead, Mr. William Washbourn and Francis Nicholls lived in Stratford CT in 1647: "They were somehow related, for William Washbourn was evidently brother-in-law to Whitehead, while Isaac2 Nichols (Francis1) was styled 'uncle' in the will of John Washbourn (William1)." (English records have since revealed the Nichols-Washburn connection -- Isaac's sister Jane was the wife of William Washburn.) Hunt continues: "The Whiteheads were a family early at Beneworth, Worcs., related to the Washbournes of that village since the mid part of the sixteenth century. The will of Thomas Whitehead of Beneworth, dated 1589 and registered again in 1599, is at Worcester but names no sons. Unfortunately there seems to remain at Beneworth no record of Daniel's baptism. The Bishop's Transcripts at Worcester may show more. There are several Hempsteads in England, but there is a distinct possibility that the Long Island town of that name was named in honor of Hempstead, now a suburb of the city of Gloucester, England." John Hunt, author of the article, called wife Jane a Skidmore, but editor Donald Lines Jacobus added a note that he had not seen evidence that she was a Skidmore.
The Skidmore genealogy says that while the identify of Ellen, first wife of Thomas Skidmore of Fairfield, is unknown, it is possible that she was a sister of Daniel Whitehead. Another possibility might be that Daniel was related to the Joseph Whitehead or Whitewood who had married by 1615 Margery Skidmore, sister of Richard Skidmore (father of Thomas Skidmore of Fairfield). Although the relationship has not been spelled out, there was clearly a bond between the Whitehead and Skidmore families.
In 1647 Daniel Whitehead was on the list of proprietors of Hempstead, Long Island. Later he was, successively, at Smithtown (1650), Oyster Bay, an early purchaser at Huntington (1653-1656), and Lloyd's Neck.
In 1647 Thomas Skidmore was held accountable for a debt owed by Daniel Whitehead Sr.
On 16 May 1647 Susannah Hudson of Boston wrote to John Winthrop at New London asking him to "stop [collect] 14 shillings for mee for Daniel Whithed, which is in Thoms Chidnor's handes." Daniel Whitehead Sr. had gone to Long Island before this date.
Daniel was a magistrate in 1652. In January 1652 he was detained a prisoner at New Amsterdam, but soon released.
The first Patent of Newtown lands was granted 6 March 1667, by Governor Nicoll to Capt. Richard Betts, Capt. Thomas Lawrence, Capt. John Coe, John Burroughs, Ralph Hunt, Daniel Whitehead and Burger Joost
On 4/2/1653 three men from Oyster Bay, Richard Houldbroke, Robert Williams and Daniel Whitehead, bargained with the Matinecock's chief for a tract of land which became known as "the old First Purchase."On the same day the Oyster Bay men assigned this territory to certain men who had already settled within its limits.The Indian's received a few coats and shirts, a few implements and fathoms of wampum.
5/6/1659 Thomas Skidmore gave receipt for something over 15 pounds paid in full satisfaction of a sentence awarded him as attorney in a case tried at Hempstead.He appeared there in behalf of EDWARD HIGBY (another connection to another of our ancestors in the Leeds line), who had acquired a cow which Joseph Scott of Hempstead had sold under "several false premises" to Daniel Whitehead.Scott was ordered to pay the value of the cow with interest for 8 years, for one summer's milk, the court costs, and the charges for Skidmore's trip from Huntington to the Hempstead Court.
Daniel was much engaged as an overseer of the town, magistrate, surveyor, and many public affairs. D. Fanshaw, in his Annals of Newtown 1852 states "Daniel Whythead, father of Major Whitehead was among the purchasers of Smithville in 1650, later he located at Mespat Kills as one of the seven original Patentees; was a surveyor in 1668 but died on his farm at the Kills in Nov of that year at age 65" (which would make his birth date, if this is true, to be 1603, not 1622 as usually accepted as his birth date). Fanshaw also states he left surviving sons Daniel, Jonathan, David and Adam; that Daniel the Major married Abigail, daughter of Thomas Stevenson.
His will dated 11/10/1668 and submitted by his widow for probate on 11/13/1668 was never proven, probably because he died heavily in debt and the will was set aside.
The will named his widow to be executrix, but a notation on the reverse side of the will reads: "The will & Testament of Daniel Whitehead No. 10, 1668 The Executrix refused to take out Lettrs of Administracon, so it is granted to Stephanus van Cortlandt as a creditor." On 31 March 1669 Letters of Administration to Van Cortlandt (on behalf of Oloff Stephens Van Cortlandt, his father, a creditor) are recorded in Liber 1 of New York Wills and Administrations, page 74.
The will, written on one side of an eight by twelve inch sheet of paper, probably by the first witness, Thomas Wandell, was still in the Surrogate's Court in New York City as late as the Civil War. By the time C. B. Curtis was writing, around 1902, it had disappeared, and was considered lost for most of this century. No abstract was ever published. In 1987 was discovered in the manuscript collection of the [New York Genealogical and Biographical] Society, and a transcription of the will was published in NYGBR 118 by Harry Macy Jr. The will reads:
"november:10:1668
what danyell wite did declare oppon his sicke beed. I
danyell witehed in the name of god amen doe
desiere too make my last will and testemente I did
reseve my soule from the handes of my good god & there
desiere too coemite it agane and my bodie coemitted
too the earth and desently bered in the nexte place
I will and requiere my loveinge wiefe gene
witehed too be my whould exsecter allteringe
and dispoesing her too be ordered and dispoesed
by aprobation of thomas wandell and borger joer
Furste I: bequefe my loveinge wiefe the farme that she
now lieves in after juste detes payed that justly
shall apere that shee shall pay noe legesses out of
the said farme but too my son danyell but fiefe shillings
in consideration of what hee had afore
opponed demands after my desese: 2 lye I give
and bequefe my son Jhonson that is to say in
considderation of a persell of catell wich I reseved of him
I give him the ould mare and too too yer ould steeres
too david I give david a coalte and a heffer called
brackell in consideration of cattell reseved from him
I give addom a cow called pincke I: one and too the beste
of my knowledge too allder antonie won hondred and seve
ntie gilders as will apere onder my hand too Joucke
bous backer: seventie fiv gilders in wanpon or too kas*
te too dericke wesell::won hondred and fortie one gill
after deleverest* too steres hee too pay the remainer
too* balltoe* I: nowe not what som, I: hope hee will
not ronge my wiefe and children: and too niec
les miere:109:in wanpon:t:rebad*:194 gilders
in wampon this bill was mad fierst toe Jemes m*
moreover I give my wiefe all my househould goods
and my son Jhonnathan all the tacklinge as
witnes my hand Daniell Whythead
witnes Thomas Wandell
burger Joris
* these words possibly misread."
He was married to an Armitage abt 1638 with whom he had Daniel b 1646, David b 1647, Sarah b 1649 and Jonathan.He married 2nd Jane or Jeanne Ireland abt 1660 with whom he had Adam, Jemima, Elizabeth and Thomas.
There are some genealogy reports on World Family Trees that list Daniel's 1st wife as Unknown Armitage, daughter of Thomas. There was a Thomas Armitage in Rhode Island and later Long Island. Armitage family when followed down ended up in PA
More About Daniel Whitehead:
Arrested: 1652, Detained as a prisoner at New Amsterdam but soon released.
Elected: 1652, Magistrate of New Amsterdam (NY).
Property 1: 1647, On the list of proprietors of Hempstead, LI. Later he was at Smithtown (1650), Oyster Bay, an early purchaser of Huntington (1653-1656) and Lloyd's Neck.
Property 2: 04 Dec 1666, listed in the Town Ratables (From Town Minutes of Newtown, NY-Historical Records Survey 1940, pg 79).
Property 3: 06 Mar 1667, 1st patent granted by Gov. Nicoll to Capt. Richard Betts, Capt. Thomas Lawrence, Capt. John Coe, John Burroughs, Ralph Hunt, Daniel Whitehead and Burger Joost..
Children of Daniel Whitehead are:
+Daniel Whitehead, b. 1646, England, d. Oct 1704, Jamaica, Queens Co., LI, NY.
(SOURCE: Ancestry.com).
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https://ark.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:G72P-5H4
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https://search.ancestry.com/collections/61157/records/614535
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https://search.ancestry.com/collections/8800/records/2678231
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https://search.ancestry.com/collections/7486/records/1623384
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https://search.ancestry.com/collections/7486/records/1281197
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https://search.ancestry.com/collections/7486/records/1735668
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https://search.ancestry.com/collections/61157/records/538306
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https://search.ancestry.com/collections/61157/records/1341458
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DANIEL md. 1) Miss Armitage--name unknown, and 2) Jane Ireland who md. 2) John Ingersoll. This source carefully reviews all pertinent primary sources and exposes past errors in print, even by respected genealogists to correct this family and to discard the myths. If one studies this article, there will be no need to duplicate or change people or relationships. Birth dates are estimated because vital records do not exist for them. This article does not support providing Daniel with parents in England by any credible record.
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https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G99R-694W-Z
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1622 - 1668 (46 years)
[5, 6]