Rebecca Morehouse

Other Events:

• Reference Number: 1597

Notes:

Birth:
bp 5 Jun 1698

Family/Spouse: Joseph Booth. Joseph was born about 1693. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Reference Number: 4688

Notes:

Died:
wife remarried 1700

Thomas married Mary Hill on 3 Apr 1690 in Boston, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA. Mary was born in 1669 in Boston, Massachusetts; died on 9 Jul 1746 in Fairfield, Connecticut, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Reference Number: 2112
• Residence: 29 May 1698, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA

Notes:

The father of Mary Hill listed in numerous on-line trees of Eliphalet Hill is incorrect. That persons actual name is Eliphalet Hitt (or Hett in some records) and is not the parent of a Hill. (TAG 1951 V27 P95 "Eliphalet Hitt (not Hill) of Boston") The birthdate of 1 Apr 1670 refers to Mary Hitt, not Mary Hill.

Birth:
age 77 on gravestone

Other Events:

• Reference Number: 6463
• Birth: 1637
• Birth: 1642, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA
• Death: 1687, Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut, USA

Samuel married Rebecca Odell. Rebecca (daughter of William Odell and Rebecca Unknown) was born on 17 Jul 1642 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Reference Number: 4652
• Birth: 1642, Massachusetts, USA

Other Events:

• Reference Number: 6517

Notes:

According to "Families of old Fairfield" Thomas died 1658, wife's name unknown. He had three children including our Samuel who married Rebecca Odell.

This is quote from a website which is quite interesting, and is mostly, although not completely confirmed:
(http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nancyelder/Morehouse.htm)
Thomas Morehouse, recognized as the emigrant ancestor of most of the American Morehouse families, was in Watertown, Massachusetts, about 1635; at Wethersfield, Connecticut, 1640; at
Stamford, Connecticut, in 1641, where he was one of the original settlers who purchased the
townsite from the Indians for one hundred bushels of corn. He came from Yorkshire, England,
with the migration of Puritans conducted by Sir Richard Saltonstall. He settled permanently at
Fairfield, Connecticut, prior to 1653 and became prominent in its development--owning the
tide-water mill and being sent as a member to the General Court (Legislature) at Hartford. He left
four sons--Samuel, Thomas, Jonathan and John--who at an early date became the heads of the
numerous branches and descendants which settled in New York, New Jersey, Ohio and the West.
Thomas Morehouse, the first, died at Fairfield in 1658, leaving a will. It is estimated that over two hundred of his descendants served in the Revolutionary war.

Partial confirmation of the above story includes NEHGR Vol98, P75, Vol49 P475 and Vol113 P301. And "The Early Settlement of Stamford, Conn 1641-1700" 1990 by Jeanne Majdalany.
The corn story is a little misleading; The New Haven Colony had earlier purchased the land from the Indians for 100 bushels of corn and then later sold the same land to the group of Puritans who would first settle there.

This entry from "The History of Fairfield" by Elizabeth Hubbell Schenck 1889 discusses his will, although I do not have a transcript of the will:
Thomas Morehouse was at Wethersfield, says Savage, in 1640. He was among the first to receive a grant of seven acres in Stamford. He is found at Fairfield before 1653, where he had purchased the house & home-lot of John Barlow on the Ludlow Square. He was granted land by the town on the west side of the Uncoway River & present Black Rock Bridge, where he ran a grist mill on the creek which empties into the river between Seely's Neck & the Old Mill hill He m Isabella d of Ralph Keeler of Norwalk. His will is dated 8 Aug 1658 in which he leaves 1/3 of his estate to his wife Isabell; a double portion to his eldest son Samuel, homestead, mill & mill-lot, which he was not to sell without the consent of the town; & further distributes his estate among his sons Thomas, John, Jonathan & ds Mary & Ann He mentions daughter Hannah, to whom he had aIready given a full portion

The marriage to Isabel Keeler is an apparent error as his son Thomas married Isabel Keeler, the daughter of Ralph Keeler.

Jacobus, in History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield, Volume 1, identifies Thomas Sr'.s wife as Isabel Unk. Widow Isabel in his 1658 will.

And son Thomas Jr.'s first wife as ___, eldest daughter of Ralph Keeler. (cited also in TAG: 80: 2005: p. 186)

Thomas married Isabel Unknown. Isabel was born before 1620 in England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Reference Number: 6500

Notes:

"Ancestors and descendants of Jonathan Abell" by Horace Abell pub 1933 gives Isabelle Keller as the wife of the immigrant Thomas Morehouse.
Per "ANCESTRY AND DESCENDANTS OF GERSHOM MOREHOUSE JR., OF REDDING, CONNECTICUT, A CAPTAIN IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION" Isabel may have been a 2nd wife and not the mother of the children.

Other Events:

• Reference Number: 2482

Notes:

Williams parentage in England has led to much confusion and various on-line genealogies which are unproven. We have two clues as to where Williams family lived in England.

In Newport Pagnall, Buckinghamshire, England on 17 Apr 1639 William Odell and Edward Hartley were in a fight in a churchyard. Odell ended up being stabbed in the arm. They both ended up being cited in the church records for the fight. The conclusion to the church record was entered on 17 Oct 1639 "Absunt Nova Anglia" meaning that both parties were absent in New England. As there was only one William Odell known to be in New England in this time period, we must conclude that the gentleman in this fight was our William Odell. This also tells us that William left England between 17 Apr 1637 and 17 Oct 1639.

Clue # 2. Benjamin and Mary Turney were with William in both Concord and Fairfield. Benjamin Turney and Mary Odell were married 12 July 1630 in Salford, Bedfordshire. Therefore we conclude that William Odell and Mary Odell are somehow related and that Williams family lived in or near Salford or Newport Pagnell (which two localities are about 6 miles apart). We know from Mary's genealogy that she had no brother named William, but she did have 3 uncles Richard, Thomas and William either of whom could be Williams father. Both Richard Odell and John Odell in Newport Pagnell, Bedfordshire had a child named William, but both Williams had children in England after 1640 thus eliminating them. There are numerous Odell families in this area and time period. The Baptism registers have many other William Odell's listed and to pick one out would just be a guess.

Therefore, our only conclusion is that William came from either Buckinghamshire or Bedfordshire, probably either Salford or Newport Pagnall or close by.

(Citations for the above are The American Genealogist 1937 P224-228 and 1938 P55-57.)

According to TAG Vol7, P12 William Odell, along with Benjamin Turney and many others are on a list of settlers who left Concord and moved to Fairfield. The list is dated 1645 and states that these people had recently moved.

To summarize, William left England by 1639, he lived in Concord and in 1644 or 1645 moved to Fairfield.

We have no record of his wife Rebeccas last name.


Birth:
Bedfordshire or Buckinghamshire

William married Rebecca Unknown. Rebecca was born about 1583. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Reference Number: 1853

Notes:

Birth:
based on spouse's birth date