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Family
Marriage: Children:
  1. Thomas WILLETS: Birth: May 1650 in Hempstead, LI.

  2. Hope WILLETS: Birth: 7 7mo. 1652 in Hempstead, LI. Death: 10 Mar 1703 in Jerusalem, Queens Co., NY

  3. John WILLETS: Birth: Jul 1655 in Hempstead LI.

  4. Richard WILLETS: Birth: 25 Dec 1660 in Hempstead LI.

  5. Mary WILLETS: Birth: Apr 1663 in Hempstead LI.


Notes
a. Note:   THE FOLLOWING IS COPIED FROM “THE WILLETT FAMILIES OF NORTH AMERICA” , vol. 1, by ALBERT JAMES WILLETT, JR. (1985) from pp 248-251: [begin ALBERT JAMES WILLETT, JR. quote] RICHARD WILLETS OF NEW AMSTERDAM AND LONG ISLAND N.1 RICHARD WILLETS and MARY WASHBURNE of Hempstead, Long Island Richard Willets was born in 1618 in old England. He was baptized in 1619. He may have been a native of Butcornbe, county Somerset, England. His parents may (possibly) be John and Elizabeth (Buver) Willets. It is usually stated that he came from Bristol, or some other, west English port. However, he is sometimes mentioned as being from Worchester. This Worchester assumptions based on the fact that his wife Mary Washburne was from Bengeworth, county Worchester, England. The largest known family group that spelled their name Willets lived at Kemerton, county Gloucester, in England. Gloucester is just north of Bristol and county Somerset. A Henry Willetts died in 1591 at Kemerton, a Julyan in 1598, and a Robert in 1639. At his marriage, Richard described himself as of Bristol. Dutch custom would have us believe he was born at Bristol. But one needs to be careful; Richard may have not understood the significance of the question, and described the English port he had departed the "old" world from, instead of answering the question of where he was born. Still, whether or not he is from Gloucester, Bristol, or Somerset, he is most likely from this general area, and hopefully his ancestry will be eventually discovered. It is thought that Richard Willets left his native England about 1640 (age 22). If he was from Gloucester, he most likely left from Bristol. He sailed to New England were he may have settled at Rhode Island for a brief time. In 1643, he settled at the predominately English settlement at Hempsteede, Long Island, which was under Dutch rule. The Dutch settlement was at New Amsterdam (after 1664, New York) and included at this time, Long Island, and most of the Hudson River Valley with a settlement at Fort Orange (now Albany). The Dutch had granted great landed feudal estates along the Hudson River, particularly on the eastern side of the river, to wealthy Dutch land owners who were in the process of developing their feudal manors. The Dutch at Fort Orange and New Amsterdam were primarily fur traders and governing officials instead of permenant settlers. The great land grants limited the amount of available land that the ordinary settler could obtain and discouraged Dutch settlement, thus keeping the Dutch settlers in a minority. The English encouraged permenant settlement and their plantations in Virginia and New England were rapidly growing and encroaching on Dutch claims. Initially, the Dutch encouraged the English settlers to take up land, such as Richard Willets at Hempsteede, as a means to discourage the ever possible Indian attack. "The settlement of Hemsptead, Long Island, began late in 1543 when Robert Fordham, and John Carman made the Indian purchase" (Wardwell, page 112). Although there is some doubt on this point, Richard Willets may have been one of the original proprietors of Hemsptead, as certainly was his future father-in-law, William Washburne. At any rate, he was one of the earliest settlers at Hempstead. A year later (1644), Hempsteede was a part of a grant by the Dutch Government of New Netherlands to the settlers. "This document, known as the Kieft Patent, granted to Robert Fordham, John Strickland, John Odgen, John Carman, John Lawrence, Jonas Wood, and associates, land about a place called the Great Plains, and refers to a certain harbor, now commonly called and known by the name of Hempstead Bay" (Wardwell, page 112). Richard Willets was among a group that bought the Thorne Farm in 1650. William Thorne had farmed land (at what is now Fort Totten) in the 1640s. Willets Point, now the site of Fort Totten, was named after Richard Willets. After settling here at the Dutch owned Long Island for a few years, Richard Willets married at Hempstead, about 1649 (maybe a little earlier) Mary Washbourne, the daughter of William and Jane Washbourne. Her Parents were among the earliest settlers of Hempstead. She had been born in Bengeworth, Worchester, England, in 1629. She died on February 17, 1713. William Washburne and his wife Jane and family had first settled at Strafford, Connecticutt, and then came to Hempstead, Long Island (Hook, page 921). We do not know what prompted Richard Willets to emigrate, but the Washburne family was most likely motivated by their religion. Quakers were everywhere persecuted. And they (the Washburnes) were Quakers. The only two spots in the "new" world which afforded an escape from Persecution for a Quaker in the 1640s was at Rhode Island under Roger Williams, and at Long Island under the tolerant Dutch. In 1657, Richard Willets was present with his mother-in-law, Jane, at the reading of the will of William Washburne. Also, in 1657, Richard Willets is listed as having six gates (i.e., goats), cattle, six milch cows, and 28 acres of land. In all probability, Richard Willets was never a Quaker. On April 18, 1658, as an assistant to the Dutch Magistrate, along with Richard Gildersleeve, John Hicks, and Robert Forman, he was connected with the Court that enforced the laws to suppress the spread of Quakerism. On that day, the Court found Mary, the wife of Joseph Scott, and the wife of Francis Weeks, guilty of attending a Quaker meeting, and each was fined 20 guilders and cost. On March 14, 1658/59, it was ordered by the Court that Richard Willets "shall be an Surveyor of the High Wayes." On January 16, 1662, Richard was chosen to be one of the Townsmen. Richard Willets died between January 1, and March 24, 1665, at Hempstead. He was 46, and had lived to see New Amsterdam taken by the English fleet of the Duke of York the previous summer, Captain Thomas Willett had been installed as the first English mayor of the newly named New York City. It is very doubtful if any family relationship connected them. However, a third Willett, Thomas Willett of New Amsterdam, had been born in 1620 and died in 1647 in New Amsterdam. It would be unusual if these three men who shared a similar surname did not meet at one time or another on the muddy Dutch streets or in the Great Tavern near the old Dutch City Hall and not at least acknowledge their common bond that they shared in their surname. By virtue of his life long residence in New Amsterdam he could be considered to be Dutch; however, the English enclaves retained their English heritage and a separate identity, and most likely, Richard Willets considered himself a good Englishman. **** l. Thomas: b May, 1650, at Hempstead, Long Island, New Netherlands; m abt 1670 Dinah Townsend; d 1719. See next N.1.1. 2. Hope: b September, 1652, at Hempstead, Long Island, New Netherlands, m Mary (Mercy) Langdon; d 1703. See next N.1. 2. 3. John: b July, 1655; m Margaret Hallock , daughter of John and Abigail Hallock, of Brookline; removed to Cape May, Cape May County, New Jersey; no issue; d 1703. 4. Richard: b December 25, 1660, at Hempstead, Long Island, New Netherlands; m 1st March 25, 1686, Abigail Bowne; m 2d May 15, 1690, Abigail Powell; d May 14. 1703. See next N.1.4, 5. Mary: b April, 1663, Hempstead, Long Island, New Netherlands; m September 7, 1686/87 John Fry (II), the son of John and Francis Fry; John Fry had come from England to Long Island in 1636; a little later he removed to New Jersey; d 1687. l. John Fry (III): b 1647; d October 19, 1711. [end ALBERT JAMES WILLETT, JR. quote]


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