Newberry Family
in Connecticut
Our
John Newberry I, and family traveled from Connecticut in the
1740's to Duchess County, New York
with the Burt family. The Burt family plays along the edges of the
Newberry family history from the 1740's
forward. They are mentioned in a family journal written one hundred years
after this migration took place.
It mentions two people in it as Aunt and Uncle Burt. There is no other
information explaining the relationship
in the family record. Eddy Newberry married Ruth Burt in the 1760's and
moved back to Duchess Co.
Ruth Burt was also the grand daughter of Elder James Benedict who was the
father of Jemima Benedict who
married John Newberry in Warwick, N.Y. John was the son of John and
Zerviah Burch Newberry who were
the early settlers in Duchess Co.
In 1818 Phoebe and James Burt are witnesses to a will in Warwick,
N.Y. for John Newberry II,. In Warwick,
James Burt is a very prominent citizen and became a Senator. Are these
people those who were referred to as
Aunt and Uncle Burt? We have not yet figured out how they are
related - if in fact they are at all.
I have wondered if the Burch name became Burt at some point? Is this
possibly how the family has become
related to the Burt family in the family journal? John Newberry was
married to Zurviah Burch, and as you will
see in the following information, the Burch family lived near the Newberry
family in Duchess Co.
The researcher is hard pressed to find a lot of information on this
Newberry family. Both families migrated to the
area at the same time, yet the Burt social standing seems to have been
more prominent than the Newberry's.
Another piece of earlier information that has come to light regarding the
Burts, was that in 1701 James Burt
(ancestor of above James) gave a young Indian woman refuge from her unkind
master (John Smith of Taunton),
and went to English court to secure her legal removal from the previous
master's household.1 This took place in
New England. This James Burt is likely a progenitor to the one mentioned
above.
When the Newberry's moved to N.Y. their close neighbor was Jonathan Burch
who was also related.
Transcriptions appear below courtesy of Putnam County Historical
Society, N.Y.
Land of John Newberry in
Duchess Co/Putnam Co. N.Y.
Information acquired from the Putnam
County Historical Society – Reg White - historian
December 20th
1780 L2000 Continental
All that Certain tract or
parcel of land Situate lying and being in Fredricksburgh
Precinct now in the possession of John Newbury and is Distinguished
in a map or field
book these of made by Benjamin Morgan Among other Farms by farm
number thirty-
nine Beginning at a Stake the North East Corner of Utters and
Benjamins farms,
thence turning South eighty-three Degrees West, Eighteen Chains and Thirty
five links
to A Stake and heap of Stones, then North Sixty three Degrees West Twenty
four chains
and forty links to two Chestnut Trees Marked, then North Twenty Three
Chains to a
Stake and heap of stones, then North Eighty Eight degrees forty five
Minutes East forty
eight Chains to a Stake on a Mountain, then South Fourteen Degrees West
Thirty four
Chains, to the place of beginning Containing One Hundred and twenty five
acres More
or less.
May 1st 1781 L45
. Certificate
All that Certain tract of
land Situate in Fredricksburgh Precinct Dutchess County,
whereon John Newberry lives, beginning at a Heap of Stones in the south
line of the
Farm, Which is the Southeast Corner of Comfort Ludington’s for or
Wood Lott, then
turns North ten degrees East thirty seven chains to a White Oak Rush
Marked. Standing
in the East line of Comfort Ludington’s land, then South Eighty Seven
Degrees East
Nineteen chains and Seventy-five links to Jonathan Burches land,
then South bounding
on the Said Burches land and John Newberry land Thirty-eight chains to a
large Chestnut
tree, which is the southeast Corner of John Newberry’s land the
North Eighty-seven
Degrees West, Nineteen Chains to the first
Bounds containing Sixty Acres – More or less.
Why did they
migrate?
Another
question about the Newberry family that needs solving is their motivation
for migrating to N.Y. If
they were Native American there is one reason that may float.
Christianization was reaching a fevered pace in
colonial New England. Because of the Englishman's need of order they
felt that if they could convert the Indians,
then they could more easily spread across the land and acquire more
acreage. Because of the problems they
encountered with mortality from the white man's diseases the Indians began
to accept Christianity, believing
that if their tribal elders couldn't save their race, then perhaps the
English could.
The
English trained Indian people in the ministry. A Mohegan man named
Sansom Occum, took up the collar.
Beginning in the 1740's he advised the native races to move to Duchess Co.
N.Y. feeling that they could more
easily survive on the frontier with other Christian Indians in 'praying
towns'. There were several praying towns
run by different religious organizations. Stockbridge in
Massachusetts was one of the more famous ones.
Also the Moravians had many of these towns one of the first was in Duchess
County and was called Shekemeko.
Occum was trained by Reverend Wheelock's school which eventually
became Dartmouth College. He encouraged
this up until the Revolution, and then again after the fighting had
ceased. The Oneida offered refuge for many of the
people in Massachusetts and Connecticut. A new 'praying town' was
established in Oneida territory, and was called
New Stockbridge. Many of those people fought in the French and Indian Wars
and the Revolution. Oneida territory
was a long way from Duchess County. So in moving earlier in the
century as Occum suggested, the people who
abided found a much different situation in Southeastern N.Y. than
those of the people who moved to Oneida
Territory.
Tribes prevalent to Dutchess County,
N.Y. were the Mahicans,
and a related tribe called the Wappingers - all related
to the Mohegans in Connecticut, who in turn were related to the
grandfather tribe - Lenni Lenape or commonly called
the Delaware Indians. Contrary to James Fenimore Cooper's, story, the
'Mohicans' did not become extinct. The
Mahican tribe, as it is alternately spelled - is alive and well.
John Newberry and Zurviah
Burch
Through out this web site the children marked with this symbol►
are
the the
direct descendants from one family to the next.
John Newberry was born
August 16, 1710 Groton,
New London, Connecticut.
Died - Franklin, Duchess Co. (area now Putnam Co.) N.Y. April 19, 1809.
Married November 26, 1739 – Stonington, Connecticut. Shown in the
1790
N.Y. census as 'Moberry'.
Zurviah Burch was born June 4, 1713 Stonington,
New London, Connecticut.
Died - unknown
Their children are as follows:
1. Jonathan Newberry b.
Sept. 3, 1740, Jonathan Newberry’s son Nathaniel Newberry
was a pioneer in Michigan.
Nathaniel Newberry
2. Joseph Newberry b.
1741
3. Eddy Newberry b.
1743 married Ruth Burt a childhood friend. The Burt's traveled
with the Newberry's from Groton. Eddy went with his brother John to
settle in Warwick,
Orange County, N.Y.
►4. John
Newberry b. 1746, married
Jemima Benedict daughter of the first Baptist
minister of Warwick who established the Old School Baptist Church.
Benedict was
keenly familiar with Joseph
Brant who warned him of the impending infamous massacre
(Wyoming Massacre) at Wyoming, PA. Because of Brant's warning Benedict
took flight
with his family.
John Newberry was thought to be a trader of some sort, but detailed
information is difficult
to find. During the Revolution it is said that John Newberry and family
were neutral activists
or Tory's which could indicate some affiliation with tribal elders.
During the Revolution, the
Newberry's helped to string the huge chain across the channel of the
Hudson river. See
page on Revolution for more information.
5. Elizabeth
Newberry b. Sept. 13, 1749 m. Nov. 30, 1771 to
Benjamin Lowe
Danube, Tryon, N.Y.
6. Zurviah Newberry
b. 1751
7. Joshua Newberry
b. 1753
8. Mercy Newberry b.
1755
9. Zilphia Newberry b.
1757
The above information was graciously provided by Sherman Boivin, of Santa
Rosa, CA.
Native
names in our family On
to New York |