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February 6, 1998 From The American Genealogist, Volume 26, page 230-32 James Ferris of Greenwich, Connecticut by Miss Harriet Scofield, Western Reserve Historical Society, 10825-10915 East Boulevard, Cleveland 6, Ohio According to all the published accounts of the Ferris family of Greenwich that possess some degree of accuracy, Jeffrey had a son James, born circa 1643, married circa 1698, whose eldest son James 3 was born 12/18/1699. James 2 is said to have died 11/6/1726, leaving a widow Mary, sons James, Nathaniel and Samuel, and daughters Mary and Hannah. Aside from the improbability, but not impossibility, of a man marrying for the first time at age of about 55 years, and having the above family, this does not fit three original records that have been found, namely: (1) In the list of estates of Greenwich, Conn., in 1694/5 these items occur: James Ferris and son 103, 0, 0 James Ferris, Jr. 40, 0, 0 (The latter was the son of (3)Joseph, brother of James 2, and was born circa 1662.) (2) John (1) of the town of Westchester on 6/15/1705 deeded to "my loving cosen James Ferris, natural son unto my bro. James Ferris of Greenwich", interest in an estate in Greenwich willed to the grantor by "my honored father Jeffere Ferris". (3) In the will of James Ferris who died in 1726 in Greenwich, he specifically mentioned land which he had bought of "my cousin John Ferris."
The term cousin as used in record (2) clearly means a nephew. In record (3), although the term was not frequently used in the sense of an uncle, it is certainly was not used to designate a brother.
It seems evident from the above records that James 2 had an adult son in 1694/5 who was living, probably then unmarried, with his father; that because of this, his estate was listed jointly with his fathers; that this son, James 3, was born later than 1662 (the date presumably of the birth of James "Jr.", the son of Joseph (3) but before 1674, and was the James Ferris who died in 1726. One cannot say which records from 1690 outward pertain to the father and which to the son, without further research. It is certain, however, however that James 2 was the patentee of 1665 and almost certainly the voter of 1688 and the one whose lands, lying in Horseneck, were listed and approved Feb. 1687/8. But the James Ferris who received the grant of land in Elizabeth Neck, recorded January 2, 1692, and the one who received grants in the summer and winter of 1700, may have been either the father or the son, for it is known that James 2 was living as late as 1705. In that year he purchased land of his brother Peter and of his nephews Joseph and Joshua Ferris and their relationship is so stated in the deeds.
Several suggested might be made for further research. It seems likely that James 2 had only the one son, but there may have been daughters. One may have been Deborah Ferris who married 1/11/1701/2, Jonathan Bell, of Greenwich as his 2d wife, as she named her eldest son Francis after Jonathan's grandfather, and her second son, James, perhaps after her own father. No record has been seen of either the given or maiden name of the wife of James 2, who was married probably prior to 1670. Neither is the surname of the wife of James 3 known but she was called Mary in his will.
On 30 March, 1719, in a deed not recorded until 14 Sept. 1730, James 3 deeded to his sons, James, Nathaniel, and Samuel (all minors) his rights in land bought of John Foach (Feake? Finch?) of Long Island, then undivided. Whether this was merely a right in the undivided lands of Greenwich, or land undivided between heirs to an estate and hence a clue to the identity of one of the Ferrises "missing" wives, is left for future research to determine. The writer, situated at some distance from Greenwich and Long Island, and unable to pursue these problems further at the present time, will welcome investigation, contributions and discussions by others. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From a Scofield letter dated May 13, 1959 in reply to Chaplain Ferris who had asked which James married Mary Merritt - "My answer is neither! There was no such person. James Ferris (one of them - the first) mentioned in a deed, as I remember, his brother Thomas Merritt, and it seems likely that was what someone found and jumped to the conclusion that James' wife was Thomas's sister, Mary Merritt. But Thomas Merritt, who lived very near James Ferris, had no sister Mary. As it happens, Mary (Ferris) Lockwood, widow of Jonathan Lockwood (died in 1688) married second, about Sept. 1696, Thomas Merritt. He was later of Rye NY. Hence the ‘brothership' of James Ferris and Thomas Merritt. I have seen no other possible clue that connects these two men. Long ago I wrote to the person who inserted the item in the Virkus's Abridged Compendium of American Genealogy about Mary Merritt as wife of James Ferris asking where he obtained the information. That person did not remember, had not written down the reference. I have traced ever other such statement back to the same source in Virkus. As you probably know, Virkus's work is in very great disrepute, and nothing should be accepted from it without your own verification from original sources or reliable references. I have checked Merritt genealogy without finding any eligible girl named Mary in that family, for either of the James Ferris'. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From Chaplain Ferris, Volume 4. " Note: This is important Prior to 1950, all published accounts gave James, born circa 1642 and James who died in 1726 as one and the same person. From the investigation of the late Harriett Scofield, the above seems much more probable since John Ferris (1), of Westchester, brother of James 1, deeded land in 1705 to James, "son of my brother James," and in the will of James 2, who died in 1726, he mentions land he bought of "my cousin, John Ferris (1)," It would not have been likely for him to refer to his brother as "my cousin," although it was not uncommon to refer to nephews and uncles as cousins. James Ferris appears in may Stamford records but it is impossible to determine which is father and which is son or which is the son of John." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jim -what all of the above means is that in previous editions I have omitted a James in the line. What follows is corrected based on what I decipher the above remarks to mean. I thank Bill Slagle for calling my attention to this omission. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(5) JAMES was born circa 1642 (youngest of Jeffrey's children) and died, possibly, 1706. His wife's identity is unknown Children were:
3968 i.
James FERRIS.
ii.
[Deborah] FERRIS(58) died on 3 Jul
1724. J. G. Ferris - "possibly a daughter of James"
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