Peleg Lawrence

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Peleg Lawrence (1647–1692), son of John Lawrence and Elizabeth Unknown

Elizabeth Morse (1647–aft. 1698), daughter of Joseph Morse and Hannah Philips

Peleg Lawrence was born on 10 (11) 1647 in Watertown. [1, 13][2] He died on 14 February 1692/3, age 45, in Groton. [2, only the year][3] He married Elizabeth Morse on 22 December 1688 in Medfield.

Elizabeth Morse was born on 1 September 1647 in Dedham. [3] She died after 20 November 1698. She was baptized on 19 September 1647 in Medfield. [3]

On 29 December 1670 and October 1672 [double-dated] Peleg of Groton was complained against for selling liquor to the Indians. [4]

Peleg and his brother Nathaniel were among the inhabitants of Groton who took refuge in Concord when there homes were destroyed by Indians in 1710. [5]

Peleg died intestate and the court appointed Elizabeth, the widow of Peleg, and Samuel, his son, as administrator. Inventory on his estate amounted to £140 4 s. [Peleg's brother] Deacon Nathaniel Lawrence was among those chosen to make a division of his estate. The division, done on 20 November 1698, names his widow Elizabeth and children Samuel, Eleazar, Elizabeth, the wife of Joseph Gilson, Abigail, Joseph, Daniel and Susanna. [6]

Children of Peleg Lawrence and Elizabeth Morse:

i. Elizabeth Lawrence was born on 9 January 1669. [7, Eliab, but possibly Elizabeth] She married Joseph Gilson before 1690. [8] Joseph, the son of Joseph Gilson and Mary Cooper, was born on 8 (1) 1666/7 in Groton. [9, 1:92, birth as son of Joseph and Mary; 2:75, parents' marriage] He died between 18 October 1739, when he resigned his will, and 11 December 1739, when it was probated. [10] He married first Hephzibah Unknown. [10]

There appear to be no original sources for this birth record and Eliab is not mentioned in the division of his father's estate.

ii. Samuel Lawrence was born on 16 October 1671 in Groton. [9] He married Abigail Unknown.

Samuel probably moved to Connecticut with his younger brother Joseph about 1707. He settled in the northern part of Plainfield that became Killingly. [5]

The Middlesex County, Massachusetts court papers dealing with Samuel's estate describe him as late of Killingly and refer to his widow Abigail as a current resident of Sherborn. [5]

iii. Eleazar Lawrence was born on 28 February 1674 in Groton. He died on 9 March 1754. He married Mary Scripture.

iv. Jonathan Lawrence was born on 29 March 1679 in Groton. [9] He probably died before 20 November 1698.

v. Abigail Lawrence was born on 6 October 1681 in Groton. [9]

vi. Jeremiah Lawrence was born on 3 January 1686 in Groton and died there on 26 April 1687. [9]

vii. Joseph Lawrence was born on 12 June 1688 in Groton. [9]

viii. Daniel Lawrence was named in the division of his father's estate.

ix. Susanna Lawrence, the daughter of Peleg of Groton, married Joseph Williams on 13 October 1710 in Plainfield, Windham County, Connecticut. [10] Joseph, the son of Thomas and Sarah Williams, was born on 28 October 1679 in Plainfield. [10]

Endnotes:

1.Watertown Historical Society, Watertown Records (Watertown: Fred G. Barker, 1894, 1900): vol. 1, vol. 2.

2.Records of Littleton, Massachusetts: Births and Deaths (Littleton: Littleton, 1900).

3. Alicia Crane Williams, "Early New England Families, 1641-1700," database with images, AmericanAncestors.org, entry for Joseph Morse (m. 1638).

4. "Middlesex County, MA: Abstracts of Court Files, 1649–1675," database with images, AmericanAncestors, vol. 2: 152.

5. Robert M. Lawrence, Historical Sketches of the Some Members of the Lawrence Family (Boston: Rand Avery Co., 1888), 16–18.

6. "Middlesex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1648-187," database with images, AmericanAncestors, 13772.

7. J. Howard Morse and Emily W. Leavitt, Morse Genealogy (New York: Morse Society, 1903), 10–11.

8. "New England Marriages to 1700," digitized books, AmericanAncestors, originally published as Clarence Almon Torrey, New England Marriages Prior to 1700 (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2015), 1:622. Joseph Gilson married Elizabeth or Hepzibah Lawrence.

9.Vital Records of Groton, Massachusetts: To the End of the Year 1849, 2 vols. (Salem: Essex Institute, 1926–1927).

10. "Connecticut: Vital Records (The Barbour Collection), 1630–1870," database with images, AmericanAncestors, Plainfield, p. 145.

Revised 04-Jun-2023