Ancestors

Elizabeth Newland

Elizabeth Newland was born at Taunton, in the Plymouth Colony, on 18 May 1659. The town book enters her as "Elizabeth, ch. Jeremiah". Her parents were Jeremiah Newland of Taunton and his wife Katharine. She was the second of their eight children, after her brother Anthony.

Her father died on 25 July 1681. On 14 March 1681/2 she married William Witherell Jr. at Taunton. The colony's copy of the town register reads "William Witherell, Junir, married to Elizabeth Newland, the 14th of March, 1681." The English year then began on 25 March, so the clerk wrote a wedding in early March under the old year. Her husband was a son of William Witherell, who had been at Taunton since 1643.

Her parentage is shown by the settlement of her father's estate. On 10 January 1701 her brothers and her sisters' husbands gave her brother Anthony, the administrator, a discharge for their shares of "the estate of their father Jeremiah and mother Katharine N." Her husband signed it for her share. She is the only Elizabeth Newland in the Taunton records, so the child of 1659 and the bride of 1682 are almost certainly the same woman. The genealogist James Savage, writing in 1862, had only guessed that she was "perhaps d. of Jeremiah".

Her son Jeremiah was born about 1684 and was named in his grandfather Witherell's will in August 1691. Her son Nathaniel was born on 5 May 1696 in the Taunton North Purchase, the part of Taunton that became the town of Norton. Savage names a son William as well. When she died is not known.

If Elizabeth Newland is in your family, start your own tree.

Cite: Heirology, "Elizabeth Newland (b. 1659)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/elizabeth-newland-1659-883dbd.