Genealogy Data Page 8 (Notes Pages)

Appointed Justice of the Quorum Court (Orphans Court; later known as Probate Court) of Jackson County, by the Govenor; 1828--Elected to Mississippi House of Representatives. He was defeated in the next election by Moss Bilbo, who took that seat in 1829. In September 1829, William was wounded in a duel by one Angus McDonald, resulting from a dispute over a Bill passed, one of which he voted for in the Legislature, determining the boundaries of Jackson and Hancock counties and died Thursday, March 18, 1830 of said wounds. 7th Regiment, U.S. Infantry War of 1812, Battle of New Orleans. Inducted, Sept 1810, PA. Discharged: Sept 1815, Jackson County, MS. Their only surviving child was Stephen Starks who married Ellen Elwart (Elwyrt?). William, Nancy Ann, Elizabeth, and Samuel are all buried in the Hollingsworth Cemetery in Gulf Park Estates, Ocean Springs, MS in unmarked graves in the NE corner of the cemetery.

Went to Mississippi in 1812. His brother, Charles, remained in Wyalusing, Pennsylvania, with their father, Samuel Starks.

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Starks Samuel Sgt. [Male] b. 16 JAN 1759 Colchester, New London Co, CT - d. 18 MAR 1834 Spring Hill, Bradford Co, PA

resided in Tuscarora Twp., Bradford Co, PA

Subj: Samuel STARKS and Abigail SKEEL" Whittlesley Richards Starks"
Date: 11/12/2002 1:27:43 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: Julia.McCann@@ssc.nasa.gov (McCann, Julia)
To: JoyceTice@@aol.com ('JoyceTice@@aol.com')
Samuel Starks (Revolutationary War Sgt.) spouse was Abigail SKEEL (Whittlesley Richards Starks). They were my great-great-great grandparents. Samuel is the son of Samuel Stark and Elizabeth Joyner of New London, Conneticut. I assume Samuel and Abigail came with the other settlers from Conneticut to the Wyoming Valley after the Revolutionary War and ended up in Wyalusing, where they lived until their deaths. He is buried in The Spring Hill cemetery and there is a Revolutionary War soldier grave marker there.
Abigail had 2 daughters from Capt. Whittlesley and one son from Richards. Abigail and Samuel had four children: Charles, William, Samuel,
and Elizabeth. . Charles remained in Pennsylvania with his father, while William and Samuel came to Mississippi with Andy Jackson in 1811. William and Samuel are cited in a plaque at the Gulf Islands National Seashore Headquarters, Ocean Springs, Mississippi by the National Park Service, as heroes of the War of 1812.
William married Nancy Ann Davis and most of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Starks' descend from those two people. Later, their sister, Elizabeth--a school
teacher, traveled overland to Kentucky and then down the Mississippi on a flatboat, to join them in Mississippi to "help William's wife with the children". Samuel died at an early age, without issue and Elizabeth never married.
In the 1950s, my Aunt, Lillian Starks Kucera, and a cousin, Francis Xavier Starks, wrote a book on the geneology. They traveled to Wyalusing and learned of a story about Abigail Starks encountering a bear in the woods.
I hope this brief history will add to the history of Bradford County. I am constantly learning more of these people and if I get new information, I'll be happy to pass it along.
Julia Isabelle Starks McCann

Serg 1st Regt Cont L. RW

On December 10th, 1832, at the age of 73, Samuel Starks appeared before the Court of Common Pleas in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, to give a sworn statement concerning his participation in the Revolutionary War, so that he might qualify for a pension. This statement was written in ink by the court clerk and now resides in the National Archives. The following information is a summary of the information gathered from a photocopy of that document.

Late in January, 1776, shortly after his 17th birthday, Samuel joined a Company of men recruited in Colchester for a one year period of service in the army. The Company was marched to Albany, NY, where it was mustered into a Brigade under the command of Brigadier General Philip Schuyler.

At this time in the war, Washington had captured Boston and most British troops had left the 13 colonies. It was decided by the Continental Congress, after a delay that diminished the chance of success, that an attempt should be made to bring Canada into the war as the 14th colony. Beginning on August 28, 1775, an army of 1200 men under General Richard Montgomery went north along the Lake Champlain routh, took British forts north of the lake, captured Montreal, and then turned down the St. Lawrence toward Quebec. At the same time, Washington sent a detachment of men under the command of Col. Benedict Arnold north through Maine to take Quebec. The two forces met outside Quebec on December 2, 1775, but they were too late. The British had had sufficient warning and time to adequately fortify the city and they held of the attack until additional British forces arrived from England in the spring of 1776. It is believed by some historians that if the Americans had arrived at Quebec just one week earlier, Canada would now be a part of the U.S.A. Through that winter and spring, it was the job of Gen. Schuyler to send reinforcements north to help Montgomery and Arnold.

In March of 1776, Samuel marched north from Albany to Ft. William Henry at the south end of Lake George, a long lake stretching north 35 miles to a point close to Lake Champlain. At Ft. Wm. Henry, military equipment and supplies were loaded onto boats. Unfortunately, the ice had not yet thawed so they had to cut a passage for the boats and at night they had to shovel snow on shore to make a place for campfires and to bed down. After arriving at Lake Champlain, his Company quickly moved up to Crown Point and then to St. Johns. From there they went to Fort Chambly, Three Rivers, and finally to Point Chambeau on the bank of the St. Lawrence forty-five miles upstream from Quebec. Here they met the reinforced British and had to retreat back to Fort Chambly. His Company stayed at Chambly for at least three weeks during which period he and may other soldiers came down with the small pox. They next moved south to Crown Point where Samuel was taken with a disease then called "the camp distemper." He was sent on south with the sick to Ft. Wm. Henry. After his recovery, he went to Mount Independence, near Ticongeroga, and helped erect a fort there until the latter part of September when he again became ill and wholly unable to render service. Owing to the illness he was given a discharge. The campaign had been a rough one for the American soldiers. Samuel was often reduced to an allowance of food of "one-quarter pound of oatmeal (without bolting or sifting) and the same amount of poor beef per day!" He was so enfeebled by sickness at the time of his discharge that he was unable to walk or ride a horse. He returned home to Colchester by obtaining transportation in wagons that were going his way.

After returning home and regaining his health, he was engaged as a substitute to serve out five or six weeks of another man's service in the militia in New London. After this, he served as a substitute for another man in the militia for a term of two months. He returned home in March 1777, and then enlisted for three years or the remainder of the war on April 11, 1777. He was sent to New Haven and joined a regiment commanded by Col. (soon to be General) Jebediah Huntington.

While in New Haven, Samuel volunteered to join a detachment ofr a secret service under the command of Major (soon Col.) Return J. Meigs. The secret service was a raid on Sag Harbor at the east end of Long Island. The American detachment of about 100 men took three sloops and some boats across Long Island Sound from New Haven to a point near Sag Harbor. Thtye waited until after dark to enter Sag Harbor, surprised the British and Tories located there, and burned 16 British supply ships and forage stored on shore, killed six British soldiers, and took 90 more prisoner, while suffering no casualties. They were back in Connecticut the next morning. The entire mission took 25 hours.

Shortly after the Sag Harbor raid, Samuel's unit was marched through Danbury, CT, and Peekskill, NY on their way to join Washington's main army in New Jersey. They passed through Danbury just after the town had been torched by the British, and the fires were still burning when they marched through. Samuel mentions that the location of army headquarters in New Jersey was called "Quibble Town" by the troops. Actually it was located near Morristown, but Quibble Town seems a perfect name for an army headquarters. While in New Jersey, during the summer of 1777, Samuel was in a skirmish with General Howe's British troops as the enemy moved from Brunswick to Amboy (now New Brunswick and Perth Amboy). Gen. Howe was moving the British troops to ships to transport them to the Chesapeake Bay and an attack on Philadelphia. After the skirmish, Samuel was sent to Elizabethtown (now Elizabeth), NJ, to guard a large number of cattle that had been seized from the Tories that lived in the area.

A short time later Samuel was sent back to Peekskill where troops were being massed to fight the British army under General Burgoyne that was coming down the Lake Champlain route from Canada. Samuel did not fight Burgoyne's army because he got sick in Peekskill and was sent to a hospital in Danbury. After his recovery from this illness, he was appointed Seargent of the Guard at Danbury and remained in these duties for thirteen months (i.e., until November 1778.) At this time he contracted a fever and had a bad sore on his left arm. Gen. Huntington issued a permit for Samuel to retire from the army until he recovered sufficiently to perform service again. Under this permit he went home and stayed away from service until the spring of 1780. In June or July of 1780, the fever sore on his arm returned and he was again unable to perform his duties. General Huntington gave Samuel another permit to go home until he recovered his health. Samuel was still at home when the end of hostilities occurred. For this reason, he never received an official discharge from the army.

All the documents that he had including the permits from Gen. Huntington were destroyed when his house in Kingston, Luzerne Co., PA, burned in 1790. Luckily, a man that he served with in the army lived in Bradford County and came forward as a witness to Samuel's service in the Continental Army. It is amazing that his statement, given after more than fifty years, contains the names of the lieutenants, captains, colonels, and generals that he served with and the place names of many of the places that he marched through. At times in the deposition, he apologized for forgetting the given names of some officers. In writing Samuel's statement, the court clerk never capitalized the word "tories," and one wonders if this is by chance or because of the hatred that may have persisted in this area of Pennsylvania where Tories and Indians massacred many families during the War of Independence.

Samuel received an initial $250, in 1833 and was to receive another $100 each March 4, starting in 1834. He died on March 18, 1834, but, it appears that he did get the $100 that year. While his pension may seem small by our standards for the service performed, it is quite possible that these sums of money were the largest amounts of money that he had ever had in his hands at one time. After his death, his personal property (which included one cow and two pigs) was appraised at $109.00.

To understand why Samuel, and several cousins named Starks and Stark, left CT for PA, one needs to know some history of the region of PA to which they moved. This region, known as the Wyoming Valley, is in northeastern PA. The valley was the scene of a long contest between CT and PA over conflicting land claims based on 17th Century charters from England. The first permanent settlement in the valley was in 1769. In 1774, settlers from CT set up the town of Westmoreland and sent representatives to the CT legislature. Armed conflicts (sometimes referred to as the Pennamite Wars( broke out between CT settlers and PA settlers from about 1769 til 1799 when a compromise was reached allowing the CT settlers to keep their land claims and stay in the valley, but gave control to PA. Samuel's house was burned in the winter of 1790, he then left PA, his son Charles was born in CT in 1794, he was in NY in 1800, and back in PA in 1810 after the compromise.

Life in Pennsylvania was not easy. Luzerne and Bradford Counties are mountainous. Farming was difficult. According to the tax records, in 1820, Samuel had 15 acres of one type of unimproved land, probably meadow, valued at $30; and 100 acres of another type valued at $100. Meanwhile, his son Charles had 25 acres of improved land valued at $175 and 120 acres of unimproved land valued at $135. Charles also had one ox and one cow, whereas Samuel had no animals. Ten years later in 1830, Samuel had 8 acres of improved land, 185 acres of unimproved land, and no animals. In 1830, Charles had 30 acres of improved land, 110 acres of unimproved land, one horse, and two cows. Not a great improvement over 10 years. Charles took on the job of Constable for Wyalusing Township in the 1830s. In 1834, Samuel paid taxes on 8 acres of improved land, 99 acres of unimproved land, and one cow; whie Charles paid taxes on one horse, two oxen, two cows, and no land. Samuel died in 1834, and in 1835 and 1836, Charles paid taxes on the land his father previously owned. This would indicate that he inherited the land. Given the nature of the bare subsistence living in that area, it is little wonder that Charles decided to move to Illinois three years after his father's death. The economic "Panic of 1837" may also have had something to do with the move.

Samuel's son William fought in the war of 1812 and was in the Battle of New Orleans. After the war he stayed in the South. He settled near Ocean Springs, Jackson Co, Mississippi, on the Gulf coast. He was elected to the MS Legislature. He died, in 1829, from wounds suffered in a duel resulting from a dispute over a bill that he had voted for a year earlier in the legislature. One of his sons, Stephen, fought for the Confederacy. Samuel's daughter Elizabeth taught school in PA, but left, in 1829, to join William's family in MS, and so far as we know spent the rest of her life there.

Fact 2: Soldier in Revolutionary War Army Pension #s23959
served as Sergeant in Continental L., 1st Regiment, and was enlisted at Colchester, CT

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Starke Aaron Jr. [Male] b. ABT. 1654 Groton, New London Co, CT - d. BEF. 29 APR 1721 Groton, New London Co, CT

served in the militia during King Philips War, for which he was rewarded with tracts of land in Voluntown, Connecticut in July of 1701.

Several of the children of Aaron Stark (Junior) became religious dissenters. Some joined the Baptist movement in 1704. Others became followers of John Rogers and joined the Rogerene movement that eventually removed to the more religious tolerant colony of New Jersey about 1730. In 1674, John Rogers (a resident of New London County, Connecticut), was converted to the Sabbatarian Sect in Rhode Island. On his return to Connecticut, he formed a small congregation which began to observe the Sabbath on Saturday. For not observing the Sabbath on Sunday, John Rogers and his followers were harassed and persecuted by the Congregational Church Leadership and Governmental Authorities. John Rogers and his followers would later split from the Sabbatarian Church and become known as the "Rogerenes."

By around 1685, members of any of the Baptist congregations in Rhode Island were arrested and severely punished if they attempted to visit or have meetings within the jurisdiction of the other colonies. Despite the persecutions, the Baptists continued to grow in numbers and slowly began to spread to the other colonies. First Baptist Church preachers from Rhode Island ventured into Connecticut where they gained a few converts. By 1701, a small congregation was formed in New London County, Connecticut which began to hold regular meetings. They petitioned the Connecticut's General Court for official recognition to practice their faith, but received no response from the ruling body. Interpreting the General Court's silence as unofficial consent, the congregation formally organized themselves into a Baptist Church in 1705. In the summer of 1707, they sent for a young preacher named Valentine Wightman of North Kingston, Rhode Island to serve as their pastor. He began to hold regular meetings in Groton on the property of William Stark (Senior) which came to the attention of the County Authorities and a series of unsuccessful attempts were made to remove Wightman from the community.

The second and third generation of Aaron Stark's [1608-1685] descendants would become Baptists sympathizers and converts, and challenge the authority of the Congregational Church to regulate religious activities in Groton. William Stark [Senior] joined and supported the original First Baptist Church movement which spread from Rhode Island to to Connecticut and many members of Aaron Stark's (Junior) family joined William Stark's (Senior) Baptist congregation while others joined the Rogerene movement.

An entry in the New London County records for June 3, 1685, informs us Aaron Stark (Junior) was the son of Aaron Stark (Senior):49

"The inventory of the Estate of Aaron Stark, deceased, being exhibited in Court was proved and ordered to be recorded. The last will and testament of Aaron Stark, being exhibited in Court, was proved, approved and ordered to be recorded. Aron Stark, John Stark, and William Stark, sons to Aron Stark, Sr., deceased, appearing in Court and did declare and desire Capt. Samuel Mason might divide the lands left there by their father, and bound the same between them.�

Aaron (Junior) was most likely born between 1653 and 1658. The earlier estimate is based on the probable arrival of his parents at the John Mason land grant in Stonington in 1653, and the later estimate based on his being reported as an inhabitant of New London April 11, 1678. (He had to have been twenty-one years of age to appear on the list.)50

There are few surviving records in Connecticut related to Aaron Stark (Junior) during his lifetime. The earliest record is a November 27, 1676 Thomas Minor diary entry: �"The Ninth moneth is November � monday the .27. Aron Start Junior and mehitabel shaw were married..."51 Mehitable Shaw was the daughter of Thomas and Mary Shaw, residents of Stonington Township, New London County, Connecticut � most likely where the marriage rites were performed. The extant record of Aaron Stark (Junior) came when he received a bounty for killing wolves on November 28, 1691.50

When Did Aaron Stark (Junior) Die?

There has been considerable speculation by Stark Family researchers, both past and present, attempting to establish the time of death of Aaron (Junior). This is important because there could have been two men named Aaron Stark in the New London County records after 1691: Aaron Stark (Junior) and his son of the same name, hereafter referred to as Aaron Stark (the third). Most genealogists seem to agree Aaron (Junior) was deceased no later than April 24, 1721, but many records dated before that year suggest that he was in fact deceased well before then; they also help us by revealing the names of his children.

A thorough review of the pertinent records will help us to sort out which Aaron Stark is which. An especially important one is a Groton Deed book entry dated April 24, 1721, which states:52

"� to fix a deviding lane between mr. William Stark of sd Groton and his Cozen Aron Stark son to Aron Stark decd ye brother of ye sd William Stark according to ye last will & testament of Mr. Aron Stark decd. Father to ye above said Brothers ye boundary��

This document tells us: Cozen Aron Stark was the son of a deceased father named Aron Stark; the deceased father of Cozen Aron Stark was the brother of William Stark; and the two brothers were sons of a deceased father named Aron Stark.

Undoubtedly, the deceased father of the two brothers was Aaron Stark [1608-1685] (hereafter referred to as Senior); the deceased father of Cozen Aron Stark was Aaron Stark (Junior); and Cozen Aron Stark was the nephew of William Stark (Senior). Assuming this deduction is correct, then we can confidently state that Aaron Stark (Junior) was deceased before April 24, 1721, and had a son with the same name: Aaron Stark (the third). Are there other records showing that Aaron Stark (Junior) was deceased at an earlier date?

May 29, 1716, the Groton Deed Books reported the siblings of Aaron Stark [the third] acknowledged receiving their fair share of there deceased father�s estate:53

"Be it known � the subscribers do � acknowledge that we have received our full parts of shears of all ye estate that was our father Aaron Starks of Groton deceased � and acquit all our right title claim or demand whatsoever of or unto the estate of our sd father Aaron Starke and to every part therof unto our brother Aaron Stark of said Groton � 29 May 1716. Signed: John Stark, Aabiel Stark, Joseph Collver, Sarah Stark. Wit: Samll. Fox, David Collver. Ack and recd 29 May 1716.."

The subscribers who signed this document could not have been children of Aaron Stark (Senior), for his sons were named in his 1685 probate record. All those mentioned were children of Aaron Stark (Junior), accept for Joseph Collver, who was married to their sister, Mary Stark. This document provides persuasive evidence that Aaron Stark (Junior) was the deceased father of the siblings named in this deed record.

Another Groton Deed record suggest Aaron Stark (Junior) may have been deceased before February of 1713/14:54

"Stephen Starke of Groton, for 16L,� by Capt. Samuell Fish of Groton, all the right, all the estate that was my father Aaron Starks, ? Feb 1714 Signed: Stephen Stark. Wit John Wood, John Morgan. Ack. and recd 3 Feb 1714."

This deed indicates that another son of Aaron Stark (Junior), Stephen Stark, had sold the property inherited from his deceased father. This was the same Stephen Stark who on May 20, 1751, sold a �Tract of Land which did formerly belong to my Honoured Grand Father Thomas Shaw Late of Said Stonington Deceasd.�55 Thomas Shaw of Stonington was most likely the father of Stephen�s mother, Mehitable Shaw � suggesting that Stephen was the son of Aaron Stark (Junior). But there is other evidence Aaron Stark (Junior) was deceased even earlier.

Helen Stark in a 1937 article entitled, " Aaron Stark Family, Known Facts & Authorities," wrote:56

"June 9, 1707. [Aaron Stark (Junior)] Mentioned as deceased in a petition by the daughters of his deceased brother John, in regard to their share of the estate of their grandfather, Aaron 1 [Aaron Stark (Senior)]."

Helen's source for this document was the New London Probate Records in Hartford, Connecticut, but the document itself has not been found. If such a document did exist � and there is no reason to doubt its existence � then Aaron Stark (Junior) was deceased before 1707. Who, then, was the Aaron Stark mentioned in the following deed that sold a lot in Voluntown March 22, 1709/10?57

Aron Starke of Groton � for 5 pounds silver money of Boston � to Samuell Avery � a certain tract of land lying in that tract of land granted to those persons who were vollenteers in the last war with the Narraganset Indians � in the town of Vollentowne and in the 69th -?-?-?- 122a � 22 Mar 1709/10 Signed Aaron Stark. Wit James Morgon Junr, Wm. Latham. Ack 22 Mar 1709/10. Recd 28 Mar 1709/10.

If Aaron Stark (Junior) was indeed deceased before June 9, 1707, then the Aron Starke who sold the above property must have been Aaron Stark (the third). We know his parents did not marry until November 1676, which means that Aaron Stark (the third) was not born until after King Philip�s War (1675-1676). How did this property come into the possession of Aaron Stark (the third) if he was not one of the volunteers granted land in Voluntown?

The Voluntown deed records provide a probable answer to this question:58

"Lands Belonging to Aaron Stark his heires & assignes one hundred & twenty-two acres, more or less, beginning att a white oake tree, thence running west one hundred & twenty-two rodds to a white oake tree marked on four sides and is in length, from the South to the North, one hundred & sixty rodds. Laid out March 1706. Pr.: James Avery, John Prentts & Manassah Minor. Entered July 1706.�

Perhaps this was Aaron Stark (Junior) who Helen reports was deceased before June 9, 1707. But further review of the Voluntown records suggest that if the above was Aaron Stark (Junior) then he was most likely deceased before 1701.

In October of 1696, the Court of Connecticut approved a land grant of six square miles to be divided among those men who had fought in King Philip's War. On October 14, 1697, Captain Samuel Mason, Mr. John Gallop, and Lieutenant James Avery were appointed as a committee to view the tract, and in October 1700 a committee was selected to manage the affairs of the new town named Voluntown. On July 1, 1701, at a meeting in Stonington Township, the committee chose Captain Richard Bushnell as clerk. He was charged with making a list of the volunteers in King Philip's War; a separate committee was appointed to review Bushnell�s recommendations. The next day, the list of names was presented and approved by the committee. Two of those approved were Aaron Stark and John Stark, both described as deceased on the day the names were approved by the committee.59

If the above Voluntown lot was the property of Aaron Stark (Junior) � as the earlier discussion suggests � then Aaron (Junior) was the deceased Aaron Stark approved in 1701 to receive a land grant for his service in King Philip�s War. However, Charles R. Stark�s 1927 publication entitled The Aaron Stark Family, Seven Generations may dispute the validity of this hypothesis, as follows:60

"Aaron Stark [Aaron Stark (Senior)] was a volunteer in King Philip's War, and was given land in Voluntown in consideration of his service."

"Aaron [Aaron Stark (Junior)] served with his father in King Philip's War in 1675, and like him received a grant of land in Voluntown, though it is believed that neither of them ever lived in that town."

"That he [John Stark] served in King Philip's War is shown by a list of volunteers in that war made in 1701 in which appears the name of John Stark "deceased."

According to this publication, three men with the surname Stark were awarded lots in Voluntown for their volunteer service in King Philip's War. Yet, as described above, the surviving Voluntown records report only two men with the surname Stark were approved to receive lots (Aaron Stark & John Stark). Therefore, unless one of these men named in the Charles R. Stark publication was overlooked, one of these three men did not receive a Voluntown lot. Can we determine which of these three men did not receive a lot in Voluntown?

The New London court records show that Aaron Stark (Senior) died before June 1685 and that the estate of John Stark, deceased, was inventoried on September 16, 1690.56 This would appear to confirm they were the two men reported in the Voluntown record. However, William Stark (Senior), the son of Aaron Stark (Senior), did not die until 1730. If William was an heir to the Voluntown lot, why was his name not recorded with the other heir, Aaron Stark (the third), when the Voluntown lot was sold in 1709/10? Perhaps the deed suggests that William was not an heir because the property had been granted to his brother, Aaron Stark (Junior) � not to Aaron Stark (Senior).

Helen Stark speculated further in her article:56

"Aaron Stark 2 [Aaron Stark (Junior)], was dead before Groton was set off from New London in 1705. This seems absolutely certain, because a study of Groton records proves that the only Aaron Stark appearing on them in the early years, was not Aaron 2, but his son Aaron 3 [Aaron Stark (the third)]... And it must have been Aaron 2, and he alone who fought in King Philip's war; Aaron 1 was already an old man when that war began, and it seems much more fitting for Aaron 2 to have been the soldier."

But for proof, the heirs of John Stark received a lot at Voluntown, which they sold. The only other grant to a Stark, was lot #124, about 122 A. granted to "Aaron Stark deceased" in 1696 Because we did not believe that Aaron 2 died until many years later, we have assumed, I think, that this must have referred to Aaron 1. But the last time we can know that he was a live was in 1691, and he may easily have been dead in 1696, certainly he was by 1705."

Although Aaron Stark (Junior) was most likely deceased before 1701, could he have been deceased as early as 1696? Charles R. Stark reported that Hannah Stark the daughter of Aaron Stark and Mehitable Shaw, was baptized by Reverend James Noyes on September 12, 1697, at the Stonington Road church.60 But baptisms are not birth dates, and on page 10 of Charles R. Stark�s book Hannah Stark is shown to have died on April 27, 1734, at the age of fifty-six � suggesting she was nineteen years old when she was baptized in 1697.

In her essay titled More Theories and Some Questions, published in the 1937 Stark Family Association Yearbook, Helen Stark ask the question:

Who was "widow" Stark? January 27, 1696-7 Widow Stark owned land in present Groton, Conn., bounded east by that of Peter Crary, south by that of Joseph Rogers, and west by that of William Stark, formerly William Thompson. (Private Controversies, at State Library, Hartford.)

This property was clearly part of the land that Aaron Stark (Senior) purchased from Reverend William Thompson. Surviving records to not show that Sarah, the spouse of Aaron Stark (Senior), received any portion of her husband�s estate. By excluding Sarah as the Widow Stark, we see that the widow in question in 1696/7 had to have been the spouse of one of the three sons of Aaron Stark (Senior) named in his probate record. But which son � Aaron, William, or John?

William Stark�s spouse is easily disposed of, for he did not die until much later (1730). What about the wife of John Stark? New London County Court Records, dated February 6, 1693/94 mention her as follows:61

"Richard Christophers contra John Weeks deft. Goodes taken up of him by your wife formerly Widow Stark in the time of her widowhood 10 pounds coffin, 6 pounds, 18 shillings."

Helen Stark�s article identifies the former Widow Stark married to John Weeks as the spouse of John Stark:56

"The original probate papers state that he [John Stark] was a Lieutenant, and that he died in 1689, also that his widow married John Weeks.�

Thus we can say with certainty the former Widow Stark (subsequently the wife of John Weeks) could not have been the Widow Stark mentioned in the 1696/97 deed record because she was no longer a widow in that year.

That leaves us only the spouse of Aaron Stark (Junior) as the Widow Stark mentioned in the 1696/97 deed. Although this statement must still be regarded as somewhat speculative, the arguments are very strong that the Widow Stark was Mehitable Shaw, wife of Aaron Stark (Junior). And if Mehitable Shaw was indeed the widow mentioned in the records, this would be a strong argument that Aaron (Junior) died between November 1691 and January 1696/97.

In support of this hypothesis, we know Aaron (Junior) and Mehitable were married on November 27, 1676 (as reported in the Thomas Minor diary). If their first child was born late in the year 1677, that child, according to Connecticut law at that time, would have been a minor (under the age of twenty-one) in January 1696/97. Any other children born after 1677 were of course also minor children when this deed was recorded. Court procedure of that day would have allowed the Widow Stark to hold the property in her name until the male children became adults, at which time ownership references would have been in their names. Therefore, the courts would probably have recognized the property of Aaron Stark (Junior) as belonging to his widow, Mehitable Stark, until the children were twenty-one years of age.

Conclusion

Owing to a paucity of records, there is little to say about the life of Aaron Stark (Junior). What we know from them is that he was a participant in King Philip�s War; married Mehitable Shaw on November 27, 1676; was a resident of New London as of November 28, 1678; inherited a portion of his father�s estate in 1685; and received a bounty for killing wolves in 1691. Although there is documentary evidence that Aaron Stark (Junior) was deceased before 1707, circumstantial evidence suggests that he was most likely deceased before 1701 � and could have become deceased between 1691 and 1697.

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Starke John [Male] b. ABT. 1657 New London Co, CT - d. ABT. 1689

served in the militia during King Philips War, for which he was rewarded with tracts of land in Voluntown, Connecticut in July of 1701.

There are few surviving records in Connecticut related to John Stark during his lifetime. We know he served in King Philip�s War because he was granted land in Voluntown (on July 2, 1701) for his participation.64 The records also show that on September 17, 1678, John was fined for being out at night with Samuel Packer, Mary Fish, and Margaret Culver. John was deceased when the inventory of his estate was presented at court on September 16, 1690. As Helen Stark tells us,65

The original probate papers state that he [John Stark] was a Lieutenant, and that he died in 1689, also that his widow married John Weeks.

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