THE PHELPS FAMILY OF AMERICA, AND THEIR ENGLISH ANCESTORS, WITH COPIES OF WILLS, DEEDS, LETTERS, AND OTHER INTERESTING PAPERS, COATS OF ARMS AND VALUABLE RECORDS.
COMPILED BY JUDGE OLIVER SEYMOUR PHELPS, Of Portland, Oregon, and ANDREW T. SERVIN. Of Lenox, Mass. In Two Volumes.—VOL. II. published by Eagle Publishing Company, of pittsfield, mass. 1899.
On page 1295 in Volume II it states: 218. IX. Eunice, b. Simsbury, Ct., about 1750, m. Joel
Higley. Settled in Ohio.
This Eunice is the daughter of Jonathan Phelps and Martha Loomis.
In 2009, I received a 33 page report on the Higley family which states that Eunice Haskins b. 14 January 1746 is the daughter of Alexander Haskins and Thankful Evans.
On FamilySearch.org I searched for Thankful Evans and received the following result:
In my searches for books on HeritageQuest for Higley or Phelps, all agree that Higley and Phelps families came from Windsor to Simsbury. The above would seem to be a possible match for Thankful Evans who married Alexander Haskins.
Name: Thankfull Evins
Gender: Female
Christening Date:
Christening Place:
Birth Date: 31 Mar 1712
Birthplace: WINDSOR TWP,HARTFORD,CONNETICUT
Death Date:
Name Note:
Race:
Father's Name: Samuel Evins
Father's Birthplace:
Father's Age:
Mother's Name:
Mother's Birthplace:
Mother's Age:
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: 7450325
System Origin: Connecticut-ODM
GS Film number: unknown
Reference ID:
"Connecticut, Births and Christenings, 1649-1906," index, FamilySearch
(https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/F77N-B85 : accessed 27 Apr 2014), Thankfull Evins, 31 Mar 1712; citing ; FHL microfilm unknown.
When I search for Alexander Haskins, I only get results for Alexander Hoskins. There are two such men, father and son, presumably. One born in 1705 and one in 1739. There is a Eunice Hoskins born 14 Sept 1734 in Windsor, CT to Alexander Hoskins and his wife Mindwell. This Alexander, born in 1739, died in 1773 at age 33. A search for Mindwell with no surname comes up empty. A possibility would be to search for a will for Alexander in 1773.
The Higley family did move to Ohio in 1803 and both the Higley book and the Phelps book agree on this point. A theory is that Eunice was really a Phelps and since her mother remarried to Zebulon Hoskins after Jonathan's death in 1757, she either went by the name Hoskins or her descendants incorrectly identified her by the name Hoskins. Larkin's History of Meigs County, Ohio is the first source I found for information on my Higley line. Eunice in this book is noted as Haskins.
Simsbury Historical Society's website states they are creating an archives database that will be linked online. I am eagerly awaiting its debut. Otherwise, I need to visit them in Simsbury, CT to look through their archives.
Here is the list of records I would like to find:
1. The will of Jonathan Phelps. Page 1294 states: His will, dated 28 Sept., 1737, probated at Hartford, mentions his wife Martha, sons Jonathan and Austin, three daughters, Martha Barber, Eunice and Margaret Phelps. Another books states the year was 1757 not 1737. From page 1324: "214. Martha Phelps, b. Westfield, Mass, 29 Aug, 1735, removing soon with her father to Simsbury, Ct., m. 6 July, 1755, Daniel Barber, b. Simsbury, 1732, where he settled, and d. is April, 1779, and where his wife d. 15 Dec, 1821, in her 87th year. He was a farmer." This would make the 1757 date more probable.
2. The will of Alexander Hoskins who died in 1773. Perhaps it names his daughter Eunice as an heir. I found a Hoskins genealogy that names an Alexander born 1706 but doesn't give any further information on him.
3. A marriage record to Joel Higley. His first child, Rachel, was born about 1762.
