Ezekiel Whitford

Ezekiel married Mary Hill 9 Mar 1755, East Greenwich, RI. Mary (daughter of Thomas Hill) was born Abt 1737. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

They were married by Giles Peirce, Justice.

Notes:

Mary's husband Mr. Whitford may have been Ezekiel b. c. 1702, or his brother John b. c. 1700, both of whom married women named Mary. It is believed that one was Mary Stafford and the other Mary Hiames/Hymes.Possibly second wife is Catherine Sweet, who married an Ezekiel Whitford at West Greenwich on 27 May 1744.

Ezekiel married Mary Stafford Bef Jan 1726/27. Mary (daughter of Joseph Stafford and Sarah Holden) was born Abt 1697. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

She may have married either Ezekiel Whitford b. c. 1702, or John Whitford b. c. 1700. Ezekiel's wife may be either Mary Hiames/Hyams or Mary Stafford. Both of these Marys became Mrs. Whitford.

Notes:

Alden Beaman's "RI Genealogical Register," Vol. 1, No. 3 shows Pasco as the younger brother, being born in 1674; he gives the year of birth for Nicholas as 1670. Town historian Martha R. McPartland, in the book "The History Of East Greenwich, Rhode Island, 1677-1960, with Related Genealogy," p. 270, states that the wife of Pasco, Jr. was Mary Stafford. It is known that she married a Mr. Whitford.

Pasco — Lydia Bly. Lydia was born 1679, North Kingstown, RI. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

See will of Daniel Bly dated 28 Jan 1723/24 which mentions a daughter Lydia.

Joseph married Sarah Holden Abt 1678. Sarah (daughter of Randall HOLDEN and Frances DUNGAN) was born Feb 1657/58, Warwick, RI; died 1731. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Her will names her sons -- Stukley (eldest), Joseph (second), and John (third), four living daughters -- Frances, Elisabeth, Mary, & Margaret, and three Smith granddaughters.

Notes:

Paraphrased summary of information for Pasco Whitford:
Family tradition says that Pasco was born about 1640 in England. Details of this family tradition were written down by William Whitford of Addison, VT (son of Peleg, Pasco, Nicholas, Pasco). He states that Pasco and his two sons, Pasco Jr. and Nicholas, came to Rhode Island from the West Indies, having been driven out of that location by the French during the naval warfare between England and France. They fled to Rhode Island, settling first in Portsmouth, then in East and West Greenwich (see William Whitford's "Narrative of the Whitford Family" in the Vermont Historical Society Collection). William Whitford reports that Pasco is said to have come from Bedfordshire, England, because of a record of his paying taxes there in 1680. However, according to Austin's "Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island," he was taxed in Newport, RI, in 1680. Another possibility, stated in a letter dated 3 June 1911 from George N. Whitford to Walter John Coates, is that Pasco may have been from Truro, Cornwall, England, since Whitfords have been numerous there for the last 400 years. There was also an old Cornish family of the surname Pascoe, who were plentiful in that area. Possibly the maiden name of Pasco Whitford's mother or grandmother was Pascoe, although the LDS Family History Library records of marriages prior to 1640 in Cornwall do not show any matches between a Pascoe and a Whitford. During the 1690 proceedings of the General Assembly of the colony of Rhode Island, presided over by Governor Henry Bull, Mr. Pasco Whitford (among others) was voted a freeman of the colony (see p.270, Records of the Colony of Rhode Island, compiled by John Russell Bartlett, Vol.3, Providence, RI). Pasco was living in East Greenwich at that time. On 13 April 1697 he is recorded as a witness on a deed from Samuel Eldred, Sr. to his son John in Kings Town. Pasco is also mentioned in a will dated 1682, of Charles Martin of East Greenwich (see History of East Greenwich, 1960, by M. R. McPartland, pp. 25-28 for a deciphering of this will). However, some of these references to Pasco Whitford may actually be about his son, also named Pasco Whitford.

Ref: Marcel Beaudet [mbeaudet@tampabay.rr.com]

All that being said, J. R. Cole, in his "History of Washington and Kent Counties" pub. by W. W. Preston & Co. in 1889, states on p. 1343 that "the family is said to be of Welsh descent," and, "Nicholas Whitford came from Wales."

According to Alden Beaman's "RI Genealogical Register," Vol. 1 No. 3, Pasco's gravestone with the inscription PW 1690 is in the East Greenwich Historical Cemetery #29, near Tarbox Corners. It is actually in West Greenwich #29, located in the woods near Tarbox Corners, off Carrs Pond Rd. His gravestone has been photographed and will be posted at our family website.

His name is written variously as Pasque, Paskee, Pasco, and Paskeo. How was it really pronounced and written?

An online source for Whitford family tree information is Craig Rice's data:
http://www.gencircles.com/users/craigjrice/1 (or do a google search for "Ancestors and Cousins of Craig Rice")
But beware -- his information is not all accurate. It is just a possible source of connections for research.

Pasco — Mary STANTON. Mary was born Abt 1650. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

It is not certain that her name was Mary Stanton.

It is possible that Mary was a descendant of, or relative of, Robert Stanton, our ancestor through the Tibbetts line (Henry Tibbetts was married to Sarah Stanton). Some online genealogies show Pasco's wife as a daughter of Robert & Avis, but I have not seen any documentation of this.

Notes:

See "A Line of Descent from Thomas Stafford of Warwick" in the RI Genealogical Register, Vol. 17, by A. G. Beaman. According to Beaman, Thomas came to Plymouth Colony about 1626, then to Providence, and soon afterward to Warwick where he lived the rest of his life.

Note copied by Trish Harmon, posted on RIKENT mailing list: "Thomas, father of Samuel, was in Plymouth, Massachusetts as early as 1626, of Portsmouth and Newport, Rhode Island in 1638, then of Providence, Rhode Island where he constructed the first grist mill at the mouth of the Moosausick River; he moved to Old Warwick from Providence in 1650 and at the head of Mill Cove built a grist mill for the settlers. Was admitted freeman in 1638 (source: Stukely Westcott book by J. Bullock)."

Thomas married Elizabeth Unknown Abt 1633. Elizabeth was born Abt 1614; died Aft 1677. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Randall Holden was one of the signers of the first Portsmouth Compact, 7 March 1638. He was also one of the original settlers of Warwick, along with the Gortons and Greenes.

On 24 March 1639 Randall Holden witnessed the deed of the purchase of Rhode Island (Aquidneck Island) from the Indians. (source: RI Genealogical Register, Vol 14, p. 220)

Randall married Frances DUNGAN 1648, Warwick, Kent Co., RI. Frances (daughter of William DUNGAN and Frances LATHAM) was born 1630, London, England; died 1697, Warwick, Kent Co., RI. [Group Sheet]