William Heath of Groton, Connecticut

The Parentage of William Heath of Groton

Every record I have found for William Heath of Groton, Connecticut gives his date of birth as "ca. 1750", with no information as to his place of birth or his parentage. He has truly been the proverbial brick wall for me.

My search through Groton, Connecticut records revealed one principal family of surname Heath living within the Groton town boundaries where my ancestor spent the majority of his life: Joseph and Dorothy Heath, whose earliest Groton record appears with the birth of their son, Joseph Heath, Jr. on July 28, 1713. Early records of this family's presence in Groton are sparse, consisting mainly of the birth records of their children: Joseph in 1713, and two more children: John Heath, born March 10, 1716/17, who later married Temperance Avery of Groton; and Abigail Heath, born February 13, 1720, who later married Samuel Morgan of Groton. Joshua Hempstead gave reference to Joseph Heath, Sr. in two diary entries in the early 1720s:

[From The Diary of Joshua Hempstead]

Aside from these records, the only other information I have been able to find about the early Heaths of Groton comes from an intriguing series of land records which provide evidence of this family's origins in Bristol County, Rhode Island and later residence in Bristol County's neighbor, Newport, Rhode Island. In the Groton land records, Joseph Heath is referred to as "of Swanzey in the Provence of the Massachusets Bay"; and his son and daughter-in-law, Joseph (Jr.) and Mary Heath are referred to as of "Newport in the Colony of Rhode Island". These land records led me to the most convincing candidates I have found for parents of my ancestor, William Heath, because within the annals of Trinity Church of Newport, Rhode Island is found the record of Joseph Heath, who married Mary Bell, daughter of William and Martha (French) Bell, on September 14, 1740. On September 25, 1748, two children, William and Mary Heath, were baptized at Trinity Church. I suspect that this William Heath is probably my ancestor, the son of Joseph and Mary (Bell) Heath, who later returned to Groton, Connecticut where his grandparents settled and where his father was born.

What is Known of the Life of William Heath of Groton

William Heath married Mary Culver (or Collver) on August 2, 1772. Mary was the twenty-year-old daughter of Joseph and Mary (Eddy) Culver [1] of Groton, Connecticut and William was probably between twenty-two and twenty-five years of age. William and Mary were married by Elder Timothy Wightman, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Groton, who wrote in his record book of marriages:

August ye 2 - 1772
Then was William Heath and Mary Collver married

In their twenty-two years of marriage, William and Mary Heath had the following eight children[2]:

Mary Heath, b. ca. 1774, died May 22, 1834, age 60, buried at the Old Wightman Burying Ground.[3]

Daughter Heath, b. 1773-1789[4]

Gilbert Heath, b. Abt. 1778, Groton, New London County, Connecticut; d. 06 April 1861, near Mystic, New London County, Connecticut; m. (1) Margaret Searle, 25 January 1800; m. (2) Martha Watrous (Waterhouse), 1846.

James Heath, b. 1781-1790[5], Groton, New London County, Connecticut; d. after 1840.

Asa Heath, b. 1784-1785[6], New London County, Connecticut; d. Aft. 1850, New London County, Connecticut.

Amos Heath, b. 11 February 1786, Groton, New London County, Connecticut; d. 12 April 1848, Groton, New London County, Connecticut; m. Mary Chapman, 10 April 1815, Groton, New London County, Connecticut.

Daughter Heath, b. 1785-1790[7], Groton, Connecticut.

William Heath, b. 1790-1800[8], Groton, Connecticut.

In March, 1776, William Heath enlisted for service in the Revolutionary War. In a deposition for William's Revolutionary War pension application, Benadam Gallup, then a boy of ten or eleven years of age, recalled that William had been working in the barn of his grandfather, Lt. Col. Benadam Gallup, where William enlisted for service. According to John Morgan of Groton, William Heath garrisoned duty at Fort Griswold in 1776, where he served three months as a private under the command of Captain Ralph Stoddard. He then served one year as a private under the command of Captain William Whitney and Captain Oliver Smith.

In 1778, William participated in General Sullivan's Rhode Island Expedition, after which he confided to his wife, Mary,

Nehemiah Gallup, the sergeant in charge while William was in Rhode Island, recalled that,

At least four of William and Mary's eight children were born after he returned home from the war. Records of the births of his children are far from complete. My ancestor, Amos Heath, was born fourteen years after the marriage of William and Mary.

On April 18, 1777, William and Mary bought for £ 100 from Mary's siblings and her step-mother, Eunice Culver, about forty-three acres of land that was part of her father's estate in Groton. Joseph Culver died on October 12, 1776, and the deed to Mary and William was part of the division of Joseph Culver's estate that transpired in the following land transactions:

The Land Records of William and Mary (Culver) Heath of Groton

Nearly eleven years later, William and Mary sold their portion of Joseph Culver, Sr.'s estate to Mary's older brother, Joseph Culver, Jr., for a mere £ 10 -- one-tenth of the property's original value. One can only speculate as to their reasons for this sale, however with the transaction they gave up "all Our Right & Title that we now have ever had or Ought to have to the Real Estate of Our Hon^d. Father Mr. Joseph Cullver Late of Sd. Groton Deceas'd":

February 9, 1789: William Heath & Mary Heath of Groton sold for £ 10 to Joseph Culver of Groton "all Our Right & Title that we now have ever had or Ought to have to the Real Estate of Our Hon^d. Father Mr. Joseph Cullver Late of Sd. Groton Deceas'd. Signed by William Heath and Mary Heath. Witnessed by Joshua Enos and Thos. Niles. [Groton, CT. Land Records, Volume 11, Page 93].

William died five years later. As far as I know, no record is available about his place of death, burial or probate. In her 1837 application to receive a pension for William's Revolutionary War service, Mary Heath and her son Gilbert testified that William died in March of 1794.

SOURCES

Bristol County, Massachusetts Vital Records, filmed on LDS Family History Microfilm # 0022366

The Barbour Collection of Connecticut Vital Records, Town of Groton, compiled under the supervision of Lucius B. Barber and Lucius B. Barber, 1911-1934.

Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) application information for Revolutionary Ancestor William Heath of Sally Russell Cox, Constance Patterson Russell, and Bertha Burdick Patterson.

The Diary of Joshua Hempstead, A Daily Record of Life in Colonial New London, Connecticut 1711-1758, New London County Historical Society, Inc. New London, Connecticut. 1999, pages 103 and 105.

Groton, Connecticut Land Records, Volumes 4-6.

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Microfilm # 1244: Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land-Warrant Application Files, Pension Application of Mary Heath of Groton.

The records of Helen Louise Heath Palmer.

Records of Trinity Church of Newport, Rhode Island, filmed on LDS Family History Library Microfilm # 0022422.

Swansea, Massachusetts Vital Records, filmed on LDS Family History Library Microfilm # 0903395

[1] I have not yet found proof that Mary, wife of Joseph Culver, was a member of the Eddy family. This information comes from Valerie Dyer Giorgi’s genealogy, Colver-Culver Family Genealogy, pub. 1984. In a correspondence with Mrs. Giorgi a few years ago, she was not able to provide to me with information on where she learned of the maiden name of Mary (Eddy) Culver, mother of Mary (Culver) Heath and wife of Joseph Culver. For the record, I have found Mrs. Giorgi to be an excellent source of information, however, I have not been able to take Mary (Eddy) Culver’s line any further.

[2] The number of children of William and Mary Heath and their relative birth order has been determined by several criteria: 1. information provided by the DAR records of William Heath, husband of Mary Culver Heath; 2. Census records of William Heath (1790), Molly Heath (1800), James Heath (1820-1840), Asa Heath (1830, 1850), William Heath, Jr. (1820, 1840); 3. Gilbert Heath’s family records provided by Helen Louise Heath Palmer (great-great granddaughter of Gilbert Heath); 4. Amos Heath’s family records provided by my family; and 5. Records of Heath graves at the Old Wightman Burying Ground in Groton, Connecticut. The information on William and Mary’s two additional daughters is purely speculative, based on the fact that there were two additional females (aside from Mary Culver Heath and her daughter, Mary Heath) living in the household in the 1790 census (see footnote 3, below) and a girl, age 10-15 living with "Molly Heth" in the 1800 census. These females could be other relatives or acquaintances, however, their existence would also explain the space in years between the known Heath children.

[3] Mary Heath was named as a daughter of William and Mary (Culver) Heath in Colver-Culver Family Genealogy As Descended from Edward Colver of Groton, Connecticut to the Thirteen Generations in America by Valerie Dyer Giorgi, Santa Maria, California, 1984, pp. 112-113, however, I never found evidence of her birth or death dates. Records from The Old Wightman Burying Ground in Groton, Connecticut indicate that a "Miss Mary Heath", age 90, who died May 22, 1834 at the age of 60, is buried there. Mary Heath's age at the time of her death would indicate her date of birth as 1774. Considering that the known Heaths buried at Wightman Burying Ground were the descendants of William and Mary (Culver) Heath, and that William and Mary were married at the First Baptist Church of Groton (located near the Wightman cemetery grounds) in 1772, Miss Mary Heath, b. 1774, was probably their daughter.

[4] In the 1790 U.S. Census, William Heath is listed as having in his household 1 male of 16 & upwards (William), 4 males under 16 years (Gilbert, James Asa and Amos. William, Jr. was not yet born), and 4 females, age not described. Mary Culver Heath was obviously one of the females, as was daughter Mary. There were two other females living in the household. I do not know for sure that they were daughters of William and Mary, but I suspect that they were. It would be plausible that another child was born between William and Mary’s eldest child, Mary (~1774) and their eldest son, Gilbert (~1778). In addition, in the 1800 census, Mary “Molly Heth”, (age 45 and over) is recorded as having two males, age 16 through 25, and one female, age 10 through 15, living in her household.

[5] Based on the range of age provided for him in the U.S. Census, years 1820-1840.

[6] Based on the range of age provided for him in the U.S. Census, years 1830 and 1850.

[7] See Footnote 3, above. In the 1800 census, Mary “Molly Heth”, (age 45 and over) is recorded as having two males, age 16 through 25, and one female, age 10 through 15, living in her household.

[8] Based on the range of age provided for him in the U.S. Census, years 1820 and 1840.