It’s funny how a closer look at a document can cause ripples in an established family history.
Thomas Johnson, of New Haven Colony and, later, one of the original settlers of Newark, Province of East Jersey had a wife named Ellena who died just three days before he did.
There is no doubt about this, as she is buried with him in Newark and her 17th century grave marker still intact.
But who was Ellena?
According to many researchers and venerated published accounts, she is Ellen Bostick/Bostwick, the daughter of Arthur Bostick, an early settler of Stratford, Connecticut Colony.
However, as I looked into this family I began to have some doubt about whether Arthur Bostick’s daughter Ellen married Thomas Johnson.
So I was curious how this long-held assumption came to be. And if the tangled mess that is often the pedigree of New Haven Colony settlers could be unraveled enough to reveal the truth.
Examining the marriage(s) of Thomas Johnson
New Haven Colony court records show that Thomas Johnson did indeed have a wife named Ellin at least through 20 January 1661.[1]
So what is known for certain is Thomas Johnson was married to a woman named Ellin in the years between 1650 and 1662… and was also married to a woman of the same name at the time of his death on 5 November 1694.
Could this be the same woman?
Casting some doubt on that is what appears to be a second marriage. New Haven church records show a marriage between Thomas Johnson Sr. and Frances (widow of Edward Hitchcock) in Sep 1663.[2]
Now, adding some real confusion to this fact is that Thomas had a cousin also named Thomas Johnson who was residing in New Haven at the time. So which Thomas Johnson was designated Sr. by the colony? [to keep their identities straight I’ll refer to them as Thomas (NJ) and Cousin Thomas throughout this paragraph]
Cousin Thomas is thought to have died a bachelor. But this is largely based on a letter written nearly 100 years after the event in question.[3]
In examining the will of his father, Robert Johnson, I believe there’s the possibility Cousin Thomas could be the younger man. Robert Johnson left Thomas 20£ “as ye other two, John and William, have had”.[4] This could indicate that the other two surviving sons of Robert Johnson were older and had already received some of their share of his estate when they married and left the parental home.
William is the only son of Robert Johnson whose estimated birth year is known, as he died 27 October 1702 at the age of 73 years.[5] That means William was born around 1629 and if Cousin Thomas was the youngest son, he could have been born sometime in the 1630s or later.
But Thomas (NJ) Johnson was born 1630/1631, according to his will [6], so determining who was the Sr. in 1663 is still very much a guessing game.
If Thomas (NJ) Johnson did indeed marry a third time to another Ellen it would have happened sometime after 1664.
An error in translation?
But did Thomas Johnson marry (either as first wife, third wife… or only wife) Ellen Bostick?
It appears that a key piece of evidence which supports the assumption that Thomas Johnson married Ellen Bostick is an April 1663 New Haven court record where Thomas Johnson claimed a debt on behalf of his “father in law Bausticke of Stratford”?[7]
Sure, at first glance this record suggests that Thomas Johnson did indeed marry Ellen, daughter of Arthur Bostick of Stratford.
But we’re talking about a legal document produced in the colonial era when the term father-in-law was often used interchangeably with stepfather.
This must be taken into consideration.
Because there is the possibility that Arthur Bostick’s second wife – also named Ellen – was actually the widow, Ellen Johnson. This is based on a Nov 1677 nuncupative testament which devised a portion of her estate to the “wife of son Jonson of New Jersey”.[8]
So the 1663 court record may indicate that Arthur Bostick was not Thomas Johnson’s father-in-law, but rather his stepfather. Especially if Thomas married Frances Hitchcock in 1664.
There is, of course, also the likelihood that Thomas Johnson really was married to Ellen Bostick, daughter of Arthur of Stratford. Perhaps she was his first (or only) wife and through this marriage his widowed mother was introduced to the widower Arthur Bostick? Or perhaps she was his third wife, whom he met as result of his mother’s second marriage?
Sifting for clues
Another dubious claim put forth concerning the identity of Thomas Johnson’s wife is that she is Ellen Harrison, daughter of Richard who married first to John Thompson and second to Thomas Johnson?[9] But after investigating this lead, I found it convincingly disproven.
And so… the mystery of Ellena remains.
At present, I feel the scant documentation signifies that Thomas Johnson was thrice married and that conceivably none of his wives were Ellen Bostick. More evidence is needed to be sure.
Footnotes
1. Dexter, Franklin Bowditch, “Ancient Town Records, Volume 1”, Google Books (Online: Google, Inc., 2015), [Originally published: Dexter, Franklin Bowditch, “Ancient Town Records, Volume I, New Haven Town Records 1649-1662”, (New Haven: Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Company, 1917), pp. 462-462, 466]
2. Salisbury, Edward Elbridge, “Family-Histories and Genealogies – Volume Second – Containing a Series of Genealogical and Biographical Monographs on the Families of Griswold, Wolcott, Pitkin, Ogden, Johnson and Diodati and Notes on the Families of De Wolf, Drake, Bond and Swayne, and Dunbar”, Internet Archive (Online: archive.org: 2008), [Originally published: Salisbury, Edward Elbridge, “Family-Histories and Genealogies – Volume Second – Containing a Series of Genealogical and Biographical Monographs on the Families of 2Griswold, Wolcott, Pitkin, Ogden, Johnson and Diodati and Notes on the Families of De Wolf, Drake, Bond and Swayne, and Dunbar”, (Salisbury,1892), p. 310]
3. Salisbury, “Family-Histories and Genealogie” V. 2, p.293
4. Salisbury, “Family-Histories and Genealogie” V. 2, p. 286
5. Salisbury, “Family-Histories and Genealogie” V. 2,p. 293
6. Salisbury, “Family-Histories and Genealogie” V. 2, p. 308
7. Dexter, Franklin Bowditch, “Ancient Town Records, Volume II”, Google Books (Online: Google, Inc., 2015), [Originally published: Dexter, Franklin Bowditch, “Ancient Town Records, Volume II, New Haven Town Records 1662-1684”, (New Haven: Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Company, 1919), p. 38]
8. Bostwick, Henry Anthon, “Genealogy of the Bostwick family in America : The descendants of Arthur Bostwick, of Stratford, Conn.”, Internet Archive (Online: archive.org, 2010), [Originally published: Bostwick, Henry Anthon, “Genealogy of the Bostwick family in America : The descendants of Arthur Bostwick, of Stratford, Conn.”, (Hudson, NY: Bryan Printing Company, 1901), pp. 36-41, 46]
9. Klett, Joseph R., “Genealogies of New Jersey Families: from the Genealogical magazine of New Jersey, Volume I, Families A-Z, pre-American notes on old New Netherland families”, Google Books (Online: Google, Inc., 2004-2018), [Original source: Klett, Joseph R., “Genealogies of New Jersey Families: from the Genealogical magazine of New Jersey, Volume I, Families A-Z, pre-American notes on old New Netherland families”, (Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1996), p. 251]
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