Surname Saturday: York Family

York is an inconvenient name to google unless you use quotation marks.  I have a long line of Yorks and there is no comprehensive York genealogy in print.  I haven't yet delved into this family with the intensity of my work on the Yeatons, Pinkhams or Wallises. 

1. Richard YORK, born say 1620, married about 1641 to Elizabeth (---), who was born about 1618 [she was 62 or thereabouts in 1680].  Another person who was supposedly on the ship James which came to Salem in 1633.  The people in this ship did come to Dover, N.H., however, the only person that can proved to be on the ship was the Rev. George Leveridge.  I know this because Richard Pinkham is another suspected passenger.  Richard York was in Dover by 1635 which means he'll be treated in the next volume of the Great Migration Series.  He died at Dover on 23 March 1672.  His wife remarried before October 1680 to William Graves.  Children: (i) John who married Ruth Graves; (ii) Samuel who married Hannah (---) and moved to Gloucester, Mass.; (iii) Elizabeth who married Philip Cartee/Cartey; (iv) Rachel who married Benjamin Hull; (v) Benjamin, see below; and (vi) Grace who married John Gilman.  Sources: Alice Crane Williams, Stone-Gregg Genealogy (Baltimore, Md.: Gateway Press, 1987), pp. 287-89 (continues with Samuel²); Gen. Dictionary of Me. and N.H., pp. 774-75.

2. Benjamin YORK, son of Richard and Elizabeth (---) York was born about 1654 [aged 23 in 1677-78]; married about 1676 Abigail FOOTMAN, daughter of Thomas and Catherine (Matthews) Footman.  She was born about 1650 and died after 1737 at Exeter, N.H.  Benjamin was a lifelong resident at Dover where he died prior to 1715 when Abigail remarried to Benjamin Meakins.  She was his widow in 1737.  Children: (i) Elizabeth who married Job Judkins; (ii) Richard who married Susanna Goodwin; (iii) John who married Phaltiel Folsom; (iv) Rachel who married William Jones; (v) Benjamin see below; and (vi) possibly the Abigail who married Hezekiah Marsh. Source: Gen. Dictionary of Me. and N.H., pp. 774-75 and and History of the Town of Durham, New Hampshire (Oyster River Plantation) with Genealogical Notes by Everett S. Stackpole & Lucien Thompson (2 vols., Rumford Press, Concord, NH, 1913, reprint, Somersworth, NH 1973), II:400-403.

3. Benjamin YORK, [Jr.], son of Benjamin and Abigail (Footman) York was born at Dover, N.H. about 1677 [Deposition at Rockingham Deeds 104:223, gives age as 81 on 23 June 1759]. He married about 1705 to Sarah PINDER, the daughter of John and Sarah (Merrow) Pinder.  She was born about 1685 at Durham, N.H. He removed to Newmarket, N.H. but came back to Durham where he died prior to 30 January 1760, the date on which administration of his estate was granted to his son Thomas. [New Hampshire State Papers 36:512-13]  His wife seems to have survived him, as noted that son Josiah was given money for taken care of the deceased and his wife for years on 25 November 1761.  Three sons: (i) Benjamin, see below; (ii) Thomas, the administrator of his estate; (iii) Josiah, mentioned in estate papers.  Sources: Gen. Dictionary of Me. and N.H., pp. 774-75 and History of the Town of Durham, New Hampshire (Oyster River Plantation) with Genealogical Notes by Everett S. Stackpole & Lucien Thompson (2 vols., Rumford Press, Concord, NH, 1913, reprint, Somersworth, NH 1973), II:400-403.

4.Benjamin YORK, [III], son of Benjamin and Sarah (Pinder) York was born at Durham, N.H. about 1725. He married at Newmarket, in 1751, Mary COFFIN, daughter of Abner⁴ (Stephen³ Tristram^2-1) and Mary (Rawlings) Coffin. [Vital Records of Newmarket, NH 1734-1866 by Priscilla Hammond (Concord, NH, 1935), p. 1].  Mary was born at Exeter on 18 October 1730.  Benjamin sold his land in Newmarket in 1761 and moved to North Yarmouth, Maine with his father-in-law where they were all warned out in 1762. [Maine Genealogist 17 (1995):25-30].  Eventually he returned to New Hampshire and settled in Midddleton where he died prior to 6 May 1803 when administration of his estate was granted to his son Benjamin. [Strafford Co. Probate 9:313-15].  His wife survived him.  He is the man at Middleton in the 1790 U.S. census with a household of one male over 16, one under sixteen and one female.  Children:  (i) David born at Newmarket 5 December 1752 [Newmarket VRs.]; (ii) John born ca. 1755; (iii) Mary born at Newmarket 10 June 1759 [Newmarket VRs] married James Palmer.  She was alive and a resident of Sandwich, N.H. when she deposed for her brother's Revolutionary War Pension in 1832; (iv) Benjamin, see below; and (v) Josiah, born about 1763, and whose age agrees with a Strafford County court case 33/1788 Jonathan Yeaton v. Mussey Gould wherein Josiah York deposed “of legal age” on 17 November 1788 for hay he delivered in September 1787.  Other sources: NEHGR 24 (1870):311 which became Gatherings toward a Genealogy of the Coffin Family by W.S. Appleton (David Clapp, Boston, 1896), both Coffin family sources. Also Descendants of Abner Coffin & Mary Rawlings of Harrisfeeket by Edward S. Coffin (the author, Augusta, ME, 2006), which has much information on Mary's parents, but completely and utterly blows off any descendant that left Maine for N.H. I should know since I descend from the only two children (Mary and Abner, Jr.) that do that.

5. Benjamin YORK, [IV], son of Benjamin and Mary (Coffin) York, was born at Nottingham, N.H. on 14 January 1761 [Revolutionary War Pension Application #S7999].  Benjamin married his first cousin, Rebecca COFFIN at New Durham, N.H. on 22 November 1780, the daughter Abner^5-4 and Keziah (Cromwell) Coffin. [Free Will Baptist Church Records of New Durham, wherein Rebecca is called daughter of Abner].  She was born ca. 1763 at No. Yarmouth, Me.  Benjamin served in the American Revolution and afterward became a Free Will Baptist minister.  He was living in New Durham in the 1790 Census with a household of one male over sixteen, two under sixteen and three females.  He was in Holderness by 1809 when he deeded land in Middleton. [Strafford Co. Deeds 67:411]  He died at Landoff, N.H. on 6 June 1845. [Death Notices From Free Will Baptist Publications 1811-1851 by David C. Young and Robert L. Taylor (Heritage Books, 1985), p. 374-5].  His wife had previously died at Holderness on 16 January 1842 [Ibid].  Ten children: (i) William Ward; (ii) Rebecca, see below; (iii) Diadama; (iv) Ebenezer D.; (v) Phebe; (vi) Benjamin Coffin; (vii) Stephen; (viii) Mary; (ix) Veranus P.; (x) Simeon Dana

6. Rebecca YORK, daughter of Benjamin and Rebecca (Coffin) York, was born at New Durham in April 1785.  She died perhaps at Lowell or Haverhill, Mass. in April 1860, buried at the Lowell Cemetery with her husband, Joseph WALLIS/WALLACE, son of Nathaniel and Deborah (---) Wallis.  They were married at Moultonborough, N.H. on 4 September 1808.  Click on Wallis Family as a subject or read the sketch of Samuel Wallis of Barrington to your right.  Their family was in this posting.

Comments

[Lisa York]

Great information. Thank you! I am trying to get info together for DAR for my Revolutionary War ancestors Abner Coffin and Benjamin York (IV)(married to 1st cousin Rebecca Coffin). Any suggestions? Thanks! Lisa York

[Angela Martin]

Hello,https://familysearch.org/tree/#view=ancestor&section=details&person=LVQB-622&spouse=LHKW-3B3 the LDS database shows 2 Richard Yorks with same ID LHKW-3B3. It also shows 2 spouses so I know these are 2 men, not the same man. The database shows His father is John Yorke and mothers name is Carpenter. Is this the correct set of parents to the Richard married to Elizabeth Branson and living in Dover?

I believe I'm a descendent of Dorcas York Beck.
Thank You,
Angela Martin

[Martin Hollick]

Did you ever join the DAR on Benjamin York or Abner Coffin?