{Garnsey Ancestors}
Research by Lorena Darnell
Richard Lee was born 20 January 1679/80 in Ipswich, Massachusetts. He was the fifth child and third son of Richard Lee and Sarah Edwards Lee.1 On 7 June 1703, at the age of 23, Richard married Abigail Thurber in Rehoboth, Bristol, Massachusetts.2 The intentions indicate that both of them were residents of Rehoboth at that time.
On 5 January 1703/04, Richard, Jr., with his brothers and sisters who had reached their majority, sold the estate in Ipswich they had inherited from their grandfather, Thomas Lee. Ipswich Deeds shows, "Jan. 5, We, Thomas and Richard Lee Jr and Nath’l Geddings, in right of Sarah , his wife, and Sarah, the wife of s’d Nath’l Gedding , in her own right, and Mary Lee, spinster, all of Ipswich, all children of heirs of Richard Lee, carpenter, for £388 to Rev. John Wise, of Ipswich, between 70 & 80 acres, with two dwelling houses, 2 barnes & 1 shop on said land which was a 'sure Estate of Inheritance from their grandfather, Thomas Lee.'" 3 Richard’s parents and some of his siblings moved to Connecticut, but Richard and Abigail continued to live in Rehoboth, where their daughter, Mary, was born 9 May 1705. Another daughter, Sarah, was born in October 17065 and may be the Sarah Lee who died in Rehoboth on 15 January 1707-8.2
Richard was said to be a cordwainer.4 (Wikipedia - A cordwainer is a shoemaker who makes new shoes from new leather. The cordwainer's trade can be contrasted with the cobbler's trade, according to a tradition in Britain that restricted cobblers to repairing shoes.)
We don’t know when Abigail died but on 23 October 1725 "The Intentions of marriage. Betwen Richard Lee & Experiance Milerd Both of Rehoboth are published." Experience Millard was born 3 March 1703-4,2 the second child of Ephraim and Experience White Millard of Rehoboth, Massachusetts. As the oldest daughter in a family of eight children, she would have had a busy childhood. She was twenty-one years old at the time of her marriage to the 45-year-old Richard, on 30 November 1725, only two to three years older than his daughters by his first marriage.
On 21 June 1730, Richard and Experience (Millard) Lee were baptized and received into the Congregational Church at Rehoboth at the same time their two young daughters were baptized. Their eight children, all born of record at Rehoboth, are: Hannah (b.3 March 1725-6); Lidia (b. 15 January 1727-8 – died 1742)); Joseph (b. 12 August 1730); Bethiah (b. 27 September 1732) Ezekiel's ancestor; Benjamin (b 11 July 1735); Samuel (b. 25 July 1737); Ephraim (b. 5 October 1719); Patience, (b. 16 December 1742)2
On the 27 March 1738, Experience’s parents, Ephraim and Experience Millard, deeded to Richard Lee five acres on the west side of the Palmer River.
Richard Lee died at the age of 62, on 26 April 1742, in Rehoboth. His will was probated in Bristol County 1743. His assets are listed as 1 Tramol (?), 1 table and chest and 2 dry casks, corn, a trunk and bell, ½ load hay, beers and flasch, 1 iron pot, iron skilled and kettle, 1 cow, 1 pig, house and land, apparel, 1 sheet, tablecloths, beds and bedding and bed stools and bed cord, puler, 2 spinning wheels, and 1 clock real, chain and axe and 1 hoe and sickle, 2 wedges and 2 bette rings and saw, and gimfit.7
Seven and a half months after his death, Richard and Experience’s last daughter, Patience, was born. Experience was a widow for the next 42 years.
On 13 June 1750, Experience’s father, Ephraim Millard received from Daniel and Hannah Miller 15 acres on the westerly side of Palmer River and south of the highway from Clay River to Rehoboth Old Town. This was later quitclaimed to Experience Lee.
By Frances Davis McTeer of Detroit, Mich. And Frederick C. Warner of North Amherst, Mass.
PART III, Continued from Winter 1959, p. 62
On 13 June 1750, Daniel and Hannah Millard of Rehoboth conveyed to his honored father Ephraim Millard Sr. of Rehoboth, 15 acres on the westerly side of Palmer River and south of the highway from Clay River to Rehoboth Old Town. The portion of this property not deeded to Sarah Millard on 13 March 1758 and remaining in Ephraim's possession at the time of his death, eight acres, was then quitclaimed on 10 March 1769 to his daughter Experience Lee, widow of Richard Lee, in recognition of her care "in providing for our father and mother deceased"; the deed was signed by the following heirs: Ephraim Millerd; Daniel Millerd of Cumberland, R.I., clerk; Lydia Charlton, Worcester co., Mass.; Sarah Millerd of Rehoboth, spinster; Annah, wife of Jeremiah Fisher of Cumberland and Jonathan Ellis of Rehoboth, "said Annah and Jonathan being children of Eunice Ellis deceased". (Ibid, Vol. 54, pp. 210, 212, 213)8
On 9 Apr. 1779, Experience Lee of Rehoboth, widow of Richard Lee, sold to Sylvanus Martin of Rehoboth, 18 acres and a dwelling house in Rehoboth, bounded by Sarah Miller. (Bristol Co., Mass. Deeds, Vol. 59, p. 345)
Experience Millard died in Douglas, Massachusetts, on 1 April 1784, so it is probable that she spent the last few years of her life in the home of her daughter, Bethiah Lee Garnsey Smith, who lived in Douglas with her husband, Ebenezer Smith.
History of the Descendants of Peter Spicer p 528
Rehoboth, Massachusetts Vital Records p 110, p 228, p. 664, p 845
Ipswich Deeds, Vol. 15, p. 216.
History of the Descendants of Peter Spicer p 528
Massachusetts: Vital Records, 1620 to 1850, Rehoboth Births Vol. 1 p. 664.
Massachusetts Town Records, ca. 1638-1961 007577046
Massachusetts Wills and Probate Records 1635-1991
"The Millards of Rehoboth, Massachusetts, Parts I, 2, and 3" by Frances Davis McTeer and Frederick C. Warner, The Detroit Society for Genealogical Research Magazine