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Seth Garnsey, Jr., was the third of seven children of Seth Garnzey, Sr., and Hannah Millard Garnzey. He was born in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, on 20 November 1732. His probate records say he was a laborer.
Bethiah Lee was born on 27 September 1732, the fourth child and third daughter of Richard Lee and Experience Millard Lee of Rehoboth. Her father was a cordwainer or shoemaker.
On 15 November 1753, the Rehoboth Massachusetts Vital Records show the marriage of 20-year old Seth Garnzey and 21-year-old Bethiah Lee, also of Rehoboth.1 Seth’s mother, Hannah Millard Garnzey, and Bethiah Lee’s mother, Experience Millard Lee, were first cousins, born only a month apart, and probably grew up as close associates.
On 12 January 1754 , Seth Garnsey died. The record of his death was entered between deaths dated in 1763, so it was apparently not recorded for some years after he died.
On 12 February 1754, one month to the day after the death of her father, Seth Garnzey,1 Bethiah Garnzey was born in Rehoboth, Bristol, Massachusetts, to Bethiah Lee Garnzey, who must have been devastated by the death of her young husband. Seth died intestate, and Bethiah was named executrix of his estate. She needed to have his estate divided from the estate of his father, who had also died intestate, for the support of her new daughter. This triggered a probate process for the estates of both men. The Bristol Probate Records show:
5 Feb. 1754 – Samuel Goff, Aron Kingsley and John Allyn appointed to take an inventory of the estate of Seth Garnsey Sr. in Bristol Co. MA
12 Feb 1754 – Birth of Bethiah Garnzey, daughter of Seth [Jr.] and Bethiah Lee Garnzey.
2 April 1754 – Bethiah Lee Garnzey appointed administratrix of the estate of her husband, Seth Guarnsey [Jr.], Late of Rehoboth, deceased, intestate.
2 April 1754 - Bethiah posts bond with Sylvanus Martin and Daniel Ormsbee both of Rehoboth acting as her surety for 2,000 L. She signs with an X.
2 April 1754 Nathaniel Guarnsey, minor above the age of 14 son to Seth Guarnsey [Sr.] [youngest brother of Seth Garnsey Jr.] of Rehoboth requests that Thomas Allen be appointed as his permanent guardian until he is of age. [Guardians were appointed to protect the interest of minor children in the estate of their father.]
2 April 1754 Thomas Allen, Thomas Allen Jr. and Noah Sabin post 2000 L bond for Thomas Allen as guardian of Nathaniel Guarnsey.
2 April 1754 – Thomas Allen, Thomas Allen Jr. and Noah Sabin post 2,000 L bond for Thomas Allen as guardian of John Guarnsey.
2 Apr 1754 – Judge of Probate appointed Sylvanus Martin, Daniel Ormsbee and John Ellis to take Inv. Of the estate of Seth GUANSEY, Late of Rehoboth, deceased.
10 May 1754 – Inv. of the est. of “Seth Garnsey, Labourer, Late of ye town of Rehoboth, dec’d: taken by Sylvanus Martin, Daniel Ormsbee and John Ellis Totalled L52-12-00; real estate consisted of “Item: to wild land twenty one acres and three quarters Lying in Freetown woods 18 s. per acre – L1911-06” (Vol. 14:140 and orig. Files)
2 June 1754 – Appraisal and division of estate of Seth Garnzey Sr. is submitted by Samuel Goff, Samuell Bullock, William Bullock and John Allyn. (note that Samuel and William Bullock have replaced Aaron Kingsley]
Hannah Mansfield – widow of Seth Garnzey [Sr.] – 1/3rd of estate (widow’s portion)
Seth Garnzey [Jr.} – receives a double share as oldest son. “About 21 acres and a hundred and twenty Rods of Land being part of the above mentioned lott and Bounded Easterly the widows thirds … “ Also an itemized list of his share of the personal estate.
Susannah Garnzey – daughter, one share
John Garnzey – son, one share
Nathaniel Garnzey – Son, one share
There was apparently some conflict between Bethiah and her mother-in-law, Hannah Millard Garnzey Mansfield, because 1 August 1758 – Hannah Mansfield appeared in probate court to answer to a complaint against her “for Imbezzling … some part of the estate of my son, Seth Guarnsey late of Rehoboth, … late deceased … I do solomnley declare that I have not Imbeseled any of ye Estate which ye sd Seth Garnzey died seized of or had any just right to.”2
Bethiah Lee Garnzey was a widow for 12 years, but on “19 Oct 1766 – Bethiah Lee Garnsey, wid, 2/md (Int: 6 Sep) Ebenezer Smith of Rehoboth (by Elder Samuel Peck).” Ebenezer’s first wife, Sarah Bardeen Smith, had died in 1762.1 They had four children before her death, Cyril, born 17561, died young; Sarah, born 17571; Gaius, born 17591, died young; and Patience. At least two of the children, Sarah and Patience, were living at the time of the marriage of Ebenezer and Bethiah.
Ebenezer and Bethiah had two more children born in Rehoboth, Lewis in 1767, and Abel in 1768. On 19 March 1770, Ebenezer Smith sold his farm in Rehoboth. On 9 April 1770, he bought land in Uxbridge, Massachusetts,4 and moved there with his family, including step-daughter, Bethiah Garnzey, now 16.
On 12 January 1773, a son was born to Bethiah Smith’s 18-year-old daughter, Bethiah Garnzey, in Uxbridge, Worcester, Massachusetts. She was hauled into court and fined for having a child born out of wedlock. Things must have been at least uncomfortable for the family in Uxbridge after the birth of the baby, and the family moved south to Douglas, Massachusetts. There, the family was warned out of the township in 1775. The county records show, “Smith, Ebenezer, w(ife) Bethia [our Bethia's mother], ch(ildren) Sarah, Patience, Lewis, Abel, "Bethia Gansey, and her child, Ezekiel Johnson. 27 Nov. 1775" 5
Fortunately for the Smiths, on 1 January 1776, the day before the warning out was made official, intentions to marry were registered for Bethia Garnsey and Jonathan King, of Douglas. He was a person of substance, and because he was willing to "furnish security for their behavior and support," the Smith family was able to stay in Douglas.
Jonathan King sold his property in Douglas, and he, Bethiah, and her 3-year-old son Ezekiel moved to Ashburn, Connecticut shortly after the marriage.
Bethiah’s mother, Experience Millard Lee, had lived her life in Rehoboth, but 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) She 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. Experience had cared for her aging parents, and was in turn cared for by her daughter, Bethiah Lee Garnzey Smith.
Ebenezer and Bethiah Smith continued to live in Douglas until their deaths. Ebenezer Smith wrote his will in Douglas on 4 February 1814, and Bethiah is not named in it, so she had probably died before that date. His will was probated on 7 December 1819 in Worcester County. 7
Massachusetts Vital Records Project - Rehoboth Births, Marriages and Deaths
Bristol County, Massachusetts Probate Records
1960 Ezekiel Johnson Report to the Johnson Family by Clara S. Johnson
The 2005 Garnsey Guernsey Gurnsey Genealogical Dictionary by Judith Young-Thayer
Massachusetts Vital Records Project – Holliston Marriages p 243
Johnson Gems by Judy Cluff
Worcester County Probate Records.
Bethia Garnsey and Ezekiel Johnson by Paddy Spillsbury 6-09
Records of the Court of General Sessions of the Peace from the County of Worcester, Massachusetts, 1731-1862. volumes 3-4, 1775-1780, September, 1773. SLFHL film 859240.
Demos, John.1970. A Little Commonwealth: Family Life in Plymouth Colony. Oxford University Press: New York. p. 153. FHL US/CAN 974.4 H6d
Demos, 1970. p.152.
Demos, 1970. p. 141n.
Blake, Francis E., ed.1899. Worcester County, Massachusetts, Warnings, 1737-1788. Franklin R. Rice: Worcester, Massachusetts. Reprinted 1992 by Picton Press: Camden, Maine. FHL US/CAN 974.43 N2w
Blake, 1992. p. 3.
Rice, Franklin P, ed. 1906. Vital Records of Douglas, Massachusetts, to the end of the year 1849. Worchester, Massachusetts: Rice. FHL 974.43/D1 V29.