Rebecca Andrews

Notes:

The Genealogy of the Benedicts in America by Henry Marvin Benedict. (Albany, New York: Joel Munsell, 1870) identifies her as a daughter of Thomas Andrews, son of Robert and Elizabeth Andrews of Ipswich. But Robert Charles Anderson, in volume 1 of The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England 1634-1635, page 54, points out that this Thomas Andrews died unmarried on 10 Jul 1683. Both Savage and Jacobus (the latter in History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield identify this Rebecca as a daughter of Francis Andrews.

Rebecca married Samuel Benedict on 7 Jul 1678. Samuel (son of Deacon Thomas Benedict and Mary Bridgham) died before 17 Apr 1719 in Danbury, Fairfield, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Thomas Benedict was born on 27 Mar 1679 in Danbury, Fairfield, Connecticut; died before 6 Dec 1714 in Danbury, Fairfield, Connecticut.

Notes:

First in Hartford in 1639, then in Fairfield.

"Francis may have been bro. of William of Hartford and John of Farmington. It is at least worthy of note that John (son of Francis) and Thomas (son of William) m. sisters, daus. of John Kirby of Middletown; while Thomas (son of Francis) and Abraham (son of John) also m. sisters, daus. of Robert Porter of Farmington." [Donald Lines Jacobus, citation details below]

Francis married Anne. Anne died in Jun 1685 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Notwithstanding many claims to the contrary, she was not a daughter of Giles Smith who was in Hartford by 1639 and died in Fairfield in 1669.

Evidence that Anne, the widow of Francis Andrews, went on to be the second wife of Dr. Henry Smith:

* Henry Smith and his second wife Anne had a prenuptual agreement that named three of her children by her previous husband, Rebecca, Ruth, and Abraham, names that correspond to the youngest, third youngest, and fourth youngest of the children of Francis and Anne Andrews.

* The probate record of Francis Andrews calls his widow "Anna Smith".

* On 14 Mar 1664, Anna, late wife of Francis, deceased, sold land to her son-in-law Simon Couch. In 1673, Couch stated that he had purchased this land from Ann Smith.