FancyLI
The Fancher
Family Origins
The
Fancy/Fanshaw Family of Long Island, New York
For the sake of consistency, the “Fancy” spelling of the surname is
used throughout this document. Numerous
spelling variations were found in the records cited. These variations included Fanshaw,
ffanshaw, Fansey, Fansy, Fansie, Fancye, Fancey, Fancie, Fanc and Fanch. This document
includes all references to Fancy found in Long Island, New York records prior to 1730 (See
Attachment A). The search has been extensive and included the majority of old Town Halls,
Historical Societies, and Libraries in Suffolk County, Long Island, New York.
William Fancy
The first colonies, that would later become Connecticut, were
established on the shores of Long Island Sound and the banks of the Housatonic and
Connecticut Rivers.
William Fancy
was an early settler in the New Haven Colony. Originally called Quinnipiac, the settlement
was founded by a company of five hundred English Puritans in 1638 that hoped to create a
Christian utopia; and with its large harbor, establish a commercial empire to control Long
Island Sound. It was the first planned community in North America, based on a grid of nine
square miles. Conforming to the old English custom, a central square, or Green, was laid
out as a public common. By 1641, a complete government had been established and the
settlement, renamed New Haven, had grown into a community of eight hundred.
The first records
for William and Goodwife Fancy appear in the New Haven Colony in 1643. On May 5, 1643 the New Haven records indicate that
“Will Fancie his wife” was charged with stealing various things. Goodwife Fancy
confessed that she had taken about 5,000 pins, diverse parcels of linens, and a jug valued
at 17 shillings from Mrs. Lamberton. From
Mrs. Gilbert, she had taken two pillow bears and a shift when the family was at prayer. It
was ordered that she be severely whipped and make restitution to the people involved.
This same New Haven
record also mentions that she had been previously whipped twice at
“Conectecutt”, which would appear to indicate that William and/or his wife had
been in the Connecticut Colony prior to the New Haven Colony. The given name and maiden
name of Goodwife Fancy is not known, but the extant Connecticut Colony records do not
include any references to Fancy. It is possible that Goodwife Fancy was in Connecticut
Colony prior to her marriage.
The Connecticut
Colony, along the Connecticut River, was another utopian experiment begun in 1636 as a
change from the heavy-handed Puritanical authority of the Massachusetts Colony. Winthrop, the Governor of the colony of
Connecticut, was sent to England to obtain a charter when Charles II ascended the throne.
Winthrop’s charter covered the territories of the colonies of Connecticut and New
Haven, and laid claim to Long Island, as being one of the islands adjacent to the English
Settlements. In 1662, New Haven and Connecticut, previously both independent Colonies,
merged to form an entity that is roughly equal to the State of Connecticut today.
There have been no
hints found regarding William Fancy’s origins prior to the New Haven Colony, other
than the fact that the majority of the population of this Colony was Puritans who had come
from England.
William Fancy took
the Oath of Fidelity to New Haven on July 1, 1644. There is evidence that William Fancy
and his wife had been living with Lt. Robert Seeley, probably around 1644. Later, they
were living with Thomas Clark, and may also have been living with, and/or working for,
Thomas Robinson and Stephen Metcalfe.
In December
1645, Goodwife Fancy testified in a hearing involving Stephen Metcalfe, relating to the
loss of an eye Metcalfe sustained from an accident with a gun. It would appear Goodwife Fancy was nursing
Metcalfe at the time. Later, on March 2, 1646, William Fancy testified regarding a debt
due to John Sackett from Metcalfe.
On April 7,
1646, there was a complaint against William Fancy and four other men for the disorderly
drinking of strong liquor. William Fancy “owned it as his sin his oft drinking, being
that at the first he felt it hott in his throate, but he was not distempred, howevr
submits to ye court.”
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In April 1646, the
Governor being informed of several lewd passages, ordered William Fancy and his wife to
appear at court to answer for them. In the testimony, Goodwife Fancy related several
incidents when townsmen accosted her and attempted to commit adultery with her. William Fancy said he was aware of the matter, but
advised his wife to keep silent because he thought no one would believe her. One of the
accused, Thomas Robinson, had offered the Fancys a bribe to keep quiet, and then ran away
from New Haven before the hearing. Another of the men Goodwife Fancy accused, Mark Meggs,
was sentenced to be whipped. The Court sentenced “Goodie” Fancy to be
severely whipped for concealing the “lustfull attempts” and William Fancy to
also be severely whipped for neglecting to reveal the attempts in a timely manner, or
allowing his wife to do so.
William Fancy left
New Haven after 1646 and by 1652 had purchased a house and 2-1/2 acre lot in Southold,
Suffolk County, Long Island, New York. Robert Smith originally owned the house, and then
sold the house to John Budd, who in turn sold it to William Fancy.
Whitaker’s Southold
includes William Fancy in the list of Southold’s early settlers. Southold also
makes reference to William Fancy leaving Southold for Brookhaven – “Of the
full-grown men who lived here and left their record in the annals of this Town… not a
few removed to other places and became important factors and elements in the settlement
and life of other towns. John Tucker... became one of the early settlers of the Town of
Brookhaven, Long Island, and so did William Fansey, John Budd, Arthur Smyth, Robert Akerly
and John Frost.” Also see: Southold's Founding Fathers.
In December 1657
William Fancy witnessed a deed for William Salmon, which was recorded in Southold. William Fancy does
not appear on the Southold List of Inhabitants in 1658, so it is probable that he left
Southold by that time.
In 1661, William
Fancy appears on the list of land proprietors in Setauket and is credited with being one
of the first settlers of that place.
Setauket began as
an English Puritan colony called Ashford, with the 1655 purchase of land from the
Seatalcott Indians by six men acting as agents for the others. Fifty-five men, including
William Fancy, then began the settlement of “the old town” which became
Setauket. These families were all “strongly imbued with Puritan doctrines and
zealously devoted to a strict observance of its tenants”, and were English immigrants
who came primarily from the vicinity of Boston, Southold, and Southampton.
Lots were laid out
for each family around the Meeting House green. Each man paid for a home lot, called an
“accommodation” and a right of commonage. Town meetings were the only method of
government. No one was permitted to sell his land to a stranger, and outsiders could not
become residents unless they were admitted by popular vote. Seating in the Meeting House
was dictated by law. In Setauket’s New England type of government, church and state
were very firmly united.
Today, the
unincorporated village of Setauket is located in the “Three Village” area in the
northwest portion of Brookhaven Town. Brookhaven is the largest “town” on Long
Island today. It occupies the entire width of central Long Island from the Long Island
Sound to the Atlantic Ocean.
Every
acre of land in New York is located in one of the state’s 60+ counties. Every county is subdivided into towns, which
include every bit of land in the county. Within a town, there are cities, villages, and
communities called towns that contain only a portion of the county/town in their area. There is much land outside these communities,
called rural land or farmland that is not included in any political subdivision. Setauket
is a small village that was the original community in Brookhaven Town in Suffolk County. The earliest records of Brookhaven are the records
of “Old Town” or Setauket as it is known today.
Records of
William Fancy at Setauket begin in 1661 when he drew lot 13, a 6-acre lot in the “Old
Field”, in the first land draw at Setauket. The settlers had banded together and
pooled their money to buy a large tract of land from the Indians. A selected piece of this
land was surveyed and laid out in lots. The number of lots created was equal to the number
of the town’s proprietors. In the later draws, there were 55 lots laid out, which
were numbered from 1 to 55. William Fancy is recorded as being entitled to one share. The
lottery was to determine which lot a proprietor received, not whether he received a lot.
Included in the lottery were those who had provided money in the first land draw in 1661.
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William
Fancy’s land draws:
1661 - Land in the
Old Field, 6-acre lots (#13)
1667 - Lots in
Newtown (East Setauket) (#6)
1667 - Land in
the Old Field, Second Division (#11)
1667 - West
Line (#4)
1674 - Old Purchase of Meadow at the South (#4)
1675 - New
Purchase at the South (#28)
In addition to his
original Home Lot within the settlement, and the 1661 land in the Old Field, by 1675 there
were five additional land draws from the original purchase in which William Fancy received
a share. As the settlement grew, additional land purchases with names like Ould Mans and
Fireplace, were made.
Map of Setauket Proprietors' 1664 purchase of land at
Fireplace from the Indian Tobaccus.
Fearing
attacks from Indians crossing the Sound, the early Setauket settlers built their houses on
their “Home Lots” further inland, and left their animals to graze on the common
pastureland called “Old Field”. The name “Fireplace” came from the
fires lit along the western edge of Carmans River to guide whaling ships safely to shore.
Today Mt. Sinai occupies the place that was once called “Ould Mans”, or Old
Mans. And in Brookhaven, in 1747, there is a reference to “water at ye place called
Fancie’s Hole”.
In addition to the
lands he received in the drawings, in 1669 the Town voted to give William Fancy ten acres
next to Robert Smith.
William
Fancy’s name also appears on the following land lot drawings, although, with the
exception of the Meadows at ye Olde Mans Beach by William Fancy’s widow, in each case
the name of the person who was actually exercising William Fancy’s Proprietor’s
Rights is not recorded.
Meadows at ye Olde
Mans Beach (Widow Fancy #25)
Fireplace
Meadows (#23)
Meadows on the
East Side of “Conetecut” River, ye last division (#12)
Wading Rivers
Meadows, the last division (#18)
Upland on the
East Side of the “Conetticutt” River (#4)
Meadows laid
out by Moses Burnet and William Helms, the last division (#26)
Southside,
running between Smithtown line and Connecticut Hollow (#25)
South, between
Winthrop Line and Connecticut River, East Division (Great Division) (#27)
South, between
Winthrop Line and Connecticut River, West Division (Little Division) (#10)
Smithtown Line
and Wading River, West Division (#51)
Skirst (Skirt)
Division (#20)
Old Mans Sheep
Pasture (#7)
West Meadow
Neck Division (#10)
Pasture
Division in Town (#2)
Long Swamp,
south side of the country road near David Brewster Jr. (#7)
East Side of
the head of Connecticut River (#53)
East Side of
south path near Nasakique Swamp (#18)
South side of
Mr. Phillips 100 acres near Nasakique (#52)
Meadow on
South Beach, 3 Chain, 74 links wide (32)
Wading
River Great Lots (31)
East
Division of Long Lots (39)
The Brookhaven Land Lot Drawings
William Fancy
signed papers with a Z mark, or with a ^
mark.
From
his arrival in Setauket until his death there about 1678 when his Will was proved, William
Fancy’s name appears in the town records participating in many routine activities,
such as agreeing to a Town Arbitration Board to settle land disputes, signing a petition
for a corn-grinding mill in 1664, and pledging 7 shillings to encourage a blacksmith to
settle there in 1667.
It is estimated
that William Fancy’s marriage to his second wife Katherine probably took place
between 1652 and 1658. Town records relating to William Fancy’s son Samuel
Fanshaw/Fancy, call Samuel Katherine’s son-in-law (meant as step-son).
Katherine’s maiden name is unknown. Because of the interaction between the families,
there is speculation that she may have been a Smith, sister to Arthur Smith “The
Quaker” and Robert Smith. If that was the case, it seems likely that Katherine met
and married William Fancy in Southold. (In 1659 Arthur Smith sold his house in Southold
and was admitted as a townsman of Setauket in December 1659. In 1661 Arthur Smith and
William Fancy were on the list of 22 men who received 6 acre lots at Old Field.) In 1674
Katherine Fancy made a deposition that said she was “aged about 48”, which
places her birth sometime around 1626.
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In August 1661, Katherine Fancy had
an action of slander entered against her. George
Woods, Jr. asked for 30 pounds damages. This is the first instance where William’s
second wife’s given name is used.
William
Fancy was fined 10 shillings for lying to the country in December of 1663, the following
year ten acres were given to William Fancy by the town. About 1665, William appeared on a
tax list. On July 14, 1669 it was recorded that William Fancy’s “eare mark
is a swallows taiele”.
William
Fancy’s children are recorded in his June 17, 1675 Will as Samuel, Joseph, Hannah,
Rachel, and William, Jr. Based on the
evidence in Brookhaven Town records, Samuel and Joseph are believed to be William
Fancy’s sons by his first (unknown) wife. Samuel Fanshaw/Fancy died unmarried and
childless in 1685. Other than the 20 shillings William Fancy bequeathed to his son in
1675, there is no other record of Joseph Fancy in Brookhaven Town records.
Hannah, Rachel and William, Jr. are
named by William Fancy’s second wife Katherine, in her October 17, 1684 Will. Hannah
Fancy married (1) Robert Goulsbury, who died 1683, and (2) David Jennings/Jenners about
1684. Rachel married Peter Whiteheare (Whitaker/Wittier) before October 25, 1684.
June 17, 1675, Will
of William Fancy (Attachment B) – “Very aged and a cripple”. Body to be
buried in Brookhaven. “Sonne Samuel ffancy” to have half of ”my
accommodation. That is one halfe of my home lott and Seaven ackers in the ould feild, and
one halfe of all the ouot land Devided and undevided, and one half of all my meadow at the
ould mans, and all my pt of medow and upland in ye ould purchase at the south”.
Samuel is not to sell any of it, it is for his heirs forever. “Beloved wife Katherine
ffancy” is to have the other half of the accommodation and the whole meadow at
Conscience except 20 shillings, to my “sonne Joseph ffancy”. “My sonne
William “ffancy” is to receive his portion after the death of wife Katherine.
“Daughter “Hanah ffancy” is to receive two cows, or ten pounds, to be paid
when she comes of age or marries. “Daughter Rechell” has already received her
portion. William Fancy instructs that his
Will be kept by neighbor widow Martha Smith (wife of Arthur Smith) as long as he lives.
The Will was witnessed by John Thomas and Martha Smith, widow.
William Fancy
probably died in early 1677, as his Will was proved in the Court of Sessions in Suffolk
County on March 8, 1677. His name continues in Brookhaven records up to the last land draw
in 1774 as his right is exercised by whomever it was transferred to by himself or his
widow. Otherwise, 1677 is the last entry date for William Fancy in the Brookhaven Town
records.
Katherine (also
spelled Catherine and Katteren in the records) Fancy’s name continues until 1684 when
she executes her last land transfer and makes her Will. She is quite active in seeing that
her step-son Samuel Fanshaw/Fancy receives care. Also, she transfers and receives land
from Robert Goulsbury and wife Hannah, her daughter. She received a bounty for killing of
a wolf that was probably killed by her son or son-in-law.
Katherine
Fancy’s Will, dated October 7, 1684, witnessed by Richard Smith and Richard Woodhull,
was proved in the Court of Sessions March 22, 1687/8. Katherine Fancy left the meadow at
Conscience she inherited from her husband to “daughter Rachells” youngest son
“whom she hath or Shall have by Peter Whiteheare of Brookhaven”. The meadow is
left to Whiteheare’s son on the condition that Whiteheare pay 5 pounds in cattle to
William Fancy (Jr.) and 5 pounds to Hannah (Fancy) Jenners within one year after her
death. Robert Goulsbury, the son of Hannah (Fancy) Goulsbury Jenners, is to receive a
three year old heifer and calf by her side when he reaches 16 years of age from Peter
Whiteheare. Hannah Jenners is to receive one cow, and Peter Whiteheare’s youngest
children are to receive the rest of any remaining cattle. The land that was given to
Katherine by the town is given to Peter Whiteheare.
William
Fancy was married twice. The name of his first wife is unknown, being referred to only as
Goodwife, or Goodie, in the New Haven Colony records. She probably died after the April
14, 1646 punishment received at the hands of the New Haven authorities and before William
Fancy purchased the house in Southold in 1652. Goodwife had at least one son, Samuel.
William must have married his second wife Katherine shortly after the death of his first
wife. The British occupation of Long Island during the Revolutionary War destroyed any
early church records in this area that might have contained births and marriages for this
family.
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The birth
mothers of William’s other children are unknown, but it is presumed that Hannah,
William, Jr., and Rachel are the children by second wife Katherine, because they are named
in her Will.
Children of William Fancy:
1. Samuel
2. Joseph
3. Hannah
4. William,
Jr.
5. Rachel
1. Samuel Fanshaw/Fancy, son
of William Fancy and first wife “Goodie” (Unknown)
Fancy
Samuel was probably
not married, as no wife or children were ever mentioned in Brookhaven records, or in his
Will. In 1680 he exchanged his three-acre lot in Newtown for a piece of
property from Robert Goulsbury and in October 5 1682, he witnessed a deed for Robert
Smith. By 1682 Samuel “Fanshaw” had become severely disabled as the result of
frozen feet from an unknown cause. He
could not care for himself and required someone to care for him as evidenced by several
entries in Brookhaven records relating to this problem. Rachel and Katherine Fancy
complained to the town and in February 1683 the town appointed Samuel’s
“mother-in-law” (step-mother) Katherine Fancy to care for him until a doctor
could be consulted. It was decided that John Biggs was to take care of Samuel. As payment
for his care of Samuel, the town gave John Biggs two cattle and 100 acres of land. The
arrangement with Biggs did not work out. The next month, Samuel gave land to Robert
Goulsbury (husband of Hannah Fancy) in exchange for his care. Later records indicate the
Town reclaimed the cattle and land originally paid to John Biggs for Samuel
Fanshaw/Fancy’s care.
Samuel
“ffanshaw” made his Will June 29, 1682, leaving his worldly estate to Hannah
(Fancy) and Robert Goulsbery, and all of his lands to their son, Samuel’s nephew,
Robert Goulsbery. Samuel Fanshaw/Fancy signed his Will with his S
mark. This Will may have
been a condition for the Goulsberys’ continued care of Samuel, or may indicate Samuel
was a blood relative of Hannah Fancy. Samuel Fanshaw/Fancy probably died 1684/5. His Will
directed his burial to be in “the ussiall buering place of brookehaven”.
2. Joseph Fancy,
son of William Fancy
Joseph Fancy
is named in his father, William Fancy’s, Will in 1675 and received twenty shillings. Nothing else is known of him. His name does not
appear anywhere in other Brookhaven records, and he is not named in Katherine Fancy or
Samuel Fanshaw/Fancy’s Wills.
3. Hannah
Fancy, daughter of William Fancy
Hannah Fancy
married Robert Goulsbury after 1675 when she is named in her father’s will as Hannah
“ffancey”. She had one known son by Robert Goulsbury, named Robert. Robert
Goulsbury, Sr. died around 1683, and she then married David Jenners (Genners, Jennings,
Jennen) around 1684. Hannah is believed to be
the daughter of Katherine (Unknown) Fancy, William Fancy’s second wife, as Hannah is
named in Katherine’s Will.
4. William
Fanshaw/Fancy, Jr., son of William Fancy/Fanshaw and Katherine (Unknown) Fancy
William
Fanshaw/Fancy, Jr. is first mentioned in his father’s Will of 1675 and appears to
have been a minor at that time. The half of the estate he was to receive was entrusted to
his mother Katherine, until her death.
On September 11,
1678, John Budd forgives Katherine Fancy from all claims, demands and debts, and also
forgives William Fanshaw/Fancy of a debt_____. (The page in the original record was torn.)
The town
proprietors voted and agreed to give William Fanshaw/Fancy, Jr. and Richard Clark 20 acres
apiece of Upland with commonage for their cattle in December 1679, and the men said they
were “nott expecking any more land of the towne.” William’s mother was
still living in 1679. It appears that William
had no claim or ownership in his father’s proprietors right to town lands at that
time.
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In June of 1680
William, Jr. bought a bay horse from Thomas Biggs, Jr, for which he paid two barrels of
merchantable oil. In November 1680 he swaps horses with Walter Jones, and in April 1681 he
swaps the horse he got from Jones for a bay horse from John Hutton.
On September 9,
1680 Katherine Fancy apparently begins giving her son William, Jr. part of his
inheritance. Katherine gives William, Jr. her share of the Meadow at Conscience, the
6-acre lot in Old Field, 7 acres in the West Division, and her right in the Little Neck
for him to “in Joy for ever after her desese.”
It appears that
William Fanshaw/Fancy, Jr. came into his majority between 1678 and 1680, which places his
birth somewhere between 1655 and 1662. The records indicate that his trade was a weaver.
On May 26 of 1682
William, Jr. exchanges land with his mother Katherine. The same day he creates a mortgage
on his property and possessions. He is described as a weaver who is indebted to John
Inions (Inian) of New York City.
(Around 1680 John Inian had
purchased 10,000 acres in New Brunswick, New Jersey and was one of the proprietors and
founders of that place.) William Fancy, Jr.’s mortgage includes 10 acres,
the share of land at the Meadows, his home lot, 20 acres given by the town, and his loom
and associated tackle. The debt is to be paid
in the next year. There is no indication that
William, Jr. did not pay this debt.
William Fanshaw/Fancy, Jr. witnessed a deed in 1688 for Richard Smith to
Jonathan Luce, in Huntington. In 1693, he signed a letter from the townsmen to the
proprietors asking for the town to call and provide for a minister. A record in the
Brookhaven Town Historian’s office shows William Fanshaw/Fancy, Jr. witnessed a deed
between Col. William “Tangier” Smith of St. George Manor and Richard Clark in
June 1696.
Abigail “Fanshaw”, who is believed
to have been William Fancy’s wife, was also a witness to a deed for Col. William
“Tangier” Smith of St. George Manor in 1703. An
undated “Plan of the Manner of Groton Hall on Nassaw alias Long Island In ye Province
of New Yorke” shows Wawcoruck or Tarmans Neck “Under ye Improvement of Abagail
Fancy widdow Tenant”. Abigail’s maiden name remains unknown. (It should be noted
that in Stamford, Connecticut, John Fancher named his first-born daughter Abigail and
Richard Fancher, after naming his first daughter for his wife Martha, named his second
daughter Abigail. Joseph Fancher, of Cape May Co. New Jersey also named a daughter
Abigail. This could suggest
that Abigail (Unknown) was the mother of the youngest Fanshaw/Fancher siblings, and may
have been William Fancy/Fanshaw, Jr.'s second wife.)
William Fancy, Jr. resigned his earmark in 1720 to Ephraim Rose, but the entry in
the town records is crossed out. This 1720 entry is the last mention of William, Jr. in
the Brookhaven Town records.
In the Suffolk
County Court of Common Pleas, there are five recorded court cases involving a William
Fanshaw/Fancy. At this time in 2003, the papers, and the details of these cases, have not
been found. The cases are:
March 31, 1726 -
William Fancy versus Jonathan Bayley
September 29, 1726 - Sundry Indians versus William Fancy
March 13, 1727 - Sundry Indians versus William Fancy
September 26, 1728 - William Fancy versus Clement Morris
October 2, 1729 - Clement Morris versus William Fancy
On the same day March
13, 1727 when William was in court, there was a similar case of Sundry Indians versus
Richard Fancy. This Richard Fancy had registered, in Islip Town, a cattle earmark that was
identical to the earmark of William Fancy, Sr.
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5. Rachel Fancy,
daughter of William Fancy
Rachel Fancy was
married in Brookhaven before October 27, 1684 to Peter Whiteheare (Whittier). Her mother
is presumed to have been William Fanshaw/Fancey’s second wife Katherine (Unknown)
because Rachel is named in Katherine’s Will.
Richard
Fancy of Long Island
Later Long Island
records show a Richard Fancy living there 1726/1727. The Court of Common Pleas in
Southold, Suffolk County records of March 13, 1727 indicate two cases on the same day for
Sundry Indians versus Richard Fancy and Sundry Indians versus William Fancy.
Richard Fancy is
presumed to be a son of William Fancy, Jr. In
1726 Richard Fancy entered an earmark in Islip Town, Long Island, New York (identical to
William Fancy, Jr.’s earmark registered in Brookhaven) as follows: “Mark for his
creatures, a swallow fork on the right ear”. The following year Richard Fancy was
involved in the above-mentioned Sundry Indians case with a William Fancy on the same day.
( Richard Fancy is presumed to be the same man as Richard Fanshaw/Fancher of Stamford,
Fairfield Co., Connecticut, and Morris Co., New Jersey.)
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