Samuel Scudder, I^{[1, 2, 3]}

Abt 1643 - 1689  (46 years)

• Name	Samuel Scudder
  Suffix	I
  Birth	Abt 1643	Salem, Essex, Massachusetts, British Colonial America   [4]
  Gender	Male
  Death	Nov 1688/1689	Newtown, Queens, New York   [4]
  Person ID	I220	Scudder
  Last Modified	18 Dec 2021

  
  

  Father	John Scudder,   b. Abt 1620, Horton Kirby, Kent, England d. Bef 1698, Newtown, Queens, New York, British Colonial America (Age < 77 years)
  Mother	Mary King,   b. Abt 1623, England d. unknown, Newtown, Queens, New York, British Colonial America
  Marriage	1642	Salem, Massachusetts, British Colonial America   [4]
  Family ID	F115	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 1	Phebe Titus,   b. Jan 1660, Westbury, Nassau, New York d. Mar 1742, New York (Age 82 years)
  Marriage	1680	New York   [4]
  Family ID	F119	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	3 Mar 2024

  
  

  Family 2	Mrs. Samuel Scudder, I,   b. Abt 1649, New York, British Colonial America d. Bef 1680, Newtown, New York, British Colonial America (Age < 30 years)
  Marriage	Abt 1668	Newtown, Queens, New York, British Colonial America
  	"Samuel probably first married circa 1668 (about age 25). He clearly had (at least) two children by his first wwife: Samuel II, and another, probably older son, name unknown." Scudder Searches, v. 1, no. 2, (Summer 1989), pp 10–11.
  Children	1. Unknown Scudder,   b. Abt 1669, Newtown, New York, British Colonial America d. Abt 1690, Newtown, New York, Queens, British Colonial America (Age 21 years)   2. Samuel Scudder, II,   b. Abt 1675, Newtown, New York, British Colonial America d. 31 Aug 1764, Newtown, Queens, New York (Age 89 years)   3. Sarah Scudder,   b. 1677, Newtown, New York, British Colonial America d. Aft 1756, Newtown, New York, British Colonial America (Age > 80 years)   4. Deborah Scudder,   b. Abt 1679, Newtown, New York, British Colonial America d. Yes, date unknown
  Family ID	F23490	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	3 Mar 2024

  
  

• Notes

  From Scudder Searches, v. 1, no. 2, (Summer 1989): 10–11. "Samuel probably first married circa 1668 (about age 25). He clearly had (at least) two children by his first wife [name unknown]: Samuel II, another, probably older son, name unknown....In 1680, Samuel married (second) PHebe Titus, daughter of Edmond and Martha Titus, a prominent Quaker family of Westbury, Long Island. Following Samuel's death in 1688/89, Phebe married Robert Field of Newtown, a prominent Quaker. Phebe seems neither to havae taken much interest in Samuel's children by his first wife nor to have had any of her own, for in her will (probated 12 November 1743), she mentions no children by either marriage." Newtown, where Samuel and his brother, and later his parents, lived, had been founded about 1652 by a group of English settlers who had moved from New England. They established a new town at the site of an English attempt nine years earlier by a minister named Francis Doughty, who had been chased out of Massachusetts because of his radical preaching. The Dutch director-general of New Amsterdam, Willem Kieft, who was searching for settlers for western Long Island, gave Reverend Doughty about 6,000 acres and the right to preach Doughty's chosen gospel. In 1642, Doughty brought several families to his new commuity, called Maspeth. The newcomers had just begun their settlement when an Indian attack leveled the place in 1643. This was the site of the new town begun by another group of New England settlers. They named the place Middleburgh. With the English takeover of New Netherland in 1664, the name was changed to Hastings. However, the residents had been calling the place New Town, as if to distinquish it from the earlier Doughty attempt. This name was kept until well into the nineteenth century. The name again became Maspeth, in the borough of Queens. The name of Newtown can be found only today in the name of Newtown Avenue and Newtown Creek. Samuel became a Quaker activist, a disciple of Thomas Case of Newtown, whose conduct was at one time declared a disturbance of the peace and a public scandal. Case and Samuel were called before Justice Betts, the father-in-law of Samuel's brother, John, on 15 June 1675 at the Court of Sessions, Gravesend. They were charged with disturbing and seducing the people. Case was fined £20, and Samuel, who admitted to having written a scandalous letter to a local Presbyterian minister, was fined £6 or two months imprisonment. He was also required to post another £20 as security for his future good behavior. The Quakers, a religous sect founded in England, began coming to Massachusetts in 1656. They refused to take an oath and many thought them Jesuits in disguise. Reports of their extreme fanaticism had reached the colonists, and the first arrivals were sent back. Laws were then enacted to prohibit their coming, but they came in defiance of the laws. At length a law was passed pronouncing the death sentence upon any Quaker who having been once banished, should return to the colony. To the astonishment of all, a few of the banished ones returned and demanded the repeal of the cruel law. Their fanaticism increased with the persecution; they walked the streets and entered the churches naked, denouncing the laws and the Puritan form of worship. The authorities were perplexed. They had not expected to have occasion to enforce their harsh law; they had only meant to keep out people whom they despised. But now they must actually put these people to death or yield to their demand and repeal the law. They met in solemn conclave and again decided by one majority to enforce the law. Four of the Quakers were hanged. But public opinion did not sustain the magistrates and the law was repealed. Thus the Quakers, by sacrificing a few lives, won a victory, and they eventually settled down and became quiet, useful citizens, devoting much of their energy to the conversion of the Indians. On 13 December 1680, Samuel's father gave Samuel his estate in exchange for the maintenance of himself and Samuel's mother for the remainder of their lives. The arrangement would have been mutually beneficial. Samuel gained property and the means of supporting his family; and the parents the opportunity to care for, and perhaps spoil, any grandchildren, which might appear. It was about this time that Samuel married Phoebe Titus. At a Newton town meeting on 6 January 1685/86, Samuel was chosen one of nine prominent residents to draft a new town patent for Newtown to be provided to the New York governor. Another of these prominent men chosen was Captain Richard Betts, the father of Samuel's sister-in-law.

  
  

• Sources

  [S127] Ancestral File (R). [S15] Genealogy of Early Settlers of Trenton and Ewing, "Old Hunterdon County," New Jersey, 217, 218; caution: Samuel md. Phebe Titus as 2nd wife; had no children by her. [S1507] Samuel Scudder 3 generations Scudder Searches. [S4] Scudder Family in America: The Beginnings, Vol. I, No. 2, p. 9.