This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Sherwood, Hoyt/Haight, Brundish, Nelson Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/JFHBAEB/974 Message Board Post: My ancestor John Hoyt (1664-1726), son of John Hoyt and Mary Brundish, was married to Elizabeth, as named in his will dated 10 Feb. 1722/23. John Hoyt lived in Rye, New York, for most of his life. Many sources give Elizabeth's surname as Sherwood, including "The Journal of the Rev. Silas Constant" by Emily Warren Roebling (1903). Other sources give her maiden name as Purdy, although a serious researcher of the Purdy name does not believe that she was a Purdy--the Daniel who is supposed to be her father died very young, and no children are shown for him. My main reason for believing that my Elizabeth is a Sherwood is that in Stephen Sherwood Jr's will, dated 11 August, 1711, Rye NY, he names his *brother-in-law* John Hoit as his executor. It seems to me that there would be three ways that one man (John) could be a brother-in-law to another (Stephen): 1) John would be the brother of Stephen's wife, Mary. Indeed, many sources give Mary's surname as Hoit. John Hoit/Hoyt DID have a sister Mary, but it is well documented that this Mary Hoyt married Hachaliah Brown. In her father's will she is spoken of as "Mary Brown(e)". So unless there is another set of Hoyt siblings named John and Mary (not entirely impossible, I grant), I think that Stephen's wife Mary was not a sister to my John Hoyt. 2) Stephen's wife Mary and John's wife Elizabeth might be sisters, maiden names unknown. This is a distinct possibility, although no name seems to surface for this. Again, the Purdy name suggests itself but there is no family shown in the Purdy line at the appropriate time which shows sisters Mary and Elizabeth, husbands unknown. 3) Stephen's sister Elizabeth married John Hoyt. This seems very reasonable--the main stumbling block seems to be that there is no record of Stephen's father, Stephen Sr. having a daughter named Elizabeth! This is not entirely unheard of in, say, a disposition of the estate if the wife is married and well-established in a home of her own. I would be very interested in discussing this issue with Sherwod family researchers who are far better versed in the family's history than I am. If this hypothesis is correct, the line would go: Thomas the immigrant>Stephen, Sr.>Elizabeth.

<baileysgran@hotmail.com> wrote.... > 3) Stephen's sister Elizabeth married John Hoyt. This seems very reasonable--the main stumbling block seems to be that there is no record of Stephen's father, Stephen Sr. having a daughter named Elizabeth! This is not entirely unheard of in, say, a disposition of the estate if the wife is married and well-established in a home of her own.< You may well be onto something there. Being both a Hoyt and Sherwood descendant I have been trying to piece family info together on these lines. I do have the Elizabeth Sherwood/Purdy and John Hoyt mentioned in my file and it would appear that there is room in the family for an Elizabeth Sherwood to slip in between Joseph and Nathaniel Sherwood, children of Stephen Sr. and Rebecca Turney, according to the LDS site. I had to do a little recent sleuthing for my own line, Lucinda Sherwood in order to discern the most probable family connection with her for the family/location/timeframe. It gets interesting sometimes. Best, SueB