To any interested Woolsey researcher: For some two years I have been "bugged" by the following paragraph I picked up in the "History of Stamford, CT": !HIST: Huntington, Rev. E. B., A.M. HISTORY OF STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT 1641-1868. Including Darien until 1820. Harbor Hill Books. Harrison, New York. 1979. p. 196. "WOOLSEY, Gilbert, buys land here of Thomas Morehouse, in 1672. The name reappears again in Ebenezer and Margaret, his wife who had children here; Anna, in 1717; Thomas, in 1721; and Mehetable, in 1723. In 1725, he is said to be of Fairfield, when he buys land on Ox Ridge, of David Waterbury. In 1728, he is said to be of Stamford, and sells land to Abraham Wooster, of Ripton Parish, Stratford. In 1730, he is allowed by the society to pay his church rates elsewhere. He died in Jan 1765. There must have been quite a family of this name here down to about 1800." " [And on p. 248. Gilbert Woolsey was a pensioner of Rev. War. He bears the name of the pioneer of the family who settled here.]" If this was true, Gilbert Woolsey would have had to be one very early Woolsey, so I finally decided to track him down. Now, two days later and seventeen hours of hard work in the FHL in Salt Lake City, studying the Stamford, Fairfield Co, CT records, I can state, with some authority, that the paragraph is mistaken and should read as follows: "WOOLSEY, Gilbert buys land here of JOHN Morehouse in 1762 [Note the date was transposed. From here on the name should be WOOSTER.] The name [WOOSTER] appears again in Ebenezer [WOOSTER] and Margaret his wife who had children here; Anna Wooster, in 1717; Thomas Wooster, in 1721; and Mehetable Wooster, in 1723. In 1725, Ebenezer WOOSTER is said to be of Fairfield, when he buys land on Ox Ridge, of David Waterbury. In 1728 Ebenezer WOOSTER is said to be of Stamford, and sells land to Abraham Wooster, of Ripton Parish, Stratford. In 1730, Ebenezer WOOSTER is allowed by the society to pay his church rates elsewhere. He died in Jan 1765. There must have been quite a family of this name [WOOSTER] here down to about 1800." I have seen the microfilm copy of the originals of these deeds and the name is definitely WOOSTER. Now there was a Gilbert WOOLSEY who had a large family here but not until the 1760's. This Gilbert was a son of John Woolsey and Sarah Woolsey of Westchester Co, NY. This Gilbert Woolsey was the father of the "Sweet Hollow Giant" John Woolsey. Both this Gilbert Woolsey and his son Gilbert Woolsey Jr. were in the Rev. War from Connecticut. So this statement is partially true: [And on p. 248. Gilbert Woolsey was a pensioner of Rev. War. [The following is Not true!: He bears the name of the pioneer of the family who settled here. This line is NOT true.]" But at least, I cleared up a very puzzling and unsettling statement. There is another Woolsey connection to Stamford, Fairfield Co, CT and that is through a daughter of the Rev. Benjamin Woolsey of Dosoris, Long Island, New York. The daughter Abigail md the Rev. Noah Welles, who was a minister at the First Congregational Church of Stamford beginning in 1747 and all of their 13? (memory here) children were baptized here and Abigail and Noah died here. Another Connecticut Woolsey connection was at New Haven, Connecticut, where Theodore Woolsey was the President of Yale. [In the Yale Library, there are about 32 linear feet of WOOLSEY FAMILY PAPERS] I have ordered a microfilm and 127 pages of genealogical papers from them.] Well, that is another story. Enough for now. Sincerely, Wilford W. Whitaker