Hi Wilford! Your notes are very interesting to me. I am not a bit surprised to see a WOOLSEY in Stamford. I keep seeing many of the same early Stamford names in my family tree generation after generation. I wondered if you were using this website which gives a total index to a huge Stamford History Bibliography book, which is also ALL online: http://www.cslnet.ctstateu.edu/stamford/Biblio.htm I have spoken with Mr Ronald Marcus, the author of "STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT - A BIBLIOGRAPHY", of which I have a copy. Years ago, on the internet, I learned that Mr Marcus wrote a pamphlet called "Thou Deservest to Dye" about my 8x grandmother (Elizabeth Periment Clawson/Classon) who was accused and convicted of being a witch in early Stamford 1692)!!!! I had her name, but I didn't even know about her crazy ordeal at the time! Quite a discovery. My other pre-1700 ancestors from that place were SELLECK, WARDWELL, LOCKWOOD, DEMILLE, HOLLY, WHITING, LAW, ROBERTS, CLASON My blood is deeply rooted in Stamford history, and my LONGWELL family came there before 1735 and left that area in about 1815 for land in Ohio. Some of them stopped over in New York for a few years. (Dutchess County and Ulster County). Not long after they arrived in Ohio (Upper Sandusky, Marion, Crawford and Licking County areas in early 1820-30ish) , Four LONGWELL's married Four WINSLOW's. These WINSLOWs were the children of Margarite WOOLSEY WINSLOW (daughter of Benjamin M. and grandaughter of Richard and Sarah Fowler WOOLSEY). The WINSLOW's who married the LONGWELLs were also from the New York area. I have a hunch they all came over together and the 3 families knew each other well. By 1852, many packed up and moved to Washington County Iowa and parts of Knox County Illinois. (Some WOOLSEY's came to Maquon IL at that time, where one, my ggrandfather LONGWELL settled). Here are the works that Ron found, which talk about the Stamford WOOLSEY family. You will also note there is a CORRECTED REPRINT of the book you were refering to: STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT - A BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX The numerals following names and subjects are record numbers. Woolsey family, 5, 10, 30 Woolsey, Gilbert, Jr., 30 Woolsey, Gilbert, Sr., 30 Rec# 5. Huntington, E. B. (Elijah Baldwin). History Of Stamford, Connecticut, >From Its Settlement In 1641, To The Present Time, Including Darien, Which Was One Of Its Parishes Until 1820. 1868. Rec# 10. Huntington, E. B. (Elijah Baldwin). History Of Stamford, Connecticut, 16411868, Including Darien, Until 1820 A Corrected Reprint of the 1868 Edition With a New Index by Grace H. Walmsley Added Source References and a New Preface by Ronald Marcus. 1979. Rec# 30. Wicks, Edith M. Stamford's Soldiers Genealogical Biographies of Revolutionary War Patriots from Stamford, Connecticut. 1976. Aren't these Stamford people wondeful? (PS My gggggrandfather Stephen LONGWELL of Fairfield CT, fought in the Revolutionary War under Gen. David Waterbury of Stamford!) Valerie In a message dated 6/8/00 3:01:33 PM Central Daylight Time, wwwhit@integrityonline3.com writes: << 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 >>