Family Card - Person Sheet
NameMercy Hull 
Birth22 Jan 1683, Piscataway, Middlesex, New Jersey, United States
Death21 Dec 1746, Piscataway, Middlesex, New Jersey, United States
Spouses
BurialPiscataway Cmty, Middlesex Co., New Jersey
Birth7 Sep 1683
*New [OCCU]1739, First Baptist Church
Death22 Jan 1759
Marriage1708, Piscataway, Middlesex, New Jersey
ChildrenSusanna Phoebe (1710-1745)
Benjamin (1713-1792)
Elizabeth Ruth (1712-1768)
John (1716-1755)
Isaac (1718-1781)
Rachel (1720-1791)
Notes for Mercy Hull
{geni:about_me}
MERCY HULL-STELLE (Daughter of Samuel Hull)
"Who was Mercy, the First Wife of Rev. Benjamin Stelle?" by Howard Stelle Fitz Randolph
"Poncet Stelle moved to Monmouth Co. New Jersey, about 1693. About 1708-1709 his son, Benjamin married Mercy ....., and had, according to the Piscataway Register of Births, six children. She died Dec. 21, 1746. It is definitely stated in a brief biography of Benjamin Stelle by J. F. Brown, D.D. that she was Mercy Drake. An article by Oliver B. Leonard, in the same volume, occurs the following paragraph:
"Benjamin Stelle was born in New York, A.D. in 1683, and settled among the Piscataway people in early life just after colonial affairs were transferred to the Crown." But there was no Mercy Drake among the Piscataway people and tracing from the tombstone of Mercy, wife of Benjamin Stelle, it points to the fact that she was Mercy Hull, born about Jan. 22, 1683-4.
_______________
also see:
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~njmiddle/MERCYSTELLE.htm
The Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey
Vol. II, No. I JULY, 1926 Whole No. 5
Who Was Mercy Stelle?
WHO WAS MERCY, THE FIRST WIFE OF REV. BENJAMIN STELLE?
By HOWARD STELLE FITZ RANDOLPH
Member of the Genealogical Society of New Jersey
The Rev. Benjamin Stelle was pastor of the First Baptist Church at Piscataway, New Jersey, from 1739 to 1759. He was the second son of Poncet Stelle and his wife Eugenie Legereau, Huguenot refugees, and was probably born in New York City about 1684. Miss Maud Burr Morris, in a very able article on the Stelle family,* gives a full and interesting life of Poncet Stelle, naming his children and many of his descendants. Mr. Orra Eugene Monnette, in his article on "Poncet Stelle, Sieur des Lorieres,Ӡ traces another branch of his descendants. It is interesting to know that there are portraits of Poncet Stelle and Eugenie Legereau in existence, Which Mr. Monnette has reproduced in his"Monnet Family Genealogy."
Poncet Stelle moved to Monmouth Co., New Jersey, about 1693. About 1708 or 1709 his son Benjamin married Mercy and had, according to the Piscataway Register of Births,‡ six children, as follows:
*New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, Vol. 44, pp. 61, 107. †Grafton Magazine, Vol. II, page 141.
‡Proceedings of the N. J. Hist. Soc., Third Series, Vol. III, page 15.
1. Susannah, born Aug. 3, 1710. She married at Piscataway, Dec. 22, 1730, Joseph, son of Benjamin and Sarah (Drake) Hull.
2. Elisabeth, born Jan. 30, 1712. Probably died young, as she is not mentioned in her father's will.
3. Benjamin, born Sept. 20 or 21, 1713. He married first Hannah. daughter of John Shotwell, and married second Ruth (Sharp or Dunham).
4. John. born Feb. 7, 1716. He married June 16, 1739, Rachel, daughter of James and Charity Thompson. He died Jan. 30, 1755, and Rachel married second Benjamin Dunn, June 1, 1757.
5. Isaac, born Feb. 6, 1718. He married first April 22, 1740, Christiana Clarkson, and married second Jan. 5, 1780, Katherine Green. He died Oct. 9, 1781.
6. Rachel, born Dec. 11, 1;20. She married July 11, 1752, Ephraim, son of Joseph and Rebekah (Drake) Fitz Randolph. She died March 6, 191.
Mercy, the wife of Benjamin Stelle, died Dec. 21, 1746, and he married second August 14, 172, Lydia, daughter of John Shotwell, and sister of his son Benjamin's wife, by whom he had no children. He died January 22, 1759, aged 74,and was buried at Piscataway. His will* is dated April 20, 1758, and was proved Feb. 22, 1759.
But who was Mercy, the first wife of Rev. Benjamin Stelle? In the "Bi-Centennial Anniversary, 1689-1889, First Baptist Church of Piscataway" (page 23), in a brief biography of Benjamin Stelle by J. F. Brown, D. D., it is definitely stated that she was Miss Mercy- Drake. In an article on the Stelle Family in the same volume (page 118), by the late Oliver B. Leonard, occurs the following paragraph
"Benjamin Stelle was born in 'New York, A. D., 1683, † and settled among the Piscataway people in early life just after colonial affairs were transferred to the Crown. By his marriage in 1708 to a member of the pioneer families of the Bap-
* New Jersey Archives, Vol. XXXII, page 307.
† In the same volume (page 25), is a copy of his gravestone inscription, "AEtat 76." This is an error, as the age given on the stone is 74, making his birth about 1684. Mr. Monnette, in his Grafton Magazine article referred to has inadvertantly copied this error.
tist Church (Mercy Drake it is supposed) the following six children were born."
Mr. Leonard was a painstaking and reliable genealogist, and it is significant that he should have added the words "it is supposed." For years this supposition has been accepted as fact, until it became rather apparent that therewas no Mercy Drake, of the large Piscataway family of that name, who could have married Benjamin Stelle in 1708 or 1709. So it was necessary to look further.
Her own tombstone at Piscataway supplied the first clue. It reads:
In Memory of
Marcy, ye Wife of
Benjamin Stelle
who died Decmr ye
21, 1746 aged 62
Year & 11 Months
This gives us very definitely her birthday, in January, 1684, and probably on January 21, 1684. The next step was to examine the Piscataway birth register, and see if there was a Mercy born on or about January 21, 1684.
And there was one, but only one ! Mercy, the daughter of Samuel and Mary Hull, born Jan. 22, 1683. If it is remembered that at this time the date for beginning the new year was changed from March 25th to January 1st, it is seenat once that this entry might be "Old Style" and that in "New Style" it would be Jan. 22, 1684, fulfilling to within one day the tombstone inscription! In fact, the Piscataway register gives the birth of her next older sister Maryas Feb. 4, 1681-2, so the birth of Mercy was probably Jan. 22, 1683-4.
Now, who was; Mercy Hull: From "The Hull Family in America" and the Piscataway registers we find that her father, Samuel Hull, was the 14th and last child of the Rev. Joseph Hull and his first wife, name unknown. that Samuel Hullmarried at Piscataway Nov. 16, 1677, Mary, daughter of Jeffrey and Hepzibah (Andrews) Manning, and had six children
1. Samuel, born July 20, 1678.
2. Elizabeth, born Nov. 14, 1679; married Sept. 19, 1700, Samuel Drake (son of Rev. John Drake).
3. Mary, born Feb. 4, 1681-2; married June 7, 1703, Jacob Platt.
4. Mercy, born Jan. 22, 1683 (-84) ; married Feb. 1, 16991700, Thomas Piatt (brother of Jacob Piatt above).
5. Hepzibah, born Nov. 3, 1685.
6. Gershom, born Jan. 14, 1687-8.
It was at first a terrible blow to find that Mercy Hull had married Thomas Piatt! But could it not be possible that Benjamin Stelle had married Mercy Hull, the widow of Thomas Piatt ? Let us investigate.
The Piscataway register of births give Thomas and Mercy Piatt (printed "Pratt" in the Proceedings) but three children, as follows:
1. Mercy, born Dec. 11, 1 700. She married Ephraim, son of Francis and Patience Drake.
2. Mary, born Jan. 12, 1702-3.
3. James, born Oct. 3, 1704. He married May 6, 1728, at Piscataway, Ruth, daughter of John and Sarah (Compton) Drake, and had nine children.
And there the record of the children of Thomas and Mercy Piatt stops although the register continues to record births with great fullness for twenty years or more! Did it not seem possible, yes, even likely, that Thomas Piatt haddied and that his widow had married again?
There were three witnesses to the will of Benjamin Stelle. They were James Pyatt, Boley Arnold and Thomas Pyatt. The first, James Pyatt or Piatt, was probably the son of Thomas Piatt and Mercy Hull, who at the time of signing thewill (April 20, 1758), would have been over 54 years of age, and was probably Benjamin Stelle's step-son. But who was Thomas Pyatt? If our theory was correct he could not have been Thomas Piatt the husband of Mercy Hull, who wouldhave been almost 77 years old* at this time, if living—rather an old age for a witness. But was there no other Thomas
*Thomas Piatt was born at Piscataway May 11, 1681, the son of Thomas Laflower (LaFleur) alias Renipiat (Reni Piatt) and his wife Elizabeth (Sheffields).
Piatt? Yes, the third child and first son of James Piatt, born about 1733, who in 1738 would have been 23 years old — a much more likely age for a witness.
It seemed necessary at this point to visit again the old graveyard at Piscataway. With ten ancestors buried there, and probably that number more also interred there, but without headstones, it is always a pleasure to visit this venerable churchyard. This time the visit was unexpectedly rewarded!
There were six graves in a row, with two others in the row in front:
Rev.
Mercy Benjamin John No Martha Thomas
Stelle Stelle Woollege Stone Langstaff Pyaat
Ephraim Rachel
Fitz Fitz
Randolph Randolph
Rachel Fitz Randolph was a daughter of Rev. Benjamin Stelle, who married Ephraim Fitz Randolph: my great-great-grandparents. Martha Langstaff, according to the stone, was a daughter of John Langstaff, and died July 28th, 1817, aged 82 years. Thomas Pyaat was none other than Thomas, the son of James Piatt, who had probably witnessed Benjamin Stelle's will, and who had died almost two years later, on March 20, 1 760, in his 28th year.
But who was John Woollege, who occupied the grave next to that of Benjamin Stelle. His stone reads: "Here lies Interr'd the Body of John Woollege Decd April 6, 1748 Aged 64 Years." In another part of the yard I found the grave ofhis wife.. "Here lies Interr'd the Body of Hiphzibith wife of John Woollege, Decd March 2d, 1766, aged 82 years." Then it became clear! This was the grave of Hepzibah Hull, sister of Mercy, who was born Nov. 3, 1683, and would have been, really, 8o years and four months old, lacking one day. So the reason that John Woollege and Benjamin Stelle had been buried side by side was that they were related, John having married Hepzibah Hull, and Benjamin her sister, Mercy Hull.
And it was the will of John Woolege that gave the final bit of circumstantial evidence to help prove the theory! Here it is
IN THE NAME OF GOD AMEN I John Wooledge of the town Piscataway of the County of Middlesex in the Province of East New Jersey Yeoman being of Sound Disposing mind and memory- Do make and Ordain this my last Will and Testament in manner and form following that is to say
IMPRIMIS I Will that all my debts and funerall Chargess be paid by my Executrix herein after named
ITEM I Will and bequeath unto James Piatt Son of Thomas Piatt five Acres of Salt meadow Situate in Woodbridge to him his Heirs and Assigns for Ever to have possession of the Same after my Decease and after the Decease of my Wife
ITEM I Will and bequeath unto John Stelle Son of Benjamin Stelle Twelve Acres of fresh Meadow Situate on the Road near the meeting House Bounded on Jerimeah Dunn and Patience Drake to him his Heirs and Assigns for Ever he the sd John Stelle paying unto Mary Jones Wife of Eliphalet Jones Six pounds at possessing said Meadow and he to Possess the same after the Decease of me and my Wife. I Will and bequeath unto Mary Jones aforsd. Two Steers of a Brown Colour five years old She to have possession of the Same at my Decease.
ITEM I Give towards Building Our Meeting House in Such Pay as my Wife can best make the Sum of Three pounds
ITEM I do Give unto my loveing Wife all the rest of my Good and Chattels and Personall Estate whatsoever Allso I give and devise unto my said Wife her Heirs and Assigns for Ever All my Lands and Tennemens lying and being in the Place aforsd And Allso five Accers of Meadow Salt adjoyning sd five Acres aforementioned in Woodbridge bounds and if my Wife shall see Cause to sel my negro Sam that he have the liberty of chooseing his master.
LASTLY I do make and Constitute my my Wife Sole Executrix of this my last Will and Testament
IN WITTNESS wherof I have hereunto set my Hand and Seale this twenty fifth day of January in the year of Our Lord 1747/8.
Sealed Published and Declared by the above named John Wooledge as and for his last Will
and Testament in Presence his
of us John X Wooledge (Seal)
mark
her
Dinah X Martin
mark
Isaac Brooks
William Rogers
Proved April 26, 1748. Recorded in Liber E, of Wills, folio 165.
Not having any relatives of his own, he apparently left some of his property to James, son of Thomas Platt, and also son of Mercy (Hull) Piatt, the sister of his wife Hepzibah, and so his nephew by marriage. But why should he have left property to John, son of Benjamin Stelle, unless he also was the son of Mercy (Hull-Piatt) Stelle, sister of his wife Hepsibah, and also a nephew by marriage? And might not Mary, the wife of Eliphalet Jones, mentioned in the will, be Mary, the daughter of Thomas and Mercy (Hull) Piatt
To resume. 1. The birthday of Mercy Hull agrees to within one day with the record of Mercy Stelle as given on her tombstone. 2. Mercy Hull Piatt's son James was a witness to the wi11 of Benjamin Stelle. -. The graves of John Woolege and Benjamin Stelle lying side by side indicates some relationship between them. 4. The will of John Woolege gave a legacy to his wife's nephew, James, son of Thomas Piatt; so it would seem probable that the legacy to John, son of Benjamin Stelle, was also to a nephew of his wife's, and, if so, then his wife's sister, Mercy, first the wife of Thomas Piatt, must have married second the Rev. Benjamin Stelle.
It was a pleasure on meeting Mr. Rankin, now editor of this magazine, and an authority on the Drake family, to find that he had independently come to the same conclusion; so this cannot be claimed as original.
That the above evidence does not constitute absolute proof that Benjamin Stelle married Mercy (Hull) Piatt, the widow of Thomas Piatt, is readily admitted, but the circumstantial evidence is unusually strong that such was the case. Cannot some of the readers of this magazine bring forth more evidence that will prove the case beyond a doubt?
Family Stories state that Mercy Drake was a descendant of Sir Francis Drake. These stories were handed down through generations.
MERCY HULL-STELLE (Daughter of Samuel Hull)
"Who was Mercy, the First Wife of Rev. Benjamin Stelle?" by Howard Stelle Fitz Randolph
"Poncet Stelle moved to Monmouth Co. New Jersey, about 1693. About 1708-1709 his son, Benjamin married Mercy ....., and had, according to the Piscataway Register of Births, six children. She died Dec. 21, 1746. It is definitely stated in a brief biography of Benjamin Stelle by J. F. Brown, D.D. that she was Mercy Drake. An article by Oliver B. Leonard, in the same volume, occurs the following paragraph:
"Benjamin Stelle was born in New York, A.D. in 1683, and settled among the Piscataway people in early life just after colonial affairs were transferred to the Crown." But there was no Mercy Drake among the Piscataway people and tracing from the tombstone of Mercy, wife of Benjamin Stelle, it points to the fact that she was Mercy Hull, born about Jan. 22, 1683-4.
_______________
also see:
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~njmiddle/MERCYSTELLE.htm
The Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey
Vol. II, No. I JULY, 1926 Whole No. 5
Who Was Mercy Stelle?
WHO WAS MERCY, THE FIRST WIFE OF REV. BENJAMIN STELLE?
By HOWARD STELLE FITZ RANDOLPH
Member of the Genealogical Society of New Jersey
The Rev. Benjamin Stelle was pastor of the First Baptist Church at Piscataway, New Jersey, from 1739 to 1759. He was the second son of Poncet Stelle and his wife Eugenie Legereau, Huguenot refugees, and was probably born in New York City about 1684. Miss Maud Burr Morris, in a very able article on the Stelle family,* gives a full and interesting life of Poncet Stelle, naming his children and many of his descendants. Mr. Orra Eugene Monnette, in his article on "Poncet Stelle, Sieur des Lorieres,Ӡ traces another branch of his descendants. It is interesting to know that there are portraits of Poncet Stelle and Eugenie Legereau in existence, Which Mr. Monnette has reproduced in his"Monnet Family Genealogy."
Poncet Stelle moved to Monmouth Co., New Jersey, about 1693. About 1708 or 1709 his son Benjamin married Mercy and had, according to the Piscataway Register of Births,‡ six children, as follows:
*New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, Vol. 44, pp. 61, 107. †Grafton Magazine, Vol. II, page 141.
‡Proceedings of the N. J. Hist. Soc., Third Series, Vol. III, page 15.
1. Susannah, born Aug. 3, 1710. She married at Piscataway, Dec. 22, 1730, Joseph, son of Benjamin and Sarah (Drake) Hull.
2. Elisabeth, born Jan. 30, 1712. Probably died young, as she is not mentioned in her father's will.
3. Benjamin, born Sept. 20 or 21, 1713. He married first Hannah. daughter of John Shotwell, and married second Ruth (Sharp or Dunham).
4. John. born Feb. 7, 1716. He married June 16, 1739, Rachel, daughter of James and Charity Thompson. He died Jan. 30, 1755, and Rachel married second Benjamin Dunn, June 1, 1757.
5. Isaac, born Feb. 6, 1718. He married first April 22, 1740, Christiana Clarkson, and married second Jan. 5, 1780, Katherine Green. He died Oct. 9, 1781.
6. Rachel, born Dec. 11, 1;20. She married July 11, 1752, Ephraim, son of Joseph and Rebekah (Drake) Fitz Randolph. She died March 6, 191.
Mercy, the wife of Benjamin Stelle, died Dec. 21, 1746, and he married second August 14, 172, Lydia, daughter of John Shotwell, and sister of his son Benjamin's wife, by whom he had no children. He died January 22, 1759, aged 74,and was buried at Piscataway. His will* is dated April 20, 1758, and was proved Feb. 22, 1759.
But who was Mercy, the first wife of Rev. Benjamin Stelle? In the "Bi-Centennial Anniversary, 1689-1889, First Baptist Church of Piscataway" (page 23), in a brief biography of Benjamin Stelle by J. F. Brown, D. D., it is definitely stated that she was Miss Mercy- Drake. In an article on the Stelle Family in the same volume (page 118), by the late Oliver B. Leonard, occurs the following paragraph
"Benjamin Stelle was born in 'New York, A. D., 1683, † and settled among the Piscataway people in early life just after colonial affairs were transferred to the Crown. By his marriage in 1708 to a member of the pioneer families of the Bap-
* New Jersey Archives, Vol. XXXII, page 307.
† In the same volume (page 25), is a copy of his gravestone inscription, "AEtat 76." This is an error, as the age given on the stone is 74, making his birth about 1684. Mr. Monnette, in his Grafton Magazine article referred to has inadvertantly copied this error.
tist Church (Mercy Drake it is supposed) the following six children were born."
Mr. Leonard was a painstaking and reliable genealogist, and it is significant that he should have added the words "it is supposed." For years this supposition has been accepted as fact, until it became rather apparent that therewas no Mercy Drake, of the large Piscataway family of that name, who could have married Benjamin Stelle in 1708 or 1709. So it was necessary to look further.
Her own tombstone at Piscataway supplied the first clue. It reads:
In Memory of
Marcy, ye Wife of
Benjamin Stelle
who died Decmr ye
21, 1746 aged 62
Year & 11 Months
This gives us very definitely her birthday, in January, 1684, and probably on January 21, 1684. The next step was to examine the Piscataway birth register, and see if there was a Mercy born on or about January 21, 1684.
And there was one, but only one ! Mercy, the daughter of Samuel and Mary Hull, born Jan. 22, 1683. If it is remembered that at this time the date for beginning the new year was changed from March 25th to January 1st, it is seenat once that this entry might be "Old Style" and that in "New Style" it would be Jan. 22, 1684, fulfilling to within one day the tombstone inscription! In fact, the Piscataway register gives the birth of her next older sister Maryas Feb. 4, 1681-2, so the birth of Mercy was probably Jan. 22, 1683-4.
Now, who was; Mercy Hull: From "The Hull Family in America" and the Piscataway registers we find that her father, Samuel Hull, was the 14th and last child of the Rev. Joseph Hull and his first wife, name unknown. that Samuel Hullmarried at Piscataway Nov. 16, 1677, Mary, daughter of Jeffrey and Hepzibah (Andrews) Manning, and had six children
1. Samuel, born July 20, 1678.
2. Elizabeth, born Nov. 14, 1679; married Sept. 19, 1700, Samuel Drake (son of Rev. John Drake).
3. Mary, born Feb. 4, 1681-2; married June 7, 1703, Jacob Platt.
4. Mercy, born Jan. 22, 1683 (-84) ; married Feb. 1, 16991700, Thomas Piatt (brother of Jacob Piatt above).
5. Hepzibah, born Nov. 3, 1685.
6. Gershom, born Jan. 14, 1687-8.
It was at first a terrible blow to find that Mercy Hull had married Thomas Piatt! But could it not be possible that Benjamin Stelle had married Mercy Hull, the widow of Thomas Piatt ? Let us investigate.
The Piscataway register of births give Thomas and Mercy Piatt (printed "Pratt" in the Proceedings) but three children, as follows:
1. Mercy, born Dec. 11, 1 700. She married Ephraim, son of Francis and Patience Drake.
2. Mary, born Jan. 12, 1702-3.
3. James, born Oct. 3, 1704. He married May 6, 1728, at Piscataway, Ruth, daughter of John and Sarah (Compton) Drake, and had nine children.
And there the record of the children of Thomas and Mercy Piatt stops although the register continues to record births with great fullness for twenty years or more! Did it not seem possible, yes, even likely, that Thomas Piatt haddied and that his widow had married again?
There were three witnesses to the will of Benjamin Stelle. They were James Pyatt, Boley Arnold and Thomas Pyatt. The first, James Pyatt or Piatt, was probably the son of Thomas Piatt and Mercy Hull, who at the time of signing thewill (April 20, 1758), would have been over 54 years of age, and was probably Benjamin Stelle's step-son. But who was Thomas Pyatt? If our theory was correct he could not have been Thomas Piatt the husband of Mercy Hull, who wouldhave been almost 77 years old* at this time, if living—rather an old age for a witness. But was there no other Thomas
*Thomas Piatt was born at Piscataway May 11, 1681, the son of Thomas Laflower (LaFleur) alias Renipiat (Reni Piatt) and his wife Elizabeth (Sheffields).
Piatt? Yes, the third child and first son of James Piatt, born about 1733, who in 1738 would have been 23 years old — a much more likely age for a witness.
It seemed necessary at this point to visit again the old graveyard at Piscataway. With ten ancestors buried there, and probably that number more also interred there, but without headstones, it is always a pleasure to visit this venerable churchyard. This time the visit was unexpectedly rewarded!
There were six graves in a row, with two others in the row in front:
Rev.
Mercy Benjamin John No Martha Thomas
Stelle Stelle Woollege Stone Langstaff Pyaat
Ephraim Rachel
Fitz Fitz
Randolph Randolph
Rachel Fitz Randolph was a daughter of Rev. Benjamin Stelle, who married Ephraim Fitz Randolph: my great-great-grandparents. Martha Langstaff, according to the stone, was a daughter of John Langstaff, and died July 28th, 1817, aged 82 years. Thomas Pyaat was none other than Thomas, the son of James Piatt, who had probably witnessed Benjamin Stelle's will, and who had died almost two years later, on March 20, 1 760, in his 28th year.
But who was John Woollege, who occupied the grave next to that of Benjamin Stelle. His stone reads: "Here lies Interr'd the Body of John Woollege Decd April 6, 1748 Aged 64 Years." In another part of the yard I found the grave ofhis wife.. "Here lies Interr'd the Body of Hiphzibith wife of John Woollege, Decd March 2d, 1766, aged 82 years." Then it became clear! This was the grave of Hepzibah Hull, sister of Mercy, who was born Nov. 3, 1683, and would have been, really, 8o years and four months old, lacking one day. So the reason that John Woollege and Benjamin Stelle had been buried side by side was that they were related, John having married Hepzibah Hull, and Benjamin her sister, Mercy Hull.
And it was the will of John Woolege that gave the final bit of circumstantial evidence to help prove the theory! Here it is
IN THE NAME OF GOD AMEN I John Wooledge of the town Piscataway of the County of Middlesex in the Province of East New Jersey Yeoman being of Sound Disposing mind and memory- Do make and Ordain this my last Will and Testament in manner and form following that is to say
IMPRIMIS I Will that all my debts and funerall Chargess be paid by my Executrix herein after named
ITEM I Will and bequeath unto James Piatt Son of Thomas Piatt five Acres of Salt meadow Situate in Woodbridge to him his Heirs and Assigns for Ever to have possession of the Same after my Decease and after the Decease of my Wife
ITEM I Will and bequeath unto John Stelle Son of Benjamin Stelle Twelve Acres of fresh Meadow Situate on the Road near the meeting House Bounded on Jerimeah Dunn and Patience Drake to him his Heirs and Assigns for Ever he the sd John Stelle paying unto Mary Jones Wife of Eliphalet Jones Six pounds at possessing said Meadow and he to Possess the same after the Decease of me and my Wife. I Will and bequeath unto Mary Jones aforsd. Two Steers of a Brown Colour five years old She to have possession of the Same at my Decease.
ITEM I Give towards Building Our Meeting House in Such Pay as my Wife can best make the Sum of Three pounds
ITEM I do Give unto my loveing Wife all the rest of my Good and Chattels and Personall Estate whatsoever Allso I give and devise unto my said Wife her Heirs and Assigns for Ever All my Lands and Tennemens lying and being in the Place aforsd And Allso five Accers of Meadow Salt adjoyning sd five Acres aforementioned in Woodbridge bounds and if my Wife shall see Cause to sel my negro Sam that he have the liberty of chooseing his master.
LASTLY I do make and Constitute my my Wife Sole Executrix of this my last Will and Testament
IN WITTNESS wherof I have hereunto set my Hand and Seale this twenty fifth day of January in the year of Our Lord 1747/8.
Sealed Published and Declared by the above named John Wooledge as and for his last Will
and Testament in Presence his
of us John X Wooledge (Seal)
mark
her
Dinah X Martin
mark
Isaac Brooks
William Rogers
Proved April 26, 1748. Recorded in Liber E, of Wills, folio 165.
Not having any relatives of his own, he apparently left some of his property to James, son of Thomas Platt, and also son of Mercy (Hull) Piatt, the sister of his wife Hepzibah, and so his nephew by marriage. But why should he have left property to John, son of Benjamin Stelle, unless he also was the son of Mercy (Hull-Piatt) Stelle, sister of his wife Hepsibah, and also a nephew by marriage? And might not Mary, the wife of Eliphalet Jones, mentioned in the will, be Mary, the daughter of Thomas and Mercy (Hull) Piatt
To resume. 1. The birthday of Mercy Hull agrees to within one day with the record of Mercy Stelle as given on her tombstone. 2. Mercy Hull Piatt's son James was a witness to the wi11 of Benjamin Stelle. -. The graves of John Woolege and Benjamin Stelle lying side by side indicates some relationship between them. 4. The will of John Woolege gave a legacy to his wife's nephew, James, son of Thomas Piatt; so it would seem probable that the legacy to John, son of Benjamin Stelle, was also to a nephew of his wife's, and, if so, then his wife's sister, Mercy, first the wife of Thomas Piatt, must have married second the Rev. Benjamin Stelle.
It was a pleasure on meeting Mr. Rankin, now editor of this magazine, and an authority on the Drake family, to find that he had independently come to the same conclusion; so this cannot be claimed as original.
That the above evidence does not constitute absolute proof that Benjamin Stelle married Mercy (Hull) Piatt, the widow of Thomas Piatt, is readily admitted, but the circumstantial evidence is unusually strong that such was the case. Cannot some of the readers of this magazine bring forth more evidence that will prove the case beyond a doubt?
Family Stories state that Mercy Drake was a descendant of Sir Francis Drake. These stories were handed down through generations.