Jonathan5 Deuel and Rachel Denton
I looked at several other wills and one that caught my attention was the will of Silas4 Deuel, made in 1799.
Silas4 mentions his children, as I recall there were 7 in all, but no mention of Pine Plains Jonathan, the
great-grandfather of Jay Clarence. This tends to confirm my earlier suspicion that Jonathan's parents were not
Silas4 and Mary Wilbore, as the latter would have been almost 46 when Jonathan was born. Since "wife
Mary" is listed in the will of Silas4, it does not appear that he could have had a second marriage. As I've
mentioned, Jonathan may be the son of Ephraim, maybe that's where the middle name of Jay Clarence's
brother Charles Ephraim Deuel comes from.
We have a precise date of birth for Jonathan, who is buried in a small unnamed family ground in Milan.
Jonathan Deuel, died Sept. 10, 1846 age 82-7-22. So he was born 19 Jan. 1764. Rachel [Denton] Deuel,
wife of Jonathan, died 19 Oct. 1826, age 53-9-9. So she was born 10 Jan. 1773. She would have been 38 in
1811, so not too old to bear a child.
My latest theory I'm checking is that Henry was a son (or less likely, a grandson) of Jonathan Deuel & Rachel
Denton. I can't believe that Jay Clarence ended up on the same street in Passaic as your grandfather by
accident. From your grandfather's perspective, if this was the line then Jay Clarence would be his (much older)
second cousin, with Jacob Bockee Deuel his first cousin once-removed. But with Jacob dying more than 20
years before your grandfather was born, I can excuse him for the genealogical faux pas of thinking of Jacob as
his Wisconsin lawyer "uncle."
Where a publisher fits in I don't know. Maybe your grandfather saw the name of Charles Halliwell Duell in the
news and just said he was relative, based on a guess. It may be like Frank Gifford, I remember my father
referring to him as "cousin Frank" some 30 years ago while watching football. My father really didn't know if
he was a cousin or not, he just assumed because he shared the same last name that he was. It turns out that
Frank Gifford is descended from Stephen1 Gifford who arrived in Norwich, CT ca1640, but Stephen is of no
proven connection to William1 Gifford, so Frank Gifford is not a proven cousin at all.
The other thing that recommends the Jonathan theory is that Milan Henry is living in the same general part of
Milan where the cemetery is located. Maybe Milan Henry is a nephew and namesake of Paterson Henry. I
didn't get a chance to look at deeds today, there may be something there. Also it appears Jonathan had a will,
which I didn't look at either (I was in a Wilbur-centric state of mind), that would be the first thing to look at.
"Settlers of Beekman Patent" says that Jonathan and Rachel had nine children, but he only names six. Doherty
didn't look at the will of Jonathan, or at least he doesn't mention it.
Richard Gifford
August 19, 2003
Could Henry Deuel be their son?