Re: Captain Kidd
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In reply to:
Captain Kidd
Michael Hebert 8/18/04
Michael, you probably won't be able to change your grandmother's mind, but this might help!
I posted this to the Kidd mailing list in March 2003.This book is the best I've read on Captain Kidd, who had no known, legitimate descendants named Kidd!
For those who are interested in the life of Captain William Kidd, the Scottish-born sea captain turned privateer who made his home in New York City, there is a well-written, well-researched and interesting biography published in 2002 by Hyperion Press:"The Pirate Hunter:The True Story of Captain Kidd," by Richard Zacks.The book is a fascinating read, with a great deal of previously unknown original records used as source material, and recommended to history buffs or those interested in this man whose surname we share.
For those who simply want the bare facts of William Kidd's life, however:William Kidd was born 22 January 1654 in Dundee, Scotland. His father, a sea captain, died when he was 5, and his mother was pensioned as a widow by the Local Seafarer's Society.Kidd eventually settled in New York City, on lower Wall Street, where he married Sarah Bradley Cox Oort, the British-born daughter of Col. Samuel Bradley, Jr. Sarah was b ca 1670, and had buried two husbands--William Cox and John Oort, both merchants--prior to marrying William Kidd.Their marriage liscense was granted in New York City 16 May 1691. William and Sarah had one daughter, Sarah.After Kidd was hanged in London 23 May 1701, Sarah remarried once again:this time in 1703 to merchant Christopher Rousby.This couple had four children; the youngest was named William.Sarah outlived husband number four and died in 1744.Part of her estate went to her grandchildren by daughter Sarah.William and Sarah's daughter Sarah married Joseph Latham, a shipbuilder. She died prior to 1732, when her mother wrote her will at age 62.
Therefore, any known DNA descendants of William Kidd would have to be identified through the family of Sarah Kidd Latham, only through an unbroken matrilineal line.