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Excerpt from “The Griggs Family of Gravesend” (New York Genealogical & Biographical Record, October 2005 - April 2006)... Refer to article for omitted footnotes ([ ]).
IDENTIFYING MARTHA, WIFE OF OBADIAH-2 WILKINS AND JOHN-2 GRIGGS,
AS A DESCENDANT OF THE LAKE AND SPICER FAMILIES OF GRAVESEND
Based on the evidence provided above, there can be no doubt that John-2 Griggs was married at Gravesend to Martha, the widow of Obadiah Wilkins, by a license dated 5 December 1684. If Martha was not the daughter of Obadiah Wilkins but rather his widow, who then were her parents? In his brief mention of Obadiah Wilkins,[ ] William H. Stillwell did not identify any wife for Obadiah but he repeated the erroneous claim that he had a daughter Martha who married John Griggs. However, in his account of the Lake family of Gravesend, Stillwell revealed Martha’s origins:
Martha Lake daughter of John (1) was born in Amersfort (Flatlands) baptized in New Amsterdam May 20 1652 married Obadiah Wilkins of Gravesend, son of William and had issue, Martha, who married John Griggs, and William.[ ]
As demonstrated above, Stillwell was in error in stating that Martha, wife of John Griggs, was a daughter of Obadiah Wilkins rather than his widow. However, was he accurate in identifying Martha as the daughter of John-1 and Ann (Spicer) Lake of Gravesend?
On 20 May 1652, “Metje” was baptized in the New Amsterdam Dutch Reformed Church as the daughter of “Jan Leeck”[ ] with witnesses Albert Albertszen, “Jan Hutjesse” [John Hutchinson],[ ] “Susanna Bresers” [her maternal aunt, Susan (Spicer) (Wathen) Brasier], and Engeltje Mans.[ ] In the primary published accounts of the Lake family, Metje’s baptism is mentioned yet she is omitted in the listing of John1 Lake’s children.[ ] Nor is “Metje” mentioned in Charles Henry Masland’s circa 1983 genealogy.[ ] Consequently, most researchers have simply assumed that this baptismal record pertains to Margaret, another daughter of John and Ann (Spicer) Lake. However, Metje is typically identified as a Dutch equivalent of Mattie (Martha) whereas Margrietje (or its diminutive, Grietje) is the Dutch equivalent of Margaret.
Thus, John-1 and Ann (Spicer) Lake did have a daughter named Martha. Was she identical with the wife of Obadiah-2 Wilkins and John-2 Griggs? A court record pertaining to both men probably provides the confirmation. In 1675, John-1 Griggs sued William-1 and Obadiah-2 Wilkins for crop damage caused by their cattle in the past:
Jo Grigs pl agt wm wilk deft for cattle damidges . . .
one 7: yeares agoe and apprized by P. Symson
Peeter Symson testifies . . . hee . . . apprized ye Dammidg . . . in ye yeare 68
Jo Griggs pl agt Obdiah for dammidges in his Corne att ye springe by cattle yt have beene putt in to ye ffield and yt ye sd damidg was prised & Judged to 3 Skiples of wheate & hee pduced Carson Johnson a wittness
Carson Johnson testifies yt in mrch last hee see 7:Cowes uppon his Corne (all Cowes) & yt Jo Lakes daughter fetcht ym off wch was more Cows yn ye deft had further ye deft testifies yt hee did not knowe whose Cows any of ym was:[ ]
From the excerpt above, note the key phrase, “Jo Lakes daughter fetcht ym [them] off.” John-2 Lake Jr.’s only known daughter was born well after 1675, so it was certainly a daughter of John1 and Ann (Spicer) Lake who “fetcht” the cows of Obadiah Wilkins. Who else would have had the opportunity and the motivation to prevent Obadiah’s cows from causing more damage other than his wife Martha?
In 1682, as detailed above, Obadiah Wilkins added a codicil to his will in which he “appointed these my friends whom I repose confidence in namely Samuel Spicer William Williamson William Golding and John Tilton junr . . .” to watch over his children. Samuel Spicer was a brother of Ann (Spicer) Lake; William Goulding was the husband of the Margaret-2 Lake (John-1); and John Tilton Jr. was the brother-in-law of Samuel Spicer. If Martha was the daughter of John-1 and Ann (Spicer) Lake, then Obadiah’s friends Spicer and Goulding were also the uncle and brother-in-law of young widow Martha.
In 1683, Martha Wilkins resided next to John Lake Jr. and two doors away from John Lake Sr.[ ] and, as shown above, the household of John Griggs Jr. was listed as two doors away from that of Ann Lake in the 1698 census. On 25 May 1700, “J. Griggs” shared lots 38 and 39 on Hugh Garretson’s Neck or Gelder Neck with John Lake.[ ]
Despite Stillwell’s other errors, it is logical to conclude that “Metje Leeck” survived to marry both Obadiah Wilkins and John Griggs. Like John-1 Griggs, Martha’s father, John1 Lake, was not one of the original settlers of Gravesend and—despite claims to the contrary—his origins remain unknown. However, the descendants of Martha (Lake) (Wilkins) Griggs can claim a line of descent from an original Gravesend patentee—Martha’s maternal grandfather was Thomas-1 Spicer.
Arent Van Curler had obtained a patent for one of the plains on Long Island and in the present town of Flatlands . . . he leased the whole to Thomas Spicer. Here Spicer lived when the committee of settlers of the future town of Gravesend were looking for a site and here they met and decided on the location.[ ]
Martha may have been named in honor of Thomas Spicer’s mother, Martha (Grant) Spicer,[ ] or an intermediary namesake descendant. In his will of 29 September 1658, Thomas Spicer left “to [his daughter] Ann Lake, wife of John Lake, 60 gilders [sic] for the benefit of her three children,”[ ] one of whom would have been Martha.
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