John & Dorothy Bill, my 9th great grandparents, were the earliest members of the Bill family in America and were first recorded in Boston in 1638. However, it is thought that they actually arrived from England with their 3 oldest sons prior to 1635. Unfortunately, John died in 1638, leaving Dorothy a widow. About that same time a man named Richard Tuttle also arrived in Boston having brought the 2 youngest Bill children with him from England aboard the ship Planter. It is believed that Richard Tuttle was Dorothy’s brother as he became responsible for the Bill family.
Our ancestor, Philip Bill, was the third son of John & Dorothy and by 1668 Philip was living in New London and Groton, Connecticut where land deeds show that he owned real estate. In the summer of 1689, an epidemic claimed the life of Philip and one of his daughters on the same day leaving behind his widow, Hannah Bill, and several children.
Samuel Bill, the second son of Philip Bill was born about 1665 near Boston, and came to Groton (then part of New London) with his parents in 1669. He married Mercy Haughton, daughter of Richard Haughton.
Our family then descends through four more generations of the Bill line, all with men named Samuel Bill. Many accountings of the Bill family at this point only have 3 successive generations of Samuel Bill’s. But when I found one that showed 4 generations of Samuel Bill – the puzzle pieces finally fell into place for our Bill line which had eluded me for many years. It can be very hard to separate the generations in historical accounts of the time. To explain, I will flip to where I was struggling to make our Bill connection.
Elisabeth Bill married Nathaniel Dickinson in 1778 in New London [for more on Nathaniel Dickinson, see the blog Aboard a Prison Ship in the Revolution posted on 27 June 2020]. Their son, David Bill Dickinson was my 3rd great grandfather and a mariner who enjoyed an illustrious career at sea [for more on David Bill Dickinson, see the blog A Career with the Midas of Baltimore posted on 17 October 2020]. Nathaniel died when David Bill Dickinson was only 10 years old. David Bill Dickinson wrote several letters that have survived and they reveal small details and information about his family.
In David Bill Dickinson’s writings, he states that he had an uncle named David Bill that was “the Son of Samuel Bill of New London [and] was I believe a Lieutenant on board of the Frigate Trumbull of 36 guns Commanded by Capt Samuel Nicholson, in his action with the British Ship Watt, in which action the said Bill was killed.” This tells me that David Bill was a brother of his mother, Elisabeth Bill; and that the father of both David and Elisabeth was Samuel Bill. It is known that the Trumball/Watt battle took place in June of 1780, thus David Bill died in June of 1780. I have also found several references to verify that fact.
Another clue provided in David Bill Dickinson’s letters was several references to “My Uncle Jonathan Brooks” (referring to Jonathan Brooks Jr) and even a letter written in 1835 from Jonathan Jr to David Bill Dickinson. Brooks’ letter also notes that David Bill was an uncle of David Bill Dickinson and “from whom he was named David Bill". Comparing information in David Bill Dickinson’s writings with early New London marriage and baptism records helped me to piece together the Bill line for his mother, Elisabeth Bill Dickinson.
I started with the fact that both David Bill and Jonathan Brooks Jr were uncles of our David Bill Dickinson. Church records show that Jonathan Brooks Sr was married to Mercy Bill of New London in 1766. And a Brooks Family lineage book tells us that Jonathan married “Mercy Bill, daughter of James Chapman of New London, Dec 3, 1766.” A search of New London church records also documents that “Mercy Chapman of New London, married Samuel Bill on Nov 8, 1759”.
The scenario was that Mercy Chapman married 1st Samuel Bill in 1759 and had David and our Elisabeth. Mercy’s husband, Samuel Bill died young as Mercy Chapman Bill later married Jonathan Brooks Sr in December of 1766. Mercy had at least 5 more children with Jonathan, including Jonathan Brooks Jr. Thus, both David Bill (Elisabeth’s brother) and Jonathan Brooks Jr (Elisabeth’s half-brother) were children of Mercy – and uncles of my David Bill Dickinson, the son of Elisabeth Bill Dickinson.
As for the Samuel Bill that was Mercy’s 1st husband, church records show that Samuel Bill Jr & Martha Wheeler had a son named Samuel Bill born on April 12, 1739. I believe that this Samuel Bill was the 1st husband of Mercy Chapman. They both would have been about 20 years old when they married. This Samuel Bill would have died young, before he was 27 years old, leaving his widow, Mercy, and children, David and Elisabeth. Mercy next married Jonathan Brooks Sr in 1766.
I first backed into figuring out the relationship between Elizabeth Bill Dickinson and the Brooks family with the “my uncle” references in David Bill Dickinson’s letters. More recently, I have found confirmation for my conclusions in the Will and Probate paperwork for the Estate of James Chapman (1709-1784), the father of Mercy Chapman.
In his Will, James Chapman left his estate to his children which included Mercy. The estate probate paperwork wasn’t finalized until 1812, and by that time Mercy had died. According to the final Court of Probate settlement, Mercy’s share of James Chapman’s estate was left to her remaining children: Nathan Brooks, Jonathan Brooks [Jr] and Elizabeth Dickinson. For more on the Chapman family, see my most recent blog post, James Chapman of New London.
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Key Individuals:
1 John Bill (? –
1638) m. Dorothy Tuttle (1592 – ?)
2 Philip Bill (1620 – 1689) m. Hannah Waite
(1624 – 1709)
3 Samuel Bill (1665 – 1729) m. Mercy
Haughton (1655 – ~1693)
4 Samuel Bill (~1690 – 1753) m. Hannah
? (~1692 – 1740)
5 Samuel Bill Jr (~1715 – 1779) m.
Martha Wheeler (1717 – 1785)
6 Samuel Bill (1739 – bef.1766)
m. Mercy Chapman (1738 – 1806) & then
Mercy Chapman Bill
(1738—1806) m. Jonathan Brooks (1735 – 1807)
7 Elisabeth Bill (~1760 –
~1818) m. Nathaniel Dickinson (1749 – 1797)
8 David Bill Dickinson
(1787 – 1846) m. Mary B Rogers (1790-1875)
Notes:
1) Most of the information on the early Bill family comes from the book titled the History of the Bill Family by Ledyard Bill, first published in 1867.
2) There
are at least two other documented references that I found for Elisabeth’s
brother, David Bill, and his death aboard the Trumbull in June of 1780. It
was noted that David died instantly when he was hit in the head by langrage
which is scrap iron shot into the ships’ sails to shred them in battle. It is also noted in one historical accounting
of the Trumbull’s engagement with the
Watt that David Bill was a cousin of
Gurdon Bill (1757-1815), a Captain of Marines.
3) The youngest child of my 4th great grandparents, Nathaniel Dickinson and Elisabeth Bill Dickinson, was born in 1797 and named Sally Brooks Dickinson, indicating yet another tie to the Brooks family. I suspect that Sally was named after Elisabeth’s younger sister, Sarah/Sally Brooks (1771 – 1787) who was only 15 years old when she was struck by lightning and died. During a storm in 1787, lightning struck the chimney of the Brooks home and jumped to Sally. Several other members of the family were in the home at the time, but not hurt.
– Jane Scribner McCrary
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