Jeremiah Conkling

  General Notes:

# Baptism: FEB 1634 Old Swinford, England
# Event: LAND 1 DEC 1670 East Hampton, Suffolk Co, Long Island, New York
# Note: Jeremiah Conkling, John Mulford and Thomas Ames bought, December 1, 1670, the tract of land between Fort Pond and Great Pond called "the nine score acre purchase."
# Event: Bio-sketch
# Note:

Rich Houghton posted the following bio of Jeremiah in the Conklin GenForum:
Jeremiah Conkling (Ananias-1) was born on 30 August 1635, probably in either King's Swinford, Staffordshire, England, or in Salem, Essex County, Massachusetts. He was the son of Ananias Conkling and Mary Launder.
He accompanied his father when the latter moved from Massachusetts to East Hampton, Suffolk County, New York, in 1650. The first mention of him is in a deposition dated 16 November 1655, when he testified that he had been at Gardiner's Island the past winter, "coming away the 17th of March."
Jeremiah's father died in 1657, and he was appointed administrator of the estate on 27 November of that year. That same day he entered into the following agreement regarding the upbringing of his sister Hester:
" Agreement made the 27th day of November, 1657, between Thomas Baker, Mr. John Mulford and John Hand, with the consent of the church, the one party, and Jeremyar Conklin, the administrator of Ananias Concklin, deceased, the other party, in the behalf of Hester Concklin, the daughter of the said Ananias, deceased, as followeth: That is to say that he the said Jeremyar Concklin should have £10 out of her portion [of the estate], being £30, she being young, for bringing up the said Hester one year and an half, and the rest of her portion to be four cows, and being put out to the halves, he to have the increase in case they did stand, and if they did not, then to allow that which is reasonable out of the principle for her bringing up till she were eighteen years old."
Around 1658, he married MARY-2 GARDINER (No. 130:3:1137), daughter of Lion Gardiner and Mary Deriksdochter Duercant. Mary was born on 30 August 1638, at the fort at Saybrook, Middlesex County, Connecticut. Jeremiah likely met her on one of his visits to Gardiner's Island, which her father Lion owned. They had at least six children:
i Mary b. 1658 m. Thomas Mulford
ii Jeremiah b. 1661 m. Jane Parsons
iii Cornelius b. 1664 m. Mary Dayton
iv David b. 1667 m. Mary Mulford/Mary Filer
v Lewis b. 1672 m. Mary Bishop
+ vi Ananias b. 1672 m. Martha Stratton
Lion erected a house for the newlyweds on a lot he owned in East Hampton, and the couple moved in and began raising a family.
Jeremiah was a prominent citizen in town and church affairs. When the inhabitants of the town sought to secure the legality of their land grants by receiving a regrant as patent holders on 13 March 1666 from the Duke of York, who legally held title to most of the colony, Jeremiah was one of the seven patentees. He was also one of the town's twelve Trustees.
He owned a substantial amount of property in East Hampton, and gave some of it to his children during his lifetime. In 1675, the town had fifty-three taxpayers; Jeremiah's lands were appraised at £193.10.00. On 8 September 1683, his property was rated by the town as: "Heads 3, land 28, oxen 4, cattle 31, horses 2, swine 4, sheep 35, estate £247.03.04." This made him one of the top ten wealthiest men in the town.
In addition to running his lands, Jeremiah "sweaped ye meeting hous" yearly, for a period of nearly thirty years, for which the town paid him £1.07.06 a year. This was not an uncommon practice in the Colonies at this time. He also had an arragement with the local Indians concerning whaling, which he renewed on 18 December 1669.
On 30 May 1672, Jeremiah and some others acquired a large tract of land at Meantacut. This caused some jealousy and resentment among the other proprietors, and they gave it up in exchange for lands at a place called Acabonack. On 13 June 1672, the town voted to join the towns of Southold and Southampton in sending a petition to the King asking to be placed under the jurisidiction of Connecticut as they had previously been in the early 1650's.
In 1686, Jeremiah got into some trouble with the colonial authorities. In July of that year, ten new inhabitants complained to Gov. Dongan that the town would not lay out land for them even though they had been paying taxes for four years. The Governor ordered that thirty acres be distributed to each of the individuals. On 6 October 1686, the town voted to object to the decision and sent a sharply-worded protest back to Dongan, which Jeremiah signed.
The wording of the protest must have somehow called into question the Governor's character, because the latter deemed it libelous and issued warrants for the signatories' arrest and removal to New York City. It is assumed that they were tried and found guilty, since on 9 December 1686 they petitioned for a remittance of the fines levied against them. Some later commentators have noted that the whole episode was probably conncocted by the Governor in order to force land concessions out of the town favorable to himself.
Jeremiah's name appears several times in the town records in the last years of his life. In 1687, he was elected Supervisor. In 1684, he was made a permanent member of the grand jury. Shortly after 1690, he was one of the first settlers of nearby Amagansett, Long Island; the house he built there was still standing in the early 1900's. On 16 April 1697, he divided much of his East Hampton land between his son Cornelius and his son-in-law Thomas Mulford. The last record entry for him is dated in 1699, when he declined to serve as Constable.
Jeremiah died at about 9:00 pm on Wednesday, 4 March 1712/3, in East Hampton. According to church records, he was eighty years old. His grave stone in the Old South End Cemetery reads:
Here Lyeth the Body
of Mr Jeremiah Conkling
who dyed Mar ye 14th 1711/12
in the 80th Year of his Age
On 8 October 1714, a year after the death of her husband, Mary signed a deed confirming the last will and testament of her husband and settling on her sons all of the lands and privileges within the bounds of East Hampton, formerly belonging to her late father Lion. The deed notes that her husband's will was dated 3 November 1703, but no trace of it has been found. It was probably among the East Hampton records for this year that were destroyed by a fire.
She died on Thursday, 15 June 1727, at East Hampton. According to church records, she died at 3:00 a.m., and was eighty-nine years old. She is buried in the Old South Burial Ground, East Hampton; her tombstone reads:
Here Lyeth Mrs Mary Conkling
wife of Mr Jeremiah Conkling
who died June ye 15, 1727 aged 89 years

Jeremiah married Mary Gardiner, daughter of Lion Gardiner and Merichgen Dirksdr Deurcant, about 1657. (Mary Gardiner was born about 1637 in Fort at Old Saybrook, Middlesex Co, Connecticut and died on 15 Jun 1726 ¹.)