Josiah WITTER [2264] ^{1 2 3 4}

  Noted events in his life were:

• Residence, 1638, Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. ⁴ and Stonington, New London County, Connecticut, America

• Residence, 15 Aug 1667, Stonington, New London County, Connecticut, United States. ⁶ at a town meeting, "it was voted that Goodman Witter shall have four score acres of land where it may be found and to take it according to order." He build a house near that of his father-in-law, Thomas Wheeler.

• Residence, 12 Apr 1670, Stonington, New London County, Connecticut, United States. ⁶ Thomas Park of New London, sold to "Josiah Witter of Stonington" one hundred acres of land which had been granted to the said Park by the town of Stonington. It is said that Josiah Witter's first house in Stonington was a little north of the modern day residence of Colonel James Brown.

• Biography, 1629. ⁶ "He removed to Stonington, New London County, Connecticut, before February 26, 1666, as on that date Thomas Minor, of Stonington,wrote in his diary: 'The Twelfth moneth is februarie & hath 28 days . . . saterday the 16. I begun the reek Witer brought the canoow; . . ."

• Biography, 1929. ¹ SECOND GENERATION - JOSIAH WITTER (William¹) was probably born at Swampscott, near Lynn, Massachusetts, where his birth is recorded, in 1638. (The old Witter Genealogy says he came from England.) He was living there in 1661, when he married his first wife, Elizabeth Wheeler, the daughter of Thomas and Mary Wheeler. It is also said they married February 25, 1662. She was born in 1648, at Lynn. He removed to Stonington, New London County, Connecticut, before February 26, 1666, as on tht date Thomas Minor, of Stonington, wrote in his diary: "The Twelfth moneth is februarie & hath 28 days . . . . saterday the 16. I began the reek Witer brought the canoow; . . . " On August 15, 1667, at a town meeting at Stonington, "it was voted that Goodman Witter shall have four score acres of land where it may be found and to take it according to order." He built a house near that of this father-in-law, Thomas Wheeler.
The name of Josiah Witter appears in a list of inhabitants of Stonington, on December 29, 1670, and in the town records, later than the foregoing entry, but without date, he is noted among the Freemen of Stonington.
On April 12, 1670, Thomas Park of New London, sold to "Josiah Witter of Stonington" one hundred acres of land which had been granted to the said Park by the town of Stonington. It is said that Josiah Witter's first house in Stonington was a little north of the modern residence of Colonel James Brown.
An item from the curious old journal of Thomas Minor, above quoted, suggests the perils of those far-off Colony days, when savages lurked in the forests and it was dangerous to stray far from one's home save as one of a party well armed. "1671 The Seventh moneth is September and hath 30 days . . . Tuesday the 10 good-wife witer was Lost." Where shock resulting from this incident hastened the death of Elizabeth (Wheeler) Witter, we do not know, but she died on August 5, 1672, and was buried two days later. Thomas Minor writes in his diary: "1671 The sixth moneth is Agust and hath 31 days . . . the 7^th. Day wensday Elizabeth Witter was buried"
Josiah Witter married, as his second wife, Sarah, daughter of Reverend John Crandall. Her father was living in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1635, and is believed to have been of Welsh ancestry. He was one of the original purchasers of the land comprising Westerly, Rhode Island, from which Hopkinton was later formed. The townships of Westerly, Hopkinton, Charlestown, and Richmond, as they now are, were a tract called by the Indian "Misquarnictu," and on August 27, 1661, John Crandall was one of the nine signers of a petition to the Curt of Commissioners for the Colony of Providence Plantations, in session at Portsmouth, for the purchase of that part of the tract which became Westerly. He was the first Baptist Elder at Westerly an held a number of public offices at various times, being a Commissioner and Deputy to the General Court in 1667, 1670 and 1671, representing Westerly in the two later terms. Prior to his settlement at Westerly he had lived at Newport, coming there probably soon after his apprehension by Massachusetts officers, in 1651, when he held a religious meeting at the house of William Witter, at Swampscott, for which he was imprisoned for a time at Boston.

Josiah married Elizabeth WHEELER [2269] [MRIN: 760], daughter of Thomas WHEELER [2270] and Mary [2271], on 25 Feb 1662 in Swampscott, , Massachusetts, United States.¹ (Elizabeth WHEELER [2269] was born in 1648 in Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, United States,¹ died on 5 Aug 1672 in Stonington, New London County, Connecticut, United States ¹ and was buried on 7 Aug 1672 ¹.)

  Noted events in their marriage were:

• Alt. Marriage, 1661. ¹

Josiah next married Sarah CRANDALL [2275] [MRIN: 761], daughter of Reverend John CRANDALL [2276] and Unknown.