Stephen Tracy

Notes:

Stephen Tracy arrived in the Plymouth Colony just three years after the Mayflower, in 1623, aboard the "Anne". He is likely the Stephen Trace baptized 28 December 1596 at Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England, son of Stephen and Agnes/Anne (Erdley) Tracy.
He was one of the Separatists who had migrated to Holland to escape the persecution of the Puritans. It was there that he married his wife, Tryphosa Lee, on January 2, 1621. This is how their marriage record reads:


Leiden, Netherlands, January 2, 1621: "Steven Treas, sayworker, bachelor from England, accompanied by Anthony Clements his acquaintance, to Tryfoce Le, spinster, also from England, accompanied by Rose Jennings, her acquaintance."


They had their first child, Sarah, who was to become the next in my direct line, in Leiden, Holland in probably late 1621 or in 1622. Tryphosa then became pregnant again. At this juncture, the young couple makes a decision that must have been very difficult to make. Stephen is to come to Plymouth by himself (although he may have brought Sarah with him) leaving the pregnant Tryphosa to have her baby without him and come later.
Stephen arrived in the Plymouth Colony on July 10, 1623 and was given three acres of land when the land first was first available for private ownership. This means that two other people should have been with him, as the deal was an acre per person. The identity of those two people is unknown, but one might have been Sarah.

At any rate, Tryphosa, Jane (the second child), and possibly Sarah, if she didn't arrive with her dad, followed in 1625 on the "Jacob."

He settled in Duxbury, a settlement near Plymouth. Later, Ralph Partridge and George Partridge, other ancestors of mine, were to become his neighbors.

He is included in the records of the Plymouth colony as: Freeman: In "1633" Plymouth list of freemen, before those admitted on 1 January 1632/33; in list of freemen of 7 March 1636/7. In Duxbury section of 1639 Plymouth Colony list of freemen (with his name lined through).

Offices he held were:

Duxbury representative on committee to lay out highways, 1 Oct 1634
Plymouth colony committee to assess taxes, 3 March 1634/5, 1 March 1635/6
Coroner's jury, 2 March 1635/6
Duxbury representative to committee on the "nearer uniting of Plymouth & those on Duxburrough side," 14 March 1635/6
grand jury, 7 March 1636/7, 2 June 1640
committee to apportion hay grounds, 20 March 1636/7
Duxbury constable, 5 March 1638/9, 4 June 1639
Arbiter, 7 September 1642.
In respect to his name in connection with property records:
In 1623 Plymouth land division, granted three acres as passenger on Anne
In 1627 Plymouth cattle division, "Stephen Tracie, Triphosa Tracie, Sarah Tracie, Rebecka Tracie" were the fifth through eighth names in the tenth company.
Assessed 18 s in Plymouth tax lists of 25 march 1633 and 27 march 1634.
He appears to on the list of purchasers. Permitted to mow "within his own ground", 1 July 1633;
Assigned mowing ground, 14 March 1635/6, 20 March 1636/7, granted eighty acres with some meadow additional, at the North River.
Stephen Tracy returned to England, as early as 1643, but at least by 1654. Stephen Tracy is not included in the 1643 list of men able to bear arms, and is not seen in any later Plymouth Colony record. It should be noted that during this period of time Cromwell was rising to power and King Charles was beheaded. Perhaps this change in climate towards a pro-Puritan government beckoned him. Whatever reason beckoned his return to England, his kids were old enough to fend on their own, and decided to stay in the Colony.
On 20 March 1654/5, while in London, Stephen Tracy "at present of Great Yarmouth in old England" made his will, in the form of a power of attorney to John Winslow, disposing to:

son John "what land and houses I have there in Duxburrow" (along with some cattle)
to "my daughter Ruth Tracy one cow an done two year old mare,"
and "what cattle I have more (Marye's two cows being cast in amongst them) to be equally divided among my five children living in New England," noting that some of his children are married with children, and others are unmarried.
He died after 20 March 1654/5, the date of his will. We don't know for sure if his wife, Tryphosa, died in America or England, but speculate she died before Stephen, as she was not mentioned in his will.
His children, according to the Great Migration Begins, were:

1. Sarah, b Leiden about January, 1623; m Plymouth, November 1638, George Partridge
2. Rebecca, b Plymouth say 1625; m 1645 William Merrick
3. Ruth, b say 1628; living unmarried 1655
4. Mary, b say 1630, living perhaps unmarried 1655
5. John, b say 1632, married about 1661 Mary Prence, daughter of Thomas Prence

Stephen married Tryphose Lee on 16 Nov 1638. Tryphose was born in 1599 in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England; died before 1652 in Plymouth, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: George Partridge. George was born about 1615 in England; died in 1695 in Duxbury, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Lydia married Deacon William Brewster on 2 Jan 1672. William (son of Elder Love Brewster and Sarah Collier) was born about 1644 in Duxbury, Plymouth County, Massachusetts; died on 3 Nov 1723 in Duxbury, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

William married Hopestill Wadsworth on 20 May 1708 in Duxbury, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. Hopestill (daughter of John Wadsworth and Abigail Andrews) was born on 16 Mar 1686 in Duxbury, Plymouth County, Massachusetts; died on 25 Mar 1773 in Lebanon, New London County, Connecticut; was buried in Exeter Cemetery, Lebanon, New London County, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Ichabod married Lydia Barstow on 3 Jun 1735 in Scituate, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. Lydia (daughter of Samuel Barstow and Lydia Randall) was born on 23 Apr 1717 in Scituate, Plymouth County, Massachusetts; died on 6 Feb 1815 in Lebanon, New London County, Connecticut; was buried in Exeter Cemetery, Lebanon, New London County, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Huldah married Ozias Coleman on 24 Jun 1760 in Lebanon, New London County, Connecticut. Ozias (son of Noah Coleman and Mercy Wright) was born on 22 Dec 1738 in Colchester, New London County, Connecticut; died on 17 Sep 1819 in Fort Ann, Washington County, New York. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Huldah married Zephaniah Kingsley on 18 Mar 1783 in Fort Ann, Washington County, New York. Zephaniah (son of Jeremiah Kingsley and Hannah Lilly) was born on 7 Oct 1761 in Windham, Windham County, Connecticut; died on 6 Feb 1836 in Pennsylvania. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Jedediah Beckwith. Jedediah (son of Jedediah Beckwith and Eunice Smith) was born on 9 Jan 1784 in Connecticut; died on 12 Aug 1860 in Saratoga, Saratoga County, New York. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]