Everett is also spelled Everetm Everette, Everit, and Everitt.
Estate inventories give us a glance into the home life of Colonial Americans.
Early European settlers in the American colonies were mostly farmers and craftsmen. They had to work hard to provide daily neccesities for themselves.
Nicholas was born about 1652. He may have been the son of Richard Everett. He was a yeoman.
Nicholas was granted a home lot in 1670 in Jamaica, Queens County. New York.
In a town meeting on May 14, 1671 it was
voted that Nichlas Everit should beat the drum to give the town warning to come to the meeting on the Sabath. He shall have 20 shillings.
He married about 1672. His wife was named Elizabeth.
Elizabeth and Nicholas' children included:
Richard Everett,
Mary Everett Wheeler (1678, married James Wheeler),
John Everett (1680, married Hannah Wright),
Nicholas Everett (1684),
Joseph Everett (1686),
Samuel Everett (1687),
Priscilla Everett Smith (1691, married Nehemiah Smith),
Hannah Everett (1695),
Rachel Everett (1695), and
Patience Everett Ludlum (1697, married William Ludlum).
In a town meeting on February 21, 1679 for the division of Little Plains, Nicholas received the northwest quarter.
In a town meeting on February 21, 1679 he was elected a Justice.
He died on September 30, 1723 and was buried in the Prospect Cemetery, Jamaica, New York.
In his will he left property that he owned in Hopewell, Hunterdon County New Jersey to his sons, Samuel and John, who were then living on that land. Henry Oxley inventoried his estate.
Hunterdon County was originally part of Burlington County, West Jersey. It was set off from Burlington County on March 11, 1714. It included Amwell, Hopewell, and Maidenhead Townships.
Queens County, New York is on Long Island. Jamaica was called Rustdorp by the Dutch. It was originally settled by English settlers from neighboring Hempstead. Hempstead was founded in 1644 by emigrants led by Reverend Richard Denton. Jamaica and Hempstead are now in Nassau County.
New Jersey's first permanent European settlement was in 1660.
It was common for bequests to include wearing apparel.
The Bergen Family; Or: The Descendants of Hans Hansen Bergen by Teunis G. Bergen
A Nicholas Everit was granted a home lot in Jamaica, in 1670.
A yeoman was a man who owned and cultivated a small farm. He belonged to the class below the gentry or land owners. A husbandman was a free tenant farmer. The social status of a husbandman was below that of a yeoman.
American colonists continued to use British monetary units, namely the pound, shilling and pence for which £1 (orli) equalled 20s and 1s equalled 12d. In 1792 the dollar was established as the basic unit of currency.
Abstracts of Wills on File in the Surrogate's Office;
City of New York Volume II, 1708-1728,
page 234
In the Name of God, Amen. June 5,1723, I Nicholas Everitt of Jamaica, in Queens County, being somewhat indisposed of body, but of good and perfect mind, for which I bless God.
I leave to my Wife Elizabeth, my dwelling house, garden, and one third of my orchard where I now live, so long as she remain my widow. But if my wife shall be evicted or turned out of the same while she is my widow, I order that my two sons Nicholas and Joseph shall build for her a house convenient, on the front of the land I bought of Nathaniel Denton, adjoining unto my homestead, and after the death of my wife, it is to go to my son Joseph, and he is to pay to his brother Nicholas one half the cost.
I leave my oldest son Richard, all the rest of my homestead, which is bounded North by the Parsonage land, West by Robert Denton, East by land I bought of Nathaniel Denton, and my dwelling house after my wife's deceased. Also a small lot of Fresh meadow in the furthermost neck adjoining to the meadow of Richard Everitt deceased.
I leave to my son Nicholas, a lot of land which lyes adjoining to his homestead, and a lot of meadow in the Old Town Neck, and 2/3 of my land on the hills, partly in Jamaica and partly in Flushing, with appurtenances. And he is to pay my daughters, Mary Wheeler, Priscilla Smith, and Patience Ludlam £60 each.
I leave my two sons Samuel and John both of Hopewell, New Jersey, all of my lands and tenements in Hopewell.
I leave to my son Joseph all that lot of land I bought of Nathaniel Denton, adjoining to my homestead, and one third of my land on the Hills aforesaid, and also a lot of meadow in the further East neck, joing to the meadow of Hope Mills, and he is to pay to my daughter Patience Ludlam, £20, and my daughter Hannah Everitt £50, and my daughter Rachel £30.
My personal estate is to be sold and the money to be divided amoung my children.
I leave to my son Nicholas my Great Bible.
My son Joseph is to have⅓ of my personal estate.
I leave my daughter Rachel £70 (70 British Pounds).
I make my wife and my son Nicholas and my son in law, Nathaniel Smith, executors, and my friend, Joseph Smith overseer.
Witnesses; J. N. Soolinger, Daniel Pontion, Nathaniel Denton, Arthur Smith.
Proved May 26 1724.
Hopewell is currently in Mercer (formerly Hunterdon) County, New Jersey. Mercer County was formed in 1838 from portions of other counties including Hunterdon. Early settlers found that their deeds were worthless and they were forced to repurchase their land or relocate. On April 23, 1715 the settlers who stayed organized Hopewell Baptist Church.
Eastern Long Island was settled at Southold by English Puritans on October 21, 1640. Western Long Island was Dutch. The Conklins and other related families owned the entire area in the 17th century. The Dutch granted an English settlement in Hempstead (now in Nassau) in 1644. In 1664, the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam became English and was renamed New York.
Documents Relating to the State of New Jersey
1727 May 9. Everitt, Everet, Nicholas, of Hopewell, Hunterdon Co., yeoman. Inventory of the personal estate of, £74.3.10; made by Sam'l Green and Henry Oxley.
A Puritan was a member of the religious group in the 16th and 17th centuries that advocated "purity" of worship and doctrine who believed in personal and group piety. Puritans were persecuted in England and came to America so they would be free to practice their religion.
from Robert Coe, Puritan: His Ancestors and Descendants, 1340-1910
by Joseph Gardner Bartlett
Benjamin Coe (Benjamin2 (4), Robert1), born at Jamaica, Long Island, about 1660, is evidently the one male over age listed in the family of Benjamins Coe in the tax rate for Jamaica in 1683, and as eldest son was heir to his father's estates. But little information of him has been found. On May 19, 1699, he bought of Benjamin Thurston a lot of land in Jamaica. He died about 1707, certainly before Feb. 4, 1708-9, on which date "Widow Coe" appears on a rate for Jamaica, being taxed 8 sh. 6 d. 3 q. 1 w. (Hist, of Presb. Church in Jamaica, p. 243); and the inventory of his estate amounting to £84-6-6, was presented Mar. 28, 1710. (Authority, Ernest E. Coe, Esq., No. 509.)
The following deed helps to establish his heirs:
On June 19, 1723, Benjamin Coe of Jamaica, heire of Benjamin Coe late of Jamaica, deceased, and Hannah Coe of same, wife of Daniel Coe deceased and executor of her husband for his heir, divided land laid out to their father and land purchased of George Woolsey and land bought of Benjamin Thurston; said Benjamin to have the west half and said Hannah for the heir of said Daniel to have the east half. Witnesses: Elizabeth Coe, Sam. Higbee. (Records of Jamaica, vol. 3, p. 235.)
Benjamin Coe was certainly married twice. The name of his first wife, whom he married about 1684, is unknown; but it seems very likely that she may have been a daughter of Maj. Daniel Whitehead by his first wife Abigail Stevenson.
He married second about 1700, Mary Everett, born about 1679, daughter of Nicholas Everett of Jamaica; she married second, Dea. James Wheeler and removed to Newark, N. J., where she died Jan. 1, 1763, aged 84. She is mentioned as "my daughter Mary Wheeler" in the will of her father Nicholas Everett dated June 5, 1723. (Wills in Surrogate's Registry, New York City, vol. 10, p. 234.)
The Dutch were the first Europeans claim land in New Jersey. The region became a territory of England in 1664 when an English fleet sailed into New York Harbor and took control of Fort Amsterdam.
