Jeremiah Vail II

Citations

1. [S185] Edward Doubleday Harris, Ancient Long Island Epitaphs from the Towns of Southold, Shelter Island & Easthampton, New York, page 39.
2. [S30] New York Historical Society, Collections of the New York Historical Society Abstract of Wills, Volume 26: page 376.
3. [S181] William Salmon, The Salmon Records, a Private Registar of Marriages & Deaths of the Residents of the Town of Southold, Suffolk County, N.Y., and of persons more or less closely associated with that place, 1696-1811., page 20.
4. [S464] Henry Hobart Vail, Genealogy of some of the Vail family descended from Jeremiah Vail at Salem, Mass., 1639, pages 31-34 - JEREMIAH [Jeremiah 1], baptized at Salem, Mass., 30 Dee., 1649. Name of first wife unknown. He married 2d, widow Anne Moore in 1691; d. Nov. 28, 1726. She d. 23 Dec., 1726.
   
   Like his father, Jeremiah Vail= was a blacksmith. During his father's life the son's name appears in the records of deeds as "Junior." On July 2, 1670, the town of Easthampton granted him by name a considerable amount of land on condition that he would settle there and serve the townspeople as blacksmith. He was then twenty-one years of age. The invitation was doubt-less declined, since the same town, on May 11, 1671, made a similar proposal to Thomas Smith.
   The original home of this second Jeremiah Vail was the eastern half of the lot originally assigned to Lieutenant John Budd. This was sold to "Jeremiah Vail, Junior, blacksmith," by John Budd, Jr., on the 28th of April, 1679.1
   This was before the days of speculation in town lots, and the purchase was made for the establishment of a home. This must be after the date of his first marriage, since single men were not then allowed to keep house. His children were probably born there, and his first wife died there. On May 16, 1690, Benjamin Moore, his nearest neighbor on the east, died, and the following year the widower Jeremiah Vail married Anne, the widow of Benjamin Moore. In the settlement of Benjamin Moore's estate Jeremiah Vail and his wife Anne, "late widow and relict of deceased," were appointed administrators: Upon a bond dated January 25, 1691/2, to Thomas and Nathaniel Moore, there is a later memorandum that Jeremiah Vail was son-in-law of Thomas Moore. This must be erroneous unless his first wife was Thomas Moore's daughter. He was brother-in-law of Nathaniel Moore, and was named one of his executors in his wilL3
   In 1683, when his father's estate was valued at £74, Jeremiah Vail, Jr., had to pay taxes on £103. According to the town records, he was one of the latest of the settlers who obtained, by action of the town, full rights in the commonage. This was granted him April 3, 1684, as a "first lot of commonage." A "first lot" was fifty acres of ground. The entry of his land in Liber C, Southold Records, p. 102, describes his house-lot in Southold as bounded on the east by the land of Benjamin Moore, and embraces six other parcels and rights amounting to about seventy-five acres. On March 10, 1687, he purchased the Point Farm from Giles Sylvester. This is the most northeastern end of Long Is-land. He lived there until, his death, November 2S, 1726.1 The farm was occupied by his family for four generations until about 1798.
   He was a noted fox-bunter, and it is reported that he killed sixty-eight foxes. in the year 1700. Some of the later generations may trace their sporting tendencies to this fox-hunting ancestor.
   In the list of all the inhabitants of Southold in the year 1698, taken by order of the Earl of Bellomont, his family is named as follows: Jeremiah Veale, Anne Veale, Thomas Veale, Jeremiah Veale, Junr., Mary Veale. He is not responsible for this spelling of the family name, as may be seen from a facsimile of his signature.
   His will, dated January 2, 1722/3 and probated January 31 "in the thirteenth year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord King George," was printed in full by Mr. Alfred Vail. In this will he names his wife Anna Vail and gives to her her lawful portion of his estate. To his second son Thomas he gave all his houses and lands in Southold, "provided he shall pay out of my estate unto my eldest son Jeremiah Vaill" the sum of £20, and in case of the refusal of Thomas to pay this amount, Jeremiah Vail was to have twenty acres of the point lying next to Plum Gut. He divided his other goods and chattels equally among his four children, Jeremiah Vail, Thomas Vail, Mary Goldsmith, and Martha Horton. The executors were his son Thomas Vail and his son-in-law John Goldsmith.=
   His time-worn gravestone near Orient is a thick, low, blue slab, bearing a cherub's head with wings and the inscription, "Here Lyes Ye Body J of Mr. Jeremiah Vail, I Aged 77 years Decd Novr r 28th 1726."
   His widow survived him less than a month, and died December 23, 1726. Children: T$omas, m. Elizabeth Constable, who d. 19 Mob., 1741. He d. 5 Aug., 1741; MARY, in. John Goldsmith, b. 17 Feb., 1680/1, and d. 1 Mch.,1725, son of John Goldsmith and Prudence. Wines. His widow survived him and was named in his will; iv MARTHA, m., in 1707, Capt. Ephraim Horton, b. in 1686, son of Joshua and Mary Horton. He d. 9 Jan., 1733.
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   1 Now occupied by Samuel L. Beckwith. 2 Early Long Island Wills, p.17. 3 Early Long Island Wills, p. 159. 31
   i Southold Records, I., 435.     2 Record of Wills, X., 296.
5. [S344] Josephine C Frost, Ancestors of James Wickham and his Wife Cora Prudence Billard, page 131 - 2.     JEREMIAH VAIL, son of Jeremiah and Catherine Vail, was baptized in Salem, Mass., December 30, 1649. Whom his first wife was has not been found but she was the mother of his children. The date of her death has not been found but he married second in 1691, Anna, widow of Benjamin Moore, and daughter of James Hampton of Southampton. She died December 23, 1726. His grave stone is at Orient, on which it states that he died November 28, 1726, aged 77 years.
   Jeremiah Vail was a blacksmith and resided with his father for some time but on April 28, 1679, he purchased of John Budd, Jr., as "Jeremiah Vaile, Jr., of Southold, blacksmith," one-half of Budd's home lot, which Budd states "was sometime in the possession of my father," consisting of eight acres, and he had for neighbor on the east Benjamin Moore, whose widow he married.
   On May 2, 1679, he sold eighteen acres, which had been his father's, located on Hallock's Neck.
   In 1687 he purchased of Gyles Sylvester the Oyster Pond Point Farm and that is where he died.
   Jeremiah Vail, Jr., made his will in Southold, L. I., January 2, 1722/23, which was proven January 31, 1726/27, in which he names his wife Anna, giving her "that part of my estate as the Law allows her." Son Thomas is to have all his property in Southold but Thomas must give his eldest son Jeremiah twenty pounds; if he refuses, Jeremiah is to have 20 acres of land on "the point of my land lying next to Plum Gut." He gives all his "chattels and goods" to his four children, Jeremiah, Thomas, Mary Goldsmith, Martha Horton. Issue : Jeremiah, Thomas, Mary, Martha.
   3.     MARY VAIL, daughter of Jeremiah Vail, Jr., married before August 31, 1702, John Goldsmith, born February 17, 1680/81, died March 1, 1724/25. She died August 5, 1738.
   References : Vail Genealogy, pp. 17, 29, 31, 33, 34; Town Records, Southold, Vol. 1, pp. 99, 100, 465 ; New York Wills (pub.), Vol. 2, p. 376 ; New York Record, Vol. 47, pp. 349, 358; Vol. 48, p. 25 ; Town Records, Southold, Vol. 2, p. 389.
   
   
   
6. [S342] Wayland Jefferson, Southold Town, Suffolk County, Long Island, New York, page 34 - Jeremiah Vail-2 m. 1st -, 2nd Widow Ann Moore. Issue all by 1st wife: Jeremiah-3, Thomas-3, Mary-3 and Martha-3.
7. [S187] Indexed by Rosanne Conway Edmund Bailey O'Callaghan, Lists of Inhabitants of Colonial New York: Excerpted from the Documentary History of the State of New York, page 51 - Southold Town Census.
8. [S2257] Edward Doubleday Harris, Ancient Burial-Grounds of Long Island, N. Y, Page 169.