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Second Generation
2. John Cory Sr.1,2
was born on 12 May 1658 in Portsmouth, Newport Co, RI. He died on
12 May 1712 in North Kingstown, Washington Co, RI (Now Wickford).
He was buried in 1941 in Quidnessett Cemetery, North Kinstown, RI.
Re-burial BIOGRAPHY
On May 7, 1679 on his petition was granted, by assembly, land in East Greenwich
out of shares not taken up. 1686 made a Freeman.
22 March 1686 John of Portsmouth, had 10 acres of land laid out to him in East
Greenwich.
4 April 1705, Bought of Daniel Thurston and wife Mary, of Newport, 90 acres of
land in East Greenwich for 40 pounds.
10 April 1705. He and wife Elizabeth, sold Jonathan Nichols, of Newport 12 acres
for 20 pounds.
16 April 1705 He and Wife Elizabeth, sold to William Brightman, of Newport, 50
acres, for 350 pounds.
4 October 1707 he deeded to son William, for love etc 90 acres, house and meadow,
at East Greenwich. ( Both he and son were of Portsmouth, at this date).
1707 Kings Town Deputy.
1710, his house was built which had a chimney 8 square feet.
12 May 1712. Will-Proved 14 July 1712. Exx. Wife Elizabeth. To Wife, certain
land and all personal. To son John, house and land, he paying certain legacies.
(The rest of will illegible or destroyed.)
26 June 1713 Widow Elizabeth, of Kings Town, sold John Mumford, of Newport, 91
acres in east Greenwich, for 16 pounds.
15 Dec 1713 Son Thomas, with consent of mother Elizabeth, put himself apprentice
to Christopher Lindsey, of Newport, house carpenter, for the term of four years,
eight months and seventeen days.
He lived in Portsmouth and Kingstown, Rhode Island. On 7 May 1679 his petition
was granted by the assembly for land in East Greenwich out of shares that had
not been taken up. He was made a Freeman in 1686 , which seems to indicate that
he might have been an indentured servant or an apprentice. In that year he had
10 acres of land laid out t o him in East Greenwich. (Sources are not clear as
to whether this wa s an affirmation of the 1679 grant or an addition to that
property.) He bought 90 acres of land in East Greenwich for 40 pounds from Daniel
Thurston and wife Mary. On 10 April 1685 he and his wife, Elizabeth, sold Jonathan
Nichols 12 acres for 20 pounds. On 16 April 1705 he and Elizabeth sold 50 acres
for 350 pounds to William Brightman of Newport. On 4 October 1707 he deeded to
his son William, for love etc. 90 acres, a house and meadow at East Greenwich.
(Records indicate that both he and his son were of Portsmouth of this date. This
ma y account for the discrepancy in the listings of his place of death.)
In 1707-1708 he was a Kingstown Deputy.
In his will he left his son, John, the farm on Quonset Peninsula at East Greenwich,
Kent County, Rhode Island, one half mile from Naragansett Bay. That was where
"The Old Corey House" was built (in 1713, one year after John Sr.'s
death). His will was dated 12 May 1712 and proved 14 July 1712. (Other sources
indicate that he might have died 3 1 May 1712 or 1713 in Portsmouth.) He named
his wife, Elizabeth, executrix of his will, an unusual direction to be given
in those days o f male dominance of financial matters. To his Wife he left certain
land and all personal belongings. To his eldest son, John Jr., he left the house
and land, John Jr. to pay certain legacies. The rest of the will was illegible
or destroyed.
He was buried on the family farm, as were his wife and many of his descendants.
However, all of the graves in the family cemeteries on Quonset Peninsula were
moved by the U.S. Navy to Quidnessett Cemetery, Section 29, in North Kingstown
(Wickford) in 1941.
Additions were built to the Corey house between 1730 and 1800. In 1941 when the
U.S. Navy bought all of the land on Quonset Peninsula in order to build a base
where Quonset huts were built. The "newer" vacation cottages on the
peninsula were used as officers' quarters. The farm houses were used to house
laborers or were torn down. The fate o f "The Old Corey House" is unknown
by this researcher. It may have burned down.
John Cory Sr. and Elizabeth (Minnetinka) Gasesett were married in Sep 1678
in Portsmouth, Newport Co, RI. Elizabeth (Minnetinka)
Gasesett1 (daughter of
Chief Gasesett Naragansett Sachem) was born about 1660 in Newport Co, RI.
She died about Dec 1713 in North Kingstown, Washington Co, RI (Now Wickford).
She was buried on 19 Dec 1713 in Quidnessett Cemetery, North Kinstown, RI.
There are questions about the names and spellings of Elizabeth's and her father's
names. The main sources used here refer to the daughter as Elizabeth Gasesett
(others spell it Gassoset or Gassett) and her father as Minnetinka, a Narragansett
Indian sachem. An article in t he April 2000 issue of the "Cory Family Society
Newsletter" quote s a writer named Edwin Frances Corey saying that a newspaper
article which he recalled reading years previously stated that the daughter's
name was "Minnetan koo." A reference found by a descendent of Lillis
Baker Corey, (Richard_Kretsinger@macnexus.org) at another web site followed a
line of Coreys from Robert in England, dated 1554. It ap peared to use "Minnetinka"
as Elizabeth's Indian name and refered to her father as Chief Gasesett. This
web site, however, was no longer valid when tried by this researcher.
Whether Gasesett was the father's name, the adopting parents' name or Elizabeth's
Indian name is unknown. She is listed herein with Gasesett as her maiden name
and that of her sachem father.
Documentation states that Elizabeth Gasesett was an Indian "Princess; "
Her mother having died when Elizabeth was young, she was orphaned w hen her father
was killed in a battle with the Mohegan Indians during King Philip's War (1675-76).
The Mohegans were allied at that time with the English who wished to destroy
the Pequot tribes and their allies.
Elizabeth was reportedly adopted by a white Quaker family whose identity is unknown.
They reared and educated her.
When her husband died he made her the sole executor of his estate. There is a
question as to whether Elizabeth was John Corey's first or second wife. Although
some records state that he fathered eight children by one wife and two by another,
there is only one wife, Elizabeth , buried with him and their headstones are
unusual and identical as though quarried from the same rock source and carved
by the same hand.
She was originally buried in the family cemetery on Quonset Peninsula , but when
the Navy bought the land in 1941 in order to build Quonse t huts, the family
graves were moved to Quidnessett Cemetery.
[See further notes with her husband's entry). John Cory Sr. and Elizabeth (Minnetinka)
Gasesett had the following children:
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