Untitled - citizen hylbom blog

peerages existing at one time. Baron George
Gifford was made Earl of Buckingham by
Henry V., but joining the House of York
against that of Lancaster, and being one of the
prime favorites of Edward V., he was created
Duke of Buckingham, and married the Princess
Maude Plantagenet, the king's cousin. His
fion, George Gifford, Duke of Buckingham, was
one of the favorites of the Duke of Gloucester,
afterward Richard III. Being detected by
that tyrant in the act of corresponding with
the Earl of Richmond (Henry VII.), he was
-attainted of high treason and beheaded by
Richard's orders. This" Duke of Buckingham
left several children, but as they had been de-
prived of their lands and titles the mercenary
king (Henry VII.) found it more convenient
not to restore them. Of his sons, George, who
continued the first line, continually solicited
the Crown and Parliament for his restoration;
but from the powerful opposition of his (the
king's) brother-in-law, Humphrey Stafford, a
very rich and powerful nobleman, who had
married the eldest daughter of Henry, he was
always defeated, Stafford being created Duke
of Buckingham. The StafEords followed the
fate of their maternal ancestor (GifEord), for
the grandson of Humphrey was beheaded and
his family deprived of their vast estates. The
OifPords in the reigns of Henry VIII. and
Queens Mary and Elizabeth ineffectually put
their claims before the English Parliament,
never, however, being able to obtain judgment.
In the reign of James I. Sir Ambrose Gifford
claimed before the House of Peers to be Duke
of Buckingham, but in the second year of the
reign
SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS 875
of Charles I. his claim was disallowed
on account of his poverty. Walter Gifford,
son of Sir Ambrose, emigrated from England
to Massachusetts Bay in 16.30, and was the
progenitor
of the American branch of the
family. It is claimed by some that William
Gifford, the ancestor of the GifEord family in
question, was the son of Walter Gilford ; but
the Rhode Island genealogist Austin says in
regard to this: "It needs better proof, however,
than any of which the author [of One Hundred
and Sixty Allied Families] nas knowledge
to substantiate these claims."
(I) William GifEord became an inhabitant
of Sandwich, Mass., where he was early a proprietor
of lands, and early joined tlie Quakers.
He is believed by the genealogist of the Gifford
family to have been previously, as early
as 1647, at Stamford, Conn., in which year he
was ordered to be whipped at -the court's discretion
and banished. He was a member of
the Grand Inquest at Plymouth in 1650. With
the exception of five years between 1665 and
1670, when he and others were first proprietors
and settlers of Monmouth, N. J., he continued
to reside at Sandwich until his death. Being
a Quaker he suffered severely from fines and
vexatious suits both in Massachusetts and in
New Jersey. He was a large landholder in
Sandwich, Falmouth and Dartmouth, Mass.,
and as well owned land in Rhode Island and
Connecticut. He gave by will to his sons
Jonathan and James in Falmouth; deeded to
his sons Robert and Christopher lands in Dart-
mouth, both erecting homesteads on their estates.
Robert continued to live in Dartmouth,
and Christopher continued to live in Little
Compton, both having many descendants now
living in southern Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
William Gifford was twice married, his
second wife, to whom he was married 16th of
7th month, 1683, being Mary Mills. She died in
1687. His children born to the first marriage
were: John, Hannah, William, Christopher,
Robert, Patience and Mary; and those of the
second, Jonathan (bom in 1684) and James
(born March 10, 1685-86). The father died
in April, 1687.
(II) William GifEord (3), son of William,
married Lydia Hatch, and died in 1738 in
Sandwich, Barnstable county, where he made
his home. Children : Gideon, born 10th
mo., 6. 1676; Gershom, 6th mo., 15, 1679;
Seth. 3d mo., 17, 1681 ; Exoerience, 10th mo.,
7, 1683; Jabez, 2d mo., 2," 1686; Mehetabel,
7th mo., 7, 1689; Justice, 10th mo., 12, 1691;
Mary, oth mo., 25, 1694; Hannah, 10th mo.,
24, 1696; William, 2d mo., 16, 1699.
(III) Gershom Gifford, son of William (2),
born 6th mo., 15, 1679, was a large land owner
at Falmouth, Barnstable county. In 1704
he married Deborah Bowerman, and their
children were: Joseph (born in 1711), Benjamin
and Elizabeth.
(IV) Joseph Gifford, son of Gershom, born
in Falmouth, Mass., Oct. 19, 1711, made his
home in Dartmouth (now New Bedford) where
he died Oct. 23, -1810, aged ninety-nine years.
He married Oct. 2, 1737, Content Irish," bom
Sept. 3, 1718, daughter of David Irish. She
died in 1762. Children: Deborah, wJio married
John Williams March 3, 1763, and died in
1809: David, born in 1742; Joseph, born Feb.
13, 1751; Content, born in April, 1753; and
Elizabeth, born in April, 1760.
(V) David Gifford, son of Joseph, born at
Dartmouth, lived in the town of Dartmouth,
where he followed farming and where he built
a home, at which he died Feb. 14, 1826, aged
eighty-four years. He married Hannah Shep-