Henry was at least twice married. According to the Saybrook, Conn. records, Henry m. 1) an unnamed wife in "Aug. ---, 1647", but her name remains unknown. In 1891 Francis Bacon Trowbridge pub. The Champion Genealogy, being principally A History of the Descendants of Henry Champion of Saybrook and Lyme, Connecticut. Well documented, Trowbridge could not find any extant document that included the given name of Henry's wife. By due diligence, the present writer also failed to uncover any document that includes her identity including when she died. Any claim that the name of his wife, the presumed mother of his known children, was a Sarah Bennett has no basis in fact. It is likely some writer after Trowbridge erroneously extrapolated and confused the married name of Henry's eldest dau. Sarah (Champion) Bennett as the name of Henry's wife.
At near 86 years of age, Henry m. 2) of record Mar. 21, 1697/8 in Lyme, the widow Deborah (Palmer) Jones, who outlived him.
[more detail later...]
The six known children of the immigrant Henry Champion, as recorded in the earliest town records of Saybrook, Conn., are:
• i. Sarah Champion, b. in "---, 1649"; d. May 31, 1727 in Lyme, Conn.; m. of record Dec. 25, 1673 in Lyme, Henry Bennet(t), who d. Jan 17, 1726/7 in Lyme. Seven recorded children at Lyme.
• ii. Marah (q.v. Mary) Champion, b. in "---, 1651", d. Dec. 10, 1732 in Lyme, Conn.; m. of record Feb. 26, 1676/7 in Lyme, Aaron Huntley, who d. May 24, 1745 in Lyme. Their marriage record in the Lyme vital records erroneously calls Marah by the surname of Chamberlain, but multiple documents associated with the estate of Marah's father clearly indicate his dau. Marah was the wife of Aaron Huntley of Lyme. Eight recorded children at Lyme.
• iii. Steven (q.v. Stephen) Champion, b. in "---, 1652"; d. young in May 1660 in Saybrook.
• iv. Henry Champion, Jr., b. in "---, 1654", d. in July 1704 (day missing) in Lyme; m. Apr. 1, 1684 in Lyme, Susan "De Wolfe" (q.v. DeWolf.) Nine children recorded at Lyme.
• v. Thomas Champion, b. in "April 1656," d. Apr. 5, 1705 in Lyme; m. of record Aug. 23, 1682 in Lyme, Hannah Brockway, dau. of Wolston Brockway and Hannah Briggs, b. of record Sept. 14, 1664 in Lyme. Eight children of the family. Soon after Thomas' death, the widow Hannah m. 2) the widower John Wade.
7/8/2014
Henry was at least twice married. According to the Saybrook, Conn. records, Henry m. 1) an unnamed wife in "Aug. ---, 1647", but her name remains unknown. In 1891 Francis Bacon Trowbridge pub. The Champion Genealogy, being principally A History of the Descendants of Henry Champion of Saybrook and Lyme, Connecticut. Well documented, Trowbridge could not find any extant document that included the given name of Henry's wife. By due diligence, the present writer also failed to uncover any document that includes her identity including when she died. Any claim that the name of his wife, the presumed mother of his known children, was a Sarah Bennett has no basis in fact. It is likely some writer after Trowbridge erroneously extrapolated and confused the married name of Henry's eldest dau. Sarah (Champion) Bennett as the name of Henry's wife.
At near 86 years of age, Henry m. 2) of record Mar. 21, 1697/8 in Lyme, the widow Deborah (Palmer) Jones, who outlived him.
[more detail later...]
The six known children of the immigrant Henry Champion, as recorded in the earliest town records of Saybrook, Conn., are:
• i. Sarah Champion, b. in "---, 1649"; d. May 31, 1727 in Lyme, Conn.; m. of record Dec. 25, 1673 in Lyme, Henry Bennet(t), who d. Jan 17, 1726/7 in Lyme. Seven recorded children at Lyme.
• ii. Marah (q.v. Mary) Champion, b. in "---, 1651", d. Dec. 10, 1732 in Lyme, Conn.; m. of record Feb. 26, 1676/7 in Lyme, Aaron Huntley, who d. May 24, 1745 in Lyme. Their marriage record in the Lyme vital records erroneously calls Marah by the surname of Chamberlain, but multiple documents associated with the estate of Marah's father clearly indicate his dau. Marah was the wife of Aaron Huntley of Lyme. Eight recorded children at Lyme.
• iii. Steven (q.v. Stephen) Champion, b. in "---, 1652"; d. young in May 1660 in Saybrook.
• iv. Henry Champion, Jr., b. in "---, 1654", d. in July 1704 (day missing) in Lyme; m. Apr. 1, 1684 in Lyme, Susan "De Wolfe" (q.v. DeWolf.) Nine children recorded at Lyme.
• v. Thomas Champion, b. in "April 1656," d. Apr. 5, 1705 in Lyme; m. of record Aug. 23, 1682 in Lyme, Hannah Brockway, dau. of Wolston Brockway and Hannah Briggs, b. of record Sept. 14, 1664 in Lyme. Eight children of the family. Soon after Thomas' death, the widow Hannah m. 2) the widower John Wade.
7/8/2014
Inscription
Here
Lieth ye Body of
Mr. Henry Cham
pion Senr died
in ye year 170[8]
in ye 97 year
of Hif Age
Henry's recorded death in the Lyme, Conn. vital records is Feb. 17, 1708/9, thus his gravestone inscription presents a problem. In 1600s colonial America the majority of town and colonial records recognized that while the English colonists were governed by the Julian calendar, by 1600 many of England's trading partners (i.e., the Dutch, French and Spanish) had adopted the modern Gregorian calendar, with colonial records recognizing a double year for dates from Jan. 1 through Mar. 24th of the year (Mar. 25th was the first day of the Julian calendar year with March considered the 1st month of the year, and the following February the 12th month of the year.) However, Henry's gravestone recognizes the year of his death only under the old Julian calendar without a corresponding double year date inscription that was applicable for the month of February in 1708. It was not until 1752, 43 years after Henry's death, that the English adopted the modern Gregorian calendar. Assuming his inscribed age was correctly stated, on its face on the day Henry died he was 96 years old, and Ætatis suæ (i.e., Æ, "Aged," in the XX year of his Age) 97, implying that Henry was born AFTER Feb. 17, 1611 in the Julian calendar, now written historically in the Gregorian calendar as Feb. 17, 1611/12.
