"The few documents that relate to the life of Zachariah Ferriss I
leave many questions unanswered, the first being the date and place of his
birth, and even the name of his mother. Since the date of birth of his wife is
known, perhaps we can infer that he was a few years older, possibly born ca.
1645. Zachariah's father was Rev. Samuel Ferriss, an Anglican minister who had
Puritan leanings. Rev. Samuel's will, written in 1676 (he died in 1679)
mentioned his wife, Sarah, and four sons: .......... Zachariah did not make a
claim upon his father's estate in England as he was then in the New World,
raising a family and fighting Indians.
Zachariah was in Charlestown, MA by 1673, when he married Sarah Blood,
[daughter of Richard and Isabel Blood] on the 17th of November. [Isabel Blood
was called cousin by Henry Wilkenson of England, and while her maiden name has
not been ascertained, she may have been a daughter of the widow Isabel
Wilkerson of Cambridge, Mass.] He was made a freeman there the next spring.
[He was admitted to full communion in the First Church there 23 Jan 1675/6 and
about thirty years later] By 1705 he had removed to Stratfield, where he was
admitted to the church by letter from Charlestown on the 19th of September.
He served in King Philip's War (1676) and, much later, in the Expedition to
Port Royal (now Annapolis Royal) in 1710. He cannot have been a young man when
he made his will and left home to join the expedition, but he went
nonetheless. It was on this expedition that he lost his life, his family
probably being unaware of that event until the spring of 1711, when his will
was probated." from Zachariah Ferriss Genealogy, Volume III, page 1,
compiled by Mrs. Phyllis Kitson, 711 Kensington Ave., Flint, Michigan, 48503
" His will, dated 14 Aug. 1710 and proved 16 April 1711, mentioned his
wife, Sarah; sons, Zachariah and Samuel; daughter Sarah; friends Capt. David
Sherman and Benjamin Fairweather, executors and overseers. His widow, Sarah
Ferris, swore to the inventory 16 April 1711.
He married at Charlestown, Mass., 17 Nov 1673, Sarah "Blouds",
identified as Sarah, , born in Lynn, Mass. the 4th month, 1648.
"Stratford deeds prove that Zachariah Ferris left four surviving
children, the three named in his will, and also Mary, who in 1722 was the
widow of John Sturdevant of Ridgefield, Conn. Apparently the latter was John,
son of William Sturdevant, born in Norwalk, Conn., 20 July 1676. The marriage
of John Sturdevant to Mary Jackson, 29 April 1709, is found in Stratfiled
records. The explanation probably is that Mary Ferris was the widow of one of
the Jacksons, as yet unidentified, when she married John Sturdevant."
from A Genealogy of the Ferris Family by Harriet Scofield, page 1-2
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information on my Ferriss genealogy,
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