Anthony BEERS

  General Notes:

Anthony Beers was born in England in the early part of the 17th century
and had arrived in this country as early as the third of December 1644,
the earliest date at which his name has been found recorded here. The
birth records of his children establish that he lived in Watertown, Mass.
from May of 1647 to May of 1657 and that he moved within the following
year to Roxbury, Mass., where he stayed for a brief period before
proceeding to Fairfield, Ct. where he was to remain. The town of
Fairfield granted him a homelot there in 1667 which passed to Richard
Hubbell and then to Samuel Wakeman in 1669, described as one acre more or
less. Jocobus notes that Thomas Oliver acquired the Anthony Beers land
and sold it to Thomas Sherwood 9 Feb. 1670. The illegibility of the early
Fairfield records makes it difficult to pursue this matter further. The
bible record of Josiah Beers, son of Anthony's son Barnabas, noted that
his grandfather came to Fairfield with several children and soon drowned
about the year 1676. The inventory of his estate, dated 14 May 1679,
showed only personal property. While little is known of Anthony Beers, he
was the patriarch of a very large family. If all of his descendants,
including those of other family names, could conceivably be listed, their
number would be staggering. The 2450 persons listed in this volume bring
the total of his descendants to 4250, and there are many who are missing.

b. England 16__; drowned about 1676, then a resident of Fairfield Co.,
Ct. m. (1) Elizabeth ____; m. (2) after 1671, Mary Adams, widow of Edward
Adams of Fairfield, who survived her second husband but had died by 2
Dec. 1687; adm. of her estate was granted that date to Sgt. Samuel Ward
and Nathan Adams. Children - by wife (1):

Other sources?:
"Anthony Bere, came from Gravesend, in 1635, to Watertown, MA.; removed
to Roxbury, and ultimately to Fairfield, CT., where a tract of land is
recorded to "Anthony Beere" in 1607, which he sold in 1669. He was a
mariner, as his father before him, and was lost at sea in 1676. By Eliza,
his wife, he left Samuel, Ephraim, John, Hester, Sarah, and Barnabas.
This Barnabas, born at Roxbury, MA., September 6, 1658, married, April 4,
1688, Elizabeth Wilcoxson, and died in 1714. Josiah Beers, his son, born
at Stratford, CT., August 8, 1693, married May 10, 1717, Elizabeth
Ufford, and was father of Nathan Beers, of New Haven, CT."

"Anthony Beers may have been born in Gravesend, Co. Kent, England in the
1620's, and he was quite probably brother to James Beers, also a settler
of Fairfield, CT. It is entirely possible that they were sons of James
and Hester Beers of Gravesend and nephews of Richard Beers, an early
settler of Watertown, MA. A Richard Beers left Gravesend on the ship
"William and John" on September 2, 1635, then aged 28 years. (N.E.H.G.R.,
v.14, p. 355.)"

"There is no record that gives any reliable clue to the birthdate of
Anthony Beers. The date of about 1627 was probably assigned simply on the
basis of the birth of his first recorded child in 1647. In fact, very
little is known of this man who was the progenitor of most people in the
United States today who bear the family name of Beers. He was in this
country at least as early as 1644. This is documented by the probate
inventory of Thomas King of Watertown, MA, who died December 3, 1644,
which listed a debt of one pound at Boston to Anthony Beares (N.E.H.G.R.,
v.8, p. 561; Bond's "Watertown," pg. 326.) He had children born in
Watertown from 1647 through 1657. He was a member of the Watertown
military unit called "the train band" in 1652 under Capt. Hugh Mason, at
which time he also took the oath of fidelity. He was admitted as a
freeman there on May 6, 1657. In 1658 he was a resident of Roxbury, MA,
but moved soon to Fairfield, CT, possibly as early as 1659, but no later
than 1661. The town of Fairfield granted him a homelot in 1667 which then
passed to Richard Hubbell, who sold it to Samuel Wakemen in 1669, then
described as one acre more or less. The bible record of his grandson
Josiah notes that he came to Fairfield with several children and was soon
drowned about the year 1676. The inventory of his estate, dated May 14,
1679, showed only personal property."

Anthony married Elizabeth UNKNOWN. (Elizabeth UNKNOWN was born in 1624 in Hertfordshire, England and died on an unknown date in Fairfield, Fairfield Co, CT.)