From: Roses674@aol.com
Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2001 15:04:02 EDT
To: jay.wright.law.79@aya.yale.edu

Jay,

My copy of THE DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS LAKE OF STRATFORD, CONNECTICUT was 
purchased through Hearthstone Bookshop in Alexandria, VA, HOWEVER, they no 
longer do special orders and could not tell me where they found a copy.  
Since I cannot lay my hands on it right now, I cannot tell you who reprinted 
it.

The good news is that I found my poor photocopy sent to me by someone else 
and after having looked at this, I have to wonder if this family has the same 
roots as the John Lake and Anne Spicer line.

The introduction states that this Thomas Lake who settled at New Haven, CT in 
1641 was killed by the Indians in Maine in 1676 and was not the father of 
Thomas of Stratford, CT.  It is most interesting to me that Thomas Lake 
settled in New Haven, CT in 1641--the same year that Henry Lake was in Salem. 
 Thomas who was killed had a son Thomas who became Sir Thomas Lake, as 
inherited from his uncle Sir Edward Lake.

After looking at the names mentioned, it is easy to see that our John could 
have been a brother to Sir Edward, Henry,  and Thomas Lake since in 1643, he 
settled in Gravesend, NY with Lady Deborah Moody, widow of Sir Henry Moody, 
who had come from Salem, having arrived there ca 1641.  Thomas Spicer seems 
to have been in Salem ca 1638.  Keeping in mind that John Tilton  who 
supposedly came to America with Lady Moody also bears the surname of the NJ 
family strongly linked with the Lake family in NJ.

Frankly, I think the coincidences are too strong to be random.

I have never seen a complete list of those who came to America with Lady 
Moody or those who settled Gravesend with her.  I am trying to find this list 
and hope it will prove to answer some questions.

Another entry in this book mentions that the Lakes in Ct in 1790 Census were 
named as heads of families: At Stratford--Reuben;  at Newton/Newtown,  Peter, 
John and David; at Derby Elnathan; atHuntington,  Jabes; at New Milford, 
James; at Kent, Samuel.  In old Albany Co., NY, Abraham, Garrit, and James; 
at Cambridge, Christopher; Garrit T., Henry and Henry T., at H-------k; at 
Freeholdtown, Edward; at Coxsackie, Matthew, Thomas, and Timothy. (It does 
not,  however, connect any of these to Thomas of Stratford, just lists them.)

The names in all those family lines:  Henry Lake and Alice the Hanged, Thomas 
Lake of Stratford, CT, and the descendants of John Lake and Anne Spicer sure 
are very much alike!

My grandmother's little brother was Albert Edward Lake and there is an Albert 
Edward Lake in the Thomas of Stratford line.

ALSO NOTE THAT A REUBEN LAKE appears in the 1793 Militia List of NJ!!  Of 
interest is that an Elnathan Stevenson appears on the same page of that list! 
  That was just 3 yrs after the 1790 Census of Stratford.

The Stevenson family of Philadelphia has a Lake connection:  Anne Stevenson, 
wife of Thomas Lake!  The descendants of John Lake and Anne Spicer that 
settled in South Jersey had connections to Philadelphia as they were 
fisherman/clammers.

Cousin of my Alvah Decker Lake was David H. (Henry) Lake and his wife Mary 
Ella Decker was also related to Alvah.

The Lakes of the family of Thomas of Stratford were Quakers.  My Garret Lake 
was Quaker.

On that NJ Militia List of 1793 there appear Hanns, Larews, Strykers, 
Stevensons, Rakes, and Rislers.  I am wondering Risler is the same as Risley 
as appears in Adams/Risley?  Marshall Lake and I are wondering if Rake was 
actually Lake or maybe Race as the given names sound like Lakes.  All of the 
above are connected to our Lakes of NJ.

And so the puzzle becomes more involved!

Moses Lake and Aaron Lake that appear on the list of 1793 may have been of 
mixed race.  A Larew is researching this line.  NJ was among the first to 
make slavery illegal.

In closing,  I can say from tracing other family lines that those colonists 
worked their way down the coast from Salem to CT to RI to LI to NJ!  Albany 
NY was up the Hudson so they went that way also.  The migration followed 
those water routes and came along the coast of MA, CT, RI, NY, NJ, 
Philadelphia and up the Delaware also.
The Parr family of New Hampshire of 1641, Moses and Abel, migrated down to RI 
and so on.  The Corwins settled Salem and Long Island at the same time.  It 
was not unusual for the colonists to be in Maine, VT, and New Hampshire 
before coming south to NY and NJ.  Maybe New England winters were too harsh 
for them!

Will send you a copy of THE DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS LAKE as soon as I can find 
the book.  The copies I have now are too light to be read well.  Whoever 
copied them used a copier that had a light streak down the middle.

Nancy In NJ