His will was written 4-13-1814, unknown when probated.
Record from copy of Last Will and Testament dated 4-3-1814, Book 1, page 543 Harrison County Court House.
Devisees: Mary, wife 1/3 of all property, real and personal for her lifetime. William, 2nd son $2.00, Nancy Swiger and Eleanor Swiger, daughters $2.00 each.
Sanford & Thomas youngest sos, all lands equally, Sallie and Sarah, youngest daughters, $40.00 each; Henry eldest son, $20.00 and Thomas, son and Sallie and Sarah, all other personal property, Witness: Jacob Israel, David Tichenal, Mordicai Madden and Benjamin N. Maden.
William joined the PA Militia in Westmoreland Co., PA to fight in the Rev. War. After the war he received a War land grant for 400 acres in what was then Harrison Co., VA.
The name was intermittantly spelled Backus, Baekuss, Barnes. The Name Backus means, "worker in a bakehouse".
Then the line goes up through Samuel Backus the 3rd, Samuel Backus Jr., Samuel Backus Sr., Joseph Backus, up to William Backus born in 1620. This is the info I found on rootweb about him.
Origins
Everett F. Bingham, in NEHGR 142:253-254, says: "William Backhouse (sic) was listed as an apprentice to William Nutt of Grimesthorpe, near Sheffield, [Yorkshire] had been given his freedom in 1627, and in 1631 was admitted to membership in the Sheffield Culters Company. This placed him as a member of that company at the same time as Thomas Bingham, Sr., husband of Anna (Fenton), and father of Thomas Bingham, Jr. (the immigrant ancestor of Binghams in America.)"
<<<(left pic) The Cutlers' Feast at Sheffield
A company still in business today!!! interestingBirths for the five children of William Backus who immigrated to America are listed in the Sheffield, Yorkshire parish registers, burials of two more children who died young in England, and the burial of his wife, Elizabeth (last name unknown) in 1643.
There can be little doubt this William Backhouse is the William Backus of Saybrook, Conn because he used a unique "trademark" for his signature, which was a W directly over a B, likely used to "sign" his cutlery products. This same mark is found on papers he signed in England as well as on his will, in Connecticut. Additionally, the names of the children recorded in the parish register match the names of the children of the American William Backus. These facts, coupled with the man in Norwich referred to his cutlery tools in his will leaves no doubt that the person referred to in the three locations and records are the same man.
See his English Origins - Sheffield, West Riding, Yorkshire
The Children of William Backus - In register format, a posting I made to GenForum
The Immigrant
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1) Elizabeth (last name unknown), md by 1628, she was born by 1610, buried at Sheffield, Yorkshire, England February 9, 1643, age about 33. Seven children, two died young.
2) Mary (Fenton) Bingham, widow of Thomas Bingham, Sr. and mother of Thomas Binghams, Jr, American immigrant in 1659 in Saybrook, Conn. Late-life marriage, he was probably in his mid-fifties. No children. She died May, 1670, in Norwich.
William Backus, English immigrant was a cutler. He settled in Saybrook, Conn, as a widower with grown children, by 1659. He was on the list of the original 35 settlers who paid Uncas, the Mohegan chief, 70 pounds, for the nine square mile parcel of ground to become Norwich, Connecticut.
Born: "Probably about 1606" (NEHGR 142:254, 1988), Note that 18 years before youngest child's birth would be 1610.
Immigrated: By 1659, ship unknown (The William Backhouse immigrant of 1637 either died soon after arrival, or if that immigrant was William, returned to England soon after. The 1637 immigrant was likely a different man. There is no record in America after 1637 of a William Backus until the reference to our William Backus in Saybrook in 1659 (Bingham genealogy say 1657.). The later kids of our William Backus were born in England after 1637.) Arrived as a widower, kids in 1659 would have been 19-31 years of age.
Spouses:
Occupation: Cutler, worker with steel, probably especially knives. Work records for the Sheffield Company have been found in England, and he referred to his cutlery tools in his will.Founder of Norwich, Conn: The Backuses were founders of Norwich. William, Jr., Stephen and step-son Thomas Bingham are all listed as founders of Norwich in most lists that are made of that prestigious group. William, Sr acceded the "official honors", of being a first time land owner to his younger son Stephen.Died: Probably shortly before June, 1664, when the inventory of his estate was taken, at Norwich, Conn, age about 60.
OK I found some very interesting info on this site while searching for photos of early Norwich. This is the link if you want to check it out yourself. It talks about William Backus being a founder of Norwich. There were these rocks in Norwich they called the meeting place. Neat pics. Anyhow the site is listed under the Calkins family. Hugh Calkins who was of relation to Phebe Calkins who was Samuel Jrs wife. (http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~calkinsfamilyassoc/reunion2000.html)
Estate: He left a will, dated Jun 12, 1661, inventory taken June 7, 1664. (New London Probate, 1646-1666, 143-4). All of his children are named, corresponding with the baptism records in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England, some 30 years earlier.
Immigrant William Backus - A Time-Line Biography
William Backus Will is on-line at the Ulrich Page.
Notable Kin
Notable Backuses include American Express founder Timothy Chapman Backus, Revolutionary War General Jedidiah Huntington, and Inca explorer and historican and early aviator and Connecticut Governor Hiram Bingham, and General George McClellan - Union Army Commander-in-Chief. Sketches on Notable In-laws, many of whom are ancestors of branches of Backuses, include Jonathan Edwards, Aaron Burr, Benjamin Silliman, the father-son Jonathan Trumbulls, and many others.
Notes, Questions, Errata
Identity of First Wife of Immigrant William, the Father
Apparently no progress has been made over the years in identifying the ancestry, and surname, of William's first wife, Elizabeth. Savage (Dictionary of New England Genealogy) used the name Sarah Gardiner for her, but the consensus of researchers now is that Sarah Charles was the first wife of William's son, William. See next note.
Who is Sarah Charles the Wife of?
There are some earlier genealogies out there that have an error that is being repeated. It is now proven and known that Sarah Charles was the first wife of William Backus, Jr., the son of the elder immigrant. Some genealogies report her as the wife of the elder immigrant. This is based on both the wills of Sarah Charles father and William Backus, Jr. This error is from repeating the work of Savage, whose published work predated the Civil War. His work is a valuable aid in New England genealogy, but it does have errors, and this one of them. (For example, see NEGHR, Vol 142, p. 253-4, 1988)
When Did William Migrate?
Reports continue to persist that William migrated in 1637 without any explanation for son Stephen being born in England in 1641 and his baptism recorded there, and his wife's burial recorded there in 1643. I think it more likely that he migrated after his wife's death. The Bingham genealogy speculates that the Bingham's were Cromwellians and came over after the death of Cromwell in 1658-9, as the pro Anglican/Catholic forces took charge in England again. Among other reasons, Saybrook was a Puritan town, and an Anglican might more likely migrate to Virginia during that period of time. If that is so, that might be a plausible explanation for William also, as he worked with Thomas Bingham at the Cuttler's Company in Sheffield as cutlers. Might they not share the same beliefs?
Notwithstanding the reports that he migrated in 1637, the first record of William Backus is reported in the Bingham Genealogy of 1927, pg 75, when Backus is a name listed as present at a Saybrook town meeting on January 7, 1657.
Name of Second Wife of William, the Father
The Bingham work of 1927 consistently uses the name "Stenton" for Thomas Bingham's second wife, who later married William Backus. A Backus researcher reports in Vol 143 of the NEGHR, Pg 24, that the correct name is Fenton. He cites a misunderstanding of the double "ff" in olde English style writing for "st" as the source for the misunderstanding. This lady is the matriarch of all Binghams in America eminating from Thomas Bingham, as she was his natural mother.
The first name is of some confusion also. The name used in English church records is "Anna". The name on her son's tombstone in Windham, CT, a photograph of which appears pg 157a of Bingham's genealogy, is "Mary". The genealogies I have seen have discounted the Mary and use Anna instead. I submit that many people, even of that time, used more than one name, and favored one name over another at different periods in their lives. I think rather than "Mary" being outright "wrong" as the Bingham genealogy claims, that she probably used both names in her lifetime.
Bingham Notes
Although in-laws to me, the Bingham genealogy is tied in with ours, so might comment on one issue. There apparently is confusion on the death date of Thomas Bingham, the father of the 18 year old American immigrant in 1659-60. The 1927 Bingham work makes a case for him dying on the ocean voyage in 1659-60. The author cites a family tradition and then adds that it is a nice explanation that "fits". The later Backus update in Vol 142 of the NEHGR indicates that Mr. Bingham died in February, 1648, and cites Hale, House, 452; which I have not seen.
Subsquent Generations
The Backus Iron Works at Norwich - Supplying the colonies with metal items from nails to anchors.
Major branches coming from the first generation will have surnames of: Backus, Reynolds, Crane, and Bailey.
So basically without reading all this, William was the William of Saybrook Conneticut. Very interesting how just the way he wrote his signature was how they traced him back to England. And that he made knives.
