♂David Deming

David Deming (about 1652 – 1725) was a colonist in British Colonial America who is named in the wills of both his grandfather and his father. Richard Treat^W left money in his will of 1668/69 to “my Cousen” David Deming, “son of John Deming senior”; the will uses “cousin” for a grandson. David was the seventh great-grand-uncle of Frederic Roger Curtis (1928–2007), the brother of Mercy Deming (1651–1714), Roger’s seventh great-grandmother.

Wethersfield

A compiled genealogy places his birth at Wethersfield, in the Connecticut Colony, about 1652. He was the son of John Deming (1615–1705) and Honor Treat (1616–1690). Richard Treat’s will, dated 13 February 1668/69, gave the money to David through another cousin, Samuel Wells, in whose hands it then lay.

On 14 August 1678 David married a woman called Mary. The Wethersfield marriage entry gives no surname for the bride, and a compiled genealogy gives none either.

His father’s will of 26 June 1690 left him the materials and tools of the shop and the book debts. A bio of their father, John Deming (1615–1705), gives a codicil of 3 February 1692 that moved the tools and the debts to his brother John and gave David five pounds instead.

Boston

A compiled genealogy says he moved to Boston before 1707. A compiled account gives his wife Mary’s death as 14 October 1724, at about 72. A compiled genealogy gives his death on 4 May 1725. The Treat Family gives his will as dated 23 April 1725 and the probate as 25 May 1725. The Treat Family (1893), quoting the Suffolk County probate record, says the will called him a “Knacker”^W, a slaughterer of worn-out horses, and puts his inventory at £846 12s. 3d., including an Indian boy valued at £60. The quotation gives the boy neither a name nor an age.

Notes

The link to Mercy Deming

Mercy Deming’s place as a daughter of John Deming and Honor Treat rests on later genealogies. John Deming’s will names five sons, and its daughters only by their married surnames; it does not name Mercy.

The wedding date

The Wethersfield marriage entry and the compiled genealogy by Mackenzie give 14 August 1678. The Treat Family gives 16 August 1678.