New England Historical and Genealogical Register
April 1869
Inquiry by J. W. Dean
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"Dr. Samuel Law was a son of John Law, of Concord, Mass., and was born in that town
May 28, 1680. He is mentioned by the late Miss Caulkins in her History of Norwich, Ct. (2nd ed. p.634),
as a transient resident of Norwich, 1718-20. He was fined for profane swearing, May 6, 1721. (Ibid p.278)
His wife, Martha, Daughter of Rev. Michael Wigglesworth, was born at Malden, Mass., Dec 21, 1683.
She is mentioned in her father's will, April 12, 1705, among his married daughters, but neither
the Christian name nor surname of her husband is there given. In the will of her step-mother,
Mrs. Sybil Wiggleswoth, March 31, 1708, she is called 'Martha Wheeler.' After a bequest of 10 shillings,
this clause is added: 'To her son I have already given a silver spoon.'
"Dr. Samuel Law had two children, by his wife Martha, recorded at Stonington,
CT., namely,
Wigglesworth, born Feb. 1, 1716-17; and Martha, born Nove. 27, 1719, died March 12, 1719-20.
Mr. Trumbull, of Hartford, who has furnished the above extracts from the Stonington records,
writes thus of Dr. Law: 'He was not, I think, a settled inhabitant; as I don not find his name in any list of
inhabitants made about that time. I have somewhere a deposition made by him about 1718 respecting the
accidental death by drowning of a young woman of Stonington.' Miss Caulkins wrote me,
not long before her death, that she found among her papers, with a copy of the above extract from the
Stonington records, this entry: 'Martha wife of Dr. Samuel Law died that same year 1720;'
but she could not give her authority with certainty.
"Can any reader of the Register furnish me with any particulars concerning the first husband of
Martha Wigglesworth, or any of their facts concerning her last husband, Dr. Law?
I am also desirous of obtaining information, of any kind, relative to her descendants."