Elizabeth Fones - Scandal

Scandal

Following her husband's desertion, Elizabeth deeply scandalised the rigid Puritan society in which she lived by marrying her husband's business manager, William Hallett, without evidence that she and Lt. Feake were divorced. Elizabeth had two sons with Hallett: William (born c.1648) and Samuel (born c.1650). Their marriage took place in August 1649 and was officiated by her former brother-in-law John Winthrop, Jr.. Only her close blood relationship to the Governor saved her from prosecution for adultery, for which she could have been hanged. Nevertheless, Elizabeth and her new husband and family were forced to leave Connecticut and Massachusetts for the more tolerant Dutch colony of New Netherlands / New York, where they were eventually recognized as husband and wife, possibly due to the friendship Elizabeth formed with Judith, wife of Director-General Peter Stuyvesant. Elizabeth and William settled in an area which was later called Hallett's Cove and is now known as Astoria, Queens, near Hell Gate.

In September 1655, Elizabeth and her family survived an attack by the Hackensack tribe of Indians; however, the Indians set fire to their house and farm, burning both to the ground. She purchased land in Flushing and Newtown, Queens County on 1 October from Edward Griffin. The following year, William was made "schout" or chief-official of Flushing.

In 1673, at the age of sixty-two, Elizabeth died in Newtown, Queens County, New York. Elizabeth has numerous descendants in the United States, including those descending from the marriage of her only Winthrop child, Martha Johanna, to Thomas Lyon of Byram Neck, Greenwich, CT, whose home, the Thomas Lyon House, is on the National Register of Historic Places.