The Raynor/Rayner family of Long Island

     Freeport's founder was an orphan when he crossed the Atlantic with his uncle Thurston Raynor. That fact has always been suspected but has been a source of contention until research finally bore fruit at the Suffolk County Historical Society Museum in Riverhead, on Long Island.
    Thompson, in his famous Long island History called Edward and Thurston brothers - Pelletreau's "American Families of Historical Lineage" contended that Edward probably was Thurston's son when they sailed together from Ipswich, England in 1634.
    Now, like a breeze dispelling fog, comes a pair of letters found at the Riverhead Museum. The letters from George W. Matthews of Cutchogue (formerly a Rockville Centre resident) said that he had a copy of the will of Edward Raynor - the Freeport founder's grandfather - which was probated in Elmset, England on July 7, 1621.
    After mentioning his "son Thurston" three times in the will, Mr. Raynor bequested sums of money to others, including "Ann, Marie, John, Edward and Robert, sons and daughters of my late son Edward Raynor, deceased."
    Mr. Matthews kindly shared a copy of the will. He also shared a copy of a will written by an earlier ancestor, Robert Reynere of Wickham Market, County of Suffolk, England, on October 4, 1571.
    Robert Reynere's great-grandson Edward sailed to massachusetts with his uncle Thurston. The boy's mother had died in England before his father. Orphaned, Edward joined the children of his uncle Thurston and aunt Elizabeth on their voyage to the "new world." Thurston ultimately settled in Southampton.
    Mr. Matthews quotes Donald Linus Jacobus, editor-in-chief for many years of the American Genealogist, on the origin of the Raynor family in England. Jacobus' statement, summarized briefly follows: The Raynors derived from Robert Reynere of Wickham Market, Suffolk, who died testate between October 4 and December 5, 1571. His son Edward Raynor of Elmsett in the same county, made a will on March 22, 1620, proved July 7, 1621, which names his sons Edward, Richard, John, Samuel, Thurston and Robert, and daughter Anne, wife of Robert Lewes of Great Bricet, Suffolk, as well as a son-in-law Henryn Pinson until the grand-children's 18th birthday.
    Clifford Roe Raynor of Manorville gave copies of both wills to Mr. Matthews.
    The other discovery sheds light - or at least presents an ingeniopus theory on the name of Edward raynor's wife. A quest in the Genealogy Room of the New York Public Library uncovered a 1946 survey, entitled "Edward Raynor of Hempstead, Long Island and some of his descendants," by Henry Alanson Tredwell. Edward's wife was probably named Deborah Partridge before her marriage.
    From her husband's will, plus the wills of Elizabeth Partridge of Flushing dated 1696, and Thomas Partridge of the same place, dated 1696, Mr. Treadwell believes that Mrs. Raynor may have been the Deborah Raynor listed as a Hempstead Town resident in 1698.

    The first Raynors to come to America were Thurston Raynor, his wife, Elizabeth, their five children, and Thurston’s ten year old nephew, Edward Raynor. Residents of Elmsett, in the County of Suffolk, they left Ipswich, England in April 1634 aboard the ship, Elizabeth, and arrived in Boston three months later. They settled first in Watertown, Massachusetts, and in 1636, along with some other Watertown families, they went to Wethersfield, Connecticut, where Thurston Raynor was listed among the first settlers. In 1641, Thurston Raynor and his family and several other families from Wethersfield moved on to settle Rippowams, the area now known as Stamford, Connecticut. Three years later, in 1644, Thurston Raynor once again uprooted his family and joined with twenty-two other Rippowams families in following their religious leader, Rev. Denton, to Long Island where they settled Hempstead, in the western part of the Island.
    The Edward Raynor family, the largest of the Raynor families, have generally lived in Nassau County and the western part of Suffolk County. Before the middle of the past century Freeport, in Nassau County, was known as Raynortown, due to the large number of Raynor descendants living there. Edward Raynor is said to have founded the settlement area in 1659.
    The Raynor family often intermarried with the Carman and "Rock" Smith families whom they consequently share a great deal of history. This genealogy relates to the descendants of Edward and Thurston Raynor who settled early at Southampton (his descendants stiuck mainly to the east end of LI).
    Edward Raynor came to America with his Uncle Thurston Raynor in the year 1634. The ship, Elizabeth of Ipswich, departed Ispwich, England on April 30, 1634 with 108 passengers. They arrived in Boston Harbor in July 1634. Edward was ten years old and a orphan. At the age of 21, Edward elected to stay in Hempstead, NY, and eventually establish his home in "South Woods." It was later named Raynor South, then Raynortown. Until the mid-nineteen century it was named Freeport.

Josiah Raynor of Manorville, LI, NY
Abstracted from the introduction of "Josiah Raynor of Manorville, LI, NY," by Stuart Payne Howell

Horace Merry Raynor age 65	Home of Horace and Laura Penney Raynor
Laura Penney Raynor and her Grandmother Laura E. Robinson Raynor	Originally Capt. J. Norton Raynor's "Old Farm" house located overlooking East Bay at East Moriches, LI, NY. In the early 1900's his son, Horace Raynor had it moved to the present location on the west side of Atlantic Avenue, East Moriches. photo by Van Field taken in 1999
Susan (Susie) Raynor born Oct. 4, 1871- died June 23 1911 - daughter of Laura Robinson and Horace Raynor, married Howard Oakley Penney	Lottie E. Reardon Raynor wife of Frederick C. Raynor
Frederick C. Raynor born August 04, 1871 Raynor line unsure. Married Lottie E. Reardon	Olin Raynor son of Lottie and Fred Raynor