David Ensign Sr

David Ensign, Sr. was a son of James and Sarah Ensign. He was born at Hartford on Nov. 26, 1644 and was one of the first settlers of West Hartford. He was a farmer and a miller and like his father, he was prominent in church and town affairs and served as chimney viewer, surveyor and grand juryman. David Ensign married 1st to Mehitable Gunn, daughter of Thomas Gunn, of Windsor, Connecticut, on Oct. 22, 1663. They had five children before the marriage ended in divorce "by mutual consent". Mehitable married 2nd to Isaac Sheldon, a widower of Windsor, in 1685. David Ensign married 2nd to Sarah (Wilcox) Long, former wife of Thomas Long. Sarah may have been the daughter of John Wilcox and Sarah Savage, of Middletown, Connecticut. She died on Feb. 3, 1717-18. David moved to West Hartford in 1713, where he was an organizer of the Congregational Church. David was mentioned in his father's 1670 will as follows: "Whereas I have formerly given to my son David the swamp Lott Bought of Richard Lyman, on the east side of the Great River, & six Acres in the South meadow near the forty Acres, & sixteen Acres of upland Near Rocky hill, & his dwelling house & part of my Home lott which he hath had no Legall assurance of, I doe now give & confirm the same to him and his heirs forever". He also inherited the remainder of his mother's estate in 1676. He died Dec. 12, 1727, at the age of 83, and is buried in West Hartford.

According to Milton Ensign’s S.A.R. application, David married Mehitable Gunn who was born 28 Jul 1644, and died 30 Jan 1720 in Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts, but David appears to have married twice. “Families of Early Hartford, Connecticut”, by Lucius Barnes says she was Sarah Wileys. Record of James Ensign says she was Sarah Wilcox. Other version says she was Sarah Long. Lucius Barnes says: "He mar/2 Sarah Wilcox poss divorced wife of Thomas Long. She was born Oct 3, 1648 and died Feb 3, 1717-8, daughter of John Wilcox and Sarah Wilcox”.

Kingsbury-Bush American Ancestry, by F. A. Kinsbury, 1958, says: “Sarah (Wilcox) Long (1648-1718) dau of John Wilcoxson (1614-1676) of Hartford.”