Holbrook line: Israel Lazell 1671-1755

Eighty four years ought to have been enough to have left more of a footprint than our ancestor Israel seems to have left.  I have birth and marriage records, his will, and an inventory.  I don't have a death record, I don't have a burial location, I don't know what church he attended, if any, and I don't have a reference to his occupation, although I can guess it from the inventory.  There is also one reference that he was a constable for a one year period.  End of story.

So, even though this will be a short post, this is what I know so far.  Israel Lazell was born September 24, 1671 in Hingham, Massachusetts to John and Elizabeth Gates Lazell.  He was one of at least 11 children born to the couple, and he apparently lived his whole life out in Hingham.  I say apparently because for some reason I am not locating a death record there, although his will states he was of Hingham, in Suffolk County.  It is of course possible that he died elsewhere, perhaps on a visit to one of his children.  Hingham was attacked by the natives so it's likely that his family evacuated the town, at least for a time. 

The first we hear of Israel after his birth is his marriage, to Rachel Lincoln, daughter of Daniel and Susanna Cushing Lincoln, also of Hingham, on July 6, 1698.  I don't know the religion of this couple but their first names indicate they were likely Puritan.  The Old Ship Church in Hingham was built in 681, when Israel would have been just ten years old, and this is likely the church that he and his family attended both before and after his marriage.  Israel and Rachel had at least four children who survived, and possibly others who died young.  We don't know how literate Israel was, but he did sign his name to his will, and there were books in his inventory, so he must have had more than the minimal amount of education.  (Typically, boys of this period learned to read and write, and girls learned to read well enough to read the Bible.) 

The next information I've found about Israel is his will.  Rachel had died in April of 1748 but it appears that Israel kept on doing what it was he was doing (farming, it appears) up until his final illness.  The inventory is more extensive than would have been necessary for just one man living by himself.  But wait, there's a discovery.  Listed on his inventory is "one Negro woman".  So he had a slave who cooked and cleaned for him, and probably took care of the smaller livestock and spun wool (a spinning wheel is in the inventory) and most of the things that a wife would have done.  We have no way of knowing how long he had "owned" her or what her age, or her name, may have been. 

Other information on the inventory is also revealing, though not as surprising.  He had a sword, and several pieces of land (given away in the will), cattle and oxen and sheep, a fishing rod (Hingham is on the coast line), a "pare" of spectacles, 4 barrels of cider, several books, and furniture including a "great chare".  In the will, it looks like our ancestor Isaac received a double share of the land that was granted.  The total estate was valued at about 755 pounds, which was not large but would have been enough to have helped his sons a bit. 

That's what I know about Israel.  It sounds like he worked hard, farmed and fished, and was mostly occupied with supporting his family rather than public service.  He deserves to have his place in our family tree noted. 

The line of descent is: 

Israel Lazell-Rachel Lincoln
Isaac Lazell-Deborah Marsh
Deborah Lazell-Levi Rockwood
Susanna Rockwood-Nahum Holbrook
Joseph Holbrook-Mary Elizabeth Whittemore
Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown
Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants