Holbrook line: Nathan Foster 1700-1753

This will be another short post about a man almost lost to history.  Nathan Foster was born in Ipswich, Massachusetts Bay Colony on May 17, 1700 to Abraham (also seen as Abram) and Mary Robinson Foster.  His great grandparents, Reginald and Judith Wignol Foster, were the original immigrants, and he was of the second generation actually born on this side of the ocean.  Nathan's parents,

Abraham and Mary, were older than average when they married.  Abraham was 34 and Mary was 28.  Nathan was one of three known children born to the couple.  Since both lived many years after the birth of their children, one wonders whether there were difficulties related to their age that prevented other children.  At any rate, this was a small nuclear family.

It's believed that Nathan left Ipswich (or Topsfield, some say) to go to the new settlement of Stafford, Connecticut about 1720.  Since Nathan wasn't yet of age to live by himself, he may well have lived with one of the early families there, while he learned all the ins and outs of farming.  That family may well have been that of Josiah and Sarah Doty Standish, for on November 23, 1724 he married their daughter, Hannah.  (Yes, when I first saw that Standish name, I was excited because I suspected it would lead me back to Captain Myles Standish, and it did.  I had to do some research to learn that Doty was also a Mayflower name.) 

We don't know whether the young couple stayed with their in-laws for a few years, but that would have been a common custom, while Nathan began earning his own living and building a home for his new bride.  Nathan and Hannah had at least eleven children together, born from 1725 to 1749,  

That's pretty much what I know about Nathan's life.  He died May 26, 1753 in Stafford, apparently rather suddenly.  I say that because he didn't leave a will.  His estate wasn't settled until 1763, when the youngest of the children was 14 and probably an apprentice with some other family or a citizen.  His inventory doesn't tell us much about his life.  He did have a few books, and some farm animals and farm equipment.  His land holdings were not large, about 30 acres, plus a "small house" and rights in the commons and the cedar swamp.  His household goods were barely adequate for the family he was raising, and he had few farm animals.  It leads me to wonder whether he worked for someone else, either in the fields or doing other labor intensive work.  At any rate, we wouldn't say that he was well off financially.  There are other records from 17693 explaining exactly how his land was divided, with oldest son Nathan getting a double share. 

I hope to someday find and read the town records for Stafford.  They may provide more insight into Nathan's life.  I'd like to know his occupation, whether he held any town offices (this was a small town, so one would think he must have at least been a fence viewer at some point), whether he went on any military expeditions, and whether he was a faithful member of a church.  I'd also like to know where he was buried, although I suspect it was the Old Stafford Street cemetery.  It would be nice to know that for sure, too. 

The line of descent is

Nathan Foster-Hannah Standish
Nathan Foster-Elizabeth Lansford
Jude Foster-Lydia M.
Betsy Foster Josiah Whittemore
Mary Elizabeth Whittemore-Joseph Holbrook
Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown
Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants