Holbrook line: Nathan Foster 1728-1809

  I'd like to hug Nathan Foster, just to thank him for leaving birth, marriage, and death records.  I don't care whether he was a rascal or a fine upright citizen at this point, I'm just glad to find an ancestor with records!  

Nathan was born March 27, 1728 in Stafford, Tolland County, Connecticut.  His parents were Nathan and Hannah Standish Foster, and he was one of at least eleven children born to that couple. Nathan would likely have had a typical upbringing, learning to read and write, but not necessarily educated much beyond that.  He was the first son, which typically meant more was expected of him in the family, and so he inherited a double share of his father's estate when his father died in 1753. 

 By then, Nathan was a married man, as he had married Elizabeth (Betsey) Lansford November 15, 1750 in Stafford. Rev. Eli Colton, who was the minister of the Congregational Church there.  (The Congregational churches were more or less descended from the Puritans, but some churches by this time were more liberal than others.)  Elizabeth was the daughter of Michael and Elizabeth Hackben Lansford (or Lunsford). 

Nathan gave a quitclaim deed to three of his brothers the same year he inherited his father's land, and it may be at this time that he and Elizabeth moved to Western, (now Warren), Massachusetts. However, birth records for the first five children are in Stafford, and the first child born in Western was noted as being in 1762.  Nathan and Elizabeth had either 8 or 9 children.  Most lists don't include Tirzah, and she (?) may have belonged to another Foster family.

Nathan was a selectman in Stafford in 1754, which indicates a certain social and financial status in the small town.  This was also the time period of the French and Indian War, and it seems at least possible that Nathan was involved in this to some extent, although I have not found records saying so.  He was certainly the right age, and there were Stafford men who were part of the British forces.  The pastor who married them died of smallpox in 1756, but I haven't determined whether there was an epidemic in town, or whether this was part of the epidemic that hit the military forces during that time period. 

We also don't know whether he participated in the Revolutionary War.  While he was older than the typical soldier by then, he was still under 50 when the war broke out, and he may be the Nathan Foster who seems to have been a part of a Hampshire county regiment that served at Fort Ticonderoga during 1776-1777.  If this is our man, he was a private, and served two terms of enlistment, and he would certainly have stories to tell.  We do know that at least one of his sons served during the war, because Jude was awarded a pension just three weeks before he died in 1789. 

Another question is whether, or how deeply, he was involved in Shays Rebellion in 1787.  Western was in the thick of the area that protested the whiskey tax, and we know from his will that Nathan grew corn, which many in that part of the country converted to whiskey because it was more profitable to sell whiskey than corn.  So after I hugged Nathan for leaving at least some records, I'd be asking him about his possible involvement in the French and Indian War, the Revolutionary War, and Shays Rebellion.

Nathan's wife, Elizabeth, died February 27, 1797 and on January 4 of the following year, he married Betty Blackmer.  12 years later, just three months before he died, the couple sold some land.  Perhaps they moved in with one of the children at this time.  We do have tax records from 1798 which appear to show that he owned several pieces of land at that time.  

When Nathan died, Betty declined administration and Calvin Bellows was appointed administrator.  The estate was valued at $331in personal property and $875 in real estate.  This is confusing because it appeared that they had sold their land, but perhaps they held on to some of it, or perhaps the sale was still in progress at the time of the inventory.  The estate does include some books, and corn, but is not abundant and by the time the widow got her thirds, there wasn't much left to pass on.  However, there was the Foster name, which was a worthy one.  

The line of descent is

Nathan Foster-Elizabeth Hackben

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

   

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