Holbrook line: Joseph Trumbull 1647-1684

Joseph's father, John, didn't leave us a whole lot of clues about himself, and like father, like son.  Joseph also stands mostly mute in the records I've found, other than birth, date, and death records.  We are grateful for those, of course, but wish for more.  It would be nice to find a will or estate papers, but so far they haven't been located.  So this will be a short post. 

Joseph was born March 19, 1647 in Rowley, Massachusetts to John and Elin or Elinor Chandler Trumbull (usually spelled Trumble during this time period).  He was one of at least six children, and he apparently lived his whole life in Rowley until his marriage to Hannah Smith, the daughter of Hugh and Mary Smith.  They were married May 6, 1669.  The two were born just five days apart and may have known each other from a very early age. 

By 1670 the couple had gone to Suffield to live.  From the viewpoint of a family historian, that was a poor choice.  Suffied at the time was part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, but it became part of Connecticut in the 1740s.  That means records could be in either location, or in neither, as the search for a will is showing.  I did find one reference to Joseph in the book "Colonial Justice in Western Massachusetts 1639-1702".  On September 3, 1680, when Joseph would have been 33 years old, he was fined 10 shillings for been "overtaken by drink", and "being very sorry and acceccted with it Confessing it himselfe and proffering to satisfie the Law by paying ten shillings for the same", the guilty please was accepted and Joseph apparently stayed out of trouble for the rest of his life.  It wasn't considered a serious offense, for just a few months later Joseph was made a freeman, giving him the right to vote.

One of the big mysteries is whether or not Joseph served in King Philip's War.  I've found that he along with all or almost all the other town residents left town during the war, returning only after several months, to find the town burned to the ground.  Joseph Trumbull had hidden tools from Major Pynchon's saw mill, and was paid for doing so.  It must have been a terrifying time for the family, and for the other settlers in Suffield, who most likely had traveled south down the Connecticut River to a safer town like Hartford, or even further south.  There were three small children at this time, so it wouldn't have been an easy time, either during the exile or during the rebuilding of their homes and their lives. 

The only clue I've found so far about Joseph's possible participation is a suggestion that Joseph's early death may have been as the result of injuries suffered in a battle with native Americans, with no date given for that event.  I don't know what the basis for that speculation might be.  There are a lot of other causes for early death, including any number of diseases, other injuries, and underlying health conditions.

By the time Joseph died on August 15, 1684, he was the father of five children.  Hannah delivered the last of their children just five days later.  She was a young widow, with six mouths to feed, and she next married John Strong in 1686, and then Nicholas Buckland in 1698.  Hannah lived until March 27, 1719 and died in Windsor, Ct. 

I don't know enough about Joseph to speculate about his life.  Based on the names of their sons, (Judah, Ammi, Benoni and John), I suspect that he, or Hannah, was deeply religious.  Based on Major Pynchon's trusting him to hide the tools for the sawmill, he was trustworthy.  And if he drank a little too much, so did most of the colonists, at one time or another.  I suppose he had land and farmed, but that is a supposition.  We know where he was, but not what he was.  Still, as so often, something is better than nothing.

The line of descent is:

Joseph Trumbull-Hannah Smith
John Trumbull-Elizabeth Winchell
Hannah Trumbull-Medad Pomeroy
Medad Pomeroy-Eunice Southwell
Eunice Pomeroy-Libbeus Stannard
Libbeus Stanard-Euzebia or Luceba Fay
Hiram Stanard-Susan Eddy
Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendats