I had something of a genealogy scare when I started researching for this post. I saw that there are several trees that give different parents for our Ebenezer than I had thought correct. So I spent some time going through what records I could find on line and ended up confident that the parents I'm showing are more likely to be correct than the ones others are showing. Whew! I let my breath out when I came to my conclusion, because I've made enough errors already and don't want to perpetuate any more.
So, Ebenezer Thayer was born April 12, 1699 in Mendon, Massachusetts, the son of Ebenezer and Martha Thomson Thayer. (I wrote about Ebenezer Senior recently, with never a thought that he might be the wrong guy.) Ebenezer, the subject of this post, had at least two brothers and four sisters, named in his father's will in 1722 (father was of Bellingham then). Bellingham was formed out of Mendon and it appears that at least some of the family land was on the border between the two towns, but the main dwelling house was part of Bellingham.
Our Ebenezer married Mary Wheelock on August 9, 1721. She was the daughter of Benjamin and Huldah Thayer Wheelock, and yes, there was a family connection between Ebenezer and Huldah. The two were first cousins once removed. When Ebenezer Senior died in 1722, he left a lot of land and other assets, to the value of about 795 pounds. Ebenezer, as the oldest son, received a double share and it looks like he would have been set for life.
Then it gets confusing, and I've not been able to find a will to give answers. Mary, the wife of Ebenezer, is said to have died in 1731 and Ebenezer is said to have married Hannah Greene in 1734 and fathered more children with her. I can't find a record of Mary's death or of the marriage of Ebenezer and Hannah, so I'm confused. I don't know whether the Ebenezer who married Hannah was ours or not. Some of the printed genealogies say that it was an Ebenezer who was born in 1720 who married Hannah, and that makes no sense either. There was an Ebenezer who was born to Isaac Thayer in 1697; could it have been this Ebenezer who married Hannah?
And yet, there are just three records of births to Ebenezer and Mary in the town records...so what really happened?
Another point of confusion is the use of the term "Captain" in 1754. Which Ebenezer was this? And how did he obtain the title of "Captain"/ What military service might this person have been part of? The most likely explanation, given the birth date of 1699 for our Ebenezer is that he was somehow involved in King George's War,but I've found no evidence for that yet.
There was only one Ebenezer who was taxed in 1726 in Bellingham, one who was qualified in 1739 to be a voter (implying land ownership and church membership, I believe). His name is on a petition asking to be assigned to Mendon II district for ecclesiastical affairs, in 1747. I know that Mendon had a serious church problem as did Bellingham, as the church in Bellingham was Baptist. Perhaps Ebenezer was not of that persuasion and wanted to go to a more traditional church.
Since I can't find a will or estate papers for Ebenezer, I don't know whether he held on to some of his father's wealth or not. Farming in that area of Massachusetts was difficult as the soil was not suited for farming, or at least not easily farmed. Was his will taken by someone who wanted it for personal reasons, or did he never have a will? But shouldn't he at least had a probate record?
I'd like to know about Ebenezer, of course. Did Mary die and did her remarry? Where are Mary's death records? What were his religious beliefs, and how did he acquire the title of "Captain", if this man is ours? I sure hope someone who has studied this family will have some answers and be willing to help us learn more of our ancestor's story.
The line of descent is:
Ebenezer Thayer-Mary Wheelock
Abigail Thayer-Jesse Holbrook
Amariah Holbrook-Molly Wright
Nahum Holbrook-Susanna Rockwood
Joseph Holbrook-Mary Elizabeth Whittemore
Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown
Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants
Showing posts with label Ebenezer Thayer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ebenezer Thayer. Show all posts
Friday, May 8, 2020
Tuesday, July 16, 2019
Holbrook line: Ebenezer Thayer 1672-1723
Oh my! This man has been difficult to place. He is not, as far as I know, Captain Ebenezer; that man lived later than our ancestor. The same goes for Reverend Ebenezer Thayer. He's not our ancestor either. It's been amazing to find so many Ebenezers, and so many Thayers, and so many Ebenezer Thayers, in Mendon, Massachusetts. I'm glad I've been able to unravel our ancestor from some of the other men, and I'm especially glad that I found first his will (on Ancestry) and then his estate papers (on americanancestors.org). Without those papers, we'd know a lot less about Ebenezer than we know now.
Ebenezer is the son of Ferdinando and Hulday Hayward Thayer. He was born in either 1672 or 1674, possiblly in Braintree, Massachusetts Bay Colony. He was one of at least six children. At some point, when Ebenezer was still a child or youth, the family moved to Mendon, Massachusetts, at a time that Mendon was considered to be on the frontier. If they had already moved by the time of King Philip's War, this would have been a very tense time for the family. It was probably still tense in 1690, when Huldah is though to have died in Mendon, for there had been some kind of a military call up just the year before, perhaps due to intelligence about native American attacks. Short and uneasy were the periods of truce between the whites and the natives.
We get a sense of how much this was frontier by noting tht Ebenezer Thayer killed a wolf in 1694, and that the constable cut off its ears in front of some of the selectmen. There was probably a bounty for the wolf head, as that is usual in frontier towns.
Regardless of the date that Ebenezer arrived in Mendon, he stayed there the rest of his life. He married Martha Thomson or Thompson there on June 13, 1695. She was the daughter of John and Thankful Woodland Thompson. Ebenezer describes himself in his will as a husbandman, meaning he farmed his own land. Ebenezer and Martha had eight or perhaps nine children, enough to keep the two of them busy. His name is on rate lists for 1694 and 1699, and he was given land in the town allotments in 1707 and 1713, if not sooner. He acquired quite a significant holding before his death.
Mendon eventually grew to the point that it needed to be divided into one or more town, and Ebenezer's name is on a 1719 petition requesting division of the lands. It was granted by the general court, and Ebenezer's land straddled the line between Mendon and Bellingham. He may not have moved at all, but his death is sometimes shown as having happened in Bellingham. Note: up to the point that "Ebenezer's land straddled the line..." the information for this post has come from "Annals of the Town of Mendon' by John G. Metcalf. I've not seen this source quoted in on line summaries of his life, but there is this much information in the book.
The next we find of Ebenezer is his death. It occurred in either 1722 or 1723. It was an illness of some kind that took him because he described himself, in the will, as "being very sick". He left 68 acres of land to his son Ebenezer, laid out in various parcels in various years. To Uriah, he left several pieces of land in Mendon, to be held by the executor until he came of age. Then he left more land in Bellingham to Ebenezer. His homestead in Bellingham, not previously disposed of, was to be divided between his three sons, but his wife was to live on it and have the improvements until his son Daniel was of age. His wife was to be provided for in her widowhood out of the gifts he had made to his sons. His daughters Martha and Hannah were to have 10 pounds each when they reached the age of twenty one, out of his "personal estate". More was to be given to each of his four daughters, who also included Deborah and Abigail, and his sons were to provide for his wife's care, in one end of the dwelling house, in equal shares. She was to have corn and firewood, a cow and a horse, to lead a "comfortable subsistence".
The inventory is categorized rather than itemized, so we don't know about the little things that would tell us more about Ebenezer. He had about 16 head of cattle, including two oxen, three horses, 34 sheep and lambs, and 7 swine,. He also had a sword, belt, and ammunition, but there is no specific mention of a gun or other weapon. Interestingly, he also had four spinning wheels, which perhaps means his daughters were already working in a cottage industry. The estate was valued at about 826 pounds, due mostly to the many parcels of land that he owned. Funeral and other expenses reduced the estate by 15 pounds. It seems that Ebenezer left his family in decent financial shape, much sooner than he had planned. Martha is believed to have married Joseph Wight in 1724, and to have lived until 1759.
There are still many questsions I'd like to have answered. What was his military experience? Was he a Baptist, or a Congregationalist? Was he literate? His will was signed with an "X" but since he was "very sick", that may not mean anything. We can at least conclude that he was a successful farmer, at a time and place when that was difficult. Thank you, Ebenezer, for being part of our family!
The line of descent is:
Ebenezer Thayer-Martha Thompson
Deborah Thayer-John Rockwood
Joseph Rockwood-Alice Thompson
Levi Rockwood-Deborah Lazell
Susanna Rockwood-Nahum Holbrook
Joseph Holbrook-Mary Elizabeth Whittemore
Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown
Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants
Ebenezer is the son of Ferdinando and Hulday Hayward Thayer. He was born in either 1672 or 1674, possiblly in Braintree, Massachusetts Bay Colony. He was one of at least six children. At some point, when Ebenezer was still a child or youth, the family moved to Mendon, Massachusetts, at a time that Mendon was considered to be on the frontier. If they had already moved by the time of King Philip's War, this would have been a very tense time for the family. It was probably still tense in 1690, when Huldah is though to have died in Mendon, for there had been some kind of a military call up just the year before, perhaps due to intelligence about native American attacks. Short and uneasy were the periods of truce between the whites and the natives.
We get a sense of how much this was frontier by noting tht Ebenezer Thayer killed a wolf in 1694, and that the constable cut off its ears in front of some of the selectmen. There was probably a bounty for the wolf head, as that is usual in frontier towns.
Regardless of the date that Ebenezer arrived in Mendon, he stayed there the rest of his life. He married Martha Thomson or Thompson there on June 13, 1695. She was the daughter of John and Thankful Woodland Thompson. Ebenezer describes himself in his will as a husbandman, meaning he farmed his own land. Ebenezer and Martha had eight or perhaps nine children, enough to keep the two of them busy. His name is on rate lists for 1694 and 1699, and he was given land in the town allotments in 1707 and 1713, if not sooner. He acquired quite a significant holding before his death.
Mendon eventually grew to the point that it needed to be divided into one or more town, and Ebenezer's name is on a 1719 petition requesting division of the lands. It was granted by the general court, and Ebenezer's land straddled the line between Mendon and Bellingham. He may not have moved at all, but his death is sometimes shown as having happened in Bellingham. Note: up to the point that "Ebenezer's land straddled the line..." the information for this post has come from "Annals of the Town of Mendon' by John G. Metcalf. I've not seen this source quoted in on line summaries of his life, but there is this much information in the book.
The next we find of Ebenezer is his death. It occurred in either 1722 or 1723. It was an illness of some kind that took him because he described himself, in the will, as "being very sick". He left 68 acres of land to his son Ebenezer, laid out in various parcels in various years. To Uriah, he left several pieces of land in Mendon, to be held by the executor until he came of age. Then he left more land in Bellingham to Ebenezer. His homestead in Bellingham, not previously disposed of, was to be divided between his three sons, but his wife was to live on it and have the improvements until his son Daniel was of age. His wife was to be provided for in her widowhood out of the gifts he had made to his sons. His daughters Martha and Hannah were to have 10 pounds each when they reached the age of twenty one, out of his "personal estate". More was to be given to each of his four daughters, who also included Deborah and Abigail, and his sons were to provide for his wife's care, in one end of the dwelling house, in equal shares. She was to have corn and firewood, a cow and a horse, to lead a "comfortable subsistence".
The inventory is categorized rather than itemized, so we don't know about the little things that would tell us more about Ebenezer. He had about 16 head of cattle, including two oxen, three horses, 34 sheep and lambs, and 7 swine,. He also had a sword, belt, and ammunition, but there is no specific mention of a gun or other weapon. Interestingly, he also had four spinning wheels, which perhaps means his daughters were already working in a cottage industry. The estate was valued at about 826 pounds, due mostly to the many parcels of land that he owned. Funeral and other expenses reduced the estate by 15 pounds. It seems that Ebenezer left his family in decent financial shape, much sooner than he had planned. Martha is believed to have married Joseph Wight in 1724, and to have lived until 1759.
There are still many questsions I'd like to have answered. What was his military experience? Was he a Baptist, or a Congregationalist? Was he literate? His will was signed with an "X" but since he was "very sick", that may not mean anything. We can at least conclude that he was a successful farmer, at a time and place when that was difficult. Thank you, Ebenezer, for being part of our family!
The line of descent is:
Ebenezer Thayer-Martha Thompson
Deborah Thayer-John Rockwood
Joseph Rockwood-Alice Thompson
Levi Rockwood-Deborah Lazell
Susanna Rockwood-Nahum Holbrook
Joseph Holbrook-Mary Elizabeth Whittemore
Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown
Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants
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