Holbrook line: Medad Pomeroy 1695-1767

An interesting thing happened as I was researching this post.  I started tripping over names in the Allen line, such as Dewey, Hitchcock, Ashley, Root, Noble, and more.  Our Holbrook and Allen lines were married into each other's families, neighbors and church members and part of the same militias at times.  Who knew?  That's one of the things that fascinates me about family history, how the stories intertwine.  

Medad Pomeroy is the fourth Pomeroy ancestor I've written about (Eltweed, the first Medad, and Joseph are the earlier ones) and there is still another Medad to go, if I can find sufficient information about him.  This Medad is fairly well documented, although I have yet to find an occupation for him.

Medad Pomeroy was born in Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay Colony on July 16, 1695, the son of Joseph and Hannah Seymour Pomeroy.  Some family listings for Joseph and Hannah miss Medad because he and Eliakim were born in Northampton, but the family moved to Suffield, which was then also in Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1699 when Joseph was offered land there if he would come and start a blacksmithing business.  (Many of the early Pomeroys were blacksmiths or metal workers of some kind, but I have not found anything stating that was Medad's occupation).  Eventually Suffield became a part of the colony and then state of Connecticut, which means records need to be checked in each state.

So Medad grew up in Suffield, and Suffield is where he died.  We don't know how often he left town, but we do know that in 1723 he served on a military expedition during Dummer's War for 5 weeks and 2 days under Capt. Adijah Dewey, who was the brother of my seventh great grandmother, Elizabeth Dewey, and  who married Sarah Root, the daughter of John and Mary Ashley Root, also my 7th great grandparents.  That is just one of the connections that boggles my mind. 

The military expedition may have been to the area in and around Deerfield, Massachusetts, which had again been threatened by native Americans urged on by the French.  There was a council with the natives there in 1723.  It is also possible that this same group went further north, but I haven't been able to confirm that.

This is the only military record I could find for Medad, who was a private.  He assumed town responsibilities before and after this service, service as constable, fence viewer, assessor, and survey of highways during his lifetime, as well as moderator for town meetings, and selectman several times.  He was obviously well-respected in Suffield.  I've read that selectmen were generally of the upper class in terms of financial standing, but I don't know if that holds true for Medad or not. 

Medad did manage to find someone to marry who was outside of the family circle.  On February 12, 1718 he married Hannah Trumbull, daughter of John and Elizabeth Winchell Trumbull in Suffield.  He and Hannah had at least six children together, all named in his will.  Hannah is left half of his homestead during her lifetime, and then Medad and Phineas  get the larger bequests, along with the responsibility to see that the other children receive the bequests of ten to fifteen pounds each.  Although I've not found an inventory, it doesn't appear that this was a well to do family at the time of his death, which occurred on June 11, 1767.  Hannah is in the will so presumably survived him but I've not yet found a trustworthy date for her death.  

The picture I have of Medad is one of a good, honest, well-respected man.  He raised a family and some of his sons and grandsons went to college, became soldiers in the Revolutionary War, pastors and physicians, and contributed to the history of our land.  We can be glad to be associated with this family, whether directly through the Holbrook line or indirectly through that intertwined Allen line.

The line of descent is

Medad Pomeroy-Hannah Trumbull

Medad Pomeroy-Eunice Southwell

Eunice Pomeroy-Libbeus Stannard

Libbeus Stanard-Luceba/Euzebia Fay

Hiram Stanard-Susan Eddy

Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick

Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook

Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen

Their descendants

Holbrook line: Medad Pomeroy 1638-1716

My last blog post was about Thomas Noble, an ancestor on our Allen side.  In it, I mentioned that his widow, Hannah Warriner, had married Medad Pomeroy.  I recognized that name so looked for the blog post I must have written about him, but there was nothing to be found.  So, here it is.  Medad Pomeroy is an ancestor on our Holbrook side.  He was first married to Experience Woodward, from whom we descend.  He was later married to Abigail Strong, who would be a sibling of our ancestor Thomas Strong, also on the Holbrook side.  And finally, he was married to Hannah Warriner Noble, the Allen connection.  We have quite a connection to this man, and it's time that I wrote about him. 

Medad Pomeroy was born August 19, 1638 in Windsor, Hartford Connecticut, to Eltweed and Mary Rockett/Rockwood Pomeroy.  The elder Pomeroys were with the very first settlers in 1633, when the settlement was first called Dorchester.  Eltweed had some prominence in the town, and is noted to be the founding father of the Pomeroy family in America.  Medad was one of at least eight children born to the couple.  Eltweed was a fuller, but perhaps he provided his children with an apprenticeship, for Medad was a blacksmith and a gunsmith. It's unclear why Medad left Windsor to go to Northampton, Massachusetts (north of Springfield), but once there, he may have been taught by John Webb, who was the first blacksmith in Northampton but not necessarily a businessman. (One source says he arrived in Northampton in 1659 and was welcomed because of his blacksmithing skills.  I've used a history of Northampton for most of the information in this post.)  Medad eventually took over Webb's shop location, perhaps with Webb's approval.  Medad also must have been given a decent education for the time.  Although he didn't attend college, the positions he held in the town would have required reading, writing, and arithmetic skills. 

As mentioned, Medad married three times.  He married Experience Woodward, daughter of Henry and Elizabeth Mather Woodward, on March 21, 1661 in Northampton, not long after his arrival in Northampton.  (Henry was one of the first settlers of the town.)  Medad and Experience had 11 children together, before she died, possibly in childbirth, at the age of 43.  Medad next married Abigail Strong, and they had one son together.  When Abigail died in 1704, he waited just a few months before marrying Hannah Warriner Noble.  By this time, he was about 67 years old and Hannah was also in her 60's, so there were no children from this marriage. 

Medad had one of the longest periods of public service to his town of any ancestor I've yet found.  He was chosen selectman of the town 28 times, deputy to the general court seven times, treasurer from 1698 onward, and some years held as many as six elected offices at the same time.  It was a small town, but he was still one of the prominent men in town.  He was also clerk, responsible for keeping town records, for most of the period from 1665 until shortly before his death. 

As if that was not enough honor, and work, he was also a deacon in the church, and a member of the militia who was involved in the Falls Fight, serving under Captain Turner.  This fight involved the massacre of a native American village so is not necessarily something to be proud of, but it was part of his life and he would have lived with that knowledge for another 40 plus years.  I wonder if he ever had nightmares, or whether he felt it was his duty to participate?  His son Ebenezer was granted land in 1736 in reward for his father's service during this battle. 

Medad wrote his will in 1708 but lived until December 30, 1716.  There must have been some kind of prenuptial agreement because he left Hannah her choice of a cow, everything she had brought with her, and instructions that she was to draw from the estate anything that she needed.  He left his sons and daughters anywhere from 20 to 80 pounds apiece, except that by the time he died, the estate was not worth nearly as much as he had expected.  Perhaps in the interim, he had sold assets and given the proceeds to the children, but it's hard to know.  His estate was valued at just 41 pounds, unless there were more pages to the inventory that didn't get filmed. 

There is more to be told about Medad than I've included in this brief sketch.  He was involved in at least one town controversy, and there were a couple of business ventures that don't seem to have gotten off the ground.  But Medad seems to have been well-respected, an extremely hard worker, and an important part of the town he served so well.  While recognizing that he had shortcomings, we can still respect this man, part of our past and part of our family.

The line of descent is:

Medad Pomeroy-Hannah Warriner
Joseph Pomeroy-Hannah Seymour
Medad Pomeroy-Hannah Trumbull
Medad Pomeroy-Eunice Southwell
Eunice Pomeroy-Libbeus Stannard
Libbeus Stanard-Luceba Fay
Hiram Stanard-Susan Eddy
Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants