Which Moses Foster?

The subject of my last post, Deacon Moses Foster, has often been confused with another Moses Foster who lived at about the same time. In this post I will try to distinguish between the two. WARNING: This post is more research-oriented than most.

Will of Moses Foster of Ipswich

According to The New England Historical and Genealogical Register for 1876 (vol. 30), the other Moses Foster “was born in Ipswich, 1697. He was a husbandman. His will was dated 28 March 1782. He died at Chebacco, Ipswich, 27 Sept. 1785. He married first, Mary, daughter of Nathaniel Rust. She died 2 May 1732, in her 30th year. Secondly, Mary Blodgett, 18 Jan. 1732-3. Thirdly, Ann Varney, a widow, who died 21 Feb. 1787, in her 87th year. His children were: i. Miriam, bapt. 14 Aug. 1726. ii. Zebulon, bapt. 22 Sept. 1728. iii. Moses. iv. Aaron, b. 1723.”[1] These facts about Moses Foster of Ipswich are corroborated by the Find A Grave website for the grave of this Moses Foster.[2] We can add to this that Moses of Ipswich married Ann Varney on 10 Dec. 1767.[3] The 1782 will of Moses of Ipswich makes clear that his son Aaron was alive in 1782, but sons Zebulon and Moses had died. No other children are mentioned.[4]

How do we know that the Moses Foster who settled in Dorchester Canada (later Ashburnham) was not the Moses Foster from Ipswich? This can be demonstrated by means of their children. The records of Ipswich show that Moses and Mary of Ipswich had two children: Miriam (bapt. 1726) and Zebulon (bapt. 1728).[5] The will of Moses of Ipswich lists two additional children: Moses and Aaron.[6] There is no indication that any of these children had anything to do with Dorchester Canada or Ashburnham.

Moses of Chelmsford had twelve children: Phoebe (b. 1716), Samuel (b. 1718), Esther (b. 1720), Mary (b. 1722), Sarah (b. 1724), Martha (b. 1726), Elizabeth (b. 1729), Moses Jr. (b. 1731), Jane (b. 1733), Joseph (b. 1735), Eunice (b. 1737), and Anna (b. 1739).[7]

Children of Moses of Chelmsford/Littleton

In 1744 Moses of Chelmsford’s daughter Martha married John Bates in Westford, near Littleton and Chelmsford.[8] The Bates’ daughter Martha was baptized in Lunenburg (near Dorchester Canada) in 1749.[9] Their daughter Mary was baptized on July 4, 1756. John is said to be “of Dorchester Canada.”[10]

Moses’ daughter Jane married Zimri Heywood on Jun 5, 1756. At the time of their marriage, both were said to be “of Dorchester Canada” although the marriage took place in Lunenberg (about eleven miles to the east of Dorchester Canada).[11] The Heywoods had five children in Ashburnham: Rebekah Willis (b. 1757), Eunice (b. 1760), Nathan (b. 1762), Elizabeth (b. 1764) and Thomas (b. 1766). During the Revolution, Zimri was commissioned as Captain of the 6^th Company, 2^nd Lincoln County Regiment. However, on 27 June 1777 he resigned his commission, saying he had performed his duties to the best of his ability, but felt compelled to resign because of disaffection in the company.[12] The Heywoods eventually moved to Maine, where Zimri died on 14 July 1798.[13]

Moses Foster Jr. and his wife Mary also lived in Ashburnham for a time. Seven children were born to them there: Milicent (“Melsent”) (b. 1758), Sarah (b. 1760), Kezia (b. 1762), Phebe (b. 1764), Esther (b. 1767), Brooks (b. 1769) and Moses (b. 1771).[14] Milicent (“Melsent”) died in Ashburnham in 1760.[15] Moses Jr. and Zimri Heywood had a saw mill in the town.[16] Moses Jr. moved to Shelburne, Massachusetts in 1770.[17] It appears that he died intestate in 1779. In papers associated with the settling of his estate, there is a note stating that “he went and joined the enemy about the first of September in the year 1777.”[18]

Moses Sr.’s daughter Anna married Nathan Melvin in Concord in March of 1759. The Melvins moved to Ashburnham and had six children there: Anna, (b. 1760), Sarah (b. 1762), Phebe (b. 1765), Hepzibah (Hephsibeth) (b. 1767), Nathan Jr. (b. 1769) and Theodore (b. 1771).[19] During the Revolution, Nathan was a Sergeant in Capt. Thurlow’s Company, Colonel Josiah Whitney’s Regiment. He served from July 30 to September 13, 1778 in Rhode Island.[20] Later the Melvins moved to Cambridge, Vermont.

The fact that the children of Moses Foster of Chelmsford and Littleton have connections with both Littleton and Ashburnham shows that Deacon Moses Foster of Dorchester Canada (Ashburnham) was originally Moses Foster of Littleton and Chelmsford.

The confusion of Moses Foster of Chelmsford and Ashburnham with the Moses Foster of Ipswich seems to go back to the book Foster Genealogy by Frederick Clifton Pierce.[21] Pierce appears to have used two sources for his information about Moses Foster. One is the article by Edward Jacob Forster, “Genealogy of the Fo(r)ster Family: Descendants of Reginald Fo(r)ster of Ipswich, Mass” in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register for 1876 (vol. 30). The other is Ezra S. Stearns’ History of Ashburnham. Pierce’s entry for Moses Foster begins as follows: “DEA. MOSES FOSTER (John, Reginald, Reginald) b. Ipswich, Mass, in 1697; m. ]an. 18, 1732 Mary Rust; b. 1702. She d. May 2, 1732; m. 2d, Jan. 18, 1733, Mary Blodgett, b. 1702; d. Nov. 11. 1777. in Ashburnham; m. 3d, Mrs. Ann Varney; b. 1700; d. Feb, 21, 1787.” Then Pierce quotes (inaccurately and without acknowledgement) from Stearns’ account of the appearance of Moses Foster at a meeting of the proprietors of Dorchester Canada. After summarizing the rest of what Stearns says about Moses Foster, Pierce adds: “In his extreme old age he returned to Ipswich.” After this, Pierce continues with an adaptation from Forster: “He was a husbandman. His will was dated March 28, 1782. He died at Chebacco, Ipswich, Sept. 27, 1785. He married. first, Mary, daughter of Nathaniel Rust. He d. Sept. 27, 1785. Res., Ipswich, Ashburnham and Ipswich, Mass.” Pierce then follows Forster in listing the four children of Moses of Ipswich. However, he adds to these four one child of Moses of Chelmsford, namely Jane, who married Zimri Heywood.[22]

From the above it will be seen that Pierce has assumed that Moses’ wife Mary, who died in Ashburnham on 11 Nov 1777, is Mary Blodgett, the second wife of Moses of Ipswich. However, this is impossible. Moses of Ipswich married his third wife, Ann Varney on 10 Dec. 1767. Pierce also has to assume that Moses “in his extreme old age” returned to Ipswich from Ashburnham, because Moses of Ipswich died in Ipswich on 27 Sep. 1785. But the records of Ashburnham state that Deacon Foster died in Ashburnham on 17 Oct. 1785 at the age of 94 years[23] (which is more in keeping with the 1692 birthdate of Moses of Chelmsford).

Many have been influenced by the errors of Pierce. I am hoping that this account will make clear that Moses Foster of Chelmsford and Ashburnham (1692-1785) and Moses Foster of Ipswich (1697-1785) are two distinct persons.

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[1] Forster, Edward Jacob. “Genealogy of the Fo(r)ster Family: Descendants of Reginald Fo(r)ster of Ipswich, Mass.” The New England Historical and Genealogical Register for 1876 (vol. 30). Boston: The New England Historical and Genealogical Society, 1876.  p. 102.

[2] Find A Grave, Moses Foster. (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/63888578).

[3] Vital Records of Ipswich, Massachusetts to the End of the Year 1849. Salem, Mass.: The Essex Institute, 1910. p. 171.

[4] Essex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1638-1881.Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014. (From records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives.) https://www.americanancestors.org/DB515/i/13765/9955-co19/0

[5] Vital Records of Ipswich, Massachusetts to the End of the Year 1849. Vol. 1 – Births. Salem, Mass.: The Essex Institute, 1910. pp. 147, 149.

[6] Essex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1638-1881.Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014. (From records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives.) https://www.americanancestors.org/DB515/i/13765/9955-co19/0

[7] Records of Littleton, Massachusetts. Printed by Order of the Town. Births and Deaths from the Earliest Records in the Town Books Begun in 1715. Littleton, Mass.: [No publisher listed], 1900. p. 47.

[8] Vital Records of Westford, Massachusetts to the End of the Year 1849. Salem, Mass.: The Essex Institute, 1915. pp. 134, 170.

[9] Stearns, Ezra S. History of Ashburnham, Massachusetts. pp. 606.

[10] Vital Records of Westford. p. 11

[11] Vital Records of Ashburnham. pp. 118, 125.

[12] Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War, Vol. 7. Boston: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1900. p. 810.

[13] Find A Grave, Zimri Heywood. (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/55851313).

[14] Ibid. p. 33.

[15] Ibid. p. 183.

[16] Stearns, Ezra S. History of Ashburnham. pp. 89, 91.

[17] Ibid. p. 709.

[18]  Hampshire County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1660-1889. Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2016, 2017. (From records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives and the Hampshire County Court. Digitized images provided by FamilySearch.org) https://www.americanancestors.org/DB1653/r/1044315582

[19] Vital Records of Ashburnham. p. 56.

[20] Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War, Vol. 10. Boston: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1902. p. 627.

[21] Pierce, Frederick Clifton. Foster Genealogy: Being the Record of the Posterity of Reginald Foster, an Early Inhabitant of Ipswich, New England, Whose Genealogy is Traced Back to Anacher, Great Forester of Flanders, Who Died in 837. A.D., with Wills, Inventories, Biographical Sketches, Etc. Also the Record of All Other American Fosters. Chicago: Press of W. B. Conkey Company, 1899.

[22] Ibid. pp. 147-148.

[23] Vital Records of Ashburnham. p. 184.

Deacon Moses Foster (1692-1785)

I am resuming my posts on this blog after a long hiatus. I would like to highlight some of our New England ancestors on the Brown side of the family. My fourth great-grandfather was Jonah Whipple. (See the post, "The Whipple Family.") Jonah's wife was Hepsibeth Melvin, the daughter of Nathan Melvin and Anna Foster. This post focuses on Anna's father, Deacon Moses Foster, who was my sixth great-grandfather.

Old Chelmsford Garrison House
Wikimedia Commons

Edward Kemp and his son-in-law, Samuel Foster, were part of a group of people, who with their minister, Rev. John Fiske, moved from Wenham to a new settlement in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, in November 1655.[1] One of Samuel Foster’s sons was also named Samuel. Samuel Jr. married Sarah Keyes in Chelmsford on 28 May 1678.[2] Moses (“Mosis”) was born in Chelmsford to Samuel (“Sameuel”) and Sarah Foster on 4 Oct. 1692.[3] He appears to have been the fourth of eleven children.

Moses Foster married Mary Davis (b. 20 May 1699), the daughter of Samuel Davis, Jr. and his wife Anna (or Hannah) sometime around 1715. Moses and Anna had twelve children: Phoebe (b. 1716), Samuel (b. 1718), Esther (b. 1720), Mary (b. 1722), Sarah (b. 1724), Martha (b. 1726), Elizabeth (b. 1729), Moses Jr. (b. 1731), Jane (b. 1733), Joseph (b. 1735), Eunice (b. 1737), and Anna (b. 1739).[4]

Though Moses Foster lived in Chelmsford, he and some others who lived in the west part of Chelmsford came to be associated with the town of Littleton, which was incorporated in 1714. In March of 1716 (1717) Moses and some others were “obliged to pay the minister at Littleton.” Moses and others petitioned Chelmsford in 1719 (1720) to be “set off to Littleton,” but their petition was denied.[5]

On November 16, 1731, Mary Foster’s parents, Samuel and Anna, made an agreement to convey their possessions to Moses. Moses was to provide for Samuel and Anna from that time on. However, there was a misunderstanding which resulted in Samuel and Moses suing each other in the Middlesex Superior Court in 1734. Samuel sued Moses for debt on a bond. Moses sued Samuel on an account that included beef, pork, corn and salt. When the first court decision went against Moses, he appealed to the Superior Court of the Judicature.[6] I need to do more research to find out what the outcome of this appeal was. But whatever the outcome, it seems like a sad episode in this family's history.

On June 7, 1744, Moses’ daughter Martha married John Bates in Westford, a town that had been established between Chelmsford and Littleton. Martha is said to be “of Littleton.”[7]

Sometime before 1750 Moses and his family moved to what would eventually become Ashburnham, Massachusetts. Originally, Ashburnham was a grant to solders of Dorchester, Massachusetts who had participated in a campaign against the French in Canada. Thus the tract was known as “Dorchester Canada.” Moses had purchased two lots in the northeast part of the tract. In 1750 he met with the proprietors of Dorchester Canada (who met in Dorchester, Massachusetts). Because the title to one of the lots was in dispute, the proprietors made Moses a grant of fifty acres and voted him five pounds for being one of the first settlers. The acreage granted to Moses was located just east of the common, and for many years was known as the “Deacon Foster grant.” Moses was a licensed innholder from 1751 on.[8] He was also a deacon in the church, and had a pew next to the pulpit.[9] In 1756 Moses was the defendant in a case in the Court of Common Pleas of Suffolk County. The plaintiff was a potter named Joseph Hall, of Dorchester, Massachusetts.[10] More research will have to be done to find out what this dispute was about. It may have been related to one of the lots that Moses had originally purchased.

Second Meeting House, Ashburnham, built 1791
Wikimedia Commons

At least four of Moses and Mary’s children and their families joined them in Dorchester Canada (later Ashburnham). They included John and Martha (Foster) Bates, Moses Foster Jr. and his wife Mary, Zimri and Jane (Foster) Heywood and Nathan and Anna (Foster) Melvin. Moses Jr. and Zimri Heywood operated a saw mill in Ashburham.

Moses’ wife Mary died in Ashburnham on 11 November 1777. Moses himself died in Ashburnham on 17 October 1785.[11]

Moses Foster of Chelmsford and Ashburnham is often confused with another Moses Foster, who lived at about the same time in Ipswich. In my next post, my goal will be to sort out the difference between the two.

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[1] Waters, Wilson. History of Chelmsford, Massachusetts. Lowell, Massachusetts: Printed for the Town by The Courier-Citizen Company, 1917. pp. 9ff.

[2] The Vital Records of Chelmsford, Massachusetts to the End of the Year 1849. Salem, Mass.: The Essex Institute, 1914. p. 235.

[3] Ibid. p. 70.

[4] Records of Littleton, Massachusetts. Printed by Order of the Town. Births and Deaths from the Earliest Records in the Town Books Begun in 1715. Littleton, Mass.: [No publisher listed], 1900. p. 47.

[5] Hodgman, Edwin R. The History of the Town of Westford in the County of Middlesex, Massachusetts, 1659-1883. Lowell, Mass.: Morning Mail Company, 1883. Pp. 15-16.

[6] The information in this paragraph combines information at the website http://www.anamericanfamilyhistory.com/Davis%20Family/DavisMaryFoster.html#MosesFoster with information gleaned from a Google search that showed snippets from Davis, Sumner Augustus. Descendants of Barnabas Davis, son of James, who settled in Charlestown, Mass., 1635. Birmingham, Alabama: [publisher not identified], 1949. p. 11.

[7] Vital Records of Westford, Massachusetts to the End of the Year 1849. Salem, Mass.: The Essex Institute, 1915. pp. 134, 170.

[8] Stearns, Ezra S. History of Ashburnham, Massachusetts from the Grant of Dorchester Canada to the Present Time, 1734-1886 with a Genealogical Register of Ashburnham Families. Ashburnham, Mass.: Published by the Town, 1887. pp. 82, 90.

[9] Ibid. p. 287.

[10] Suffolk County, MA: Index to Court of Common Pleas Cases, 1756-1776.  (Online database.

AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2013.) From records compiled

by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's division of Archives and Records Preservation, and

held by the Massachusetts Archives. https://www.americanancestors.org/DB491/r/422891464

[11] Vital Records of Ashburnham, Massachusetts to the End of the Year 1849. Worcester, Massachusetts: Published by Franklin P. Rice, 1909. pp. 183-184.

The Hand Family

Alida Electa Hand is my great-great grandmother, the mother of Lizzie Whipple Brown. In this post I will share information about the Hand family.

John Hand (1611-1661) came to America in 1635, landing first in Lynn, Massachusetts, and then by 1644, moving to Long Island. He lived first in Southampton and then in East Hampton.

View of a farm in Richmond, Mass.

My fifth great-grandfather, Abraham (or Abram) Hand, was born in East Hampton, Suffolk County, New York, on September 22, 1764. At some point he moved with his half-brother Daniel Hand to western Massachusetts, settling in Richmond, in Berkshire County. There he enlisted in the Continental Army in January 1781, when he was sixteen years old. He served in an artillery unit, mostly along the Hudson River, until October 1783. His discharge was signed by General Henry Knox, who is well-known to students of Revolutionary War history.

After the war, on October 21, 1784, Abraham married Mary West in Richmond. Mary was born in Tolland, Connecticut, on March 6, 1767. She was descended from Francis West, who was a resident of Duxbury in Plymouth Colony as early as 1640. Abraham and Mary had eight children. The third-born, Abner, was my fourth great-grandfather. He was named after his mother’s father, Abner West.

By the time of the United States census of 1790, Abraham and Mary were living in the town Rensselaerville, in Albany County, New York. They were still living there when the 1800 census was taken. By 1820 Abraham and Mary had moved to the town of Galen, in Wayne County, in west-central New York. They lived there until 1838, when they moved to Fitchville, in Huron County, Ohio, to be near three of their children and their families. Both Abraham and Mary were listed in the census of 1840. Both died later that year, Mary, on September 18, and Abraham on November 4.

Abraham Hand's discharge from Continental Army

We know quite a bit about Abraham because as a Revolutionary War veteran, he applied for a government pension provided by an Act of Congress in 1818. His first application was in 1819, when he was 54 years of age. The application stated that “he is in reduced circumstances and stands in need of the assistance of his country for support.” Apparently this application was rejected because Abraham had some property. In 1827 Abraham again applied for the pension. This application includes a “schedule” listing all of his property, along with the amounts he owes others and the amounts others owe him. According to the schedule, Abraham owned one cow, eleven sheep and six hogs. He owned a plough, an axe, a pitchfork and a shovel. Household items included three kettles and one pot, one tea kettle, and one stone jug. He owned two books. In the application he stated, “I am in reduced and indigent circumstances and unable to support myself without the assistance of government or the aid of public or private charity; that I have been thus indigent and reduced, since the year 1817-- that I am aged and infirm, being sixty-two years of age the twenty second day of September last past, and my health much impaired; that I have a wife aged sixty years, who is also oppressed with divers infirmities, that prevent her from doing but little slight and light work, and that the assistance of a hired servant is necessary to her constantly; that I have two grandchildren that I am bound to provide for and sustain, and who live with me, one of whom is about three years of age, and the other about seven years of age and I am a farmer by occupation.”

Abraham Hand's signature, 1827

Documents that accompanied the 1827 application indicate that in 1820 Abraham took out a mortgage for $500 and bought 180 acres of land in Galen. They also state that “shortly thereafter” Abraham was “embarrassed by misfortunes” and “lost the land.” Abraham is described as “poor & unfortunate but industrious and honest and of fair character as a man for truth and moral conduct.”

My fourth great-grandfather, Abner Hand, was born in Rensselaerville, Albany County, New York on January 27, 1790. He was a soldier in the War of 1812, serving from August of 1812 until the following February, when he was discharged at Sackets Harbor, New York. He married Mary Ann Petteys on February 14, 1814, and they had several children, including my third great-grandfather (Abraham) Henry Hand. Abner's wife Mary Ann died on September 17, 1824. On May 20, 1825, he married Abigail Tuttle and together they had two children. Abner was a farmer, said to be 5 feet 8 inches in height, with dark hair, light grey eyes and a light complexion. According to one report, he had a still. In the census of 1850 he is listed as a “laborer.” He died on December 17, 1854.

I know very little about my third great-grandfather, (Abraham) Henry Hand. He was born about 1820 and is listed in the 1850 US census as having a wife Catherine, and two daughters, Alida Electa (my second great-grandmother) and Margaret Ann. His occupation is listed as “clerk.” By the 1860 census, it appears that both Henry and his wife had died. Alida Electa was then living in Rose, New York, with a farmer named Philander S. Lewis, his wife Ann, and their two children. Margaret Ann was living in Galen with a glass cutter named Daniel Watson and his wife Elizabeth.

Clearly our family's "Hand" roots are humble, but two "Hands" did serve their country. And although Abraham was reduced to seeking government aid, at least he was known as a man who was both "honest" and "industrious."

A "Character": Martha Davis

This is the second of two posts I am writing about fifth great-grandparents on the Whipple branch of the family. Martha Davis Reed appears to have been a "character" in every sense of the word.

How is Martha is related to the Brown family? My great-grandmother, Lizzie Whipple Brown, was the granddaughter of Jonathan Whipple and Lucinda Kentner. Lucinda’s parents were John George Kentner (son of George Kentner) and Clarinda Reed. Clarinda was the daughter of William Reed and Martha Davis. Thus Martha Davis Reed is my fifth great-grandmother.

Martha Davis may have been born around 1750 and was married to William Reed. The first record I have of their family is the US census for 1790, which shows that William Reed was living in Charlotte Township, Vermont, on the east side of Lake Champlain. He was living with his wife, two sons and three daughters. Two of the daughters were Clarinda (born in about 1780) and Lucinda (born in about 1782). In about 1800 Reed and his family moved from Vermont to the area of Canada north of the New York State border and south of the St. Lawrence River.

The following material comes from The History of Huntingdon and the Seigniories of Chateaugay and Beauharnois from Their First Settlement to the Year 1838, by Robert Sellar, published in Huntingdon, Quebec, by The Canadian Gleaner in 1888. Sellar was the editor of a local newspaper, The Gleaner. He obtained his information on early residents of the Huntingdon area primarily by means of interviews.

Robert Sellar

According to Sellar, William Reed first settled on the Chateauguay River across from Ste. Martine, Quebec. From there he moved farther west on the river to North Georgetown. But when he learned that he would have to pay rent to live there, “in 1807 he moved up to the first concession of Hinchinbrook and settled on the Burnbrae farm (lot 25). His departure was regretted by the settlers of the Chateaugay settlement on account of losing the society of his wife [Martha, our fifth great-grandmother], who was a clever and very eccentric woman, and who spent a good deal of her time in visiting, being welcome at every house, for she supplied the place of a newspaper and had an inexhaustible flow of caustic and humorous small talk, which she varied by songs. Her visits she generally made on the back of a bull, whose horns were ornamented with ribbons, and with which she even made trips to Montreal. She was, despite her birth, a loyal British subject. It is related of her that she fearlessly visited relatives in Vermont during the war [of 1812], and on returning found no canoe wherewith to cross the Richelieu to the Canadian side. Presently the British sentry saw something white waving on the opposite shore, and taking it to be a flag of truce reported, when the guard turned out, and a canoe was sent off, to find Mother Reed standing alone, and chuckling at the success of her ruse.”

Chateauguay River near Ste. Martine, Quebec

Sellar continues, quoting the testimony of an early settler named James Wright: “When I was a boy, she came in late one evening, when we were all in bed, and told my father she had made a song on the war. He asked to hear it, when she replied he would have to get up. He retorted he could listen as well in bed. We boys, who had risen on hearing her, sat beside her at the glowing chimney-nook, and she began, snapping her toothless jaws, to bawl out her ballad, of which I do not remember a word, but it amused us highly. On a subsequent visit, my father hailed her as Mother Reed, when she sharply responded that was no longer her name; she was Mrs. Turner. Turner was a shiftless, drunken Englishman and she was, when she married him, of the mature age of 72!”

From 1825 census, Hinchinbrook, Quebec

In the Canadian census of 1825, a James Turner is listed as living with his wife in Hinchinbrook, Quebec. He is listed as being over sixty years of age. Martha may well have been his wife at that time. The name that follows Turner’s on the census list is John Kentney (probably John George Kentner, married to Clarinda Reed; they are our fourth great-grandparents). John Dennis (the son-in-law of John George Kentner, married to his daughter Sarah) is living next to John. The name of James McLetchy (should be McClatchie) is a little farther down the list. James was a Scotsman who married Lucinda Reed, Martha’s daughter and Clarinda’s sister). 

A Loyalist in the Family? George Kentner

Before I leave the Whipple branch of the family, I will write posts about two of my fifth great-grandparents. In this post I will focus on George Kentner, who lived from about 1737 until sometime between 1811 and 1816. I should note that all of the information in this post has been unearthed by other genealogists.

My grandmother, Janet Nicholas Brown, took pride in the fact that she was descended from Alexander Kirkpatrick, who fought on the American side in the Revolutionary War. This entitled my grandmother to be a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution (D.A.R.). Little did she know that her husband, Harmon Brown, was descended from George Kentner, a Loyalist who fought against the “Continentals” in New York State as part of the famous (or infamous) unit known as “Butler’s Rangers.” George was the grandfather of my third great-grandmother, Lucinda Kentner Whipple, who in turn was the wife of Jonathan Whipple and grandmother of Lizzie Whipple Brown.

Joseph Galloway

George Kentner was born in Wurttemberg, Germany in about 1737. He came to this country in a ship named The King of Prussia, arriving in Philadelphia on October 3, 1764. His fare had been paid by Joseph Galloway, a lawyer and acquaintance of Benjamin Franklin. Galloway owned several estates in southeastern Pennsylvania and Kentner was brought over to serve as an indentured servant for two and a quarter years. At some point he married Sarah Brown. (Yes, there is yet another Sarah Brown among our ancestors.) When his indenture was completed, George may initially have gone to Lancaster County, but eventually he and his family moved farther north up the Susquehanna River to the Wilkes-Barre area.

George was involved in the Pennamite War of 1769, in which conflicting land claims between the colonies of Connecticut and Pennsylvania resulted in fighting. (Connecticut claimed land in what is now northern Pennsylvania.) George fought on the Connecticut side. On September 24, 1771 George was admitted into the town of Wilkes-Barre on the Susquehanna River. It appears that our ancestor, John George Kentner, the son of George and Sarah, was born in Wilkes-Barre in 1773 (although that date is disputed). In 1774 George sold his property in Wilkes-Barre and moved to Tunkhannock, on the Susquehanna thirty-one miles northwest of Wilkes-Barre. From there George moved his family to Sheshequin (Sugar Creek) in what is now Bradford County, Pennsylvania, again along the Susquehanna River. In 1776 George Kentner’s name appears on an assessment list of the Upper River District, County of Westmoreland, State of Connecticut. In 1777 he sold all of his property and, with his family, he and other Loyalists made the difficult trip to Fort Niagara in Canada.

1776 Upper River District Assessment List

 At Fort Niagara George joined the British fighting force known as Butler’s Rangers. He participated in the siege of Fort Stanwix and the battle of Oriskany in 1777. After the Rangers withdrew from Fort Stanwix, George and others were allowed to return to the Susquehanna to get cattle and more recruits. There he was captured by the Connecticut militia. He and his friend Jacob Anguish were jailed in Wilkes-Barre and then in Hartford, Connecticut, until 1778. 

The uniform of Butler's Rangers

In the Hartford jail, conditions were wretched. At one point the foot of Jacob Anguish froze to the mud floor and had to be torn loose.  Anguish and Kentner appealed to the Connecticut Assembly, claiming to be supporters of the Revolution and were released in May of 1778. They then made their way to Tioga, New York, where they rejoined Butler. (“All is fair in love and war”?)

By 1779 George and his family had moved to a kind of refugee camp at Machiche, near Montreal, where they were supplied with food along with other Loyalist families. On June 25, 1780, George enlisted in another Loyalist unit, the King’s Royal Regiment of New York, Second Battalion. In 1784, the regiment was disbanded. Along with other German Loyalists, George and his family settled in Matilda Township of Dundas County, Upper Canada, across the St. Lawrence River from New York State. (The Germans named the township for Charlotte Augusta Matilda, a daughter of King George III of Britain, who later became the Queen of Wurttemburg.) George Kentner died there sometime between 1811 and 1816. His descendants eventually drifted back into New York State, where George’s granddaughter, Lucinda, married my third great-grandfather, Jonathan Whipple.

The Whipple Family

My last two posts have focused on the parents of my great-grandmother, Lizzie Whipple Brown. Lyndon Leander Whipple and Alida Electa Hand both came from families with New England roots. Both families came to Michigan via New York State. In this post, I’ll share some of what I have learned about the Whipple family. In a future post I’ll relate some things I have discovered about the Hand family.

The Whipples of America have an entire website devoted to them: http://www.whipple.org/. According to the home page of this site, “Captain” John Whipple “was the first ancestor of present-day American Whipples to arrive in the New World. He landed at Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1632 (or 1631 or 1630) as a teenager. Initially indentured to Israel Stoughton, he soon became a ‘freeman,’ married, and began raising his family in Dorchester. He moved with his family to Providence, Rhode Island, in 1658.” This move may have been the result of a law that was passed in the same year, banishing all Quakers from the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

My fourth great-grandfather, Jonah Whipple, was born in Glocester, Providence, Rhode Island, on October 22, 1761. By 1795 he was living in the town of Johnson, Vermont, where he took the “freeman’s oath” (enabling him to vote) in that year. Probably at about that time he married Hepsibeth Melvin, of Cambridge, Vermont. (Hepsibeth is an alternate spelling of the biblical name “Hephzibah”, which means “my delight is in her.”). Hepsibeth had been born in Ashburnham, Massachusetts, on March 4, 1767. Both of her parents came from old Massachusetts Bay families. According to the census of 1800, Jonah and Hepsibeth were living in Johnson with two children under ten, a boy and a girl. These would have been Nathan M. and Cynthia. My third great-grandfather, Jonathan, was born in 1800, most likely after the census was taken.

1825 Lower Canada Census, Stanstead, Quebec

At some point after 1807 but prior to 1825 Jonah Whipple moved to Chateaugay, New York, with his children Nathan, Jonathan, Daniel, and Mary Ann. We don’t know whether or not Hepsibeth moved with him. Sadly, it appears that she was separated from Jonah for a number of years. According to the 1825 census of Lower Canada, Hepsibeth and her youngest child, John, were living in Stanstead, Quebec, just across the border from Vermont. The census lists her as “widow Hepzibah Whipple” although in fact her husband Jonah was alive and probably by that time was living in Chateaugay, New York. Most likely Hepsibeth was in Stanstead because her oldest daughter, Cynthia Whipple Morrill, was living there with her husband, Gilman A. Morrill. Jonah and Hepsibeth’s son John married Esther Bickford of Hatley, Quebec, and lived his entire life there. Hepsibeth died in 1837 and is buried in Ayer’s Cliff, Quebec. Jonah died in Chateaugay on January 6, 1843 and is buried there.

Jonathan Whipple

Jonathan Whipple, the father of Lyndon Leander Whipple and grandfather of Lizzie Whipple Brown, was born in Vermont in 1800. According to an account I haven’t been able to verify, he married Lucinda Kentner on April 22, 1826, in New York State. Lucinda had been born in Plattsburgh, in Clinton County, New York, in 1806. In 1830 Jonathan, Lucinda, and their oldest son Levi were living in Madrid, New York, in St. Lawrence County. Lucinda’s sister, Clarinda, and her husband, Garret Van Brackley, were also living in Madrid. In 1840 Jonathan, Lucinda and their family were living in Chateaugay, where Jonathan's brothers Nathan and Daniel were living, as well as his father, Jonah.

By 1844 (the year after Jonah’s death) the Jonathan Whipple family had moved to Sterling, Macomb County, Michigan. Apparently they moved to Michigan because several of Lucinda’s siblings and their families moved there. In the 1850 and 1860 censuses, Jonathan’s occupation is listed as “farmer.” Sometime just before 1870, Jonathan and his wife Lucinda moved to Fairgrove, in Tuscola County, Michigan, (in the "Thumb") along with some of the families of Lucinda's siblings. 

Jonathan died in Tuscola County sometime in 1882. Lucinda lived until February 18, 1899. They are buried in the Gilford Township Cemetery.