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| 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.
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| 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.
[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.
[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.
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