Baldwin, Abigail (b. 14 DEC 1678, d. 24 AUG 1745)

Given Name: Abigail

Death: 24 AUG 1745 Probably Middletown, Connecticut

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Note: Ephraim Roper was captured by Indians at the second Lancaster Massacre in which his mother and father and one sister perished. He lived with the Indians for two years until he was ransomed and returned.

He lived in Sudbury, Massachusetts, where his first four children were born, until 1721 when the family moved to Worcester. From Oct 14 to Nov 28 1722, Roper was employed as a "sentinel, to keep garrison, or range the woods" for the protection of the settlement. Undoubtedly his youthful experience with the Indians was no small help in this task.

On Mar 21 1729 the sixteen tax payers of Worcester were assessed for a road to be built to Marlborough. Roper's assessment as two shillings, nine pence. The largeset assessment was for one pound ten shillings.

He was a farmer and died in an accident in the woods. He was buried on the east side of the Common, and his gravestone read:

Here lies Buri'd ye Body of
Ephraim Roper
who departed this life February ye 16, A.D. 1730,
in ye 43d year of his age.

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Roper II
Title: Kenneth L. Roper, The Ropers: A Biographical Record from Circa 1300 to 1
982 (Baltimore, Maryland: Gateway Press 1983)
982
982. Baltimore, Maryland: Gateway Press 1983.

Given Name: Ephraim

Death: 16 FEB 1730 Worchester, Massachusetts

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Note: An interesting letter from Sybillah Moore to her daughter Priscilla survives.

"Louing son and dafter, these are to inform you that I am yet at Father Moore's and am not well, I have the fever and ague, I have not been well all this spring if you could you come down next fall if I am able I will com up with you. I have sent by the bearer hereof som camlet to make you a quilt, and a pair of stokins, I desire above all things that you mind the good of your souls, more than for the things of this world, and I desire the same of your two sisters, and be often thinking of your diing day, and let not the world steal your hearts from God--for I know not that whether I shall ever see you again.

"And hannah I desire that you be very careful that you do not keep bad company, but studdy the word of God, which is able to make you wise to salvation. Do not mis to read a chapter very day, my daughter star, remember how God raised you even from the mouth of the grave, and give God the prayes and never forget his mercy to you, and make thankful returns to God for the the same. Son Star I desire that you right to me by Mr. Shadtuck, and tell me how your wife does, my harts desire and prayer is that you may be saved--and Rest your loving

"Mother Sibbel Chamberlain"

Neither her spelling nor her punctuation would have caused the slightest comment in her day, as the regularization of both was a product of the age of the dictionary, just then dawning. It is also interesting to note that there was no regular postal system at that time except in the cities. As cable television is slowly spreading out from the cities in the late twentieth century, so in the mid-eighteenth was regular postal service. Until it got there, letters were entrusted to whomever was travelling in the right direction.

Camlet, to save you the trouble of looking it up--although this is the age of the dictionary--is a type of stiff cloth woven from camel's hair or an imitation of this type of cloth. In this case, presumably, it was the latter.

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Roper II
Title: Kenneth L. Roper, The Ropers: A Biographical Record from Circa 1300 to 1
982 (Baltimore, Maryland: Gateway Press 1983)
982
982. Baltimore, Maryland: Gateway Press 1983.

Given Name: Sybillah

Death: 25 MAY 1750 Oxford, Massachusetts

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Note: John Dolbeare emigrated to Boston at the age of nine, according to tradition. He learned the pewterer's trade from his father and worked in iron and brass as well. He prospered enormously, shipping his products as far afield as Charleston, South Carolina. Some of his pewter work survives and his pewterer's mark--three plumes--is known. He is mentioned in the book Pewterers in America by Laughlin. He amassed an enormous fortune for his time and place, in excess of £57, 000 sterling. That undoubtedly made him one of the ten richest men in the American colonies, and, indeed, would have opened the door of nearly any house in England.

Among the effects mentioned in his wife's will are "a parcel of men's wearing apparell" valued at £252/18/6 and Foxe's Martyrology, a great Puritan classic, valued at ten pounds. In addition there was 644 ounces of "household plate," valued at £2127, and 37 1/2 ounces of gold pistoles (a Spanish coin). His portrait is mentioned in his wife's will. In 1893 it was in the possession of his Lockwood descendants of New London.

John Dolbeare does not come across in his will as a very nice man, tossing several children into the figurative snow for one failing or another. His son Thomas received only five shillings because "he misimproved £2000 which I advanced him from my estate." Others were disinherited for marrying against his will.

He served as constable in Boston in 1706.

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Dolbeare
Title: Winifred Lovering Holman, Early Dolbeares (NEHGR Vol. 112 (1958) pp. 17
0-184.)
0-184.

Given Name: John

Death: 20 JUN 1740 Boston, Massachusetts

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Note: Sarah Comer's will contains the intriguing phrase "by the blessings of God I have also acquired a considerable estate of my own." But what was her own, and how she came by it, are unknown.

Given Name: Sarah

Death: JAN 1744 Boston, Massachusetts

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Note: Samuel Sherwood was an ensign in the Stratfield Trainband in May, 1714, and was appointed captain in May, 1722.

Given Name: Samuel

Death: 10 NOV 1732 Stratfield, Connecticut

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Burr
Title: Charles Burr Todd, A General History of the Burr Family in America (Ric
hardson Reprints, Bethany, Oklahoma, 1985. Originally published in 1878
.)
hardson Reprints, Bethany, Oklahoma, 1985. Originally published in 1878
.

Given Name: Rebecca

Death: 16 MAY 1721 Stratfield, Connecticut

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Note: Joshua Huntington was an active businessman in Norwich for most of his rather short life. According to the Huntington genealogy, "in his successful business career commenced that family distinction and wealth, which, at the opening of the Revolution, had placed his two surviving children at the head of the aristocracy, even, of their own aristocratic town."

Joshua Huntington and Hannah Perkins are the 4th great grandparents of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Ancestors of American Presidents
Title: Compiled by Gary Boyd Roberts, Ancestors of American Presidents (Santa C
larita, California: C. Boyer 3rd, in cooperation with the New England H
istoric Genealogical Society, 1995.)
larita, California: C. Boyer 3rd, in cooperation with the New England H
istoric Genealogical Society, 1995.

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: ANB
Title: American National Biography

Given Name: Joshua

Death: 26 AUG 1748 Norwich, Connecticut

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Given Name: Hannah

Death: 1745 Norwich, Connecticut

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Note: Samuel Backus was a "quiet, enterprising farmer, prosperous in his own business, but having little to do with public affairs." He moved upriver from Norwich to Yantic where he established a grist mill, a saw mill, and the iron works that were to be notable in the Revolution. He served as lieutenant in the training band and as deputy to the General Court in 1738, 1739, and 1740.

He died in the great measles epidemic of 1740 in which his wife was also taken seriously ill. He left an estate of 5300 pounds, a very large sum for those days. In the estate were a negro slave named Lois, valued at 120 pounds, and Kate, an Indian apprentice, valued at twelve pounds.

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Backus
Title: William W. Backus, A Genealogical Memoir of the Backus Family (Norwich, C
onn.: Press of the Bulletin Co., 1890.)
onn.: Press of the Bulletin Co., 1890.

Given Name: Samuel

Death: 24 NOV 1740 Norwich, Connecticut

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Note: Elizabeth Tracy was a woman of strong character and solid convictions. Religious by nature, she was caught up in the New Light Movement, part of the Great Awakening, and broke away from the Congregational Church. Because she refused to pay taxes to the Congregational Church--which was established in Connecticut until the 1830's--she was jailed for thirteen days until her son-in-law, unbeknownst to her, paid the taxes for her.

Given Name: Elizabeth

Death: 26 JAN 1769 Norwich, Connecticut

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Note: Colonel John Moore inherited considerable property from his father and moved to New York City at a young age. When he died, his remaining Philadelphia property was sold for more than £5000. According to his grandson John Moore, the brother of Ann Moore Huntington, "My grandfather, . . . was the most eminent merchant in the City of New York--he did more business and owned more shipping than any other merchant there, as in early life, I was informed repeatedly by Captains of his vessels and gentlemen who knew him well.

He was a New York City Alderman and a member of the Colonial Legislature and King's Council of the Province of New York (the upper house of the Legislature). He was Colonel of His Majesty's Regiment of Foot of New York and a warden and vestryman of Trinity Church from 1715 to 1728. He is buried in a vault in Trinity Churchyard. The vault is located on the south side of the church, opposite the west end of the church.

After the second New York City Hall was built, John Moore bought the first one, known as the Stadt Huys, located at Moore Street (which is named for him) and Front Street and built by Peter Stuyvesant. He kept a fire engine in its basement that he took to the scene of fires where he would negotiate with the property owners before helping to extinguish the blaze. His own house, located across the street, was, according to his grandson, the "largest and most elegant house in the city." It stood three stories high and was double fronted.

He owned 1795 acres on the west side of the Hudson River some miles north of the city where he established his country seat, known as "Moore's Folly." He left this property to his son Stephen. Stephen Moore, the only member of the family to fight on the patriot side in the Revolution, later sold it to the new federal government, which established the United States Military Academy, West Point, on the site.

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Moore
Title: L. Effingham DeForest and Anne Lawrence DeForest, William Henry Moore A
nd His Ancestry: With Accounts of the Moore Families in the American Co
lonies, 1620-1730. (New York: The DeForest Publishing Company, 1934)
nd His Ancestry: With Accounts of the Moore Families in the American Co
lonies, 1620-1730.
nd His Ancestry: With Accounts of the Moore Families in the American Co
lonies, 1620-1730. New York: The DeForest Publishing Company, 1934.

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Moore 2
Title: John Moore, "Memoirs of an American Official In Service to the King" (T
he Journal of American History, Vol. 4, 1910, pp. 29-47.)
he Journal of American History, Vol. 4, 1910, pp. 29-47.

Given Name: John

Death: 1749 New York City

Burial: Moore Vault, Trinity Church, New York City

Change: Date: 8 Mar 2003

Note: Frances Lambert bore eighteen children in a little over twenty years, including three sets of twins, and lived to be nearly ninety.

She was left much property by her husband and lived in great style during her widowhood. But nearly all of the buildings she owned in New York (and from the rent of which she derived her income), including her mansion at Front and Moore Streets, were destroyed in the great fire of Sep 1776 that followed the British occupation of the city during the early stages of the Revolution. As a result of the fire and the fact that most of the family were loyalists, the Moore fortune, one of the most ample in colonial New York, was largely lost.

She outlived at least seven of her children and only three are known to have married. Four of the sons and two of the daughters who reached maturity are known not to have married, a very unusually high percentage.

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Moore 2
Title: John Moore, "Memoirs of an American Official In Service to the King" (T
he Journal of American History, Vol. 4, 1910, pp. 29-47.)
he Journal of American History, Vol. 4, 1910, pp. 29-47.

Given Name: Frances

Death: 21 MAR 1782 New York City

Burial: Moore Vault, Trinity Church, New York City

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Hibbard
Title: Hibbard, A. G., History of the Town of Goshen, Connecticut: with Geneal
ogies and Biographies (Hartford, Connecticut: The Case, Lockwood, and B
rainard Company, 1897)
ogies and Biographies
gies and Biographies. Hartford, Connecticut: The Case, Lockwood, and Br
ainard Company, 1897.

Given Name: Moses

Death: 28 FEB 1701 Northampton, Massachusetts

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Given Name: Ann

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Note: Isaac Sheldon was a farmer, but that is about all that is known of him.

Given Name: Isaac

Death: 29 MAR 1712

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Warner Repository
Title: Davis P. Warner

Given Name: Sarah

Death: AFT 1701

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: TAG
Title: The American Genealogist

Page: 59 (1983):35-41.

Given Name: Daniel

Death: 12 MAR 1712/13

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: TAG
Title: The American Genealogist

Page: 59 (1983):35-41.

Given Name: Hannah

Death: 19 APR 1722

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Note: Benajah Holcomb lived on his father's homestead in Windsor. He was made a freeman on October 7th 1669, and was appointed a "way warden" the same year. He held the rank of sargeant in the local militia.

Given Name: Banajah

Death: 25 JAN 1736

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003