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Thursday, February 16, 2017

52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS 2017 WEEK 3 EBENEZER ELLINGWOOD OF BEVERLY, MA. & AMHERST NH. PT2

Sometime between 1636 and 1642 my 6x great grandfather Ebenezer Ellingwood left Beverly,
Ma. and moved to the new township of  Souhegan West. We know this because his son James was
born in Beverly in 1636 and his youngest son Rolandson was born in Souhegan West in 1642.
The move was made because of a land grant given to Ebenezer's father Ralph Ellingwood Jr.for service in the King Philip's War, as explained by Duane Hamilton Hurd in his History of Essex County, Massachusetts:

Previous to the attack upon the Narragansett Fort, when the soldiers were assembled on Dedham Plain, they were promised a reward in land for their services, in addition to their pay, provided they “played the man, and drove the Narragansetts from the fort." This promise was eventually fulfiled, but not until nearly sixty years had passed away, when the soldiers engaged in this campaign were granted several townships of land, each six miles square, in the wild region, now included in the States of Maine and New Hampshire. The township shared in by the Beverly soldiers or their heirs, was known then as Souhegan West, at present Amherst, New Hampshire. The names of the proprietors from Beverly, in 1741, when they met to take possession, were *Henry Bayley, Henry Blashfieid and assigns, *Jonathan Bylcs, * Lott Conant, Andrew Dodge for J. Ellinwood, Jona. Dodge for John Dodge, Wm. Dodge’s heirs, *Ralph Ellinwood, Saml Harris’ heirs, Joseph Morgan for his father, Joseph Picket for his father, Elias, *Thomas Rayment, Wm. Rayment’s heirs, and *Christopher Read. p689

History of Essex County, Massachusetts: With Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Volume 1  J.W. Lewis &Co., Philadelphia, Pa. 1888

The * before a name means that person was one of the soldiers of the battle at "Fort Narragansett"
(known as the Great Swamp Fight") still living in 1741. Ralph and his brother John had been in
their late teens at the time of their service.

But even though Ebenezer had moved his family north, there still remained some property in
Beverly that had to be sold.

To be continued

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