Before I begin my posts concerning Probate File of my ancestor John Ellingwood,
I thought I'd give some history of him and his family.
When his father Joseph Ellingwood Sr had died in 1790, my 4x great grabdfather
John Ellingwood Sr. was himself a married man with his first child on the way.
He'd married Zerviah Abbott in Andover, Ma. on 29 Dec.1789 at Andover Ma,
but lived in Hillsborough County NH. until sometime between the birth of his
second daughter there in 1792 and the birth of his first son at Bethel, Oxford,
Me. in 1794. His wife Zerviah had three sisters and a brother who also lived in
Bethel; whether the Ellingwoods moved there because of her relatives or if the
others followed the Ellingwoods there is not known. At the time of their arrival.
the area was part of Canada and was known as Sudbury, with the name change to
Bethel coming after it became American territory.
In his History of Bethel:formerly Sudbury, Canada, Oxford County, Maine, 1768-1890;with a brief sketch of Hanover and family statistics, William Lapham gives the following information on John's family:
Ellingwood.
John Ellingwood, born in Amherst, Mass., Sept. 19. 1765, married Zerviah Abbot who
was born in Andover, Mass., March 19, 1768. He came quite early to Bethel and was a shoemaker. Children:
i Sarah Stevens, b. Hancock, Sept. 22, 1790, m. Samuel Libby, r. Newry.
ii Anna, b. March 12, 1792.
iii Jacob, b. Feb. 23, 1794, m. Adeline Twitchell.
iv Joseph, t- twin, b. July 3, 1797, d. same day.
v Benjamin, t- twin, b. July 3, 1797, d. same day.
vi John, b. June 12, 1798, m. Rachel Barrows of Paris, d. 1835.
vii Daniel Gould, b. Aug. 23, 1800, m. Catherine Brown.
viii Ebenezer, b. Oct- 20, 1804, m. Sarah Chickering.
ix George V., b. Dec. 10, 1806, m. Esther Swan.
((pp523-524))
There is one error in the entry: John was born in Amherst, New Hampshire, not
Amherst, Ma.
Lapham also mentions that one of the mountains within the borders of Bethel was
renamed Ellingwood's Mountain from its former Indian name.
I've written before about John's son Daniel Gould Ellingwood and his part in the
pursuit of accused murderer David Robbins through the woods of New Hampshire
and Maine.
And with that background, I'll start my transcription of John's Probate File next.
1 comment:
Opps, I think you need to recheck your history.
Yes, Bethel was once known as "Sudbury Canada". Note - no comma between the words. That was the name of the town. The location that is Bethel today was never in Canada!
I have forgotten the details but the name has to due with the original grant being to soldiers of a campaign into Canada. The modern day town of Jay, Maine was originally "Phipps Canada Plantation" for a similar reason.
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