My 5x great grandfather was the youngest of John Spaulding's seven children. I already knew he had worked for the Continental Army during the Revolution and had found an interesting
story about that, but wasn't able to find much more about him for the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge.
Here's the entry for him in The Spalding Memorial, written by Samuel Jones Spaulding:
631. Lot4 [190] (John3, Andrew2, Edward1), b. Sept. 24,1737, in Chelmsford, Ms.; d. Jan. 15, 1822, aged 84, in Pelham, N. H.; m. Esther Butterfield, of Chelmsford, Ms., June 27, 1764; she d. Dec. 30, 1842. They resided in Pelham, N. H.
632. Lot, b. Jane 23, 1766; d. July 21, 1844; unmarried.
633. Esther, b. Sept. 16, 1769; m Moses Colburn, Feb. 1, 1794; they
removed to Bethel, Me.; she d. Feb. 13, 1849.
634. Zacharias, b. Sept. 15, 1773; d. Aug. 23, 1838, unmarried.
635. Lydla, b. Nov. 16, 1781; d. Jan. 10, 1861; unmarried.
636. Sarah, b. May 1, 1766; m. Capt. Joseph Blodgett, of Hudson, N.H., Dec. 19, 1812. She d. April 26, 1865.
637. John [1737], b. Aug. 8, 1788.-page 61
Spalding Memorial: A Genealogical History of Edward Spalding, of Massachusetts Bay, and His Descendants, A. Mudge & son, printers, Boston, Ma. 1872
His father John Spaulding's Probate File did had an interesting bit of information. It's in a document where Lot and five other heirs agree to sell their shares of the estate to their brother John Spaulding in exchange for ten pounds to each heir. In return, John would pay all debts and costs against the estate.
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| Middlesex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1648-1871.Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014. (From records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives.)20970-4 |
What's interesting is the list of heirs gives their social status after each name. They are:
Jonathan Spaulding, gentleman
Job Spaulding yeoman
Lott Spaulding, labourer
Sampson Spaulding, clerk
John Woodward, husbandman (married to Mary Spaulding)
Sampson Hildreth, husbandman (grandson of John Spaulding)
John Spaulding Jr, yeoman.
It works out to this:
Jonathan Spaulding was probably a professional, perhaps a doctor or lawyer.
Job and John Jr. were farmers.
John Woodward and Sampson Hildreth were farmers also, but may not have owned the land they farmed.
Sampson Spaulding was a minister.
And my 5x great grandfather Lot was a labourer, the lowest level of the colonial working class.
1 comment:
I noticed that Lot sold his share of his father's estate in 1760 when he was 22 or 23 years old, so his status as a laborer would have been a reflection on his youth rather than his ultimate position in that stratified society.
Mike
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