52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS 2019 WEEK 11: DEACON SAMUEL EDSON OF BRIDGEWATER, MA..

Rev. James Keith's wife was Susannah Edson, and her father (my 9x greatgrandfather) was immigrant ancestor Samuel Edson, who was among the first settlers of Bridgewater, Ma. William Richard Cutter has a long description of his life in another of his genealogical collections:

Deacon Samuel  Edson, the immigrant ancestor, was an early settler in this country, being found in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1639, when he was acknowledged as an inhabitant and was granted a half an acre of land near Catt Cove and four acres of planting ground. In 1642 he was granted twenty-five acres of land in Mackerel Cove and two acres of meadow. About 1650 he moved to Bridgewater, Massachusetts, and was called an inhabitant there in a deed dated December 10, 1652, and died there in 1692, aged eighty years. He and his wife were buried in the old buryingground, and the oldest monument in the grave-‘ yard is erected over their graves. Deacon Samuel Edson, and Rev. James Keith, of Scotland, the first minister of Bridgewater, were given grants of land after the fifty-four proprietors had taken their shares, making fiftysix shares. He erected the first cornmill in the town in 1662, on Town river, and later he deeded this mill to his five daughters; the deed was recorded April 19, 1636. His will was dated January 15, 1688-89, proved September 20, 1692. He was made freeman before 1657. His home was on the south side of the river, near his mill. It is not known that he was a millwright by trade, but it is known that he was a good farmer and had mechanical ability. In 1660 he owned three shares in the town, and he very likely conveyed two of these to his sons Samuel and Joseph, as in the great division of 1683 he had only one share. He acquired a large estate by his industry and thrift, and was well to-do. He held several town offices; in 1666 appointed a member of the council of war; in 1676 representative to the general court at Plymouth, and in the same year was on a committee to distribute the town share of the Irish contributions for the distress of the Indian wars; in November, 1672, was on a committee which received the deed of conveyance from Chief Pomonoho of the Titicut purchase, “in and for the use of the townsmen of Bridgewater joint purchasers with them." In December, 1686, he with Ensign John Hayward and Deacon John \Villis, agents for the town, received a confirmatory deed of the Indian Chief W'ampatuck for the purchasers and the town of all the lands previously conveyed to them by Massasoit, on March 3, 1649. In 1667 was foreman of the jury to lay out roads, as well as in 1672; in 1680 was on a committee to settle the Bridgewater and Middleborough boundary line, and the same year to settle the Bridgewater and Taunton line. He was one of the first deacons of the town and served from about 1664 to the end of his life. Was associated with very prominent men and influential in town affairs. He is said to have been of a large, athletic frame, of medium weight and with a fine constitution which could endure almost every hardship; dignified and grave in manner, active and keen in argument and very firm in his ideas, but he was not an obstinate man and would cheerfully admit the accuracy of a different judgment. It is said that he was more inclined to listen than to debate, but when he did speak at town meetings he generally suc— ceeded in convincing his audience that he had carefully considered his subjects. The strength and vigor of his intellect, the quickness of his perceptions, the extent and accuracy of his memory and the struggle of mental enterprise, supplied in no inconsiderable degree the deficiencies of education. While he was respected for these attributes of his mind and character, it was to his constant practice of the christian virtues and the influence of his example-that his pre-eminence was greatly due. '

He married, about 1637, in England, Susanna Orcutt, probably an elder sister of William Orcutt, who came from Scituate and settled in Bridgewater before 1682. “Her education and natural abilities were said to be full equal to his, and this coupled with an expressive modesty of deportment and unaffected piety, gave to her person an elevated position and to her character a high rank among the matrons of the town. She exhibited a majestic figure, rather above the medium height, an elegant and majestic mein, with a countenance happily combining graceful dignity with cheerful benignity.” Children: Susanna, born probably in England in 1638; Sarah, born in Salem about 1640; Elizabeth, born in Salem about 1643; Samuel, mentioned below; Mary, born in Bridgewater about 1647; Joseph, born about 1649; Josiah, born in Bridgewater, 1651; Bethiah, born about 1653.-pp259-260

New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of Commonwealths and the Founding of a Nation, Volume 1  Lewis historical publishing Company,   New York, New York 1913