Chris & Julie Petersen's Genealogy

Ebenezer Smith

Male 1668 - 1728  (60 years)


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  • Name Ebenezer Smith 
    Born 1668  Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Died 15 Sep 1728  Suffield, Hartford, Connecticut, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Buried Old Center Cemetery, Suffield, Hartford, Connecticut, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Person ID I2434  Petersen-de Lanskoy
    Last Modified 27 May 2021 

    Family Sarah Huxley,   b. 8 May 1675, Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut, United States Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 18 Aug 1749, Suffield, Hartford, Connecticut, United States Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 74 years) 
    Married Abt 1693  Suffield, Hartford, Connecticut, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Children 
     1. Sarah Smith,   b. 17 Sep 1694, Hadley, Hampshire, Massachusetts, United States Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 5 Aug 1733, Springfield, Hampden, Massachusetts, United States Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 38 years)
     2. Dorothy Smith,   b. 21 Dec 1696, Hadley, Hampshire, Massachusetts, United States Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1781, Enfield, Hartford, Connecticut, United States Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 84 years)
     3. Ebenezer Smith,   b. 12 Apr 1699, Suffield, Hartford, Connecticut, United States Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 20 Dec 1768  (Age 69 years)
     4. Nathaniel Smith,   b. 3 Mar 1701, Suffield, Hartford, Connecticut, United States Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1776, Suffield, Hartford, Connecticut, United States Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 74 years)
     5. Elizabeth Smith,   b. 8 Jun 1703, Suffield, Hartford, Connecticut, United States Find all individuals with events at this location
     6. Jonathan Smith,   b. 1 Aug 1705, Suffield, Hartford, Connecticut, United States Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. From 7 Nov 1775 to Apr 1776, Washington, Litchfield, Connecticut, United States Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 70 years)
     7. Dorcas Smith,   b. 19 Nov 1707, Suffield, Hartford, Connecticut, United States Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. From 14 Jun 1731 to Jun 1732, Suffield, Hartford, Connecticut, United States Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 23 years)
     8. Mary Smith,   b. 26 Mar 1710, Suffield, Hartford, Connecticut, United States Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 26 Aug 1711, Suffield, Hartford, Connecticut, United States Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 1 years)
     9. Mary Smith,   b. 24 Jul 1713, Suffield, Hartford, Connecticut, United States Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 10 Apr 1716, Suffield, Hartford, Connecticut, United States Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 2 years)
    Last Modified 28 May 2021 
    Family ID F1160  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Notes 
    • RESEARCH_NOTES:
      1. Ebenezer was the fourth of eight children and spent his early years in Northampton. When he was about twelve his family moved to Hadley, where his first daughter was born in 1694. He was probably the Ebenezer Smith who on 11 August 1695, along with 17 other Hadley men, including his brother Samuel, "wear impressed and went to persew Indians for 3 days; whoe returned from said servis August 14th. He and Samuel had their own horses - see New England Historical & Genealogical Register 55:343. He was in Suffield by 1699 where his six youngest children were born and where he would spend the remainder of his life. He was elected to many town offices over the years, first serving as a tithingman in 1700, a postion he held again in 1710. A tithing man was elected "to preserve good order in the church" during meetings. He was "to make complaint of any disorderly conduct and to enforce the observance of the Sabbath. Tithing men were equipped with a two foot long black staff with a brass knob on one end and a foxtail or rabbit's foot on the other. The knob was used to awaken men by tapping them on the head and to correct wicked boys. Women were awakened by brushing the foxtail against their faces." Church attendance was compulsory and lasted all day long each Sunday - see First Parish History. On 14 Mar 1701 Ebenezer was chosen as a selectmen and was also named a town assessor that day; he also served as a selectman the following year, as well as in 1716 and 1718. In March 1703/4 he was chosen as the town's constable. His name appears often in the town records: "At a legall Town meeting, December ye 16th, 1700, first: it was then agreed, and voted that every Male in this Town, from sixteen years old, and upward; for the supplying of our Reverend Pastor with fier wood, for this present yeare, should carry him each man, a substantiall cart, or sled load of wood; and all to be done, and the complement to be compleated by the last of January next ensuing; and in case of failure the Delinquent, or Delinquents to be made Debtor, two shillings a piece in their Town rate; for the use of the Town to be recovered according to Law." "At the Anniversary, or General Town meeting; March the 3d, 1702 it was agreed, and voted: to give liberty to Ebenezer Smith, to set his barn, half the breadth of it into the highway." "May ye 10th, 1710 at this Generall Meeting Ebenezer Smith, Freegrace Norton, & John Austin, proposed to the Town for to grant them some small Tracts of Land." "Att a Meeting of the Inhabitants of Suffield Aprill the 2nd, 1713, the Town by a full, and Clear vote, Gave unto the severall persons hereafter named, Land as followeth, viz: To Ebenezer Smith two acres and an half." "On 19 June 1717 Ebenezer was chosen moderator of the meeting." "Att a meeting of the freeholders, and other Inhabitants of the Town of Suffield, August ye 25th, 1726 for the choice of Jurymen" ... Ensign Ebenezer Smith Senior, was chosen to serve on the grandjury. See Sheldon's Documentary History of Suffield, pages 135, 138, 148, 154, 164, 198 and 228. He died at age 60, having predeceased all of his children, except for his two youngest daughters who died as toddlers. Hampden County Deed Books: D:308 - Ebenezer & Sarah sell 10 acres in Suffield - 1724 M:148 - Ebenezer gives his three sons his lands in Suffield and in Simsbury - 1724"

      2. Parents reported on Worldconnect 21 Sep 2007:
      A. Samuel Smith Sex: M Birth: 27 Jan 1638 in Wethersfield, Connecticut Death: 10 Sep 1703 in Hadley, Massachusetts Note:
      Samuel was the first of his parents eight children born in Wethersfield, the year after their trek across the wilderness. He remembers his boyhood as being full of hardship. His father died when he was 10 years old and his mother remarried the following year. On 15 March 1657, at age 20, Samuel was treated by Dr. Winthrop in Wethersfield; he was living with "old Mr. Russell at the time," as was his sister Joanna who was treated by Dr. Winthrop the same day and would later marry Russell's son. Samuel married at age 22 and became the father of eight children, the youngest four baptised in Northampton between 1670 and 1677. During those years Northampton was a dangerous frontier town, exposed to Indian attacks. In October 1675, during King Phillip's War, they raided the town. Samuel's family safely survived the terrors of the war which ended in 1676 with the death of King Phillip. After his step-father's death in 1680 Samuel moved to Hadley, to take care of his aging mother who died there in 1694. Samuel also died in Hadley in 1703, probably pre-deceasing all of his children, except perhaps Mary. A letter which Samuel wrote to his son Ichabod on 1 January 1698/99 survived the burning of Ichabod's son's home in Suffield many years later. It reads in part: My Dear & Dutiful Son: I was of so tender an Age at the Death of my beloved Father, that I am possessed of but little of the Information for which you seek. My Revered Father was an ordained Minister of ye Gospelle, educate at Cambridge in England, & came to yis Land by reason of ye Great Persecution by which ye infamous Archbiship Laud and ye Black Tom Tyrante (as Mr. Russell was always wont to call ye Earl of Strafforde) did cause ye reign of his Majestie Charles ye First to loose favor in ye sight of ye people of England. My Father and Mother came over in 1636/37, firste to Watertown which is neare Boston, & after a yeare or two to Weathersfield on ye great River, where he became ye firste settled Pastor. Concerning of ye earlie days I can remember but little save Hardship. My Parents had broughte both Men Servants & Maid Servants from England, but ye Maids tarried not but till they got married, ye wch was shortly, for there was great scarcity of Women in ye Colonies. Ye men did abide better. Onne of em had married onne of my Mother's Maids & they did come with us to Weathersfield, to our grate Comforte for some years, untill they had manny littel onnes of theire Owne. I so well remember ye Face & Figure of my Honoured Father. He was 5 foote, 10 inches talle & spare of builde, tho not leane. He was an Active as ye Red Skin Men & sinewy. His delighte was in sportes of strengthe, & withe his owne Hands he did helpe to reare bothe our owne House & ye Firste Meetinge House of Weathersfield, wherein he preacht yeares too fewe. He was well Featured & Fresh favoured with faire Skin & longe curling Hair (as neare all of us have had) with a merrie eye & swete smilinge Mouthe, tho he coulde frowne sternlie eno' when need was. Ye firste Meeting House was solid mayde to withstande ye wicked onsaults of ye Red Skins. Its Foundations was laide in ye feare of ye Lord, but its Wales was truly laide in ye feare of ye Indians for many & grate was ye Terrors of em. I do minde me yt all ye able-bodyed Men did work thereat & ye olde & feeble did watch in turns to espie if any Salvages was in hidinge neare & every Man keept his Musket nighe to his hande. I do not myself remember any of ye Attacks mayde by large bodeys of Indians whilst we did remayne in Wethersfield, but did oftimes hear of em. Several Families wch did live back a ways from ye River was either Murderdt or Captivated in my Boygood & we all did live in constant feare of ye like. My Father ever declardt there would not be so much to feare iff ye Red Skins was treated with such mixture of Justice & Authority as they cld understand, but iff he was living now he must see that wee can do naught but fight em & that right heavily. After ye Red Skins ye grate Terror of our lives at Weathersfield & for many yeares after we had moved to Hadley to live was ye Wolves. Catamounts were bad eno' so was ye Beares, but it was ye Wolves yt was ye worst. The noyse of theyre houwlings was eno' to curdle ye bloode of ye stoutest & I have never seen ye man yt did not shiver at ye sounde of a Packe of em. What with ye way we hated em & ye goode money yt was offered for theyre Heade we do not heare em now so much, but when I do I feel again ye younge Hatred rising in my Blood & it is not a Sin because God mayde em to be hated. My Mother & Sister did each of em Kill more yan gray Howlers & once my oldest Sister shot a beare yt came too neare ye house. He ws a good Fatte onne & keept us all in meate for a good while. I guess onne of her Daughters has got ye skinne. As most of ye Weathersfield settlers did come afoot throu ye Wilderness & brought with em such Things only as they did most neede at ye firste, ye other Things was sent round from Boston in Vessels to come up ye River to us. Some of the Shippes did come safe to Weathersfield, but many were lost in a grate storm. Amongst em was onne wch held alle our Beste Things. A goode many Yeares later, long after my Father had died of the grate Fever and my mother had married Mr. Russell & moved to Hadley it was found that some of our Things had been saved & keept in ye Fort wch is by ye River's Mouthe & they was brought to us. Most of em was spoilt with Sea Water & Mould, especially ye Bookes & ye Plate. Of this there was no grate store, only ye Tankard, wch I have, and some Spoones, divided among my Sisters wch was alle so black it was long before any could come to its owne colour agen & Mr. Russell did opine yt had not been so it might not have founde us agen, but he was sometimes a little shorte of ye Charity wch thinketh no Evil, at ye least I was wont to think so when his Hand was too heavy on my Shoulders & I remembered ye sweetnesse & ye Charity of my firste Father, but on ye whole said he was a Goode Man & did well by my Mother & her children & no doubt we did often try his wit & temper - see Lieutenant Samuel Smith by James William Hook and Ancient Wethersfield by Stiles.Samuel was the first of his parents eight children born in Wethersfield, the year after their trek across the wilderness. He remembers his boyhood as being full of hardship. His father died when he was 10 years old and his mother remarried the following year. On 15 March 1657, at age 20, Samuel was treated by Dr. Winthrop in Wethersfield; he was living with "old Mr. Russell at the time," as was his sister Joanna who was treated by Dr. Winthrop the same day and would later marry Russell's son. Samuel married at age 22 and became the father of eight children, the youngest four baptised in Northampton between 1670 and 1677. During those years Northampton was a dangerous frontier town, exposed to Indian attacks. In October 1675, during King Phillip's War, they raided the town. Samuel's family safely survived the terrors of the war which ended in 1676 with the death of King Phillip. After his step-father's death in 1680 Samuel moved to Hadley, to take care of his aging mother who died there in 1694. Samuel also died in Hadley in 1703, probably pre-deceasing all of his children, except perhaps Mary. A letter which Samuel wrote to his son Ichabod on 1 January 1698/99 survived the burning of Ichabod's son's home in Suffield many years later. It reads in part: My Dear & Dutiful Son: I was of so tender an Age at the Death of my beloved Father, that I am possessed of but little of the Information for which you seek. My Revered Father was an ordained Minister of ye Gospelle, educate at Cambridge in England, & came to yis Land by reason of ye Great Persecution by which ye infamous Archbiship Laud and ye Black Tom Tyrante (as Mr. Russell was always wont to call ye Earl of Strafforde) did cause ye reign of his Majestie Charles ye First to loose favor in ye sight of ye people of England. My Father and Mother came over in 1636/37, firste to Watertown which is neare Boston, & after a yeare or two to Weathersfield on ye great River, where he became ye firste settled Pastor. Concerning of ye earlie days I can remember but little save Hardship. My Parents had broughte both Men Servants & Maid Servants from England, but ye Maids tarried not but till they got married, ye wch was shortly, for there was great scarcity of Women in ye Colonies. Ye men did abide better. Onne of em had married onne of my Mother's Maids & they did come with us to Weathersfield, to our grate Comforte for some years, untill they had manny littel onnes of theire Owne. I so well remember ye Face & Figure of my Honoured Father. He was 5 foote, 10 inches talle & spare of builde, tho not leane. He was an Active as ye Red Skin Men & sinewy. His delighte was in sportes of strengthe, & withe his owne Hands he did helpe to reare bothe our owne House & ye Firste Meetinge House of Weathersfield, wherein he preacht yeares too fewe. He was well Featured & Fresh favoured with faire Skin & longe curling Hair (as neare all of us have had) with a merrie eye & swete smilinge Mouthe, tho he coulde frowne sternlie eno' when need was. Ye firste Meeting House was solid mayde to withstande ye wicked onsaults of ye Red Skins. Its Foundations was laide in ye feare of ye Lord, but its Wales was truly laide in ye feare of ye Indians for many & grate was ye Terrors of em. I do minde me yt all ye able-bodyed Men did work thereat & ye olde & feeble did watch in turns to espie if any Salvages was in hidinge neare & every Man keept his Musket nighe to his hande. I do not myself remember any of ye Attacks mayde by large bodeys of Indians whilst we did remayne in Wethersfield, but did oftimes hear of em. Several Families wch did live back a ways from ye River was either Murderdt or Captivated in my Boygood & we all did live in constant feare of ye like. My Father ever declardt there would not be so much to feare iff ye Red Skins was treated with such mixture of Justice & Authority as they cld understand, but iff he was living now he must see that wee can do naught but fight em & that right heavily. After ye Red Skins ye grate Terror of our lives at Weathersfield & for many yeares after we had moved to Hadley to live was ye Wolves. Catamounts were bad eno' so was ye Beares, but it was ye Wolves yt was ye worst. The noyse of theyre houwlings was eno' to curdle ye bloode of ye stoutest & I have never seen ye man yt did not shiver at ye sounde of a Packe of em. What with ye way we hated em & ye goode money yt was offered for theyre Heade we do not heare em now so much, but when I do I feel again ye younge Hatred rising in my Blood & it is not a Sin because God mayde em to be hated. My Mother & Sister did each of em Kill more yan gray Howlers & once my oldest Sister shot a beare yt came too neare ye house. He ws a good Fatte onne & keept us all in meate for a good while. I guess onne of her Daughters has got ye skinne. As most of ye Weathersfield settlers did come afoot throu ye Wilderness & brought with em such Things only as they did most neede at ye firste, ye other Things was sent round from Boston in Vessels to come up ye River to us. Some of the Shippes did come safe to Weathersfield, but many were lost in a grate storm. Amongst em was onne wch held alle our Beste Things. A goode many Yeares later, long after my Father had died of the grate Fever and my mother had married Mr. Russell & moved to Hadley it was found that some of our Things had been saved & keept in ye Fort wch is by ye River's Mouthe & they was brought to us. Most of em was spoilt with Sea Water & Mould, especially ye Bookes & ye Plate. Of this there was no grate store, only ye Tankard, wch I have, and some Spoones, divided among my Sisters wch was alle so black it was long before any could come to its owne colour agen & Mr. Russell did opine yt had not been so it might not have founde us agen, but he was sometimes a little shorte of ye Charity wch thinketh no Evil, at ye least I was wont to think so when his Hand was too heavy on my Shoulders & I remembered ye sweetnesse & ye Charity of my firste Father, but on ye whole said he was a Goode Man & did well by my Mother & her children & no doubt we did often try his wit & temper - see Lieutenant Samuel Smith by James William Hook and Ancient Wethersfield by Stiles."

      B. Mary Ensign Sex: F Birth: ABT 1638 in Massachusetts Death: 1 Jul 1723 in Suffield, Connecticut, Note: Mary was probably born in Cambridge not long after her father emigrated to New England. She grew up in Hartford but spent her adult years on the move. She was married in 1662 and her first four children were probably born in Wethersfield. By 1670 her family had moved to Northampton where her remaining four children were born. She had seven children ranging in age from 4 months to 10 years when the Indians attacked Northampton during King Phillip's War. She, her husband and children survived the struggle, but she lost her mother at the close of the war. Around 1680 her family moved to Hadley, where she probably helped care for her aging mother-in-law. Her husband died there in 1703. Mary spent her declining years in Suffield, where she died in 1723, well into her 80s. She had managed to raise all eight of her children to adulthood and had over 50 grandchildren by 1723."

      3. No mention in Henry R. Stiles, "The History and Genealogies of Ancient Windsor, Connecticut," 1892, v. 2.

      BURIAL:
      1. Ebenezer Smith not listed per the Internet 6 Jul 2008 at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~kathycamp/Inscriptions/Page043.htm: Suffield, Hartford County, Connecticut Headstone Inscriptions 1660-1937. This list of inscriptions, town of Suffield, was copied in 1934, under the auspices of the F.E.R.A. and the W.P.A. sponsored by the Connecticut State Library, as compiled under the supervision of Charles R. Hale, State Military Necrologist, assisted by Miss Mary H. Babin, Secretary. Hartford, Connecticut, December 1937.