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SETH FISH (c. 1682–1750/8), son of AMBROSE FISH and HANNAH SWIFT
MARY TURNER (1679–aft. 1750), daughter of DANIEL TURNER and HANNAH RANDALL
Seth Fish, the son of Ambrose and Hannah (Swift) Fish, was born about 1682.1 He died between 10 February 1750 and 20 February 1758. He married Mary Turner on 20 December 1702.2
Mary, the daughter of Daniel Turner, was born on 13 April 1679 in Scituate.3 This Mary married a Mr. Fish.4
Seth's mother Hannah [(Swift) (Fish)] Tobey of Sandwich left her son Seth 20 shillings as a token and named him executor of her estate.5
Seth Fish was head of family in Sandwich on 12 September 1722 and in March 1730.6 Seth helped cart stones for Reverend Fessenden on 7 July 1729 in Sandwich.6
Seth Fish of Sandwich made his will on 20 February 1750. It was probated on on 20 February 1758. He named his wife Mary; his sons Peleg, Ambrose, Jirah and William; his grandson Seth; his deceased son Benjamin and his daughters Hannah, Mary, Abiah and Mehitable.7
Children of Seth Fish and Mary Turner: Births recorded in Sandwith.2
i. Peleg Fish was born on 16 April 1703. He died between 20 November 1773 and 11 June 1776. He is probably the Peleg who married Ann Ridley on 5 November 1735 in Truro.8 Ann, the daughter of Thomas and Mary (Strout) Ridley, was born on 19 July 1713.9
Peleg Fish, an aged yeoman of Sandwich, made his will on 20 November 1773. He mentions an unnamed wife; his sons Eliab and John; his daughters Hannah, Zerviah, Abiah Thankful, Sarah, Ann and Joanna. His will was probated on 11 June 1776.7
ii Ambrose Fish was born on 23 July 1704. He apparently died unmarried and without children before 10 April 1779.
On 10 April 1779 Ambrose's estate was divided among his siblings. The heirs of Peleg Fish, the widow Hannah Tupper, Mary—the wife of Elisha Holmes, the estate of Jirah Fish, the heirs of Abiah Ellis, Mercy Smith, the wife of Samuel Smith [Mercy (Sears) Smith, the daughter of Mehitable (Fish) Sears], William Fish and the heirs of Benjamin Fish (Deborah, the wife of Peleg Tupper, Jirah Fish and Benjamin Fish) each received one-ninth. The final one-ninth went to Seth Fish, possibly the grandson referred to in Ambrose's father Seth Fish's will.7
iii. Hannah Fish was born on 5 June 1706. She married Samuel Tupper.
iv. Mary Fish was born on 28 February 1707/8. She was living on 10 April 1779. She married first Nathaniel (John, Mordecai, John) Ellis on 25 December 1728.10 John was born on 23 December 1708 and died between 18 July 1731 and 7 July 1739.10 She married second Elisha Holmes after 7 July 1739 (intention).10
Mary is referred to as Mary Holmes, the wife of Elisha Holmes, in the 10 April 1779 division of her brother Ambrose's estate.7
v. Seth Fish was born on 29 May 1709. He died on 30 August 1710 in Sandwich.2
vi. Jirah Fish was born on 2 April 1712/3. He died by 12 March 1765. He married Hannah (Curtis) Phinney of Plymouth as her second husband on 28 July 1745 in Plymouth.2[11] Hannah, the daughter of Francis and Hannah (Bosworth) Curtis, was born on 31 July 1712.11 She married first Joshua Phinney. Joshua, the son of Josiah (John, Robert, Jeffrey) and Elizabeth (Warren) Phinney, was born on 31 July 1712.11
Hannah was granted administration on her late husband Jirah Fish's estate on 12 March 1765.11 Jirah left an estate—an operational farm—worth about 296 pounds.11
vii. Abiah Fish was born on the "last of May" 1715. She probably died before 1 May 1764 when Mordecai Ellis was appointed guardian of her minor children.10 She married Josiah Ellis, Jr. of Sandwich on 24 October 1739 in Sandwich.2 Josiah (Josiah, Mordecai, John) was born on 28 October 1714 and died between 14 July and 14 September 1754 in Sandwich.10
Abiah was baptized three years before her wedding on 22 August 1736 in Sandwich and the clerk later recorded her name as Abiah Fish (now Ellis).10 The documents describing the division of her brother Ambrose's estate refer to the heirs of Abiah Ellis.7
viii. Mehitable Fish was born on 13 March 1716/17. She died before 6 February 1769, when inventory was presented on her estate.12 She married as his second wife Thomas Sears.12 Thomas was born on 6 June 1669 in Yarmouth.12 He died in 1755 in Plymouth.12 He married first Elizabeth Bartlett in 1734 in Plymouth.12 Elizabeth, the daughter of Robert and Sarah (Bartlett) Bartlett, was born in 1707 in Plymouth.12
Thomas and Mehitable had only one child who lived to adulthood: Mary Sears, who married Samuel Smith.12 Mary was one of the beneficiaries of her Uncle Ambrose's estate.
ix. William Fish was born on 17 February 1718. William Fish of Sandwich married Marcy Morey of Plymouth on 5 August 1744 (intention 28 July 1743) in Plymouth.13 Mary, the daughter of Benjamin (Jonathan) Morey and Thankful (William) Swift was born on 1 April 1721. [14] She was baptized on 26 July 1724 in Sandwich.2 He may have married second Mary Bowdoin of Sandwich on 26 July 1761.2
x. Ephraim Fish was born on 30 December 1720. He died on 2 February 1720/1 in Sandwich.2
xi. Benjamin Fish was born on 14 November 1722. He died before 20 February 1750, when he was referred to as deceased in his father's will. He married Mehitable Pope on 24 June 1744 in Sandwich.2
References:
1. Mrs. John E. Barclay, "Hannah (Swift) Tobey, Daughter of William2 Swift and the Family of Ambrose Fish2 of Sandwich, Mass.," The American Genealogist 35, 1959, 40-43.
2. Caroline Lewis Cardell and Russell A. Lovell, Vital Records of Sandwich, Massachusetts: To the Year 1850, 2 vols. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1996), vol. 1: 29, 31 (deaths of Seth, Jr. and Ephraim); vol. 1: 56 (marriage of Seth and Mary); vol. 1: 76–77 (births of the children); vol. 1: 153, 165, 526 (marriages of Jirah, Abiah and Benjamin); vol. 1: 205 (second marriage of William); vol. 2: 1381 (baptism of Mercy Morey).
3. Vital Records of Scituate, Massachusetts: To the Year 1850, 2 vols. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1909), vol. 1: 378.
4. Frank Alfred Randall, Randall and Allied Families: William Randall (1609–1693) of Scituate and His Descendants With Ancestral Families. (Chicago: Raveret-Weber, 1943), 38.
5. “Barnstable, MA: Probate Records, 1685–1789,” database with images, AmericanAncestors (https://www.americanancestors.org/DB19/i/7362/398/6131747), vol. 3: 398.
6. John G. Locke, "Extracts from Rev. Benjamin Fessenden's Manuscript," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 13 (1859), 30–33.
7. "Massachusetts, Wills and Probate Records, 1635–1991," database with images, Ancestry > Barnstable > vol. 8–11, 1745–1781 (Seth Fish); vol. 14–17, image 819 (Peleg Fish) vol. 19–20, images 411–4 (Ambrose Fish).
8. George Ernest Bowman, Vital Records of Truro, Massachusetts: To the End of the Year 1849, vol. 1 (Boston: New England Historical Genealogical Society, 1933), 10.
9. Robert Carver Brooks, "Two Ridley Generatons Lost in One Century," The Maine Genealogist 21 (1999): 6.
10. Lydia B. (Phinney) Brownson and Maclean W. McLean, "Lt. John and Elizabeth (Freeman) Ellis of Sandwich, Mass.," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 120 (1966): 187–93.
11. Brent W. Owen, "The Parentage of Nathaniel Phinney of Sandwich, Massachusetts and Machias, Maine," The Maine Genealogist 29 (2007), 3–18.
12. Samuel Pearce May,The Descendants of Richard Sares (Sears) of Yarmouth, Mass., 1638-1888, Albany, J. Munsell, 1890, 82–83.
13. Lee D. van Antwerp and Ruth Wilder Sherman, Vital Records of Plymouth, Massachusetts: To the Year 1850 (Camden, ME: Picton Press, 1993), 153, 159.
14. Mayflower Families Fifth Generation Descendants, 1700–1880," online database, AmericanAncestors, vol. 18, pt. 2, p. 31, citing Mayflower Families Through Five Generations: Descendants of the Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth, Mass., December 1620 (Plymouth, MA: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1975–2015).
Last revised: 17-Jul-2023