Samuel Tupper

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SAMUEL TUPPER (1692–1772), son of DEACON ISRAEL TUPPER and ELIZABETH GIFFORD

HANNAH FISH (1706–aft. 1779), daughter of SETH FISH and MARY TURNER

Samuel, the son of Israel and Elizabeth Tupper, was born on 4 May 1692 in Sandwich.¹ He was baptized on 9 June 1695 in Sandwich.¹ Samuel Tupper, Esq. died on 18 August 1772 in Sandwich.¹ He is buried in the Old Town Cemetery in Sandwich.² He married first Rebecca Ellis of Sandwich on 15 August 1717 in Sandwich.¹ Rebecca was the daughter of Mordecai and Sarah Ellis.³ She died on 27 November 1724 and is buried in the Old Town Cemetery.² Samuel married second Hannah Fish of Sandwich on 14 October 1726.¹

Hannah was the daughter of Seth and Mary Fish, born on 5 June 1706 in Sandwich.¹ Hannah is referred to as the widow Hannah Tupper in the 10 April 1779 division of her brother Ambrose's estate.⁴

An additional birth record for Samuel gives the same birthday, but says, the this boy's name is changed from Elisha to Samuel.¹

Given her marriage date and the date of her last child's birth, Hannah was probably born between 1701 and 1710. Her marriage record describes her as "of Sandwich." The only Hannah Fish in the Sandwich records who fits this description is the daughter of Seth and Mary Fish. Unfortunately, while this Mary's father made a will, he refers to his daughters by their first names.

Samuel being "advanced in years and bodily decay" but of "sound and disposing mind," wrote his will on 12 May 1772. He left his "beloved wife" Hannah—in lieu of her dowar and power of thirds—one cow, his provisions, and so long as she remained his widow "and no longer," the improvement of all of his household goods, one-third of his real estate and liberty to sit in his pew in the meeting house. Apparently, he had already given gifts to some of his children. He left his son Samuel his best suit and 30 pounds. He left his sons, Mordecai, Silas, Enoch, Peleg, Jabez, Seth and Israel, land and his daughters his household goods. He also left his daughter Elizabeth Ellis half the right to his pew and a bible; he left his daughter Rebecca Morton a bible; he left his daughter Rachel Ellis eight pounds; he left his daughter Thankful Finny ten pounds, ten shillings and his great iron kettle; he left his daughter Hannah Jones half the right to his pew and six pounds. He named his son Silas his executor.⁴

Children of Samuel Tupper and Rebecca Ellis: Births recorded in Sandwich¹

i. Mordecai Tupper was born on 9 September 1718.¹ He was baptized on 25 August 1723 in Sandwich.¹ He died on 21 July 1790.² He married Abigail Cobb on 24 November 1753 in Barnstable.⁵ He died on 31 March 1802.³ Abigail, the daughter of Ephraim and Margaret (Gardner), was born on 15 May 1732 and died on 31 March 1802.³ Mordecai and Abigail are buried in the Cobb's Hill Cemetery in Barnstable.²

Abigail's father, Ephraim (John, James, Henry) Cobb, mentioned his daughter Abigail Tupper in his will of 30 August 1775.⁶

ii. Samuel Tupper was born on 20 February 1719/20. He married Joanna Hathaway of Dartmouth and lived there.³

Either Samuel or his son Samuel was a "Minute Man" of April 1775.³

iii. Elizabeth Tupper was born on 22 October 1722. She was baptized on 25 August 1723 in Sandwich.¹ She married Benjamin Ellis of Sandwich on 10 October 1745.¹ Benjamin was the son of Josiah and Sarah (Blackwell) Ellis.³ He was born on 28 July 1722 in Sandwich.⁷

iv. Rebecca Tupper was baptized on 10 October 1745 in Sandwich.¹ She died on 8 March 1778.² She married Elkanah Morton of Dartmouth after 21 October 1752 (intention) in Sandwich.¹ Elkanah, the son of Elkanah and Elizabeth (Holmes) Ellis of Dartmouth, was born on 13 June 1731 in Plymouth.³ He died on 11 March 1824. Elkanah and Rebecca are buried in the Chipman Corner Cemetery in Chipmans Corner, Kings County, Nova Scotia.²

Elkanah was a farmer. He went first to Lebanon and the to Nova Scotia, where he was one of the original grantees of Cornwallis.³

Children of Samuel Tupper and Hannah Fish: Births recorded in Sandwich¹

v. Silas Tupper was born on 19 August 1727. He died on 28 or 30 March 1801 in Barnard, Vermong.³ He married Hannah Freeman of Sandwich on 2 June 1757 in Sandwich.¹ Hannah, the daughter of William and Mary (Bodfish) Freeman, was born on 13 or 24 September 1728 in Sandwich and died on 4 June 1796 in Barnard.³ Silas and Hannah are buried in the Barnard Village Cemetery in Barnard.²

Silas was a school teacher.³

vi. Enoch Tupper was born on 30 April 1729. He died between 17 October 1785, when he wrote his will, and 13 Decenber 1785, when it was probated.³ He married Mehitable Davis of Sandwich on 15 September 1748 in Sandwich.¹ Mehitable, the daughter of Josiah and Mehitable Davis, died on 27 August 1809 or 1810, age 80.³

vii. Peleg Tupper was born on 1 April 1731. He died before 1809 in Waterville, Maine.³ He married Deborah Fish of Sandwich on 24 January 1765 in Sandwich.¹ Deborah was the daughter of Lemuel and Deborah (Bardon) Fish.³

viii. Jabez Tupper was born on 27 January 1732/3. He married Esther Jennings of Sandwich on 24 February 1759 in Sandwich.¹ He was "killed while on an English frigate, being involuntarily detained to navigate the ship."³ He married Esther Jennings on 14 February 1759.³ Esther, the daughter of Samuel and Deborah Jennings, was born on 29 April 1731 and died at a "great age."³

ix. Captain Seth Tupper was born on 6 May 1735. Seth, the husband of Pricilla, died in 1775, age 40 "in St. Lucia one of the W.I. Islands."⁸ Seth Tupper of Sandwich married Mrs. Priscilla Sampson on 12 February 1761 in Kingston.⁸ Priscilla, the daughter of Peleg and Mary (Ring) Sampson, was baptized on 19 March 1738/9 and died on 26 March 1818, age 78, in Kingston.³ Priscilla, the widow of Seth, died on 26 March 1818 ("languished"), age 76 or 78 in Kingston.⁸ She is buried in the Old Burying Ground in Kingston.²

Captain Seth Tupper was a mariner of Kingston.³

Priscilla was a descendant of Miles Standish and John Alden of the Mayflower.³

x. Rachel Tupper was born on 9 April 1737. She died on 28 May 1815. She married Matthias Ellis, Jr. of Sandwich on 15 February 1759 in Sandwich.¹ Matthias, the son of Malachai Ellis, presumably died after 4 May 1779 and before 24 May 1789.⁹ Matthias and and Rachel are buried together in the South Middleboro Cemetery in Middleboro.² Rachel married second Benjamin Hoskins of Rochester on 24 May 1782.⁹

Rachel was admitted to full communion in the Sandwich church on 5 July 1761.⁹

Four of Matthias and Rachel's children died in the 1775 small pox epidemic.⁹

xi. Thankful Tupper was born on 23 January 1740/1. She was living on 12 May 1772 and probably died before 1800, when she does not appear in the census.¹⁰ She married Nathaniel Phinney of Sandwich on 13 January 1763 in Sandwich.¹ Nathaniel was probably the son of Joshua (Josiah, John, Robert, Jeffrey) and Hannah (Curtis) Phinney.¹⁰ He was baptized on 11 April 1736 in Plymouth and he died on 24 September 1804, probably in Machias, Maine.¹⁰ Nathaniel married second Charity (Bryant) Holmes, the widow of Samuel Holes, in December 1803 in Machias.¹⁰

Thankful's mother-in-law married second Thankful's uncle Jirah Fish

xii. Israel Tupper was born on 9 May 1744 in Sandwich. He died on 3 March 1817 in Barnard. He married Deborah Tobey.

xiii. Hannah Tupper was born on 26 May 1746. She was baptized on 11 October 1749 in Sandwich.¹ She was living on 12 May 1772. She married John Jones of Sandwich on 10 March 1765.¹ John was born in 1733 and died on 25 June 1813.³

References:

1. 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: 20, 39, 76, 111, 112 (births); vol. 2: 1381,1391, 1618 (baptisms); vol. 1: 108, 127, 166–7, 180, 191, 197, 208, 215–6 (marriages); vol. 1: 174 (deaths).

3. Tupper Family Association, "Thomas Tupper and His Descendants," New England Historic and Genealogical Register 99 (1945): 66, 123, 289–92.

4. "Massachusetts, Wills and Probate Records, 1635–1991," database with images, Ancestry > Barnstable > Probate Records, vol. 19–20, images 411–4 (Ambrose Fish); vol. 17–18, images 25–26 (Samuel).

5. Vital Records of Barnstable (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2002), 102.

6. Philip L. Cobb, A History of the Cobb Family (Cleveland: n.p., 1907), 101–2.

7. "Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620–1988," database, Ancestry, entry for Benjamin Ellis, citing Town and City Clerks of Massachusetts, Massachusetts Vital and Town Records (Provo, UT: Holbrook Research Institute (Jay and Delene Holbrook), n.d.).

8. Vital Records of Kingston, Massachusetts: To the Year 1850 (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2002), 292, 387.

9. Lydia B. (Phinney) Brownson and Maclean W. McLean, "Lt. John and Elizabeth (Freeman) Ellis of Sandwich, Mass.," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 121 (1967): 37–45.

10. Brent W. Owen, "The Parentage of Nathaniel Phinney of Sandwich, Massachusetts and Machias, Maine," The Maine Genealogist 29 (2007), 3–18.

Last revised: 17-Jan-2022