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LIEUTENANT JONATHAN HOUGHTON (1686–1737), son of John Houghton and Mary Farrar

THANKFUL WHITE (1689–aft. 1737), daughter of Josiah White and Mary Rice

Jonathan, the son of John and Mary (Farrar) Houghton, was born on 20 February 1685/6 in Lancaster.1,2,3  He died on 8 April 1737.1,3 He married Thankful White on 6 November 1712.3

Thankful, the daughter of Josiah and Mary (Rice) White, was born on 27 March 1689 in Lancaster.3

Jonathan a selectman in Lancaster in 1723.3 He was town clerk of Lancaster from 1726 to 1728 and from 1730 until his death.3 He was a representative in 1732.3 He is referred to as Lieutenant Jonathan Houghton in his death record.1

Jonathan made his will on 7 April 1737. He named his wife Thankful, his eldest son Jonathan, his second son Rufus, his two eldest daughters Thankful Whitcomb and Mary Sawyer and his five younger daughters Keziah, Azubah, Achsah, Zerviah and Epha.4 His estate was settled by his widow Thankful and her brother Josiah White on 24 August 1739.3

On 14 July 1741 Jonathan Hougton and Rufus Houghton, yeomen of Leominster; Simon Whitcomb, yeoman, and Thankful, his wife; Israel Whitcomb and Azubah, his wife; Keziah Houghton, single woman; Ephraim Fairbanks and Achsah, his wife; Samuel Moore and Zerviah, his wife; Epha Houghton, single woman; Nathaniel Sawyer and Mary, his wife, for 100 pounds, deeded to Zephaniah Williams all their right in the estate of their uncle Houghton.4

Children of Jonathan Houghton and Thankful White: Births recorded in Lancaster as children of Jonathan and Thankful.5

i. Thankful Houghton was born on 3 March 1713/4. She married Simon Whitcomb of Bolton on 12 July 1733.3,6 Simon, the son of David and Mary (Haward) Whitcomb, was baptized on 17 March 1713/4.3 He was the grandson of Josiah Whitcomb.

Simon and Thankful lived in Lancaster and Bolton.3

ii. Mary Houghton was born on 19 September 1715. She married Nathaniel Sawyer on 19 March 1735.3 Nathaniel, the son of Nathaniel Sawyer, was baptized with his brothers and sisters on 6 May 1716.3

Nathaniel was a captain in the Old Colonial War in 1757.3

iii. Keziah Houghton was born on 31 May 1717. She was living and unmarried in 1741.

She is probably not the Keziah Houghton who married Ebenezer Buss, born in 1723. That Keziah was probably the daughter of Benjamin Houghton.7

iv. Lieutenant Jonathan Houghton was born on 28 March 1719. He married Sarah, the daughter of James and Sarah Houghton on 2,22,1742.6

Jonathan settled in Bolton, where he was a farmer and hewer of timber.6 He was a Revolutionary War soldier and was wounded at the Battle of Bennington.6

v. Azubah Houghton was born on 20 November 1720. She married Israel Whitcomb.

vi. Rufus Houghton was born on 9 November 1722. He married Abigail Moore on 26 April 1750 in Bolton.3,6 Abigail, the daughter of John and Susannah Moore, was born on 12 August 1728.3

Rufus was a yeoman of Leominster.

vii. Achsah Houghton was born on 16 January 1724/5. She died in 1809 and is buried in the Old South Burial Ground.7 She married Ephraim Fairbanks on 6 November 1712 in Lancaster.7 Ephraim, the husband of Achsah, was born in 1724.8 He was the son of Jabez (Jabez, Jonas) Fairbanks.8 He died on 18 November 1799 and is buried in the Old South Burial Ground (Bolton Old Cemetery). 7,8

Ephraim lived in Berlin; "he was a prominent and influential citizen of the town in its early history."8

Caleb Fairbanks of Bolton, Nathaniel Longley, Jr. of Bolton, and Isaac Moore of Berlin, gentleman all, posted bond on the estate of Ephraim Fairbanks, late of Berlin, on 3 December 1799.9

Administration was granted on Achsah's estate in 1806 in Berlin.10

viii. Epha Houghton was born on 26 January 1727. She died on 27 September 1728 and is buried in the Old Common Burial Ground in Lancaster.3,7

ix. Zerviah (Zervish) Houghton was born on 18 February 1728/9. She married Samuel Moore.

ix. Epha Houghton was born on 19 August 1731.

References:

1. "Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620–1988," database, Ancestry, citing Town and City Clerks of Massachusetts, Massachusetts Vital and Town Records (Provo, UT: Holbrook Research Institute (Jay and Delene Holbrook), n.d.) > L ancaster > Immigration Records, with Births, Marriages, and Deaths, image 32 (Jonathan's birth); > Lancaster > Vital Records Transcripts, image 158 (Jonathan's death).

2. Andrew H. Ward, "Lancaster Records," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 17 (1863), 71.

3. Almira Larkin White, Genealogy of the Descendants of John White of Wenham and Lancaster, Massachusetts: 1638–1900, vol. 1 (Haverhill, MA: Chase Brothers, 1900), 22, 43–44, 77–79.

4. Joy F. Peach, "The Real Wife of Ephraim Fairbank of Lancaster and Bolton, Massachusetts," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 160 (2006): 313–4.

5. Nourse, Henry S., Birth, Marriage and Death Register, Church Records and Epitaphs of Lancaster, Massachusetts, 1643 - 1850, Clinton, MA, W. J. Coulter, Printer, 1890, 52.

6. John W. Houghton, The Houghton genealogy : the Descendants of Ralph and John Houghton of Lancaster, Massachusetts (New York: Frederick Hitchcock, 1912), 308.

7. "Keziah Houghton Buss," Findagrave (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9070655/kezia-buss). "Achsah Goeth Houghton Fairbanks," Findagrave (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/102751802/achsah-fairbanks). "Ephraim Fairbank," Findagrave (https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/3356491:60525)."Ephah Houghton," Findagrave (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/41846489/ephah-houghton), photograph of her grave with inscription: "Ephah Houghton, daughter of Lieut. Jonathan & Mrs. Thankful Houghton, Died Sept. 27th, 1729, Aged 2 Years & 3 mos."

8. William A. Houghton, History of the Town of Berlin, Worcester County, Mass: From 1784 to 1895 (Worcester: F.S. Blanchard & Co., 1895), 337–8.

9. "Massachusetts, Wills and Probate Records, 1635–1991," database with images, Ancestry (2015: https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/9069) > Worcester > Probate Recorsd, vol. 214–215, 1755–1875, image 350.

10. James Flint, comp., "Worcester County, Massachusetts, Probate Index, Vol. 1 & 2 A – Z, July 1731-1881," database, Ancestry (2000: https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/5189)

Last revised: 16-Dec-2023