Return to main file

Ensign Enoch Colby (1702–1780), son of Samuel Colby and Dorothy Ambrose

Abial Sanborn (1725–by 1748), daughter of Benjamin Sanborn and Sarah Unknown


Enoch Colby, the son of Samuel and Dorothy Colby, was born on 7 November 1702 in Amesbury, Essex County, Massachusetts. [1] He died between 17 July 1780 and is buried in the Chester Village Cemetery in Chester, Windsor County, Vermont. [2] He married first Abigail Sanborn on 16 December 1725. [3] He married second Sarah Sargent on 15 December 1748. [4] Sarah, the daughter of Ensign Jacob and Judith (Harvey) Sargent, was born on 8 March 1702 in Amesbury. [5] She was living in 1782. [5] Enoch's double second cousin, she was the granddaughter of William Sargent and Mary Colby. [5]

Abigail Sanborn, the daughter of Benjamin and Sarah Sanborn, was born on 22 July 1700. [3]

Enoch settled in Hampton Falls, New Hampshire in 1727 and moved to Chester in 1728. [5]

Abial was admitted to full communion in the Hampton Falls Church on 22 July 1727 and was later dismissed to the church in Chester. [5]

Enoch's father-in-law Benjamin Sanborn gave him half of his right in Chester and the house on this right. [6]

Abigail's father refereed to his daughter as Abigail Colby in his will of October 1740. [7]

Enoch was a surveyor of highways and fence viewer in Chester in 1730. He was a selectman in 1731. He was a tythingman in 1734. [6]

Enoch was one of three empowered to call the first meeting of the Congregational Church. A warning to call this meeting is dated 27 August 1740. [6]

Enoch was an ensign in Chester in 1749. [6]

Enoch Colby, gentleman of Chester, made his will on 5 January 1779. He left his wife Sarah six acres of meadow in Chester and his mare and a side-saddle, to be hers forever. He left her the easterly end of his dwelling house, the produce of his home farm, the wood from his farm at North Brook, and her choice of two cows and four sheep for her widowhood. If she was to remarry, she was to only have a third of his real estate. He left his eldest son Enoch half his wearing apparel, ten shillings, what he had already been given, and no more. He left his real estate in Chester to his children Jethro Colby, Sarah Turner, Dorothy Chase, Susanna Blake, Abial Hill, Abigail Towle, Mary Colby, Elizabeth Colby, and Judith Long. He left his four daughters Sarah Turner, Dorothy [Chase, Susannah?] Blake [!], and Abial Hill, all of the household goods he had when he married his present wife. He left the rest of his household goods to his daughters Abigail Towle, Mary Colby, Elizabeth Colby, and Judith Long, with the exception of his clock, which he left to his daughter Abigail Towle. He left the rest of his apparel to his son Jethro. The remainder of his estate was to be divided between his children other than Enoch. He named his wife Sarah and his son-in-law James Towle his executors. Probate was on 30 August 1780. [8]

Children of Enoch Colby and Abial Sanborn:

i. Enoch Colby was born about 1726 in Hampton Falls, Rockingham County, New Hampshire. He was baptized on 1 December 1728. He married Abigail Blaisdell.

ii. Sarah Colby was baptized in Hampton Falls on 10 September 1727. [5] She died on 30 May 1810. [6] She married William Turner.

iii. Dorothy Colby was born on 5 January 1730. [9] She died on 15 August 1816. [6] She married first David Worthen. [6] She married second Jacob Chase. [6]

iv. Jethro Colby was born on 8 May 1733. [9] He died on 4 April 1803. [6] He married Elizabeth, the daughter of Samuel Bartlett, on 1 November 1756. [6] She died on 13 July 1778. [6] He married second Nannie Moulton. [6] She died in 1793. [6]

v. Susanna Colby was born on 22 August 1735. [9] She married Henry Blake. [5] Henry, the son of Joshua and Jemima Blake, was born in Hampton in 1729. [5]

vi. Abigail Colby was born on 6 November 1637. [9] She died on 3 December 1745, age eight years and 27 days. [Ref]

vi. Abial Colby was born on 10 July 1741. [9] She married Unknown Hill.

Children of Enoch Colby and Sarah Sargent:

vii. Abigail Colby was born on 19 December 1749. [9] She married James Towle of Hawke on 13 September 1768. [6][5] James, the son of Caleb and Rebecca (Prescott) Towle, was born on 31 December 1747 in Chester. [5]

viii. Mary Colby was born on 9 November 1756. [9] She married Benjamin Long. [6] Benjamin, the son of Nathan and Naomi (Eastman) Long, was born in 1750. [5]

Benjamin and Mary went to to Schenectady, New York. [6]

ix. Elizabeth Colby was born on 27 June 1753. [9] She died on 29 September 1831 in Chester. [5] She married John Wilson. [6] John, the son of Robert and Jane (Aiken) Wilson, was born on 7 September 1760 in Chester and died on 8 March 1837 in Chester. [5]

x. Judith Colby was born on 27 August 1760. [9] She married Joseph Long. [6] Joseph, the brother of Judith's sister Mary's husband, was born on 18 September 1752 in Chester and died on 26 November 1836 in Chester. [5]

Map: Google Maps

References:

1. Vital Records of Amesbury, Massachusetts to the End of the Year 1849 (Topsfield: Topsfield Historical Society, 1913).

2. FindaGrave:

Ens Enoch Colby, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/143129582/enoch-colby

3. Nathan Sanborn, "The Sanborn Family," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 10 (1856): 271–80.

4. "New Hampshire, U.S., Marriage Records, 1700-1971," database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/61836) > 1700-1900 > Clifford-Colby, I, image 7, Enoch m. Sarah Sargeant, 15 Dec. 1748.

5. Frederick Lewis Weis, The Colby Family in Early America (Concord: Colonial Press, 1970).

6. Benjamin Chase, History of Old Chester (Auburn, NH: author, 1869).

7. V.C. Sanborn, Genealogy of the Family of Samborne or Sanborn (Albany: Rumford Press, 1899), 86–87.

8. "New Hampshire, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1643–1982," database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/8996) > Rockingham > Probate Records, vol. 25–27, image 196.

9. "New Hampshire, U.S., Birth Records, 1631–1920," database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/61833).


©a. buiter

16-May-2023