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THOMAS WADE (c. 1645–1726), son of Nicholas Wade and Elizabeth Hanford
HANNAH ENSIGN (b. say 1652), daughter of Thomas Ensign and Elizabeth Wilder
Thomas Wade was born about 1645, based on a deposition that he was 40 on 6 March 1684/5. [1] He died between 14 March 1726 and 23 November 1726. Thomas Wade, the son of Nicholas Wade, married Hannah, the daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (Wilder) Ensign probably about 1670. [2]
Hannah Ensign was born say 1652, probably in Scituate. [2] No death record for her has been found and it is possible that she is not the mother of all of Thomas's children. [2]
Hannah's brother John Ensign called his sister Hannah Wade in his will and he named her brother Thomas Wade his executor, and mentions her children Jacob, Silence and Joseph. [2]
Thomas was one of the many residents of Scituate who became involved in a dispute with Captain John Williams.
Thomas was a petit juror in March 1689/90. [3]
John Sweatland successfully sued Thomas Wade in June 1703. He had served five years as an apprentice to Thomas, who was supposed to have taught him how to be a house carpenter and wheelwright. [3]
Thomas Wade of Bridgewater, being "old and full of days" made his will on 14 March 1726. It was proved on 23 November 1726. He mentioned his oldest son Joseph, to whom he left "twenty shillings and no more;" his daughter Sarah Wade, to whom he also left "twenty shillings and no more;" his son Thomas, to whom he left five pounds, land and his carpentry tools; his daughter Rachel Wade, to whom he left "five pounds and no more;" his daughter Hannah, the wife of Edward Lothrop, to whom he also left "five pounds and no more;" his son Ichabod Wade, apparently a favorite to whom he left land and movable property an who was to be his executor and pay his debts and bequests; his daughter Deborah Wade (apparently another favorite), to whom he left a feather bed, his loom, a smoothing iron, a cow and a long list of other movables; his son Moses Wade, to whom he left land. [4]
Children of Thomas Wade and Hannah Ensign:
i. Silence Wade was born say 1671. [2} She died before 1 December 1715. She married Ambrose Cole. [2] He married second the widow Abigail Sutton on 1 December 1715. [2]
Silence named a son Ensign Cole, probably after uncle John Ensign, who was the last surviving male of his family and left her a bequest in his will. [2]
ii. Jacob Wade was born on 13 November 1673 in Scituate. [5] He probably died before 14 March 1726, when he was not mentioned in his father's will.
Jacob, Silence and Joseph are mentioned in the 1676 will of their uncle John Ensign. [2]
iii. Joseph Wade was born on 14 February 1675/6 in Scituate. He died on 27 December 1761. He married Ruth Garrett.
Children of Thomas Wade:
iv. Sarah Wade was born on 22 September 1678 in Scituate. [5] She was living and apparently unmarried on 14 March 1726.
v. Thomas Wade, "old," died on 22 January 1789/[90?] in Bridgewater. [6] He married Rebecca Snow on 20 December 1722 in Bridgewater. [6] He perhaps married Elizabeth Hanmer on 5 May 1743 in Bridgewater. [6] He married Abigail Ames on 20 January 1752 in Bridgewater. [6] Abigail, the wife of Thomas, died on 24 or 27 September 1789, age 84, in Bridgewater. [6] Abigail is buried in the Scotland Cemetery in Bridgewater. [7]
Thomas Wade, joiner of Bridgewater, sued William Trask for debt on 20 November 1727. [3]
vi. Deborah Wade was born on 10 May 1691 in Scituate. [5] was living and apparently unmarried on 14 March 1726.
vii. Rachel Wade was born on 29 January 1691/2 in Scituate. [5] She was living and apparently unmarried on 14 March 1726.
viii. Hannah Wade was living on 14 March 1691. She married Edward Lothrop.
ix. Ichabod Wade was living on 9 March 1726/7, when he presented the inventory on his father's estate. [4]
x. Moses Wade was living on 14 March 1726.
References:
1. Marya Meyers and Donald W. James, Jr., "William James of Scituate and Boston, Shipwright and Quaker," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 155 (2001): 47.
2. Robert E. Bowman, "Ensigns Revisited," The American Genealogist 73 (1998): 241–55.
3. "Plymouth County, Massachusetts: Plymouth Court Records 1686–1859," AmericanAncestors.org, vol. 1:10; vol. 4: 425–9; vol. 6, 47.
4. "Massachusetts, U.S. Wills and Probate Records, 1635–1991," database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/9069)> Plymouth > Probate estate files, no. 21720–21792, Wade, Sarah–Walker, Almeda, 1686–1915, images 95–116.
5. Vital Records of Scituate, Massachusetts: To the Year 1850, 2 vols. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1909), vol. 1: 396–400, 403 (births); vol. 2: 316–318 (marriages), 463–464 (deaths).
6. Vital Records of Bridgewater, Massachusetts: To the Year 1850, vol. 2 (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1916), 378–9 (marriages), 568 (deaths).
7. Find a Grave, database and images, memorial page for Abigail Ames Wade (9 Feb 1705–24 Sep 1789), Find a Grave Memorial ID 61950466, citing Scotland Cemetery, Bridgewater, Plymouth County, MA; Maintained by Chip5610 (contributor 46997557), accessed 28 November 2022. Her inscription says "In Memory of Mrs. ABIGAIL wife of Mr. Thomas Wade who Died Sept. ye 24, 1789 in the 85th year of her age."
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26-Dec-2022