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JOSEPH TWICHELL (say 1652–1710), son of Benjamin Twitchell and Mary Riggs
LYDIA GOARD (bp. 1653–1725), daughter of Richard Goard and Phebe Hewes
Joseph was the son of Benjamin and Mary (Riggs) Twitchell. [1] He was born say 1653, but after 1649. [1] Joseph, Sr. died on 24 October 1710 in Sherborn. [2] He married Lydia Goard before 29 April 1679. [1][3]
Lydia was the daughter of Richard Goard and Phebe Hewes. [3] She was born on 20 February 1652/3 in Roxbury. [4] She was baptized on 27 February 1652/3 in Roxbury. [1][3] Lydia the widow of Joseph, died on 27 April 1725 in Sherborn. [2]
In his will of 18 September 1683 Richard Goard refers to Lydia as the wife of Joseph Twitchell. [3]
Joseph is probably the Joseph who is on a list of soldiers who mustered on the Dedham plain on 10 December 1675. He was a member of Captain Samuel Mosely's company, which fought in the Great Swamp Fight in King Philip's War on 19 December. [5]
On 29 April 1679 the Suffolk County Court ruled: [6]
Joseph Twitchell and Lydia his now wife convictd by their own confession in Court of committing Fornication before marriage, Sentencd to pay three pounds in money fine to the County & fees of Court standing committd &ca
Joseph owned 100 acres of the first grants in Sherborn. [7] As early as 160 he rented and mowed the Pond meadows in Holliston. [7]
Joseph of Sherborn became ill in 1690 and made his will on 22 December of that year, long before he died. He left his wife Lydia (during her widowhood) and his son Joseph (when he came of age) each half of his new house and orchard. His daughter Patience was to later have Lydia's half. One-third of the rest of his estate was left to Lydia and the other two-thirds were left to her for the bringing up of his children. [8]
The house built by Joseph in 1690, or perhaps by Joseph or his son Joseph about 1710, is still standing in Sherborn. [9][10]
On 20 November 1710, Joseph's will was read and Joshua Stedman, the husband of Joseph's daughter Content, Woodland Thompson, the husband of Joseph's daughter Charity, Joseph Johnson, the husband of Joseph's daughter Lydia and Joseph Twitchell, Joseph's eldest son, were present. Samuel Eames, the husband of Patience and Ephraim, the youngest son, age 16, did not appear. [8]
Joseph's widow presented the inventory of his movable estate on 27 November 1710. It amounted to £81-18-06 and included books, arms, clothes, household goods, farm implements and crops, an old mare, a sorrel mare, two colts, two yokes of oxen, five cows, six heifers, two steers, one bull, three calves, 12 sheep, a sow, four pigs, and a shoat. On 30 November 1710 Joseph's son Joseph, Joseph Morse, and William Ryder posted bond. [8]
On 17 March 1712 the Judge of Probate required Joshua Stedman, Samuel Eames, Joseph Johnson, and Woodland Thomas—all of the son-in-laws of Joseph Twitchell, deceased, of Sherborn, their wives, and Joseph's son Joseph Twitchell to appear at his house in Cambridge at 2:00 in the afternoon on 4 April 1712. [8]
On 4 April 1712, Joseph Twitchell was administrator of the estate of his late father, Joseph Twitchell of Sherborn. One-thirds of his father's estate was set off to his widow and the other two-thirds was appraised at £153-06-08. On 11 April 1712, Joseph Twitchell, Ebenezer Badcock, and Nathaniel Holbrook, all yeoman of Sherborn, posted bond. The obligations included payments to Joseph's brother Ephraim, when he came of age, and to his sisters Patience, the wife of Samuel Eames, Content, the wife of Joshua Stedman of Brookline, Charity, the wife of Woodland Thompson, and Lydia, the wife of Joseph Johnson. [8]
On 26 February 1727/8 (1 George II), Lydia Twitchell—the widow of Joseph Twitchell of Sherborn, who had died intestate—was also deceased. She had had her widow's third for life and William Rider, John Death, and William Leland, all of Sherborn, were appointed to assess her estate, other parts of her husband's estate, and to provide details of the remaining heirs. [8]
Children of Joseph Twitchell and Lydia Unknown: Births recorded in Sherborn. [2]
i. Patience Twitchell was born on 3 December 1678. She married [as his second wife] Samuel Eames on 21 April 1698. [7] Samuel, the son of Robert, was born on 2 September 1664 in Woburn. [11] He married first Mary Death on 6 January 1689/90 in Sherborn. [2]
ii. Content Twitchell was born on 25 January 1680. She married Joshua Stedman.
iii. Charity Twitchell was born on 7 December 1682. She married Woodland Thompson on 16 February 1703/4 in Sherborn. [2] Woodland was probably the son of John Tompson of Mendon, baptized on 12 (9) 1682 in Braintree. [12]
iv. Sarah Twitchell was born on 15 November 1684. She died on 23 April 1710 in Sherborn. [2]
A 31 March 1712 account of expenses relating to her father's estate includes a 4 March 1711/2 payment to Fairbanks for "phisick" for Sarah Twitchell, deceased. [8]
v. Lydia Twitchell was born on 11 October 1686. She probably died on 19 October 1777 in Holliston. She married Lieutenant Joseph Johnson.
vi. Joseph Twitchell was born on 3 September 1688. He died on 31 January 1727/8 in Sherborn and is buried in the Sherborn Center Cemetery in Sherborn. [2][13] He married Elizabeth Holbrook. [7] Elizabeth was probably the daughter of John and Silence Holbrook, born on 5 July 1696 in Sherborn. [2] She died on 31 March 1782, age 85, and is buried in the Sherborn Center Cemetery. [2][13] She married second James Whitney. [13] James, the son of John and Mary Whitney, was born on 28 December 1692 in Sherborn. [2] Deacon James Whitney died on 10 April 1770, age 77, and is buried in the Sherborn Center Cemetery. [2][13] James married first Martha Rice. [13] She died on 1 July 1731 and is buried in the Sherborn Center Cemetery. [13]
On 8 July 1728 Elizabeth Twitchell was referred to as a widow and bound by her husband's obligation to make payments to his father's other heirs. [8]
vii. Ephraim Twitchell was born on 24 October 1695 in Sherborn. He married Sarah Mellen on 28 September 1721 in Sherborn. [2] Sarah, the daughter of Thomas and Sarah Mellen, was born on 22 March 1697 in Framingham. [14] She died on 28 August 1725. [7] Ephraim of Holliston married Hannah Sanger on 9 February 17726/7 in Sherborn. [2][7] Hannah was the daughter of Richard and Elizabeth (Morse) Singer. [7]
He bought 73 acres from Daniel Morse, the son of Daniel Morse, Sr. [son of Samuel] for 45 pounds on 19 March 1719/20. [7]
Endnotes:
1. Robert Charles Anderson and Alvy Ray Smith, "The Genealogy of Edward Riggs of Roxbury, Massachusetts, Revisited," The Genealogist 23 (2009): 131–73, specifically 137.
2. Thomas W. Baldwin, Vital Records of Sherborn, Massachusetts: To the Year 1850 (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1911).
TWITCHELL Births, 87–89 Charity, d. of Joseph and Lydia, Dec. 7, 1682 Marriages, 175–6 Charity and Woodland Thompson, Feb. 16, 1703/4. [Intention not recorded] Deaths, 225 Joseph Sr., Oct. 24, 1710 |
EAMES Marriages, 125 Samuel and Mary Death, Jan. 6, 1689/90. [Intention not recorded] HOLBROOK Births, 47 Elizabeth, d. of John and Silenc[e], July 5, 1696. WHITNEY Births, 93 James, s. of John and Mary, Dec. 28, 1692. Deaths, 227–8 Elizabeth, wid. of (Dea. James, G.R.1), Mar. 31, 1782 (in her 86th y. G.R.1) J James, Dea., Apr. 10, 1770, (in his 78th y., G.R.1). |
3. "Great Migration, 1634–1635, G–H," digitized book, originally published as Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration to New England, 1634–1635, Volume III, G–H (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2003), 78–81.
4. Vital Records of Roxbury, Massachusetts to the End of the Year 1849, vol. 1, vol. 2 (Salem: Essex Institute, 1925), 147 Lidea, d. Richard, Feb. 20, 1652. [1652-3, C.R.1.]
5. "Colonial Soldiers and Officers in New England, 1620–1775," database with images, AmericanAncestors.org > Massachusetts Officers and Soldiers in the Seventeenth-Century Conflicts, imgae 238, entry for Joseph Twitchell.
6. Publications of The Colonial Society of Massachusetts, vol. 30, Records of the Suffolk County Court, 1671–1680 (Boston: Colonial Society of Massachusetts, 1933), p. 1014.
7. Abner Morse, Genealogy of the Descendants of Several Ancient Puritans (Boston: the author, 1857).
8. "Massachusetts, U.S. Wills and Probate Records, 1635–1991," database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/9069), case 23124.
9. "Twitchell, Joseph House," MHC ID SHR.R, "Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System," database, Massachusetts Historical Commmission (https://mhc-macris.net : accessed 9 October 2023).
10. "32 Pleasant Street—1981 Survey," Sherborn, Massachusetts (https://www.sherbornma.org/sites/g/files/vyhlif1201/f/uploads/pleasant_032.pdf : accessed 9 October 2023).
11. Edward Francis Johnson, Woburn Records of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, Part 1 (births), Part 2, (deaths) Part 3 (marriages) (Woburn: Andrew Cutlery & Co., 1890).
EAMES
Birth, 1: 82
Samuel, s. of Robert, Sept. 2, 1664.
12. Edward Evarts Johnson, “Records of the First Church at Braintree,” New England Historical and Genealogical Register 59 (1905): 153–9.
13. Find a Grave, database and images (accessed 9 October 2023), memorial pages for
Joseph Twitchell Jr. (3 Sep 1688–31 Jan 1728), Memorial ID 27425159, Elizabeth Holbrook Whitney (5 Jul 1696–31 Mar 1782), Memorial ID 27424697, and Deacon James Whitney (28 Dec 1692–10 Apr 1770), Memorial ID 27424674, citing Sherborn Center Cemetery, Sherborn, Middlesex County, MA; maintained by Marina Williams (contributor 46998654).
Martha Rice Whitney (1692–1 Jul 1731), Memorial ID 56818912, citing Sherborn Center Cemetery; maintained by Mildred Treadway (contributor 47292218).
14. Thomas W. Baldwin, Vital Records of Framingham, Massachusetts: To the Year 1850 (Boston: Wright & Potter, 1911).
MELLEN
Births: 141
Sarah, d. of Thomas and Elezebeth, Mar. 22, 1697.
© A. Buiter 2014
20-Oct-2023 2:42 PM