FREEMAN Benjamin

Benjamin married PECK Rachel on 03 Jul 1718 in Attleboro, Bristol Co., MA. Rachel (daughter of PECK Hezekiah and COOPER Deborah) was born on 18 Apr 1698 in Attleboro, Bristol Co., MA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Birth:
19 MAR 1719/1720

Notes:

Notes for SAMUEL FREEMAN:
Samuel Freeman was the son of Benjamin Freeman and Rachel Peck.
Thomas Wilmouth of Attleborough was appointed as his guardian and on
16 May 1732 in Attleborough, MA, Samuel Freeman was listed as "under
14" and the son of Benjamin Freeman, deceased. He served as a
Lieutenant of the MA troops in the French and Indian Wars in 1763.
After the death of his son, Samuel, he was appointed guardian of his
grandson, Chester, only two months before his own death. Benjamin
and Comfort Freeman were sureties under a bond of L200 on 31 October
1772 at Sturbridge, MA. Upon the death of Samuel Freeman, his sons
Benjamin and Comfort Freeman were appointed Administrators of his
estate on 20 January 1773 at Sturbridge, MA. The inventory of his
estate showed a value of L1203 on 21 February 1773 at Sturbridge, Ma.
The probate court ordered the distribution of his estate to his
heirs. Receipts were given by Silas and Rachel Hodges, Mary Freeman
as guardian for Urania, Jared Freeman, Comfort Freeman, Daniel
Plimpton and Moses Wild on 28 March 1774 at Sturbridge, MA.

Samuel Freeman was descended from Ralph Freeman of Dedham and
Attleborough, MA. A blacksmith, he settled in Sturbridge, where he
was the first resident of the area that is now Southbridge, MA. He
built the first house in what is now the center of Southbridge. He
and Col.Moses Marcy of Dudley owned a large part of the land in
Southbridge.

His death in 1772, proceded by the deaths of his son Samuel, and
daughter-in-law, Elizabeth Cheney Freeman, only three months earlier
created havoc in this family. Both Samuels had minor children for
whom guardians were appointed. Chester Freeman, son of the younger
Samuel, came under the guardianship of his grandfather, only to have
his grandfather die and have another guardian appointed. A third
generation Samuel, born in 1772, died as an infant in the summer of
1773. Although there is no record as to what brought on this
catastrophe, it is possible that a sickness went through the family,
or even that there was an epidemic at Sturbridge at the time.


Thanks go to Robert Freeman for this information on the Freeman
Family.
Sources:
1.Abstracts of Bristol County, MA, Probate Records, 1687-1745, p.203
(book 7, pp335-336)
2.Freeman Genealogy, p. 377, n 77
3 Genealogical Memorial and Family Records of the Ammidown Family,
and a Partial Record of some other Families of Sturbridge,Ma, p.36
4.Massachusetts Commonwealth: Worcester County Probate Records, 1731-
1881, v 19, pp 249, 277, 433; dockets 22345, 22407, 22408

Birth:
1 MAR 1721/1722

Samuel married CHUBB Mary on 09 May 1744 in Needham, Norfolk Co., MA. Mary was born about 1724 in MA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

BENJAMIN FREEMAN, ELDEST CHILD OF SAMUEL #5 (1744-1806)

Benjamin Freeman was born October 24 1744, married Deborah Child of Woodstock June 13 1764, and died May 22 1806, age 60. He was a blacksmith by trade, but also kept open the tavernhouse established by his father.57 Deborah and Benjamin had one child, Kezia, born May 20 1765. She married Jeremiah Shumway in 1786, and they had seven children: Nabby (b 1787), Benjamin (b & d 1789), Jeremiah Jr. (b 1790), Benjamin Freeman (b 1792), Adalade (b 1794), Deborah Anne (b 1797), and Emeline (b 1802). She was widowed before the Emeline's birth, but remarried three years later, and completed her family with daughter Louisa, born in 1806.

At the time of the 1800 census, Benjamin's family included himself and his wife, as well as his mother, Mary Chamberlain, and a housemaid between 16 and 25. (His mother had remarried in 1774, widower Joseph Chamberlain of Dudley. When he died, in 1780, she returned to Sturbridge and made her home in Benjamin's family, where she remained until her death in 1807.) On the 1798 Direct Tax he was listed as owning one dwelling house, one acre worth $600; a dwelling house, outhouse and one acre worth $700; 126 acres at $2381; 150 acres at $1425; 86 acres at $466; and 16 acres at $134. Together, the land parcels totalled $4406, and buildings $1300, for a total real estate value of $5706. (There are two other Freeman households listed on the direct tax—Benjamin's brother Comfort whose real estate of 170 acres and a dwellinghouse were valued at $3075, and Comfort's son Samuel, with a dwellinghouse and 150 acres worth $844.)

The configuration of Benjamin's household changed a number of times in the opening years of the nineteenth century. When Jeremiah Shumway died, Kezia moved her family from the farmstead set off to her mother as her widow's dower—to which Jeremiah had acquired title in 1790—into her father's family on the "home farm."58 Four years later, in March of 1805, Benjamin's wife Deborah, passed away. Two weeks after her death, Kezia married Azor Brown of Woodstock, who moved into the family. The household, then, included Benjamin and his mother, as well as his daughter, her children and her new husband. The spring following, Kezia's eldest daughter married and her father Benjamin died; one year later Mary Chamberlain, at the age of eighty-eight, succumbed to influenza.59

Benjamin Freeman left his estate to Kezia and her children. In his will, dated August 6 1805, he bequeathed to his daughter the equivalent of a widow's third (to revert to her children upon her death); to grandsons Jeremiah and Benjamin one-third, to be equally divided between them; and to his granddaughters the remaining third, to be divided in equal portions.60

Benjamin's estate was substantial: after all just debts and expenses were paid (which amounted to nearly $3000, his real and personal property totalled at $5534.51. Real property included the home farm of 152 acres and buildings, $3812.50; the tavern house lot and buildings that were once his father's, $850; and a sixty-acre parcel, $600.61 By the time his friends Joshua Harding and Jonathan Perry completed their duties as executors nearly thirty years later, however, there was almost nothing material left for they had converted it into cash.62

A little more than two acres, with the buildings thereon and valued at $1200 (the home farm house and barn), were set off to Kezia as her third in 1809, and she and her sons (who had become part-owners) remained there probably until she died.63 At the time of the 1820 census her family included widower Jeremiah, 30, Benjamin, 28, and a male 16-25 (laborer?); Jeremiah's daughter Eliza, 4, two of Kezia's daughters (probably Louisa, 24, and Debbie Anne, 23), and Kezia, 53.64 One one person—probably Jeremiah—was listed as engaged in agriculture. In 1826 Benjamin died, insolvent; Jeremiah Jr. purchased his portion of the property—one-quarter of the dwelling house and one-half acre (as well as rights to another tract)—at auction for $570.01 from his administrator.65 There is no probate for Kezia, but it appears that after her death in 1829 the property was sold. Her daughters had married by then, and were in separate households. Census records indicate that Jeremiah Jr. slipped into the ranks of the propertyless in the community.66 When he next showed up on the federal census for 1850, Jeremiah Shumway, 60, laborer, was listed in a dwelling rented by Irish-born widow Eliza Julian, 29, whose household included as well her two young sons and a couple from Ireland, Catherine and Patrick Healy, laborer, both 44.

Like his father, Benjamin Freeman prospered as a farmer/blacksmith and tavern keeper in Sturbridge. Sadly, however, his estate—was diminished over time. It may have resulted from the fact that his heirs (grandchildren) were relatively young and therefore the administration of the estate extended for a very long time. It may also have resulted from the probable incompetence of Kezia's second husband Azor Brown, who was neither named in the will nor given an appointment of responsibility in its execution. Ultimately, Benjamin's only surviving grandson became a propertyless laborer in a community, where both he and his father were substantial landholders and well-respected gentlemen.

Benjamin married CHILD Deborah on 13 Jun 1764. Deborah died in Mar 1805. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

SAMUEL FREEMAN, SON SAMUEL FREEMAN #5 (1746-1772)

(& SF#6 son Chester, and grandson Chester)

While Samuel Freeman #6 may have enjoyed a childhood life of relative complacency in his father's comfortable household, his brief life as an adult was fraught with tragedy. Born September 27 1746, he married (by necessity) at the age of twenty, sixteen-year-old Elizabeth Cheney of Sturbridge. Four months later their first child, Chloe, was born; she lived only three months. The year following they had a son, Ebenezer, who lived but a day. In 1770 Chester was born, the only of Samuel's children to reach adulthood. In February of 1772 they had Samuel. In August of that year Samuel #6 became a widower, with two young sons to care for; a month later, he too died at the age of only twenty-six.

Probate records indicate that his father Samuel Freeman #5 was first named guardian of the children. When he died one month later, Benjamin was appointed the task. The number in Benjamin's care reduced to one the following summer, when little Samuel, barely a year in age, also died.

During his brief stint as a family man, I believe Samuel Freeman #6 resided on a 55-acre farmstead purchased by his father from Abijah Newell of Dudley. The precedent existed for Samuel #5 to purchase land for a son, then later—when the son had the resources—convey title.67 Samuel did not live long enough to realize ownership. When he died his estate included only personal property, inventoried at L51.3.1. Notes due (including one from his brother Benjamin for L41.17.1) increased it to L93.12.10; after debts were paid out a balance remained of L42.1.7.68 This was placed in Benjamin's trust, as guardian of Samuel's only surviving heir.

Family genealogists have erroneously reported that Chester Freeman, orphaned at the age of two, was adopted and brought up by his Uncle Benjamin.69 As the court-appointed guardian, Benjamin did bring him up for a time. But when Chester reached the age of fourteen, he appeared before a Justice of the Peace and "made choice of Mr. Roland Clark Jr. of Sturbridge for his Guardian."70 At that point, Benjamin turned Chester's inheritances, over do his farmer/neighbor Clark. When Chester reached the age of majority in 1791, he received from his second guardian the sum of L131.13.1, and then departed for upstate New York.

For eight or nine years Chester tried to make a livelihood in his newly-chosen home. On a return visit to Sturbridge in 1794, for the purpose of marrying Rachel Parker, he was considered "of Argyle, New York." However, by the time the 1800 census was taken (but after the 1798 direct tax), the couple had returned to live in Sturbridge, with a family of young children.71

Chester Freeman struggled without success to secure a competency for his family, which included in all ten children. His numerous land dealings reveal a pattern of mortgages, some of them never recovered, and sales made at a loss.72 Finally, in 1817 he conveyed his 125-acre farmstead to his son Chester (who mortgaged it back to him), and soon thereafter removed from to the home of their daughter in Gouverneur, New York.73 Both died there in 1832.

Chester Freeman Jr., who married Betsy Hyde in 1818 and died in Brookfield in 1835 at the age of only thirty-nine, struggled like his father to achieve a competency in agriculture. Worcester County land deeds show that he tried farming first in Sturbridge, then in Charlton, and finally in Brookfield. Over twenty transactions were recorded; it matched his father's as a record of mortgages and unprofitable sales. He died insolvent, leaving behind fifteen-year-old twin daughters and a pregnant wife.74

Widow Betsey Freeman stayed in Brookfield at least through the December 1835 birth of Joshua Chester, but by the time of the 1840 census she had returned to Sturbridge where she probably remained. In that year she was living in her brother Benjamin's household. Ten years later she and her fourteen-year old son resided in the family of another brother, John, a farmer thirty-two years of age with property valued at $3000, his young wife and their infant daughter.75

Samuel married CHENEY Elizabeth in 1766. Elizabeth was born in 1750; died in Aug 1772. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Comfort married WALKER Lucy on 04 May 1771. Lucy died on 15 Aug 1832. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Jared, born December 27 1753, was one of two of Samuel and Mary's sons who trekked westward to try their fortunes in the relatively open lands of Berkshire County. He began his family at Sturbridge but moved, judging from land transactions, around 1784. Ten years earlier he married, by necessity, Martha Marcy; within seven months daughter Mary was born. In 1777 they had a son, Royal; no other children were recorded here. At the time of the 1800 census, the family was listed in Windsor, Massachusetts with three sons and two daughters. Ten years later, now in Lanesboro, only two children were enumerated in the family. He died sometime before 1820; on that census list his family was not listed as an independent household.76

Initially, Jared intended to farm nearer to home. In 1779 he acquired, for L225, rights to a fifty acre farmstead in Dudley. Four years later he purchased (for L20) from Abijah Sairles an adjoining thirty-five acre parcel, as well as rights (for L60) to Sarah Cheney's widow's dower of ten acres and a dwellinghouse—possibly part of the same farm—though he was not allowed possession until her death. His last recorded transaction was in 1784, the deed which quitclaimed to his youngest brother Walter rights in their mother's third.77

If he divested himself of any of this property before departing the county, the deeds were not recorded. A later document suggests that he may have become embroiled legal difficulties relating to some of his land deals (perhaps motivating him to leave?). In 1798, Jared Freeman formally granted his brother Benjamin power of attorney "in all causes real, personal, or mixed, moved or to be moved for me or against me in any court of law." The problems may have been tied particularly to the land of Sarah Cheney, now deceased, which he specified his brother was to sell.78

Died:
died before 1820

Family/Spouse: MARCY Martha. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Martha married ELLIS Jedediah on 28 Apr 1774. Jedediah (son of ELLIS Capt. Samuel and SMITH Abigail) was born on 09 Jul 1751 in Sturbridge, Worcester Co., MA; died on 15 Jun 1805 in Worcester County, MA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Samuel and Mary's youngest child, Walter (born August 20 1759) followed his brother Jared to the open territory of Berkshire County. A farmer/blacksmith, he too first tried to achieve a competency for his family in Worcester County. He married Phanelia Child in 1784 and initially lived on and worked the farm set off to his mother (to which he had obtained title).79 Several years later he bought 136 acres in Charlton, sold rights to the Sturbridge farm to his neice's husband, and started anew. This farm apparently did not prove satisfactory either, for sometime in the 1790s Walter departed Worcester County.80

No children were recorded as being born in Sturbridge or Charlton. However, by the time on the 1800 census, Walter and Phanelia resided in West Stockbridge in Berkshire County, with a family of four sons under ten, two daugters between ten and fifteen. Walter Freeman was not listed as heading a household in Massachusetts in the 1810 census index; by then the family perhaps had moved again. Genealogist Frederick Freeman reported "some locate the family at Sturbridge, others say, 'went to Essex, Vermont.'"81 Perhaps they did.

The profiles of Jared and Walter Freeman are necessarily fairly sketchy. Family genealogists say little about them, and they are not mentioned in local histories. For them, apparently, moving to more open land did not result in achievements comparable to their father's in Sturbridge. Rather, they scrabbled with fairly little success, parallelling others in the family of their own and later generations.

Walter married CHILD Phanelia in 1784. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Kezia married SHUMWAY Jeremiah in 1786. Jeremiah died in 1802. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Kezia married BROWN Azor in Apr 1805. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Chester married HYDE Betsy in 1818. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: YOUNG Betsey. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Smith married DRESSER Rebecca in 1803. Rebecca died on 11 Jan 1816. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Silas married MARSH Susannah in 1824. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]