Elisha RICE, 1679-1761, Sudbury Massachusetts

Another RICE ancestor in our LEWIS-RICE family:  Elisha RICE, Jack & Bill's 5th-great-grandfather, 6th- to their children, and 7th- to their children. Elisha was the grandson of the first RICE immigrant to Massachusetts: Deacon Edmund RICE and his wife, Tamsin FROST who arrived in 1632. Much information on the RICE family is found on the Edmund RICE (1632) Family Association, and I have written on a number of their ancestors to date. Search on the surname in the search box to the right for more RICE family. 

Elisha RICE was born on 4 December 1679 at Sudbury, New Haven, Massachusetts, although another source states 11 December at Marlborough. His parents were Thomas RICE & Mary KING - about whom I have previously written - here is one post example. He was the 12th and last child of his parents. His father died Nov 16, 1681 when he was almost 3 years old; his mother did not remarry, and I'm assuming that there were others in the family nearby available to assist in his upbringing.  Image on right from Flickr, CC Elizabeth B. Thomsen. 

On February 10th, 1707/8 at Concord MA, he married Elizabeth WHEELER, the daughter of Obadiah WHEELER & Elizabeth WHITE. The latter was the granddaughter of Mayflower settler, Resolved WHITE, who came to Plymouth in 1620 with his parents William WHITE & Susanna JACKSON. So here we find the link for Mayflower descendency through this family. 

The couple lived in Sudbury until about 1719, when Elisha was a "proprietor" of Worcester, where he had 30 acres of land granted to him the previous year. I have not found the deed record/s for this land. He moved back to Sudbury after that year apparently. Elisha and Elizabeth had 7 known children:
    1.  Eliakim, b 27 Feb 1709, Sudbury, d after 1763; m. 14 May 1730 in Weston
             MA to Mehitabel Livermore; 5 children [1 died young].
    2.  Elisha [jr], b 27 May 1711, Sudbury; never married; apparently cared
             for sister Julia at times.
    3.  Elizabeth, b 3 Nov 1713, Sudbury, d 29 Mar 1799, Leicester MA; m
             28 Nov 1735 in Sudbury to Jonas Livermore; 8 known children.
    4.  Julia, b 20 Mar 1716, Sudbury, d after 1766, never married; apparently
              had severe mental illness, and her brother Elisha apparently cared
              for her at times.
    5.  Silas, b 28 Apr 1719, Worcester MA, d 24 Mar 1800 Northborough MA;
               m[1]Copia Broughton 10 Mar 1744/5; m[2] Lois Pollard 20 Sep 1770;
               m[3]Mehitable Goodnow 8 Dec 1784.  8 children from [1]marriage, 1
               child from [2]. 
    6.   Elija, ancestor, b 5 Mar 1721 Sudbury or Worcester, d Mar 1818 Holden
               MA; m 23 Nov 1748 Shrewsbury, MA to Huldah KEYES; 9 children
    7.  Zebulon, b 5 Jun 1725 Sudbury or Worcester, d 26 Dec 1799 Boylston,
               MA; no marriage information.

Note that with the Mayflower descendency books providing genealogical information going 5 or more generations down from the original settlers, much of the information about Elisha & Elizabeth's children is taken from the William White bk, Vol.1.  

Elizabeth died in 1727 in Sudbury, 2 years after her last child Zebulon. Elisha did not marry again. His siblings lived near him, and his three eldest children were likely able to help as needed.  

Elisha died before 19 October 1761 at Sudbury MA, intestate.  The estate was appraised on 19 Oct 1761, with the oldest son Eliakim as the Administrator. John Rice, Thos Damon and Phinobus Brintnall were the witnesses to the Bond document as well as the Inventory, which latter was completed Jan 18, 1762. I believe John is Eliakim's grand-uncle, but this has not been verified as yet. The Probate records mentioned were found on NEHGS [AmericanAncestors.org].

There are surprisingly few records that I have found to date on Elisha, other than birth, marriage, a few comments of his land in Worcester, residence in Sudbury, and his Probate records. No deeds, tax rolls, or other such paperwork on him. It is clear he farmed, as his Probate Inventory lists Land valued at over £226, with 1 horse, 4 cows, 1 heifer, 2 calves, plus 420 bushels of oats, 22 bushels and a half of Rye, 30 bushels of Indian corn. He also had a plough share and cotter and other farming equipment. 

I noted that on his inventory he is called "Cap'n Elisha Rice," so he likely had a military role at one point. To date I have not found the details of his military activities. There had certainly been several wars between the local Indians and early settlers, and perhaps he was part of the local militia, called on when needed. 

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If these are your ancestors, I am happy to share what little I have on these ancestors. And if there are errors, please do let me know, via calewis at telus dot net, or in the Comments below and I will get back to you either by email or in the Comments. I appreciate the opportunity to correct any issues or add additional information in these family trees.

Blogger - or my computer - is not letting me "reply" to your comments. If I don't reply to your Comment, please know that I'm totally thrilled you came to read my post and commented! You truly make my day!! 

Samuel TREAT 1714-1798 in Milford, Connecticut

Samuel TREAT is my 5th great-grandfather up in my mother's Terwilliger line, 6th to my children, 7th to their children. Samuel is the great-grandson of the original immigrant to the New England colony, Richard TREAT, bef 1584-1670, who immigrated from Pitminster, England, about 1637, ending up in Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut. Richard came with his wife Alice GAYLARD and the majority of their children. For more information, use the search box to the right, to read about those two, and/or others listed below.

Born 13 Aug 1714 in Milford CT, Samuel was the 4th child (3rd son) of Capt. Joseph TREAT & Elizabeth MERWIN, his second wife. His mother died a few months after her 5th child in 1716. There would have been several older children and older step-siblings able to help raise the young children, I'm sure. I do not have a record of any third marriage of his father. 

He would have been living in Milford with his parents shortly after Milford CT was purchased and begun to settle mainly with other New Haven settlers, after 1646. Very early settlers in this area although not the original first group. First group of settlers were Puritans, and their meeting house [church] was made very plain - as note the image to the right, from a booklet Historical Sketches of the Town of Milford [on Internet Archive].  
Samuel TREAT married Beulah JENNINGS on 26 Oct 1743, in likely Milford CT. She was the 3rd of 4 daughters of Michael JENNINGS & Elizabeth JACKSON. They had 8 children, all born in Milford CT, one of whom died young: 

    1.  Beulah, b 15 Jan 1744, d 30 Mar 1844 in Watertown, Litchfield CT;
             apparently did not marry.
    2.  Mary, b 29 Oct 1744, m 1762 to Joel Titus; no further research
    3.  Elnathan Peet, b 18 Jun 1749, d Aug 1749
    4.  Elnathan Peet, b 1 Sep 1751; no further information
    5.  Samuel Peet [ancestor], b 29 Sep 1754, d 5 Jul 1837 Russia, Herkimer,
           NY; m 29 Sep 1780 to Sarah THOMPSON, in Milford, New Haven, CT;
           5 daughters
    6.  Elizabeth, b abt 1756; no further information
    7.  Abijah, b 15 Dec 1761, d. 5 Jan 1799; m. 12 Jul 1780, likely Milford CT
             to Mary Margaret Sperry; no further research
    8.  Hepzibah, b 1763, d unknown; m est 1785 to [unknown] Warner; no further
             research

As you can see there is a lot of possible research to undertake, although this period of time is not awash in high quality documents, as well as finding frequent same names in same generations!  

The 1790 Census for Milford township in CT shows the household of Samuel consisting of 1 male over 16, and 3 females. Unfortunately the enumerator copied his findings so that surnames were alphabetical, so it is not possible to see who is living next or close to him. 

It is believed that Samuel died about 1798 in Washington, Litchfield, CT. I have  no further information on him as yet. It is stated on several trees that Samuel was a veteran of the Revolutionary War during 1775-1783. He would have been in his late 50s to 60s at this point, and it would be somewhat unlikely. There were many many Samuel Treat men in Connecticut, and I believe the Rev. War veteran is one of other Samuel Treat men. 

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If these are your ancestors, I am happy to share what little I have on these ancestors. And if there are errors, please do let me know, via calewis at telus dot net, or in the Comments below and I will get back to you either by email or in the Comments. I appreciate the opportunity to correct any issues or add additional information in these family trees.

Blogger - or my computer - is not letting me "reply" to your comments. If I don't reply to your Comment, please know that I'm totally thrilled you came to read my post and commented! You truly make my day!!