Noah Washburn
Noah Washburn, son of Edward Washburn and Judith Rickard, was born probably shortly before his baptism at Plympton, Plymouth Co., Massachusetts, 15 June 1740.1,2,3,4,5 He died at Hartford, Connecticut, 7 August 1811,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13 and was buried at the Old North Cemetery, Hartford, Connecticut.14
Noah married Bathsheba Sexton, daughter of Charles Sexton and Bathsheba Geer, at Hartford, 14 November 1765.7
No single record identifies Noah Washburn of Hartford as the son of Edward and Judith (Rickard) Washburn of Plympton and Middletown Connecticut. Three groups of records build a circumstantial case.
Proximity of family: Connecticut records show Edward and five of his six children lived and died there: Edward, John, Phebe, and Noah died there. Two, Eleazer and Isaac, were born there.15,7,16,3,17,2,18 Noah and Isaac are on the same record showing they enlisted in the governor’s guard of the Connecticut Militia in 1768.[CT militia/R] The inventory of Eleazer of Middletown names Benjamin Stocking (husband of Phebe) as administrator.19 Four of the five (John, Phebe, Noah, and Isaac) married there.
Age at Death: While Hartford Families states Noah died in 7 Aug 1814, age 72,7multiple Connecticut newspapers, his probate file, and his gravestone all show or are compatible with a death on 7 Aug 1811: The obits all state he was age 71.[Windham Herald, 16 Aug 1811; Connecticut Herald, 13 Aug 1811; American Mercury, 15 Aug 1811; unnamed paper, 15 Aug 1811] His will was proved 5 Sep 1811.20 His gravestone gives the same date of death as the obits, and shows he was in his 72nd year, not age 72.21 All of these records reflect the correct age for Noah to be Edward and Judith’s son, baptized at Plympton, 15 Jun 1740.
Onomastics: Noah named at least five children after his Washburn and Rickard relatives: Sarah, John, Eleazer, Hephzibah, and Rebecca.
An alternative view that appears on various internet sites shows Noah of Hartford as the son of Noah Washburn and Mary Staples, b. Bridgewater, 9 Sep 1741, (Bridgewater VR 1:334) and bp. East Bridgewater, 1 Nov 1741.22 This identification appears to originate with a secondary source that provides neither citations nor rationale for the placement of Noah.23, This identification should be rejected because: 1) there is no record of any of Noah’s would-be Bridgewater siblings in the vicinity of Hartford; 2) if he were b. in Sep 1741 he would be age 69 and in his 70th year when he died in Aug 1811. Given the precision reflected in his gravestone and obits, a two-year miscalculation of his age must be considered unlikely; and 3) Although not overwhelmingly, the onomastics do favor Noah of Hartford being the same as Noah of Plympton and not Noah of Bridgewater.
My conclusion is that Noah Washburn of Hartford is, with a very high degree of certainty, the son of Edward and Judith (Rickard) Washburn.6,7,24,25
In 1790, his household was probably the one enumerated at Hartford, Middlesex Co., Connecticut, with 5 free white males over 16, 1 under 16, and 9 free white females. The large ennumeration may have included the family of his brother Isaac, who is not counted elsewhere in this census.26
Noah left a will dated at Hartford, 3 December 1804, and proved 5 Sep 1811:
Noah married Bathsheba Sexton, daughter of Charles Sexton and Bathsheba Geer, at Hartford, 14 November 1765.7
No single record identifies Noah Washburn of Hartford as the son of Edward and Judith (Rickard) Washburn of Plympton and Middletown Connecticut. Three groups of records build a circumstantial case.
Proximity of family: Connecticut records show Edward and five of his six children lived and died there: Edward, John, Phebe, and Noah died there. Two, Eleazer and Isaac, were born there.15,7,16,3,17,2,18 Noah and Isaac are on the same record showing they enlisted in the governor’s guard of the Connecticut Militia in 1768.[CT militia/R] The inventory of Eleazer of Middletown names Benjamin Stocking (husband of Phebe) as administrator.19 Four of the five (John, Phebe, Noah, and Isaac) married there.
Age at Death: While Hartford Families states Noah died in 7 Aug 1814, age 72,7multiple Connecticut newspapers, his probate file, and his gravestone all show or are compatible with a death on 7 Aug 1811: The obits all state he was age 71.[Windham Herald, 16 Aug 1811; Connecticut Herald, 13 Aug 1811; American Mercury, 15 Aug 1811; unnamed paper, 15 Aug 1811] His will was proved 5 Sep 1811.20 His gravestone gives the same date of death as the obits, and shows he was in his 72nd year, not age 72.21 All of these records reflect the correct age for Noah to be Edward and Judith’s son, baptized at Plympton, 15 Jun 1740.
Onomastics: Noah named at least five children after his Washburn and Rickard relatives: Sarah, John, Eleazer, Hephzibah, and Rebecca.
An alternative view that appears on various internet sites shows Noah of Hartford as the son of Noah Washburn and Mary Staples, b. Bridgewater, 9 Sep 1741, (Bridgewater VR 1:334) and bp. East Bridgewater, 1 Nov 1741.22 This identification appears to originate with a secondary source that provides neither citations nor rationale for the placement of Noah.23, This identification should be rejected because: 1) there is no record of any of Noah’s would-be Bridgewater siblings in the vicinity of Hartford; 2) if he were b. in Sep 1741 he would be age 69 and in his 70th year when he died in Aug 1811. Given the precision reflected in his gravestone and obits, a two-year miscalculation of his age must be considered unlikely; and 3) Although not overwhelmingly, the onomastics do favor Noah of Hartford being the same as Noah of Plympton and not Noah of Bridgewater.
My conclusion is that Noah Washburn of Hartford is, with a very high degree of certainty, the son of Edward and Judith (Rickard) Washburn.6,7,24,25
In 1790, his household was probably the one enumerated at Hartford, Middlesex Co., Connecticut, with 5 free white males over 16, 1 under 16, and 9 free white females. The large ennumeration may have included the family of his brother Isaac, who is not counted elsewhere in this census.26
Noah left a will dated at Hartford, 3 December 1804, and proved 5 Sep 1811:
I Noah Washburn of the town of Hartford in the county of Harford, being in a comfortable state of Bodily Health and of sound mind and memory do make and ordain this my last will and Testament
_Imprimis I give an bequeath unto my loving wife Bathsheba after my just Debts funeral Charges & the expences of Settling my estate are paid all my Estate both Real & personal for her use and Improvement for and during the term of her natural life.
Item. After the Decease of my said Wife I give and Bequeath to my children viz—Noah Washburn, Eleazer Washburn, Sarah the wife of Consider White, Hannah the wife of Joseph Hawkins, Abigail the wife of Asa Bigelow, Charles Washburn, Hepzibah the wife of Joseph Graham & Rebecca Washburn all my said Estate both Real and personal to be equally divided between them, to be to them their heirs & assigns forever.
And in case any of my said children should not be living at the time of Executing this instrument or shall die before me it is my will that, that part of my estate devised to that child or children should descend to and belong to the lawfull children of such deceased child or children in the same manner as it would have done had they survived me.
And I do hereby appoint my Son Charles Washburn Sole Executor to this my last will and Testament hereby revoking all other former wills heretofore made Ratifying this only to be my last will & Testament.
In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand & Seal this third day of December AD 1804.
_Imprimis I give an bequeath unto my loving wife Bathsheba after my just Debts funeral Charges & the expences of Settling my estate are paid all my Estate both Real & personal for her use and Improvement for and during the term of her natural life.
Item. After the Decease of my said Wife I give and Bequeath to my children viz—Noah Washburn, Eleazer Washburn, Sarah the wife of Consider White, Hannah the wife of Joseph Hawkins, Abigail the wife of Asa Bigelow, Charles Washburn, Hepzibah the wife of Joseph Graham & Rebecca Washburn all my said Estate both Real and personal to be equally divided between them, to be to them their heirs & assigns forever.
And in case any of my said children should not be living at the time of Executing this instrument or shall die before me it is my will that, that part of my estate devised to that child or children should descend to and belong to the lawfull children of such deceased child or children in the same manner as it would have done had they survived me.
And I do hereby appoint my Son Charles Washburn Sole Executor to this my last will and Testament hereby revoking all other former wills heretofore made Ratifying this only to be my last will & Testament.
In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand & Seal this third day of December AD 1804.
---Noah Washburn.27
Family | Bathsheba Sexton b. 14 Sep 1741, d. 27 Jul 1828 |
| Children |
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| This person was last edited on | 28 Aug 2023 |
Citations
- [S39] Lee Douglas van Antwerp and Robert S. Wakefield, Mayflower Families Through Five Generations, Descendants of the Pilgrims Who Landed at Plymouth, Mass. December 1620: Volume Nine: Family of Francis Eaton (Plymouth, Massachusetts: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1996), 40, further cited as van Antwerp and Wakefield, MF 9.
- [S40] Ralph V. Wood Jr., Francis Cooke of the Mayflower: The First Five Generations, Revised edition edition (Rockport, Maine: Picton Press, 1999), further cited as Wood, MF 12.
- [S38] Robert Moody Sherman, Verle Delano Vincent, Robert S. Wakefield and Lydia Dow Finlay, Mayflower Families Through Five Generations, Descendants of the Pilgrims Who Landed at Plymouth, Mass. December 1620: Volume Fifteen: Family of James Chilton and Family of Richard More (Plymouth, Massachusetts: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1997), 95, further cited as Sherman, Vincent, Delano, Wakefield, and Finlay, MF 15.
- [S109] Barbara Lambert Merrick, "Four New-Found Generations of Benjamin2 Eaton Descendants," Mayflower Descendant 43 (Jan 1993), at 7, further cited as "Benjamin Eaton."
- [S298] Anthony Hoskins, "The Washburns of Middletown, Connecticut, and the Children of Joseph4 and Hannah (Johnson?) Washburn," The American Genealogist 75 (July 2000): 215-224, further cited as Hoskins, "Washburns of Middletown."
- [S315] Connecticut, Charles R. Hale Collection of Connecticut Vital Records, Burials: Old North Cemetery, 1803-1932 p.224, FHL microfilm 3339, further cited as Hale Collection.
- [S313] Lucius Barnes Barbour, Families of Early Hartford, Connecticut (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing, 1977), 635, further cited as Barbour, Families of Early Hartford.
- [S1306] "Died," Connecticut Mirror, 12 Aug 1811, Vol 3, Issue 6, Pg 3; digital image, NewsBank.com, (http://infoweb.newsbank.com : accessed 29 Mar 2009).
- [S1307] "Died," Connecticut Herald, New Haven, Connecticut, 13 Aug 1811, Vol 8; Issue 43; Pg 3, 29 Mar 2009.
- [S1308] "Died," Connecticut Courant, Hartford, Connecticut, 14 August 1811, Vol 47; Issue 2429; Pg 3, 29 Mar 2009.
- [S1309] "Died," American Mercury, Hartford, Connecticut, 15 August 1811, Vol 28; Issue 1415; Pg 3, 29 Mar 2009.
- [S316] "Died," American Mercury, Hartford, Connecticut, 15 August 1811, Vol 44; Issue 2285; Pg 3, 29 Mar 2009.
- [S1310] "Died," Windham Herald, Windham, Connecticut, 16 August 1811, Vol 21; Issue 1067; Pg 3, 29 Mar 2009.
- [S315] Hale Collection, Burials: Old North Cemetery, 1803-1932: 224; FHL #3339.
- [S39] Van Antwerp and Wakefield, MF 9, 122-123.
- MF 9 ms #262, 263, 263A, 264
- [S39] Van Antwerp and Wakefield, MF 9.
- [S298] Hoskins, "Washburns of Middletown," 215.
- [S1032] Connecticut, Probate Files Collection, Early to 1880, Middletown PR (Eleazer Washbourn, 1764), further cited as Connecticut Probate Files.
- [S1032] Connecticut Probate Files, Noah Washburn, 1811.
- [S1546] Find A Grave memorial #40488211, online http://www.findagrave.com, further cited as Find A Grave.
- [S2102] Nahum Mitchell, History of the Early Settlement of Bridgewater, in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, Including an Extensive Family Register (1840; reprint, Bridgewater, Massachusetts: Henry T. Pratt, 1897), further cited as Mitchell, History of the Early Settlement of Bridgewater.
- [S2109] Brenton P. Washburn and Robin P. Washburn, The Washburn Family in America, two vols., second ed. ([Buena Park, California]: s.p., 1997), #A2D2 C2, #A2C2 A-D, further cited as Washburn, Washburn Family.
- [S39] Van Antwerp and Wakefield, MF 9, 40,122-123.
- [S316] American Mercury, 15 August 1811, Vol 44; Issue 2285; Pg 3.
- [S2161] Heads of Families at the First Census of the United States Taken in the Year 1790, 12 vols. (Washington D.C.: Department of Commerce and Labor, Bureau of the Census, 1907-1908), CT:46, further cited as Heads of Families, 1790.
- [S1032] Connecticut Probate Files, Hartford district, no file number; FHL #1022263, img 215.
- [S1032] Connecticut Probate Files, Hartford district, no file number; FHL #1022263.
- [S2409] Newspapers.com, on-line database and images, "Die", Mrs. H.Graham, Hartford Courant, (Hartford, Connecticut), 12 Oct 1819, p. 3, (https://www.newspapers.com/): accessed Sep 2020.