Elizabeth Bowers
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Elizabeth Bowers, daughter of Samuel Bowers and Esther Sawtell, was born at Groton, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts, 2 September 1710.1 She died at Harvard, Worcester Co., Massachusetts, 20 January 1780.2
Elizabeth married (1) David Pierce, son of Ephraim Pierce and Mary Whitney, at Groton, 15 June 1725;3 she married (2) John Fitch, whose ancestry is unknown (or not traced here), at Lunenburg, Worcester Co., Massachusetts, 14 February 1750/51.4
There are two Elizabeth Bowers in the Lancaster/Groton area at the time of their respective marriages to David Pierce and Eleazer Tarbell. Who married who?
The two girls are first cousins, being the daughters of Samuel and Esther (Sawtelle) Bowers and John and Elizabeth (Wilder) Bowers. John and Samuel were brothers, sons of Jerathmael and Elizabeth (…) Bowers. John removed to Lancaster, about 25 miles south of Groton, where he died in 1718. Samuel stayed put at least until 1739 when he and Esther sold some land in Groton. No known probate nor any further record of him.
Both marriages were recorded at Groton, the first, to David Pierce was on 15 Jun 1725. The second was to Eleazer Tarbell, 20 Dec 1727. Neither record gives the parents.
The daughter of Samuel/Esther was born in Groton, 2 Sep 1710; the daughter of John/Elizabeth was a minor "in her fifteenth year" when Benjamin Prescott was appointed her guardian in Dec 1724, thus both girls were roughly the same age, though the daughter of John/Elizabeth was probably not much older if she were in her fifteenth year in December 1724.
Whichever girl married David Pearce, she would have been 14, a couple months shy of her 15th birthday. According to Groton Vital Records there is a Court record for this marriage. This has yet to be examined. At the marriage to Tarbell, the bride would have been about 17, closer to normal in this era. Though both girls were young when they married, the first child of each union was born well over a year after the marriages, so neither was "rushed," at least according to the records.5,6
Elizabeth married (1) David Pierce, son of Ephraim Pierce and Mary Whitney, at Groton, 15 June 1725;3 she married (2) John Fitch, whose ancestry is unknown (or not traced here), at Lunenburg, Worcester Co., Massachusetts, 14 February 1750/51.4
There are two Elizabeth Bowers in the Lancaster/Groton area at the time of their respective marriages to David Pierce and Eleazer Tarbell. Who married who?
The two girls are first cousins, being the daughters of Samuel and Esther (Sawtelle) Bowers and John and Elizabeth (Wilder) Bowers. John and Samuel were brothers, sons of Jerathmael and Elizabeth (…) Bowers. John removed to Lancaster, about 25 miles south of Groton, where he died in 1718. Samuel stayed put at least until 1739 when he and Esther sold some land in Groton. No known probate nor any further record of him.
Both marriages were recorded at Groton, the first, to David Pierce was on 15 Jun 1725. The second was to Eleazer Tarbell, 20 Dec 1727. Neither record gives the parents.
The daughter of Samuel/Esther was born in Groton, 2 Sep 1710; the daughter of John/Elizabeth was a minor "in her fifteenth year" when Benjamin Prescott was appointed her guardian in Dec 1724, thus both girls were roughly the same age, though the daughter of John/Elizabeth was probably not much older if she were in her fifteenth year in December 1724.
Whichever girl married David Pearce, she would have been 14, a couple months shy of her 15th birthday. According to Groton Vital Records there is a Court record for this marriage. This has yet to be examined. At the marriage to Tarbell, the bride would have been about 17, closer to normal in this era. Though both girls were young when they married, the first child of each union was born well over a year after the marriages, so neither was "rushed," at least according to the records.5,6
Family 1 | David Pierce b. 23 May 1704, d. 19 Sep 1746 |
| Children |
Family 2 | John Fitch b. 12 Feb 1711/12, d. 8 Apr 1795 |
| Children |
| This person was last edited on | 20 Jan 2022 |
Citations
- [S243] Vital records of Groton, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849, (Salem, Massachusetts: Essex Institute, 1926-1927), 1:40, further cited as Groton Vital Records.
- [S1257] Ezra S. Stearns, "Address by Hon. Ezra S. Stearns," in Proceedings of the Fitchburg Historical Society. (Fitchburg, Massachusetts: Fitchburg Historical Society, 1895), 250, further cited as Fitchburg Proceedings.
- [S243] Groton Vital Records, 2:135.
- [S241] Walter A. Davis, The Early Records of the Town of Lunenburg, Massachusetts, Including That Part Which is Now Fitchburg, 1719-1764: A Complete Transcript of the Town Meetings and Selectmen's Records Contained in the First Two Books of the General Records of the Town; Also a Copy of All the Vital Statistics of the Town Previous to the Year 1764 (Fitchburg, Massachusetts: Fitchburg City Council, 1896), 249, further cited as Davis, Lunenburg Records.
- [S91] Charles Henry Wight, "Thomas Tarbell and Some of His Descendants," The New England Historical and Genealogical Register 61 (Jan 1907): 70-75, at 74-75, further cited as Wight, "Thomas Tarbell."
- [S243] Groton Vital Records, 2:31, 133.
- [S241] Davis, Lunenburg Records, 314.
- [S241] Davis, Lunenburg Records, 348.
- [S242] Worcester Co., Massachusetts, Probate records 1731-1916, index 1731-1881, 1731-1916, Vol 2:539-542,688-689, FHL microfilm 856273, further cited as Worcester Co., MA Probate.
- [S241] Davis, Lunenburg Records, 287.