Deacon Medad Pomeroy
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Deacon Medad Pomeroy, son of Eltweed Pomeroy and Margery Rocket, was born probably shortly before his baptism at Windsor, Connecticut, 19 August 1638.1 He died at Northampton, Hampshire Co., Massachusetts, 20 December 1716,1 and was buried at Bridge Street Cemetery, Northampton, Hampshire Co., Massachusetts.2
Medad married (1) Experience Woodward, daughter of Henry Woodward and Elizabeth (…), at Northampton, 21 November 1661;3,1,4,5 he married (2) Abigail Strong, daughter of John Strong and Abigail Ford, at Northampton, 8 September 1686;1,4,5 he married (3) Hannah Warriner, whose ancestry is unknown (or not traced here), at Northampton, 24 January 1705.1
Medad had a long and varied career. Borrowing from Holman:
Deacon Medad Pomeroy was twenty-one when he left Windsor and went to Northampton in 1659. His father trained him as a blacksmith and as such was a valuable man in colonial communities, and it was not unusual for such men to be invited to settle in a town, being given inducements to do so. Medad was apparently not the first smith in Northampton; a John Webb was there earlier. In 1660, the town resolved, "John Webbs tools that Medad Pomeroy shall have on terms: A pair of bellows, an anvil, a hand hammer, one hammer, three pairs of tongs, a beak iron, a slice, a nailing stake, two chisels and one nailing hammer." The "terms were not stated, and on 15 Dec 1664 at a town meeting the town gave Medad Pomeroy the tools thay had of John Webb for so long as he [Medad] lived in the town; if he moved he was leave them to the town, but if he died in the town, the tools were to be a part of his estate, provided he did the town's work. In 1670, the town voted to give him the tools without any conditions.
An abrupt career change took place in 1675 when Medad was made a selectman, wo which office he was elected twenty seven times. In 1677 he was a deputy and in 1698, County Treasurer, serving until his death. In 1678, be became Town Clerk of Northampton; in 1684 he was made a Commissioner (to end Small Causes) and later served as Associate Justice for the County of Hampshire. Apparently deeply religious, he was chosen Deacon in 1675, and was thereafter always referred to as Deacon Medad Pomeroy. A leader in the town and county, just and conscientious in the performance of all his varied duties, it was with Medad that his father, Eltweed, chose to spend his last years.6
Medad left a will dated 4 January 1708/9, and proved 5 Jan 1716/17, with a codicil dated 17 Mar 1715/16:
I Medad Pumry grown old And having many. . . [remembrancesP] of my mortality wch I experience in my body of my mortality do think it my duty to make my wil that what is left of my estate(wch is not much) it may be distributed According to my mind And do hereby make this my last will and testament as followeth viz
First of Al I do comit my Soul to God. . . ; as for my Body I do order it to be buried in A Comly and Decent manner By my exeter here After mentioned --- And as for the estate which yet I am posessed of having given to my children (more than I could wel spare) viz
To my two sons namly Ebenezar and Joseph no Less than forescore pounds apeice the which they have Allready received and though in my Account it may be more yet no thing is to be returned back but to be Accouted at Eighty pounds A piece:
To my Daughtr Mehetabel King I give fifty pounds And to my other three Daughts viz Mindwell & Thankful And Mary I give forty pounds A piece; Concerning wch it is to be understood that the Acct in my Book is to be Reckned As part of the portions of my daughters, And what Either of ym fals short to be made up out of my estate before Any further distribution be made.
The whc being done And my just debts paid And funeral expences discharged my will is that my son Samuel whome I have bene At great expence to bring up to learning shall have twenty pound not As money but as a Common Estimation in Curent pay.
And that at my decease my Dear wife shall have liberty to Chuse what Cow she will out of the Cows wch I shall then have to be hir own: And Also to have riturned to her all such things as she brought
And then the remainder of my Estae to be equally divided AMong my Children every one to share in equall proportion Alike; still expecting what is due from tho Nobel According to the Agreement at the time of marriage shall be trully paid and reknd as my estate And to dispose of
And I do hereby appoint my son Ebenezar to be the sould exitor of this my last will And testament in Confirmation whereof I have herunto set my and seal
memorandum whatsoever clolthing my wife hath provided or is in A way to provide for hirself she shall by no mens be hindered or kept from it
Northampton this 4th day of January in the eight of ye Reign of our Soverign Lady quuen Ann Annoque Domi
1708/9 Medad Pumry
Wit: Samuell Marshall, Samuell Marshall jun., Preserved Marshall
With respect to my Grand Daughter Experience Lyman My will is, not to give her any more, becaus of what formerly I have to my son John, her father, and What since I have given to her: this I declare to be Part of my Will, unto which I have sett my hand & seal ths 17th of March 1715/16
Medad Pumry.7
Medad married (1) Experience Woodward, daughter of Henry Woodward and Elizabeth (…), at Northampton, 21 November 1661;3,1,4,5 he married (2) Abigail Strong, daughter of John Strong and Abigail Ford, at Northampton, 8 September 1686;1,4,5 he married (3) Hannah Warriner, whose ancestry is unknown (or not traced here), at Northampton, 24 January 1705.1
Medad had a long and varied career. Borrowing from Holman:
Deacon Medad Pomeroy was twenty-one when he left Windsor and went to Northampton in 1659. His father trained him as a blacksmith and as such was a valuable man in colonial communities, and it was not unusual for such men to be invited to settle in a town, being given inducements to do so. Medad was apparently not the first smith in Northampton; a John Webb was there earlier. In 1660, the town resolved, "John Webbs tools that Medad Pomeroy shall have on terms: A pair of bellows, an anvil, a hand hammer, one hammer, three pairs of tongs, a beak iron, a slice, a nailing stake, two chisels and one nailing hammer." The "terms were not stated, and on 15 Dec 1664 at a town meeting the town gave Medad Pomeroy the tools thay had of John Webb for so long as he [Medad] lived in the town; if he moved he was leave them to the town, but if he died in the town, the tools were to be a part of his estate, provided he did the town's work. In 1670, the town voted to give him the tools without any conditions.
An abrupt career change took place in 1675 when Medad was made a selectman, wo which office he was elected twenty seven times. In 1677 he was a deputy and in 1698, County Treasurer, serving until his death. In 1678, be became Town Clerk of Northampton; in 1684 he was made a Commissioner (to end Small Causes) and later served as Associate Justice for the County of Hampshire. Apparently deeply religious, he was chosen Deacon in 1675, and was thereafter always referred to as Deacon Medad Pomeroy. A leader in the town and county, just and conscientious in the performance of all his varied duties, it was with Medad that his father, Eltweed, chose to spend his last years.6
Medad left a will dated 4 January 1708/9, and proved 5 Jan 1716/17, with a codicil dated 17 Mar 1715/16:
I Medad Pumry grown old And having many. . . [remembrancesP] of my mortality wch I experience in my body of my mortality do think it my duty to make my wil that what is left of my estate(wch is not much) it may be distributed According to my mind And do hereby make this my last will and testament as followeth viz
First of Al I do comit my Soul to God. . . ; as for my Body I do order it to be buried in A Comly and Decent manner By my exeter here After mentioned --- And as for the estate which yet I am posessed of having given to my children (more than I could wel spare) viz
To my two sons namly Ebenezar and Joseph no Less than forescore pounds apeice the which they have Allready received and though in my Account it may be more yet no thing is to be returned back but to be Accouted at Eighty pounds A piece:
To my Daughtr Mehetabel King I give fifty pounds And to my other three Daughts viz Mindwell & Thankful And Mary I give forty pounds A piece; Concerning wch it is to be understood that the Acct in my Book is to be Reckned As part of the portions of my daughters, And what Either of ym fals short to be made up out of my estate before Any further distribution be made.
The whc being done And my just debts paid And funeral expences discharged my will is that my son Samuel whome I have bene At great expence to bring up to learning shall have twenty pound not As money but as a Common Estimation in Curent pay.
And that at my decease my Dear wife shall have liberty to Chuse what Cow she will out of the Cows wch I shall then have to be hir own: And Also to have riturned to her all such things as she brought
And then the remainder of my Estae to be equally divided AMong my Children every one to share in equall proportion Alike; still expecting what is due from tho Nobel According to the Agreement at the time of marriage shall be trully paid and reknd as my estate And to dispose of
And I do hereby appoint my son Ebenezar to be the sould exitor of this my last will And testament in Confirmation whereof I have herunto set my and seal
memorandum whatsoever clolthing my wife hath provided or is in A way to provide for hirself she shall by no mens be hindered or kept from it
Northampton this 4th day of January in the eight of ye Reign of our Soverign Lady quuen Ann Annoque Domi
1708/9 Medad Pumry
Wit: Samuell Marshall, Samuell Marshall jun., Preserved Marshall
With respect to my Grand Daughter Experience Lyman My will is, not to give her any more, becaus of what formerly I have to my son John, her father, and What since I have given to her: this I declare to be Part of my Will, unto which I have sett my hand & seal ths 17th of March 1715/16
Medad Pumry.7
Family 1 | Experience Woodward b. 19 Nov 1643, d. 8 Jun 1686 |
| Children |
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Family 2 | Abigail Strong b. abt. 1645, d. 15 Apr 1704 |
| Child |
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Family 3 | Hannah Warriner b. 19 Aug 1643, d. aft. 4 Jan 1708/9 |
| This person was last edited on | 16 Dec 2017 |
Citations
- [S16] Mary L. Holman, Ancestry of Colonel John Harrington Stevens and His Wife Francis Helen Miller (Concord, New Hampshire: Rumsford Press, 1948), 392-399, further cited as Holman, Stevens-Miller Genealogy.
- [S1546] "the moo", Find A Grave memorial #17041655, added 16 Dec 2006, online http://www.findagrave.com, accessed 20 Jul 2012, further cited as Find A Grave.
- [S768] W. M. Bollenbach Jr., The New England Ancestry of Alice Everett Johnson, 1899-1986, Memoirs, and Bollenbach Genealogy (Baltimore, Maryland: Gateway Press, 2003), 400-402, further cited as Bollenbach, Johnson.
- [S2281] Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Volumes I–III, 3 vols. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995), 3:1486-90 (Eltweed Pomeroy), further cited as Anderson, GMB.
- [S1872] Clarence Almon Torrey, New England Marriages Prior to 1700, 3 vols. (Boston, Massachusetts: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2011), 1208, further cited as Torrey, New England Marriages (2011).
- [S16] Holman, Stevens-Miller Genealogy, 396.
- [S16] Holman, Stevens-Miller Genealogy, 397.