Friday, September 29, 2017

52 Ancestors - Week 194: #273 Ruth (Barber) Smith (1696-1761) of Medfield and Walpole, Massachusetts

Ruth (Barber) Smith (1696-1761)  is #273 on my Ahnentafel List, my 6th great-grandmother, who married #272 Henry Smith (1680-1743)  in 1730 in Medfield, Massachusetts.

I am descended through:

*  their son, #136 Moses Smith (1732-1806) who married #137 Patience Hamant (1735-1780) in 1762.
*  their son, #68 Aaron Smith (1765-1841) who married Mercy Plimpton (1772-1850) in 1795.
*  their son, #34 Alpheus B. Smith (1802-1840), who married #35 Elizabeth Horton Dill (1791-1869) in 1826.
*  their daughter #17 Lucretia Townsend Smith (1828-1884)who married  #16 Isaac Seaver (1823-1901)  in 1851.
*  their son #8 Frank Walton Seaver (1852-1922) who married #9 Hattie Louisa Hildreth (1857-1920) in 1874.
*  their son #4 Frederick Walton Seaver (1876-1942) who married #5 Alma Bessie Richmond (1882-1962) in 1900.
*  their son #2 Frederick Walton Seaver (1911-1983) who married #3 Betty Virginia Carringer (1919-2002) in 1942.
*  their son #1 Randall Jeffrey Seaver (1943-living)

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1)  PERSON (with source citations as indicated in brackets):
   
*  Name:                      Ruth Barber[1–4]    
*  Alternate Name:      Ruth Smith [5-7]
*  
Sex:                             Female    

*  Father:                    Zechariah Barber (1656-1705)    
*  Mother:                  Abiel Ellis (1662-1716)  

2)  INDIVIDUAL EVENTS (with source citations as indicated in brackets):

*  Birth:                      5 March 1696, Medfield, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States[1]    
*  Distribution:           24 May 1743 (age 47), husband's will proved; Medfield, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States[5]    
*  Distribution:          17 January 1756 (age 59), widow's dower set off; Medfield, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States[6]    
*  Death:                    4 August 1761 (age 65), Walpole, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States[7]  

3)  SHARED EVENTS (with source citations as indicated in brackets):

*  Spouse 1:         Henry Smith (1696-1761)    
*  Marriage 1:      1 September 1730 (age 49), Medfield, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States[2-4]    
*  Child 1:            Ruth Smith (1730-1813)    
*  Child 2:            Moses Smith (1732-1806)    
*  Child 3:            Asa Smith (1740-1822)  
   

4)  NOTES (with source citations as indicated in brackets):    

 Ruth Barber was born 6 March 1696 in Medfield, Massachusetts, the 6th child and second daughter of Zechariah and Abiel (Ellis) Barber[1].  Her father died in 1705, and her mother died in 1716.  Neither left a probate record.  Ruth probably resided with a sibling until she married.  

She married Henry Smith, as his third wife, on 1 September 1730 in Medfield, at age 34[2-4].  Henry had six children by his first two wives, and Henry and Ruth  had three more children between 1732 and 1740, all recorded in the Medfield town records.

Henry Smith died in 1743 testate[5], and bequeathed to Ruth:

"I give & bequeath to Ruth Smith my beloved Wife for her Dowry & thirds in my Housing & Lands during the term of her Natural Life the West End of my Dwelling House to the middle of the Chimney with all the privileges thereto belonging, also a third part of the Barn, also a third part of the orchard to lye nearest the House, also a third part of all the Lands at Home to be set off on the West Side also a third part of my Bridge Street Meadow, on that side next the Meadow of Henry Harding: also three acres of Meadow lying near the Pine Swamp Joyning on the Meadow of Samuel Smith towards the East, also I give & bequeath to her one third part of my moveable Estate forever when my Just Expences are first paid out."

The widow's dower was set off and approved by the Court on 19 May 1755.  A second division of the land for the widow's dower was made and approved by the Court on 16 January 1756[6]

Ruth apparently went to live in Walpole with one of her sons who were bequeathed land there by their father.  

Ruth (Barber) Smith died 4 August 1761 in Walpole, Massachusetts[7]. There is no burial record or gravestone photograph for Ruth (Barber) Smith in Walpole or Medfield.

The Suffolk County Probate Court records do not have an entry for Ruth (Barber) Smith. 
5)  SOURCES
 
1. Vital Records of Medfield, Massachusetts to the Year 1850 (Boston, Mass. :  New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1903), Births, page 19, Ruth Barbur entry.

2. Vital Records of Medfield, Massachusetts to the Year 1850, Marriages, page 174, Ruth Barbur and Henry Smith entry.

3. William S Tilden and John A S Monks, History of the town of Medfield, Massachusetts, 1650-1886 : with genealogies of the families that held real estate or made any considerable stay in the town during the first two centuries (Boston, Mass.: G.H. Ellis, 1887), page 483, Henry Smith sketch.

4. Ezra S. Stearns, Genealogical and Family History of the State of New Hampshire (New York : The Lewis Publishing Co., 1908), Volume IV, page 1874, Henry Smith sketch.

5. "Massachusetts, Wills and Probate Records, 1635-1991," indexed database with digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com), Suffolk County, "Probate Records, Vol 35-37, 1740-1745," Volume 36, Pages 333-335 (images 512-513 of 927), Henry Smith will, 1743.

6. Massachusetts, Wills and Probate Records, 1635-1991, indexed database with digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com), Suffolk County, "Probate Records, Vol 50-51, 1755-1757," Volume 51, Pages 76-78 (images 444-445 of 825), Henry Smith widow's dower set off, 1756.

7. Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988, digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com), "Walpole > Births, Marriages and Deaths," no page number (image 329 of 2213), Widow Ruth Smith entry.

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NOTE:  Amy Johnson Crow suggested a weekly blog theme of "52 Ancestors" in her blog post Challenge:  52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks on the No Story Too Small blog.  I have extended this theme in 2017 to 208 Ancestors in 208 Weeks.


Copyright (c) 2017, Randall J. Seaver

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1 comment:

Kath said...

Loved this post, thank you. I live in Medfield! And my husband has many ancestors from here in the early days. I enjoyed opening the email and seeing my town.:) Thank you for your blog and your help with family history