Friday, December 31, 2021

52 Ancestors - Week 412: #635 Ruth (Cutler) (Smith) Upham (1668-1738) of Charlestown and Reading, Massachusetts

Ruth Cutler (1668-1738)  is #635 on my Ahnentafel  List, my 7th great-grandmother, who married # 634 John Smith (1667-1704)  in 1693 in Charlestown, Suffolk County,  Massachusetts Bay Colony.

I am descended through

* their daughter #317 Mary Smith (1698-1746) who married #316 Ebenezer Phillips (1695-1746)  in 1717 .
* their son #108 John Phillips (1722-1800) who married #109 Hannah Smith (1725-1774) in 1749.
*  their #79 Martha Phillips (1757-1830) who married #78 Isaac Buck (1757-1846) in 1791.
* their daughter #39 Sophia Buck (1797-1882) who married #38 Lambert Brigham (1794-1834)  in 1817.
* their daughter #19 Sophia Newton (1834-1923) who married #18 Edward Hildreth (1831-1899) in 1852.
* their daughter #9 Hattie Louisa Hildreth (1857-1920) who married #8 Frank Walton Seaver (1852-1922) 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 Cutler[1–3]
*  Alternate Name:         Ruth Smith[4]
*  Alternate Name:         Ruth Upham[6–7]

*  Sex:                            Female

*  Father:                       Thomas Cutler 1633-1683
*  Mother:                      Mary Giles 1635-????

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

*  Birth:                          2 February 1668, Reading, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States[1]

*  Distribution:              14 June 1705 (age 37), husband's will proved; Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States[4]

*  Distribution:              29 December 1735 (age 67), husband's will proved; Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States[5]

*  Death:                       12 May 1738 (age 70), Wakefield, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States[6–7]
*  Burial:                      after 12 May 1738 (after age 70), Old Burying Ground, Wakefield, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States[7]

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

*  Spouse 1:                 John Smith 1667-1704
*  Marriage 1:             18 May 1693 (age 25), Charlestown, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States[2-3]

*  Child 1:                  Ruth Smith 1694-1722
*  Child 2:                  Mary Smith 1697-1746
*  Child 3:                  Elizabeth Smith 1700- ????   
*  Child 4:                  Hannah Smith 1702-1704
                   
*  Spouse 2:               Thomas Upham 1668-1735
*  Marriage 2:            about 1710 (about age 42), Malden, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States

*  Child 5:                 Joseph Upham 1712-1792

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

Ruth Cutler was born 2 February 1668 in Reading, Massachusetts Bay, the daughter of Thomas and Mary (Giles) Cutler[1].

She married, first, John Smith of Charlestown on 18 May 1693 in Charlestown, Massachusetts Bay[2-3].  He was the son of Matthew and Alice (Leader) Smith.  John and Ruth (Cutler) Smith had four children, all born and recorded in Charlestown town records:

*  Ruth Smith (1694-1722), married about 1717 Thomas Upham (1694-1730).
*  Mary Smith (1698-1746), married about 1717 Ebenezer Phillips (1695-1746).
*  Elizabeth Smith (1700-????).
*  Hannah Smith (1702-1704).

John Smith wrote his will on 27 March 1704 which is in Middlesex County Probate Records Estate File 20,661[4]. The will is extremely difficult to read, but some parts of it cannot be deciphered.

John Smith of Charlestown, Taylor,  died on 31 March 1704, leaving a wife and four young daughters (ages 2 to 10).  He bequeathed 5 pounds to his wife Ruth in household stuff of her choice, and the use and improvement of the house, buildings, orchards and land that he dwelled on, and all moveable goods or estate within doors and without.  Ruth Smith was named executrix of the estate and the will was proved on 14 June 1705 in Middlesex County Probate Court in Cambridge.

Ruth (Cutler) Smith married, second, Thomas Upham (1668-1735) of Malden in about 1710. He was a widower with five young children.  They had one child, born in Malden:

*  Joseph Upham (1712-1792), married 1739 Elizabeth Richardson (1715-1776).

Thomas Upham, farmer of Reading, wrote his will on 13 January 1725[5].  He bequeathed to his wife Ruth one half the improvement of his homestead in Reading as long as she remained unmarried, and if she married, then his son Joseph should pay her one pound and 10 shillings every year.  He also bequeathed her two cows, his best bed and furniture belonging to it, and one half of the moveables.

Thomas Upham died 28 November 1735 in Reading, and the will was proved in Middlesex County Probate Court on 29 December 1735.

Ruth (Cutler) (Smith) Upham died 12 May 1738 in what is now Wakefield, Massachusetts[6-7], and is buried in the Old Burying Ground in Wakefield[7].  The inscription on the gravestone says:

"Here lyes
 the body of
Mrs Ruth Upham 
who departed this life
May ye 12th 1738 
In the 70th Year of her age"

5.  SOURCES

1. Thomas W. Baldwin (compiler), Vital Records of Reading, Massachusetts to the Year 1850 (Boston, Mass. : New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1912), Births, page 59, Ruth Cutler entry, 2 February 1668.

2. "Massachusetts, U.S., Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988," indexed database and digital image, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com) Charlestown > Archives, Births, Marriages, Deaths, 1629-1800, Marriages, page 515 (image 317 of 385), John Smith and Ruth Cutler entry, 18 May 1693.

3. Roger D. Joslyn, Vital Records of Charlestown, Massachusetts to 1850 (Boston, Mass. :  New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1984), 3 Volumes, Marriages, page 754, John Smith and Ruth Cutler entry, 18 May 1693.

4. Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Probate case files, "Middlesex Cases 20 000 to 21,999," Estate File 20,661 (5 images), John Smith of Charlestown, 1705; "Middlesex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1648-1871," indexed database and digital images, New England Historical and Genealogical Society, American Ancestors (https://www.AmericanAncestors.org : accessed 21 December 2021).

5. Middlesex County, Massachusetts, "Middlesex Cases 22,000 to 23,999," Estate File 23,223 (9 images), Thomas Upham of Reading, 1735.

6. Thomas W. Baldwin, Vital Records of Wakefield, Massachusetts to the Year 1850 (Boston, Mass. : New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1912), Deaths, page 331, Ruth Upham entry, 12 May 1738, in her 70th year.

7. Find A Grave, indexed database and digital image,  (http://www.findagrave.com), Old Burying Ground, Wakefield, Mass., Ruth Upham memorial #62032679.

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NOTE: In 2014, Amy Johnson Crow suggested a weekly blog theme of "52 Ancestors" in her blog post 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks on the No Story Too Small blog. I have extended this theme in 2021 for an eighth year to 416 Ancestors in 416 Weeks. The list of 52 Ancestors biographies from my great-grandparents to the 7th great-grandparents (in work) is in https://www.geneamusings.com/p/ancestor-biographies.html.

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Copyright (c) 2021, Randall J. Seaver

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