Every now and then we just get it wrong. The book, The Settlers of the Beekman
Patent, Vol II, p.154-158, has the lineage of Moses Allen who married
Hannah Knapp, 25 Oct 1732 in Newtown, Middlesex County, Massachusetts and later
settled in the Beekman Patent in Dutchess County, New York – the problem is: It is wrong in this book and I made the
mistake of not researching thoroughly for other possible records. Moses Allen actually is a fairly common name,
and there were two of them, about the same age, both from Suffolk County (later
Norfolk) Massachusetts – both of them had a brother named Aaron who was married
to a Hannah. Easy to confuse,
particularly when compiling a large volume regarding many families! Frank J. Doherty, author of Settlers,
had assumed Moses and Aaron were sons of Samuel Allen and his second wife,
Abigail, of Sudbury, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. And, in fact, that couple did have three
children whose births are recorded in the Sudbury town records: Moses, born 9 Sep 1705. Aaron, born 31 Dec 1707. And Abigail, born 14 Mar 1710.
Now, the family of Samuel Allen with births of his children
is recorded in the book, Walter Allen of Newbury, Mass 1640 and Some of His
Descendants, by Allen H. Bent. Samuel was a grandson of Walter Allen,
subject of the book. A Moses is listed as Samuel’s son with his
birth and “nothing further known”. Aaron
and Abigail are stated as having gone to Dedham. This Aaron, brother to Moses and Abigail,
married Hannah Mason, in Dedham, 6 Dec 1733, where births of their children are
recorded. Aaron’s death is recorded in
Dedham, Mar 1754 and his age at death agrees with the year of his birth in
1707.
Additional records have come to light, thanks to another
researcher, showing the above conclusion that Moses of the Beekman Patent was a
son of Samuel Allen is not possible. Moses,
son of Samuel, did not marry or relocate, but died as a teenager. Samuel Allen, b. 8 Apr 1658 in Newbury, Essex
County, Massachusetts, died 28 August 1720, in Sudbury. The estate files of Samuel and his son Moses (which can be seen here and here, if
you have a subscription to Ancestry.com)
reveal the following. In October of
1720, Joseph Dean, was appointed guardian of the three minor children of Samuel
Allen late of Sudbury, deceased – Aaron, Abigail and Moses. Samuel’s widow is noted as deceased. On 30 Oct 1722, John Allen (presumably the
John Allen who was Samuel’s eldest son by his first wife), administrator of
Samuel Allen’s estate, filed a report from Joseph Dean, “guardian to Moses
Allen, Minor, dec’d, son of the late Samuel Allen, dec’d” – the report itself
was not dated. However, earlier on 12
Feb 1722, William Johnson was appointed guardian of Aaron and Abigail Allen, and
no mention was made of Moses, so perhaps he was already deceased as early as
February of 1722, at about age 17. He
was not old enough to marry and leave descendants. Abigail, who was a single woman living in
Dedham (then Suffolk County now Norfolk County, Massachusetts) in 1732, wrote a
letter of dismissal for her guardian, indicating that she was "fully
satisfied for all the estate of my father and brother Moses, deceased.” Of course the only way she could have been
heir to her brother was if he had no issue.
So where does “my” Moses Allen belong? Living in Medfield, (then Suffolk county, now
Norfolk) Massachusetts was Joseph Allen, b. 19 Dec 1676 in Medfield, son of
Joseph Allen and Hannah Sabin. He
married Miriam Wight, 4 Nov 1701 in Medfield, daughter of Ephraim Wight and
Lydia Morse. She was born 22 Aug 1675 in
Medfield. This couple had five children
whose births are all recorded in the Medfield records. Joseph, b. 17 Aug 1702. Miriam, b. 27 May 1704. Moses, b. 20 Sep 1708 (can be seen here). Lydia, b. 25 Sep 1714. Aaron, b. 13 Feb 1714/5. So we have another Moses and an Aaron. Now it should be noted that “my” Moses had
children baptized in Sturbridge, Worcester County, Massachusetts, before
settling in New York. Aaron Allen also with
a wife Hannah (her surname never discovered) had children baptized in
Sturbridge and died there in Sturbridge, 3 May 1794.
And from Historical Sketch of Sturbridge, Mass., by
Joseph S. Clark (available for pdf download on Google books), is the following
which nicely ties the locations of Medfield and Sturbridge together: “Sturbridge was originally settled by a
company of emigrants chiefly from Medfield and a few other towns…” The petitioners request for this new town was
granted 3 Sept 1729. Listed as one of the early partners, prior to
the issuing of town lots, was Moses Allen.
He was also one of original fourteen members of the church and on 29 Sep
1736, was appointed to “set the Psalm in the Congregation upon the Sabbath
day”. Joseph Allen, likely his older
brother was also one of the fourteen male members of the church. Aaron Allen’s eldest child, Aaron, Jr. was
born in Sturbridge 22 Aug 1739, so he settled there soon after. Aaron and his Hannah went on to have eleven
more children born in Sturbridge.
These records would seem to leave no doubt that “my” Moses,
born in Massachusetts, who lived for a time in Sturbridge, and died in Dutchess
County, New York where he is last found in the tax lists in 1778, was the son
of Joseph Allen and Miriam Wight of Medfield, and could not have been part of
the family of Walter Allen of Newbury.
Unfortunately for the last twenty-five years, I’ve believed
the wrong lineage – to those with whom I’ve shared the error – I apologize! And now I have a whole lot of new direct
ancestors to research…
