USA > Massachusetts > Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume II > Part 131
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John. 5. Edward. 6. Patience, married
Thornton.
(III) William, son of John (2) Sheldon, was born in Pawtuxet, about 1720. He mar- ried, 1747, Rebecca Rhodes. Children, born in Pawtuxet : I. Deliverance, born 1740, married Nathan Jillson. 2. Robert, 1741, married
Hill. 3. Roger, 1745, lived at Cumberland, Rhode Island. 4. William, 1747, lived at Cum- berland. 5. Benjamin, 1750, settled at Una- dilla, New York. 6. John, mentioned below. 7. Rebecca, 1754, married John Phillips. 8. Susanna, married Nathan Jillson. 9. Anna, married Potter, of Cranston, Rhode Island. 10. Mercy, married Randall. II. Daughter, married Ezra Day.
(IV) John (3), son of William Sheldon, was born in Rhode Island in 1752. He settled in the north part of Adams, Berkshire county, Massachusetts. According to the census of 1790 there were two families of Sheldon in the town of Adams. John was the head of one, having three sons under sixteen and seven females in his family at the time. Esek and
his sons, Anthony, Reuben and Stephen Sheldon, also had families in Adams in 1790. Children of John Sheldon: Nathan, men- tioned below; John Jr., Amasa, Hezekiah, Daniel, Salome, Abigail, Patience, Roby, Eliza- beth, Ann.
(V) Nathan, son of John (3) Sheldon, was born in North Adams about 1775. Children : Lorenzo, who is mentioned below; Lucy, Electa, Mary.
(VI) Lorenzo, son of Nathan Sheldon, was born in North Adams, September 6, 1808. He married Amarilla Wilbur, born in North Adams, daughter of William Wilbur. Chil- dren : I. Charles, mentioned below. 2. Sylvia, married a Mr. Clegg. 3. Ira, born March I, 1840. 4. J. Warren. 5. John. 6. Mary. Mar- ried (second) Electa C. Parker, daughter of Oliver Parker, of North Adams. Children: I. Lewis, born August 20, 1854, North Adams, drowned February 28, 1861. 2. John Alfred, May 7, 1858, North Adams, married Mollie Claybel, who died July 5, 1887, leaving one son, Frank Eustace, born in Boston, December 14, 1886. 3. Mary M., February 24, 1864, unmarried.
(VII) Charles, son of Lorenzo Sheldon, was born at Adrian, Michigan, about 1844. He married Eliza Dunham, born Savoy, Massa- chusetts, May 21, 1846. Children: I. Fred C. 2. Adelaide May, married Frank Hartley Brown. 3. Gertrude Eliza, married Fred E. Clarkson.
This surname is derived from BILLINGS a place, Billing, very ancient, four miles from the borough of Northampton, county Northampton, and in Saxon means a place of meadows. The sur- name was originally de Billing. In the Domes- day Book the name is found spelled Belling. The final "s" has been added in America within two hundred years, the first two generations in this country never using the "s." The follow- ing English pedigree is given in the History of Woodstock, Vermont, p. 590.
(I) John Billing, progenitor of the English and American lines, was of Rowell, patron of the church of Colly, Weston, and also having lands in Rushden. He had two sons, Thomas and John. The latter died March 19, 1478, and is buried in the Woodford church.
(II) Sir Thomas, son of John Billing, of Rowell, was of the inns of court and was called to the bar; was sergeant at law in 1453; knighted in 1458 for taking part with the Lan- castrian party ; was counsel at the bar of the
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house of lords for Henry VI when the right to the crown was argued, leading the attorney and solicitor-general. He was principal law adviser to Edward IV and in 1465 justice of the king's bench ; in 1468 lord chief justice of the king's bench. He died in 1481 and was buried in Bittlesden Abbey, Oxfordshire, where a large blue marble slab was placed over the body, having on it the figures wrought in brass of himself and wife. The body was removed from the abbey and placed at the upper end of the center aisle of Wappenham church, where they are at present. He married (first) Cath- erine Gifford, daughter of Roger Gifford, of Twyford in Buskshire, heir to Gifford's Manor in the hamlet of Astwell, parish of Wappen- ham, afterwards called Billing's Manor. The ancient manor house, somewhat curtailed, is still in use as a farm house. He married ( sec- ond) Mary Wesenham, daughter and heir of Robert Wesenham, of Conington, county Hunt- ingdon, widow of Thomas Lacy and William Cotton. She died March 14, 1499, buried in the south aisle at St. Margaret's Church, West- minster, which was rebuilt by her and Sir Thomas, and a monument was erected there to her memory. Children: I. Thomas, had the estate. 2. John of Bucks. 3. Roger, nothing further known. 4. William, settled at Weden Beck. 5. Nicholas, mentioned below. 6. Kath- erine. 7. Isabel. 8. Margaret.
(III) Nicholas, son of Sir Thomas Billing, settled at Middleton Melzor, Northampton; died in 1512, providing in his will for masses of requiem to be performed at Bittlesden Abbey for five years on the anniversaries of his death. He married Agnes Bilbert, daughter of Stephen of Middleton Manor. Children: I. Kath- erinc. 2. Agnes. 3. Roger. 4. William, born 1526. 5. Henry. 6. John, mentioncd below.
(IV) John (2), son Nicholas Billing, was born about 1530. Children: 1. William, men- tioned below. 2. Nicholas, settled at Middle- ton Manor. 3. Thomas, resided at Weekly Northrup. 4. Agnes, married - - Rodgenys.
(V) William, son of John (2) Billing, lived at Middleton Melzor ; died 1557 ; married Joan Children : 1. Katherine. 2. William, died before father ; married Elizabeth
3. Roger, mentioned below. 4. Richard, of Somersetshire ; married, in Taunton, January 20, 1661-62, Katherine Wilcok; had three sons : resided at East Lydford.
(VI) Roger, son of William Billing, was born at Middleton Melzor ; removed to Somer- setshire and settled at Baltonsborough near Glastonbury, where he was buried December
16, 1596. His will dated December 14, 1596, bequeathed to two sons of the same name. Richard the elder and Richard the younger, besides the other children. His wife Kath- erine was buried February 12, 1566-67. He married (second) December 5, 1573, Edith Colburn, who was buried July 4, 1605, at Bal- tonsborough. Children: 1. Richard the elder, mentioned below. 2. Elizabeth, baptized Janu- ary 8, 1561-62, buried October 1, 1587. 3. John, baptized September 8, 1564, buried May 31. 1573. Children of second wife: 4. Agnes, baptized November 7, 1574. 5. Christopher, baptized December 25, 1576, buried March II, 1589-90. 6. Agatha, baptized October 18, 1578. 7. Mary, baptized December 18, 1581. 8. Richard the younger, baptized November 8, 1584, married, May 22, 1617, Susan Rush.
(VII) Richard the elder, son of Roger Bill- ing, was born about 1560, and married Eliza- beth Strong, daughter of Ebenezer Strong. Richard's will made bequests for the repair of the church of St. James, Taunton, to the poor of the parish and of Baltonsborough, and twenty shillings to his brother Richard to make him a ring in remembrance of him. Children : I. Elizabeth, married Thomas Savage. 2. Richard. 3. Roger, mentioned below. 4. Ebe- nezer. 5. William, the youngest son, had a house in Taunton, England, called Deanes, which passed to his son William Billing, who emigrated to New England and was at Lan- caster, Massachusetts, in 1654; in Dorchester, 1658. where his brother or cousin settled, and finally located in Connecticut.
(\'III) Roger (2), son of Richard the elder Billing, was born in Taunton, England, about 1 590. He was father probably, though possibly uncle of Roger ( I) of the American line, men- tioncd below. He remained in England.
(I) Roger (3) Billing, immigrant ancestor, was a carpenter by trade, and a proprietor of Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1640. He was admitted a freeman, May 10, 1648. He bought of the Indians a tract of land two and one half miles by two miles, part of which was taken off in establishing the Rhode Island line. In 1662 he was one of the petitioners for six miles square for a township at Warranoco. He died November 15, 1683, aged sixty-five years (gravestone ). His will was dated February 2, 1680, and proved December 13, 1683. He married (first) Mary -, who died in 1644: (second) Hannah -, who died May 25, 1662; (third) Elizabeth, daughter of John Pratt. Children : I. Mary, born July 10, 1643. dicd December 10, 1643. 2. Mary, bap-
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tized November 23. 1645, married, December 16, 1663, Samuel Belcher. 3. Hannah, married, February 24, 1665, John Penniman. 4. Joseph. 5. Ebenezer. baptized October 26, 1651, married Hannah Wales. 6. Samuel, baptized October 26, 1651. 7. Roger, born November 16, 1657, mentioned below. 8. Elizabeth, born October 27. 1659. 9. Zeppora, born May 21, 1662, died October 8, 1676. 10. Jonathan, died January 14, 1677.
(II) Roger (4), son of Roger (3) Billing, was born November 16, 1657, died January 17, 1717-18. He settled in Canton and married, January 22, 1678, by Governor Bradstreet, Sarah Paine, who died September 19, 1742, aged eighty-four, daughter of Stephen Paine. of Braintree. Children: 1. Hannah, born Jan- uary 21, 1679. 2. Joseph, May 27, 1681, mar- ried, April 4. 1706, Ruhamah Badcock. 3. John, March 10. 1683. 4. Roger, January 9, 1685. 5. William, July 27, 1686, married, June 17, 1719, Ruth Crehore. 6. Sarah, February 27, 1687-88. 7. Stephen, August 27, 1691, mentioned below. 8. Mehitable, January 21, 1693-94, married, July 1, 1724, John Crehore. 9. Moses, November 20, 1696, married, May 25, 1725, Miriam Vose. 10. Ann, August 4, 1698. II. Abigail, February 15, 1700. 12. Elizabeth, June 21, 1701, married, January 7, 1719, Stephen Baldwin. 13. Isaac, July 9, 1703. 14. Daughter, alive 1742.
(III) Stephen Billings, son of Roger (4) Billing, was born August 27, 1691, and settled in Canton. He married, June 9, 1724, Eliza- beth Fenno, who died October 17, 1783. Chil- dren: 1. Stephen, born February 23, 1725, married, 1751, Betty Kenney. 2. Seth, Feb- ruary 1, 1728, married, 1750, Jerusha Redman ; died August 4, 1766. 3. Roger, March 15, 1730, mentioned below. 4. Jacob, July 1, 1732, married, April 3, 1760, Rachel White. 5. Thomas, October 14, 1735, married, July 12, 1758, Hannah Elmer. 6. Elizabeth, October 14, 1735 (twin), married Samuel Dwelly. 7.
Amariah, October 7, 1738, died young. 8. Abraham, July 14, 1739, settled in Hatfield. 9. Isaac, July 14, 1739 (twin), married, Septem -- ber 7, 1769, Mary McKendry. 10. Jesse, mar- ried, March 14, 1770, Sarah Bardwell. II. Elijah, March 9, 1748. 12. Sarah, May 28 or June 1. 1751, married, May 31, 1775, West- wood C. Wright.
(IV) Roger (5), son of Stephen Billings, was born March 15, 1730, and married, about 1753, Susanna Wiswell, of Dorchester, who died April 6, 1824, aged ninety-two years.
Children: 1. Enoch, born October 27, 1754. 2. Jonathan, October 29, 1756. 3. Hannah, August 1, 1759, married Samuel Billings. 4. Elizabeth, August 24, 1761, married Elias Fair- banks. 5. Rhoda, March 19, 1763, married Asa Downs ; ( second ) Bixby. 6. Jesse, May 8, 1765. 7. Ruth, August 7, 1767, mar- ried Ichabod Gray. 8. Timothy, August 16, 1770, mentioned below. 9. Susanna, June 17, 1773, married Hall. 10. Sarah, July 17, 1776, married Joseph Heuston.
(V) Timothy, son of Roger (5) Billings, was born August 16, 1770, died July 7, 1860. He was a carpenter by trade and lived in Deer- field. He was apprenticed when young to Cap- tain King, of Northfield. He was assessor in 1810. He was on the town hall building com- mittee, of Deerfield, in 1842. He married, August 30, 1794, Amy Dwelly, who died July 22, 1858, aged seventy-nine years, daughter of Samuel Dwelly. Children: 1. Achsah, born January 16, 1796, married, May 9, 1816, Pliny Mann. 2. Francis, August 17, 1797, married, June 1, 1826, Amanda Tryon. 3. Amy, Sep- tember 13, 1800, died May 8, 1801. 4. Lathrop, April 28, 1802. 5. Hannah D., August 4, 1804, married, October 18, 1826, Dexter Clark. 6.
Samuel Dwelly, September 22, 1806, mentioned below. 7. Mary A., January 20, 1809, married, November 3, 1831, Holland Montague. 8. Susan E., January 9, 1812, married, Septem- ber 29, 1835, Carver Johnson. 9. Charles Will- iams, February 21, 1815. 10. Timothy Dwight, May 27, 1817, died December 2, 1834. II. Amy, September 21, 1820, died May 8, 1883. 12. Martha, February 13, 1825, married, March 25, 1851, Samuel D. Downes; she died Febru- ary 28, 1908.
(VI) Samuel Dwelly, son of Timothy Bill- ings, was born in Deerfield, September 22, 1806, died September 28, 1884. He resided in Deerfield and was a tanner at Bloody brook. He married, May 28, 1833, Laura Jane Clapp, daughter of Charles Clapp, of Worthington. He was a member of the Orthodox church and active in town and church affairs. He was selectman of Deerfield in 1870 and for a num- ber of years. He was a large contributor to the building of the chapel. Children: 1. Charles Timothy, born April 3. 1834, died April 9, 1834. 2. Timothy Dwight, December 19, 1835, died August 23. 1854. 3. Julia Maria, September 14, 1838, married, June 1, 1864, Jonathan A. Munson, of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. 4. Henrietta Clapp, July 11, 1841, married, April 28, 1877, Henry Baum. 5. Laura Jane, April
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28, 1845, married, November 28, 1872, George H. White. 6. Charles Fitch, June 30, 1850, mentioned below.
(VII) Charles Fitch, son of Samuel Dwelly Billings, was born at South Deerfield, Massa- chusetts, June 30, 1850, and educated there in the public schools. He followed farming until 1874 when he started in the ice business, har- vesting his ice from a supply of pure spring water on his farm. He has been very success- ful in business. In politics he is a Republican. Since 1902 he has been a member of the Deer- field board of selectmen and he has been one of the water commissioners since the board was established. He is president of the Deerfield Cemetery Association, member and trustee of the Knights of Honor; charter member and trustee of Weznamps Tribe, No. 132, Improved Order of Red Men. He married, November 28, 1872, Harriet Wilby, born in Greenfield, Massachusetts, daughter of George and Mary Wilby, formerly of Sheffeld, England. Chil- dren, born at Deerfield: I. George Wilby, April 19, 1874. 2. Mary Ann, July 2, 1877, married Edward Mason Dodge; child, Charles Mason Dodge, born July 12, 1906.
BOUTON The surname Bouton is of ancient French origin, and in tradition goes back of the fifth century when the tribes of Goths inhabited the region of country bordering on the Rhone extending from Lake Geneva to the Mediter- ranean sea. They withstood and successfully repelled the incursions of the invaders from both the north and the south, and became powerful and independent. One of their chiefs, known as Clovis, became a Christian through the influence of his wife, and his example was largely followed by his people. From 1530 the military and court records make frequent men- tion of the name Bouton for more than two centuries. The race was noted for piety and zeal in religion and for education and intelli- gence. Noel Bouton was the marquis of Chamilly. In America the name has been con- spicuously identified with the history and development of New England, and particularly with the colony, province and subsequent state of New Hampshire ; and is especially honored in the life and works of Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Bouton, the beloved pastor, faithful historian, and careful genealogist of the families of his congregation who through his patient researches have been able to know something of their ancestry ; and there are others too of the same family both before and after him who attained
to positions of distinguished eminence in the various avocations of life, and of some of whom mention will be found in this narrative.
(I) John Bouton, with whom our present narrative begins, is believed to have been a son of Count Nicholas Bouton. He was a Huguenot and during the period of the great persecution fled to England. The registry of emigrants to the American colonies, kept in London, con- tains the name of only one Bouton in a record covering a period of one hundred years, from 1600 to 1700, and there can be no reasonable doubt that this was the John Bouton who embarked from Grave's End, England, in the bark "Assurance," in July, 1635, and landed in Boston in December of the same year, at which time he was twenty years old. He lived first in Boston, afterward for a short time in Water- town, Massachusetts, and removed thence to Hartford, Connecticut, early in the settlement of that town. Soon after settlement was begun at Norwalk, Connecticut, he went there, in 1651, and became one of the influential men of the town. In 1671 and for several years after- ward he was representative to the general assemblies of the colony, and also served in various official capacities in Norwalk. The records show that he gave lands to his sons John and Matthew, and left an estate which remained in possession of his descendants for more than two hundred years afterward. His first wife was Joan Turney, who died soon after he settled at Norwalk. He married for his second wife, January 1, 1656, Abigail, born Hartford about 1640, died Norwalk about 1672, daughter of Matthew Marvin, who came from London, England. After her death he married his third wife, Mary Stevenson, widow of John Stevenson, who was killed in a fight with Indians near Norwalk. John Bouton had two children by his first wife, Richard and Bridget ; five by his second, John, Matthew, Rachel, Abigail and Mary; and four children by his third wife, Joseph, Thomas, Elizabeth and Richard.
(II) Joseph, fourth son of John Bouton and eldest child by his third wife, was born in Norwalk about 1674 and spent his life in or near that town. His will in the probate records of Fairfield county devises various tracts of land in the Bouton meadows and divides the remainder of the estate among his four children. He married Mary Stevenson, and by her had four children, Sarah, Dinah, Jachin and John.
(III) Jachin, eldest son and third child of Joseph and Mary (Stevenson) Bouton, was born and always lived in Norwalk, and his
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name appears frequently in the town records. December 14, 1726, he was chosen one of the five listers of the town, and in 1730 was again chosen for the same office. March 29, 1732, he bought lands of Thomas Corsicar, and December 20, 1737, he had a grant of three acres of land in Roton. Ten days afterward he bought six acres on the west side of Nor- walk river, adjoining Joseph Bouton's land, and for which he paid thirty-seven pounds. In February following he bought of Daniel Betts two acres for eleven pounds fifteen shillings, and soon afterward bought a considerable tract from Sarah Crampton. In later years he acquired other lands and it is evident that he was a man of large estate, dealing extensively for his time, and that he was a farmer is shown by his cattle mark recorded in 1725. He was grand juror in 1733 and otherwise appears to have been somewhat prominent in town affairs. It is said that he married twice, and although the name of neither his first nor second wife appears in any of the records it is known that he had a large family of children: Ebenezer, Sarah, Joseph, Esaias, Mary, Debby, Patty, Esther and Moses. He may have had a son Jachin, named for himself, for there was a Captain Jachin Bouton in command of a com- pany in Montgomery's army in the expedition against Quebec. After the war he settled on a farm near South Salem, Connecticut, was an elder of the Presbyterian church and filled that office until his death, July 8, 1847.
(IV) Joseph (2), second son and third child of Jachin Bouton, was born probably in Nor- walk, in 1726 and died in 1778. He was an officer in the colonial army in the expedition against the French provinces, and according to the history of Norwalk he enlisted at the age of nineteen years. He married, August 25, 1748, Susannah Raymond, by whom he had eleven children: William, Susannah, Betty, Joseph, Rebecca, Joshua, Seth, Ira, Nancy, Debbe (Debby) and Aaron.
(V) William, eldest son and child of Joseph (2) and Susannah ( Raymond) Bouton, was born in Norwalk, Connecticut, January 16, 1749, and died in Norwalk, May 30, 1828. He married, February 15, 1769, in Norwalk, Sarah 'Benedict, born Norwalk, June 15, 1752, died August 26, 1844, having survived her husband more than sixteen years. Both are buried in Pine Grove cemetery in South Norwalk. They had fourteen children: Isaac, died young ; Isaac, William, Betty, Esther, Sarah, Clara, Seth, Joseph, Susannah, John, Mary, Anna and Nathaniel.
(VI) Nathaniel, youngest son and child of William and Sarah ( Benedict) Bouton, was born in Norwalk, Connecticut, June 20, 1799, and died in Concord, New Hampshire, June 6, 1878. He attended the public schools of his native town and was exceedingly precocious. At the age of nine years he was so proficient in the rudimentary branches that frequently he was engaged by the master to instruct the other pupils. At that time neither grammar nor geography were taught in district schools, but he studied the rudiments of English grammar in a work called Murray's Abridgment. Before he had attained the age of fourteen years he entertained the idea of learning a trade, and in this determination his course was in a measure guided by a circumstance. His father at that time was a subscriber of the Republican Farmer, for a period of seven years. A strong and in which at about the time indicated appeared an advertisement for a boy to learn the printing business. This attracted Nathaniel's attention and awakened an interest in his mind, and having secured his father's consent the lad was regularly apprenticed to Styles Nichols, proprietor of the Republican Farmer, for a period of seven years. A strong mutual attachment soon grew up between the young apprentice and his employer, and the former was soon engaged in the work of con- ducting the paper. During the spring of 1815 special religious services were held in Bridge- port in which the young man became deeply interested and impressed, and on the morning of June 20, 1815, his sixteenth birthday, he resolved to give himself to the work of the Master, and on the first Sunday in December of that year he with ninety-eight others were received into the First Congregational Church of Bridgeport, under Rev. Elijah Waterman, pastor. Very soon afterward he became possessed with a strong 'desire to preach the gospel and in order to carry out this determina- tion he made a bargain with Mr. Nichols to purchase his unexpired time for the sum of one hundred and seventy-five dollars, in order that he might devote his attention to the study necessary to fit himself for the work of the ministry. Through the sale of a piece of land and the assistance of a friend his father raised the money, and thus was Nathaniel released from his indentures. In September, 1816, he returned to his home and began a course of study in preparation for college, and soon after- ward he was offered free board and tuition at the academy in New Canaan by the Rev. Mr. Bonny, pastor of the Congregational church
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there ; and later on he received and accepted an invitation to attend school at Wilton, then taught by Mr. Harley Olmstead, and there' he prepared for college. In 1818 he entercd Yale, and throughout his course there he kept well up with the other students of his class, although he had not enjoyed the carlier educa- tional advantages of any of them ; and during the entire period of his college course he never received a reprimand or reproof of any kind. In the summer of 1820 he graduated from Yale and immediately engaged in the work of relig- ious revival in the town of Hotchkiss, near New Haven. At the beginning of the next term at Andover Theological Seminary he was ready to enter upon the course of that institu- tion, and was blessed with good health so that he lost no time. For completing the course at Andover as valedictorian he was engaged by a committee from Boston to begin his ministerial work in that city and agreed to remain there three years. Within a short time he received a call from Franklin and on January 29, 1825, penned his formal acceptance. It was about this time that he originated the idea of a National Missionary Society, and through his discussions with others laid the foundation of the present Home Missionary Society, which came into organized existence in New York City on May 12, 1826. In respect to his con- nection with the early discussions which led to the organization of these societies we may quote from "A Sketch of the Character and Life-Work" of Dr. Bouton, written by his son, the late John Bell Bouton, and in which he says: "It is not too much to claim for my father the germinal thought of the Home Mis- sionary Society. It sprang out of a conversa- tion between him and other Andover theologi- cal students early in . 1825. They were talking about the supply of missions for new settle- ments in that terra incognite, the west. Like a flash came to his. mind the idea 'we necd a National Missionary Society for this great work,' and he said so. Pursuing the theme he literally struck the keynote of it by taking a key from his pocket, tapping the wall with it, and exclaiming with great animation, 'why not strikc a high key at once and say a National Domestic Missionary Society?' To this little seed can be traced the mighty tree. If his chil- dren had known this fact earier," continucs Mr. Bouton, "perhaps they would have dropped more of their pennies into the box for home missions rather than that for foreign missions, which appcaled to their youthful imaginations as the more remote and romantic of the two."
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