USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Groton > Groton historical series. A collection of papers relating to the history of the town of Groton, Massachusetts, Vol III > Part 29
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343
AN ATTEMPT TO SET OFF SHIRLEY.
In connection with the last extract, sce an article entitled " The Soapstone Quarry," which is given in Number IV. of the first volume of the Historical Series. Professor Edward Hitchcock, in his "Report on the Geology, Mineralogy, Botany, and Zoology of Massachusetts" (Amherst, 1833), says : -
In Groton is a bed of soapstone on which considerable labor has been expended. Its width appears to be 10 or 12 feet, and it descends into the earth towards the southeast ; dipping about 30°, and lying between layers of mica slate. It is not of the best quality, being somewhat too hard ; yet its proximity to Boston, Newburyport, and Salem, will probably render it an object of importance ( page 32).
AN ATTEMPT TO SET OFF SHIRLEY. .
THE following memorial is found among the Archives (CXVI. 143) at the State House, and relates to an unsuc- cessful attempt to form a new parish or district corre- sponding in the main to the present town of Shirley, which is mentioned on page SS of "The Boundary Lines of Old Groton " (1885).
Province of the Massachusetts Bay $ To his Honnour Spencer Phips Esq' and to the Hon's his majesty's Council & House of Representatives in General Court as- sembled at Boston october 21 A : D) : 1751 The Memorial of John Whittney Moses Writter Samuel Larrabee Eleazer Tarbell and Nathaniel Harris Humbly Shew That your memorialist and other Inhabitance of the South westerly P[ar]t of Groton and the Easterly Part of Lunenburge Prefred a P[e]tition t[o the] Honbe Court in November A D : 1749 humbly praying To be Sett off from the towns to which they Belong and made into a Distinct and Seppreate town or parrish for the Resons mentioned in the aforeSaid Petition and The Hon's Court was Please! to order your Said Petitioners to Serve the Said town of Lunenburge &c. with a Coppy of the Said Petition which they Did
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HON. HUGH BLAIR GRIGSBY.
and upon hearing the answer of the town of Luenburge and your Petitioners the Honourable Court was then Please to Send a Con- mittee to View and upon Carefully Viewing all Circonstances Re- lateing to the Said Petition Reported in favover of your Petitioners on or aboute the Twenty Second of June 1750 But So it was that the Hon !! " Court was Pleas! to Reject the Said Report and Dismiss the Said Petition - and your memorialist in September A. D) : 1750 Prefred a memorial to this honble Court to Revive y" Said Petition and the Honble house on y" 31 of october Last appointed a Comtee to hear your memorialist again but the hon !! Board Non Conured the vote of the house and Dismiss" y" Said memorial but the house adhearing to there own Vote So far as to Sustain the Said memorial and ordred that the town of Lunenburge Should be Served with a Coppy thereof but the Honbk Board not Joyning Nothing has ben Done thereon now your memorialist Humbly Prays that there afore Said memorial and Petition with the Report of the Said Comtes thereon and all the papers thereto belonging may be Revived and again taken into Considration So that your Poor Distressed Petitioners may be Relieved and your memorialist as in Duty Bound Shall Ever Pray
JOHN WHITNEY MOSES RITTER Etc
SAMUEL LARRABEE
[Indorsed] Pett of John Whitney Oct! 9- 1751 Ordered to lie Jan.y 2 1752
Stil to lie 3 to lie Still
Dissmissd Jan'y 9 1752 th.
HON. HUGH BLAIR GRIGSBY.
THE following letters were written by the Honorable Hugh Blair Grigsby, of Virginia, and for their local references deserve a place in this Historical Series. Mr. Grigsby was born in Norfolk, on November 22, 1806, and at a very early age took a prominent part in the affairs of his native State. He was one of the youngest members that ever sat in the legislative halls of Virginia, and in 1829, together with Jeffer- son, Madison, and other eminent men, was a member of the State Constitutional Convention. At a later period he de- voted himself almost exclusively to literature and agriculture ;
السنة
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HION. HUGH BLAIR GRIGSBY.
and he soon became an authority in all matters relating to the history of his own Commonwealth. For many years the President of the Virginia Historical Society, he was chosen in 1871 the Chancellor of the College of William and Mary, from which venerable institution he had received the hon- orary degree of LL.D. in 1855. Mr. Grigsby died at his home, Edgehill, Charlotte County, on April 28, 1881, leaving behind him the name of a thorough scholar and of a dis- tinguished man of letters.
EDGEHILL, December 10, 1878 : -
MY DEAR SIR,
Your beautiful Memorial of the Dead of Groton reached Edge- hill during my absence of a fortnight on a jaunt to Norfolk ; or I would have acknowledged its receipt at an earlier date. You have certainly saved the sepulchres of Groton from the fate pre- dicted by Juvenal whom you aptly quote, and have answered the inquiry of Lord Byron in one of his most striking stanzas begin- ning: "Where are the epitaphs our fathers read?" Indeed you have done more for the dead of Groton than those who raised the stones you commemorate ; for these are perishable, and your record is immortal.
I observe that you notice the fact that many of the stones are of slate, and especially of British slate, which is the least perishable of epitaphic material. It also allows the letters to be cut deeply, and is thus fitted particularly for horizontal tablets. I have seen thick slate tablets as perfect after the lapse of a century as when they were put in place. In our western climate, at least within two hundred miles of the sea-board, the finest Italian marble, especially in the form of horizontal slabs, is destined to early defacement and decay. Salt and damp are its foes. I see that, in the salt damp atmosphere of England, Cleopatra's Needle has already begun to show signs of deterioration. Next to slate, as a material of sepul- chral architecture, is granite, which may now be polished finely ; but from the hardness of the material, the lettering is usually too small and too shallow ; and brass plates are liable to be stolen.
Nearly all the names you record are of our Virginian stock. I was pleased to see the name of Tarbell. Lieut. or Captain Tarbell was in command of the frigate Constellation near Craney Island in the war of 1812, and showed himself an able officer. His mode of
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HON. HUGH BLAIR GRIGSBY.
equipping a frigate to resist an attack from boats has been highly praised. It now seems probable that he was sprung from some of the tenants of the earth of Groton whom you commemorate. You will see a tribute to Tarbell in Cooper's Naval History, unless my memory deceives me. I never knew his subsequent fortunes. As I saw the Constellation under his charge, I have felt an interest in his fate. It should seem that the Bancrofts and the Tarbells intermarried. I also observe that our great historian has a blood connection with the eminently historic family of the Gullivers, who, though sprung into fame as recently as the days of Queen Anne, have ever since enjoyed a wide notoriety.
Accept my thanks for the valuable volume which you have sent to me, and still more for the courtesy and kindness which recalled my name to your memory.
With kindest regards, I am truly yours,
To SAMUEL A. GREEN, M.D.
HUGH BLAIR GRIGSBY.
Boston, Massachusetts.
P. S. I have long felt an interest in Groton as the cradle of the Prescotts and Lawrences.
SMITHVILLE, CHARLOTTE COUNTY, VIRGINIA, Nov. 20, 1879: -
MY DEAR SIR,
The Early Land Grants of Groton, Massachusetts, prepared by yourself, and which you have kindly bestowed upon me, have fur- nished me with some agreeable reading. Many of the names belong to Virginia, such as John Page, Barron, Fish, Colles or Coles, Hall, Holden, Lawrence, Martin, Morse, Parker, Pearse, Reed, Roberts, Skinner, Stone, Woods, &c. Of these the Fiskes, Hall, Holden, are doubtless descendants of the men of Groton. Christopher Hall came to Norfolk as a bookbinder in 1815, set up a stationery store, accumulated a large fortune, and died some fifteen or twenty years ago, leaving one son and a daughter, who married a Windsor, a gentleman of northern birth, who is still living in Norfolk, is in business himself, and has a son also in business. Christopher Hall was a man of enterprize and of taste in binding. Ile had some excellent workmen in his bindery, and,
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HARVARD, MASS.
as a sample of his skill, bound Rees' Encyclopædia (in 47 volumes quarto) in calf handsomely gilt and lettered, for Marshall Parks, at four dollars per vol. i. e. 188 dollars for the work. I purchased the work at Mr. Parkes' sale, and can say that its binding at the distance of fifty years is still superb.
Holden of Norfolk was a seafaring man, a captain of a vessel of great worth, and the father of several daughters. I have no doubt that Hall and Holden were of your Groton stock.
I hope your example in publishing the Land Grants of Groton will be generally followed. There can be no certain immortality for manuscripts. 'Type alone can save the past. The great fires in London, in Boston, in Chicago, and in Richmond and elsewhere during the war, destroyed everything in their course. Our history cannot be written from the destruction of papers in the building of the General Court in April, 1865. So it is that I hail every effort to multiply the records of the past.
Ever mindful of your generous kindness on various occasions,
I am truly yours,
HUGH BLAIR GRIGSBY.
To SAMUEL A. GREEN, M.D. Boston, Massachusetts.
P. S. I forgot to say that the Allens are also residents of Norfolk, - descendants of Ethan. The Allyns, another New England name, are also residents of Norfolk, and keep up their connection with their birthplace in Massachusetts. By the way, Christopher Hall is a historic name. It appears in Waverley.
HARVARD, MASS.
THE Honorable Henry Stedman Nourse, of Lancaster, who is now engaged in writing a Ilistory of Harvard, has called my attention to the following vote, passed by the town of Harvard, on May 16, 1774. I am not aware that the four inhabitants of Groton, who are mentioned in the vote, were ever regularly set off, or that the boundary lines between the
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348
JOHN LONGLEY AND JONATHAN PAGE.
two places were changed in any respect during that period. Perhaps, amid the exciting events that soon followed, the subject was then dropped.
Article 8th Voted to receive Benjamin Davis, Jonathan Stone, Abner Whetcombe and Amos Lamson ; inhabitants of the Town of Groton to be inhabitants of Harvard when regularly sett off according to their Request and their lands annexed to the Town of Harvard.
JOHN LONGLEY AND JONATHAN PAGE.
THE following copy of a Bond is made from the original paper in my possession. I have also a similar bond, signed by Jonathan Page, of Groton, and numbered 35, which is wit- nessed by Jonathan Houghton and Elisha Roott. "The New Town at Paquoag" is now known as Athol; and the two towns on the Ashuelot River are Keene and Swanzey, New Hampshire, then under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts. Sometimes in the early records they are spoken of as the Upper-Ashuelot and the Lower-Ashuelot townships. The original document is a printed blank with various entries in manuscript ; and in this copy the written portion is given within parentheses. There is no evidence that either Mr. Longley or Mr. Page ever settled in the new town, as they do not seem to have lost their residence at Groton.
KNOW all
(Nº 32)
NOW all Men by these Presents, That (I John Longly) of (Groton) in the County of (Midlesex) and Province of the Massachusetts-Bay (Yeoman) Am held and stand firmly Bound and Obliged unto (William Dudley Ebenezer Burrell Edward Goddard Israell Williams Samuel Chandler Charles Church John Chandler Daniell Epps & John Hobson a Comittee Ap- pointed by the Great & Gen" Court to Admitt Settlers into the three Towns Westward viz' Two on Ashuelott the Other at Paquoag) in the full and just Sum of Twenty Pounds Currant
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MOSES CHILD.
Lawful Money of the said Province, to be paid to the said (Comittee or the Major part of them or their Respective Suc- cessors for the Use and benefitt of the Settlers at the Town at laquoag Aforesaid) [Heirs Executors Administrators and Successors in the said Trust, these words within brackets crossed out in the original] which Payment well and faithfully to be made, I bind my self my Heirs Executors and Admistrators each and every of them firmly by these Presents. Sealed with my Seal. Dated this (26 day) of June 1734.
- DE Condition of this present Obligation is such, That whereas the above-bounden (John Longly) is by the Committee of the Great and General Court thereunto appointed, admitted a Setler into the New Town (at Paquoag Aforesaid) under certain Limitations and Restrictions in the Order of the said Court passed in their Sessions July 1732, reference thereto being had may more fully appear. Now if the said (John Longly or his Son) shall well and truly fulfil the Terms and Conditions of the said Order of the General Court, and at the time therein expressed, then the above written Obligation shall be void, but on failure in the performance of the said Terms or any of them, then the above-written to be good of full force and virtue.
Signed, Sealed and Delivered in Presence of us JOHN LONGLEY
JOHN WHITE JONATHAN HOUGIITON
SEAL
MOSES CHILD.
WITHIN a short time Samuel Mitchell Child, Esq., a lawyer of Boston, has placed in my hands for examination certain old papers which once belonged to his great-great-grandfather, Moses Child, of Groton. As they are more or less connected with the history of the town, I purpose to notice them in this Series.
The earliest of these papers is dated at Watertown, March 31, 1763, and signed by John Remington, Collector of the
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MOSES CHILD.
Duties of Excise, giving to Mr. Child permission "to sell Rum, and other Distilled Spirits and Wine." Another paper is dated at Cambridge, May, 1774, and informs the Selectmen of the town that Messrs. John Sawtell, Moses Child and George Peirce were licensed as Innholders during the pre- vious year, and also that Jonathan Clark Lewis, Jonas Cutler, and William Swan were licensed as Retailers for the same period ; and then notifies the Selectmen that the time for renewing the licenses would be on Tuesday, September 13. The names of John Sawtell and Moses Child are additional to the list of landlords, previously printed in the first volume (No. VIII.) of the Historical Series. Among these old papers is Mr. Child's account-book, bearing date June 5, 1761, which was in use for seven years ; and from the numerous charges to his customers for rum, brandy and flip, it would seem as if he was a wholesale dealer in liquors rather than a retailer. In one place he writes : "March ye 7 [1773 ?] Capt Shattuck and Isaac Bowers begun to Take the Newspapers"; and later, in another place, he says: "Capt Asa Lawrance paid for three months for the Nues papers £o : 3 :4:0." Did he furnish his neighbors with their weekly papers as well as with their liquid stimulants? Was he an agent of the publishers ?
Moses Child was the second son of Isaac and Anna (Adams) Child, and born at Watertown, on April 6, 1731. He was married to Sarah Stiles, of Lunenburg ; and they settled at Groton, where their eight children were born. During the French and Indian War he held a commission as Ensign, which is now in the possession of the Maine His- torical Society at Portland, according to Blood's History of Temple, New Hampshire (page 211). In November, 1775, he was one of two persons, commissioned by General Wash- ington, and sent at the public expense to Nova Scotia, "to inquire into the state of that Colony, the disposition of the inhabitants towards the American cause, and the condition of the fortifications, dock yards, the quantity of the warlike stores, and the number of soldiers, sailors and ships of war there ; and to transmit the earliest intelligence to Gen.
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MOSES CHILD.
Washington." His commission for this service is printed in full in the "Genealogy of the Child, Childs and Childe Families " (page 546).
Mr. Child served also as an officer in the Revolution, and was present at Burgoyne's surrender. A grant of land lying within the District of Maine was made to him and others for their military services. The tract was then called Tyngstown, in honor of Captain James Tyng, but is now known as Wilton, and lies in Franklin County, Maine. Among these Child manuscripts is a list of the original proprietors of the township, and other papers relating to the laying out of that settlement.
About the year 1790 Mr. Child removed to Temple, New Hampshire, where he lived until his death, which took place on February 8, 1793. His widow survived him for a quarter of a century, and died on June 3, 1818.
Among the Child papers is a warrant, which contains an allusion to the custom of warning strangers out of town. Such orders were in accordance with an old practice, based on law and then common throughout the Province, which aimed to prevent the permanent settlement of families in towns where they might become a public burden. See page 2 of this volume, near the foot, for other instances of this un- friendly proceeding.
MIDDLESEX SS. To Moses Childs a Constable for the Town of Groton in s! County Gentleman Greeting
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Whereas there hath for some time past Resided within the said Town of Groton Samuel Farnsworth who came last from the Town of Hollis in the County of Hillsboro in the Province of New Hampshire and Mary Porter a Daughter in Law of Deacon Collier who came last from the Town of Leicester in the County of Worcester, and as the Select-men for the sd Town of Groton Refuse to admit Either of the abovenamed persons as Inhabi- tants within the s'! Town of Groton These are therefore in his majesties Name to Require you the afores! officer to Notifie & Warn Each of the above named persons forthwith to depart and leave the s! Town of Groton at the peril of the Law, and you are to make return of this Warrant with your Doings there-
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352
CHARLES B. RICHARDSON.
on to some one of the Select-men for s! Groton as Soon as Con- veniently may be - Dated at Groton afores! this "first day of aug! in the fourteenth Year of his majesties Reign Annoq : Domini 1774.
By ordor of the Select-men afores!
OLIVER PRESCOTT Town Clerk.
MIDDLESEX SS: Groton September y: 12" AD: 1774 on the Twenty Seventh Day of last August I notified & warned the within named Mary Porter forthwith to depart this Town & this Day also Notified & Warned the within named Samuel Farnsworth to depart this Town by reading the within Notification to each of them.
I'' MOSES CHILD ) Constable for said Groton C
fees
CHARLES B. RICHARDSON.
THE following sketch of one of my early playmates and schoolmates is printed in "The New-England Historical and Genealogical Register " (XLVI. 109) for January, 1892 :--
Mr. CHARLES BENJAMIN RICHARDSON died at West Newton, Mass., July 5, 1891, aged 59. He was born at Groton, Mass., March 31, 1832, and was a son of Alpheus and Susan (Lawrence) Richardson of Groton. His parents were both born at Groton, his father Nov. 3, 1797, and his mother Feb. 28, 1794. They were married Nov. 7, 1820.
Charles B. Richardson was a descendant in the eighth genera- tion from Thomas' Richardson, an early settler of Woburn, Mass., through Isaac2, Benjamin3, Benjamin4, Benjamin6, Alpheuse, and Alpheus7 his father. (See Richardson Memorial, by John A. Vinton, page 588.) When a youth he came to Boston and became a clerk for Mr. Charles Tappan, bookseller and publisher. In 1856 he entered into partnership with Mr. James Robinson, under the firm of Robinson and Richardson, and carried on the publishing business at No. 119 Washington Street. They were the publishers
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MAINE SETTLERS FROM GROTON.
of The Student and Schoolmate. At the close of the year the partnership was dissolved and Mr. Richardson started a new periodical, The Historical Magazine. Besides this he published the REGISTER one year, 1857. He also engaged in the sale of historical books. Early in 1858 he removed his publication office and bookstore to New York City. In 1862 he reprinted the Bay Psalm Book (see REGISTER, vol. 45, p. 305). In June, 1864, he sold out the Historical Magazine to the then editor, John Gilmary Shea, LL.D. When the work was published in Boston the writer of this obituary was the editor (See REGISTER for January, 1878, vol. 32, page 116). Mr. Richardson continued the publishing and bookselling business. During the later years of his business life in New York city, he was a member of the University Publishing Company. After 1885 he resided at Newton, Mass.
Mr. Richardson married Ist, at Boston, Miss Mary Frances Carter, Nov. 7, 1859. She died March 19, 1861. He married 2d, Miss Charlotte E. Hale, daughter of David Hale, prominent as one of the editors and proprietors of the New York Journal of Commerce.
MAINE SETTLERS FROM GROTON.
IN "The History of Waterford, Oxford County, Maine" (Portland, 1879), is an account of several families that went to Waterford, during the last century, from Groton and neighborhood. Among them are found the names of Jonathan Stone, and his sons Jonathan, Jr., Moses, Oliver, and Solomon, all natives of Groton, as well as the names of many families from Harvard, besides occasional representa- tives from Berlin, Bolton, Littleton, Stow, and other places in the vicinity. The following sketches of the Stone family are taken from the History, and although very incomplete, they may still help to link together different branches of that name. Jonathan Stone, the father, was the second son of Deacon James and Mary (Farwell) Stone, and born at Groton, on December 12, 1731. He was married, on July 9, 1755, to Susanna, youngest daughter of Abraham and Eliza-
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MAINE SETTLERS FROM GROTON.
beth (Gilson) Moors ; and they had eleven children, of whom certainly three died young.
In connection with this subject, see an article entitled " Maine Settlers from Groton," on pages 91-102 of this vol- ume ; and also " Groton Families in Maine," on pages 75-78 of the preceding volume.
JONATHAN STONE married SUSANNA MOORE [MOORS]. He re- moved to Waterford about 1796, and settled south of Tom pond, where Samuel Warren now lives. He came from Groton, Mass.
Children :
Jonathan [born at Groton, on April 10, 1758], m. Catherine Willard. Solomon [born at Groton, on February 7, 1763], m. Hepzibah Treadwell.
Moses [born at Groton, on November 4, 1764], m. Ist, Polly Hamlin [at Groton, on August 20, 1789]; 2d, Ruth Porter.
Oliver [born at Groton, on November 16, 1778], m. Sally Jewell.
Simeon.
Susan [Susanna, born at Groton, on December 3, 1756], m. Africa Hamlin [at Groton, on October 18, 1785].
JONATHAN STONE (2d gen.), who married CATHERINE WILLARD, came from Harvard, Mass., with the family, and resided on the old place.
Children :
Theodore, m. Ist, [his cousin] Elsie Stone; 2d, [another cousin] Almira Hamlin.
Silvia, m. Amos Saunders.
William, m. Susan Hamlin.
MAJ. THEODORE STONE (3d gen.), who married first, [his cousin] ELSIE STONE [daughter of Moses]; second, [another cousin] ALMIRA HAMLIN [daughter of Africa and Susanna (Stone) Hamlin, mentioned above], was son of Jonathan Stone ; lived on the home place, and afterward, just east of Tom Pond.
Children :
Sophronia.
Catharine, m. ist, Albion K. P. Dunham ; 2d, - Merrill.
Sophronia W., m. Granville Morse.
Mary.
MOSES STONE (2d gen.), who married first, POLLY HAMLIN [on August 20, 1789]; second, RUTH PORTER, was son of Jonathan Stone. Ile came from Groton, Mass., and resided where Sumner Stone now lives ; a farmer. [In the Groton Church records he
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MAINE SETTLERS FROM GROTON.
is put down as of "Newpennycook," now known as Rumford, Maine.]
Children :
Elsie, b. 1790; m. Maj. Theodore Stone.
Hannibal, b. 1792.
Polly, b. 1794; m. Charles Billings.
Amanda, b. 1795.
David P., b. 1796.
Jonathan, b. 1797 ; a lawyer.
Rufus, b. 1800.
Sumner, b. 1802; m. ist, Catherine Hobson ; 2d, Martha Frost.
Luther, b. 1805.
Calvin, b. 1807; m. Katy Knight.
Henry, b. 1809 ; m. - Haskell.
OLIVER STONE (2d gen.), who married SALLY JEWELL, was son of Jonathan Stone, senior ; came to Waterford, with the family, from Groton, Mass., and lived near where Samuel Warren now resides ; was a farmer.
Children :
Alonzo, m. Sally Watson.
Daphne. Ezra, m. Julia Barker. Samuel, m. Adelaide Jones.
Lewis. Oliver.
Sarah A., m. Simon Watson. Daphne.
Leander G.
DEA. SOLOMON STONE (2d gen.), who married HEPZIBAH TREAD- WELL, was son of Jonathan Stone. He came from Groton, Mass., with the family, and resided on Stone Hill, in Gambo district ; a farmer.
Children :
Solomon, b. 1797 ; m. Eunice Edwards.
Thomas T., D.D., b. 1799 [February 9, 1801]; m. Laura Poor. [He is now the oldest living graduate of Bowdoin College.]
Susan M., b. 1806; m. Stephen Proctor.
SOLOMON STONE (3d gen.), who married EUNICE EDWARDS, Was son of Deacon Solomon Stone, and lived on a part of the old place ; a farmer.
Children :
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