Benjamin Whiton and Lydia Stodder, my fifth great-grandparents, were married December 10, 1797 in Hingham, MA. There marriage is listed a few times in the Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988 on ancestry.com. A heading before one of the marriage entries states that "The persons hereafter named were married by the Rev. Henry Ware, pastor of the First Church in Hingham." Rev. Henry Ware was later known for his Unitarianism influence in the Congregational religion. I am a little surprised that Benjamin and Lydia were married in the First Church of Hingham because Benjamin's family lived in the Southern part of Hingham, as I will show later in this blog post. At this time, there was another church in the southern part of the town, with Rev. Shute as their pastor. (History of the Town of Hingham / Solomon Lincoln, page 36)
The above database also has a record of intention for Benjamin and Lydia in November of 1797, as seen below.
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| From blog post benjamin whiton and lydia stodder |
1800's
Their marriage intention record indicates that Benjamin and Lydia were both from Hingham, but they did not stay in Hingham for long. By 1800, they are living in Scituate, MA; a neighboring town, with two boys under the age of 10. I matched the children up to those in the vital records database on ancestry.com. 1800 Census, Hanover (actually states Scituate on lower page)
Benjamin Whiting: 2 males under 10 (Jared and Richard), 1 male 26-44 (Benjamin), 1 female 26-44 (Lydia)Scituate is in Plymouth County, so I browsed the Massachusetts, Land Records, 1620-1986 available on family search. I was looking for a purchase of land around the time of their marriage in 1797. There is nothing listed before 1800 for a Benjamin Whiton/Whiting or a Lydia Stodder/Whiting purchasing land in Scituate in the Plymouth County deed index on family search. I did eventually come across (by luck) Benjamin's original purchases of land in Scituate (and Abington) after their marriage by looking through other deeds in Plymouth County. Two purchases are filed in vol. 126 (159). This volume is for the year 1816; however, these transactions took place in October 1797 and April 1800. Benjamin, named as a blacksmith, first purchases land in Scituate from Ebed Vining, which abuts his father Benjamin's land. A couple of years later, he purchases land in Abington, bordering Accord Pond, which also borders Scituate.
1797 Scituate purchase:
Paid by Benjamin whiting 3d of Hingham in the county/ of Suffolk blacksmith/ the receipt whereof I do hereby acknowledge, do hereby hive, grant, sell and convey unto the said/ Benjamin Whiting, 3d his heirs and assigns forever a certain piece/ of land lying in Scituate in the county of Plymouth aforesaid/ containing 114 rods be the same or more or less, butted and bounded/ as follows, beginning at the highway leading from Abington/ to Hingham at the northeast corner of the land of Benj. Whiting, jr/ then runs south fifteen ? ? east eighteen rods with ?/ Benjamin Whiting's land then south seventy one ? east five rods/ nineteen links with the lands of the said Benjamin whiting then north/ twelve ? west twenty one rods and links to the highway...1800 Abington purchase:
a certain piece of land laying in Abington in the county/ aforesaid containing six acres and a half and 22 rods bounded as/ follows viz beginning at the highway leading from accord/ pond to Hanover, then southwest corner of the land of Thankful/ Dunbar then runs easterly with her land thirty six rods and a/ half to the land of Enoch Dunbar to the line between Scituate and/ Abington then southerly with said lines and said Dunbar land to the/ land of David? Chubbuck twenty five rods and a half then westerly/ with said Chubbuck’s land forty eight rods and then links to the highway/ then northerly with said highway twenty four rods and a half to/ the first named corner...
So from these deeds we learn that Benjamin is a blacksmith, and he owns land in Scituate, Abington and Hanover, near Accord pond. We also learn that Benjamin is close to his father, as he purchases land with him.
The following is a current map of the area where Benjamin owns land (from OpenStreetMap), with Accord Pond in the center. The boundary lines are: Southwest of Accord Pond is Rockland, (which was Abington when Benjamin purchased the land); to the East of Rockland, is Norwell, (which was Scituate when Benjamin purchased land there); to the North of Rockland and Norwell is Hingham, where Benjamin's father owns land; south of Rockland and Norwell is Hanover, where Benjamin purchases land in 1804 with his father, partly lying in Abington (currently Rockland).
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1810's
Benjamin and Lydia reside in Scituate throughout their lives, as shown by the rest of the censuses. The 1810 census does not match up as nicely as the 1800 census, though. According to the Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988, they should have 3 sons and 3 daughters by 1810. Their youngest son would have been Joel, who would only be a year old. The category of males between the ages of 10-15 only list one son, but they have two at this age, Jared, 12 and Richard, 10. Maybe Jared at the age of 12 was apprenticed to another family or just living with someone else. It is also possible the census enumerator mistakenly put one dash instead of two. I still think this is their family, even with the missing son.1810 Census Scituate, MA
1 male under 10 (joel); 1 male 10-15 (Jared is 12 and Richard is 10); 1 male 26-44 1 (Benjamin); 3 females under 10 (Lydia, Maria, Joanna); 1 female 26-44 (Lydia)
1815
Benjamin's father, also Benjamin, died around 1815 and fortunately left a will; which shows how he divided his land among his children. He left his son Benjamin more land adjacent to his land Benjamin already owns. (Plymouth Probate 47,135)"He gave his eldest son Benjamin 8 acres in Abington, in common and undivided with the land of the said Benjamin, also 1/2 acre of the old place so called, said half acre to be taken off the easterly side of said place adjoining the home lot of said Benjamin, also 1/2 acre of land where his shop stands."This 8 acres in Abington is part of the deed Benjamin purchased with his father in 1804, which was 16 acres in Abington and Hanover. The other part of Benjamin's inheritance, the 1/2 acres, were probably in Scituate, where Benjamin must also have had his blacksmith shop. According to an earlier deed, his father Benjamin purchased land in Scituate and Abington in 1761. (See note 1 and 2)
1820's
In 1820, Benjamin and Lydia are still living in Scituate. The 1820 Census matches up with their growing family according to the records found in Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988. They now have 3 boys and 5 girls. Their oldest son, Jared, unfortunately died before this census was taken, at the young age of 20 in 1817. Benjamin and Lydia had another son in 1819, also naming him Jared. They also have one more daughter after the 1920 census, Elizabeth, born in 1821.1820 Census Scituate, MA
1 male under 10 (jared); 1 male 10-15 (joel); 1 male 16-25 (richard); 1 male 45 and over (benjamin); 2 females under 10 (mary, pamelia); 2 females 10-15 (maria, joanna); 1 female 16-25 (lydia); 1 female 26-44 (lydia)
1823
In 1823, Abigail Whiton of Hingham, sells land in Hingham to a Benjamin Whiton of Hingham, yeoman and a Joseph Whiton of Hingham, Cooper. This seems to be Joseph's family, as Abigail would be his aunt, Joseph his brother, and it is signed by another sibling, Aseneth his sister. But Benjamin is not usually listed from Hingham, and he is also usually listed as a blacksmith, not yeoman. This land is for one acre in Hingham to Benjamin (southeast side) and one acre to Joseph (northwest side), bounded northeasterly on Benjamin Whiton land, southeasterly on Abigail Whiton's land, southwesterly on the cartway, and northwesterly on Joseph Whiton's land. If this is our Benjamin, and there does not seem to be other Benjamin Whiton's in the area at this time, this is the first land he owned in Hingham, where he grew up. (Plymouth county deed 149,291) (see note 3)
1828
In 1828, Benjamin sells what seems to be most of his land to his sons Richard and Joel for $750.00. Mentioned in this deed:
continued...
- the land Benjamin's house resides on in Scituate
- another lot that lies in Abington and Scituate (lying opposite the first mentioned scituate lot - south of Accord Pond)
- another six acres in Abington that Benjamin purchased from Ebed. Vining
- and finally the sixteen acres Benjamin and his father purchased from Joseph Jacobs in Abington and Hanover. (Plymouth county deeds 162,253)
1829
In 1829, the estate of Abner Morton sells land to Benjamin Whiton of Scituate containing 1 1/4 acre in Abington and 3/4 of the dwelling house, subject to the improvement of the widow of Abner. This land is north of Benjamin's land and west of his brother Joseph's land. (Plymouth County Deed 165,263) I find it interesting that the deed states it is north of his land, as it seems he sold his land to his children already. Apparently, he did keep some of his land. Only a couple of years later in 1831; however, Benjamin does sell this land from Abner Morton to his son Joel Whiting, shoemaker of Scituate. (Plymouth county deeds 169,274) (Joel sells this land back to his mother after Benjamin's death in 1859 293,132)
1831
Another indication that Benjamin still has land is just a couple of years later, in 1831, there is a judgement against Benjamin Whiton by Bela Tower, for Benjamin to sell some of his land. Benjamin owes $48.23 to Bela and is ordered to give him the southerly part of his land in Abington, appraised at $58.96 (looks like the court received the difference in sum). This land contains 9 acres, bounded southerly by partly Tilson Gardner's land and Noah Gardner, westerly on land in the town of Abington, northerly by land of him, Benjamin Whiton, easterly by road leading to Tilson Gardner. (Plymouth county deed vol 173,30) This is probably the judgement referenced in The court of Common Pleas, 1825-1834, vol. 14/David Thomas Konig p 250. It seems like this was a difficult time for Benjamin; perhaps that is why he was selling his land to make money to pay off some debts. He was able to keep most of his land in his family though, by selling it to his sons. continued...
notes:
1. I was able to find an earlier deed, from 1761 (Plymouth County Deeds 47,5) with a Benjamin Whiton, cordwainer of Scituate, sells to a Benjamin Whiton, cooper of Hingham, land in Scituate near Accord Pond. On the preceding page is another deed, where Benjamin Whiton purchases land from Thomas Chubbuck in Abington, bounded north by Accord Pond line between Scituate and Abington (Plymouth County Deeds 47,4). The purchaser of these lands (Benjamin Whiton, cooper of Hingham) is Benjamin's father, and the seller is most likely his grandfather.2. One of Benjamin's brothers, Joseph, also receives land about "3 acres lying partly in Scituate and partly in Abington being the remainder of the old lot not already given to Benjamin." This brother also receives the land in Hingham, where his father Benjamin resided (looking at the Hingham historical map shows where Benjamin grew up in Hingham, very close to the Scituate, Abington border near Accord Pond.)
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