jeremiah white and hannah canterbury

Jeremiah White and Hannah Canterbury were my sixth Great Grandparents. They were married 270 years ago today on October 9, 1740 in Weymouth, MA. The Weymouth record has a notation for their intention of marriage at The First Church, South Precinct; perhaps this is where they were married. At this time, Mr. James Bayley was the pastor of this newly formed church in South Weymouth, as noted in The History of Weymouth (1_233). Although Jeremiah and Hannah were married in Weymouth, they probably lived their married life together in Abington, MA, as all of their 9 children's births were recorded in Abington. Hannah Canterbury White also died in Abington, MA.

I am not sure when Jeremiah and Hannah moved to Abington, but it seems that both of their families were originally from South Weymouth, MA, which is probably how they met. In the book, The History of Weymouth, Hannah Canterbury's family is outlined, with Hannah's father, John Canterbury, living on 74 acres in Weymouth. When Hannah's father died, he left his land to his wife and his only son Jacob, who lived in South Parish. (3_151) Hannah died at a young age, even before her father and mother, so the land she and Jeremiah had in Abington was probably not from her family. According to the book, The Vinton memorial, comprising a genealogy of the descendants of John Vinton of Lynn... , page 373, Jeremiah's father is Samuel White of Weymouth. This book has Samuel's residence in South Weymouth, so Jeremiah's childhood was spent in South Weymouth, similar to Hannah's. The book also states Samuel died intestate and insolvent, so Jeremiah would not have been handed down this land in Weymouth. Perhaps Jeremiah and Hannah moved to Abington as a newly married couple in 1740 since they had no family land in Weymouth. We do know that their first child, Hannah, was born and died in Abington in 1742.

Jeremiah and Hannah had six girls, two died young, and three boys. Their last child, John, was born in 1760 in Abington. Unfortunately Hannah died only five years later, leaving Jeremiah to care for seven children; two of which, Luther and Anne, would have been old enough to marry at 22 and 18 years old. I have not looked for their marriage records yet to see if they were married or still living at home when their mother died. As was common during this time in history though, Jeremiah remarried after his first wife's death. His second wife, Sarah Thayer, also died before him, and Jeremiah married a third time to a Mrs. Esther Kingman.
Since Jeremiah and his family were living in Abington, MA, I searched the History of the town of Abington, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, from its first settlement, to see if there was a section on the White family. There are not many families discussed in this book, and unfortunately the White family was not included. There is a section on the Seven Years War, or the Old French War, as the book calls it. In this chapter, the book states there was a Jeremiah White who enlisted and survived this war which occurred between 1756-1763. I do not know how involved Jeremiah was in this war, but it must have been a frightening time for this young family during this period in history.
Since Jeremiah was living in 1790 according to the History of Weymouth book (d May 23 1794 (4_746)), I checked the first US Census. There is a Jeremiah White living in Abington, MA during this time. It could be our Jeremiah or his son Jeremiah. Either way, it seems Jeremiah the senior is probably living with his son, as there are two males over 16 in the household. Jeremiah the junior would have been too young to have a son over 16 years old. There is also 1 female living in the household along with 1 male under the age of 16, most likely Jeremiah and his wife's son. I will have to make sure Jeremiah's third wife Esther had died by 1790.
The History of Weymouth book has an interesting excerpt from a May 1792 Weymouth town meeting - (2_596) "a request was received by the following petitioners of Abington asking to be taken in by Weymouth, provided the general court would grant the petition to be separated from Abington : Josiah White, Lebulan Paine, Ezra Tirrell, Lebulan Paine Jr, Abiah Shaw, Joshua Curtis, Abiah Shaw, Jr., Thomas Hunt, Jeremiah White, John White and Benjamin White. voted to grant the petition." This Jeremiah is probably the junior, since Jeremiah the senior would have been over 80 years old in 1792; and Jeremiah the junior probably would have cared more about where his land was located at his younger age. I am not sure that their request passed, as I did not find any records of birth for Jeremiah and his wife in Weymouth or Abington. The following is another excerpt from Acts and laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on google books:

There is a Jeremiah White in the "Century Old Houses" section of the History of Weymouth book that lives near Reuben Blanchard and Nathaniel Loud in Weymouth, near Abington town line (2_933). Either the above petition was approved by the General Court, or Jeremiah moved within the Weymouth town line. (could be the other Jeremiah White living in Weymouth after 1799 - see note below)


to do list:
1. Samuel's father was Ebenezer White, whose land was handed down to gr.gr. grandson abiel white, not to samuel. samuel moved to south weymouth - did he buy the land from someone or was it in his wife's family. see who abiel's father was. this land was land near where eventually christopher webb would live- history of weymouth book. seemed ebenezer probably lived in weymouth landing on commercial street as that is where abiel lives according to century old houses in weymouth.
2. locate canterbury land on historic map - how did jeremiah and hannah meet - were samuel white and john canterbury neighbors. did not find. locate land records. jacob canterbury sold some of the 74 acres in weymouth to reuben burrel and thomas colson
3. write chart for asa white who wrote about family of thomas white - see relation - also history of where white's lived. in nehgr on google.
4. find jeremiah's son jeremiah's wife and son dates : there is another jeremiah white (jeremiah's seniors nephew - son of benjamin) who marries a ruth derby in weymouth in 1799 - and have a son in may of 1800 who died young - the 1800 census was enumerated on 4 August 1800 according to ancestry.com, and this son dies in 1816 - so it could be this jeremiah's family and not the jeremiah jr. i did find jeremiah jr. death record for weymouth though in 1809 - so should be listed in census - perhaps he is living with a sibling - did he ever marry molly and have a child - seems to be living in abington in 1790 census though - unless that is the jeremiah the elder with another one of his children - see if other children of jeremiah senior are married with a child and not listed in census in 1790. also the jeremiah listed in the 1800 cenus is in the south parish - but cannot tell if they are near the abington line. look at other people listed in petition with jeremiah white to see if they are listed in 1800 census in weymouth or abington and estimate time frame the writer of century old houses writes about the jeremih white and others that live near the abington line - maybe he is talking about other jeremiah white.