Rgraymond, and Marian Perkins, At 08:40 AM 2/13/98 EST, you wrote: >Am new to this list and wondering if anyone has seen my Manassah Washburn. >His Revolutionary War service was from Middleborough and his marriage intent >25 Jan 1789 to Sylvia Caswell was there. He m Sylvia Caswell of Rochester in >that town 23 April 1789. They must have gone to Maine fairly soon after their >marriage as their son Ephraim was born in Poland, ME on 1 Oct 1789. There were >several Washburn family groups in the area at the time and they were defintely >not all brothers. There is no record that I can find in the VR of >Middleborough or Rochester of his birth. Ephraim and Egloth (Stetson) looked >like possible parents, but he is not listed among their children in the >Stetson Genealogy. It is possible he is the son of their son Ephraim, but no >proof has been found. This Ephraim is the right age ( b1741) but have been >unable to locate his marriage or children. Another suggestion , in the Annals >of Oxford County, is that he is the grandson of Ephraim and Mary (Polen) >Washburn, the son of Ephraim, Jr. At least two of of Ephraim and Mary's >children were in the general area. >Does anyone have help or suggestions? > > The "Annals of Oxford" mentioned, by Marquis Fayette King, 1903, does infer that Manassah was a son of Ephraim and Mary (Poland/Polden/Pollard) Washburn, of Plympton, MA, but this is incorrect. Ephraim Washburn died intestate in 1755, and his eldest son, William Washburn, was appointed administrator of his estate on 16 July 1755, with Joshua Benson, of Middleborough, and John Bishop, of Wareham, as sureties. His inventory, dated 25 Sept. 1755, by John Bishop, Ebenezer Briggs and Joshua Benson, was divided and distributed among his heirs on 24 Apr. 1758, namely his widow Mary Washburn, eldest son William Washburn, sons Stephen Washburn, Isaac Washburn, Japhet Washburn and John Washburn, a daughters Lydia Norris, wife of Samuel Norris, Elizabeth Benson, wife of Consider Benson, Marcy Washburn, Phebe Washburn, and Jemima Washburn. (Plymouth Co. Probate Docket #21965; 13:487, 13:554, 14:512.) Additionally, on 9 Sept. 1784 William Washburn, of Plympton, Consider Benson and wife Elizabeth, David Vaughan and wife Phebe, and Mercy Washburn, all of Middleborough, and Isaac Washburn, of Rochester, sold to Asa Hunt a meadow in Plympton, being part of four acres "our father Ephraim Washburn bought of Nathaniel Thomas, being the meadow set off to our mother Mary Washburn in the division of our said father's estate, excepting 2/11ths which belongs to our brother John Washburn, and the heirs of our late sister Jemima Randell?/Mandell?, deceased." (Plymouth Co. Deeds 69:144.) Note, nowhere is a son Manassah mentioned, nor a son Ephraim. Neither are recorded in the Plympton Vital Records with the rest of Ephraim and Mary Washburn's children. Therefore, he was not a son of Ephraim Washburn, of Plympton, but could he have been a grandson. I don't believe the children of Ephraim's son Stephen Washburn have been fully identified. Stephen married Hannah Norris, daughter of Benjamin and Mary (Bump) Norris, of Wareham, MA, on 11 May 1757 in Wareham, and they eventually moved to Shepherdsville, ME. Some of their children may have been Hosea Washburn, who married Hannah Doten on 30 Dec. 1784 in Middleborough; Edward Washburn, who married Mary Foster and lived in Kennebec Co., ME; Benjamin Washburn, who married Mary Hogan on 19 July 1792 in Hebron, ME; Stephen Washburn, who married 1.) Betsey Record on 10 Nov. 1791 in Turner, ME, and 2.) Lovicy/Louisa? Cushman on 15 Oct. 1807 in Hebron, ME; Jesse Washburn, who married a Phebe Washburn on 1 Feb. 1806 in New Gloucester, ME; and Eliphalet Washburn, who married Polly Harris on 22 July 1810 in New Gloucester, ME. I would certainly welcome anyone who has done additional research on the family of Stephen and Hannah (Norris) Washburn to post the results on this mail-list. The next possibility for the father of Manassah Washburn is Ephraim's son Isaac, who married Mary Benson, daughter of Caleb and Deborah (Barrow) Benson, of Middleborough, on 23 Nov. 1758 in Middleborough. They were evidently still living in Rochester in 1784 when he joined his brother William in selling their mother's land in Plympton, but records of him are also sparse. I found no death or probate records for either Isaac or Mary in Plymouth County, so I have no proof to offer for any purported children by them. They may have moved from Plymouth County before their deaths. Does anyone have anything further to offer on Isaac and Mary Washburn? Japheth and John Washburn, were the two youngest sons of Ephraim Washburn, of Plympton. Japheth, born in 1746 in Plympton, was probably the youngest, because he chose his brother William as his guardian in 1763, after his father died, to whom he may have sold his share of his mother's inheritance. He married Priscilla Coombs in 1768 in Rochester, so he could have barely been Manassah's father if Manassah was the eldest child. Japheth was living in Rochester in 1773, when he purchased land there from John Matthews, and in 1780 when he sold that same land. (Plymouth Co. Deeds 58:170, 63:160.) By 1783 Japheth was living in Middleborough, when he purchased land there from Joshua Raymond, and in 1787 when he sold land there to Jonathan Shaw. (Plymouth Co. Deeds 69:19, 69:210.) On 26 Mar. 1787 Japheth Washburn, of Middleborough, blacksmith, sold land in Plympton to Benoni Lucas which he had inherited in the division of the estate of his father, Ephraim Washburn. (Plymouth Co. Deeds 69:209.) The D.A.R.s list Japheth Washburn as a private from Middleborough in the Revolutionary War, but he apparently moved up to Kennebec Co., ME, after the war. He was living in Fairfax, ME, in the 1810 census, and in China, ME, in the 1820 census. Once again, the births of his children were not recorded in either Rochester or Middleborough, MA, but I understand that some were recorded in the vital records of Wayne, ME, obviously well after the fact! Has anyone transcribed any probate records for Japheth Washburn? John Washburn, whose birth was not recorded in Plympton, but whose proof of existence was in the division of his father's estate, and the selling of his mother's lot in Plympton, must have been just old enough to not need a guardian in 1763. He is also listed by the D.A.R.s as a private from Plympton in the Revolutionary War, and supposedly moved to Shepherdsville, ME, with his brother Stephen, after the war. A marriage, attributed to him, to Azubah Fuller on 11 Apr. 1796 in Maine, seems rather late in life, but possibly it was a second marriage. On 28 Jan. 1788 Japheth Washburn sold land in Middleborough that his brother John Washburn had inherited from his father, Ephraim Washburn. (Plymouth Co. Deeds 147:252.) Any further records for this John Washburn? The other Ephraim Washburn to examine is the one from Kingston who married Egloth/Eglah Stetson in ca. 1732. Their 8 children are recorded in the Kingston Vital Records, and Ephraim died intestate in 1775. Curiously, administration of his estate was granted to his nephew, Capt. Ebenezer Washburn, of Kingston, on 8 Apr. 1776, with Ebenezer Thompson, of Halifax, and Hopestill Southworth, of Rochester, as sureties. His inventory was dated 3 Jan. 1776, taken by Benjamin Cooke, Simeon Cooke, and Judah Hall, all of Kingston, and his widow's dower was set off to Eglah Washburn on 7 Apr. 1777, but I found no division of his estate where all his heirs were listed. (Plymouth Co. Probate Docket #21966; 24:238, 24:271-274.) Ephraim and Eglah Washburn did have a son Ephraim, born 16 Mar. 1741 in Kingston. He married Sarah Bisbee, daughter of Hopestill and Hannah (Churchill) Bisbee, of Plympton, on 9 Dec. 1773 in Plympton, but Ephraim Washburn Jr. also died intestate in 1775, and his father-in-law, Hopestill Bisbee, was granted administration of his estate on 4 Dec. 1775, with Seth Cushing, of Plympton, and Capt. Ebenezer Washburn, of Kingston, as sureties. His widow, Sarah (Bisbee) Washburn, remarried to Lt. Silvanus Warren, of Middleborough, as his second wife, in 1782. When she died, in 1822, Benaiah Pratt, of Farmington, ME, sold to Abial Washburn, Esq., of Middleborough, the real estate "which was set off to Sarah Warren, late widow of Silvanus Warren, as her thirds or dower of estate, which Benaiah Pratt inherited from his mother, Louisa Pratt, late wife of Benaiah Pratt, who inherited it from her father, Silvanus Warren." [whew!] (Plymouth Co. Deeds 155:235.) In short, I found only one child to Ephraim and Sarah Washburn, who died young: a daughter Eunice Washburn was buried 22 Dec. 1777 in Plympton, aged 2 years, 9 months, 24 days, and it appears that Sarah (Bisbee) (Washburn) Warren left no other heirs when she died in 1822. Ephraim and Eglah Washburn had only one other surviving son, their eldest, Ezekiel Washburn, who married Priscilla Chipman on 16 Dec. 1755 in Kingston. The births or baptisms of their children were also recorded in Kingston, and they seemed to have lived their whole lives in Kingston. I don't know why Ezekiel didn't administer his father's estate. Ezekiel died there in 1808, and Priscilla in 1809, but no probate records were found for either of them. They had 3 sons who all died in 1775, leaving only daughters, so it appears Manassah Washburn didn't come from this family either. Sorry, I can't solve either problem, but perhaps by pieceing together what we know about Stephen Washburn, Japheth Washburn, Isaac Washburn, and John Washburn, sons of Ephraim of Plympton, some additional clues may immerge which will lead to the answer. Good luck with your research. John A. Maltby Redwood City, CA [email protected]