Family:Nathaniel Dwight and Hannah Lyman (1)

Watchers
Facts and Events
Marriage[1] 2 Jan 1735
Children
BirthDeath
1.
22 Mar 1760
2.

The following content is quoted from The History of The Descendants of John Dwight:S1

Capt. Nathaniel Dwight, Jr., was a large farmer at Belchertown, Mass., then called Cold Spring, which place he went to live in 1734, when 22 years old. He is said to have owned something like a mile square of land where Belchertown now stands. He was agent for Belcher, for whom the town was named. He kept public-house and was county-surveyor, and was much employed in such a way in all that region. Best of all, he was a decided Christian.

In Doolittle's "Sketches of Belchertown" he is thus described: "He came here among the first settlers, and was a prominent man in all civil and religious affairs. He went into 'the French war' with a captain's commission, Aug. 9, 1757—having received an order from Col. Williams of Hatfield, to march without delay for the relief of Fort William Henry, near Lake George, which was attacked by a party of French and Indians numbering 11,000. The company had marching orders the same day, met the regiment at Westfield, proceeded to Kinderhook, where they learned that the fort had capitulated, and returned home. Capt. Dwight was active and useful in the revolutionary war, and in promoting the best interests of the early settlers and did much to advance the settlement."

He m. Jan. 2, 1735, Hannah Lyman, b. July 14, 1709 (dau. of Lt. Benjamin Lyman of Northampton and Thankful Pomeroy). In a journal which he kept, and which is still preserved, we read under date of Dec. 1, 1734: " I, Nathaniel Dwight of Belchertown, appeared before the church of Christ at Northampton" (of which Jonathan Edwards was then pastor), "and was admitted to join or come into full communion with them; for which I made many solemn promises and, will the God of all grace enable us to keep them to the end." Such was his record of his public marriage to Christ; and thus reads his record of marriage to his wife: "Jan. 2, 1735, I appeared before a small assembly of people at my brother Joseph Lvman's (house), and there I promised to love, honor, nourish and cherish and live with my dear wife, as the law of God and man does direct, in a marriage-covenant, and I pray the God of love and peace to enable us to keep this covenant and be found blameless."

He was all his life an earnest, practical, straightforward man, ready for duty and for work. He did not know very well how to give jokes or how to take them--a quite common characteristic, it is believed, of the Dwight Family at large. Double-dealing, even by way of fun, has never been in vogue with those bearing the family name. Politic proceedings, or even skill in managing others, and tact, have never been distinguishing marks of any branch of the family. A story is repeated still among his descendants, which is illustrative of his want of easy adaptability to unexpected circumstances, in his early life. He had made arrangements with his intended to go on horseback with her through the woods to Boston, to get furniture for their new home before marriage. At the end of harvest he hastened to Northampton, expecting to start with her the next morning — he in front and she behind upon a pillion, on the same steed. On driving up to Mr. Lyman's door, and asking of her mother where Hannah was, he was surprised to hear that in a mood of frolicsome feeling she had gone off with some of her young friends to enjoy a picnic with them in a neighboring meadow, instead of welcoming him all alone at her home on his arrival, and had taken with her the nut-cakes designed by maternal hands for their journey. Instead of finding her and her companions, and mingling his mirth with theirs, he mounted his horse anew and rode back at once to Belchertown. Not a word passed from him to her for several months, until on the occurrence of a ball one evening in Northampton, as she was dancing with a friend, he suddenly entered the room, and, as she saw him, she fainted and he became there and then fully reconciled. Long and happily for nearly 50 years did they live together in the Lord, as helpers of each other's grace and faith. He d. March 30, 1784, of pleurisy, act. 71. She d. Dec. 25, 1792, aet. 83. "She lived a godly life, beloved and respected by those who knew her, and longing in her later years for the time of her departure."

His personal estate at his decease was £211 15s., and real estate £698, over and above various gifts of land and money previously made to his different children.

[The intermarriages of the Dwights with the Lymans, were, in the early history of these families, frequent: so that the history of the Dwight Family here presented is largely also that of the Lymans. The parents of Hannah Lyman, afterwards Mrs. Nathaniel Dwight, were the parents also of Dea. Aaron Lyman, likewise of Belchertown, who married Eunice Dwight, dau. of Rev. Josiah Dwight of Woodstook, Ct., who was uncle to Capt. Nathaniel Dwight — for a full account of whose descendants see subsequent pages. Mary Lyman, b. Jan. 2, 1668, at Northampton (dau. of Lt. John Lyman and Dorcas Plum), who m. Capt. Samuel Dwight of Enfield, Ct., was aunt to Mrs. Hannah Dwight and Dea. Aaron Lyman. See previous page.

On the Pomeroy side of the house, Mrs. Thankful (Pomeroy) Lyman being the sister of Mrs. Mehitable (Pomeroy) King of Northampton, Mrs. Experience (King) Dwight, wife of Col. Timothy Dwight of Northampton, was cousin to Mrs. Hannah (Lyman) Dwight and her brother Dea. A;iron Lyman. See, for account in brief of Medad Pomeroy, Esq., of Northampton, Hist, of Strong Family by the author, vol. ii. p. 1280.]

[Fifth Generation.] Children:

  • 2439. i. Elijah Dwight, b. Nov. 30, 1735, d. Jan. 19, 1736.
  • 2440. ii. Elihu Dwight, b. March 31, 1737, d. March 22, 1760, aet. 23.
  • 2441. iii. Capt. Justus Dwight, b. Jan. 13, 1739, d. July 27, 1821, aet. 85.
  • 2442. iv. Eunice Dwight, b. May 28, 1742, m. Joseph Graves; d. Sept. 26, 1807, aet. 65.
  • 2443. v. Jonathan Dwight, b. April 3, 1744, d. Sept. 27, 1766, aet. 22. His father says of him in his family-notes : " He was a dutiful lovely child : had made great proficiency in learning: was a student in Yale College and was entered upon his fourth and last year."
  • 2444. vi. Susanna Dwight, b. Oct. 20, 1746, m. Dr. Estes Howe; d. Sept. 6, 1785, aet. 35.
  • 2445. vii . Col. Elijah Dwight, b. Jan. 4, 1749, d. Sept . 13, 1795, aet. 46.
  • 2446. viii. Josiah Dwight, b. Jan. 5, 1750, d. March 19, 1767. His father says of him that he was " a dutiful and obedient child, of a patient, meek and lowly disposition, faithful to God and man ; and I hope his soul is in the arms of Jesus, while his lifeless form is before me."
  • 2447. ix. Pliny Dwight, b. Aug. 11, 1753, d. March 15, 1783.

References
  1. Dwight, Benjamin Woodbridge. The History of the Descendants of John Dwight, of Dedham, Mass. (John F. Trow & Son, 1874)
    pp. 445-8.

    at 60.