Person:Amos Marsh (1)

Watchers
m. 3 Nov 1757
  1. Samuel Marsh1758 - 1776
  2. Mercy Marsh1760 - 1790
  3. Jonas Marsh1762 -
  4. Beulah Marsh1764 - 1807
  5. Lydia Marsh1767 - 1798
  6. Amos Marsh, Jr.1770 - Aft 1820
  7. Leonard Marsh1772 - 1845
  8. Joseph Marsh1775 - 1779
m. Aft 1777
Facts and Events
Name[1][2] Amos Marsh
Gender Male
Birth? 15 Nov 1733 Rutland, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States
Marriage 3 Nov 1757 Barre, Worcester, Massachusetts, United Statesto Beulah Leonard
Marriage Aft 1777 to Jerusha Smith
Unknown 18448
Jerusha Smith
Death? Abt 1829 Hoosick, Rensselaer, New York, United States (probably)

Early History

A previous version of this profile claimed he was born 15 Nov 1733 in Rutland, Massachusetts, but there is no such birth listed in its vital records. There is a birth on that date for an Amos Marsh in Hardwick, Worcester, Massachusetts, son of Samuel Marsh and his wife Zerviah.

Source: Massachusetts: Vital Records, 1621-1850 (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2016).

subscriber link See this free link to same information.

Amos Marsh married first (in Rutland, Massachusetts) Beulah Leonard and had a few children before moving the family to Warwick, Massachusetts, where he was one of the earliest residents and active in the town's politics. He was listed as owner of lot #24 in 1761 (Source #2, p. 184). He served on many influential committees including one that drafted the “instructions to the town representative” in 1776. These instructions included the following language that sheds some light on the religious tolerance of the town:

"3rdly that you tolerate all persuasions on account of their religious sentiments, without giving one the advantage of the other, either in their persons or their properties; 4thly that all such laws as in any degree infringe on the liberties of the people be made void." (Source #2, p. 53) His last child with Beulah was born 15 Feb 1775 in Warwick. (This child died in 1779.)

Marsh served as selectman and town clerk several times before running off at the age of 45 with 36-year-old Jerusha (SMITH) DOOLITTLE, wife of Amzi. But what happened to him and Jerusha after the controversy? Blake writes that they were apprehended somewhere in New York, tried and convicted in Northampton [county seat at the time]. They were fined and punished and Marsh was to wear a large “A” on his outer clothing from that day forward.

But there is conflicting information about the fate of Amos Marsh after the "Elder Hix" controversy of 1778 in Warwick, and subsequent records suggest he married Jerusha:

Charles A. Moore, in _Warwick Massachusetts: Biography of a Town_, indicates that Amos Marsh, after the controversy, returned to Warwick where he lived a rather "pitiful" existence until desperate in his old age, friends collected enough money to send him to live with his son. This was from the diary entry of William Cobb, dated August 19, 1819. Amos would have been 86 in 1819. But researcher Jillaine Smith researched transcripts of this diary in December 2007 and came away believing this reference was to Amos Marsh, Jr., not the father.

In addition, Warwick census records from 1790 through 1810 list no Amos Marsh of the right age. Census records, in fact, shed conflicting light:

  • Amos’ abandoned wife, Beulah MARSH, is in Warwick in 1790 with one male over 16 and 2 females. If Amos had been there, he would hav been named head of household. Amos’ son Jonas Marsh is also in Warwick in 1790, enumerated twice, but in each case, with only one male listed over 16.
  • An Amos MARSH the right age to be Amos’ son, is in Warwick in 1800. (We know this son married Esther BARBER, daughter of Zachariah BARBER. )
  • There is the Amos MARSH living in Hoosick, NY, just across the border from Massachusetts, from 1790 through 1820. In 1790, there is a Moses HICKS two lines away.
  • Amos Marsh and wife Jerusha are referenced in 1829, in the Index of 31,325 Rensselaer County, NY Surrogate Court Records from 1786 to 1917.
  • Jerusha (SMITH) DOOLITTLE is buried next to her son, Amzi DOOLITTLE, Jr. in Winchester, NH. Her gravestone reads “Jerusha A., wife of Amos Marsh, former wife of A. Doolittle.” [Source #1]
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References
  1. Tombstone Reading - Evergreen Cemetery, Winchester, NH.

    Jerusha, wife of Amos Marsh, former wife of A. Doolittle...

  2. Blake, Jonathan. History of the Town of Warwick, Massachusetts: from its first settlement to 1854. (Boston, Massachusetts: Noyes & Holmes, 1873).