Person:Ebenezer Wilson (5)

Maj. Ebenezer Wilson
m. Est 1779
  1. Maj. Ebenezer WilsonEst 1780 - Aft 1834
  2. Hon. Isaac Wilson1780 - 1848
  3. Lydia WilsonBef 1786 - 1872
  4. Col. Ira Wilson1789 - 1875
  5. Lucinda Wilson1793 - 1847
  6. Polly WilsonEst 1794 - 1865
  7. Heman Wilson1798 - 1884
  8. Amos WilsonBef 1800 - Bef 1847
  9. Trueman WilsonEst 1800 - 1817
  10. Orsamus Wilson1805 - 1875
  11. Orinda Wilson1805 - 1841
  • HMaj. Ebenezer WilsonEst 1780 - Aft 1834
  • WKatharine BowersBef 1784 - Est 1826
m. Bef 1801
  1. Louisa Wilson1802 - 1869
  2. Ebenezer Wilson, JrBet 1806 & 1807 - Bef 1870
  3. Irena Wilson1809 - 1809
  4. Lucinda WilsonEst 1811 - Aft 1880
  5. Samuel Bowers Wilson1813 - 1885
  6. Hon. Rowley Winfield Wilson1816 - 1877
  • HMaj. Ebenezer WilsonEst 1780 - Aft 1834
  • W.  Samantha Van Epps (add)
m. Aft 1826
Facts and Events
Name Maj. Ebenezer Wilson
Gender Male
Birth[1] Est 1780 Addison, Vermont, United Statesbased on estimated marriage date
Marriage Bef 1801 Vermont, United Statesto Katharine Bowers
Other? 1808 Warsaw, Wyoming, New York, United StatesAssessor
Census 1810 Warsaw, Genesee, New York, United States10210 21010
with Katharine Bowers
Census 1820 Middlebury, Genesee, New York, United States220212 11111 0700
with Katharine Bowers
Property[5] Aft 1825 Southfield (township), Oakland, Michigan, United StatesE 1/2 NE 1/4 Section 4 (from Amos Smith to Eli Curtis)
Marriage Aft 1826 Middlebury, Wyoming, New York, United Statesper Capt Ebenezer Wilson will
to Samantha Van Epps (add)
Residence Bef 1828 Oakland, Michigan Territory, United Statesper Capt Ebenezer Wilson probate
with Samantha Van Epps (add)
Census 1830 Oakland, Michigan Territory, United States0010001 0001001
with Samantha Van Epps (add)
Census 1834 Oakland, Michigan Territory, United Stateswith Samantha Van Epps (add)
Death[2] Aft 1834 Oakland, Michigan, United States

Ebenezer served under Winfield Scott (and later other generals) in the War of 1812. He was captured by the British and held at Halifax. After the war he was repatriated with other prisoners.

Ebenezer and his first wife Katharine buried their daughter Irena in New York. Around 1825 to 1828 Ebenezer removed to Oakland County Michigan with their remaining unmarried children. Whether Katharine died in New York or Michigan is uncertain.

Sometime between 1826 and 1828 Ebenezer married Samantha Van Epps. By 1828 Ebenezer and Samantha resided in Oakland County.

The married daughter Louisa and her husband Adolphus Gould and their young daughter Catherine removed to Oakland County about the same time.

Apparently Ebenezer and Samantha died in Michigan during the mid to late 1830s. Before 1840 Ebenezer (or his estate) sold his land to Eli Curtis. Neither appears in the 1840 census.

References
  1. P06-073 Maj. EBENEZER WILSON, in Stevens, Ken. Descendants of Henry Wilson of Dedham, Massachusetts. (Walpole, New Hampshire: K. Stevens, c1996)
    p 122.
  2. MONDAY, April 28, 1834 , in JOURNAL OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES [1]
    pp 8, 570, 1833 to 1834.

    "Lucius Lyon also appeared as the Delegate from the Territory of Michigan."

    "Mr. Lyon, of Michigan, presented a petition of Ebenezer Wilson, a major in the New York militia, during the late war with Great Britain, praying that he may be allowed a pension, in consideration of fatigue, hardships, and injuries he sustained while in said service."

    "Ordered, That the said petitions be referred to the Committee on Invalid Pensions."

  3.   Gardner, Charles Kitchell. A dictionary of all officers who have been commisioned, or have been appointed and served in the army of the United States: since the inauguration of their first president in 1789, to the first January, 1853, with every commission of each, including the distinguished officers of the volunteers and militia of the states and of the navy and marine corps, who have served with the land forces. (New York)
    p 491.

    EBENEZER WILSON Jr. (N. Y.) Major N. Y. Volrs. attached to Pen reg. under M. Gen. Porter, Niagara campaign: disting. in Brown's sortie fm Fort Erie 17 Sept. '14.

    Probably he was one of those captured by the British during Brown's Sortie on 17 September 1814. [2]

  4.   Documents of the Senate of the State of New York
    Vol 10, pp 966, 1147, 1247, 1323, 1375, 1497, 1620, 1710, 1829, from 1808 to 1817.

    Ebenezer Wilson, junior, variously shown as Captain, Major, Lt Colonel of Genesee County militia units

  5. Southfield Township, in Durant, Samuel W. History of Oakland County, Michigan. (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States: L. H. Everts & Co.)
    p 268, 1877.

    "Ebenezer Wilson and his father, old Major Wilson, came in 1825, and settled on the town-line, in section 4. Afterwards, on their removal, Ebenezer sold his land to John Daniels, and the major disposed of his to Eli Curtis. Major Wilson's father and his uncle, Samuel Wilson, were officers in the army during the Revolutionary war."

    Durant's History of Oakland County states that Major Ebenezer Wilson and his family settled there in 1825. However Samantha Van Epps witnessed the will of Captain Ebenezer Wilson in 1826. She would have married Major Ebenezer Wilson after she witnessed the will of his father. Furthermore the obituary of Ebenezer's son Rowley states that the family moved to Michigan in 1828.

    One possibility is that Maj Ebenezer removed to Oakland County in 1825 and left his wife Katharine in New York with their children. About 1826 Katharine died and Wilson married Samantha and returned with her and the family to Oakland County.

    Another possibility is that Katharine removed with the family to Oakland County and died there. Then Ebenezer married Samantha.

    Another possibility is that the son Ebenezer Jr removed to Oakland County ca 1825 and the father Major Ebenezer and his unmarried children removed in 1828 after his marriage to Samantha.

    Another possibility is that Durant was mistaken about the date(s) when the Wilson family removed to Oakland County.

    Durant's History of Oakland County includes the Wilson family legend that there was an uncle Samuel Wilson. However no records have been found of this uncle.

    Major Ebenezer Wilson's father-in-law Samuel Bowers served in the New Jersey Militia during the Revolution. His father, grand-father and four uncles (Noah Wilson and Thomas, Reuben and Nathan Rowley) also served in the Vermont Militia during the Revolution. Conflating his father-in-law and his uncle(s) may have been the source of the legend.

    Wilson family legends also say that (Major or Captain) Ebenezer Wilson was a brother of "Uncle Sam" Wilson of Troy New York. This Samuel Wilson did indeed have a brother Ebenezer who was his partner in their meat-packing business. However "Uncle Sam" Wilson and his brother Ebenezer are both buried in Troy and there is no record that any son or nephew named Ebenezer or Samuel removed to Michigan.