Person:Jerusha Smith (2)

Biographical Review of Hampden County MA citizens, p. 866: "(she, Jerusha, was great-grand-daughter of the Rev. Henry Smith, of Weathersfield, 1640)"

The 1901 Doolittle Family in America, p. 158: "There is a tradition that she deserted her family, leaving an infant of 5 months and joined the Dorrellites; that when they were broken up she came back-- Amzi having in the meantime m. again-- and lived with one of her children until her death Oct. 19, 1844, at the advanced age of 102.") The problem with the Dorrellite theory is that Dorrel did not start his sect/cult until after the Revolutionary War (1786). Jerusha's last child was born in August 1777. I believe she ran off with Amos Marsh in the summer of 1778-- eight years prior to the creation of Dorrell's sect.

The Warwick town history identifies her as the "wife of Amzi Doolittle" with whom Amos Marsh ran off-- both being under the influence of the "spiritual wife-ism" preachings of Elder [Moses?] Hicks during the Revolutionary War. Hicks himself ran off with Amzi and Jerusha's daughter [Lavina, I believe]. The Warwick history says that Jerusha and Amos Marsh ran off to New York where they were found and brought back and tried, and that Amos wore the letter "A" for the rest of his life. I don't know if this is true, but an Amos Marsh is found living two doors down from a Moses Hicks in the 1790 census in Hoosick, NY.

While I initially believed that Amos (and presumably Jerusha) remained in Hoosick through the 1820 census, subsequent information indicates that Amos returned to Warwick and lived there until 1819. (See notes for him.) Where is Jerusha?

Here's one possibility:

After Jerusha was apprehended in New York with Amos Marsh-- presumably in late 1778, early 1779-- they were both taken to Northampton, MA where they were tried and convicted of adultery. One Warwick historian (Morse) claims Amos Marsh returned to Warwick and led a pitiful existence until his old age when he was sent to live with one of his sons (elsewhere). But suppose Jerusha returned not to Warwick, and not to Amzi Doolittle, but to the town and family of her birth? Her father was still alive and living in Northfield. Her sister Sarah was married to Amzi's brother Lucius Doolittle. Jerusha may have been living with either her father or her sister in the 1790 census. William Dorrell/Dorril (about ten years her junior) lived for a time in Warwick, MA, then in Leyden, MA. It's possible that Jerusha heard him preach after 1794 and was taken by the fact that he preached that men and women could be with whoever they wanted. That would certainly have echoed what she'd followed in Warwick almost ten years before. Dorrell was denounced and lost his followers in 1800. Jerusha would have been 58 by then. Disillusioned, perhaps she sought out Amzi only to find he'd married Hannah Miller in 1787. Perhaps she lived with one of her sons. There is good reason to believe she's the female, age 90-100, enumerated with Amzi Doolittle, Jr., in the 1840 census in Winchester, NH.

The 1901 Doolittles of America also believes she was mother only the first two of Amzi Doolittle's children, but this has been disproven by examination of Warwick birth records, Townshend, VT town records, and her gravesite.

She is buried at Evergreen Cemetery, Winchester, NH (route 119). She is buried next to her son, Amzi, Jr. Her gravestone (dated 1844) calls her "Jerusha A., wife of Amos Marsh and former wife of A. Doolittle, age 102."

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Find A Grave: Evergreen Cemetery, Winchester, NH, in Find A Grave
   Jerusha Smith Marsh.

   JERUSHA
   wife of
   Amos Marsh
   the former wife
   of A. Doolittle,
   died
   Oct. 19, 1844,
   AE. 102.