Person:Jonathan Powers (1)

Speculative Identification

A scan of vital records suggests that possibly the Jonathan Powers, s/o Jonathan Powers and Elizabeth Kidder, grand s/o Isaac Powers and Mary (Poulter) Winship, who married first bef 1755 Bridget ---, and married second 1764 Susanna Willoughby. But this is based on several assumptions which will be explained below.

Vital Record Scan

The marriage record of Jonathan Powers of Dunstable and Susannah Willoughby of Hollis in 1764 is found in Source:Worcester, Samuel Thomas. History of the Town of Hollis, New Hampshire, p. 344, in its listing of town records.

The Vital Records of Dunstable show births to three couples with a husband named Jonathan Powers: one to Jonathan and Elizabeth in 1748, several to Jonathan Jr. and Bridget from 1755 to 1763, and then several to Jonathan and Susanna from 1766 to 1785. A son named Jonathan is born to Jonathan Jr. and Bridget, but no son is born to the other two. The lack of a son named Jonathan for Jonathan and Susanna is what suggests Susanna is a second wife.

Assuming Jonathan and Elizabeth are Jonathan Powers and Elizabeth Kidder, they were married in Chelmsford in 1725 (Chelmsford VRs). This same conclusion is suggested by the notes of Samuel Smith found in the Records of Littleton, p. 405. They had several children in Littleton, including a son Jonathan born in 1726 and continuing through Abigail in 1736 (Records of Littleton, p. 36-7). Nothing is found for the years 1737-1747, and then the son John b. Dunstable in 1748 may be their last child.

This Jonathan, who m. Elizabeth Kidder, was born in Cambridge Feb 1703/04 to Isaac and Mary Powers (Cambridge VRs, p. 1:568). (Note: Lexington VRs show the baptism of Jonathan 11 Apr 1703. Probably either the birth, or baptism, is off by one year. Since brother Isaac's date may have a similar problem, a more indepth study of all the siblings births would probably be needed to figure out which.) Since this Jonathan would have been 81 years old when Jonathan and Susanna's last child was born, it seems very unlikely he was the one who married Susanna.

Finding Jonathan and Elizabeth in Dunstable, however, suggests that the Jonathan Jr. who had children by a wife Bridget in Dunstable was their son. The first known child of Jonathan and Bridget is Lois, b. 1755 and their last child is 1763. This is such a short interval, it suggests the wife died, and therefore, Jonathan Jr. b. 1726 is a very good candidate to be the man whose second wife was Susannah. However, we have no death death for Bridget to confirm it.

Survey of Secondary Sources

This case study is a good reminder that secondary sources need confirmation. All the secondary sources are somewhat confused, and some are blatantly illogical. Further, none seem to agree. So mostly, we will be refuting various statements.

Source:Amidon, Lee Earll. Powers Family : A Record of Walter Power of Concord, Massachusetts and Related Families is a useful source that appears to have studied deeds and other primary documents, so seems fairly reliable. The problem is that it is mostly interested in the line of Daniel Powers through his grandson Oliver. It covers the son of Daniel's named Jonathan who married Hannah Moore, but only mentions in passing the grandson Jonathan (who married "Lare Pearson" - note that Lancaster Records say "Love Pearson"). However, it presents the useful evidence that the son, Jonathan of Lancaster, did execute a deed to his son, the grandson, Jonathan Jr. yeoman of Lancaster, thus strongly suggesting neither of these would qualify as Jonathan Powers of Dunstable, and further that the father Jonathan d. by 1766 with a widow named Hannah, while the son married in 1767, ruling them both out as husband of Susannah Willoughby.

Source:Spaulding, Charles S. Account of Some of the Early Settlers of West Dunstable, Monson and Hollis, New Hampshire, p. 101 says that Jonathan Powers, s/o Daniel Powers and Elizabeth Whitcomb, was b. Littleton 13 Oct 1704. That appears to be a true statement.

But then it messes up. It says that he m. 1 Nov 1750 Bridget --- and settled in Dunstable near the Hollis line, and continues on with the information we have tentatively attributed above to Jonathan Powers, s/o Jonathan Powers and Elizabeth Kidder, b. 1726, including 2nd wife Susanna Willoughby, children born from 1755 to 1785, and finally says of his Revolutionary Service, "He gave his age as sixty, when in fact he was over seventy."

Besides begging the question of who married Hannah Moore, it seems unbelievable that a source would suggest a first marriage at age 46, a second marriage at age 60 to a 20 year old woman, and having children at age 81. Finally one wonders how he knows the marriage date in 1750, yet doesn't seem to know the maiden name of the wife, and what happened in the 5 years before the first child was born in 1755? So, this seems like sloppy research, and probably wrong. [Stearns below, who doesn't agree with this arrangement of wives, also cites the 1750 marriage date, with a different wife, adding that 4 children died in infancy, so speculatively, this string of misfortune could account for the 5 year span before their first surviving child. But no record of it has been found yet.]

The research notes of Samuel Smith on the Powers Family in Source:Littleton, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States. Records of Littleton, Massachusetts. are quite disorganized, but mentions the following pertinent items:

On p. 403: Jonathan, s/o Daniel Powers and Elizabeth Whitcomb, b. 13 Oct 1704, m. "Hannah or Mary Sawyer". She m. 2'd Sawyer. Clearly, the "Hannah or Mary Sawyer" mentioned appears to be Hannah Moore by an incorrect name. She may have married a Mr. Sawyer after Jonathan's death, but the evidence is not given and has not been found, so this is unclear. [There is some allusion to a probate document several years after Jonathan's 1766 death, in 1775, mentioning a Mrs. Sawyer. The probate document hasn't been found, but this would presumably be the reason why the widow is thought to have married a Mr. Sawyer. If such a document exists, it would need to be seen to verify that it applies to this Jonathan Powers, and that the Mrs. Sawyer is the former widow, and not a daughter.]

On p. 406: Jonathan, s/o Jonathan and Mary or Hannah, b. 22 Jul 1744, m. Anna d/o Jonathan Fletcher. Of course, this adds another name to our collection, but can probably be ignored. This doesn't agree with any other source, nor has such a marriage been found.. On the other hand, the marriage to Love Person in 1767 is indeed found in Lancaster VRs, where the deed mentioned by Amidon said the son Jonathan lived.

On p. 405: Jon'a Power & Eliz'th Kidder m. pub. Dec. 25 1725. Only Betty is explicitly listed as a child, though a pointer to the other birth records is given. This does not seem wrong, but it does not give any information about their son Jonathan, so does not help us solve the immediate problem.

Source:Stearns, Ezra S. Genealogical and Family History of the State of New Hampshire, Vol. 4, p. 1649, is similar to Spaulding's Dunstable source, but adds a clearly false wrinkle of its own: Jonathan, s/o Daniel Powers and Elizabeth Whitcomb, b. Littleton 13 Oct 1704, lived in that part of Lancaster that is now Sterling, d. before the close of the year 1775, m. (1) 1 Nov 1750 Lois Blood, m. (2) 28 Nov 1764 Susannah Willoughby. Nine children from first marriage, eight of second. Note that this sources gives a list of the children, without birthdates, but includes several, like Jerusha, whose birth record names their mother as Bridget, not "Lois"; and several, such as Rebecca, whose birth record says they were born after 1775. So this adds yet another unknown that is likewise probably discountable, no such marriage of any Jonathan Powers and Lois Blood being found in any records.

Source:Powers, Amos H. Powers Family : A Genealogical and Historical Record of Walter Power and Some of His Descendants to the Ninth Generation, p. 22, writes "There is record of many land transactions by 'Jonathan Powers' in Littleton and the adjoining towns in the early part of the 18th century, but as their [sic] were at least four descendants of Walter¹ who bore that name at that time, it is difficult to place them all to the right one." It then shows Jonathan, the s/o Jonathan Powers and Elizabeth Kidder, m. Hannah ---, d. 16 Oct 1777, while providing no explanation or any further listing of the family. Outside of the marriage to Hannah Moore which occurred when this Jonathan was 4, it is not clear that any other Jonathan Powers had a wife named Hannah, and the death date of 16 Oct 1777 has since been found to come from Greenwich Mass. church records, and belongs to Jonathan, the son of Aaron, so it does not apply to any Jonathan under discussion here. This seems to suggest the author may have fallen into the very trap he warned about, of confusing the many Jonathan Powers.

The one child of Jonathan Powers and Elizabeth Kidder covered by Amos Powers is "Isaac and Elinor (Whitney) Powers of Dunstable, N.H.", Dunstable, N.H. being where a record of their marriage in 1761 is found, further supporting the assumption above that it was Jonathan Powers and Elizabeth Kidder that showed up in Dunstable and had a son John in 1748.

While it very hard to say exactly what happened with confidence, these sources appear to present several scenarios that we can say, with some confidence, did not happen.

1. ↑ Littleton, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States. Records of Littleton, Massachusetts. (Littleton, Mass., 1900)
   p. 36.

   Jonathan Powers son of Jonath'n & Elisabath Powers born July ye 18th 1726.

2. ↑ Hillsborough County (New Hampshire). Register of Deeds. Deed records, 1771-1901. (Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1951, 1987).

   Vol. 67: p. 259: executed 6 Sep 1799, acknowledged 7 Sep 1802: Jonathan Powers of Dunstable [also signed by Susanna Powers] conveys about 69 acres of land to David Powers of Dunstable.
   Vol. 87, p. 488: executed 17 Dec 1805, acknowledged 10 Mar 1810: Jonathan Powers of Dunstable [also signed by Susanna Powers] deeds to John Powers of Hollis two strips of land bordering land previously conveyed to David Powers.
   [The name is spelled both Powers and Powars, the two spellings intermixed in both documents .]