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Increase Powers
d.Bef 1760
Facts and Events
References
- ↑ Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States. Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1635-1850. (Boston: Beacon Press, 1891)
p. 17.
Incresse son of walter Power and Triall his wife borne 16. July 1671.
- ↑ Register of Deeds. Worcester County (Mass.) deeds (1722-1866) and index to deeds (1731-1889) --, 1722-1889.
In Worcester deed 55:142 Hephzibah executes a deed on 5 May 1760 as a "Hephzibah Powers al's Hephzibah Sawyer ... Spinster", in 57:212 on 4 Apr 1767 as "Spinster"; in 79:190 on 16 Jun 1772 as "Widow"; in 88:474 on 24 Jan 1778 as "Widow". It appears Increase had died by 1760. No probate has been located.
- ↑ Source:Smith, Dean Crawford. Ancestry of Eva Belle Kempton 1878-1908, Part IV, p. 10 (in a footnote), says incorrectly of this Increase Powers, "He was not the husband of Hephzibah (Sawyer) Whitcomb), as has been asserted in early genealogies. Hepzibah's husband was this man's nephew, the son of Daniel2 Powers."
There is not much explanation, but this appears to be based on the assumption this man had died earlier. In the main paragraph on Increase, he is described as "living 'formerly of Nashoba' 13 June 171562 when he would have been 44 years old; but deceased by 30 January 1719/20, when his nephews William Powers and John Perham sold the lands which had been his63."
Footnote 63 is the one quoted above, incorrectly alleging he did not marry Hephzibah. Footnote 62 identifies the source as Middlesex deed 20:439. (It is not listed in the footnotes, but the deed where his nephews sell his land is Middlesex deed 21:78.) The mistaken idea that he died by 1720 comes from a superficial reading of these deeds.
In deed 20:439, on 13 Jun 1715, Increase Power formerly of Nashoba sells to the nephws all right he has or may have belonging to Nashoba. In deed 21:78, on 30 Jan 1719/20, the nephews sell land in Nashoba Plantation which did belong to Increase Powers late of Nashoba one of the Children & heirs of Walter Powers late of Concord Deceased. So in the second deed, the nephews are selling land that Increase sold them, which belonged to them, and therefore did not require that Increase be deceased. Further, in the second deed, Increase is described as "late of Nashoba", matching the "formerly of Nashoba" in the first deed, but unlike Walter Power late of Concord, Increase does not have "Deceased" added to his description. These deeds are not sufficient to assume Increase had died.
In addition, the nephew that is discussed, who is listed just above the paragraph on Increase with no detail, not even a birth date, is shown as the 12th child of brother Daniel, by his second wife Martha Bates. He is a generation plus 11 children younger than his uncle. In fact his birth is recorded in Source:Littleton, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States. Records of Littleton, Massachusetts., p. 13, on 6 May 1722. This makes him 11 years younger than Hephzibah and a very unlikely husband. The distribution of Hephzibah's father's estate shows she was married to Increase Powers before 27 Apr 1742, and Worcester deed 17:202 shows that Increase and Hephzibah Powers of Bolton on 15 Jan 1742/43 sell land from Hephzibah's father's estate. Both of these dates are before the younger Increase even turned 21, so unable to own property. He could not have been her husband.
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