Person:Reuben Wightman (3)

Named in will of grandfather George Wightman, 1759.

BIOGRAPHY: George Wightman of Quidnessett, R.I. (1632 - 1721/2) and Descendants
Compiled by Mary Ross Whitman
Chicago, Illinois 1939 Pages 69-70

  (Capt.) Reuben Wightman (George 3, Dea. George 2, George), born 13 October 1739 in Warwick, Kent Co., R. I.; died there 24 April 1777 (gravestone). He married Sarah ______, born 15 April 1746; died 23 November 1816 in Warwick (gravestone). She married second, Capt. Gideon Spencer, of Warwick.
  Reuben Wightman was a farmer in Warwick. His homestead was the home portion of the original George Wightman tract in Coweset, bequeathed by (5) George to (13) George, Jr., and by him to this Reuben, eldest son. After Reuben's death, all of his real estate was divided among his wife and five sons, each of the sons selling his portion not long afterwards. His brother, David Wightman, however bought in the old home and a small acreage comprising the burying ground, and this remained for another generation in the Wightman name.
  In 1775 Reuben Wightman was chosen Captain of the 2nd Co., Kent Co. Militia (train band) in Warwick (R. I. Col. Rec. Vol. VII, 349). On 28 June 1775 he was appointed enlisting officer (ibid., 359). He was later appointed to command the 2nd Co., Warwick Militia, in active service (ibid., 518).
  He died intestate during the war, the inventory of personal property being returned 13 June 1777 (Warwick Prob., iii, 381-2). His grave in the family burying ground on a rise of ground about an eighth of mile from the house, the whole property being known today as the Thomas Jones Spencer farm, located on the Hardig Road, half a mile from the Old Coweset Road which bounds the property on the south. His tombstone is the oldest stone still legible. His wife's grave is between his and that of her second husband, Capt. Gideon Spencer. Most of the stones of later date are in the name of Spencer. The farm is owned (1935) by Mr. Maurice G. Manchester.

1.   Rhode Island Wills and Probate
   [1].

   Inventory shown by wife Sarah 28 June 1777.