Person talk:Ebenezer Staples (1)

Is this a combination of two Ebenezers? [13 March 2009]

I have put information about Ebenezer that is easily found in the Vital Records of Mendon, and cited Cutter's Historic Homes of Worcester to provide some authority for the arrangement presented. However, there are signs that this could be a combination of two generations of Ebenezers, and more investigation is needed.

First, since Ebenezer is listed as the second son of Abraham Staples, he would have been born before 1670 (his allegedly younger brother Jacob gets married in 1690). Therefore his death in 1758 would make his age about 90, not impossible, but certainly long enough to cover the combined lifespans of two generations.

The ordering of births by Cutter is certainly open to question. I do not know the basis for Cutter's ordering of births. If he has seen a will, he probably has good evidence. If he bases this on Ebenezer inheriting the homestead, I have often seen the homestead left to the youngest son. In that case, his birth might well be sometime in the mid-1680s, though based on his marriage to Huldah Aldrich in 1699, one would guess a birth around 1675 or earlier.

Second, it is strange that there are no children recorded in Mendon by his first wife Huldah. Since he did not (putatively) remarry until 1727, one would conclude he either had no children, or more likely perhaps, their births were not recorded, and are unknown. This 27 year period is plenty of time to have had, and raised, a son old enough to marry by 1727. In addition, it is strange that once this 1727 marriage takes place, with Ebenezer being in his fifties even by the latest possible birth dates, he promptly has several children over the next decade, including Mary 1728, Benjamin 1729, Mary, 1732, Ebenezer 1733, Elias 1738. This would make much more sense if the person who married Mehitable Barron was a Ebenezer, Jr. I found no record of Mehitable Barron in Concord, where she is "of" according to the marriage record, so I was unable to compare ages.

The third wife, Mary (Hubbard) Davis, was born in 1682, so she was about 7-15 years younger than Ebenezer, Sr. If the marriage to Huldah Aldrich in 1699 was Ebenezer, Sr.'s first marriage, then a marriage of Mary Hubbard with an Ebenezer, Jr. almost 20 years younger than her is unlikely. That does not rule out Ebenezer Sr. marrying Huldah and secondly, Mary, while Ebenezer Jr. married Mehitable Barron. Alternately, if Huldah represents a second marriage for Ebenezer, Sr. (a birth in 1660s making quite possible a first marriage starting around say, the late 1680s or early 1690s), then Ebenezer, Jr. could be born as early as 1690, and only 8 years younger than Mary Hubbard. If we knew the death dates for Huldah and/or Mehitable, it would provide a very useful clue to all this.

--Jrich 13:09, 13 March 2009 (EDT)