 John W. Wetherbee PRIVACY FILTER
Married/ Related to:
 Elizabeth "Elizabeth Whale" RiceBorn 18 Nov 1612 Chickney, Essex, England, died 14 Dec 1690 Sudbury, Middlesex, Massachusetts, 78 years, 1st married/ related to: John "Morse" Moore, 2nd married/ related to: John W. Wetherbee There is no proff that Edmund Rice is the brother of Elizabeth Rice http://www.edmund-rice.org/ancestor.htm ------------------------- While there may not be a Benjamin Moore of Lancaster, there is one ofSudbury, MA, who is son of John Moore and his second wife ElizabethRice (usually she is shown as Elizabeth Whale from her stepfather'sname). He was born in 1652 and died in 1729, which is the right timeframe.END Philemon Whale is Elizabeth's step-father! http://groups.msn.com/AncestorChroniclesOurKinAndTheirTimes/surnames.msnw?action=get_message&mview=0&ID_Message=27512&all_topics=0 http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=weterb&id=I12211 Confusion about parentage, marriages http://awt.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=timmychew&id=I069061 Not Ours!? There was two Philemons Whales....The other m Ann/Agnes Norwood.... Elizabeth Whale Birth: About 1600 in Sudbury, Middlesex, MA Death: 14 Dec 1690 Sex: F Father: Philemon Whale b. 27 May 1599 in Chickney, Essex, England Mother: Elizabeth Frost http://genforum.genealogy.com/cgi-bin/pageload.cgi?philemon::whale::157.html Good Sources: Author: J. H. Hunt Title: Ancestry of Philemon Whale Abbrev: Ancestry of Philemon Whale Publication: New England HGR, Vol. 114 Page: 155 My main Resoure is EugeneWeatherby http://www.oregontrail.net/~weterb/ Has Elizabeth marriedtwice! 264. Elizabeth7 Whale (Philemon8) was born in Sudbury, Middlesex, MA31 Jan 1592/1593. Elizabeth died 14 Dec 1690 in Sudbury, Middlesex,MA, at 97 years of age. Her body was interred Dec 1690 in MA. ???? She married three times. She married an unknown person in Of Chickney,Essex, Engl, about 1614. She married an unknown person in Sudbury, MA,about 1616. She married Joseph Morse in Sudbury, Middlesex,Massachusetts, 6 Jan 1672/1673. Joseph was born in Henham, Essex,England Apr 1613. Joseph was the son of Joseph Morse and DorothyBarber. Joseph died 6 Jan 1672/1673 in Of, Watertown, Middlesex,Massachusetts, at 59 years of age. His body was interred 4 Mar1689/1690 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts. She was christened in Chickney, Essex, England, 31 Jan 1592/1593. http://www.genealogy.com/famousfolks/clarab/d0/i0000423.htm423
Child: 1. John "Wetherby, Witherby" WetherbeeBorn 1650 Yorkshire, England, died ±. 1711 Stowe, Middlesex, MA, approximately 61 years America's First Families http://www.firstfamilies.org/db/040.htm WETHERBEE Elizabeth (Hall) m.1721-d.1732 Marlborough, MA F&P WETHERBEE Ephraim Capt. 1682-1745 Marlborough, MA DAC/SCW/F&P WETHERBEE John c 1642/43-1711 Marlborough, MA DCW/SCW/F&P/DAC WETHERBEE Lydia (Moore) 1660-aft.1724/25 Marlborough, MA F&P ------------------ "Stone-Gregg Genealogy: The Ancestors and Descendants of Galen LutherStone and his wife Carrie Morton Gregg" ed. by Alicia Crane William(Baltimore, 1987) Howe Genealogies: This Volume Contains the Genealogy of John Howe ofSudbury and Marlborough, Massachusetts” by David Wait Howe (ed. GilmanBigelow Howe) (NEHGS, Boston/Haverhill, 1929) "John Weatherbee of Marlborough and Stow Massachusetts" by EthelWetherbee Mazza (Somersworth, NH, 1991) Weatherbee Round-up (Decatur, IL, Weatherbee Family Association)(serial) John Weatherby's English origins are yet to be discovered. http://genforum.genealogy.com/medieval/messages/1724.html He settled first in that part of Marlborough, Massachusetts now knownas Southboro, and later was a proprietor and one of the first tensettlers of Stow, Massachusetts. Weatherbee Round-Up Vol. V Number 10. WorldConnect Rootsweb Weatherby, Weatherbee, Wetherbee, Wetherby lines of NJ/ NY/PA/DE/MA Updated: Nov 7, 2002 Contact: Eugene James Weatherby http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=weterb Mary HOWE was born on 18 Jun 1654 in Sudbury, Middlesex, MA. (1439)Parents: John HOWE and Mary UNKNOWN. John Wetherbee, born in England and an early settler at Sudbury andMarlborough, Massachusetts. The earliest form of the name in NewEngland was Witherby, but has since passed through several changes, asWetherby, Witherbee, Wetherbee, Weatherby, etc. The New York familygenerally use the form, Witherbee. John Wetherbee married (first) inMarlborough, Massachusetts, September 18, 1672, Mary Howe, born June18, 1654, died in Stow, Massachusetts, June 5, 1684, daughter of Johnand Mary Howe. He married (second) Lydia More, who survived him. (II) John (2), son of John (1) and Mary (Howe) Wetherbee, was born inMarlborough, Massachusetts, March 26, 1675. He resided in Stow,Massachusetts, where he died about 1720. By wife Catherine he hadseven sons and one daughter. Weatherby, Weatherbee, Wetherbee, Wetherby lines of NJ/ NY/PA/DE/MA http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=weterb&id=I2566 http://www.oregontrail.net/~weterb/ _AKAN: John Wetherbee Birth: 1650 in Yorkshire,England 1 Death: 1711 in Stowe,Middlesex,MA 3 Note: The Wetherbees of New England are of English origin. The name isderived from the Danish word, Weder, meaning a band or clan. Bye meansa home, thus the name Wetherby (an old English spelling) means thehome of the clan. The name is prevalent in Lincolnshire,Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire all areas ruled by the Danes duringMedieval times. The name upon the earliest American records was spelled Witherby, butthe present orthography has generally prevailed for many years.Thename is also spelled Wetherby, Weathersbie, and Witherbee. John Wetherbee or Witherby, the emigrant ancestor of this family,resided in Marlborough and in Stow, Mass. He was born about 1642 inYorkshire, England. He married in the former place, Sept. 18,1672,Mary Howe daughter of John and Mary Howe . She was born on June18,1654, and is mentioned in the will of her father as my daughterMary Witherbee. John and Mary had three children, Joseph (Sept. 18,1672), John (March 26, 1675) and Thomas (January 5, 1678). During the King Philip's War John Wetherbee was assigned to thegarrison house owned by William Kerley in Marlborough . Also assignedto this garrison house were his in-laws, John How(e) Sr., and ThomasHow. On March 26, 1676, the Nipmuck Indian tribe raided Marlborough .The townspeople were at church when the sentry sounded the alarm. Thecongregation had to flee the church and make their way to the variousgarrison houses where they would fight off the Indians. A number ofbuildings were burned but most of the populace escaped harm behindfortified walls. The next night, the settlers, under the command ofLt. Jacobs attacked the Indians and killed 50 of them. After the war, John along with 11 of his neighbors, including JosiahHow and Thomas Martin, petitioned the General Court to grant him someof the confisgated Indian land. He cited his losses and service to thecommunity as a reason for this request. This petition was not granted. In 1681 John and his family moved to Stow, Mass. where they weregranted 70 acres over the next two years. In 1684 he sold hisremaining Marlborough land to Thomas Ward and on Sept. 19 marriedLydia Moore, Mary having died on June 5, 1684. He and Lydia had sixchildren, David (1685), Jonathan (August 31, 1686), Ephraim, Mary,Lydia DUDLEY, and Anne STOW. The date of his death does not appear upon the records of Stow, wherehe died; but from the probate records it appears to be about 1711. Thewill was dated October 13, 1707 and probated April 2, 1711. His estatewas valued at 318 pounds 3 shillings and 8 pence . John Wetherbee Jr. was born in Marlborough on March 26, 1675. Hemarried Catherine Whitcomb on June 2, 1698 in Stow. Together they hadeight children, Daniel ((1699), John (June 26, 1701), Hezekiah (1704or 1705), Josiah (1706), Issac (Feb. 19, 1710), Micah (December 25,1712), Thomas (June 10, 1715) and Catherine (1718). John died between Sept. 6 and 25, 1720 while his wife died two yearslater. The value of John's estate was 150 pounds. Sources; History of the Town of Rindge by Ezra Stearns, WeatherbeeFamily , by W. Wetherbee NEHGS 1946. Father: John W. Wetherbee b: in England Mother: Elizabeth Whale b: 31 JAN 1593 in England Marriage 1 Mary Howe b: 18 JUN 1654 in Sudbury, MA * Married: 18 SEP 1672 in Marlborough,Middlesex, MA 5 Children 1. Joseph Wetherbee b: 18 SEP 1672 in Marlborough,,MA 2. John Wetherby Jr. b: 26 MAR 1675 in Marlborough,,MA 3. Thomas Witherbye b: 5 JAN 1678 in Sudbury,,MA Marriage 2 Lydia Moore b: 6 APR 1660 in Lancaster,MA * Married: 16 SEP 1684 in Stow,MA 3 Children 1. David Wetherbee b: 1696 in Stow,MA 2. Jonathan Wetherbee b: 31 AUG 1686 in Stow,MA 3. Ephriam Wetherbee b: 1689 in Stow,MA 4. Mary Wetherbee b: ABOUT 1691 in Stow,MA 5. Lydia Wetherbee b: ABOUT 1693 in Stow,MA 6. Anne Wetherbee b: ABOUT 1695 in Stow,MA Sources: 1. Title: Daughters of American Colonists Lineage Book Abbrev: Daughters of American Colonists Lineage Book Page: 220 2. Title: Weatherbee Round-Up, Volume XVII, Number 2 Abbrev: Weatherbee Round-Up, Volume XVII, Number 2 Publication: March / April 1993 Page: 64 3. Title: Compendium of American Genealogy, Vol. 7 Abbrev: Compendium of American Genealogy, Vol. 7 Page: 816 4. Title: Weatherbee Round-Up, Volume VII, Number 2 Abbrev: Weatherbee Round-Up, Volume VII, Number 2 Publication: February 15, 1983 Page: 34 5. Author: Ezra Stearns Title: History of the Town of Rindge, Weatherbee Family, by W.Wetherbee Abbrev: History of the Town of Rindge, by Ezra Stearns, WeatherbeeFamily, by Publication: NEHGS / 1946 Massachusetts Archives Collection (1629-1799) http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ArchivesSearch/RevolutionaryDetail.asp?Vol=112&Page=217 Volume Number 112 Page 217 Summary PETITION SUBMITTED TO THE GENERAL COURT BY THOMAS KING ANDOTHERS REQUESTING A GRANT OF LAND AT KUNNAPOUG FOR THE ESTABLISHMENTOF A PLANTATION. Number of Pages 1 Condition Series 2043 : RECORDS : GENERAL COURT Cite MASS RECS 4, PT 2: 500 Copy Type Original Original Date (yyyy/mm/dd) 1671/05/31 Other Dates Seals No Geographic Locations BOSTON (MA) CONNECTICUT RIVER Marlborough (MA) Personal Names : Signature Type BARNES, RICHARD (BARNS) : Transcript BEERS, ELEAZAR (BEERES) : Transcript BEERS, RICHARD (BEERES) : Autograph BENT, PETER : Transcript BRIDGHAM, SAMUEL : Transcript BRIGHAM, JOHN : Transcript BRIGHAM, THOMAS : Transcript FAY, JOHN : Transcript HOWE, JOHN (HOW, JR.) : Transcript HOWE, JOHN (HOW, SR.) : Transcript KING, THOMAS : Transcript PARK, THOMAS : Transcript RAWSON, EDWARD : Autograph RICE, EDWARD : Transcript RICE, JOSEPH : Transcript RICE, SAMUEL : Transcript RICE, THOMAS : Transcript TORREY, WILLIAM : Autograph WETHERBEE, JOHN (WITHERBEE) : Transcript ------------- The immigrant, John Wetherbee, or Witherby, as the family name appearsin the earliest records, hailed from the county of Suffolk, inEngland, where he was born about 1650. He lived first in Sudbury,about ten miles southwest of Concord, but soon moved on to Marlborough, midway between Concord andWorcester. There he married in 1672, Mary Howe, or How, only nineteenyears old. She was the daughter of John How, one of the defenders ofMarlborough at William Perley's garrison house on the night of October1, 1675, and immigrant ancestor of Elias Howe, a Worcester countyfarmer's son who must be classed with Eli Whitney and Samuel F. B.Morse among the great benefactors of mankind. Elias left his father'sfarm to work in a machine shop for $9 a week, and this is said to havebeen his wage at the time he applied for a patent on his mechanicalcontrivance for sewing, but more likely this was what he earned whenthe ingenious young man first conceived the possibility of such amachine. Like Whitney he sustained hardships and poverty before hisinvention brought its reward; in millions to him, and uncountedbillions to the world. As showing how "hands that long ago were dust"sometimes push those of posterity it is pertinent and may beinteresting to here note a few of the other descendants of John Howerecognized by the American Council of Learned Societies as having madecontributions to American life sufficiently noteworthy to give themplaces in the "Dictionary of American Biography." Among these were: Albion Parris Howe, commissioned Lieut. Col. in the Regular Army fordistinguished conduct at Malvern Hill, Antietam, Fredericksburg andGettysburg; one of the guard of honor over Lincoln's body in the WhiteHouse, and of the commission who tried the conspirators implicated inhis assassination. Also Lucien Howe, nephew of Albion, founder of theBuffalo (N. Y.) Eye and Ear Infirmary and of a research laboratory atHarvard University to the endowment of which he contributed $250,000;also promoter of what is known as the Howe Law in New York and nearlyall other states by which blindness from opthalmia in newborn babieshas been reduced to a minmum. Also William Howe, uncle of Elias Howe,and himself farmer and inventor until 1838, when he incorporated newand original features in bridge-building for the Boston and AlbanyRailroad. Patents were granted to him for the Howe Truss, extensivelyused in both bridges and roofs. Also Timothy Otis Howe, United StatesSenator from Maine; Postmaster-General in the cabinet of PresidentChester A. Arthur; one of the earliest advocates of universalemancipation for the slaves. Also William Wirt Howe, soldier,"carpet-bagger" and jurist; Lieut. of the 7th Kansas Cavalry in theUnion Army; U. S. District Attorney of Louisiana, judge of its SupremeCourt, nationally accepted authority on the Civil Code; president ofLouisiana Historical Society and president of the American BarAssociation. Also Andrew Jackson Howe, professor of anatomy and laterof surgery at Worcester Eclectic Medical Institute; distinguishedsurgeon and voluminous writer on the subject. Also Samuel Howe,drummer-boy in the French and Indian War, and surgeon in the War forIndependence, with rank of Colonel on the staff of Gen. Horatio Gates,and founder of the early law school at Litchfield, Conn. Though none of Mary Howe's brothers has a place in the Dictionary ofAmerican Biography, some of them were more than locally prominent.Thomas, according to Stearns' "History of Rindge," bore a conspicuouspart in the colonial wars and became colonel of militia andrepresentative of Stow in the General Court of Massachusetts. The family history compiled by Daniel Waite Howe, of Indianapolis, andpublished in 1929 in accordance with his will by the New EnglandHistoric Genealogical Society, states that nothing definite seems tobe known of the ancestry of John How, the immigrant, except that hewas an Englishman. "From vague family tradition," he says, "it hasbeen conjectured that the father of John How of New England was JohnHow of Warwickshire, and was a son of John How of Hodinhull." Of thistradition Barry's "History of Framingham, Mass.," says: "Investigationshows several Hows in Warwickshire at an early date; among those in orabout 1580 are John How, Thomas How and Lyman How, of St. NicholasParish. The names John, Thomas and Lyman are all very common among thedescendants of John How of Sudbury and Marlborough." About his occupation, Temple's "History of Framingham" says he was"John How, glover." After he removed to Marlborough he kept a tavernfor many years. It is certain that he was in Sudbury as early as 1639.He was admitted as freeman of Massachusetts Bay on May 13, 1640. In1642 he was one of the selectmen of Sudbury, and in 1655 was appointedto see that the Lord's Day was properly observed. He is said to havebeen the first settler of Marlborough, as early as 1658, and to havebuilt a cabin there. He kept the first public house in town. All weknow about his wife is that her given name was Mary; yet hers may havebeen the potentiality in heredity which projected to their childrenand their children's children the high character and efficiency sooften exhibited among descendants bearing the name Howe. Hostile Indians took a heavy toll of life from the Howe and Whitcombfamilies at this critical period of New England history. One of thefirst blows fell on them in April, 1683, when Catherine Whitcomb'sfather Jonathan and his brother John were fired on while conveying hayacross the Penecook River in canoes. John's boat capsized and he wasdrowned. Jonathan died in 1690, and his widow Hannah met a violentdeath two years later when living in the family of Peter Joslin atLancaster. Returning from work in a distant field one day he found hiswife Sarah Howe, and three of his children, with the widow Whitcomb,weltering in their blood. Sarah had resisted the entrance of thesavages with a shovel from the fireplace, but while she was fightingoff one of them another killed her instantly with his tomahawk. Theythen killed three of her children and carried off another along withtheir mother's sister Elizabeth Howe. The latter was ransomed by thecolony after three years of captivity, but the child had died or wasmurdered in the meantime. These tragedies occurred at the time of thethird attack on Lancaster. "Early Records of Lancaster" yields aninteresting sidelight on this raid in the copy of a letter from MajorThomas Hinchman, dated Chelmsford, April 12, 1692, asking theauthorities for "an order on Captain James Parker for sum shott whohath a quantity of the country's stock on hand." Whether this requestwas granted may be open to doubt, since the inhabitants of Lancasterhad been warned of danger and then forbidden by act of the legislatureto remain there longer. To go back to the male line of the Wetherbee family, Mary How and JohnWetherbee had seven sons and one daughter born to them before themother died in 1671. Among the sons was a lad named after his fatheror his maternal grandfather, John How, both of whom were on hand withtheir flintlock muskets loaded for "Injuns" in William Perley'sgarrison-house at Marlboro that night in October, 1675, as the storyof the attack is told in the New England Genealogical Register[8:240]. Twenty-three years after this encounter young John Wetherbee,who was not yet one year old when it took place, married at ConcordCatherine [Katharine is the spelling in the family history] Whitcomb,three years younger than himself. She was a granddaughter of the immigrant John Whitcomb, first glimpseof whose presence in the New England wilderness is as a resident ofDorchester, Mass., as early as 1633. He never has been fullyidentified among the English emigr‚s who abandoned English homes andkin and friends rather than be regimented by law as to their religiousopinions and practices during the years of the Puritan exodus. But thecareful and cautious Charlotte Whitcomb says in her biographicalgenealogy of the family that it is believed he was the son of thatJohn Whitcomb who in or about 1620 married in London Anne Harper. Shewas a daughter of John Harper, one of the members of the great EastIndia Company which for centuries has remained the dominant power inIndia. The recurrence of such given names as John, Jonathan, Thomasand others in this family and also in its putative branch in Americaconstitutes the chief circumstantial evidence that they were one andthe same. The occupation of the immigrant seems to have been that of awell-to-do farmer, and his son Jonathan, who was the father ofCatherine Whitcomb, followed in the footsteps of the parent. "Military Annals of Lancaster" bears witness that both the Wetherbeesand the Whitcombs were defenders of the colonists from the time ofKing Philip's Indian War to the Revolution a century later. In Capt.Ephraim Wilder's company, which marched for the Narragansett countryin 1748, were a Lieut. John Whitcomb; a Quartermaster HezekiahWhitcomb with an Eleazer and an Israel in the ranks. Hezekiah Whitcombwas a scout under a Sergeant Houton of a Colonel Willard's command. Alieutenant of the same name died in camp if not in action or itsafter-effects; likewise a John Whitcomb and a Lieutenant HezekiahWhitcomb succumbed in 1755 on the expedition aimed at the conquest ofCanada, and on this occasion Col. John Whitcomb succeeded ColonelWillard, who died at Lake George, October 26, 1755. Henry W. De Puy's"Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys" tells of an expedition of1780 aimed in the other direction. Its principal object was to capturea Lieutenant Whitcomb who had, so the Canadians asserted, mortallywounded a British General Gordon during Montgomery's disastrouscampaign several years before. The 210 Canadians, nearly all of whomwere Indians, failed to get their man. Wetherbees, Wheelers, Whitneys,Jewetts, Pierces and other allied names appear in the muster rolls ofthe period in about equal numbers. Hezekiah Wetherbee, one of the sons of John Wetherbee and CatherineWhitcomb, was born about 1706, according to his father's will, filedfor probate in June, 1720, and wherein the son's age is mentioned as"about fourteen." John called himself "yeoman, of Stow," which is notin accord with some of the local histories. As no family genealogy hasbeen published discrepancies may be expected in the scattered bits ofinformation concerning its members, but the copy of a will iscontemporary evidence hard to overthrow. If this one is the right JohnWetherbee--he spelled the surname "Witherby," which at that period wasnot uncommon, and he names his wife as "Katherine," which is theaccepted spelling in the Whitcomb genealogy--then in all probabilitythe statements in the will are accurate. They were copied at EastCambridge by Clarence A. Torrey, of Dorchester, whose acquaintancewith the early settlers of Massachusetts is perhaps more extensivethan with its present-day population. As Stow is only a few miles north of Marlboro, and since Wetherbee wasa farmer, doubtless living between the two settlements, it may well bethat he could consistently claim one address while others called itanother. Huldah Martyn lived at Marlboro, and they were married thereon April 23, 1728, when she was seventeen and he was twenty-two.Stearns' "History of Rindge," which is authority on New Hampshirefamilies, calls Hezekiah a Captain of Cavalry and says the couplelived a short time in Marlboro and in 1729 removed to Lunenburg, wherehe died previous to 1759. This date was fixed because in that year"Abel Platts, of Rowley, was published to Phoebe Wetherbee, daughterof Widow Wetherbee from over beyond Mulphus" [Creek]. Here it isinteresting to note, though it may be a little out of the usual order,that the Phoebe Wetherbee mentioned was a daughter of HezekiahWetherbee and Huldah Martyn, and a sister to their son BenjaminWetherbee. As Phoebe Wetherbee became the maternal great-grandmotherof the Parker sisters, and Benjamin Wetherbee's daughter, RachelWetherbee, became the mother of their father, Francis Parker, it mightbe said that theoretically they inherited almost as much of thecharacter of the Wetherbee line as of the Parkers. Now let us look at the background of Hezekiah Wetherbee's wife, HuldahMartin, who was the mother of both Benjamin and Phoebe Wetherbee, andtherefore is of just as much importance, genetically, as their ownfather Hezekiah. The Martyn or Martin family was of Marlboro, where Huldah was born,April 27, 1711. Her grandfather, the immigrant Thomas Martyn, diedthere in 1701; her father of the same name was married and died there,and it may be pretty safely assumed that he was born there, althoughno record of his birth has been found. Pope's "Pioneers ofMassachusetts" lists the grandfather as a "planter" living inCharlestown in 1638, and as a member of the church in the followingyear, but who removed before 1651 to Cambridge. This is all we knowabout the males of the early Martyn family. Whence came the immigrantThomas, and when, and what his occupation was are among the thingsunknown three centuries after he appeared in Charlestown. It ispossible that he was the Thomas Martin transported--otherwisebanished--from his native Cardingham, in the county of Cornwall, inthe south of England, to the island of Barbados in the British WestIndies in 1633, as we read in the New England Genealogical Register[14:340]. Or he may have been the brother of the Michael Martin whoseheadstone in the ancient Copp's Hill Burial Ground in Boston bore theinscription "Died March 26, 1682, aged 60." Some day some researchworker may somewhere come upon a clue and follow it through to asatisfactory history and pedigree of the immigrant ancestor of 1638,and then again the riddle may never be solved. Such is the fascinatingindoor sport of tracking down your forefathers--or trying to do so.Unfortunately, the chief objective of too many of the trackers oftoday is to find a coat of arms which they may have the "right" to useunder the loose rules or lack of rules now followed in some of thecountries that are engaged in a second war to make the world safe fordemocracy--over the left. The right-minded motive, to my way ofthinking, is expressed by Samuel Whitcomb Jr. in his introduction tothe "Whitcomb Ancestry": I love and revere my own hardy and honestancestry. To subdue the wilderness, open its lands to cultivation, tocover them with crops of fruit and grain or with domestic animals, andto take part in maintaining freedom and justice for all people, withopportunities for all to acquire learning, is sufficient achievementto satisfy him, or words to this effect. Benjamin Wetherbee, oldest of the sons of Hezekiah and Huldah, marriedinto a family of Scotch descent and of which it is said thattwenty-five descendants in the direct male line from the immigrant,William Munroe, were soldiers in the Revolution. Benjamin died fouryears before the bullets began to fly, but the older of his two sons,Hezekiah, born 1757, is listed by Stearns in the company of CaptainPhilip Thomas "which suffered most severely of all in the regiment ofColonel James Reed" at the battle of Bunker Hill. Benjamin WetherbeeJr., the other son, born in 1762 and thus a mere lad, is listed as having died of small-pox in the RevolutionaryArmy. In the company with Hezekiah were his future brothers-in-law, BenjaminParker and Samuel Parker; also David Hale, whose cousin Lucy Hale, thedaughter of Colonel Enoch Hale, Hezekiah married after the war. Andwhen Enoch's brother Colonel Nathan Hale died in a British prison campon Long Island, Samuel Parker married his widow, Abigail Grout. Abraham Wetherbee, the youngest son of the elder Hezekiah and Huldah,served in the company of Nathan Hale when he was captain of the firstfifty-four men of Rindge who marched for "rebel" headquarters atCambridge and so to Bunker Hill. Of the three daughters of the elder Hezekiah, Rachel married BenjaminParker and became the father of Francis, while Phoebe married AbelPlatts Jr., born in 1738, who was on the pay-roll of Captain NathanHale's first fifty-four who enlisted on April 23, 1775. Phoebe Wetherbee, born in 1740, and Abel Platts Jr., born 1738, livedtogether sixty years before he died within a fortnight of hiseighty-second birthday anniversary. She lived to the great age of onehundred and one. http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/_glc_/2006/2006_46.html ------------------- Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Personal Memoirsof . WORCESTER COUNTY By Ellery Bicknell Crane http://books.google.com/books?id=ByzhgLUOIRIC&pg=RA1-PA149&dq=%22John+Wetherbee%22RA1-PA149-IA1,M1 WETHERBEE FAMILY. John Wetherbee (l), the immigrant ancestor of GeorgeF. Wetherbee, late of Gardner, Massachusetts, was born in Englandabout 1650, and settled in Marlboro and Stow, Massachusetts. He diedin Stow in 1711. He married first, at Marlboro, September 18, 1672,Mary How, who was born June 18. 1658. died June 5, 1684, the daughterof John and Mary How. He married (second) Lydia Moore, who survived him. The children ofJohn and Mary Wetherbee: i. Joseph, born September 18, 1672; marriedElizabeth Johnson. 2. John, born March 26, 1675; died about 1720;lived in Stow ; descendants numerous in Rindge, New Hampshire. 3.Thomas, born January 8, 1678; married Hannah Wood; ancestor of theShrewsbury branch of the family. 4. Mary. Children of John and LydiaWetherbee : 5. Ephraim, settled in Lunen- burg; descendants inFitchburg and lower New Hampshire. 6. Jonathan. 7. David, mentionedbelow. 8. Anne. Q. Lydia. (II) David Wetherbee. son of John Wetherbee(l), was born in Stow, Massachusetts, about 1690. He resided in Stow. Among his children \v;is Phinehas, born October 6,1716, mentioned below. (III) Phineas Wetherbee, son of David Wetherbee(2), was born in Stow, October 6, 1716. He settled in Stow. Among hischildren were: I. Phineas, Jr., born about 1640; removed to Ashburn-ham about 1765; married, June 7, 1767, Hannah Whitney, of Stow, andhad: Betty, Catherine, Dolly and Hannah at Ashburnham. 2. Israel, bornJuly 18, 1756, mentioned below. (IV) Israel Wetherbee, son of PhineasWetherbee (3), was born in Stow, July 18, 1756. He settled at Ashby.not far from his birth-place. His children: I. Israel, Jr., bornNovember 19, 1781, at Ashby; died December 28, 1848; married, May 4,1809, at Fitchburg, Hepsibah, who died July 25, 1829, leaving eightchildren, born in Fitchburg. 2. Joseph, born August 13, 1783 : diedOctober 23, 1858, father of Deacon Joseph Wetherbee, of Ashburnham andRindge. 3. Silas, born March 14, 1790; died April, 1860. 4. Zacheus,born June 18, 1793, mentioned below. (V) Zacheus H. Wetherbee, son ofIsrael Wetherbee (4). was born in Ashby, June 18, 1795. He bought afive acre lot in Lancaster on the road to Lunenburg, April 3, 1817,from Daniel Hayden. He was a housewright by trade. He married, June 3,1817. Rachel F. Rand, at Harvard. Massachusetts. He married (second)Sarah D. Raymore, born February 28, 1798, in Sterling. He diedDecember 25. 1875. She died May 12, 1875. The children of Zacheus and Rachel F. Wetherbee : I. Julia Arm. 2.Rachel S., died at Framingham, September 18, 1838. 3. JonathanZacheus, mentioned below. Children of Zacheus H. and Sarah D. Wetherbee: 4. Sarah Ellen. (VI)Jonathan Zacheus Wetherbee. son of Zacheus H. Wetherbee (5), was bornin Concord, Massachusetts, about 1823. He married, at Leominstcr,Massachusetts, November 7, 1844, Sarah Johnson, of Leominster. Hebought land of Caleb Dana in Princeton, in 1846; of Nahum Wilder in1862, and other land there later. He was living in Princeton in 1846,on the road to Hubbardston. He died July 2, 1886 ; his wife diedJanuary 12, 1904. The children of Jonathan Z. and Sarah Wetherbee: i.George Francis, mentioned below. 2. Albert B., born in Princeton. 3.Charles Kdwin, born July 20, 1849: resides in Worcester. (VII) GeorgeFrancis Wetherbee, son of Jonathan Zacheus Wetherbee (6), born atPrinceton, Massachusetts, April 27, 1847. died at Gardner,Massachusetts. June 24,' 1903. He received a common school education in the public schools ofPrinceton, and worked on his father's farm during his youth. His firstbusiness venture was in his native town, in the grain and feedbusiness. He was at the same time station agent for the Boston & MaineRailroad there. In 1886 he removed to Gardner, where he carried on anextensive business in feed, grain, flour, etc., until his death. Hewas an able and successful man of affairs, popular among hisfellow-townsmen, and respected by all who knew him. He was a stanchRepublican, and active in party councils, but never cared for publicoffice. He was a member of the order of United Workmen, and was aMethodist in religion. He married first, Sylvia A. Roper, of the Princeton branc
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