Jacob Bliss (1732 - 1807)

Born 16 Feb 1732 in Rehoboth, Bristol, Province of Massachusetts Bay

Ancestors

Husband of Judeth (Smith) Bliss — married 1 Dec 1757 in Cumberland, Providence, Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations

Descendants

Died 3 Mar 1807 at age 75 in Rehoboth, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: William Bliss [send private message]

Biography

BLISS, JACOB - Recognized by NSDAR for the first time May 2012: (Ancestor# A208509) Service: MASSACHUSETTS    Rank: PRIVATE irth: 2-16-1731    REHOBOTH BRISTOL CO MASSACHUSETTS Death:  (BURIED) 3-3-1807     REHOBOTH BRISTOL CO MASSACHUSETTS Service Source: MA SOLS & SAILS, VOL 2, P 184 Service Description:  1) CAPT SIMEON COLE, COL THOMAS CARPENTER, MILITIA

acob Bliss (1732-1807) and his son Jacob Bliss Jr. (1767-1825) participated in "Shay’s Rebellion."

Jacob Bliss and Jacob Jr. are also believed to be patriots who fought in the American Revolutionary war. Jacob was a deacon in the Church at Rehoboth, Massachusetts. The Bliss family in fact had long ties with Rehoboth going back to 1655. Jonathan Bliss was Jacob’s great-grandfather who came to the Plymouth Colony in 1655 from England. After King Philip's Indian War in 1676, Jonathan Bliss was named Sgt. of Rehoboth militia and became a prominent and wealthy landowner most of which remained in the Bliss family for 5 generations until the time of Shay’s Rebellion.

Shays' Rebellion was an armed uprising in Western Massachusetts from 1786 to 1787. This armed uprising was essentially a small civil war. The rebels, led by Daniel Shays a veteran of the American Revolutionary War, and known as Shaysites (or Regulators), were mostly small farmers angered by crushing debt and taxes. In 1786, the revolutionary war's debt ultimately trickled down to individuals, in large part to small farmers. Failure to repay such debts often resulted in imprisonment in debtor's prisons or the claiming of property by the state. Loss of such property could reduce families to extreme poverty. It also often meant that such men might lose their right to vote since suffrage was often tied to property ownership. Though initial reactions were peaceful, the farmers eventually forcibly attempted to prevent courts in Western Massachusetts from sitting. The rebellion started on August 29, 1786. A Massachusetts militia that had been raised as a private army defeated the main Shaysite force on February 3, 1787. There was a lack of an institutional response to the uprising, which energized calls to reevaluate the Articles of Confederation.

The events of Shays' Rebellion over the coming months would strengthen the hands of those who wanted a stronger central government, and persuade many who had been undecided as to the need for such a radical change. One of the key figures, George Washington, who had long been cool to the idea of strong centralized government, was frightened by the events in Massachusetts. By January 1787, he decided to come out of retirement and to attend the convention being called for the coming May in Philadelphia. At the Constitutional Convention of 1787, a new, stronger government would be created under the United States Constitution.

"A Mr. Jacob Bliss and Jacob, Jr., took the oath of allegiance to the commonwealth of Massachusetts in March of 1787 and delivered up their arms to the government, they having engaged in the [so called] Shay insurrection." (Source: GENEALOGY OF THE BLISS FAMILY IN AMERICA)

Jacob's father Daniel Bliss purchased land in the "1738 Land Division" in the northwest part of present-day Rehoboth. There, he built a house in the 1750s that came to be known as the Daniel Bliss Homestead. The home and 44 acres were given by Daniel to Jacob in 1759. The homestead remained in the Bliss family for 230 years, with additions and further outbuildings added over the years when it primarily functioned as a dairy farm. At one time much of the original interior detail was removed, but labeled and stored in an outbuilding on the property. This detail was reinstalled during a historic restoration around 1970, and the house now retains most of its original features. It is described as one of Rehoboth's most outstanding Georgian period houses notable for its well-crafted detail and the quality of restoration work. ^[1] The homestead is located at 76 Homestead Ave in Rehoboth and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. ^[2] The homestead was also the subject of, The Impecunious House Restorer: Personal Vision & Historic Accuracy by John T. Kirk (1984), after the author, renound curator, and home restorer purchased and renovated the property. ^[3]

Sources

1. ↑ Massachusetts Historical Commission, Historic Building Detail: REH.148, Daniel Bliss Homestead, https://mhc-macris.net/details?mhcid=REH.148
2. ↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service, https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/AssetDetail/d670bf27-b092-4407-ab59-180e25e998c0
3. ↑ Kirk, John T. (1984). The Impecunious House Restorer: Personal Vision & Historic Accuracy. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.

Rhode Island Vital Records, 1636–1850 - Town and Church Records (V.1-V.12) (subscription) Vol. Providence County V3 page 5-58.

• Rehoboth, Mass. Vital Records, 1642-1896-1731 BLISS Jacob, Feb. 16, 1731-2 2 65 Birth, under Bliss, Daniell and Dorotha.
• Bliss family in America from about the year 1550 to 1880, Genealogy of the
• Abstract of Graves of Revolutionary Patriots, Vol.1, p.  Serial: 11831; Volume: 4

Photographed Primary Sources

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Kitty Smith for contributions to this profile.