Deborah (Champion) Gilbert (1753 - 1845)

Born 3 May 1753 in Colchester Twp, New London, Connecticut

Ancestors

Wife of Samuel Gilbert — married 3 Sep 1775 in Hebron, Tolland, Connecticut

Descendants

Died 20 Nov 1845 at age 92 in Gilead (Hebron), Tolland, Connecticut, United States

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Christopher Childs [send private message] and Bob Kerr [send private message]

Biography

Deborah (Champion) Gilbert is a DAR Patriot Ancestor, A020505.

Deborah Champion, daughter of Henry and Deborah Champion, was born at Westchester parish -- within the village of Colchester, Connecticut -- on the third of May, 1753.

She married Samuel Gilbert on 3 Sep. 1775 at Hebron, Tolland, Connecticut.^[1] . (The record's designation of this spouse as "Mrs. Deborah Champion" applies purely after the fact; the senior Mrs. Champion -- Deborah (Brainerd) Champion -- was married to Henry Champion until her death in 1789; the age disparity would be nonsensical; and the "Family Record" of Rep. Samuel Jones clearly identifies this spouse as Henry & Deborah Champion's daughter, "Miss Deborah Champion".)

Deborah died on the 20th of November, 1845, and was buried at Gilead Cemetery, Hebron, Tolland County, Connecticut. Her memorial has a photo of a family monument and links to those of family members.^[2]

Family tradition -- greatly embellished by a letter written up to a century later, falsely purporting to be from Deborah herself -- has it that Deborah smuggled through the British lines, under her cloak, important messages from her father -- Continental Army commissary Henry Champion -- to George Washington, in Boston. (Washington was actually in Cambridge. And the British set no pickets outside Boston.) An exhaustive look at the origins, and likely veracity (or lack thereof) of the letter is offered in several excellent successive blog entries by Massachusetts writer J.L. Bell, beginning at http://boston1775.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-dar-and-deborah-champion.html . While there may be some kernel of truth behind the tale (a daughter might have supported her father's Revolutionary efforts in a variety of ways), the waters have been so muddied by overenthusiastic supporters over two centuries that it is difficult to know how the original legend began.

Sources

1. ↑ NEHGS (image of typewritten transcript): "Deborah, Mrs., of Colchester, m. Samuel Gilbert, of Hebron, Sept 3, 1775" -- Hebron VRs, p. 27; Connecticut: Vital Records (The Barbour Collection), 1630-1870 (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2011.) From original typescripts, Lucius Barnes Barbour Collection, 1928; https://www.americanancestors.org/DB414/i/13172/27/234682280 (by subscription)
2. ↑ Find A Grave Memorial# 45214723 Deborah Champion Gilbert

• Birth: "Connecticut Births and Christenings, 1649-1906," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F7WT-3LH : 11 February 2018), Deborah Champion, 03 May 1753; citing ; FHL microfilm unknown.

• Marriage: "Family Record" of Rep. Samuel Jones, created (first entry) August 6, 1840. Transcript in possession of descendant Christopher Childs (Childs-1516).

• Death: "Connecticut Deaths and Burials, 1772-1934," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F7F5-M28 : 9 February 2018), Deborah Gilbert, 20 Nov 1845; citing Connecticut, reference ; FHL microfilm 3,245.

See also:

• Find A Grave entry for Deborah Champion Gilbert (with photo of memorial): Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 9 March 2019), memorial page for Deborah Champion Gilbert (6 May 1753–20 Nov 1845), Find A Grave Memorial no. 45214723, citing Gilead Cemetery, Hebron, Tolland County, Connecticut, USA ; Maintained by Linda Mac (contributor 47062703); https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/45214723

• http://www.geocities.ws/ckhansgw/gilbert2.htm

• http://www.thehumanfamilytree.com/fh/Deborah-Champion/575573352

• The Women of '76 by Sally Smith Booth, Hastings House publishers, New York, 1973. E276 B66.Pages 55-57.