Ruth (Higgins) Eldredge (1700 - aft. 1762)

Born 11 Sep 1700 in Eastham, Barnstable, Province of Massachusetts Bay, New England

Ancestors

Wife of Ebenezer Stewart — married 11 Oct 1716 (to 1728) in Eastham, Barnstable, Massachusetts Bay

Wife of James (Eldridge) Eldredge — married before 2 Dec 1733 (to 19 Jul 1757) in Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts Bay [uncertain]

Descendants

Died after 13 Mar 1762 after age 61 in Nova Scotia [uncertain]

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Biography

Line of descent from Mayflower ancestor Thomas Rogers: 1. Joseph Rogers 2. Elizabeth Rogers 3. Joseph Higgins 4. Ruth Higgins

Ruth Higgins was born on 11 September 1700 in Eastham, Barnstable, (then) Province of Massachusetts Bay, the daughter of Joseph and Ruth Higgins. ^[1][2][3]

She married first on 11 October 1716 in Eastham Ebenezer Stewart/Steward of Chatham,^[4] son of Hugh and Waitstill (Denne) Stewart of Yarmouth.^[2] He died after 1728 when he witnessed a will. Ruth and Ebenezer apparently had no children.^[2]

She married secondly James Eldredge before 1733. James died Chatham on 19 July 1757. James was probably married previously to a woman who was the mother of his children Seth and Mary.^[2]

James Eldredge's will, dated 16 May 1757 and proved 26 July 1757, names wife Ruth; sons Abner and James, both under 21; son Seth living in Rhode Island; son Zephaniah; daughters Mary Eldridge, Rebecca Collings and Ruth Bearse; wife Ruth and brother-in-law Solomon Collings of Chatham were executors.^[2]

Widow Ruth accompanied sons Abner and Zephaniah to Liverpool, Nova Scotia in the 1760s.^[2]

She died after 13 March 1762 when she was named in a deed, probably in Nova Scotia.^[2]

Children (Eldridge) born Chatham:^[2]

1. Zephaniah, b. 2 Dec 1733
2. Rebecca, b. 16 Nov 1735
3. Ruth, b. 16 Feb 1737
4. Abner, b. 11 Oct 1738
5. James, b. 8 Apr 1742

Sources

1. ↑ George Ernest Bowman, "Eastham, Mass., Vital Records," Mayflower Descendant, Vol. 3:179.

   Ruth Higgins the daughter of Joseph and Ruth Higgins was born the eleventh day of September 1700.

2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7} Ann Reeves and Alice W.A. Westgate, Mayflower Families Through 5 Generations, Thomas Rogers, Vol. 19 (Plymouth, MA: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 2000), pp. 24, 80.
3. ↑ Births, marriages, deaths, 1649-ca.1840; intentions of marriage, 1700-ca.1905, database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-8979-9X4W  : 27 September 2022), , FHL microfilm 007009735, image 108, Eastham, Massachusetts, Volume 2, Births, & Deaths, 1654-1797, Page 9. Bottom of page.
4. ↑ George Ernest Bowman, "Eastham & Orleans, Mass., Vital Records," Mayflower Descendant,Vol. 15:55

   Ebenezer Steward of Chatham and Ruth Higgins of Eastham were married by Joseph Doane Esqur on the eleventh day of October annodomini 1716.

• Higgins, Katherine E. Chapin, Richard Higgins : a resident and pioneer settler at Plymouth and Eastham, Massachusetts, and at Piscataway, New Jersey, and his descendants (Worcester, Mass. : K.C. Higgins, 1918), p. 71.