Jehiel Simmons (abt. 1738 - 1809)

Born about 1738 in Massachusetts

Husband of Deborah (Loring) Simmons — married 22 Oct 1761 (to 1 Oct 1762) in Duxbury, Plymouth, Province of Massachusetts Bay

Husband of Rhoda (Stetson) Simmons — married 10 Apr 1764 in Scituate, Plymouth, Province of Massachusetts Bay

Descendants

Died 12 Jan 1809 at about age 71 in Hungry Island, Waldoboro, Maine

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Joel Simmons [send private message]

There is a dispute about who this Jehiel Simmons's parents were. As such please do not attach ANY parents to this person's lineage until this is cleared up.

Mayflower Families seems to be confused. There was NO "Joel" Simmons living on Hunger/Hungry Island. There was a Jehiel and one of his sons was named JOAB, not Joel.'

Biography

'This Jehiel Simmons, son of Isaac Simmons and Lydia Cushing, should not be confused with Jehiel Simmons, son of John Simmons and Susanna Tracy. It was the son of John who married both Deborah and Rhoda. In a number of online trees the two men have been conflated.

The above paragraph is in dispute.

Isaac's heirs named by Will, which he executed on August 31, 1764, included: wife Lydia; sons Levi and Jehiel; daughter Zenijah Holmes, her husband Samuel Holmes, and their son; daughters Martha Lowden, Lusanna (under 18), and Lydia (under 15); grandson Isaac, son of Jehiel; and Isaac's sister Priscilla to be maintained by Lydia and Levi.

(The above grandson Isaac would have been the son of Jehiel and Deborah (Loring) Simmons. Deborah Simmons died on Oct. 1 1762 leaving just one child Isaac [b. May 15, 1762.] As Jehiel did not marry Rhoda Stetson until April 10, 1764, this grandson Isaac is likely named in the will because he was motherless at the time that the will of Isaac Jr. was written. NOTE: The will was EXECUTED on Aug 31, 1764, but probably written before Jehiel married Rhoda Stetson on April 10, 1764.)

Jehiel, son of Isaac and Lydia (Cushing) Simmons was born in Marshfield on 14 April 1738.^[1]

1790 census lists him as "Eckial". This is not REMOTELY close to Joel.

Jehiel Simmons, son of Issac Simmons and Lydia Cushing, married Deborah Loring, daughter of Nathaniel Loring and Priscilla Bailey, at Pembroke, Plymouth, Massachusetts, on 22 October 1761.^[2]

Hungry Island: The earliest conveyance of Hungry Island was from Abner Samson to Levi Loring of Duxbury in 1776 for the upper half of the island. The southern portion of the island was at that time "in possession of Jehiel Simmons," How Samson or Simmons came to be in possession of the island is not known. However, Samson was a first cousin to Isaac Simmons, Jr. (b. 3/08/1700/1) via Benjamin & Elizabeth (Buck) Chandler. Neither Sampson or Loring ever lived on the island. In 1786 Loring sold the northern portion to Isaac and Joab Simmons, both sons of Jehiel Simmons. (Did Loring buy the northern part of the island to hold it until Isaac & Joab Simmons came of age and were able to purchase it?) Charles B. McLane states in his "Islands Of The Mid Maine Coast" that Jehiel Simmons was Levi Loring's nephew. That doesn't seem quite correct, although there was a relationship. The children of Thomas Loring and Mary Southworth, of which Levi was one, were orphaned in 1739. Thomas's brother Joshua was executor of the will and the children, Thomas, Perez, Levi, Simeon, Joshua, and Deborah (not to be confused with the wife of Jehiel) were appointed guardians. Levi and possibly other of the children may have been raised by their father's brother Nathaniel Loring, who was the father of Jehiel Simmon's first wife Deborah Loring. Thus Levi Loring may have been considered to have been an uncle of Deborah (Loring) Simmons even though he was actually her cousin. This would explain the relationship between Levi Loring and Jehiel Simmons. Interestingly enough, Jehiel Simmons named two of his sons Levi and Perez - likely after Levi and Perez Loring. (He also named a daughter Lusanna, also the name of one of Isaac Simmons Jr.'s daughters.)

Levi and Perez Loring show up again indirectly in Waldoboro's History when they took the Plymouth County inventory of Nathan Soule when he died in Waldoboro in 1782. (Inventory, 1784) Nathan Soule lived on a point of land called Schenk's Point in Waldoboro, an area not far from Hungry Island. ^[3]

Hungry Island was not assigned to a town during its early inhabitation. One must look at the records of Meduncook (Friendship), Waldoboro, or Bremen, Maine to look for island activity. Much went unrecorded

Sources

1. ↑ Mayflower Families Through Five Generations (Vol. 16, Pt. 2: Family of John Alden, Fifth Generation Descendants of his daughter Elizabeth (Alden) Pabodie), "Alden Silver Book," Book by Woodworth-Barnes, Esther Littleford, 2002 edition, Page 67
2. ↑ Mayflower Society Application Database: "Community Trees," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:2:QVQG-965 : accessed 9 May 2021), entry for Jehiel Simmons, cites sources; "Mayflower Pilgrim Genealogies" file (2:2:2:MMXD-DP8), submitted 24 February 2020 by FamilySearch.
3. ↑ Court Records of Plymouth County, Massachusetts

• VR of Marshfield, Mass.
• VR of Duxbury, Mass.
• VR of Scituate, Mass.
• McLane, CharlesB., "Islands of the Mid-Maine Coast", 1991
• Stahl, Jasper Jacob. History of Old Broad Bay and Waldoboro. Portland, Maine: Bond Wheelwright Co. 1956.
• Probate Records, Lincoln County, Maine
• Probate Records of Plymouth County, Massachusetts