Joseph Allyn (1722 - 1797)

Born 27 Oct 1722 in Hingham, Suffolk, Massachusetts Bay

Ancestors

Husband of Mary Peirce — married about 1748 in Rehoboth, Bristol County, Province of Massachusetts Bay

Descendants

Died 16 Dec 1797 at age 75 in Putney, Windham County, Vermont

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Biography

Joseph was born in 1722 at Hingham, Massachusettshttps:^[1], the second child of Thomas and Deborah (Cushing) Allen (Joseph's older brother Joseph had passed away in infancy a year before). Within a couple of years, Joseph's parents settled in Rehoboth, at which place all of his younger siblings were born.

Joseph married Mary Peirce in Rehoboth probably in 1748^[2][3]. Joseph and Mary had children in Rehoboth:

1. Jacob b. Aug 27, 1749 d. Oct. 16, 1749
2. Joseph b. Feb 5, 1751 d. Apr. 7, 1751
3. John b. June 10, 1752
4. Joseph b. Aug 23, 1756 m. 1778 Mary Thurston in Rehoboth d. Dec 16, 1797 Putney, Vermont
5. Lydia b. Apr 22, 1758 m. Oct 4, 1781 Abial Fisher in Rehoboth d. Nov 27, 1833 Danville, Vermont
6. Thomas b. Sep 6, 1759 d. Nov 8, 1759
7. Ichabod b. Mar 19, 1762 d. May 12, 1762
8. Lewis b. Apr 16, 1764 d. April 25, 1841 East Dummerston, Vermont
9. Thomas b. Feb 26, 1767 d. Sep 20, 1775

Sometime probably a little after 1780, Joseph and Mary relocated with their family to the vicinity of Putney, Vermont.

Joseph passed away in 1797 at Putney. His headstone is reported to be inscribed "Joseph Allyn died Dec. 16, 1797, agea 77"^[4] (this conflicts with the birth date given in the Hingham vital records).

Research Notes

There were many Joseph Allens in the area at this time. See the disambiguation page for a list of these Josephs, their vital records, and their family groups.

Joseph has been called "Joseph Jr.", for instance, in the death records of his sons Thomas and Ichabod in the Rehoboth VR. It is not clear if there was an elder Joseph in his family. Perhaps instead this was just to distinguish him from an elder neighbor. This possibility is corroborated by records of "Joseph 4th" and even "Joseph 5th" who were not descended from long lines of Josephs.

The birth records for his children in the Rehoboth VR list him as "Joseph (of Joseph)", which is being assumed to be incorrect. (A possible explanation if this is indeed a mistake is that someone mistakenly took the suffix "Jr." to mean that his father's name was Joseph.) The following should go far to relieve whatever uneasiness arises from this assumption.

We identify this Joseph the father of these children as husband of Mary Peirce and son of Thomas as follows. First, the birth date in the Rehoboth VR of eldest recorded son Jacob in 1749, parents Joseph and Mary, fits well with the marriage intention for Joseph Allen and Mary Peirce in 1748.

Further, Jacob's birth date in the VR is the same as that on Jacob's gravestone in Newman Cemetery, East Providence, Rhode Island. That is the same cemetery where Thomas and Deborah Allyn are buried. The birth year of 1722 for Joseph son of Thomas and Deborah fits well with a marriage to Mary Peirce in 1748.

Finally, Joseph's sister Betty Allyn married Comfort Peirce at Rehoboth in 1761 (known from marriage record and "Betty Peirce" named in their father's will), and it is clear from the Rehoboth VR that Comfort and Mary Peirce were siblings.

Sources

1. ↑ Hingham VR: [//www.americanancestors.org/DB2709/i/43968/71/1212627494 image online] at American Ancestors (subscription required)
2. ↑ intention on July 9, 1748; Arnold: Page 418
3. ↑ Loose page inserted in Hingham's transcription of the Barnstable Vital Records
4. ↑ Mansfield, page 248

• Hingham, MA: Vital Records, 1637-1845. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2016. Vital Records of Hingham, Massachusetts, ca. 1639-1844. Hersey, Reuben. Mss 901. R. Stanton Avery Special Collections Department, New England Historic Genealogical Society.)

• Arnold, James. Vital Record of Rehoboth, 1642-1896 (Narragansett Historical Publishing Company, 1897)

• Mansfield, David L. "Putney West Hill: a brief sketch of its settlement" in The Vermont Historical Gazetteer Volume 5 pp.248-249.

• Massachusetts: Vital Records, 1621-1850 (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2016).

• Find A Grave: Memorial #15308976

• Massachusetts Town and Vital Records, 1620 - 1988

• History of the Town of Hingham, Massachusetts (The Town of Hingham, Massachusetts, 1893): Vol II, p.8