Hezekiah Bourne (1675 - 1755)

Born 25 Sep 1675 in Sandwich, Barnstable, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Ancestors

Husband of Mehitable (Hinckley) Bourne — married 20 Oct 1743 in Wareham, Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay

Descendants

Died 3 Mar 1755 at age 79 in Wareham, Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay Colony

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Biography

Hezekiah Bourne was the fourth child and fourth son of Job Bourne and Ruhamah (Hallett) Bourne, born in Sandwich, Massachusetts, on 25 September 1675.^[1] Hezekiah had three older brothers, all born in Sandwich, namely Timothy b. 4/18/1666; Eleazer b. 7/20/1670 and John b. 11/2/1672. He also had a younger sister Hannah, b. 11/3/1677.^[2]

His father died in Feb 1677 when Hezekiah was less than 2 years old. His father pre-deceased his grandfather and the court appointed John Miller in 1682 to act on behalf of Job's children and widow. As the eldest son, it is likely that Job and his family lived with his father (Hezekiah's grandfather) and step-mother on the father's homestead farm which his children inherited. Though not yet 2 years old, Hezekiah like his older brothers was well covered with real estate inheritances in his father's will.^[3] When his mother re-married (to William Hersey of Hingham) when he was 12, he appears to have gone with her to live in his stepfather's home in Hingham, Massachusetts, but he subsequently re-settled in Sandwich.^[4]

In 1684, Hezekiah (along with his siblings) received an inheritance of 5 pounds from his maternal grandfather Andrew Hallett of Yarmouth.^[5]

In about 1720, Hezekiah married Abigail. Her last name is not known, but it has been suggested that she was Abigail Trowbridge. Basis for this is an entry at the top of page 83 of the Sandwich Vital Records that is transcribed as: "June the 21st 1720 Then the marriage between [cutoff name at top of page] and Abigail Trobrig both of Sandwich was Solemnized before Melatiah Bourne Esqr. Justice of the Peace in Sandwich."^[6] A footnote in the vital records publication states that H. B. J. Lee, in the 1972 book The Bourne Genealogy, identified the husband as Hezekiah Bourne and that "the fragments of the name remaining on the page appear to confirm this identification." This has led to the suggestion that she was Abigail Trowbridge of Newton, Massachusetts, but this does not seem to be valid, since Abigail Trowbridge was mentioned in documents in 1728 in her maiden name and this is well after the time (1726) when Hezekiah had already remarried.^[7] Torrey's New England Marriages has Hezekiah Bourne (1675- ) married to Elizabeth Trowbridge; by 1701?, but the basis for this information is not apparent ^[8]

Hezekiah and Abigail are known to have had one child: Ebenezer, born 23 May 1721 in Sandwich.^[9]

On 19 Oct 1726, Hezekiah married second Mary Besse (in Sandwich). They had no children.

Sandwich Vital Records has this second marriage to Mary Bessie on 14 October 1728.^[10]

In 1729, Hezekiah Bourne of the town of Sandwich, husbandman, acquired property in Indian Neck, Agawam, from his nephew Timothy Bourne Jr. This area became part of the new town of Wareham when it was incorporated in 1739.^[11] The first Bourne house on Indian Neck was in fact built by Hezekiah, about 1743.

Probably not long after that property transfer, and by 1733, Hezekiah removed from Sandwich to Plymouth. In September 1733.^[4] Hezekiah Bourne, Plymouth Yeoman, was named as defendant in a debt-related filing made in Plymouth County Court by Samuel Swift, Plymouth Husbandman. The plaintiff did not appear and the matter was recorded as a "nonsuit."^[12] In 1739 the area where he lived became part of the newly established town of Wareham. On 7 November 1740 Hezekiah "of Wareham, yeoman," sold property in Wareham.^[4]

On 30 Sept 1742, Hezekiah deeded half his real estate in Wareham to his son Ebenezer.^[13]

Probably not long after deeding the property to his son, Hezekiah married his third wife, Mehitable Hinckley, in Wareham. The last digit in the year of this marriage is not legibly preserved in the town marriage record,^[14] and the date has been interpreted differently by different transcribers and compilers.^[15] A 20th-century handwritten transcript attributed to Jay and Delene Holbrook shows the date as 20 October 1741,^[16] Frederick Bailey's compilation of town marriage records gives the date of marriage as 22 October 1742,^[17] and Brownson and McLean reported the date as 20 October 1743, citing Wareham town records.^[4] Mehitable may have been a widow at the time of marriage, but this is not recorded. There apparently was a 40-year age difference between Hezekiah and Mehitable; it is possible that the transfer of property to Ebenezer in 1742 was motivated by concern that Ebenezer's interests could be harmed by Hezekiah's recent or planned late-life marriage to a much younger woman. If that was the motivation for the deed of property, it's likely that the marriage took place on 20 October 1742, about three weeks after the deed.

Hezekiah and Mehitable Bourne had one child, Job, born Jan. 9, 1745 in Wareham.^[4]

On 3 February 1745, Ebenezer Bourne petitioned the selectmen of Warham (i.e., Wareham, Massachusetts) to find his father, Hezekiah Bourne, to be "noncompetent" due to old age and therefore unable to care for himself, his family, and his estate. The selectmen agreed to the petition on 5 February and requested that the judge of probate appoint a guardian or guardians.^[18][19] His inventory was taken and recorded.^[20]

Hezekiah died in March 1755 and is reported to be buried in Agawam Cemetery in Wareham, Massachusetts, where the following gravestone inscription was recorded:^[21]

In Memory of

Mr. Hezekiah Bourn

who Died March (ye 9th?)

1755 In the (80?)

Year of his Age

Sources

1. ↑ Brownson and McLean. page 199. Citing Mayflower Descendant, v. 14 (1912), pp. 107-108.
2. ↑ Pg. 196, History of Richard Bourne and Some of his Descendants, Compiled by Hannah S. B. Dykes
3. ↑ Brownson and McLean, page 197.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4} Brownson and McLean, page 208.
5. ↑ Great Migration, Vol. 3, G-H, pg. 197
6. ↑ Vital Records of Sandwich, Massachusetts, vol. 1, pages 118-119.
7. ↑ The Trowbridge Family, by Rev. F. W. Chapman (1872) pg. 356
8. ↑ Torrey's New England Marriages, vol 1, page 177. Citing Eliot, M. B., Four Generations of Descendants of Richard Bourne, manuscript (Providence, R.I., 1894).
9. ↑ Brownson and McLean. page 209: Ebenezer, b. in Sandwich 23 May 1721 (to "Hezekiah and Abigail his wife").
10. ↑ Vital Records of Sandwich, Massachusetts, vol. 1, page 128: [172]8 October the 14 then Hezekiah Bourn & Mary Bessie both of Sandwich were Married by Coll: Melatiah Bourn Justice of peace.
11. ↑ Pg. 65, History of Richard Bourne and Some of his Descendants, Compiled by Hannah S. B. Dykes
12. ↑ Plymouth County, MA: Plymouth Court Records, 1686-1859. CD-ROM. Boston, MA.: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2002. Copyright, 2002, Pilgrim Society. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2008.) Volume 5, page 393.
13. ↑ Pg. 66, History of Richard Bourne and Some of his Descendants, Compiled by Hannah S. B. Dykes
14. ↑ Image of page, Town and City Clerks of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Vital and Town Records. Provo, UT: Holbrook Research Institute (Jay and Delene Holbrook). Accessed at Ancestry.com. Visible text: "Hezekiah Bourn & Mehetabel Hinkley Maried Octr 20 174"
15. ↑ The preceding entry is for a marriage on March 21, 1741 and the subsequent entry is for a marriage on Nov. 4 1742 or 1743, so there is an ample range of time within which the marriage could have occurred.
16. ↑ Town and City Clerks of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Vital and Town Records. Provo, UT: Holbrook Research Institute (Jay and Delene Holbrook). page image at Ancestry.com.
17. ↑ Bailey, Frederick W. Early Massachusetts Marriages Prior to 1800, as found in the original records of Plymouth County. Second Book. New Haven: Bureau of American Ancestry, ca. 1900. Page 49: "Wareham. Hezekiah Bourne, aged 65, & Mehitable Hinckley, aged 25, Oct. 22, 1742." Note: The ages of the bride and groom probably were inserted by Bailey; they are not in the town record.
18. ↑ Plymouth County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1686-1881.Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2015. (From records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives.) Case Number 2376, Guardianship, Hezekiah Bourne.
19. ↑ "Massachusetts, Plymouth County, Probate Records, 1633-1967," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L97D-8L7V : 20 May 2014), Probate records 1745-1749 and 1836-1849 vol 10-10A > image 51-52 of 611; State Archives, Boston.Starts at bottom right hand side of image.
20. ↑ "Massachusetts, Plymouth County, Probate Records, 1633-1967," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-897D-82YB : 20 May 2014), Probate records 1745-1749 and 1836-1849 vol 10-10A > image 103 of 611; State Archives, Boston.
21. ↑ FindAGrave, Memorial #136520701, Hezekiah Bourne. Created by Brian DesErmia, September 28, 2014. [No gravestone photo.]

• Brownson, Lydia B. (Phinney) and Maclean W. McLean. "The Rev. Richard Bourne of Sandwich, Mass. (C. 1610-1682) (Continued)." The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, v. 118 (1964), p. 197ff.
• Sandwich, Mass., Records, The Genealogical Advertiser (Lucy Hall Greenlaw, Cambridge, Mass., 1900) Vol. 3, Page 33.