Nathaniel Church (abt. 1758 - aft. 1825)

Born about 1758 in Hadley, Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay Colony [uncertain]

Ancestors

Husband of Calista (Wells) Church — married about 1787 in Brattleboro, Windham, Vermont, United States

Descendants

Died after 1825 after about age 67 in Quebec, Canada

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Biography

Nathaniel was born about 1758, probably in Hadley, Massachusetts. He was probably the son of Eber Church and his wife Mary.

There is no record of Nathaniel having taken part in the Revolutionary War that erupted in his seventeenth year. After the conflict comes to an end in 1781 he settles in Vermont which was neither part of the new United States, nor was it a British colony. From 1777 until 1791 the territory is an independent state.

In about 1787 he married Calista Wells in her home town of Brattleboro, Vermont^[1]. She was the daughter of a prominent loyalist. Together they had eight children.

Record keeping in Vermont and Lower Canada is pretty poor in those days and we can generally chase the children only by their appearance in later censuses.

The eldest seems to have been Eber, born in 1788 in Vermont, followed by Harriet in 1790.

In 1791, Vermont joined the Union as the 14th state. Many of the loyalist families departed for Canada, including Nathaniel and Calista. The children of Samuel Wells each received generous land grants from the crown. On 22 October 1798, Nathaniel received letters patent for 2400 acres near Farnham, Missisquoi, Quebec.

Their remaining children were all born in Canada: Nathaniel, Dudley, Charles, Laura, Hannah and Cecilia.

In the 1825 census of Lower Canada, Nathaniel and Calista were listed alone^[2] in the Shefford area.

He passed away after 1825.

Research Notes

There is a Nathaniel Church in the 1831 Lower Canada survey, but this entry is much more likely to be the son than the father by the listed age. He was listed beside his two brothers, Charles and Dudley, as basketmakers.

Sources

1. ↑ A History of Deerfield, Massachusetts: the times when the people by whom it was settled, unsettled and resettled: by Sheldon, George, 1818-1916 https://archive.org/details/historyofdeerfie02shel/page/404
2. ↑ Canada, Lower Canada Census, 1825 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KHJ8-Q87