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Ebenezer Davenport (1661-1738) Expanded Biography

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Location: Dorchester, Suffolk, Massachusetts Bay Colonymap
Surname/tag: Davenport
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Ebenezer Davenport (1661 - 1738) Expanded Biography

Children

  1. Mary - born July 16 1683 Boston, baptized June 28 1685 Dorchester, married Richard Mason Brooks II.
  2. Zivitha - born May 3 1688, possibly Tabitha?
  3. Tabitha - possibly baptized Feb 23 1690. Father listed as Ebenezer Wales, not in full Communion yet. The "Wales" may have been a mistake - apparently there was no Ebenezer Wales in Dorchester at this time. Tabitha married John Cox Jr.
  4. Hesther (Heaster, Esther) - born Feb 11 1690, married Josiah Hobbs.
  5. Jeams (James) - baptized March 5 1691.
  6. James - born March 1 1693, married Grace Tileson, Sarah Franklin & Mary Walker.
  7. Zeruiah (Zerujah) - born Feb 14 1695, baptized Feb 7 1695, married Thomas Lazenby.
  8. Hephzibah (Hepzibath) - born April 11 1697, baptized Feb 18 1697, married Thomas Cox.
  9. Thankfull - born March 8 1700, baptized March 10 1700, married Ebenezer Cox.
  10. Elisha (Eliah) - born Sept 26 1703, baptized Aug 3 1703, married Rachel Searle.
  11. Ebenezer - baptized Aug 7 1706, Submit Howe.

Sometimes the children's recorded birth dates come after their baptism dates. I have no explanation for this.

Ebenezer's Life

Ebenezer was a weaver. He was living in Falmouth (now Portland, Maine) in 1680, as a corporal at Fort Loyal and living at MacWorth's Point.

After they married, Ebenezer and Dorcas apparently moved to Boston, then Dorchester, then settled in Falmouth on a farm next to the estate of Dorcas' father near Presumpscot River, in New Casco. They fled an Indian attack and settled in Dorchester. During King Philip's War in 1676 the Abenaki destroyed the town and fort, and they were rebuilt in 1678. During King William's War in 1690 the Abenaki and French destroyed the town and fort, slaughtering its inhabitants.

One document says Ebenezer arrived in Falmouth in 1685. We have records proving Ebenezer was in Boston in 1683 and in Dorchester in 1685, twice in 1688 and from 1690 on. On April 26 1689 Corp. Ebenezer Dauenport was one of 14 men, it seems all soldiers, signed a letter saying their captain George Lockhart "carried and behaved himself decently", not letting anyone go to their farms to plow and sow unless at least 8 others went with them for defense from Indian attack, and that there were some officers had communication with the French and Indians but not Lockhart. On May 24 1689 Ebenezer Dauenport was one of several inhabitants of Casco Bay signing a petition to remove 2 lieutenants and a captain who had been sent to command their town and had impoverished the town, not even paying their minister and losing them a large number of men. So Ebenezer may have kept various church connections with Dorchester. Casco Bay may have had a minister of some kind, but I found no existence of a church in the area until 1726. My guess is that Ebenezer and Dorcas arrived in Casco Bay in late 1685 and fled the area in January 1690 just ahead of the major attack. The village was called Casco when it was founded in 1632; sometimes information is found under that name.

On April 14 1685 "Ebenezer Davenport son of Tho Davenport owned y* Covenant" (joined the church in Dorchester). It seems Ebenezer's daughter Mary wasn't baptized until almost the age of 2, in June 1685. Ebenezer had "owned the Covenant" 2 months before, but he is listed as not being in full Communion yet in Mary's baptism record. So this must have been a 2nd step he was expected to take in order to fully join and be in good standing with the church. His brother Charles was in the same situation as Ebenezer; he was invited into full Communion the day he baptized his 5th child. Ebenezer was a full member by 1691.

In 1689 there was a contribution to the poor in Dorchester, given to the church to disperse. Ebenezer Davenport was one of 9 selectmen and deacons distributing this money, giving 3 shillings to Samuell Capen and 3 shillings to Ebenezer Withington.

In 1696 Eben. Davenport served as a selectman for Dorchester.

In 1700, a list of men age 21 and above was written. It includes Ebenezer Davenport, his brothers Charles and John, and presumably two nephews, William and Thomas.

Ebenezer Davenport married 2 Sarah Bartlett on May 26 1724. Both were living in Dorchester. We don't know who Sarah's family was as there was no family of Bartletts in Dorchester until 1781. There was a Hannah Bartlett who was baptized as an adult in the Dorchester church in 1700; we don't know if she was related to Sarah or not.

Ebenezer died in 1738,15 years after his first wife Dorcas. His will, dated Aug 21 1738, doesn't include his 2nd wife Patience since she had been absent for 3 years, but does list his surviving 3 sons and 6 daughters. It's interesting that 3 daughters married Cox brothers.

Sources

  • Mary's birth: Records relating to the early history of Boston .. by Boston (Mass.). Registry Dept; Appleton, William S. (William Sumner), 1840-1903; McGlenen, Edward W. (Edward Webster); Watkins, Walter Kendall, 1855-1934; Whitmore, William Henry, 1836-1900 as found at [1]
  • Records of the First Church at Dorchester, in New England, 1636-1734 by First Church (Dorchester, Boston, Mass.) as found at [2]
  • Baptisms of children: Records relating to the early history of Boston .. by Boston (Mass.). Registry Dept; Appleton, William S. (William Sumner), 1840-1903; McGlenen, Edward W. (Edward Webster); Watkins, Walter Kendall, 1855-1934; Whitmore, William Henry, 1836-1900 as found at [3]
  • History of the town of Dorchester, Massachusetts by Dorchester Antiquarian and Historical Society (Dorchester, Boston, Mass.); Clapp, Ebenezer, 1809-1881 as found at [4]
  • Family facts: Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire, Vol. 2 as found at [5]
  • Marriage of Ebenezer and Sarah: Records relating to the early history of Boston .. by Boston (Mass.). Registry Dept; Appleton, William S. (William Sumner), 1840-1903; McGlenen, Edward W. (Edward Webster); Watkins, Walter Kendall, 1855-1934; Whitmore, William Henry, 1836-1900 as found at [6]
  • The History of Portland, from 1632 to 1864: With a Notice of Previous ... By William Willis as found at [7]
  • Documentary history of the state of Maine Volume VI, the Baxter Manuscripts by Maine Historical Society Publication date 1869-1916 as found at [8]
  • Collections of the Dorchester Antiquarian and Historical Society, Issue 2 By Dorchester antiquarian and historical society, as found at [9]




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