Samuel Tobey III (1666 - 1737)

Born 1666 in Sandwich, Plymouth Colony

Ancestors

Husband of Abiah (Fish) Tobey — married about 1696 in Sandwich, Barnstable, Massachusetts

Descendants

Died 22 Sep 1737 at about age 71 in Sandwich, Barnstable, Massachusetts Bay Colony

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Biography

Samuel Tobey, son of Thomas and Martha (Knott) Tobey, married Abiah Fish, possibly around 1696. Abiah was born 2 September 1678 in Sandwich, a daughter of Ambrose and Hannah (Swift) Fish. After the death of her father, her mother married Thomas Tobey, who would later become Abiah’s father-in-law as well as her step-father.

Samuel Tobey is listed as a Townsman in Sandwich in 1699. “He resided in Sandwich; was chosen one of the Grand Jurors' 8 March 1699 also 1700’; a Surveyor of Highways in 1700; a Tithing man in 1709. He educated his children as well as was practicable, and gave son Samuel the course at Harvard in preparation for the ministry.”

Samuel Tobey died “9.22, 1737” at Sandwich.

Will of Samuel Tobey

Samuel Tobey’s last Will was signed on 4 September 1737 and proved on 17 October 1737. It reads as follows:

"In the name of God, Amen. I, Samuel Tobey of Sandwich in ye County of Barnstable In ye province of the Massachusetts bay in New England not knowing but yt my Departure out of the world by Death is at hand do make and ordain this to be my last Will and Testament hereby revoking cancelling and anulling all others and in the first place I commend my Soul to god thro the merits of Jesus Christ to be sanctified and saved and my body I commit to the earth by a decent burial at ye Decression of my executor hereafter named and as to that worldly estate wherewith it has pleased God to favour me my Just Debts and funeral charges being first satisfied and paid I Dispose of in manner following:

Imprimis I give to Abiah my beloved wife ye one third of my estate both real and personal to be used and improved by her for her benefit and comfort During her being my widdow and if any part of my personal estate be remaining at her Death which I now give her my Will is that she have Liberty to dispose of it to whom of her children she pleases.

Item I give to my beloved son Corenelios Tobey my sword he having rec’d considerable from me in my life

Item I give to my beloved son Zacheus twenty shillings to be paid him by my sons Jonathan and Eliakim each ten shillings within twelve months after my Decease he having had also what I Designed him in my lifetime

Item I give unto my beloved son Jonathan the one half of all my lands meadows marsh and swampy ground Together with my house and barn in equal partnership and proportion with his brother Eliakim (Excepting and Saving to Eliakim as hereafter saved and excepted) he paying the several legacies wch in this my will I appoint him tp pay

Item I give to my beloved son Eliakim Tobey the other half of all my lands meadows marsh and swampy ground Togeather with my house and barn in equal partnership with his brother Jonathan also I give him free of any Division or partnership to him his heirs and assigns forever my piece of land and orchard below the way over against my dwelling house also my piece of land and low ground near to the town neck gate in Sandwich he paing the several Legacies which in this my will I appoint him to pay. These lands and meadows in partnership with and between my son Jonathan and Eliakim I give to them their heirs and assigns forever.

Item. I give to my beloved son Samuel a good preaching bible To be bought by my sons Jonathan and Eliakim.

Item I give to my beloved son Thomas Twenty pounds to be paid by my sons Jonathan and Eliakim, Ten pounds each within half a year after he comes to be one and twenty years of age

Item. I give to my daughter Joanna Spooner five shillings to be paid by my son Jonathan

Item I give unto my Daughter Tabath Freeman five shillings to be paid by my son Eliakim these daughters having received at their marriage wt I Designed for them

Item I give to my Daughter Ruth two Beds with furniture To them that is to say feather Bedds with the remainder of ye two thirds of the household stuff after her mother has taken her third also I give her Liberty To live in the home during her being a single woman

Item I give unto my grandson Jabez five pounds on his coming To be twenty one years old To be paid by my sons Joarriednathan and Eliakim fifty shillings each of ym and my will is that he be put out to some good trade by my Execut’rs hereafter named when he comes to be about fourteen years of age

Item I give to my sons Jonathan and Eliakim the remainder of my personal and moveable estate not otherwise Disposed of in this my last will and testament The better to enable them to pay my just debts Finally I hereby nominate and appoint my beloved wife Abiah Tobey Exec’x and my sons Jonathan Tobey and Eliakim Tobey Executors of this my last Will and Testament In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal ye forth day of September Domini one thousand seaven hundred and thirty seaven."

The witnesses to Samuel Tobey’s Will were John Bates, Nathaniel Bassett and Benjamin Fessenden.

Children of Samuel and Abiah (Fish) Tobey (all born at Sandwich):

1. Joanna, b. 22 May 1697; married 29 November 1716 Benjamin Spooner of Dartmouth.

2. Cornelius, b. 12 September 1699; married Deborah Pope; lived in Sandwich.

3. Tabitha, b. 9 November 1701; married Joseph Freeman 9 May 1726.

4. Zacheus, b. 13 January 1703-4; married Sarah Pope; lived in Dartmouth.

5. Ruth, b. 8 September 1706; married William Swift.

6. Jonathan, b. 13 May 1709; married (1) Abigail Lewis 17 December 1732; married (2) Elizabeth Cannon 6 June 1738 at Rochester; later moved to Dartmouth.

7. Eliakim, b. 19 October 1711; married Abigail Bassett 17 April 1740; lived in Sandwich.

8. Samuel, b. 8 May 1715; graduated from Harvard College in 1733; minister at Berkley, Massachusetts; married Bathsheba Crocker 6 September 1738.

9. Thomas, b. 14 August 1720; married Elizabeth Swift 27 February 1740-1741; lived in Sandwich.

The Tobey Genealogy lists a tenth child, Elisha, b. 14 July 1723; but it also lists this Elisha as a son of Samuel's eldest son, Cornelius.

Sources

"The Tobey Genealogy," by Rufus Babcock Tobey and Charles Henry Pope, online at http://archive.org/stream/tobeytobietobyge00tobe/tobeytobietobyge00tobe_djvu.txt

Thomas Spooner, Records of William Spooner of Plymouth, Mass., and his descendants, Vol. 1, Part 1.

Find A Grave Memorial ID 42915207: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/42915207/samuel-tobey

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Donna Gehring for creating WikiTree profile Tobey-152 through the import of wikitree.ged on June 28, 2013. Click to the Changes page for the details of edits by Donna and others.