Eleazer Ellis
- Born: 18 Apr 1724, Plymouth, Plymouth, MA 5,37,65
- Marriage (1): Deborah Gibbs on 9 Jan 1745/46 in Sandwich, Barnstable, MA 5,37,65,314,927
- Marriage (2): Jerusha Thatcher on 13 Aug 1791 in Sandwich, Barnstable, MA 5,37,65,314,956
- Died: 4 Aug 1806, Sandwich, Barnstable, MA at age 82 5,37,65,314,928
General Notes:
ELEAZER4 ELLIS (William,3 Lt. Mordecai,2 Lt. John1), born 18 April 1724, died 4 Aug. 1806 ("aet. 84"-Sandwich First Church Records).
He married first, 9 Jan. 1745/6, DEBORAH4 GIBBS (he called "of Plymouth"-Sandwich Town Records), born. 4 Dec. 1724 (ibid.), died perhaps about 1766, daughter of Barnabas3 and Abigail (Smith) Gibbs; and secondly, 13 Aug. 1791, JERUSHA (THATCHER) GIBBS, born 3 April 1743 (Wareham Town Records), died testate in Sandwich in 1818, daughter of the Rev. Rowland and Abigail (Crocker) Thatcher and widow of John5 Gibbs. The second marriage is recorded in the Plymouth Vital Records (Mayflower Descendant, vol. 30, p. 75) where she is called "of Sandwich" and he "of Plymouth," the ceremony performed by the Rev. Mr. Thatcher.
As we have seen, in 1744 Eleazer Ellis and his brother William jointly purchased their father's real property in Plymouth and Bamstable Counties. In 1762 they agreed to divide this and other communal property. By a deed of 13 March 1764 Eleazer Ellis and his cousin, Samuel Ellis (No. 41, below), both "of Plymouth," held as tenants in common an undivided tract of "land which our fathers, William Ellis and Samuel Ellis of Plymouth purchased of Thomas Clarke Junr., by deed dated 17 Jan. 1728 ... about 250 acres ... the 20th Lot in the Tenth Grant Lot ... lying below the Sandwich Road ... adjoining land of Thomas Doten" (PLCD, vol. 49, p. 15). By deed of 3 May 1771 "Prince Wadsworth of Duxborough, yeoman," sold for £53. 6s. 8d. to his father-in-law, Eleazer Ellis of Plymouth, half of the Wadsworth home farm and housing in Duxborough (ibid., vol. 55, p. 246). Ellis next bought from Seth Lawrence of Plymouth and James Lawrence of Sandwich a 40 acre farm (ibid., vol. 56, p. 257). He then sold part of this land, 19 April 1775, for the nominal sum of 40s. to Prince Wadsworth, it being described as land on which the grantee "hath built a dwelling house" (ibid., vol. 58, p. 164).
Eleazer Ellis evidently lived in that part of Plymouth called Ellisville adjoining the Sandwich town line. By a deed of 31 Jan. 1784 Prince Wadsworlh sold to Eleazer Ellis for £25., in-cluding "my dwelling house which I built myself," the same property which he had bought more than a decade before for 40s. (ibid., vol. 62, p. 153).
When they were married, in 1791, Jerusha (Thatcher) Gibbs was probably in comfortable financial circumstances, so it seems likely that a pre-nuptial agreement may have been made in order to provide for the nine children she had by her first husband. This appears evident because in subsequent deeds she seems not to have been required to release her dower rights as she would have normally done. It is likely that follow-ing this second marriage Eleazer Ellis either took up residence in his wife's house in Sandwich, or else built a new house across the township line as may be inferred from the following deed, dated 20 June 1804:
"Eleazer Ellis of Sandwich, ... yeoman, for $2,000. paid by Barnabas Ellis of Plymouth [do convey] my dwelling house in which the said Barnabas now lives, corn House, Barn and the several tracts of cleared land and my salt marsh, all lying in Plymouth, my homestead place on which the said buildings stand, consisting of cleared land, wood land, on both sides of the road & is by estimation 120 acres, ... and my wood lot, cleared land included lying westerly of Bloody Pond, 75 acres, also my Center Hill lot, ... 200 acres, also my field lots, about 300 acres, also my salt meadow ... my right owned in common and undivided between myself and the heirs of William Ellis [i.e. William3 Ellis, No. 11, above] of Plymouth, deceased and Simeon Valler, lying by the Salt Pood and the Beach, about 10 acres. Also my Herring Pond Lot, mostly cleared land, about 40 acres, together with all the right & title to Real Estate I own in Plymouth." Witnesses: Elisha Perry, Deborah Perry. Recorded 22 Jan. 1806 (PLCD, vol. 103, p. 4).
Eleazer Ellis was admitted to the Sandwich Church 28 Jan. 1806.
The will, dated 8 Jan. and proved 11 Aug. 1806. of "Eleazer Ellis of Sandwich" gives "To my beloved wife Jerusha Ellis a horse, saddle, bridle, ... household goods, Sandwich real estate, etc. ... To my son Barnabas Ellis, wearing apparrell and no more, as I gave him before. To my six daughters, Zilpha, Jenney, Abigail, Deborah, Mary and Remembrance ... To my grandson Reuben Ellis an ox cart and wheels. To my son in law Thomas Gibbs" [executor]. Witnesses: Silvanus Gibbs, Caleb Gibbs, Amiel Weeks (Barnstable County Probate, vol. 31, p. 280). An accounting, dated 4 Aug. 1807, by the executor, Thomas Gibbs, shows the daughters' married names. Distribution "To Zilpha Wadsworth, wife of Prince Wadsworth, deceased, one of the daughters, the sum of $43.92½. To Jenny Drew, wife of Consider Drew $43.92½. To Abigail, wife of the Executor, another daughter, $43.92½. To Deborah, wife of Ebenezer Skiffe of Martha's Vineyard, another daughter, $43.92½. To Mary wife of Alden Fuller of Fairfield, Mass. [now Cumberland County, Maine] $43.92½. To Remember, wife of Jacob Swift of Plymouth, another daughter, $43.92½" (ibid., vol. 37, p. 393).
The will of the widow Jerusha Ellis "of Sandwich," dated 25 Feb. 1817 and sworn 2 Jan. 1819, does not mention her Ellis stepchildren, but divides her estate between her Gibbs children and grandchildren (ibid., vol. 41, p. 168-9).
[Lt. John & Elizabeth (Freeman) Ellis of Sandwich, Mass by Lydia B. (Phinney) Brownson, of Duxbury, Mass & Maclean W. Mclean, of Pittsburg, PA]
Noted events in his life were:
• Will, 8 Jan 1806, Sandwich, Barnstable, MA. 37,65
Eleazer married Deborah Gibbs, daughter of Barnabas Gibbs and Abigail Smith, on 9 Jan 1745/46 in Sandwich, Barnstable, MA 5,37,65,314.,927 (Deborah Gibbs was born on 4 Dec 1724 in Sandwich, Barnstable, MA 5,65,314, christened on 14 Mar 1724/25 in Sandwich, Barnstable, MA 314 and died about 1766 5,65.)
Noted events in their marriage were:
• Marriage Bann, 21 Dec 1745. 37,314
Eleazer next married Jerusha Thatcher, daughter of Rev. Rowland Thatcher and Abigail Crocker, on 13 Aug 1791 in Sandwich, Barnstable, MA 5,37,65,314.,956 (Jerusha Thatcher was born on 3 Apr 1743 in Wareham, Plymouth, MA 5,65,314,956 and died in 1818 in Sandwich, Barnstable, MA 5,65.)
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