Hodges/Freeman
FATHER
Silas HODGES
MOTHER
Rachel FREEMAN
b : 9 September 1748 in Sturbridge, Worcester, Massachusetts Colony
d : about 1772
MARRIAGE
23 September 1767 in Sturbridge, Worcester, Massachusetts Colony
NOTES
Samuel Freeman was the son of Benjamin Freeman and Rachel Peck.
Thomas Wilmouth of Attleborough was appointed as his guardian and
on 16 May 1732 in Attleborough, Massachusetts, Samuel Freeman
was listed as "under 14" and the son of Benjamin Freeman,
deceased. He served as a Lieutenant of the Massachusetts troops
in the French and Indian Wars in 1763. After the death of his son,
Samuel, he was appointed guardian of his grandson, Chester, only
two months before his own death. Benjamin and Comfort Freeman were
sureties under a bond of £200 on 31 October 1772 at Sturbridge,
Massachusetts. Upon the death of Samuel Freeman, his sons Benjamin
and Comfort Freeman were appointed administrators of his estate on
20 January 1773 at Sturbridge, Massachusetts. The inventory of his
estate showed a value of £1203 on 21 February 1773 at
Sturbridge, Massachusetts. The probate court ordered the distribution
of his estate to his heirs. Receipts were given by Silas and Rachel
Hodges, Mary Freeman as guardian for Urania, Jared Freeman, Comfort
Freeman, Daniel Plimpton and Moses Wild on 28 March 1774 at
Sturbridge, Massachusetts.
Samuel Freeman was descended from Ralph Freeman of Dedham and
Attleborough, Massachusetts. A blacksmith, he settled in Sturbridge,
where he was the first resident of the area that is now Southbridge,
Massachusetts. He built the first house in what is now the center
of Southbridge. He and Col. Moses Marcy of Dudley owned a large
part of the land in Southbridge.
His death in 1772, preceded by the deaths of his son, Samuel, and
daughter-in-law, Elizabeth Cheney Freeman, only three months earlier
created havoc in this family. Both Samuels had minor children for
whom guardians were appointed. Chester Freeman, son of the younger
Samuel, came under the guardianship of his grandfather, only to have
his grandfather die and have another guardian appointed. A third
generation Samuel, born in 1772, died as an infant in the summer of
1773. Although there is no record as to what brought on this
catastrophe, it is possible that a sickness went through the family,
or even that there was an epidemic at Sturbridge at that time.
SOURCES
- Private communication
from RF (1996) citing the following sources:
- Abstracts of Bristol County, Massachusetts,
Probate Records, 1687-1745, p 203 (Book 7, pp 335-336)
- Freeman Genealogy, p 377, n 77
- Genealogical Memorial and Family Records
of the Ammidown Family, and a Partial Record of Some Other Families
of Southbridge, Mass., p 36
- Massachusetts Commonwealth: Worcester County Probate
Records, 1731-1881, v 19, pp 249, 277, 433; dockets 22345, 22407, 22408
- Massachusetts Officers in the French and Indian Wars,
1748-1763, item number 2080
- Needham, Massachusetts: Births, Marriages and Deaths,
1711-1845, p 91
- Record of Briths, Marriages, and Deaths of the Town
of Sturbridge from the Settlement of the Town to 1816, p 88
- Vital Records of Attleborough, Massachusetts to the
End of the Year 1849, p 125
- Vital Records of Sturbridge, Massachusetts to the
Year 1850, pp 199, 332
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