Sharon Massachusetts

October 8, 1897

The Esteys of Old Stoughton
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By S. Talbot
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No. 2

Benjamin Estey died in 1744 and by his will his real estate descended to his two sons, Benjamin and Ebenezer. These children married and brought up families. The farm was divided between them. In the year 1765 Ebenezer Estey's buildings were struck by lightning and burned, and the Church at Canton raised for his assistance 30 pounds, 17 shillings. He died in 1769. After the death of Ebenezer his two sons, Solomon and Aaron, succeeded to his estate. The boys married sisters, Mary and Merideth, daughters of Walley Leonard of Canton. When the Lexington alarm occurred Solomon Estey was enrolled in Capt. Peter Talbot's company in Stoughton and was paid for 38 miles travel on the 19th of April 1775. He was in the Battle of Bunker Hill on the 17th of June the same year. At this time his wife with the wives of her neighbors who were in the army, hearing heavy cannonading and seeing the smoke of the burning Charlestown, gathered together in the school house, and with fearful foreboding spent the night watching and praying for the dear ones away in the battle, amid the fire and smoke that could be seen. After war he sold his soldiers certificates to the State of Massachusetts for lands in Maine and moved with his family to Farmington. Benjamin, the brother of Ebenezer, was an officer in the French and Indian war, and afterward married Joanna Tupper Ormsbee, a widow, and sister of Gen. Benjamin Tupper of Revolutionary fame, and one of the first to explore and settle the territory northwest of the Ohio. Benjamin Estey was for many years a Deacon of the church at Sharon and died in 1781. One of his daughters married John Bird who died in the war near Boston. Another daughter married Elijah Johnson and moved to New York before the present century.

In 1726 Jacob Estey was in town when Stoughton was incorporated. He was a mason by trade and married Mehitable ______. Jacob Estey, Jr., was born Oct. 5, 1731 and lived in a house between Chestnut Hill Cemetery and Dedham road in Sharon where the cellar is to be seen. He was the father of Lemuel and Samuel Estey. Lieut. Jacob died in 1790. His father died in 1777. John Estey the brother of Jacob Estey, Jr., was born Dec. 14, 1733 and married Abigail Gould Dec. 8, 1762. They had Jeremiah, and a daughter that married Aaron Fisher and Eleanor who married Josiah Johnson, Sen. The Esteys lived in the south part of Sharon on the place now occupied by their grandson Willard Estey. Samuel Estey was early in this town and married Rebecca the daughter of Obadiah Hawes, Jr., Jan. 12, 1718. They had three children Petetiah, Bathsheba who married Jacob French, Sen., and after his death she married Matthias Puffer and his widow in 1807. Sarah Estey married Sept. 22, 1772, Noah son of Capt. Benjamin Johnson. They had no children. Samuel and his wife both died about 1780. These Esteys came Topsfield, a town near Salem, Mass. and of their family experienced one of the most dreadful calamities recorded in New England history, the following sketch from reliable sources will be read with interest:

William Towne and Johanna Blessing were married in St. Nicholas Church, Yarmouth, England, as recorded March 25, 1620. Mary was baptized August 24, 1734. William Towne came to New England with three daughters, Rebecca who married Francis Nurse, Sarah married a Cloyse and Mary married Isaac Esty who owned a valuable farm in Topsfield where he was busily engaged in clearing his farm and bringing up his family. They had children as follows: Joseph, John, Benjamin, Joshua, Sarah, and Hannah. As the boys grew up they were of great assistance in felling trees and clearing land.

On account of some indefinite boundaries, by the General Court, some of their land lying between Salem and Topsfield was a part of it claimed by the Putmans and also by the Esteys. The Putmans however went on with their brothers and cousins, cut the timber and told the Esteys they might sue them, as they knew where they lived. As might be supposed, there was much bitterness of feeling over this matter for years.

The orthography of this family name Estey has varied and undergone many changes during the past two hundred years as will be seen by the different names; Esty, Este, Esti, Easty, Estes, Estys, Estey. Estey by common acceptation of those who remained in Northern Massachusetts as well as those who came from Dorchester is now the usual spelling of this name. It was about this time that William of Orange ascended the throne of England. Sir Edmund Andros had been sent back as a prisoner, and a new governor, Sir William Phips who was a native of the Colonies was appointed. He had scarcely arrived however, when the witchcraft mania began in New England.



NOTE: The Mehitable _____ in paragraph #2 is Mehitable Porter

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