The

Edgerton

Database

Index

Sources

Joseph Edgerton, son of Joseph and Experience (Pratt) Edgerton.

born:	October 1710; Norwich, New London Co., CT. (VRp I:73)
bapt:	January 23, 1711/2; First Cong. Church; Norwich, New London Co., CT. (ChR 1:11)
died:	March 6, 1753; Lebanon, New London Co., CT. (VR 1:82)

married:

May 11, 1736; Norwich, New London Co., CT. (VRp I:178)

Eunice Meigs, daughter of Janna and Hannah (Willard) Meigs.

born:	October 19, 1715; Guilford, New Haven Co., CT. (VR II:17)
died:	1755; Lebanon, New London Co., CT. (VR 1:82)

Children:

Esther, b. February 11, 1736/7; Norwich, New London Co., CT.
Hannah, b. March 8, 1738/9; Norwich, New London Co., CT.
Mary, b. July 4, 1741; Norwich, New London Co., CT.
Joseph, b. April 2, 1744; Lebanon, New London Co., CT.
Betty, b. December 31, 1746; Lebanon, New London Co., CT.
Temperance, b. September 23, 1749; Lebanon, New London Co., CT.

Joseph Edgerton II was born in Norwich, Connecticut in October of 1710, the fifth child and second son of Joseph and Experience (Pratt) Edgerton. He was baptized at the First Congregational Church of Norwich on January 23, 1711/2.

Joseph was married at Norwich, Connecticut on May 11, 1736 to “Mrs. Eunice Meigs”. According to the designation in the Norwich marriage record (VRp I:178 – “Mrs.”), Eunice was a widow; however, this was very likely in error. It is believed that Euince was the daughter of Capt. Janna Meigs of East Guilford, however this has not yet been established by direct evidence. See below for the strong circumstantial argument for this parentage.

The family record of Joseph Edgerton’s family at Norwich (VRp I:178) lists three daughters for Joseph and Eunice Edgerton – Esther, Hannah and Mary. These three daughters were baptized at the Franklin Congregational Church, each shortly after their births.

Joseph later settled in Lebanon, Connecticut, where his father was said to have been an original proprietor. Three more children were recorded to “Joseph and Eunice Edgerton” at Lebanon: a son, Joseph; and two daughters, Betty and Temperance. Joseph and Eunice’s only son, Joseph III, was baptized at the Bozrah Congregational Church on April 8, 1744 (ChR 3:6). Also listed in the Lebanon Town record of the family (VR 1:82) were the deaths of Joseph Edgerton on March 6, 1753, “aged 43”, and of Mrs. Eunice Edgerton in 1755. (No precise date or age given for the latter.)

Neither Joseph nor Eunice left a will. John Partridge, Thomas Loomis and Joseph Bissell were appointed by the Windham Probate Court to administer the joint estate, and they subsequently returned a distribution of the estate on May 19, 1758. Only three children were included in the distribution – Joseph, Esther and Hannah – so it would appear that the remaining three daughters, Mary, Betty and Temperance, all died young.

Jabez Edgerton, Joseph Sr.’s younger brother, was appointed guardian to Joseph’s only son, Joseph Edgerton Jr. Joseph Jr. apparently died prior to August 29, 1763, when his portion of the estate was divided between his only surviving sibling, Hannah Stark, and the “heirs of Esther Huntington deceased”.

No burial sites have been located for Joseph or Eunice Edgerton, nor for any of their children. The burial locations of Joseph’s parents, Joseph and Experience, are also unknown; and since they may also have died in Lebanon, it is possible that there was at one time a small family burial plot (perhaps on the home farm) which remains undiscovered or fell into disrepair and was built over.

Very little is known about the children of Joseph and Eunice Edgerton. According to the Huntington Genealogical Memoir, the eldest daughter, Esther, married Ezekiel Huntington of Lebanon (son of Caleb and Lydia (Griswold) Huntington and removed with him to Cornwallis, Nova Scotia, where she died in 1761. Esther had two children, Joseph and Betsey. Hannah, the second daughter, was married in Lebanon on October 28, 1757 to Zephaniah Stark of Groton, Connecticut; Zephaniah was lost at sea circa 1766 and Hannah was remarried the following January to Oliver Thorpe of Horton, Kings County, Nova Scotia. Hannah had two children with her first husband and eight children with her second husband. The Lebanon town and church records offer no further information on the other children of Joseph and Eunice Edgerton.

The parentage of Mrs. Eunice Edgerton has not been heretofore investigated. As mentioned above the Norwich marriage record (VRp I:178) designates her as “Mrs. Eunice Meigs”. A further clue is found in the records of the Franklin Congregational Church, which report that “Mrs. Eunice Edgerton” was admitted to the Church on November 28, 1736, “by letter from East Guilford” (ChR 1:28). There were a handful of Meigs families in East Guilford during the early 1700’s (descendants of the immigrant Vincent Meigs); however, a search of the marriage records has failed to find any suitable Mrs. Eunice Meigs who was widowed by 1736. There was a Eunice Meigs, daughter of Capt. Janna and Hannah (Willard) Meigs, born in East Guilford on October 19, 1715 and thus of the right age to have been married in 1736. Furthermore, recall that Joseph and Eunice Edgerton’s two eldest daughters were named Esther and Hannah, which coincides with that fact that Eunice Meigs of East Guilford had a sister named Esther (aka. “Hester”) and a mother named Hannah. Unfortunately, Eunice’s death record at Lebanon fails to list an age at death, thus precluding a comparison of birth dates; and the will of Capt. Janna Meigs, who died in 1739, mentions his two daughters, Hester and Eunice, only by their first names, with no indication of their marital status. Further evidence is clearly needed, before one can establish a definite link and claim an error in the Norwich marriage record.