William Hulbird and Hannah Whitaker
Husband William Hulbird
Born: Abt 1653 - Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut Christened: Died: 11 Mar 1734 - Enfield, Connecticut Buried:
Father: William Hurlburt (Hulbird, Hurlbut) (Abt 1653-1694) Mother: Ann (Abt 1608-1687) 1
Marriage: After 1709 - prob Windsor or Enfield, Connecticut
Other Spouse: Ruth Salmon ( - ) - Abt 1685 - Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts
Other Spouse: Mary Howard (1672-1710) - Abt 1693 - Enfield, Connecticut
Wife Hannah Whitaker
Born: 14 May 1669 - Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts Christened: Died: Buried:
Father: John Whitaker (1641-After 1689) Mother: Elizabeth Linsfield (1644-1707)
Other Spouse: John Hulit ( - ) - 13 Aug 1702 - Concord, Massachusetts
Children
General Notes (Husband)
Aged 11 on 20 Nov 1663 and aged 10 on 20 May 1664 (WMJ 521, 557)
Married (1) Ruth Salmon and (2) Mary Howard. According to Great Migration Begins, various secondary sources give this William two wives as noted, but in no case is evidence shown for these identifications A third wife, 'Hannah Whitaker, widow of John Hulit of Concord, Mass.,"has aso been claimed (cites Search for the Passengers of the Mary and John, 1: 42.)
According to Hale House and Related Lines. Setlled in Enfield, removed to New Haven, but returned to Enfield, where he is said to ahve died in 1734. By first wife, Mary, he had children, b at Enfield. (Mary was his second wife.)
According to Passengers of the Mary and John, William died 11 Mar 1734 in Enfield, married Ruth Salmon about 1685, Northampton, dau of Thoams and Mary Salmon of Northampton. Married second Mary Howard, 1693, Enfield, who d 17 Mar 1710, New Haven. married third Hannah Whitaker, widow of John Hulit of Concord, Mas., Resided in Northampton, Enfield, and New Haven. Eight childen by second wife, and one grand child (?)
Sims says that the marriage, without a date, is ergistered in Northampton MA records. I can't confirm this at NEHGS but can't find Northampton records. Not in Springfield's .
There may have been more than one child named Obadiah born.
Gil Hurlbut says that there was a final "lost" child, Rachel, born abt 1709, d 1`2 Aug 1779, aged 70, in Mendham, NJ, marrried John Chambers. Allegedly there had been an unknown sister of William III, after whom his daughter Rachel was named.
William an dhis wife Mary moved from Enfield to New Haven, and had three - four counting Rachel - children there.
"Per Sims, William II also 3rd mc 1710 a Hannah Whittaker, the widow of John Hulet. Gil Hurlbut thinks that William remarried quickly because he was stuck with five children under age 5 including possibly newborn infant Rachel.
Gil Hurlbut thinks that William II returned to Enfield because his Howard inlaws lived there, and because his half brother Samuel Allen had returned there. This Samuel was not his half brother but his half nephew. (Samuel's son Joseph was Wiliam II's half grand nephew, if he married a daughter of his great uncle's third wife.)
Gil Hurlbut cites Sharon Sims and a web page at Gencircles frequently as his source for this and that. I found Sharon Sims' web page at Gencircles, and it has no notes or source information at all. At times it doesn't even include all of the available information; for instance, it does not identify Hannah Whitaker as the widow of John Hulit of Concord. What is more, when I began entering her e-mail address, I learned that this is not my first attempt to contact Sharon Sims, but I have no reply from her.
By 1710 William had just one sibling, John, remaining in Northampton. It is possible that an inheritance from his father enabled him to move to the Hartford and New Haven areas of Connecticut, where his wife's family was well situated. Two of her brothers? lived in Enfleld.
Gil Hulbird, who like another Hulbird researcher remembers reading that Obadiah defended his mother's interests in Howard lands but doesn't have teh source, nor what it was about, speculates on what Obadiah would have been defending his mother's interests in and when this would have occurred. He notices that it was Obadiah who was defending his mother's interests, not his father. The father was either dead (after 1734), or acting against the interests of Obadiah's mother, maybe because he had remarried, though there are other reasons why he might have acted against Obadiah's idea of his mother's interests. More than likely, Obadiah himself had an interest in the property. Gil Hulbird speculates that if Mary Howard had inherited property, it might have gone to her husband on her death. A new wife might even have inherited it upon William's death in 1734.
Gil Hulburt points out that William III should have also had an interest in whatever the matter was and it is most reasonable to think this occurred after he had left for New Jersey. It seems not to be known when he left for New Jersey.
Timing of any legal action to defend his mother's interests in Howard lands; had to have been after 1709/10 when his mother died, Obadiah had to be of age, which would have occurred in 1724/ 1725, and more than likely his father was dead; he died in 1734. If it was Hannah Whitaker the widow of John Hulit of Concord who Obadiah was defending his mother's interests against, then it had to be before 1769 as that woman was born in 1669. William was definitely married to Hannah Somebody in 1717 when they deeded land together. Joseph Allen married Mary Hulet about 1723, and Jonathan Hulet of Reheboth, possible brother of Mary, obtained and sold land nearby in 1730 to 1732.
*** Deed, from History of Enfield Vol 3. 2 Jul 1717 William Hulburd AND HIS WIFE HANNAH to Capt. Samuel Terry. 109 acres near the mountains, commons N, Hwy S, Symons E, John Howard W. William III would have been only 18 on this date. This William Hulbird was apparently a neighbor of Joseph Allen and of the Howards.
See notes on JOnathan Hulet for the deeds of William Hulbird II and his son Obadiah. The Howard family were among the Hulbirds' neighbors.
Gil Hurlbut says, “…A deed listed on pg 2109 in "Early Deeds" is of interest, because it lists William II and Samuel Allen Jr. as landholders in Enfield, with only one plot of land separating them:
William Simons Senr to his son John Simons. (War.) 35 acres in lower part of Enfield - William Hulburd north, Samuel Allen south, street east, Great River west. Witnesses Isaac Kibbe, John Abbee, William Pynchon Junr. 29 March 1723. Recorded 8 April 1724.
It says that the Simon land was between the Hulburd land to the north and the Samuel Allen land to the south. It is important to note that this was not land on the town line on the eastern river; it was land along the Connecticut River (the Great River).
General Notes (Wife)
Her identity is confirmed by marriage record, if her husband was an Indian. But her birth is uncertain. ONe record has her born the day before she married!
She is often identified as the daughter of John Whittaker and Hannah Ball. John Whittaker and Hannah Ball, both of Concord, married in Stow, on Dec 12, 1705, three years after their alleged daughter married. This is the only marriage of such a couple in Massachusetts.
Birth confirmed in Watertown VR, once she was identified.Hannah Whittacar daughter of John & Elizabeth Whittacar borne the 14 of May (1669). Hannah Whittacar daughter of John & Elizabeth Whittacar borne the 14 of May 1669.
Dolores D'Derrico has identified her family, at the Christophel/Whittaker Roots database at Rootsweb Worldconnect. http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi/bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=dderrico3333&id=I0872
She identifies a single family that accounts for everyone named Whitaker who appears in the town vital records between 1672 and 1707, and identifies Hannah and her marriage to John Hulit in this family. She makes no effort to identify John Hulit. Her reconstruction of this family satisfactorily accounts for the otherwise improbable moves to Rehoboth. The family seems to be somewhat anomic. She doesn't even touch on the children of John Hulit and Hannah Whitaker, and she never places the family outside of eastern Massachusetts, but the family was peripatetic within eastern Massachusetts, partly because they were contentious, lacking a sense of right and wrong, and unpopular everywhere they went, and it wouldn't be unlike this family for the girl to have run away! On the other hand, there is a report I am trying to track down that Hannah Whitaker, widow of John Hulit of Concord, married William Hulbird of Windsor/ Enfield. So far I have this traced to something in the Search for the Passengers of the Mary and John, vol 1, p 42, that I do not yet have a copy of. If that is true, than the Hulit family may have moved from Concord to Windsor or Enfield, after 1705. A John Hulit had a child by a different woman in Newton, nearby, but this could only have been the same John Hulit if it was John who outlived Hannah, and she was not living by 1709. As I currently understand the dates regarding William Hulbirt's wives, any marriage to Hannah would have had to take place in or after 1710.
Hannah's sister, Sarah, was a great-great grandmother of Brigham Young, which should generate more interest in this family than I am finding. Delores D'Erricho of Hialeh, Florida, is extensively researching the family, and also extensively defending John Whitaker's character.Maybe Mormons prefer to ignore him? It seems like there should have been more genealogical attention paid to him.
1 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Ancestral File (TM) (July 1996 (c), data as of 2 January 1996).
Table of Contents | Surnames | Name List
This Web Site was Created 6 May 2012 with Legacy 6.0 from Millennia