The
Edgerton
Database
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Eleazer Edgerton, son of Sims
and Lucretia (Horsford) Edgerton.
born:
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September 13, 1777; Norwich, New London Co.,
CT. (VRp I:415)
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bapt:
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December 14, 1777; First Cong. Church; Norwich,
New London Co., CT. (ChR 2:173)
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died:
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January 23, 1855; Bridgeport, Fairfield Co.,
CT. (GI)
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buried:
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Mount Grove
Cemetery; Bridgeport, Fairfield
Co., CT. (GI)
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married:
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November 22, 1800; Stratford, Fairfield Co., CT.
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Patience Wheeler, daughter of Chauncey and
Caroline Matilda (Beers) Wheeler.
born:
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1782; Stratford, Fairfield Co., CT.
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bapt:
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November 3, 1782; Stratford, Fairfield Co., CT.
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died:
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March 10, 1835; Bridgeport, Fairfield Co.,
CT. (GI)
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buried:
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Mount Grove
Cemetery; Bridgeport, Fairfield
Co., CT. (GI)
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Children:
- Lucretia, b. ~1804;
Bridgeport, Fairfield Co., CT.
- Everett Wheeler, b.
January 17, 1805; Bridgeport, Fairfield Co., CT.
- Betsey Matilda, b. 1808;
Bridgeport, Fairfield Co., CT.
- Elizabeth, b. 1810;
Bridgeport, Fairfield Co., CT.
- Margaret, b. 1810;
Bridgeport, Fairfield Co., CT.
- Patience Maria, b.
February 2, 1811; Bridgeport, Fairfield Co., CT.
- Caroline E., b. 1812;
Bridgeport, Fairfield Co., CT.
- Susan Maria, b. 1818;
Bridgeport, Fairfield Co., CT.
- Mary Elizabeth, b. May
24, 1821; Bridgeport, Fairfield Co., CT.
Eleazer Edgerton was born at
Norwich, Connecticut on September 13, 1777, the
next-to-youngest son of Sims and Lucretia (Horsford) Edgerton. He was baptized on December 14th of the
same year at the First Congregational Church of Norwich. Eleazer was the second child of that name
in this immediate family, having been named in memory of his next-elder sibling,
also named Eleazer, who had died the previous year.
Eleazer’s father, Sims, died
in 1782 when Eleazer was five years old.
It is uncertain what became of many of the family beyond this
point. The family does not appear
anywhere in New London
County in the 1790
Federal Census of Connecticut.
Eleazer’s mother, Lucretia, is presumed to have been the “Mrs.
Lucretia Edgerton” who married “N. Bingham, of Windham” in 1796.
Eleazer Edgerton was married
on November 22, 1800 at Stratford,
Connecticut to Miss Patience Wheeler,
daughter of Chauncey and Caroline Matilda (Beers) Wheerler of Stratford. Patience was born in Stratford – probably in 1782 as she was
baptized there on November 3rd of that year.
The marriage of Eleazer and Patience was noted in the prviate records
of Rev. Philo Shelton, 1785 – 1825 (see Guilbert, Rev. Edmund; Annals of an Old Parish: Historical
Records of Trinity Church – Southport, Connecticut 1725 – 1898).
Eleazer and Patience were
members of the First United Congregational Church in Bridgeport.
The baptismal and death records there mention seven daughters by name
– Betsey Matilda, Elizabeth, Margaret, Patience Maria, Caroline, Susan Maria
and Mary Elizabeth. Four of these – Elizabeth, Margaret,
Patience and Mary – died in infancy.
Later records have indicated that there were at least two elder
children, born prior to the family’s affiliation with the Bridgeport Church. Eleazer Edgerton’s name was included on a
list of “Pew Holders” at the Church in the year 1835.
Eleazer and Patience were
almost certainly the parents of Everett Wheeler Edgerton, who resided for a
time in New Haven, Connecticut
before moving south to Charleston,
South Carolina. Everett was
reportedly born in Bridgeport,
Connecticut on January 17,
1805, and census records (see below) show that Eleazer and Patience did have
a son born in the first decade of the 1800’s.
Everett resided initially in New Haven, Connecticut,
and was twice married – first to Jane
Fields, and second to Mary Maria Walker.
He later removed to Charleston,
South Carolina. One of Eleazer and Patience’s daughter,
“Miss Caroline Edgerton of New Haven”, also
removed to Charleston,
where she died in 1838 at the age of twenty-five years (see New Haven
Palladium, October 6, 1838).
The records of the First
United Congregational Church of Bridgeport include three additional entries
of interest. First, on November 3,
1818, a “Lucretia Edgerton” was admitted to the Church (ChR 2:11), and later,
a Lucretia Edgerton (presumably the same) was listed as a member of the
church on November 6, 1826 (ChR 2:79) and again on January 24, 1830 (ChR
3:9). This Lucretia Edgerton, was
probably the same “Lucretia Edgerton” who was admitted to the First
Congregational Church of New Haven on September 3, 1819, “from the Church in
Bridgeport” (ChR 4:258). She later
removed to Chatham County,
Georgia,
where she was married to James K. Bollough on October 22, 1823. Lucretia was dismissed and recommended to
the Methodist Church
at Augusta, Georgia in July 1839 (ChR
4:258). It is believed that this
Lucretia Edgerton was the eldest daughter of Eleazer and Patience Edgerton.
The household of Eleazer
Edgerton was recorded in the 1810 Federal Census
of Stratford, Fairfield
County, Connecticut
(pg 17), with the following enumeration:
1 male “of 26 and under 45” (Eleazer);
1 male “under 10 years of age” (son Everett);
1 female “of 26 and under 45” (wife Patience); and,
2 females “under 10 years of age” (daughters Lucretia and Betsey)
The household of “Eleazer
Adjutant” was recorded again in the 1820 Federal Census
of Stratford, Fairfield
County, Connecticut
(pg. 220). At that time, Eleazer was
listed as “Eleazer Adjutant”, and his family consisted of:
1 male “of 26 and under 45” (Eleazer);
1 female “of 26 and under 45” (wife Patience);
1 female “of 10 and under 16” (daughter Betsey); and,
3 females “under 10 years of age” (daughters Caroline, Susan and ?);
The household of Eleazer
Edgerton was recorded again in the 1830 Federal Census
of Bridgeport, Fairfield
County, Connecticut
(pg. 52). At that time, Eleazer was
listed as “Eleazer Adjutant”, and his family consisted of:
1 male “of 50 and under 60” (Eleazer);
1 female “of 40 and under 50” (wife Patience); and,
1 female “of 10 and under 15” (daughter Caroline).
Eleazer Edgerton died on January
23, 1855, “aged 76 years”, presumably at Bridgeport, Connecticut. A notice of the death of Eleazer Edgerton
on January 22 [sic], 1855, aged 76, was published in the Christian
Secretary on February 2, 1855.
Eleazer was buried at Mount Grove Cemetery,
in Bridgeport. His wife, Patience, had died some twenty
years earlier – on March 10, 1835, “aged 52 years”. She was buried beside her husband at Mount Grove Cemetery.
Original Source Documents:
1810
Federal Census – household of Eleazer Edgerton; Stratford, Fairfield Co.,
CT.
1820
Federal Census – household of Eleazer Edgerton; Stratford, Fairfield Co.,
CT.
1830
Federal Census – household of Eleazer Edgerton; Bridgeport, Fairfield
Co., CT.
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