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Eleazer Edgerton, son of Sims and Lucretia (Horsford) Edgerton.

 

born:

September 13, 1777; Norwich, New London Co., CT.  (VRp I:415)

bapt:

December 14, 1777; First Cong. Church; Norwich, New London Co., CT.  (ChR 2:173)

died:

January 23, 1855; Bridgeport, Fairfield Co., CT.  (GI)

buried:

Mount Grove Cemetery; Bridgeport, Fairfield Co., CT.  (GI)

 

married:

November 22, 1800; Stratford, Fairfield Co., CT.

 

Patience Wheeler, daughter of Chauncey and Caroline Matilda (Beers) Wheeler.

 

born:

1782; Stratford, Fairfield Co., CT.

bapt:

November 3, 1782; Stratford, Fairfield Co., CT.

died:

March 10, 1835; Bridgeport, Fairfield Co., CT.  (GI)

buried:

Mount Grove Cemetery; Bridgeport, Fairfield Co., CT.  (GI)

 

Children:

  1. Lucretia, b. ~1804; Bridgeport, Fairfield Co., CT.
  2. Everett Wheeler, b. January 17, 1805; Bridgeport, Fairfield Co., CT.
  3. Betsey Matilda, b. 1808; Bridgeport, Fairfield Co., CT.
  4. Elizabeth, b. 1810; Bridgeport, Fairfield Co., CT.
  5. Margaret, b. 1810; Bridgeport, Fairfield Co., CT.
  6. Patience Maria, b. February 2, 1811; Bridgeport, Fairfield Co., CT.
  7. Caroline E., b. 1812; Bridgeport, Fairfield Co., CT.
  8. Susan Maria, b. 1818; Bridgeport, Fairfield Co., CT.
  9. 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.