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Edgerton

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Joseph Edgerton, son of Richard and Mary (Sylvester) Edgerton.

 

born:

March 8, 1676/7; Norwich, New London Co., CT.  (VRp I:34)

died:

April 14, 1735; Norwich, New London Co., CT.  (VRp I:73)

 

married:

April 30, 1702; Norwich, New London Co., CT.  (VRp I:73)

 

Experience Pratt, daughter of Joseph and Margaret (Parker) Pratt.

 

born:

~1678; Saybrook, Middlesex Co., CT. 

 

Children:

  1. Mary, b. February 12, 1702/3; Norwich, New London Co., CT.
  2. Experience, b. February 3, 1704/5; Norwich, New London Co., CT.
  3. Hezekiah, b. April 6, 1706; Norwich, New London Co., CT.
  4. Temperance, b. October 1708; Norwich, New London Co., CT.
  5. Joseph, b. October 1710; Norwich, New London Co., CT.
  6. Sarah, b. January 16, 1716/7; Norwich, New London Co., CT.
  7. Elisha, b. November 29, 1719; Norwich, New London Co., CT.
  8. Jabez, b. July 2, 1722; Norwich, New London Co., CT.

 


Joseph Edgerton was the youngest son of Richard and Mary (Sylvester) Edgerton.  He was born in Norwich, Connecticut on March 8, 1676/7.  Joseph settled in the district of Norwich known as West Farms, probably not far from his next-elder brother, Samuel.  Joseph’s farm in Norwich was reported to have been located on the old Lebanon Road.  He may also have owned lands in Lebanon, as a number of secondary sources state that he was one of the original planters there. (see Edgerton Family Genealogy; Ida Ferry Welch, et. al., 1964)  It is known that Joseph’s second son, Joseph Jr., did later settle in Lebanon.

 

Joseph earned his living as a farmer and planter.  He was married in Norwich on April 30, 1702 to Experience Pratt, daughter of Joseph and Margaret (Parker) Pratt of Saybrook, Connecticut.  Joseph and Experience had eight children – four sons and four daughters.  The family of Joseph and Experience Edgerton was recorded in the Norwich vital records, including the death of Joseph Sr. on April 14, 1735.  The baptismal register of the First Congregational Church of Norwich also records a “Daniell, son of Joseph Edgerton, baptized March 9, 1714” (ChR 1:14), but there is no further documentation of this child.  As he was not included with the family in the Norwich vital records, it seems certain that he must have died very young, or that the church record was somehow in error.

 

Joseph and Experience were members of the First Congregational Church of Norwich, where their first five children were baptized.  “Experience, wife of Joseph Edgerton” was admitted to the Church and communion in 1707 (ChR 1:22).  In 1716, Joseph, along with his brother Samuel, was a petitioner for a separate ecclesiastical organization at Franklin.  The Franklin Congregational Church was subsequently established on January 4, 1718; and Joseph held a number of important offices there over the years.  Mrs. Joseph Edgerton (that is, Experience (Pratt) Edgerton) was admitted to the Franklin Church “by letter” on November 1, 1719 (ChR 1:25).  There is no record of baptisms for the youngest three children.

 

The following entry for Joseph Edgerton is excerpted from The Congregational Church and Society, in Franklin, Connecticut (Tuttle, Morehouse, and Taylor; New Haven, Connecticut, 1869;  pg. 53):

 

“Edgerton, Joseph, was a younger brother of the above [Samuel Edgerton], being the fourth son of Richard. He also settled at West Farms shortly before 1700.  His location was upon Lebanon Road and his dwelling was where the late Guilbert Lamb formerly resided.  He was also a petitioner for a new ecclesiastical organization and was often entrusted with office.  He married, in 1702, Experience Pratt, and had several children.  He was the ancestor of Bela Edgerton, Esq., and of Hon. Alfred P. Edgerton, late member of Congress from Indiana.”

 

Joseph Edgerton died in Norwich on April 14, 1735, at the age of 68.  No gravesite has been located, but he was probably buried in Norwich or Lebanon, Connecticut.  He left a Last Will and Testament, dated at Norwich March 19, 1735, which mentions “Experience my dearly beloved wife”, sons Hezekiah, Joseph, Elisha and Jabez, and daughters Mary, Experience and Temperance.  In the will, Joseph calls himself a “Husbandman”.  The will was witnessed by Christopher Huntington Jr., Benjamin Lothrop and James Calkin, and was proved in Norwich on May 7, 1735 before Jabez Hide, Justice of the Peace. The only child not mentioned in the will – youngest daughter Sarah – is presumed to have died young.

 

Joseph Edgerton’s widow, Experience, was almost certainly the Experience Edgerton who married Andrew Vetch (aka. Veach) of Lebanon on August 11, 1737 (Franklin Cong. ChR 1:383).  The only other Experience Edgerton at this time was Joseph and Experience’s own daughter who had married John Lane of Killingworth in 1732.   Andrew Vetch died in Lebanon in 1742, “aged 86 years”, which would make him about 22 years older than Experience (Pratt) Edgerton.  He was buried in the Old Lebanon Cemetery beside his first wife, Elizabeth.  Experience is not buried there.  If she survived her second husband, it is probable that her children chose to bury her beside her first husband, Joseph, whose gravesite has also not been located.