The

Edgerton

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Joshua Edgerton, son of Ebenezer and Desire (Granger) Edgerton.

born:	~1780; West Granby, Hartford Co., CT.
died:	January 4, 1815; Canton, Hartford Co., CT. (CemR #337)
buried:	North Canton Cemetery; North Canton, Hartford Co., CT. (CemR #337)

married:

Roxanna ----

Children:

Clinton Dewitt, b. April 17, 1814; New York.

Joshua Edgerton was born at West Granby, Connecticut circa 1780. Direct documentation of his parentage has not yet been found, although it is fairly certain that he was the youngest son of Ebenezer and Desire Edgerton. Ebenezer was the only Edgerton residing in Granby at this time who was of the right age to be Joshua’s father; and furthermore, the 1790 and 1800 Federal Censuses corroborate that Ebenezer and Desire did have a younger son born circa 1780-1784. There are also a number of later land transactions recorded between Joshua and his elder brother, Jacob. Joshua was probably named after his father’s half-brother, Joshua Edgerton (1754 – 1777), who had died shortly before the younger Joshua’s birth.

The first record of Joshua Edgerton is from a land deed dated February 1, 1806, in which Joshua Edgerton “of Granby” purchased from Elisha Messenger “nine acres of land” in Barkhamsted, along with a dwelling house, for the price of one hundred dollars. (Barkhamsted LR 6:174) Barkhamsted lay in Litchfield County, Connecticut and was located just west of Granby across the Litchfield/Hartford County line. Joshua presumably settled on this property, as in later deeds he is uniformly referred to as “of Barkhamsted”.

Joshua does not appear to have been fiscally successful. In December 1807, he mortgaged much of his property in three separate deeds to Robert Wilcox, Ezra Adams and Amos Bucher (Barkhamsted LR 6:471, 6:473; 6:474). The property was later foreclosed upon, and Joshua subsequently removed to New York State, after which there is very little known of him.

Joshua may have been the “Joshua Edgerton”, who was listed as head of household in the 1810 Federal Census of Springfield, Hampshire County (now Hampden County), Massachusetts (pg. 40). The enumeration of the household included Joshua and a wife (both aged 26 – 45) and one son “under 10 years of age”. Joshua’s elder brother, Ebenezer, is known to have later resided in Tolland, Hampden County, Massachusetts.

Very little is known about Joshua’s family. He had a wife, Roxanna, and at least one son, Clinton Dewitt, born April 17, 1814 in New York State. The burial records of the North Canton Cemetery also list a “child of Joshua Edgerton who died January 16th 1815” (see “North Canton Cemetery Inscriptions, 1754 – 1855”; The Connecticut Historical Society Bulletin; Vol. 31, No. 2; April 1966; p. 64). There is no record of any other children.

According to family legend, Joshua Edgerton was killed by Indians in New York State and his wife taken captive. A record of Joshua’s death is found in the burial records of the North Canton Cemetery (where his parents, Ebenezer and Desire, were later buried), the entry reading: “337th was Joshua Edgerton who died January 4th: 1815 aged --- years” (see “North Canton Cemetery Inscriptions, 1754 – 1855”; The Connecticut Historical Society Bulletin; Vol. 31, No. 2; April 1966; p. 64). There is no record of the death of Mrs. Roxanna Edgerton.

Joshua and Roxanna’s only known surviving son, Clinton Dewitt Edgerton, was married at Canton, Connecticut to Miss Mary Amelia Fox. He resided for a number of years in New Hartford (Litchfield County) and later removed to Hartford, where he died in 1883.