Trumbold Families
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William Twombly

 

William Twombly was born about 1693 to John and Rachel Allen Twombly in Dover, NH.  He married Mary Ricker about 1712-3.  Their children (with birth dates from Dover Vital Records1, were:

 

Ralph, born September 13, 1713

Isaac, born December 18, 1715, married Lydia

William, born, July 15, 1717, married Mary Heard

Mary, born February, 25, 1719/1720, married Ichabod Hayes, Jr.

Elizabeth, born November 1, 1723, married Benjamin Pearl

John (Captain), born September 19, 1725, married Tamson Chesley

Eleanor, born 1727, married Nicholas Ricker

  

William Twombly of Dover accumulated 118 acres around Barbadoes and Mallego Way in Strafford County from 1720-17232:

 

1.  August 6, 1720 - 60 acres from J. Richard Gooding above Cocheco on the west side of Mallego River5;

2.  May 15, 1722 - 8 acres around Barbados Pond from Israel Hodgdon6;

3.  October 6, 1722 - 9 acres at Barbadoes from Tobias Hanson7

4.  October 6, 1722 - 11 acres on south side of William Twombly's land above the Road8

5.  May 20, 1723 - 30 acres south of Mallego Way from Joseph Beard9.

 

[There would have been another 100-acre purchase as noted in his will but I have not found the supporting documents.]

 

In 1730, Wm. Twombly of Dover bought Lots 74 and 75 in the Second Range along the Berry River in northeast Barrington3.  A grist mill (later called Pearl, then Felker Grist Mill) was built on Lot 74 which adjoined Lot 75 where the Twombly Sawmill (later Pearl Sawmill) was set up4.  A map in a Barrington history book shows the location of these mills5.He owned this land when his will was made in 1763 and when he parceled it out to his children.

 

Mary Twombly was baptized on October 1, 1739, on her death bed as shown in First Church of Dover records6.  William then married Abigail Evans Hayes before 17447.

 

Between 1740 and 1752, several lots in the new town of Rochester were granted to John Twombly and later show up in this William's will8.  John was this William's father and can't be the John who died in 1724 as many genealogists have assumed.

 

In 1751 it is mentioned that William lived in Dover and his will states he lived in Dover at the time of his death in 1763. 

 

William Twombly's will was prepared on September 14, 1763 and proved on October 27, 17638.  Information about his children is taken from this document.

 

William apparently had

  • a homestead in Dover which he willed to his daughter Eleanor Ricker and to his granddaughter, Tamesin Twombly (daughter of his son, John, deceased);
  • land in Madbury upon which Isaac lived (west of Belliman's Bank River);
  • land in Madbury upon which William lived (218 acres south side of road from Cocheco to Barrington);
  • land in Rochester's second and third division lots divided among 4 children;
  • a lot in Rochester's fourth division willed to son, Ralph;  
  • a sawmill and 20 acres of timberland in Barrington (Lots 74 and 75, including the land on which Elizabeth and Benjamin Pearl lived); and
  • land in Dover on which Ralph lived. 
 

William, of Dover, was a very rich man for the time with the inventory of his possessions declared at 52,021 pounds on October 28, 1765.  Abigail, his second wife, is not mentioned in the will and I presume that she died prior to 1763.  Her son, Ichabod Hayes, is mentioned and received privileges at the Twombly mill as did Michael Fealker, a neighbor.  More information on the mill is found in Barrington, New Hampshire 1722-19729.

 

It appears that the Rochester lots in the second, third, and fourth divisions were originally granted to a John Twombly (William's father)10 from 1740-1762.

 

Apparently Eleanor and Elizabeth had no children at the time William made his will.  William's granddaughter, Tamesin Twombly (daughter of his son, John who was now deceased and his wife Tamson Chesley Twombly) was less than 14 years old and guardianship was granted to Otis Baker, trader (second husband of Tamson Chesley Twombly), on May 30, 1764.

 

Ralph, William's son, was Sole Executor.

 

Source Notes

1.      Collections of Dover, NH Historical Society, Dover NH Vital Records 1686-1850, Births and Marriages 1693-1838, Scales and Quimby, Dover, NH, 1894, pages 17-18, 36.

2.      Strafford County [NH] Deeds.

3.      Barrington [NH] Town Books Archives, V. 17, page 279.

4.      Emhardt, Mary C. and Williams, Louise F.: Barrington, New Hampshire 1722-1972, Town of Barrington, New Hampshire, 1972, pages 28 and 33.

5.      Emhardt, Mary C. and Williams, Louise F.: Barrington, New Hampshire 1722-1972, Town of Barrington, New Hampshire, 1972, page 54.

6.      Collections of Dover, NH Historical Society, Baptisms by Rev. Jonathan Cushing 1717-1766, Records of First Church, page 145.

7.      Canney, Robert S.: Early Marriages of Strafford County, New Hampshire 1630-1850, Heritage Books, Inc, page 534.

8.      New Hampshire Wills, William Twombly, 1763, pages 443-446.

9.      Emhardt, Mary C. and Williams, Louise F.: Barrington, New Hampshire 1722-1972, Town of Barrington, New Hampshire, 1972, pages 28-29.

10.  McDuffee, Franklin: History of Rochester, Dover, NH, 1892.