Capt. Josiah Converse

• from The New England Ancestry of Dana Converse Backus

JOSIAH CONVERSE, youngest son of Major James and Hannah (Carter) Converse, was born September 12, 1684 and married December 30, 1706, a few months after his father's death, Hannah Sawyer (born November 25, 1689, daughter of Joshua and Sarah (Wright) Sawyer). Eight children were born in Woburn. The eldest, Hannah, married there, September 27, 1728, Ebenezer Thompson, and their son Benjamin became the father of the wellknown Benjamin Thompson (Count Rumford).

About 1727, Josiah with his family removed to Leicester, where their ninth and last child was born. Washburn's Historical sketches of Leicester give an account of a bitter church quarrel in 1733 in which the Moderator, Mr. Josiah Converse (a champion of the minister, Mr. Parsons) "played the part of autocrat." Josiah Converse was chosen first selectman, town clerk, town treasurer, and in May was elected deputy to the General Court. (This surely applies to Josiah, Senior, since his son and namesake was still in his early twenties.)

In 1735, Josiah Converse, Senior, and Josiah Converse, Junior, sold their farm in the westerly part of the town upon both sides of the Great Road, and Josiah, Senior, removed to Brookfield. The historian of Brookfield calls him a leading man there for the next twenty years. He is called Captain in some records. His wife died in Brookfield June 18, 1747, in her fifty-eighth year. A gravestone record shows that he had a second wife, Dorothy, who died May 27, 1755, in her seventieth year. A third marriage is on record, November 18, 1755, to Mercy Gilbert, widow of Captain Thomas Gilbert. Josiah Converse lived to be eighty-seven years old. The record for the appointment of an administrator of his estate is dated 1771 and is on file in the Probate court, Worcester, Mass.

CAPTAIN JOSIAH CONVERS 4 (Maj. James 3 (7), Lieut. James, 2 Deacon Edward, 1), born in Woburn, Mass., 12 September 1684; died in Brookfield, Mass., in 1771 ; removed about 1727 to Leicester, Mass., and thence to Brookfield, Mass.; He married, at Woburn, 30 December 1706, Hannah Sawyer, who was born 25 November 1689, and who died in Brookfield 18 June 1747. She was the daughter of Joshua and Sarah (Wright) Sawyer of Woburn. Another daughter was Mrs. Ayres of North Brookfield. Temple's History of North Brookfield calls Josiah Convers "Capt.," and "Esq.;" says he was in Brookfield in 1735, a leading man for the next twenty years, representative six years; that he married, second, Dorothy - who died 27 May 1750; "by Hannah and Dorothy he had eight children;" that he married, third, 18 November 1755, Mercy, widow of Capt. Thomas Gilbert and of Samuel Barns, and daughter of Deacon Henry Gilbert. Temple's North Brookfield also contains the following references to Josiah Convers:

Page 247. Signed petition for new meeting house, 1748.

Page 249. On committee of town of Brookfield to oppose the setting up of a new precinct with parish privileges, 1749.

1740-1750, Representative to Legislature from Brookfield

Page 254. Pew in new meeting house, 1753.

Page 287. Representative to Legislature from Brookfield, 1740, 1742, 1743, 1745, 1747, 1750.

Capt. Josiah and Hannah (Sawyer) Convers had nine children:

HANNAH CONVERS, 5 born, in Woburn, 25 Oct. 1707; [married Ebenezer Thompson. Regarding their descendant, Count Rumford, see under head of Mary Converse (4), daughter of Deacon Edward 1. NO] Shirly Robinson Pizziferri’s article “Converse Reverse? The wives of Jonathan Newhall and Ebenezer Thompson”, New Eng. Hist. Gen. Reg. 146 (1992), 133–134, shows that Hannah, the wife of Ebenezer Thomas, was the daughter of Robert Converse while Hannah, the wife of Jonathan Newhall, was the daughter of Josiah Converse.

JOSIAH CONVERSE, 5 LIEUTENANT, born, in Woburn, 2 March 1710; died in Stafford, Conn., 11 Sept. 1775; married Eleanor Richardson. (19)

PATIENCE CONVERS, 5 born, in Woburn, 21 July 1712.

RUTH CONVERS, 5 born, in Woburn, 28 July 1714.

DOROTHY CONVERS, 5 born, in Woburn, 20 Jan. 1716-7; died 22 April 1736.

JESSE CONVERS, 5 born, in Woburn, 18 Feb. 1719-20. 0n page 209 of Temple's History of North Brookfield the name of Jesse Convers appears on roll of men from Brookfield who went to Fort Dummer, 6 Aug.-20 Aug. 1748, under command of Captain Thomas Buckminster.

JUDE CONVERS, 5 born, in Woburn, 14 March 1722-3; died 3 May 1749. In Temple's North Brookfield his name appears on same roll as that of his brother Jesse as above, viz. --roll of men men under Captain Buckminster who went to Fort Dummer, Aug. 6-20, 1748.

JAMES CONVERS, 5 COLONEL, born, in Woburn, 2 Sept. 1722-23; died, in Brookfield, 16 July 1811 ; married Dorothy. (20)

SARAH CONVERS, 5 born, in Leicester, 5 Nov. 1729.

Source: Charles Allen Converse

Links

• http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/c/o/n/Kenneth--M-Conaway...
• https://mathcs.clarku.edu/~djoyce/gen/report/rr05/rr05_075.html#P36529