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About Edward Higby
Lived at Middletown where his conduct disturbed brethren in 1737 or 1738 and he "made confession of his sinful passion which was to the Church's acceptance."
Edward Higby was born 24 Aug 1684 in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut. He was the son of John Higby and Rebecca Treadwell [see The Higby Family, Part 1]. He married Rebecca Wheeler on 29 Nov 1706 in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut. He was 22; she was 20.
Rebecca Wheeler was born 31 Jul 1686 in Stow, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. She was the daughter of Joseph Wheeler and Mary Powers.
Edward and Rebecca spent their entire married lives in Middletown, a town in Middlesex County which became prosperous in the 1700’s, the largest community in Connecticut. The county lies in the south central part of the state while Middletown is located along the Connecticut River 16 miles (26 km) south of Hartford. (Map courtesy of Wikipedia.)
The land on the western bank of the Connecticut River where Middletown now lies was home to the Mattabeseck Indians. The first settlement of the area by English colonists was in 1643. In 1650, the Connecticut General Court ordered that "Mattabeseck shall bee a Towne" — the name was changed just three years later. The Mattabesecks were a part of the group of tribes in the Connecticut Valley, under the single chief, Sowheag. English settlers eventually purchased nearly all of the land from the Native Americans, but for many years it was dangerous place to live because of frequent confrontations between the settlers and the Native Americans. During the 1700s, despite this, Middletown was large and prosperous.
Edward and Rebecca joined the Middletown Church on April 26, 1713, shortly after the birth of their fourth child. They remained with that church until Rebecca’s death in 1771; Edward then joined the church at Westfield, CT.
Edward and Rebecca had at least eight children: •John b. 16 Jul 1707 d. 1790 •Isaac b. 24 Jun 1709 d. 1766 [see below] •Daniel b. 18 Aug 1711 d. 1762 •Rebecca b. 17 Jan 1713 d. 1714 (at the age of 1) •Rebecca b. 11 Jul 1715 d. 1760 •Sarah b. 15 Apr 1721 d. 1721 •David b. 20 Sep 1726 d. 1798 •Stephen b. 16 Apr 1730 d. 1812
Edward and Rebecca undoubtedly had similar experiences to other English settlers of their time, although it is not known what Edward’s occupation was. Every family farmed and kept livestock. Some men were millers, stonecutters, weavers, or blacksmiths. The town was laid out with the main street parallel to the river; it was divided into home lots, pastures, and plowed fields. In the beginning, Puritanism was the only permitted faith, and it dominated every aspect of life. Everyone contributed to the building and maintaining of the meetinghouse and to the minister’s salary. The law required everyone to attend church on Sunday, and unessential work and all forms of recreation were prohibited on that day.
Daily life was a struggle. A poor harvest or serious injury could be disastrous for the entire family. There were eight to ten children in most families and disease took many of them. English colonists continued arriving for decades, with both Edward’s and Rebecca’s parents included. By the 1790s — after Edward and Rebecca’s deaths — Middletown had changed. It remained prosperous but Puritanism had been replaced by many families who were not of the same faith and sought new opportunities rather than religious freedom.
Rebecca died in Middletown on 22 Oct 1771. She was 85 years old. Edward survived her by four years, passing away 21 Nov 1775, also in Middletown. He was 91 and must have wanted to know how the American Revolutionary War was going to end. He outlived several of his children, including Isaac, his second oldest son, by nine years.
Source: http://www.ingraham.ca/susan/The_Brands/The_Higby_Family,_Part_2.html
Baptized in Middletown, Cn 4/18/1680 with his father and mother. Clinton says, "I made a careful search of the records at Middletown and did not find what became of this son and his brother Samuel. His father died in1688, and his mother was made administratrix of his father's estate. The mother died 3/1/1707/8, before the estate was settled, and the youngestson became administrator of the father's estate in place of his mother. This would indicate that the elder son was not in Connecticut. I have searched elsewhere for this John. A statement came to me that he married and a had a son. I find in the Huntington Church Records, Long Island, the marriage, "John Highbe jun. to Sarah Davis of Huntington,7/21/1758". It is not likely that this John Higby, Jr married at the ageof 78 years. The church record of the marriage of "John Higby, Jr" hardly refers to him. He might have had a son John, and this record before his son's marriage; but even that is doubtful, since Jonas Higbee,Jr, (25) married in the same town and on the same day Sarah Davies. The church record, or the transcript of it followed, evidently gives John for Jonas."
Ref: - http://worldconnect.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db...
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Edward Higby's Timeline
| 1680 |
April 18, 1680
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Middletown,Middlesex,Ct
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| 1684 |
August 24, 1684
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Middletown, Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States
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August 24, 1684
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Middletown, Middlesex Co., Conn.
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August 24, 1684
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Middletown,Middlesex,Connecticut
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| 1707 |
July 16, 1707
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Middletown, Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States
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| 1709 |
June 24, 1709
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Middletown, CT, United States
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| 1711 |
August 8, 1711
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Middletown, Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States
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| 1713 |
January 17, 1713
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Middletown, CT, United States
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| 1715 |
July 11, 1715
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Middletown, Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States
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