GenMassachusetts-L Archives

From: <>
Subject: WILLARD & WETHERBE FAMILIES OF MA AND FORT 4
Date: Wed, 26 May 1999 13:57:45 EDT

Subj:WILLARD AND WETHERBE OF MA AND NH

The wife of Ephraim Wetherbe was the dau of the wife of Henry Willard son of
Major
Simon Willard.

Source: History of Charlestown, NH by Rev. Henry H. Saunderson
p.609
Capt. Ephraim Wetherbe m. Joanna Bellows dau of Benjamin Bellows and
Mrs. Dorcas (Cutler) Willard who was the widow of Henry Willard the 4th son
of
Major Simon Willard. She had been the 2nd wife of Henry Willard and they had
six or seven children, two of whom were men of mark, namely Colonel Samuel
Willard of Lancaster, MA who commanded a regiment to Louisburg, and Colonel
Josiah Willard, a leader in the settlement of Lunenburg, MA and Winchester,
NH.
See report on their children end of Willard genealogy (below)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Maj. Simon and Mary (Sharpe) Willard

Simon WILLARD, bp. Apr. 7, 1605, Horsmonden, Kent, England; d. Apr.
24, 1676, Charlestown, Suffolk Co., MA.
Probably son of Richard Willard and Margery Humphrey
Simon Willard arrived in MA in1634. Lived at Cambridge, Middlesex Co., MA 1634
Concord MA 1635, Lancaster MA 1660, and Groton MA 1672, and Salem MA 1676.

Major Simon Willard had three wives: 1st was Mary Sharp, 2nd was Elizabeth
Dunster, sister of Pres. Dunster of Harvard College. 3rd was Mary Dunster
prob.
sister to Elizabeth Dunster but some say cousin or neice. He had seventeen
children by his 1st and 3rd wives.

Henry Willard his 4th son from whom the Willards of Charlestown NH are de-
scended was born at Concord, MA June 4, 1655. He m. Mary Laken of Groton, MA
on July 18, 1674 and settled at Lancaster, MA The 2nd son of this marriage
was
Simon Willard who married Mary Whitcomb and became the father of Lieut. Moses
Willard and the grandfather of Mrs. Susanna Johnson. He died and his widow
m. (2) Samuel Farnsworth of Groton, MA and their 3 sons, Samuel Jr., Lieut.
David Farnsworth and Stephen Farnsworth founded Charlestown, (Fort 4) in 1740.

Henry Willard's wife, Mary Laken died in 1688 and he m. (2) abt 1689, Dorcas
Cutler who survived him and m. (2) Benjamin Bellows of Lancaster, MA
Henry by Mary Laken and Dorcas Cutler had these children:

1. Henry Willard b. Oct. 8. 1678
2. Simon Willard m. Mary Whitcomb Res: Lancaster, MA He d. and she m. (2)
Samuel Farnsworth
His children by Mary Whitcomb were:
1. Aaron Willard b. at Lancaster 1701 m. 1724 Mary Wright
dau of
Capt.Samuel and Mary (Stevens) Wright of Sudbury and
Rutland
MA
2. Lieut Moses Willard b. at Lancaster, MA abt 1702/3 m.
at Groton
MA Sept 28, 1727 Susanna Hastings of Watertown, MA
whose
sisters Hannah Hastings and Eunice Hastings m. David
Farns-
worth and his brother Stephen Farnsworth founders of
Fort 4.
They lived 1st at Turkey Hills later Lunenburg, MA
1. Jemima Willard b. 1728 m. Sylvanus
Hastings son of
Dr. John Hastings.
2. Susanna Willard b. 1729/30 m. Capt. James
Johnson
3. Hulda Willard b. 1732 m. Joseph Willard
4. James Nutting Willard b. 1734 m. Abigail
Wetherbe dau
of Capt. Ephraim and Joanna (Bellows)
Wetherbe
1. James Willard b. 1762 d. 1762
2. James Willard 2nd b. 1763
3. Edward Willard b. 1765
4. Betsy Willard b. 1767
5. Abigail Willard b. 1770
6. John Small Willard b. 1772
7. Joanna Willard
8. Susanna Willard
9. Thales Willard
When James Nutting Willard died his widow
m. (2) Capt.
Isaac Farwell and then (3) J. B. Olive
5. Moses Willard Jr. b. at Groton, MA 1738 m.
Lydia Farwell
dau of Josiah & Lydia Farwell
6. Miriam Willard b. 1740 m. Rev. Phineas
Whitney of Shirley
MA
7. Aaron Willard m. Mary Smead
8. Capt. John Willard b. 1753 m. Eunice Clapp
dau of
Preserved Clapp of Amherst, MA and wife
Eunice Atherton

3. Eunice Willard b. at Lancaster m. Joseph Doby, Jr. of
Stow, MA
4. Alice Willard b. at Lancaster m. Capt. Jonathan
Whitney of Lan-
caster, MA
5. Miriam Willard a posthumous child was b. at Sudbury
and m.
Joseph Maynard of Sudbury Jan 29, 1723.
3. Mary Willard
4. John Willard
5. Hezekiah Willard
6. Joseph Willard
7. Samuel Willard
8. James Willard
9. Josiah Willard, Colonel and commander of Fort Dummer and one of the
grantees
and 1st settlers of Winchester.
10. Jonathan Willard
11. Sarah Willard
12. Abigail Willard
13. Susanna Willard
14. Tabitha Willard
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ephraim Wetherbe and his wife, Joanna (Bellows) Wetherbe was b. 1707.
Their children were:
1. Rachel Wetherbe m. Deacon Thomas Putnam
2. Jonathan Wetherbe a proprietor of Charlestown under the New-Hampshire
Charter.
3. Abigail Wetherbe m. (1) James Nutting Willard son of Moses & Susanna
Willard. She m. (2) Capt. Isaac Farwell and m. (3) J. B. Olive.
4. Susanna Wetherbe m. Thomas Little and resided at Peterboro NH and also
Lunenburg, MA (six children)
5. Joanna Wetherbe became the 2nd wife of Col. Wm. Heywood of Charlestown
6. Capt. Samuel Willard
7. Abijah Willard one of the grantees under the NH Charter.

Capt. Ephraim Wetherbe was one of the original proprietors of No. 4 under the
MA grant and settled in the place very early. His house at the time of the
building
of the fort was purchased as one of the Province Houses as the houses within
the
enclosure of the fort were then called. The price paid for it was f35. This
was
in 1743. He was commissioned a Lieutenant under the Province of MA as early
as 1737. From the manner in which his name occurs in the records, he was
evidently a person who was greatly respected. Only two others of the
proprietors
under the MA grant settled in No. 4. They were Stephen Farnsworth and Capt.
Phineas Stevens. Many of the descendants of his eldest daughter, Rachel who
married Deacon Thomas Putnam, still are found in Charlestown and a few of the
descendants of his son Capt. Samuel Wetherbe (see profile beginning p. 611)
_________________________________________________________________
Transcribed by Janice Farnsworth

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