Groton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts was settled and incorporated in 1655. During King Philip's War, Indians burned all but four of Groton's garrisons. Survivors fled, but returned two years later to rebuild the town. Groton was again threated by Indians during Queen Anne's War.
Mary Davis Foster was born on May 20, 1699 in Groton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. Her parents were Samuel and Anna Davis.
She married Deacon Moses Foster. Moses was born April 19, 1692. His parents were Samuel Foster and Sarah Keyes.
Moses and Mary's children were Phoebe Foster (1716), Samuel Foster (1718), Esther Foster (1720), Mary Foster (1722), Sarah Foster (1724), Martha Foster (1726), Elizabeth Foster (1729), Moses Foster (1731), Jane Foster (1733), Joseph Foster (1735), Eunice Foster (1737) and Anna Foster (1739).
On November 16, 1731, Samuel and Anna conveyed their possessions to Moses. Moses was to care for Samuel and Anna from that time on. There was no fixed understanding of the details which caused some problems later. In 1734 Samuel and Moses sued each other. The Court's decision was against Foster.
Moses Foster was an early settler in Ashburton. He was one of the church's first deacons. On February 20, 1749-50 he was present at a meeting of the Ashburton proprietors.
Present at this meeting, and mingling with them, was Moses Foster, then almost sixty years of age. For several years he had resided a portion of the time, at least, in Dorchester Canada. He brought them tidings from the wilderness, and gave them an account of what had happened there. By him they were assured the meeting-house had been unharmed and he gave them the names of those who had been to the wilderness or were proposing to settle there. Mr. Foster had purchased one first and one second division lot lying adjacent in the northeast part of the town, now in Ashby. The title to one of the lots was in dispute and the proprietors at this meeting made him a grant of fifty acres. Not content with this measure of kindness to their aged guest, the proprietors vote him five pounds "for being one of the first settlers." There is no record, of the payment of this gratuity, but a few years later a tract of about fifty acres was granted to "Mr. Moses Foster one of the first settlers" on condition he "shall come personally and settle and inhabit there and continue there for several years provided his life be spared him." This grant was located adjacent to and east of the common, and for many years was known as the Deacon Foster grant. It is now owned and occupied by Benjamin Cushing. Permission was also given Mr. Foster to throw up his house lot No. 51, and lay out another which he did, selecting a tract extending north from the land granted to him, but not extending so far westward. . .
Moses Foster is found residing here in 1750, but the date of his arrival is not definitely known. About 1750 he removed from the northeast part of the township to land granted him near the old common where he was a licensed innholder in 1751 and in later years. His name will frequently occur in the continued record of the settlement.
(from History of Ashburnham, Massachusetts by Ezra Scollay Stearns)
She died on November 11, 1777 in Ashburnham, Worcester County, Massachusetts. He died October, 1785.
Before 1752 the year began on March 25th. Dates between January 1st and March 24th were at the end of the year, not the beginning.
Deacons played a respected and important role in early New England churches. They sat in a raised pew near the pulpit and had special duties during communion.
For family trees and all source information, link to my RootsWeb File
