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An American Family History

Aaron Estey and Esther Richards

 
Topsfield, Essex County, Massachusetts
 
“Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves,
and, under a just God cannot retain it."
― Abraham Lincoln
 

The settlement of New Meadows was incorporated as the Town of Topsfield in 1650. The church "gathered" on November 4, 1663. The third Meeting House was built in 1703 with Rev. Joseph Capen as pastor.

Most Americans were farmers in the 18th and early 19th centuries.

The New England Meetinghouse was the only municipal building in a town. Both worship and civil meetings were held there. It was customary for men and women to sit separately and the town chose a committee once a year to assign seats according to what was paid, age, and dignity.

Aaron Estey and Esther Richards were married on June 7, 1723 in Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts.

They lived in Topsfield at the same time as the Dr. Michael and Elizabeth Dwinnell family.  

The first child named Isaac Estey was born on January 23, 1723/24. The first child named, Aaron Estey was born on January 18, 1724/25. Hannah Estey Towne was born April 14, 1726. 

In 1729 Aaron and Esther became the guardians of Aaron's sister, Abigail Estey Cumming's son, Daniel Cummings.

Mary Estey Dwinnell was born on June 1, 1730. The second child named Isaac Estey born September 30, 1731. Abigail Estey was born in 1734. The first child named Esther Estey was born in 1736. Abigail and Esther both died in 1737.  The first child named William was born in 1737. Daniel Estey born May 4, 1739. Esther Estey Balch was born on June 29, 1741. The first Aaron died in 1745 and the second Aaron Estey was born on January 18, 1745/45. The second child named William Estey was born on August 2, 1748.

Topsfield town records show that on December 6, 1749, Caesar, a man who had been enslaved by Aaron Estey died.

In 1754 Esther Richards who was born on February 25, 1744/45 came to live with them. She was the daughter of Joseph and Mary [Bowden] Richards of Southborough. Her father died when she was an infant, and at the age of ten she was brought by her mother, in accordance with her father's wish, to live with his sister's family.

The Topsfield Historical Collections Volume 7, recorded that on May 20, 1760, the town of Topsfield appointed a committee of twelve men to seat the townsfolk in the meeting-house "according to there Best Skill and Judgement." 

Seated in the

The Mens First Seat Below [the elders] were
Mr. Aaron Easty,
Mr. David Balch. [Esther Estey Balch’s husband], and
Mr. John Perkins [Mary Easty Perkins’s husband]. 

Daniel Easty was seated in “he front back pew with Bartw Dwinell.

Mr. Aaron Esty's wife [Esther Richards Estey] was in the women’s first seat with the
widow Mary Dwinel
Mr. David Balch’s wife [Esther Estey Balch] was in the women’s third seat.

In the 1771 list for May 16, 1771, Aaron Estey had moved up to the elder’s seat. Mr. William Estey appeared in "the mens second seat in the frunt gallery."

At least three Estey sons (Isaac, Daniel, and William) were in the militia during the Revolution.

Aaron died in 1783 and Esther died in 1805.

Mary Dwinnell, Esther Balch, and William and Isaac Estey all moved to Keene, New Hampshire. Daniel stayed and appears in the 1790 census. Aaron moved to Vermont and Hannah to New Hampshire.

Old Style Calendar
Before 1752 the year began on Lady Day, March 25th,. Dates between January 1st and March 24th were at the end of the year. Old Style (O.S.) and New Style (N.S.) are used to indicate whether the year has been adjusted. Often both dates are used.
mother
First printed in Boston 1745

Three daughters of William Towne and Joanna Blessing were wrongly accused of practicing witchcraft in Salem. Rebecca Towne Nurse, Mary Towne Estey, and Sarah Towne Bridges Cloyes were persecuted in 1692. The children of people in the line below are all descendants of Mary Estey.

William Towne,
Mary Towne Estey,
Isaac Estey,
Aaron Estey
,
Mary Estey Dwinnell
,
Israel Dwinnell,
Isaac Davis Dwinnell, Sr.,
Isaac Davis Dwinnell, Jr.
,
Victoria Zellena Dwinnell
,
Robert Wilson Miller, Sr
.,
Robert Wilson Miller, Jr.
Mister ( Mr.) was derived from master and Mrs. and Miss were derived from mistress. They indicated people of superior social status in colonial America.
Essex County, Massachusetts was created on May 10, 1643 by the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, when it ordered "that the whole plantation within this jurisdiction be divided into four sheires."
Guardianship is when a court gives an adult custody of a child and/or the responsibility of managing the child's property. Before women could own property, guardians were appointed for their minor children if their husband died.

The settlement of New Meadows was incorporated as the Town of Topsfield in 1650. The church "gathered" on November 4, 1663. The third Meeting House was built in 1703 with Rev. Joseph Capen as pastor.

 

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from Genealogical and Personal Memoirs by William Richard Cutter
John Dwinell, son of Jacob Dwinell, born in Topsfield, June 15, 1747, died in 1818 of a carbuncle on the shoulder, aged seventy-one years. He married, February 5, 1771, Esther Richards [b. 25 Feb 1744/45], daughter of Joseph and Mary Richards of Southborough. Her father died when she was an infant, and at the age of ten she was brought by her mother (in accordance with her father's wish) to live with his sister, Esther Estey, wife of Aaron Estey, of Topsfield.

 
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©Roberta Tuller 2023
tuller.roberta@gmail.com
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