"[L]iberty must at all hazards be supported.
We have a right to it, derived from our Maker.
But if we had not, our fathers have earned and bought it for us,
at the expense of their ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their blood."
-- John Adams, 1765
Greenwich, Hampshire County, Massachusetts was incorporated in 1749 and dissolved in 1938. It was renamed from Quabbin in 1754 .
American colonists continued to use British monetary units, namely the pound, shilling and pence for which £1 (orli) equalled 20s and 1s equalled 12d. In 1792 the dollar was established as the basic unit of currency.
Learn more about the Hinds Family
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.
Captain Isaac Powers, Esquire was born on February 21, 1737 in Quabbin, Hampshire County, Massachusetts. His parents were Jeremiah Powers and Hannah Fiske.
He married Phene (Phebe) Russell (Russel). Phene was born in 1741.
Their children included:
Simeon Powers (1760, married Polly Goodyear),
William Powers (1764, married Susan Hinds),
Jonathan Powers (1766, married Amy Fletcher),
Luke Powers (1768, married Nancy Cleland),
Elijah Powers, and
Zerviah Powers.
Isaac was a captain in Colonel Elisha Porter's regiment of the Massachusetts militia during the American Revolution. In 1777 the regiment marched to join the Northern army under General Schuyler at at Ticonderoga.
Phene died on October 28, 1782.
Isaac served as a representative.
The desire for political honors does not seem to have possessed the people of this town to any great extent in the olden time, for it was only when some measure directly affecting the town, like a change of bounds, was to come before the court that it was thought worth while to send a representative, to which the town was entitled once in a certain number of years, and pay his expenses.
The town was repeatedly fined for not being represented, in consequence of which a representative would be chosen the following year for the sole purpose, apparently, of getting the fine, remitted, in which they were generally successful. On one occasion the town voted to send a representative if any one would go on half-pay, and on another if any one would go for £12. Captain Isaac Powers accepted the offer, and was accordingly elected without opposition. (from History of Middlesex County by Samuel Adams Drake)
He married Thankful Stone on November 25, 1784. Thankful was born on November 18, 1757 in Greenwich. Her parents were Deacon Simon and Eunice Stone.
Thankful and Isaac had at least two children: Phebe Powers Stone (1787) and Isaac Powers (1785). Their son William married Isaac’s sister Susannah Powers Hinds’ daughter, Susan Hinds. Isaac was guardian to the children of Bethuel Hack
They appeared in the 1800 census in Greenwich. Thankful died on September 3, 1829 Phillipston, Worcester, Massachusetts.
Some Puritans gave their children hortatory names (from the Latin for “encourage”) like Thankful, hoping that the children would live up to them. The names were used for several generations.
Quabbin was also called Quaker Plain and Narragansett. Quabbin is now under the Quabbin reservoir.
A militia is a military unit composed of citizens who are called up in time of need.
In 1662 Hampshire County, Massachusetts was formed from the western section of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Parts of the original county became Hampden, Franklin, Berkshire and Worcester Counties.
From Reports of Cases Argued by Massachusetts. Supreme Judicial Court
Upon a case stated it appeared, that Paul Chase, a pauper, was born in that part of Greenwich which is now Dana, in 1769. His father lived, and in 1772 died, in the same part of Greenwich, having then a settlement in Greenwich. The pauper, on his father's death, went to live in what is now Greenwich, first with Jeremiah Powers, and afterwards with Isaac Powers, making his home there till 1804, except that he sometimes, during that period, made his home in other places out of the limits of Greenwich. He never resided, after the death of his father, in the part of Greenwich which is now Dana.
It was common for bequests to include wearing apparel.
From Acts and Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, published by Wright & Potter, 1897
On the petition of Isaac Powers Guardian to the Children of Bethuel Hack late of Greenwich in the County of Hampshire Deceased, praying that Esther Hack Administratrix on said Bethuel Hack's Estate may be Authorized to make and execute a sufficient Deed of a piece of land lying in said Greenwich to Jabez Town.
Resolved for the reasons set forth in said Petition that the prayer thereof be granted and that said Esther Hack be, and she hereby is, authorized and empower'd to make and execute a good [and sufficient] Deed [of sufficient] to said Jabez Town of a piece of land lying in said Greenwich Containing about three acres Bounded Northerly by a County road Westerly by Elias Haskell's land, Southerly and Easterly by Roland Blackmore's land.
March 4, 1800.
Groton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts was settled and incorporated in 1655. During King Philip's War, indigenous warriors burned all but four of Groton's garrisons. Survivors fled, but returned two years later to rebuild the town. Groton was again threated during Queen Anne's War.
Estate inventories give us a glance into the home life of Colonial Americans.
Groton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts was settled and incorporated in 1655
Deacon Simon Stone was born September 10, 1714 in Groton, Massachusetts. About 1756 he moved to Greenwich, Massachusetts. On February 3, 1771 he was elected a deacon in the Greenwich Church and was the fifth consecutive Simon Stone to hold this office. On March 3, 1771 he was chosen town treasurer. He died in Greenwich on April 17, 1785.
His wife was named Eunice and she died in Greenwich on July 12 1791 when she was 76.
Children: The first nine born in Groton, the younger born in Greenwich.
i. Eunice (1740-1752)
ii. Simon (1741)
iii. Lydia (1743- )
iv. Aaron (1745- )
v. a child (died in infancy)
vi. Moses (1748- )
vii. Tabitha (1751- )
viii. Abner (1753- )
ix. Eunice (1755-1774)
x. Thankful (1757-1829)
xi. Israel (1760- )
1756
Lush forests in Colonial America allowed settlers to build wooden homes.
