| Sources:
1. Timothy Hopkins. 1932. John Hopkins of
Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1634, and Some of His Descendants. Stanford
Univ. Press, Stanford, CA. On p. 44:
EBENEZER ... b. at Hartford, Connecticut, 24
June 1699; m. there 7 June 1727, Susannah Messenger, b. at Wallingford
30 November 1704, daughter of Capt. Daniel Messenger, b. 1683, and Lydia
Royce (Nehemiah, Robert), b. at Wallingord 28 May 1680. He d. about
1784 in Shaftsbury, Vermont, while reurning from a visit to West Stockbridge,
Massachusetts.
In 1729 his name is among the new settlers at
Waterbury with his mother and brothers Stephen and Isaac. (Anderson's
Waterbury,
1: 301.) On 9 January 1731-32 Ebenezer Hopkins of Waterbury bought
land of his uncle, Samuel Sedgwick of Hartford; and a year later Ebenezer
Hopkins of the 'Western Lands near the road between Litchfield and Farmington'
sells land to 'my father, Daniel Messenger, living at the same place.'
(Chipman's Harwinton, p. 24.) He was among the first settlers
of Harwinton, and resided there from 1733 to 1770. Both he and his
son Ebenezer were signers, 1751, of the petition to erect the new county
of Litchfield. He was a grantor of that part of the town called East
Harwinton and, in 1759 and 1760, bought and sold land in Nine Partners,
New York. (Cutter's Genl. and Fam. History of Central New York,
p. 695.)
In 1770 Ebenezer removed to Pittsford, Vermont,
being one of the first settlers there and an Original Proprietor.
The first meeting of the proprietors was held at his house, 19 March 1771,
and he was chosen Moderator. (Caverly's History of Pittsford,
p. 708.) He held town offices in both Harwinton and Pittsford. |
2. G.B. Roberts & W.A. Reitwiesner. 1984. American
Ancestors and Cousins of The Princess of Wales. Genealogical
Publ. Co., Baltimore, MD, p. 38.
3. Gary Boyd Roberts. 1995. Ancestors of American
Presidents. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston.
4. A.M. Caverly. 1872. History of the Town of Pittsford,
Vt. Tuttle & Co., Printers, Rutland, VT:
| p. 32 |
Ebenezer Hopkins was born in Waterbury, Conn.
in 1699, married in 1728, and settled in Hartford. He became one
of the original proprietors of Harwinton in the same State, and removed
there in 1733. He had three sons, James, Nehemiah, and Elias, the
two former born in Hartford, the latter, and a daughter, Tabitha, born
in Harwinton. |
| p. 36 |
This year begin the earliest existing records
of the Proprietors' meetings. The record of the first meeting is
as follows:
'March 19, 1771. Warned by Gideon Warren Proprietors' Clerk.
A Proprietors' Meeting Now Held at the House of Ebenezer Hopkins [footnote:
This house was built by James Hopkins and his father, but as it was designed
for the fahter's use it is here called the house of Ebenezer Hopkins],
Firstly Voted and Chose Ebenezer Hopkins Proprietors' Moderator to be Moderator
for Sd Meeting. Then Voted and Chose Benjamin Cooley Proprietors
Clerk. Then Voted to lay out the first Division of Lots and Number
the Same. Then Voted and Chose Isick Rood First Committy Man.
Then Voted and Chose James Hopkins 2 Committy Man. Then Voted and
Chose Moses Olmstead Committy Man. Then Voted to ad Ten acres to
every Loot in the first Division for Highways. Then Voted that every
Man should |
| p. 37 |
have his Hundred acres where he has Don his Work.
[footnote: Up to this time no division of lots had been made among the
Proprietors, but those who had settled here, did so on rights which they
had purchased, andthey had made their pitches without regard to any particular
system; hence this vote that 'every man should have his hundred acres where
he has done his work.'] Then voted that all the Lots be the same
size. Then Voted to give the Committy three shillings a Day.
Then Voted to have the same Committy lay out the Hiways.' |
| p. 708 |
[capsule biographies]
HOPKINS, EBENEZER SEN., of Harwinton, Conn., m. and had sons, James,
Nehemiah, and Elias, and daughter Tabitha, who m. Dr. Abiathar Millard.
Ebenezer Hopkins, Sen., d at Shaftsbury, while returning from a visit to
West Stockbridge, Mass., about the year 1784. |
The Ebenezer whom Caverly calls "Senior" is our Ebenezer "Junior."
The Moses OLMSTED mentioned by Caverly is possibly related to Mary (BUTLER)
HOPKINS, whose mother was Elizabeth OLMSTED/OLMSTEAD (Elizabeth had a nephew
named Moses). The 1785 plat map contained in Caverly shows the HOPKINSes
and OLMSTEADs between them owned about half the land immediately surrounding
the village of Pittsford. |