ESOG,

I have an inquiry concerning one William Cheever of Lynn, who moved to East Hardwick, VT. According to The Genealoical History of the State of New Hampshire, by E. S. Stearns, Vol II (1908), pp. 521-522, a William Cheever married Mehitable Newhall 21 Jun 1750 in Lynn. The book goes on to mention their child William born in Lynn 17 May 1753, moving to East Hardwick, VT in 1798. However, there is a mention of this child William marrying Mehitable Newhall, so this would be two William Cheever's marrying the same person.

Thanks for any clarification you can provide.

Timothy Hamman

Hello Mr. Hamman,

Thank you for contacting the Essex Society of Genealogists with your question about the William Cheever.

I looked up the Cheever Family in Marcia Wilson Wiswall Lindberg's Early Lynn Families. It was a very common name in Lynn and they were apparently prolific.

William Cheever who was b. 21 May 1708 I will call Senior. He married Sarah Wait(e) who was born at Malden, Mass., the daughter of William and Abigail (Lynde) Waite. William Senior owned land at Lynn (Rumney Marsh) and Chelsea. His son William (Junior), b. 22 Dec 1728, m 21 Jun 1750 Mehitable Newhall; He probably married as a second marriage 10 Jan 1763 widow Anna Eaton. William and Mehitable had 4 children: Lois, William (the third mentioned here), Israel and Sarah.

Ebenezer Newhall (1), born in Lynn, Mass 3 Jun 1693; d. Lynnfield, 22 Jun 1766. There was an intention of marriage to Elizabeth Breed. They had 6 children. Their daughter Mehitable, b. 2 Mar 1731, married 21 June 1750, William Cheever, Senior.

Ebenezer (1) and his wife Elizabeth Breed also had a son name Ebenezer (2), b. 9 Dec 1725, Lynn, married at Lynnfield to Mary Cheever, widow of Elijah Newhall and daughter of William and Sarah Wait(e) Cheever. A daughter of Ebenezer (2) and Mary (Cheever) Newhallwas Mehitable, b. 17 Sep 1758.

I wasn't able to determine if this second Mehitable was the one who married William (the third) but it shows that there was another Mehitable Newhall in his age cohort (and a cousin) that was available for him to marry.

Let me know if this helps.

And thanks for sending copies from Stearns, Vol II. Page 522 is blank in the copy on the shelf here. I'll scan a copy of the page you sent onto acid free paper and add it to the book.

Regards,
Peg Plummer
Research Volunteer, ESOG