Tag Archives: Rehoboth Massachusetts

Esther Hall, wife of Edward Hall

Posted on by

Esther Hall will most likely forever remain a mystery.  We have not been able to discover any documentation that gives her maiden name, birth or death dates, where she was born or where she died and is buried; nor the names of her parents.  No marriage records exists in those early records that are available.

I recently read a small book on early Duxbury.  The author made the comment that the search for love did not seem to travel far as most men in the Plymouth Colony married the daughters of their neighbors.  Is it possible that Esther’s family was of Plymouth Colony and a near neighbor of Edward Hall?  But then we have the fact that Edward, for no apparent reason that can be found, leaves Plymouth Colony for Braintree and remains there for about 5 years, where his first two children are born and recorded in the Braintree Vital Records.  I suspect that Esther was considerably younger than Edward and base this only on the fact that their last child, Benjamin, was born in 1668 when Edward was about 57 years of age.  Could it be possible that Esther’s family was of Braintree and that Edward and Esther lived with them the first few years of their marriage so that a very young wife might have the assistance of her mother as she bore her first two children?  We’ll probably never know the answers to these questions.

The only documentation on Esther Hall or the Widow Hall in Rehoboth follows.  There is no way to know for sure if the first entry from PCR pertains to Esther.

  • October 7, 1651, Grand Enquest presented Samuel Eaton and Goodwife Halle, of the towne of Duxborrow, for mixed dansing. Released with admonition (PCR 2:174).
  • Widow Hall appears on the earliest extant tax list in the town of Rehoboth, 1671 (Early Rehoboth, Vol. 1, by Bowen, p. 39).
  • Ester Hall is shown with one share of the Rehoboth North Purchase on 28 May 1672, Rehoboth town records (Early Rehoboth, p. 41).
  • Widow Hall appears on the Rehoboth 1674 tax list (Early Rehoboth, p. 16).

There are no further entries in the Rehoboth town records for either the Widow Hall or Esther Hall.

The Rehoboth Vital records contain the marriage of an Esther Hall to Thomas Jordan in Rehoboth on 24 December 1674.  There has been much speculation in published genealogies and histories that it was the Widow Esther Hall who married Thomas Jordan.  Other published genealogies and histories claim that it was Edward and Esther’s daughter, Esther, who married Thomas Jordan.  The only thing that is for certain is that there is absolutely no proof for either speculation.

The last document that mentions Esther Hall is a 1715 Quit Claim deed in which the siblings, Samuel, Thomas, Andrew, and Benjamin convey land in favor of their brothers, John and Preserved, described as:

…the lands which our father Edward Hall and our mother Esther Hall had in said Rehoboth in the Town of Attleborough in said county of Bristol….

The deed was recorded May 21, 1715 (Bristol Co. Deeds, 9:279-280).

Introduction

Posted on by

Welcome to Four Hall Cousins.  This blog has been created to present the history of Edward Hall of Rehoboth, Bristol County, Massachusetts, formerly of Henbury, Gloucestershire, England, who arrived in Massachusetts Bay about 1636, settling first in Duxbury, Plymouth Colony, and his descendants.  Although information may be presented on some of his children and their descendants from time to time, the main focus will be on his son, Samuel Hall, who married Abigail Pratt; his son, Jonathan Hall, Sr. who married Sarah Ockington; and his son, Jonathan Hall, Jr., who married Lydia Leonard, all known to have lived in that part of Taunton, Bristol County, Massachusetts, that became Raynham in 1731.

From Jonathan Hall, Jr. and his wife, Lydia Leonard, we will show how we tie in Silas Leonard Hall, first documented in 1774 when he married Eunice Titus in Salisbury, Litchfield County, Connecticut. Silas Leonard Hall is the mutually elusive ancestor who brought  four Hall cousins together many years ago.  Since that time we have combined our efforts in an attempt to learn as much as possible about our mutual ancestors.

We are very interested in the children of Jonathan and Lydia Leonard Hall.  Seth Hall married Diadamia Leach and removed from Raynham, Massachusetts to Westmoreland, New Hampshire.  Linus Hall married Celia Shaw and left for Bartlett, Carroll County, New Hampshire where his two older brothers, the Honorable Obed Hall and Ebenezer Hall had already relocated.  Silas, we are certain, removed first to Salisbury, Litchfield County, Connecticut and then to Danby, Tompkins County (then Tioga Co.), New York about 1808/09.  Nothing is known about Jonathan Hall who, according to Raynham census, must have married and remained in Raynham, Massachusetts until his death.  Hezekiah married Sarah Carver and lived in Raynham and Bridgewater, Massachusetts.  We would enjoy hearing from descendants to learn more about the children.

We hope that this blog will provide additional information to those of you who are researching the above families and that it will also stimulate productive discussions about them.  We welcome new cousins to help us add to our information base.