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Bassett-Edgecomb-Snyder Archives home
John Edgecomb (d. c.1772) and Phebe Brace(?)
Key words: Lieut. John Edgecomb, Phebe Edgecomb, Phoebe Brace, Phoebe Edgecomb, Lieut. John and Phebe Edgecomb, Lieut. John and Phoebe Edgecomb, Lieut. John and Phebe Brace Edgecomb, Lieut. John and Phoebe Brace Edgecomb
John Edgecomb, our earliest proven Edgecomb ancestor, first appears in the records of West Hartford, Connecticut on 19 May 1729 when he "owned the covenant" at the West Hartford Church. On the same day, a Phebe Brace joined the same church. It is possible that she was the Phebe who later became the wife of John.
On 26 Sep 1735, a survey was recorded for land in New Hartford granted to John by the proprietors of the town. Other land transactions involving John Edgecomb were recorded in New Hartford and Simsbury from 1735 to 1764. In March of 1738 a deed recorded that John purchased land in Barkhamstead with Henry Brace, Jr., sister of Phebe. This additional circumstantial evidence supports the idea that John's wife Phebe may have been Phebe Brace.
The town records of New Hartford record the births of John and Phebe Edgecomb's children1:
In 1756, John entered the Connecticut militia to serve in the French and Indian War. By 1758 when he left the militia, he had attained the rank of Lieutenant.
John died sometime in or before 1772. In the records of his estate, he is referred to as "Lieut. John Edgecomb". His son John was not mentioned and was therefore probably deceased before that time. Lieut. John's son Uriah was administrator of his father's estate and was described as his "eldest son". On 18 Apr 1772, an allowance from his estate was given to "Mrs. Phebe Edgecomb, widow of said John deceased". On 7 Dec 1772, the New Hartford church records report that "Phebe Edgecomb, widow" was assigned to Pettibone's district.
A number of genealogists have sought to connect Lieut. John with the Edgecombs of New London, Connecticut and hence to many generations of Edgecombs in England2. Despite much time and research, the effort to definitively make a connection has not been successful.3 A John Edgecomb, b. 29 Jan 1700/1 and son of John and Hannah (Hempstead) Edgecomb is the most likely candidate to be Lieut. John Edgecomb. However, if this were Lieut. John, this birth date would have made him much older than the typical age at the birth of his first child. The will of John Edgecomb (m. Hannah) also insinuates that his son John (b. 1700/1) was deceased by 1736. Until further evidence is found, the question of Lieut. John's ancestry must remain unanswered.
This account was taken from History
of the Edgecomb, Bassitt, and Snyder Families of Allen County, Ohio by
Steven J. Bassett Baskauf, 2007.
This portion of the book is freely
available under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License provided you give the citation
listed above. On the web, a link to this page would be helpful.
Comments? Questions? Contact Steve Baskauf
References:
1. Barbour Collection, New Hartford, Connecticut, vital records
2. For more information, see the section entitled "Line of John Edgecomb (b. 1700) to John of Edgcumbe (d. 1285)". [not yet on line, see text of book]
3. For a clear outline of the evidence related to this issue, see "The Edgecombs of Allen County OH and New Hartford CT" by Judith T. Voran, The American Genealogist, Jan/Apr 1986. This article also describes the proof she used to connect the Allen County Edgecombs to "Lieut. John" Edgecomb and forms the basis of this section.
4. Gravestone in Dyer Cemetery, Canton, Hartford County, CT. "Ammi, wife of Jonathan Humphrey, died Aug. 13, 1778 in the 33 year of her age"
.