Benjamin Gurney (c. 1704 – before 1772)
Plymouth County farmer whose 1730 liaison with Jane Harden produced Benjamin (G9) before his 1731 marriage to Sarah Morse; the split sends Cummington and Rochester lines in different directions.
Highlights
- Three traceable land transactions in eastern Plymouth County. With his father (G11), bought land from Samuel Tinkham, Middleboro, on 28 October 1730 — three lots of upland and one lot of meadow about two acres (Plymouth Registry 39:79). Sold the same after his father's death on 3 May 1749. On 7 November 1731 acquired eight acres at Middleboro from Sam Eddy Jr. (Plymouth Registry). Held a Rochester homestead farm later divided among sons Lemuel, Benjamin, and Levi by deed dated 1 January 1800 (Plymouth County land deed 95:139, Genealogical Society film 559,140). 3
- Father of Benjamin (G9) through Jane/Jean Harden. Two independent compiled genealogies — Rigler's and The Neverending Hobby's — name G10 as the father of Benjamin (G9), baptized at Abington in 1730 as Benjamin, son of Jean, through a liaison before his marriage. The baptism names only the mother, so the paternity rests on the compiled genealogies and the Harden-side record chain rather than on a direct baptismal statement. 48
- Moved from the Bridgewater–Abington corridor into the Middleboro–Rochester corridor. The traceable arc of his life runs from a Weymouth birth, through the Abington–Whitman area in early adulthood, into Middleboro from 1730–31, and finally to Rochester, where he died before 13 December 1771. 2
- His Rochester homestead was divided among three sons in 1800. The 1 January 1800 division of the homestead farm at Rochester among sons Lemuel, Benjamin, and Levi (Plymouth County land deed 95:139) is the most concrete glimpse of his estate post mortem. The recorded division also confirms the names of three of his sons. 6
Children
| Name | Dates | Mother | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Benjamin Gurney | bpt. 30 May 1730 – d. 28 Sept. 1805 | Jane / Jean Harden | G9 in the direct line; baptized as Benjamin, son of Jean; confirmed as John Harden's grandson. Father identification rests on the compiled genealogies and the broader evidence chain. 78 |
| Susannah Gurney | Sarah Morse | Married Jabez Benson of Wareham, 26 July 1752. 9 | |
| Lemuel Gurney | c. 1738 | Sarah Morse | Married Elizabeth Wrightington; with his brothers, divided the Rochester homestead farm 1 January 1800. 6 |
| Benjamin Gurney | c. 1743–45 – 1828 | Sarah Morse | Later same-name half-brother; married Thankful Ellis and served as a Revolutionary War private; the Benjamin in the Rochester homestead division, distinct from G9. 49 |
| Levi Gurney | c. 1746 | Sarah Morse | Married Mary, then Rebecca, Hathaway; with his brothers, divided the Rochester homestead farm 1 January 1800. 6 |
The family has a two-Benjamin problem. Benjamin (G9), baptized in 1730 as son of Jean/Jane Harden and the direct-line ancestor, is distinct from the later Benjamin in the Sarah Morse child set — born about 1743–45, married Thankful Ellis, a Revolutionary War private who lived out his life at Rochester (died 1828) — who fits the 1800 homestead division and the later Middleborough/Rochester records. 469
Narrative
Benjamin Gurney G10 lived his entire life among the working farms and small towns of eastern Plymouth County, Massachusetts. He was born around 1704 at Weymouth, into the household of his father Benjamin (G11) and Rebecca Staples, and grew up in the Abington–Whitman area where the family had held land since the previous generation. Two independent compiled genealogies — Jean Gurney Rigler's and the public Neverending Hobby — identify him as the father of Benjamin (G9), who was baptized at Abington on 30 May 1730 as Benjamin, son of Jean, through a liaison with Jane (Jean) Harden before his own marriage. John Harden's 1751 will confirms that this child was John Harden's grandson, which makes Jane/Jean Harden the best-supported mother; neither the baptism nor the will, however, names the father outright, so the paternity rests on the compiled genealogies and the surrounding record chain. 148
His married life with Sarah Morse — daughter of Jonathan and Anna (Barden) Morse, whom he married at Middleboro on 14 June 1731 — generated a family group that Plymouth County deeds preserve in fragments. With his father he bought Middleboro land from Samuel Tinkham on 28 October 1730 (Plymouth Registry 39:79) — three lots of upland and a small meadow lot of about two acres — and sold it on 3 May 1749 after his father's death. He bought eight further acres at Middleboro from Samuel Eddy Jr. on 7 November 1731, presumably the family's working farm in that town, and subscribed to the church in what is now Carver. By the latter part of his life he had moved on to Rochester, where he died before 13 December 1771.
The fullest after-death records are his son Lemuel's 1771 mortgage of "a certain tract in Rochester… it being the estate of my father, Benjamin Gurney, late of Rochester" (Plymouth Registry 57:47), and the 1 January 1800 deed (Plymouth County 95:139) by which sons Lemuel, Benjamin, and Levi divided the Rochester homestead. It is from these that his sons by Sarah Morse are known. The Benjamin in that division was the later son by Sarah Morse — not Benjamin (G9), who by 1800 was long established in Cummington, having sold his Abington land and bought into Town No. 5 in 1770. The split between the Plymouth County and Hampshire County branches of the family therefore traces back to Benjamin G10's two relationships, with the Cummington, New York, and Indiana line descending exclusively from the earlier liaison with Jane Harden.
Citations
- Born c. 1704 at Weymouth, Massachusetts, son of Benjamin Gurney (G11) and Rebecca Staples. Jean Gurney Rigler, The Gurney Family from Aaron to Zuinglius: A Genealogical Dictionary, rev. ed. (Honolulu: J. G. Rigler, 1994), Benjamin-4 (Benjamin-3, Richard-2) entry. Source ID:
rigler-gurney-family-aaron-zuinglius-1994. ↩ - Died before 13 December 1771 at Rochester — the date his son Lemuel mortgaged the tract "it being the estate of my father, Benjamin Gurney, late of Rochester" (Plymouth Registry 57:47); Rigler, Gurney Family from Aaron to Zuinglius, Benjamin-4 entry. Source ID:
rigler-gurney-family-aaron-zuinglius-1994. ↩ - Plymouth Registry 39:79 (Samuel Tinkham purchase with his father, 28 October 1730; sold 3 May 1749); Plymouth Registry, 7 November 1731 (Samuel Eddy Jr. purchase, 8 acres Middleboro); Plymouth County land deed 95:139 (Rochester homestead division, 1 January 1800), GS film 559,140 — as compiled in Rigler, Gurney Family from Aaron to Zuinglius, Benjamin-4 entry. Source ID:
rigler-gurney-family-aaron-zuinglius-1994. ↩ - Two independent compiled genealogies identify Benjamin Gurney G10 as the father of Benjamin G9 through Jane (Jean) Harden: Rigler, Gurney Family from Aaron to Zuinglius, Benjamin-4 entry, which states he "became enamoured of Jane (Jean) Harden & apparently fathered her son, Benjamin," and "John Gurney, US 1636," The Neverending Hobby. Both also carry the Sarah Morse child set and the later same-name Benjamin; the Abington baptism itself names only the mother, Jean. Source IDs:
rigler-gurney-family-aaron-zuinglius-1994;neverending-hobby-john-gurney-us-1636. ↩ - Married 14 June 1731 at Middleborough, Massachusetts, by the Rev. Benjamin Ruggles, to Sarah Morse (b. 7 February 1711/12, daughter of Jonathan and Anna (Barden) Morse); Rigler, Gurney Family from Aaron to Zuinglius, Benjamin-4 entry, with the Middleborough Public Library "Marriages by Men's Name" index also recording the 14 June 1731 date. Source IDs:
rigler-gurney-family-aaron-zuinglius-1994;middleborough-marriages-by-mens-name. ↩ - Rochester homestead farm divided among sons Lemuel, Benjamin, and Levi, 1 January 1800; Plymouth County land deed 95:139, GS film 559,140, as compiled in Rigler, Gurney Family from Aaron to Zuinglius, Benjamin-4 entry. Source ID:
rigler-gurney-family-aaron-zuinglius-1994. ↩ - See Benjamin Gurney (G9) fact sheet; G9's baptism is recorded in Vital Records of Abington, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850, vol. 1, as Benjamin, son of Jean, baptized 30 May 1730, C.R.1. Source ID:
abington-vr-1850-vol1. ↩ - Massachusetts. Probate Court (Plymouth County), Probate records, 1686–1903; with index and docket, 1685–1967, Plymouth County Probate Court record book, manuscript pp. 383–384 (Plym. Prob. 12:383), will of John Harden of Bridgewater, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, blacksmith, dated 17 September 1751, proved 7 October 1751; FamilySearch catalog; p. 383 image; p. 384 image. The will confirms Benjamin Gurney as John Harden's grandson and names daughter Jane Spear; it does not name Benjamin Gurney G10 as father. Source ID:
plymouth-probate-john-harden-1751-will. ↩ - Children of Benjamin Gurney G10 by Sarah Morse, and the later "second Benjamin," from Rigler, Gurney Family from Aaron to Zuinglius, Benjamin-4 entry: Susannah (married Jabez Benson of Wareham, 26 July 1752), Lemuel (married Elizabeth Wrightington), Benjamin (b. c. 1743–45, married Thankful Ellis; a Revolutionary War private; d. 1828, will Plymouth Probate 66:215), and Levi (married Mary, then Rebecca, Hathaway). Source ID:
rigler-gurney-family-aaron-zuinglius-1994. ↩