Gurney Genealogy Library Updated 15 July 2026 by Allen Gurney

These research notes are provided as-is and contain supplementary working research.

Benjamin Gurney (G09) Notes

Research notes for g09-benjamin-gurney-fact-sheet.md.

Current evidence summary

Benjamin Gurney G9 is now anchored by two strong, independent record points: the Abington church-derived baptismal entry for Benjamin, son of Jean, baptized 30 May 1730, and John Harden’s 1751 Plymouth County probate will, which names “my grandson Benjamin Gurney” and gives him twenty shillings.[1][2]

This combination materially improves the older narrative. The baptismal entry gives the mother-name as Jean but does not name a father. John Harden’s will confirms that the later Benjamin Gurney belonged in the Harden grandson set. The will also names daughter Jane Spear, making Jane/Jean Harden Spear the best-supported maternal candidate when the will is read with the baptismal entry.[1][2]

The will does not explicitly state that Benjamin Gurney was the son of Jane Spear. The most accurate present wording is therefore: Benjamin Gurney G9 was baptized at Abington on 30 May 1730 as Benjamin, son of Jean; John Harden’s 1751 will confirms him as John Harden’s grandson; Jane/Jean Harden Spear is the likely mother.[1][2]

Abington baptism: Benjamin, son of Jean

The Abington vital-record compilation places Benjamin under a Harden/Hardin variant entry:

HARDENG (see Harden, Hardin), Benjamin, s. Jean, bp; May 30, 1730. C.R.1.[1]

This should be cited and described as a baptism, not as a birth. The abbreviation bp. means baptized, and C.R.1 identifies the First Church of Abington record source.[3]

The entry is unusually important because it names the mother rather than a father. That is consistent with, but does not by itself prove, the later tradition of a non-marital Gurney/Harden birth. It does establish that the key 30 May 1730 record is a Harden-side church entry and that the mother-name was Jean.[1]

John Harden’s 1751 will

John Harden’s will is the strongest new document in this cluster. The record-book copy identifies him as John Harden of Bridgewater, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, blacksmith. The will was dated 17 September 1751 and proved 7 October 1751.[2]

The will gives Mary, his wife, the use and income of the estate during her life. After Mary’s death, the estate was to be divided among five daughter-lines: daughter Mary Hobert/Hobart, daughter Sarah Gurney, daughter Jane Spear, the children of deceased daughter Rebecca Noyes, and daughter Lydia Dawes. Son John Harden received the blacksmith tools. Benjamin appears in a separate clause:

Item, I also give unto my grandson Benjamin Gurney twenty shillings to be paid by my executors.[2]

The will confirms Benjamin Gurney’s Harden-side kinship without relying on the later Hobart abstract. It also resolves the older Elizabeth problem: Elizabeth Harden appears in the will as a witness, not as a daughter or heir.[2]

Jane / Jean Harden Spear as likely mother

The identification of Jane/Jean Harden Spear as Benjamin’s likely mother rests on a combined chain:

  1. Abington records identify Benjamin as son of Jean, baptized 30 May 1730.[1]
  2. John Harden’s will names a daughter Jane Spear.[2]
  3. The same will names my grandson Benjamin Gurney.[2]
  4. Elizabeth Harden appears as a witness, not as a daughter/heir, removing the strongest competing reading in the older abstract tradition.[2]
  5. Abington records independently place Jean/Jane in the John and Mary Harden child set, with Jean Harden/Hardin, daughter of John and Mary, born 19 November 1709.[4]

The Jane/Jean name variation should be preserved rather than silently flattened. The Abington vital records use Jean in the birth and baptismal material; Hobart and the will use Jane. The records are best treated as variant forms for the same Harden daughter unless a later conflicting record is found.[4][5][2]

The “Elizabeth” problem

Older or derivative accounts introduced an Elizabeth reading into the Benjamin Gurney / John Harden story. The original will materially changes that reading. Elizabeth Harden is present in the will record, but as a witness:

Samuel Reade Elizabeth [her mark] Harden Woodbridge [his mark] Brown[2]

She is not one of the five daughter-lines receiving John Harden’s estate. The daughter-lines are Mary Hobert/Hobart, Sarah Gurney, Jane Spear, deceased Rebecca Noyes’s children, and Lydia Dawes.[2]

Until a separate primary record proves otherwise, the Elizabeth wording should be treated as an abstracting or derivative conflation with Elizabeth Harden the witness. It should not be used to identify Benjamin’s mother.

Was Benjamin raised by a maternal aunt?

The will does not prove the “raised by his mother’s sister” claim. It confirms Benjamin’s Harden kinship, but it says nothing about guardianship, upbringing, household placement, or who cared for Benjamin after the baptism.[2]

The aunt tradition remains plausible because John and Mary Harden’s daughter set included several possible maternal aunts. The strongest candidate is Sarah Harden Gurney. She was born 9 April 1707, was about twenty-three at Benjamin’s baptism, is named in John Harden’s will as daughter Sarah Gurney, and secondary compiled genealogy reports that Nathan Gurney married Sarah Harden on 12 May 1725.[6][2][7]

Sarah is stronger than Mary, Rebecca, or Lydia as a reconstruction because she was both chronologically plausible and already married into the Gurney network. Mary Harden Hobart was old enough and remains possible. Rebecca Harden Noyes was about fourteen in 1730, and Lydia Harden Dawes was about nine, making them weaker candidates for an infancy-caregiver role.[8]

The fact sheet should not say Benjamin was raised by his aunt as a proved fact. A durable phrasing is: Family tradition says Benjamin was raised by a maternal aunt; Sarah Harden Gurney is the strongest candidate, but no guardianship or household record has yet been found.

The foster household

The household is documented by both Hobart (1866) and Rigler (1994). Nathan Gurney was a son of Zachariah Gurney and a grandson of Richard Gurney of Weymouth (G12), which makes him a first cousin of Benjamin’s father, Benjamin Gurney G10, as well as the husband of Benjamin’s aunt: the boy was kept inside his Gurney kin and his Harden kin at once. (Hobart’s register calls Nathan a son of John Gurney, the Little Comfort mill founder; Rigler corrects this — John-3 was Nathan’s uncle, and the error traces to John-3’s estate transactions. Full treatment in research/people/nathan-gurney-abington.research.md.) Nathan and Sarah’s ten children, born 1725–1751, were Martha (m. Zachariah Shaw), Rebecca, Lemuel, Elijah, Noah, Nathan, Silas, Sarah, Jacob, and John; Benjamin was the near-twin in age of Lemuel and grew up among them at Little Comfort. The eldest, Martha (b. 24 July 1725), corroborates the 12 May 1725 marriage. The full collateral treatment is in research/people/nathan-gurney-abington.research.md and the related fact sheet fact-sheets/g09-nathan-gurney-related-fact-sheet.md.[9][10]

Father identification: Benjamin Gurney G10

The Abington baptism does not name Benjamin Gurney G10 as father. The father identification currently rests on secondary compiled genealogy plus the broader record chain. The public compiled genealogy at The Neverending Hobby states that Benjamin Gurney G10 had a non-marital relationship with Jane Harden and fathered Benjamin in Abington; it also says Jane returned to Braintree with her parents while Benjamin moved to Middleborough with his parents.[7]

That secondary account aligns well with the primary-derived chronology: Benjamin, son of Jean, was baptized at Abington on 30 May 1730; Benjamin Gurney G10 married Sarah Morse at Middleborough on 14 June 1731; and the later Sarah Morse family produced a second Benjamin in the child set, creating a known two-Benjamin disambiguation problem.[1][11][7]

The father link is therefore credible but should be carefully phrased. Do not cite the baptismal record as if it names G10.

Harden sibling set

The John and Mary Harden child set matters because it frames both the maternal identification and the aunt-household question. The Abington vital records and John Harden’s will together support this core set:

  • Mary Harden, born 25 July 1705; later Mary Hobert/Hobart in the will.[8][2]
  • Sarah Harden, born 9 April 1707; later Sarah Gurney in the will.[8][2]
  • Jean/Jane Harden, born 19 November 1709; later Jane Spear in the will.[4][2]
  • Rebecca/Rebacka Harden, born 27 January 1715/16; deceased Rebecca Noyes by the will, with her children receiving her share.[8][2]
  • Lydia Harden, born 4 August 1720; later Lydia Dawes in the will.[8][2]
  • John Harden, born 3 September 1723; son John Harden in the will, receiving the blacksmith tools.[8][2]

This set also confirms that no daughter Elizabeth is needed to explain Benjamin’s Harden kinship.

Later-life anchors

The Harden evidence does not change the later Cummington arc. Benjamin Gurney G9 remains the man who sold Abington land in June 1770 and bought into Town No. 5, later Cummington, with Silas Reed on 5 November 1770. Foster and Streeter preserve the later 1787 farm exchange with Philip Shaw at Cummington.[12]

The 1790 federal census summary for Cummington still requires image-level rechecking. The currently carried 3-0-3 household structure is consistent with a later-life farm household but may not include son Amos in the expected older male category. Treat this as a check item rather than a resolved household reconstruction.

MACRIS inventory corroboration (CUM.151 / CUM.115)

The Massachusetts Historical Commission Form B for the Asa Gurney homestead at 75 Mount Road, Cummington (MACRIS CUM.151, recorded 1975) independently corroborates G9’s documented Cummington land history and adds lot-level geography. Its typed history reads: “Benjamin Gurney first purchased land in Lot No. 59-1 on November 5, 1770. The records indicate that in 1787 Benjamin Gurney and Philip Shaw purchased each other’s farms. Gurney moved to the village (No. 404) to 100 acres of the southerly part of Minot Grant, while Shaw moved to the hill (No. 302) in Lot No. 59-1.”[13] The 5 November 1770 purchase and the 1787 Shaw exchange match the dates already carried from Foster & Streeter and Rigler (1994); the form newly specifies the parcels (Lot 59-1 on the hill; the southerly Minot Grant in the village) and cites Only One Cummington, deeds, and tax records.

Son Asa Gurney (b. 24 Oct. 1758) bought the southerly half of Lot 5 and northerly half of Lot 6 from the Commonwealth in 1795 and built the present homestead in 1808; it was “the oldest homestead in the town that is still in the original family name,” held by Harriet Gurney at survey.[13] A second form, for Asa’s 1816 village house at 51 Main Street (MACRIS CUM.115), names Asa as original owner; it sits on the Gurney Main Street land within G9’s southerly Minot Grant parcel and was later the home of Prof. William Ward Mitchell, President of the Day for the Cummington Centennial of 1879.[14] The CUM.151 form’s handwritten margin carries the line forward to John Wesley Gurney (who incorporated the Hillside Agricultural Society) and Ashley B. Gurney, “a retired entomologist for the U.S. Gov’t.”[13]

Open questions

  1. Aunt-household — corroborated, not yet proved at primary level. Rigler states directly that Benjamin “was raised in Abington by Nathan & Sarah (Harden) Gurney, his mother’s sister,” naming the household and matching the reconstruction here. A primary guardianship, church, or estate-distribution record would still upgrade it from compiled-genealogy statement to documented fact. (Unknown online.)
  2. Loose John Harden estate file. The record-book will has been located; the loose Plymouth County estate file may contain bonds, receipts, or distributions that further clarify relationships.
  3. Original Abington church record. The NEHGS town vital-record compilation is strong, but the original First Church of Abington register entry would be preferable for the exact wording around “Benjamin, son of Jean.”
  4. Original Middleborough marriage record. The current 14 June 1731 Gurney/Morse date comes from a marriage index; obtain the original register page if possible.
  5. G9 marriage records — dates recovered. Rigler gives Elizabeth Harden (m. 1 Jan. 1752 Abington, daughter of Samuel Harden) and Mercy Noyes (m. 17 Nov. 1800 Cummington). The original Abington and Cummington marriage registers would confirm the compiled dates. (Unknown online.)
  6. Cummington deeds and probate. Direct deed citations for the 1770 sale/purchase and any 1805 estate settlement would strengthen the later-life section.

Rigler (1994) findings — direct page audit

Rigler’s Benjamin-5 (Benjamin-4,3, Richard-2) entry, transcribed at sources/corpus_supplement/rigler-gurney-aaron-zuinglius-g9-g12-extract.md, corroborates the aunt-upbringing and supplies the marriages, the full child set, and several life details.

Aunt-upbringing corroborated by name. “He was raised in Abington by Nathan-4 & Sarah (Harden) Gurney, his mother’s sister.” This is the same Sarah Harden Gurney this companion already identified as the strongest aunt-household candidate (b. 9 Apr. 1707; m. Nathan Gurney; “daughter Sarah Gurney” in John Harden’s 1751 will). The tradition that Benjamin was raised by a maternal aunt now has a direct compiled-genealogy statement and a named household.[15]

Marriages. First, 1 Jan. 1752 at Abington, Elizabeth Harden (b. c. 1730, d/o Samuel Harden), who died 30 July 1800 in her 70th year at Cummington, bur. Dawes Cem. Second, 17 Nov. 1800 at Cummington, Mercy Noyes (b. c. 1740/41), d. 28 Mar. 1813, bur. Dawes Cem. Note that G9’s wife Elizabeth Harden, daughter of Samuel Harden, is a different Elizabeth from the witness in John Harden’s will — the name recurs in the Harden family and should not be conflated.[15]

Children (by Elizabeth Harden). Benjamin (b. 25 Aug. 1752 Bridgewater, d. 1804 Cummington, m. Esther Cole 1802; one daughter Clarissa, 1803–1813); Betty “Betsey” (b. 15 Nov. 1756, d. 12 May 1805 Cummington); Asa (b. 24 Oct. 1758, m. Molly Reed); Jane; and Amos (m. Ruth Gilbert) — G8.[15]

Residence and the Cummington move. Benjamin lived at Northville, a small community between East Bridgewater and present Whitman. About June 1770 he sold his Abington land; Springfield records show he and Silas Reed bought land in Town No. 5 on 5 Nov. 1770, where the deed described him as “yeoman of Town # 5, formerly of Bridgewater.” In 1787 he and Philip Shaw exchanged farms (Foster & Streeter, Only One Cummington, p. 390; Hampshire Co. MA Biographies, 1896, p. 196). The 1790 census gives 3-0-3.[15]

Death. Died 28 Sept. 1805 in his 76th year, bur. Dawes Cem., Cummington.[15]

Rigler worksheet (c. 1980) — corroboration, a date, and a one-year conflict

The earlier Rigler family-group worksheet for Benjamin-5 confirms the core frame (bapt. 30 May 1730; m. 1 Jan. 1752 Elizabeth/Betsey Harden, daughter of Samuel Harden; 2) Mercy Noyes; d. 28 Sept. 1805 “in 76 yrs,” bur. Dawes Cemetery, Cummington) and adds two things the 1994 entry does not:

  • Asa’s marriage date. Son Asa (b. 24 Oct. 1758) married Molly Reed on 30 Oct. 1782; the 1994 entry names the marriage but not the date. Carry the date as provisional (worksheet-only delta).
  • A cited authority and a repository. The Sources box adds Nahum Mitchell, History of [the Early Settlement of] Bridgewater alongside the Bridgewater/Abington/Cummington vital records, and locates the Anna Gurney Papers at the Dyer Memorial Library, Abington.

One conflict: the worksheet gives Elizabeth (Harden) Gurney’s death as 30 July 1801 “in [the] 70th yr,” while the 1994 edition gives 30 July 1800. The published edition supersedes, so keep 1800; the 1801 reading is noted only as the earlier draft.

The worksheet also restates the aunt-upbringing directly (on the Benjamin-4 sheet): Benjamin “was raised by Nathan-4 Gurney and his wife Sarah (Harden) Gurney, sister of Jean (Jane) Harden” — independent support for Sarah Harden Gurney as the caregiving aunt discussed above.[16]

Sources consulted

  • Plymouth County Probate Court record-book copy of John Harden’s 1751 will.[2]
  • Vital Records of Abington, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850, volume 1.[1]
  • Aaron Hobart, Historical Sketch of Abington.[5]
  • Middleborough marriage index.[11]
  • The Neverending Hobby — John Gurney, US 1636.[7]
  • Foster and Streeter, Only One Cummington.[12]
  • Jean Gurney Rigler, The Gurney Family from Aaron to Zuinglius (rev. and expanded ed., 1994), Benjamin-5 entry (pp. 21–22); audited — see the Rigler findings section above. Source ID rigler-gurney-family-aaron-zuinglius-1994. Transcribed extract at sources/corpus_supplement/rigler-gurney-aaron-zuinglius-g9-g12-extract.md.

  1. Vital Records of Abington, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850, vol. 1, Births (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1912), Harden/Hardin/Hardeng entry for Benjamin, son of Jean, baptized 30 May 1730, C.R.1; PDF on Wikimedia Commons. Source ID: abington-vr-1850-vol1. ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  2. 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, 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. Source ID: plymouth-probate-john-harden-1751-will. ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  3. MassachusettsGenealogy transcription/explanation for Vital Records of Abington, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850, vol. 1, noting the abbreviation structure and church-record notation. Source ID: abington-vr-1850-vol1. ↩︎

  4. Vital Records of Abington, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850, vol. 1, entry for Jean Harden/Hardin, daughter of John and Mary, born 19 November 1709. Source ID: abington-vr-1850-vol1. ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  5. Aaron Hobart, Historical Sketch of Abington, Plymouth County, Massachusetts; with an Appendix (Boston: Samuel N. Dickinson, 1839), online transcription at LDSGenealogy, recording Mr. Niles of Braintree’s baptism of Jane Harden, daughter of John Harden of Little Comfort, 22 February 1711. Source ID: hobart-abington-1839. ↩︎ ↩︎

  6. Vital Records of Abington, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850, vol. 1, entry for Sarah Harden, daughter of John and Mary, born 9 April 1707. Source ID: abington-vr-1850-vol1. ↩︎

  7. “John Gurney, US 1636,” The Neverending Hobby, public compiled genealogy. Use as secondary compiled genealogy. Source ID: neverending-hobby-john-gurney-us-1636. ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  8. Vital Records of Abington, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850, vol. 1, John and Mary Harden/Hardin family entries for Mary, Sarah, Jean, Rebecca/Rebacka, Lydia, and John. Source ID: abington-vr-1850-vol1. ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  9. Benjamin Hobart, History of the Town of Abington, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, from its First Settlement (Boston: T. H. Carter and Son, 1866), Appendix Gurney register, pp. 383–386; verbatim extract at sources/corpus_supplement/hobart-1866-abington-gurney-register-extract.md; Internet Archive item historyoftownofa00hoba. Source ID: hobart-benjamin-history-abington-1866. ↩︎

  10. Jean Gurney Rigler, The Gurney Family from Aaron to Zuinglius (1994), entry NATHAN GURNEY-4 (Zachariah-3), p. 182, establishing Nathan as a son of Zachariah (not John) Gurney and giving his vital dates and the full ten-child set. Transcribed at sources/corpus_supplement/rigler-gurney-aaron-zuinglius-g9-g12-extract.md. Source ID: rigler-gurney-family-aaron-zuinglius-1994. ↩︎

  11. Middleborough Public Library, “Marriages by Men’s Name,” marriage index PDF, entry for Benjamin Gurney and Sarah Morse, 14 June 1731. Source ID: middleborough-marriages-by-mens-name. ↩︎ ↩︎

  12. Foster and Streeter, Only One Cummington (1974), p. 390, Benjamin Gurney / Cummington land and farm-exchange context. Existing sourceId in repo may be foster-streeter-cummington; if absent, add a separate data/sources.json entry before citing. ↩︎ ↩︎

  13. Massachusetts Historical Commission, Inventory of Historic Assets, Form B - Building, inventory no. CUM.151, “Gurney, Asa House,” 75 Mount Road, Cummington (built 1808); recorded by W.W.S. [William W. Streeter], Cummington Historical Commission, 30 Jan. 1975. Transcription at sources/corpus_supplement/macris-cummington-gurney-houses-extract.md; scanned form at sources/media/macris-cum-151-gurney-asa-house/. Source ID: macris-cum-151-gurney-asa-house. Availability: Available online (MACRIS, https://mhc-macris.net/). ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  14. Massachusetts Historical Commission, Inventory of Historic Assets, Form B - Building, inventory no. CUM.115, “Gurney, Ase House” (common name “Mitchell, William Ward House”), 51 Main Street, Cummington Center (built 1816); recorded by W.W.S. [William W. Streeter], Cummington Historical Commission, 14 Nov. 1974. Transcription at sources/corpus_supplement/macris-cummington-gurney-houses-extract.md; scanned form at sources/media/macris-cum-115-gurney-ase-house/. Source ID: macris-cum-115-gurney-ase-house. Availability: Available online (MACRIS, https://mhc-macris.net/). ↩︎

  15. Jean Gurney Rigler, The Gurney Family from Aaron to Zuinglius: A Genealogical Dictionary, rev. ed. (Honolulu: J. G. Rigler, 1994), Benjamin-5 (Benjamin-4,3, Richard-2) entry (pp. 21–22). Transcribed at sources/corpus_supplement/rigler-gurney-aaron-zuinglius-g9-g12-extract.md. Source ID: rigler-gurney-family-aaron-zuinglius-1994. ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  16. Robert G. Rigler, M.D., Gurney family-group worksheets for Benjamin⁵ and Benjamin⁴ Gurney, c. 1980 (Honolulu); the earlier working draft behind the 1994 edition, which supersedes it. Images local-only at sources/media/rigler-genealogy-notes-c1980/_local/; transcription at sources/corpus_supplement/rigler-genealogy-notes-c1980-worksheets-extract.md. Source ID: rigler-genealogy-notes-c1980. ↩︎