Mary Paddock

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 1714

Mary married Judah Sears in Nov 1731 in Yarmouth, Barnstable, Massachusetts. Judah (son of Capt. Samuel Sears and Mercy Mayo) was born on 29 Oct 1699 in Harwich, Barnstable, Massachusetts; died about 1776 in Rochester, Plymouth, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 1738, Harwich, Barnstable, Massachusetts

Notes:

Revolutionary War: Private in Capt. Elijah Walker's company, Col. John Hathaway's regiment which marched to the Tiverton Alarm in 1780.

From The Descendants of Richard Sares (Sears) (citation details below):

Alden Sears, " yeoman," of Rochester, resided for a time in Nova Scotia, and was one of the grantees of the town of Liverpool in 1761.

His wife dying, he returned to the States, living for a time in Pawtucket and Providence, engaged in boat-building and distilling.

He had been previously a seaman, and is said to have commanded a whaling vessel before he was of age.

Marrying again, he settled in Dighton, Mass., on the old Walker homestead, which, on the death of her father, fell to his wife. The old house is still standing, near 200 years old, and is a good specimen of early colonial times.

About the commencement of the Revolutionary War he resumed his voyages, and in returning from the West Indies with a cargo of molasses was captured by the British, lost his vessel and cargo, and was held prisoner several years.

An English officer, with whom he made friends, finally procured his release and supplied him with funds for his return. His wife is said to have had full faith during all the years of his absence that he would return, although others had given him up as dead.

According to the superstitions of the times, there were many signs convincing to her that he would return.

One evening in turning her tea-cup, the peculiar position of the leaves was proof that he was then on his way home.

She rose hastily, saying: "Alden will be home to-night, and I must put the house in order, and dress and go to meet him."

Upon opening the door, she really saw him in the distance approaching the house.

They removed to Bristol, N. Y., in 1792, with others from the vicinity of Dighton. For his land he paid six cents an acre.

He was in Capt. Elijah Walker's Co., in Col. John Hathaway's Regiment, and marched on "ye alarm of Aug. 2, 1780, to Tiverton, 18 miles' travel, 7 days' service, wages £1 8 0. Tiverton, 18 miles' travel, 7 days' service, wages £1 8 0."

-----

Note on the above: Alden Sears married his second wife, Phebe Walker, the one in the anecdote above, in Dighton, Massachusetts, 29 December 1769. So his first wife, Hannah Bassett, who died in Nova Scotia on an unknown date, has to have died before then. Therefore what he returned to can't have been "the States" as claimed above. No entity called "the States", United States or otherwise, existed in eastern North America in or before 1769.

When Alden Sears went from Massachusetts to Nova Scotia and then back to Massachusetts, he no more thought of himself as visiting a foreign land than he would have thought that way of relocating to Connecticut. He probably would have considered Quebec a foreign place, because although it was by then ruled from London it was dominated by French speakers. But Nova Scotia was just another English colony in which most of the inhabitants spoke English.

Alden married Phoebe Walker on 29 Dec 1769 in Dighton, Bristol, Massachusetts. Phoebe (daughter of Elnathan Walker and Bethiah Tisdale) was born in 1748 in Dighton, Bristol, Massachusetts; died on 23 Oct 1830 in Bristol, Ontario, New York. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Eleanor married Richmond Simmons on 22 Dec 1799 in Bristol, Ontario, New York. Richmond (son of Rev. David Simmons and Lillis Richmond) was born on 1 May 1773 in Massachusetts; died on 26 Jan 1845 in Bristol, Ontario, New York; was buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Bristol Center, Ontario, New York. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 11 Jun 1806, Bristol, Ontario, New York
• Alternate death: 11 Feb 1862, Bristol, Ontario, New York

Richmond married Hannah R. Wheeler in 1827. Hannah (daughter of Benjamin Daggett Wheeler and Deborah Reed) was born on 17 Nov 1810; died on 17 May 1908 in Bristol, Ontario, New York; was buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Bristol Center, Ontario, New York. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]