Keziah Hall

Notes:

Called "Keziah Wentworth Hall" in many online databases, but we have seen no evidence that she had any middle name at all.

The Chesleys did marry into the Wentworths -- Philip¹'s grandson James Chesley married the immigrant William¹ Wentworth's granddaughter Tamsen Wentworth, a year before Keziah's birth. And because the Wentworths were a family on the rise by 1705, it's possible that Keziah was given Wentworth as a middle name in order to underscore the connection. But generally the smart bet is to assume that eighteenth-century middle names were invented by bad genealogists in later years.

Family/Spouse: Joseph Evans. Joseph (son of Edward Evans and Dorcas Bussell) was born on 29 Oct 1704 in Somersworth, Strafford, New Hampshire; died on 20 Nov 1767. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Benjamin Evans was born in 1750 in Somersworth, Strafford, New Hampshire; died on 2 Apr 1844 in Kennebunk, York, Maine.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Aft 1736, Somersworth, Strafford, New Hampshire

John married Esther Chesley on 9 Aug 1705 in Dover, Strafford, New Hampshire. Esther (daughter of Philip Chesley and Joanna) was born in 1682 in Dover, Strafford, New Hampshire; died after 1736 in Somersworth, Strafford, New Hampshire. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Said to have escaped from the massacre at Oyster River, N. H., in 1694, by jumping from an upper window of her father’s house with an infant in her arms.

The idea that Esther Chesley was conceived when her father was at least 72 is not entirely farfetched, but it does make us wonder whether she might be misplaced in the Chesley line. But running through the other possibilities leaves us concluding that she is most likely placed correctly.

There is a document dated 23 Dec 1713 in which "we Mary Hall [widow of Ralph Hall,] John Hall & Easther Hall" refer to themselves as "only daughters of Philip Chesley, sen., late of Dover."

It is true that by 1713, Philip² Chesley (who died in 1695, ten years after his father Philip¹ Chesley) could have been referred to as "senior" in order to distinguish him from his son Philip³ Chesley who was still alive as late as 1756. Based on the fluidity of "senior" and "junior" identification at the time -- you could be born John Smith, Jr. and die John Smith, Sr., very different from the way the terms are used today -- Mary and Esther could have been referring to Philip² when they wrote "Philip Chesley, sen., late of Dover".

But it is also true that the purpose of this document was to convey certain land to their "couzen Philip Chesley," who, in 1713, can only have been Philip³, son of Philip². Obviously this eliminates the possibility that Esther and Mary were daughters of Philip², since if that were the case, they would have referred to Philip³ as their brother (or half-brother at most).

This leaves the far-fetched possibility that they were in fact both daughters of Philip¹ Chesley's other son Thomas² Chesley, which would make them literally cousins to Philip³.

But this establishes less than one might think, because prior to the mid-1700s, "cousin" was a word used for a broad set of close relationships outside of the immediate family. In the conventional scheme in which Mary and Esther were late-born daughters of Philip¹, Philip³ would have been their half-nephew, a relationship well within the range of those called "cousin" at that time.

Notes:

Torrey gives a date of 3 Jul 1699 for this marriage. So do Noyes, Libby, and Davis, but in their errata this is corrected to 9 Aug 1705, the date also given by The Wentworth Genealogy.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Bef 4 Mar 1706

Notes:

First of record 1 Feb 1686 when his father conveyed to him half the Dover Neck homestead, the other half at his father's death.

Ralph married (Unknown first wife of Ralph Hall). (Unknown died before 26 May 1701. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

The Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire (citation details below) says that she was possibly a sister of Esther Philbrook, wife of Joseph Beard, whose son called Ralph Hall "uncle" in 1713.

Notes:

“Philip Chesley, b. 1606-08, ± 77 in Nov. 1683. First ment. Dover Neck wit. 1642; he had a home lot there. At Oyster River by 1648. His and his 2d wife's share of existing records would fill a 'movie,' an alternating current of honor. and impuls. activ. His wife Elizabeth, liv. 1661, was presum. dead when he put everything in his sons' names. Soon his wife was Joanna, app. relation of James and Elizabeth Thomas. Both living 30 Apr. 1685. [...] Ch: Thomas, b. ab. 1644. Philip, b. ab. 1646. By 2d w: Hannah, m. Thomas Ash. Mary, in ct. 1698, found at the house of Thomas Ash in Portsm.; m. 28 May 1701 Ralph Hall; 2d John Foye (3). Esther, m. 3 July 1699 John Hall.” [Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire]

From New Hampshire Court Records 1640-1692, Court Papers 1652-1688, State Papers Series Vol. 40, edited by Otis G. Hammond. New Hampshire: The State of New Hampshire, 1943:

phillip Chesly for givinge out Reprochfull spechis against the worshipfull Captin wiggins Is sentensed by this Courte to make a publiqe acknouledgment three severall publiqe Days the first Day in the head of the train band: the other two Days are to be the next publiqe meetings days in Dover, when oyster River peopell shall be there Present: which is to be Done within fouer months after this Present Day, and in Case he Doth not performe as affore sayd he is to be whipped not exseding ten strips: and to be fined five Pounds to the Contry: ffees for the Court 0-02s-6d. [...]

The Deposioc of Thomas Bradbury Junior Aged Twenty Yeares or there abouts who Testifyeth yt upon the second Day of October (1661) or there abouts Phillip Chesley being att Salisbury and mr Andrew Wiggins with him: Phillip Chesley asked this deponent where Mr. Hall was, or whether he was gone for England, this depont told him that hee was gone to Boston: the said Chesley asked him whether mr Hall had any Cattle or horses [...T]he said Phillip Chesley [...] in the hearing of this depont [said] that mr Sam:Hall was a Knave and that he had Cheated him of Tenn pounds wch was a due debt and further said if he could sight of him hee could lay him fast & further saith not.

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On 24 Jun 1662, Samuel Hall sued Philip Chesley for £500 over Chesley having called him a "knave" who had "cheated him...of a just debt." Chesley was jailed for a time. The torrent of charges and counter-charges can be discerned through the translucent veil of seventeenth-century language here, beginning on page 491.

Philip married Joanna. Joanna died after 30 Apr 1685. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Aft 1684

Notes:

Said to have been a brother to Ralph Hall of Exeter, Devon.