#71—NEWELL--Ebenezer Newell—A Baker’s Dozen of Children

Our theme for this week is an ancestor who had a large family or who was a member of a large family.  So I decided to blog about Ebenezer Newell, my fourth great grandfather.  He had 13 children and in my book that certainly qualified as a large family.

Ebenezer Newell, was born on January 4, 1712, in Needham, Massachusetts to Ebenezer and Hannah (Fisher) Newell.  He married Elizabeth Bullard on October 7, 1735, in Needham, Massachusetts.  They had three children:  Ebenezer Newell, Jr. (1736–1797), Hannah Newell (1740–1775) and Theodore Newell(1744–1817).  Elizabeth Bullard Newell died in 1752.  A year later on April 24,1753, Ebenezer married Elizabeth Allen, daughter of Hezekiah and Mary (Draper) Allen.  They had  ten children:  Elizabeth (1754-1844), Susanna (1755-), Mehitabel (1757-), Reuben  (1760-1825), Mary (1762-), Abigail (1764-1849), Olive (1766-1837), Lois (1770-), Rebecca (1773-1856), and Hannah (1776–).

Ebenezer lived in Dover, Massachusetts and was active in the community and the church.  He served as one of the town wardens and selectmen, was on the committee on inspection and safety during the Revolutionary War (See #8 What Do You Mean, I Cannot Have a Cup of Tea?  Ebenezer Newel
l) and in 1773 was the sealer of the bread in 1773, making sure that the bread met certain standards.  He was a deacon of the church and charged with taking care of the town meeting house.  For that work, he received 12 shillings a year.  While Ebenezer farmed, at times he engaged in other additional occupations.  He was a cooper and at one time, he also ran a tavern.

Ebenezer died on  January 8, 1798 at the age of 87 and is buried in Needham Cemetery.  If I were able to talk to him, I would ask him what it was like to have 13 children, if he had any advice for how to successfully raise children, if any of his children caused him problems, and if he was especially proud of any of them and their accomplishments.