Jabez Nye ca 1749-after 1810, Plymouth Co., Mass.

As with most of my Nye ancestors, I have quite a few question marks regarding my research on Jabez Nye, but thought writing about him might help me clear things up a bit. Alternative spellings for his first name are Jabesh and Jabus.

 

There is a Jabez (spelled Jabus in the record) Nye who was born 13 June 1749, in New Braintree, Mass., son of Samuel Nye and Lydia Benson. But this Jabez may have died during the war in 1778. Some of Samuel and Lydia’s older children were born in Rochester, Mass., so there is a connection to the area.

What I do know is "my" Jabez was baptized as an adult on 16 Aug 1772 at Wareham (First Church of Wareham records).

He married first Mary "Molly" Fuller on 18 Feb 1768 in Wareham. Jabez and Molly had at least nine children:

1.      Desire baptized 18 April 1773; married 1^st David Pierce and 2^nd John Gibbs. I descend from Desire and David.

2.      Abigail baptized 1 November 1772; married Ephraim Chubbuck.

3.      Hannah baptized 1 November 1772; married Charles Churchill.

4.      Lucy baptized 28 May 1775; died young.

5.      Joannah baptized 30 April 1780; married Richard Pierce.

6.      Sylvanus/Silvanus baptized 30 April 1780. Imagine how happy Jabez was when child No. 6 was a boy?! Sadly he died at age 15.

7.      Mary baptized 07 February 1782. May have been the Mary Nye who married Nathan Jones.

8.      Benjamin baptized 10 October 1791; died as a young man.

9.      Lucy born 29 Jan 1788, married George Adams.

Mary “Molly” Fuller Nye died 2 Feb 1802 in Wareham and is buried at Agawam Cemetery. Molly was born 23 November 1748, the daughter of Samuel Fuller and Ann Tinkham. After years of work, Paul Bumpus, Historian General of the Mayflower Society in Plymouth, proved Molly’s lineage so that people who descend from this couple can join the Society as descendants of Samuel Fuller as well as Mayflower Passengers Eaton, Billington and Brown. Paul was incredibly helpful to me when I first started searching my grandfather’s ancestry, as was Richard Griffith who was then of Wareham.

Mary Fuller Nye gravestone, Agawam Cemetery (source: warehamhistory.com)

Jabez married 2^nd Mary Churchill in Wareham on 31 December 1802. Her maiden name, assuming this was not her first marriage, is not known.

Jabez took part in some town affairs in Wareham, being Hog Reeve from 1778-1789 and Warden in 1779. A hog reeve was to see that when hogs went abroad they had rings in their noses and yokes of regulation size on their necks, also called Meet Persons.

Jabez Nye bought additional land near his home in Wareham from Jabez Burgess in 1778 and sold land to his son Benjamin in 1810.

His death date is not known but it was after 1810 when he deeded land to son Benjamin.

There is a Jabez Nye buried at Forestdale Cemetery, Sandwich who died in 1828 and was about the same age, but he is buried with a wife Temperance who died in 1838 (whom he married in 1773). This Jabez was the son of Benjamin Nye and Rachel Foster. Some researchers believe this is an error and Jabez of Wareham was the son of Benjamin, but I don’t think that’s the case.

I have seen some of the Nye genealogies published by the Nye Family Association of America. They don’t clear up the information on the multiple Jabez’s, but they are compilations of submissions from various members of NFA so the information presented should be checked with one’s own research.

From Mass. Soldiers and Sailors of the Rev. War, Volume XI, Boston, Wright-Potter Printing Co., 1903:

Nye, Jabez, Wareham. Private, Capt. Israel Fearing's co. of Minute-men, which marched on the alarm of April 19, 1775, to Marshfield; service, 4 days; also, Capt. Nathaniel Hammond's co. enlisted July 17, 1775; service, 5 mos, 20 days; company stationed at Wareham and Rochester for defence of seacoast and discharged Dec. 23, 1775; also, Corporal, Capt. John Gibb's Co., Col. Sprout's regt.; service 2 days; company marched to Falmouth on the alarm at Elizabeth Islands of Dec. 8, 1776; also, same co. and regt.; service 13 days; company marched to Rhode Island on the alarm of Dec. 10, 1776; also, Capt. Nathaniel Hammond's co., Col. John Dagget's regt.; entered service Aug. 25, 1778; discharged 1 Sept 1778; service, 8 days; company detached from militia for service on expedition to Rhode Island; also, Capt. John Gibbs's co., Col. Ebenezer Sprout's (4th Plymouth Co.) regt; entered service Sept. 13, 1778; discharged Sept. 18, 1778; service, 5 days; company marched to Falmouth on an alarm; also, Capt. John Gibb's co., 4th Plymouth Co. regt. commanded by Lieut. Col. White; entered service July 31, 1780; discharged Aug. 9, 1780; service, 9 days, on an alarm at Rhode Island.

source: stonehedgeproper.com

I could not find a pension claim for Jabez, using various spellings. There is one for Joseph Nye, who was of New Braintree and a brother to the “other” Jabez.

The DAR Patriot Index, Part II, page 2,171 has this on Jabez:

Nye, Jabez. Born 4-11-1749, Ma, d. 5-5-1828, MA, m. 1st Molly Fuller; 2nd Temperance Crocker, Sgt. MA. Another example of how the two (or perhaps three) Jabez Nye’s are constantly getting mixed up! The dates work out so that the same man could not have married Mary/Molly and Temperance.

In "Glimpses of Early Wareham," by Daisy Washburn Lovell, Wareham Historical Society, 1970: Page 55, A ca 1800 sermon mentions "Nye with powdered wig like an English Judge." Not sure which Nye this is referring to, but I like the imagery!

Jerry “Benny” Weston, who is researching the same Jabez, found there are a Jabez Nye and Joseph Nye who enlisted in the Revolutionary War in Ware Mass, credited to Barre Mass.  In the History of Ware, by Arthur Chase, there is mention that a Jabez Nye died at Valley Forge PA on 16 May 1778. The same book also states Jabez and Joseph Nye returned to Ware in Apr 1779. So did he die or survive?

Jerry found mention that a pension was given to Jabez Nye and father Samuel was the beneficiary, but did not receive the pension. He wrote the National Archives three times, asking for records in the diverse categories, and they came back negative in all instances.

Well, writing about Jabez didn’t clear up anything but did give me a headache! My new, albeit implausible, theory: Jabez was the son of Samuel and Lydia and died during or soon after the Revolutionary War. He had an unrecorded eldest son Jabez who is actually the father of some of the later children credited to Jabez and that this younger Jabez married Mary Churchill and signed the 1810 deed.