Joshua Brewster (ca 1698-1776) and His Wife Deborah Jackson (1703/4-1769)

 Joshua Brewster (William 3, Love 2, William 1 Brewster) was born ca 1698 at Duxbury, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, the son of William and Lydia (Partridge) Brewster and the great-grandson of Mayflower passenger William Brewster. I’ve also blogged about these earlier Brewster ancestors, which you can find by using the search function. Joshua and Deborah are my 7^th great-grandparents on my grandfather Arthur Washburn Davis’ side of the family.

On 13 March 1721/22 Joshua married Deborah Jackson at Plympton, Massachusetts. Deborah was born 11 March 1703/04 at Plymouth, the daughter of Eleazer and Hannah (Ransom) Jackson.

Deborah and Joshua had four children whose births are recorded in Duxbury:

Job b. 11 Jan 1722/23, died 1727

Nathan b. 21 December 1724

Sarah b. 11 Feb 1727

Job b. 17 December 1729

 I descend from Sarah who married Joseph Wright.

 Joshua’s Duxbury land was not far from what is now Kingstown Way and close to the Kingston border, a distance from the original Duxbury homestead of his forebears.

 In May 1720, William Brewster Senior, husbandman of Duxbury deeded for goodwill and affection unto his dutiful sons Joseph and Joshua Brewster, both of Duxbury, Yeoman, his farmland, both upland and meadow where he dwells. He sold them an additional 8 acres in March 1720/21. (PC Deeds, 15:60, 192)

In 1739 the town of Duxbury paid Joshua Brewster 26 pounds 15 shillings for entertainment of two councils for the dismissal of the minister Mr. Robinson.

In 1748 Joshua and Joseph Brewster were listed with one right in the second division of common lands belonging to Duxbury and Pembroke.

On 13 Dec 1753 Joshua Brewster of Duxbury sold to (his sons) Nathan and Job Brewster, coasters of Duxbury, all his lands, housings, buildings in Duxbury with all moveables or personal estate as well as pasture. (Plymouth Co. Deeds, 42:173)

Joshua deeded, on 20 December 1760 to Joshua Brewster and Joseph Wright (his son-in-law) of Plympton equal portions on behalf of their respective sons “the full one ninth part of all the iron ore…on a certain lot of land butting on Crane Brook, situate lying in the town of Plympton exclusive of the fee of said lot containing by estimation about seventy five acres…”  (Plymouth Co. Deeds, 49:6) I haven’t researched who this Joshua Brewster is…perhaps a grandson?

Plymouth Colony Court Records, 1686-1859, has several cases involving Joshua Brewster, Duxbury Yeoman. He served on juries for the Court of Common Pleas a few time, he bought a physick student to court, he bought a case concerning the Cooke Forge, and one against Samuel Barrows for trespass. I think the most interesting one is when Judge of Probate John Cushing, attached Joshua Brewster, Duxborough Yeoman, debt on bond dated 12 August 1741 for a 400 pound demand. Defendant pleaded "he ought not to be held to pay the within Debt because Principall Ransom Jackson died worth nothing and that he himself was poor, and unable to pay the same." Court ruled defendant to account with Cushing within one month or pay 400 pounds and 36 shillings, 3 pence costs; Joshua to appeal. It’s of note that Joshua states he was poor and also that Ransom was his brother-in-law.

Deborah (Jackson) Brewster was 65 when she died 1 September 1769 at Duxbury.

Joshua died 27 March 1776 at Duxbury, at about 78 years of age. No probate records are found for Joshua, but that would make sense since he had already deeded his land to family. No gravestone for Joshua or Deborah survive in Duxbury.

Side note: If you have ancestors from Duxbury, the Duxbury Rural & Historical Society is a wonderful resource. Even if you can’t visit because of distance or the pandemic, they have interesting online content at: https://duxburyhistory.org/.

 Sources:

Barbara Lambert Merrick, Mayflower Families Through Five Generations, Volume 24, Part 1, Elder William Brewster, GSMD, 2014

 

Henry A. Fish, Duxbury Ancient & Modern, 2012, Duxbury 375th Anniversary Revised Edition, based on 1925 edition

 

Lucy Hall Greenlaw, Early Generations of the Brewster Family, NEHGR, October 1899