Elizabeth (Smith) Dunton (abt. 1716 - aft. 1761)

Born about 4 May 1716 in Cambridge, Middlesex, Province of Massachusetts Bay [uncertain]

Ancestors

Wife of Timothy Dunton Sr. — married about 17 Dec 1737 in Cambridge, Middlesex, Province of Massachusetts Bay [uncertain]

Descendants

Died after 17 Sep 1761 after about age 45 in Freetown Plantation, Lincoln County, Province of Massachusetts Bay [uncertain]

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Biography

This is the profile for the wife of Timothy Dunton of Sudbury, Massachusetts and Jeremysquam (now Westport Island), Maine.

First Name

The first name of Timothy Dunton's wife was Elizabeth, as established by records relating to Ruth Dunton of Lincolnville, Maine, which state that she was born in Edgecomb, Maine in 1761 and that her parents were Timothy and Elizabeth Dunton.^[1][2]

Marriage

No record of the date or place of marriage of Timothy Dunton and Elizabeth has been found. There is, however, an entry in Vital Records of Cambridge to the Year 1850 for the publishing of the marriage intentions of John Dunton of Sudbury and Elizabeth Smith on December 17, 1737.^[3] It is reasonably plausible, if not likely, that this record actually relates to the marriage intentions of Timothy Dunton rather than John Dunton and that the name John was a recordation or transcription error, because (1) the date of the intentions and the first name of the spouse are fully consistent with the marriage of Timothy Dunton of Sudbury and his wife Elizabeth and (2) no John Dunton of Sudbury has been identified who could have been the John Dunton in the record.^[4] Many genealogies for Timothy Dunton state, without discussion or sources, that Timothy married Elizabeth Smith of Cambrige on December 17, 1737.^[5] Even if that record does relate to the marriage of Timothy Dunton and his wife Elizabeth, however, since the record is for their marriage intentions, there marriage would have occurred sometime after that date and possibly not in Cambridge.

Date and Place of Birth; Parentage

Assuming that the Cambridge marriage intentions relate to Timothy Dunton and his wife Elizabeth, Elizabeth was probably the Elizabeth Smith, daughter of John Smith and Martha (Eames) Smith, who was born in Cambridge on May 4, 1716.^[6] Since it is uncertain whether Cambridge marriage intentions relate to Timothy Dunton and his wife Elizabeth, Elizabeth's date and place of birth and parentage are uncertain.

Residency in Maine

Elizabeth and Timothy Dunton to Nequasset (now Woolwich, then part of Georgetown) sometime before 1740, when the name "Dunton" and a house were put on a lot 29, at the N.W. corner of "Wadley's bay", now Brookings Bay, in the Nequasset settlement (now Woolwich) by the surveyor in May 1740.^[7] The 1941 Wiscassett in Pownalborough states that Elizabeth and Timothy came to Westport, Maine (then called Jeremysquam) in 1735.^[8] However, no record establishes their residency in Maine as early as that date. If the 1737 Cambridge marriage intentions relate to the marriage of Elizabeth and Timonty, it is likely that they moved to Nequasset (not Jeremysquam) about 1738, which is the date adopted by Henry O. Thayer in his profile of Timothy Dunton.^[7]

By 1749, Elizabeth and Timothy had moved slightly eastward to the island that was then called Jeremysquam (now Westport Island and then part of the Wiscasset, which then included current Wiscasset, Edgecomb and Westport Island),^[8][7] as Timothy signed a petition by inhabitants of Wiscasset requesting that they be incorporated as a town or district.^[9] The assertion that they were living on Jeremysquam is supported by, among other evidence, the fact that the 1760 marriage record of Timothy and Elizabeth's son John states that he was "of Jeremysquam".^[10] Timothy's family was still living at Jeremysquam in 1766 (by which time Wiscasset had been renamed Freetown^[11]), when Timothy and his sons Joseph and Samuel signed a petition by the inhabitants of Freetown Plantation for the establishment of a court on the eastern side of the town of Pownalborough.^[12]

Children

Elizabeth and Timothy Dunton had the following children:

• Joseph^[7]
• John,^[7] b. about 1738 probably at Georgetown,^[13] m. 1st December 11, 1760 Abigail Walker of Woolwich,^[10] m. 2d September 6, 1774 Abigail Heal of Georgetown,^[10] d. 1808 in Westport^[14]
• Samuel, b. 1745 probably at Jeremysquam,^[13] m. November 17, 1768 Lydia Crosby (both of Jeremysquam),^[7][13] d. in Westport^[13]
• Elizabeth,^[7] m. April 4, 1767 Andrew Grant in Woolwich,^[15] d. March 18, 1821 in Hampden, Maine^[16]
• Sarah, m. November 27, 1766 John Knight (both of Jeremysquam)^[7]
• Abner^[7]
• Timothy, Jr.,^[7] m. January 15, 1805 Margaret Pinkham in Boothbay, Maine^[17]
• Daniel^[7]
• Ruth, b. 17 Sept 1761 probably in Freetown (record says Edgecomb, but was called Freetown until 1774),^[1][2] m. about 1783 Isaac Heal,^[18] d. September 28, 1794.^[2]

Death

Elizabeth's date and place of death are uncertain. The last record that establishes her as living is the record of the birth of her daughter Ruth in 1761. Since Elizabeth was living probably living in Freetown (on Jeremysquam) at that time and since her husband (who was living in 1766) died on Jeremysquam/Westport Island, Elizabeth presumably died there.

^{[13] [14] [16] [15] [18] [17] [11] [10] [4] [5] [12] [9] [7] [8] [6] [3] [2] [1]}

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} "Maine Births and Christenings, 1739-1900", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FWB4-2BV : 14 January 2020), Ruth Dunton, 1761.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3} Lincolnville, Main Town and vital records, 1809-1885, FHL Film #007595732, image 33. Link to image at familysearch.org
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Vital Records of Cambridge, Massachusetts to the Year 1850. Volume 2. Marriages and Deaths. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1915. p. 125. Link to page at archive.org.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} The only John Duntons of Sudbury who have been found are (1) Timothy's father, John Dunton, who was too old to have married Elizabeth, (2) Timothy's cousin, John Dunton, who was born in 1735 and thus was too young to have married Elizabeth and (3) Timothy's supposed younger brother John Dunton, who was supposedly born about 1719 and married Mercy Johnson in Malden in 1744.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} Dunten, Joseph W. Dunten/Dunton 1644-1997. 1998. pp. 18-19
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1} Vital Records of Cambridge, Massachusetts to the Year 1850. Volume 1. Births. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1915. p. 649. Link to page at archive.org.
7. ↑ ^{7.00 7.01 7.02 7.03 7.04 7.05 7.06 7.07 7.08 7.09 7.10 7.11} "Dunton Family" by Rev. Henry O. Thayer (d. 1927). FHL Film #007600969, image 945. Link to manuscript at familysearch.org.
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1 8.2} Chase, Fannie S. Wiscasset in Pownalborough. 1941. p. 23. Link to page at archive.org.
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1} Baxter, James Finney, ed. Documentary History of the State of Maine, Vol. XII. Maine Historical Society, 1908. p. 50. Link to page at hathitrust.org.
10. ↑ ^{10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3} Vital Records of Georgetown, Maine to the Year 1892. Volume II - Marriages. Maine Historical Society, 1941. p. 34. Link to volume at familysearch.org.
11. ↑ ^{11.0 11.1} "Edgecomb," maineencyplopedia.com Accessed 30 Apr 2023.
12. ↑ ^{12.0 12.1} Baxter, James Finney, ed. Documentary History of the State of Maine, Vol. XIII. Maine Historical Society, 1909. pp. 442-443. Link to page at hathitrust.org.
13. ↑ ^{13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4} "Maine, Nathan Hale Cemetery Collection, ca. 1780-1980," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9FQ-CL9C?cc=2241461&wc=MFZ9-MNL%3A1019037501 : 24 October 2014), Dunham, Richard S-Durgin, Caleb > image 756 of 1235; Maine State Library, Augusta.
14. ↑ ^{14.0 14.1} "Maine, Nathan Hale Cemetery Collection, ca. 1780-1980," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9FQ-C21Z?cc=2241461&wc=MFZ9-MNL%3A1019037501 : 24 October 2014), Dunham, Richard S-Durgin, Caleb > image 755 of 1235; Maine State Library, Augusta.
15. ↑ ^{15.0 15.1} "Maine Marriages, 1771-1907", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F46J-2Z4 : 14 January 2020), Elisabeth Dunton in entry for Andrew Grant, 1767.
16. ↑ ^{16.0 16.1} Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/85050049/elizabeth-grant: accessed 01 May 2023), memorial page for Elizabeth Dunton Grant (30 Apr 1747–18 Mar 1821), Find a Grave Memorial ID 85050049, citing Old Burying Ground, Hampden, Penobscot County, Maine, USA; Maintained by Veteran Guy (contributor 47317741).
17. ↑ ^{17.0 17.1} "Maine Vital Records, 1670-1921," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2H29-6BP : 2 March 2021), Timothy Dunton and Margraet Pinkham, 15 Jan 1805; citing Boothbay, Me, Maine, United States, multiple sources, Maine; FHL microfilm.
18. ↑ ^{18.0 18.1} Lincolnville, Main Town and vital records, 1809-1885, FHL Film #007595732, image 33. Link to image at familysearch.org. The date of marriage is estimated based on the April 1784 birth of their first child, per the foregoing record.

See also:

• The Dunton Times Vol. II Issue 3, - March 1997, "Earliest History of Jeremysquam" by Bea Harriman. http://www.dunton.org/files/v2i3.htm
• The Dunton Times Vol. II Issue 4 - April - May 1997. "The Dunton Family in Maine", submitted by Dan Vaughan. http://www.dunton.org/files/v2i4.htm