Jeremiah Meacham III (1673 - 1715)

Born 21 Dec 1673 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts Bay

Ancestors

Husband of Unknown (Unknown) Meacham — married 1698 in New England

Descendants

Died 12 Apr 1715 at age 41 in Newport, Rhode Island, Rhode Island

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Biography

Jeremiah Meacham III was born December 21, 1673, the son of Jeremia Meacham II and Mary Trask of Salem, Massachusetts^{[1] [2]}

He was married in 1698, however his wife was not Freelove Bliss^[3]

• Some sources give his wife as the Freelove Bliss, daughter of Maj. John Bliss and Demaris Arnold. This is an inferred relationship based on two financial transactions: first, after the legal costs for his trial and excution were covered, the remainder of Jeremiah's estate went to Maj. Bliss for the support of the orphaned children. Second, Maj. Bliss left a sum to the two Meacham orphans in his will, written the same year (1715) the children came into his care^{[3] [4] [5]}
• However this inference is not supported by the other facts. Maj. Bliss's daughter Freelove was married to Peter Barker before Jeremiah Meacham's marriage, bore twins the year Jemima Meacham was born and died before Mr. Barker remarried in 1712. Although bigamy may be a motivation for murder, the facts don't allow for bigamy in this case^{[3] [4] [6]}.
• There is no record showing that a second daughter of Maj. Bliss was murdered by Meacham, who murdered his wife and her (unnamed) sister.
• Since Jeremiah (and presumably his wife) had no family in Rhode Island, it would have been necessary to find someone local to take care of the orphaned children at the moment of crisis. Maj. Bliss was connected to the Governor Benedict Arnold (through his wife), and the Deputy Governor (through his son-in-law Peter Barker). It appears possible that he was asked or volunteered to support the orphaned children. Maj. Bliss died the same year, and the provisions in his will may have been motivated by simple charity, or a sense that he had some unmet obligation toward the orphans.

Jeremiah and his wife had two children:

1. Jemima, born in 1698 or 99^{[5] [7] [4]}
2. John^[4][5]

On 22 March, 1715, Jeremiah murdered his wife and her sister. His trial took place April 8, he was sentenced April 9, and executed on April 12^[8]

Sources

1. ↑ "Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FHLT-HVF : 4 December 2014), Jeremiah Meachum, 21 Dec 1673; citing Salem, Essex, Massachusetts, ; FHL microfilm 877,468.
2. ↑ The Massachusetts Vital Records Project Early Vital Records of Massachusetts; From 1600 to 1850; Salem - Births; Image of page 69. This open source shows the same image found in NEHGS
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} Torrey's New England Marriages, Volume 2, page 1021 found in New England Marriages to 1700. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2008.) Originally published as: New England Marriages Prior to 1700. Boston, Mass.: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2015. This reference (behind a paywall) indicates Jeremiah's wife was uncertain and provides the following sources: Sibley's Harvard Graduates Volume 4, page 39 (a sermon about Jeremiah Meacham and his crime, he was not a graduate of Harvard); NEHGS Register Volume 30, page 435; The Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island: Austin, John Osborne, page 438; NYGBR Volume 65, page 112-13; Volume 69, page 40-41; Westcott (1932) page 136; Clapp pages 205-6. Volume 1, page 87 of Torrey provides various reliable sources for Freelove Bliss' marriage to Peter Barker, her children and the other information shown in her WikiTree profile
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3} History and Genealogy of the Ancestors and Some of the Descendants of Stukely Westcott, One of the Thirteen Original Proprietors of Providence Plantation and the Colony of Rhode Island, 2 vols. by Whitman, Roscoe Leighton, ([Oneonta, N.Y.: Otsego Publishing], 1932–39)
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2} The Correct Ancestry of Jemima Meacham, by Mary Lovering Holman, published in Volume 69 (January 1938), page 32-47, published by The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, (New York: New York Genealogical and Biographical Society
6. ↑ See other sources on the profiles for Peter Barker and Freelove Bliss
7. ↑ Notable Kin, by Gary Boyd Robins, published in Volume 12, page 22 of NEXUS: New England Across the United States, which gives the ancestry of Mary (Campbell) Lovering Holman 1848-1947, on page 26 (person #4), published in Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1983-1999. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014.)
8. ↑ The Clapp Memorial : Record of the Clapp Family in America : Containing Sketches of the Original Six Emigrants, and a Genealogy of Their Descendants Bearing the Name : with a Supplement and the Proceedings at Two Family Meetings, by Clapp, Ebenezer, (David Clapp & Son, Boston, 1876), pages 204-6

See also:

• https://web.archive.org/web/20150930224021/http://rootcellar.us/mechjer.htm
• Source: S2852711167 Repository: #R2852704208 Title: Public Member Trees Author: Ancestry.com Publication: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2006.Original data - Family trees submitted by Ancestry members.Original data: Family trees submitted by Ancestry members. Note: This information comes from 1 or more individual Ancestry Family Tree files. This source citation points you to a current version of those files. Note: The owners of these tree files may have removed or changed information since this source citation was created. Page: Ancestry Family Trees Note: Data: Text: http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=5111977&pid=6979
• Repository: R2852704208 Name: Ancestry.com Address: http://www.Ancestry.com
• http://www.earlyamericancrime.com/criminals/jeremiah-meacham