Some of our subscribers may not have the “Red Book”, and have not seen the article on Capt. Jabez. The first part was repeated for their information in the last issue, and it is concluded here
CAPT. JABEZ OLMSTED, OF
WARE, MASS.
(INTRODUCTION
BY FREDERICK S. HAMMOND, ESQ., OF SYRACUSE, N. Y.,
COMPILER
OF THE HAMMOND GENEALOGY)
The first mention found of Jabez
Olmsted is in Deerfield, in April, 1709, when he joined a company of scouts
under command of Capt. Benjamin Wright. This company consisted of Capt.
Benjamin Wright, Lieut. John King, John Burt, John Strong and Matthew Closson,
of Northampton; John Wells, Jonathan Hoyt, Timothy Child, Ebenezer Severence
and Jabez Olmsted, of Deerfield; Joseph Root and Joseph Wait, of Hatfield;
Joseph Ephraim and Thomas Pagan, two Natick Indians, and Thomas McCreery and
Henry Wright of Springfield. They followed up the Connecticut river to White
river and thence over the mountains to Onion river, and down this river to Lake
Champlain. They had several encounters with the savages in one of which Lieut.
Wells was killed and John Strong seriously wounded, and John Burt either
captured or separated from the company, to meet death in the wilderness.
They reported the killing of several
Indians and exhibited the scalp of one Indian in proof of their encounter. On
May 28, 1709, Benjamin Wright, Jonathan Hoyt, Jabez Olmsted and John Strong
made oath to their account of the expedition before Samuel Partridge, Justice
of Peace, in Hatfield, and on June 10 following, the General Court granted them
a bounty: To Capt. Wright £12, and to each of the men under his command £6, in
addition to their regular pay for their good service. (See Mass. Archives, 33:
55-56.)
In the spring of 1712 Jabez Olmsted
married Thankful Barnes, of Brookfield, and on Sept. 4, 1713, he was granted 80
acres of land in Brookfield, "between the two Mohawk hills and partly upon
the said hills": this was followed by other grants and April 22, 1729, he
bought the Hollingsworth grant of 500 acres for £400. This was over the river
in the present town of Ware. At this time he sold his lands in Brookfield and
removed over the river to the site of the present village of Ware where he
built a log house and a grist mill. A few years later he built a large frame
house called the "Mansion House," which was still standing in 1821 or
later. The cellar hole to this house was filled a few years ago in grading for
the park, and from the large quantity of ashes found near it we believe that he
carried on quite an extensive potash business. He was the most prominent and
enterprising man amongst the first settlers of the town and undoubtedly
possessed of greater wealth than any of his neighbors. A few years later he
deeded fine farms to his two older sons and also gave lands to some of his
daughters. The various deeds are found recorded in Springfield, Mass.
In May, 1742, thirty-three
householders about and between Ware and Swift rivers, near Brookfield,
petitioned the General Court for incorporation as a separate township or parish
and in Dec., 1742, they were incorporated as a "precinct." The town
was not incorporated until 1761, at which time but one Olmsted, Simeon, son of
Israel, remained in town. The original petition is in Mass. Archives 114:
770-772, and is the only document extant which bears his autograph. His name is
signed Jabe Olmsted.
Feb. 20, 1744, he was commissioned
Captain of the 10th Company in Col. Samuel Willard's (4th) Mass. Regt., and
served under Gen. Sir William Pepperell, in the Louisburg expedition.
The will of Jabez Olmsted,
Gentleman; residing at Ware river, Northampton (Probate, Vol. 8, p. 26,) dated
Feb. 24, 1752; proven May 22, 1753. Mentions wife, Martha, to whom all personal
estate and the use of all real estate until son, Moses, comes of age. Sons
Jeremiah and Israel having had their portions during his lifetime, 5 shillings
each; son Moses all real estate when he comes of age; children of daughter,
Thankful Brown, deceased; child of daughter, Martha Harnmond, deceased;
daughters Hannah Marsh, Dorcas Wolcott, Sarah Marsh, Abigail Smith and Prudence
Olmsted. A list of his personal estate appears in Chase's History of Ware. This
will must have been set aside as appears by the following: Oct. 2, 1753, Benoni
Smith and Abigail, his wife, for the sum of £13: 6: 8 give to Job Lane, of
Brookfield, a quitclaim deed to their interest in the lands of their late
father, Jabez Olmsted. Oct. 31, 1753, Judah Marsh and Hannah, his wife,
quitclaim their interest to Job Lane. Mar. 4, 1758 Moses Olmsted, of Sheffeld,
Hampshire County, Mass., gives a like deed to Job Lane. Nov. 8, 1758, "
Jeremiah Olmsted, of a place west of Stockbridge and adjoining to the said
township of Stockbridge in the County of Hampshire," (this was in the part
of West Stockbridge later known as New Canaan and very close to the New York
State line) Husbandman, in consideration of the sum of £15 sells to Noah
Gilbert, of Ware River Parish, all his right and interest in the land of
"which my late Honored Father Jabez Olmsted"' was possessed at the
time of his death, as it lay in common and undivided among the rest of the
heirs.
Nov. 9, 1758, Israel Olmsted, of a place called "Roxbury Canada" (Warwick), Mass., for the sum of £10, sells to Noah Gilbert all his interest in the same. Nov. 22, 1758, Ephraim Brown and Silence, his wife, of Swains, N. H., deed their interest in the same to Noah Gilbert. (See Springfield Land Records, Book 2, pp. 460, 467-468469-470.)
Noah and Sarah Gilbert of Palmer,
Mass., sold the farm formerly owned by Jabez Olmsted to Isaac Magoon, in 1763,
at which time all the descendants bearing the Olmsted name had removed to other
places. The descendants of Judah and Hannah (Olmsted) Marsh, have continued to
reside in Ware, Mass.