Peter A. Rhodes of Enfield, Ct.:Information about NEHEMIAH WILLIAMS

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NEHEMIAH WILLIAMS (b. 19 Jan 1738/39, d. 03 Oct 1792)

NEHEMIAH WILLIAMS (son of ROBERT WILLIAMS II and MARTHA WILLIAMS) was born 19 Jan 1738/39 in VOLUNTOWN, CT, and died 03 Oct 1792 in WILLIAMSTOWN, MASS.. He married ELIZABETH ELSIE GALLUP on Abt. 1753, daughter of SAMUEL GALLUP and MEHITABLE BLOUNT.

Notes for NEHEMIAH WILLIAMS:
Nehemiah moved from Voluntown, Conn., to Scituate, R.I. in 1751, with his father Robert and family when he was 15 years old. It was in Scituate that he and Elizabeth had raised four of the eight children. "At a town meeting held in Scituate, in ye county of Providence, on the third Wednesday in April it being ye 15 April of 1761 Nehemiah Williams took the oath against bribrary and was admitted Freeman of said town." When his only brother Robert died while serving with the Rhode island colonial militia at the battle of Crown Point he became the administrator for his father's will at his mother's request. He was a yeoman farmer, after his mother's death in 1766. He and Elizabeth removed to Williamstown, Berkshire Co., Mass. Elizabeth's cousins William and Joseph Gallop had also removed to Williamstown, Mass., and pownal, Vermont, the neighboring town, on Williamstown's border. Nehemiah's first land purchase was on the Northwest Hill in Williamstown consisting of a hundred arce lot which was split by a road to Pownal, Vt. By 1790, Nehemiah had purchased 430 acre's in several other lots on the Northwest hill, and Birch Hill. This area is now mostly incorporated in the Hopkins Memorial State Forest. It was on their farm that the last four of their eight children were born. It was from this farm that during the Battle of Bennington, Vt., in August 16, 1777, that Nehemiah, his two sons Robert and Constant, march out with other men from the north of Williamstown to join their future inlaws in that battle to defend their families and farms. The men of North part of Williamstown joined the battle without mustering they went directly from their farms as they feared a imminent overtaking of these farms. By British General Burgoyne's force of, Hessians, Tories, and Indians. "No muster roll exist for the North part but Arthur Latham Perry (local Historian) estimates that about a hundred went from the North Militia district of Williamstown. He explains the absence of a muster roll on the hypothesis that the battle was so near their houses the men from the North part felt they were fighting for their hearthstones rather than for the government". Nehemiah and his son's joined his two future son inlaws, William, Silas Jr, and their father Silas Pratt. "Who were their nearest neighbors in Pownal, Vt, when Nehemiah Williams bought a farm besides theirs as early as 1767, certainly, this neighbor, whose whole coarse in life was much like his own, (Silas Pratt) had bought a large farm next east to his, on the northern declivity of the same hill, and built his house on the public road paralled with the western road on which the Pratts lived. During the battle of Bennington, Nehemiah was 41 years old, Robert was 17 and Constant was only 14, Silas Sr. was 51, Silas Jr was 19, and William whom had a laim arm was 17 yr old drummer boy. According to local tradition the family fought together. "In respect to the brave conduct of old Silas Pratt in the battle of Bennington, operating behind his saddle, Indian fashion". Also "The tradition is manifold and wholly credible, that while Nehemiah Williams was absent from home in the Bennington Battle, one child lay dying in the house, while the wretched mother, whose maiden name was Elsie Gallop, of Rhode Island, heard distinctly all day the booming of the cannon." After the battle was won "Rosanna and Elizabeth Williams, Nehemiah's daughters who saw from their father's house in 1777, Burgoyne's men, as prisoners of war, fill up with their shining uniforms and equipment the road on Pownal Hill opposite."
Nehemiah's Will and Inventory for his estate was filed before Judge Hon. Jahleel Woodbridge, Esq. in the Probate court for the County of Berkshire, on the thrid of October, 1792. On the 1st of June 1793, a petition for Guardianship was intered at the request of Constant Williams and his bordering neighbor Samuel Tyler before Judge Woodbridge. That Zabin Williams, of Williamstown and a minor son to nehemiah Williams late of Williamstown deceased. Being fourteen years old last March appeared before me the subscriber and made choice of Lt. Col. Samuel Tyler for his Guardian. On the 6 Jan 1794, an agreement for the distribution of Nehemiah's lands was signed by all family members. This land was situated on both the Northwest Hill and the Birch Hill sections of Williamstown.

Mehemiah and Elisebeth had the following children. 1. Elsebeth b. 1758, Scituate, R.I., m John Smedley Jr. son of John Smedley and Deliverance Humphreys. Children known, (a) John Smedley 3rd. b. 21 Apr 1780, m. Mary Morse, and removed to Allen County, Ohio. (b) Lois Smedley, b. 12 Mar 1783, d. 31 Aug 1866 in Cornwall, Vt. m. in 1801 at Cornwall, Vt. to Rueben Stetson b. 23 Mar 1775, Hardwick, Ma. son of Robert and Lydia (Rich) Stetson. Rueben was a veteran of the War of 1812. In 1825 they residing in the town of Champlian in the state of New York. 2 Robert Williams b. ca.1759-1760, in Scituate, Providence Co., Rhode Island. d. unknown, m. Eunice ca. 1780, in Williamstown, Ma. In the Federal census of 1790, Robert's family consisted of his wife and two sons under 16 yrs. and three daughters. Children known. Chloe Williams, b. ca. 1791m 8 Oct 1811, in Williamstown, Ma. to Ezekiel Brownell.
Robert Williams was a private in capt. Israel Harris's company, and Col. Benjamin Simond's Berkshire County Regiment of Massachusetts, during the Revolutionary War. Serving with him was his brother in law to be William Pratt a drummer boy, whom married Robert's sister Rosanna Williams. They served in the march to the Northern Frontier, of Oct 1780, to New York and Vermont. On 9 Mar 1795 he sold part of lot # 63, and on 20 may 1799 he sold his remaining land in Williamstown, Ma., which was cosigned by his wife Eunice. In 1801 Robert was a petitoner along with his brother Constant Williams for land grants from the Sesquehannah Company of Pennsylvania. These grants were made to revolutionary soldiers. By 1802 both Robert, and Constant Williams were in Smithfield, township in Lycoming Co., (latter) Bradford, County, Pennsylvania. Their sister Martha (Williams) Landers, and husband Lemuel Landers and family also arrived there by 1802-1803, along with other settlers from Williamstown, Ma. 3 Olive Williams b. 1763, in Scituate, Rhode Island,. d 25 Jul 1813, (grave marker, Lovat burial ground, Pownal, Vt) m. ca 1781-2, in Pownal, Vt., to Silas Pratt Jr.b. 1757, Pownal, Vt., son of Silas and Desire Pratt, d. 2 Apr 1830. Silas Pratt, was granted a Revolutionary War pension claim # s41083 for service in Seth Warner's Regiment. He fought along side his father and brother William Pratt, while with their father in law Nehemiah Williams and his sons at the battle of Bennington, in Vermont. Children (a) Zadoc Pratt b. 1782, Pownal, Vt., m Betsy ca. 1805-9. probably, Pownal, Vt. Amos Pratt b. 26 Nov 1794, Pownel, Vt., d 24 Aug 1854, Pownal, Vt., m 18 Jan 1815, Pownal, Vt., El tra Williams, b. ca 1790, probably in Williamstown, Ma. Daughter of Daughter of Stephen Williams and Sarah (Fuller) Williams, Stephen was the older brother of Olive (Williams) Pratt and Rosanna (Williams) Pratt. Children of Amos and Electra were 1. Irena Pratt b. 22 Mar 1819. 2 Harriet Pratt b. 11 Aug 1821. 3. Vincent Pratt, b. 19 Dec 1824 m. Sarah Jane Brownell, ca. 1840, he died 23 Dec 1905. All were born in Pownal, Vt.

The History of Williamstown states that Nehemiah lived by the big rock near the Pownal line on the northwest hill.

More About NEHEMIAH WILLIAMS and ELIZABETH ELSIE GALLUP:
Marriage: Abt. 1753

Children of NEHEMIAH WILLIAMS and ELIZABETH ELSIE GALLUP are:

+STEPHEN WILLIAMS, b. 1769, WILLIAMSTOWN, MA, d. 30 Jul 1851, WILLIAMSTOWN, MA.