Researching this tombstone opened up a whole new can of
worms for me…
JAMES TYLER HITCHINGS
Born in Lynn
Oct. 20 1795
Died
Oct. 29, 1863
Whilst wandering the Central Cemetery in Beverly for my HITCHINGS
ancestors, I found this tombstone. My
maternal grandmother was Gertrude Matilda Hitchings (1905 - 2001), a descendant
of Daniel Hitchings (1632 - 1731) an early settler at Lynn, Massachusetts. I wasn’t looking for James Tyler Hitchings,
but I thought I had found a relative when I took this photograph. The name HITCHINGS is relatively rare, and
most of the Essex County HITCHINGS are all descendants of the same family
founded by Daniel Hitchings of Lynn.
After searching my family tree, I found many James Tyler
Hitchings. Which one was this James
buried in Beverly? I found several
generations of James Tyler Hitchings, but none matched the dates on this
tombstone, although the others were very close to the same time period. What was going on? Was my family tree research wrong? Was the tombstone wrong?
It turned out that when I searched the vital records, there
was another James Tyler Hitchings born in Lynn who matched this tombstone
exactly. He was the son of Thomas
Hitchings (1762 – 1871) and Ruth Burchstead of Lynn, and the grandson of Ezra
Hitchings born about 1740 in England.
Ezra was not a descendant of the early colonial settler Daniel Hitchings
at all!
Through Google I found a reference to an article in The
Essex Genealogist, Volume 15 [1994], page 102, which had this statement “…Ezra
Hitchings (Hitchins), b. in England abt. 1740; d. at Lynn bef. 5 Jan 1830. he arrived late at Lynn and there is no known
connection to Daniel and Joseph Hitchings of Lynn (Marcia Wiswall Lindberg,
"Hitchings... an Unconnected Family", TEG, 12 [1992]; 108.”
Or course I went directly to the New England Historic
Genealogical Society website to pull up the second TEG article. This one listed the children of Ezra
Hitchings, including the first child, Thomas:
“i. Thomas2, b. 15 Nov 1762, d. at
Saugus, age 77 (Amer. Anc, 5:82), m. at Lynn 10 Jan 1787, Ruth Burchstead, bpt.
at Lynn, 26 July 1767; d. at Saugus, "of Lynn, wid. Thomas, 1 Nov. 1843,
a. 76 y" (Sau. VR), dau. of Dr.
[Henry] & Elizabeth (Newhall) Burchstead.
Children b. at Lynn 1. Thomas, b. 14 Apr 1787. 2. Benjamin Burchstead, b. 8 Jan. 1789; m. at
Lynn, 5 Jan 1812, Jane Ballard. 3. Ruth, b. 24 Sept. 1790. 4. Ezra, b. 9 Apr 1793
5. James Tyler, b. 20 Oct 1795. 6. Tura,
b. 9 Oct 1797. 7. Mira b. 2 Dec 1799. 8. George, b. 14 Jan 1802 9. Rozzel, b. 2
Dec 1803”. Here was the James Tyler
from the tombstone.
However…
If there is no known relationship or kinship between the
family of Ezra Hitchings and Daniel Hitchings, why did they both live in Lynn,
Massachusetts? Ezra Hitchings of England
could have settled anywhere in the New World- why did he chose to live in Lynn
with the only other know family in Massachusetts named HITCHINGS? Why did both families have so many descendants
named “James Tyler Hitchings”?
Also, neither one of the TEG articles nor the American
Ancestors journal articles mentioned this little tidbit I found while I was Googling for
information on Ezra Hitchings- from The
Acts and Resolves, Public and Private of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay:
Volume XVI, being Volume XI of the Appendix, containing resolves, etc. 1757 -
1760, by John Henry Clifford, Alexander Strong Wheeler and William Cross
Williamson, Boston: Wright & Potter Co, State Printers, 18 Post Office
Square, 1909, page 687:
“Order allowing 15
pounds to Ezra Hitchings
A Petition of Ezra
Hitchings of Lynn. Setting forth that he
was at the taking of Fort Cumberland in the year 1755 and in January 1756,
while in the service of his majesty he lost both his leggs. Praying an allowance.
Read and Ordered that
the sum of fifteen pounds be paid out of the publick Treasury to the Petr. in
full consideration for his Sufferings mentions.
Passed January 23
Legislative Records of
the Council xxiii, 592, Mass. Archives ixxix, 264
Mass. Archives ixxix,
264. House Journal pp. 88, 209”
If this Ezra Hitchings of Lynn, Massachusetts is the same
Ezra that was the grandfather of the James Tyler Hitchings buried in Beverly,
then he was 16 years old at the time he was injured at the Battle of Fort
Cumberland, Maryland during the French and Indian War (possibly Braddock’s
Defeat?). He lost his legs soon after
the battle (due to injuries?) He was
married on 9 March 1762 in Lynn and fathered 8 children after these devastating
injuries. The only other Ezra Hitchings
in the records at that time period is his son, Ezra Hitchings, born 15 April
1765, ten years after the battle at Fort Cumberland.
Were the descendants of Daniel Hitchings, already living in
Lynn, close enough kin to assist Ezra with his devastating injuries? (Just imagine
how difficult life would be as a double amputee in 1766).
Or was there ANOTHER totally unrelated Hitchings family in
Lynn, with another EZRA? According to all the vital records, the only Ezra Hitchings listed are descendants of the Ezra born in England about 1740.
According to
Wikipedia, the population of Lynn, Massachusetts in 1790 was 2,291 people. It was a small place in the 1760s, not the large city that it is today with over 90,000 people.
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