Some of The Descendants of
Robert Stetson
and his wife Honour Tucker
of Scituate, Plymouth Colony by 1642
Fifth Generation

CHARLES⁵ STETSON (Anthony⁴, Robert³, Joseph², Robert¹) was born at Scituate, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, on 17 October 1726 a son of Anthony Stetson and his wifge Anna Smith, and died probanly after 1790 at New Bedford, Bristol County, Massachusetts. He married, after publising intentions to marry at Rochester, Plymouth County, on 9 August 1752 BATHSHEBA (HATCH) NYE. Her birth, death and parentage have not been identified. Bathsheba had previously married at Rochester on 11 January 1749/50 JONATHAN NYE, who was born at Dartmouth, Bristol County, on 9 September 1727, a child of Thomas Nye and his wife Deborah Peckham, and who died at Dartmouth on 11 September 1750.^[1]

Charles Stetson grew up in Scituate, the fifth of eleven children. Bathsheba Hatch, who signed her name "Barsha," had been married to Jonathan Nye only seven months when he died. At the time of her first marriage she came from Rochester, he from Dartmouth. Barsha had been a widow a little less than two years when she married Stetson. Charles Stetson was probably still living in Scituate at the time of marriege, as they published their intentions to marry at Scituate on 8 August 1752,^[2] the day before they published their intentions at Rochester. However he had already purchased land at Rochester in July of that year.

NOTE: It will be helpful to keep in mind the changes in place names. The town of Rochester was incorporated in 1686. Two other towns were later carved out of it: Marion in 1852 and Mattapoisett in 1857. Records refer to the Stetson family in Rochester; they were in fact living in that part of Rochester that became Mattapoisett. The town of Dartmouth was incorporated in 1666. In 1787 it was divided into three parts, the western portion becoming Westport and the eastern portion becoming New Bedford. In 1812 the portion of New Bedford east of the Acushnet River was set off as Fairhaven. In 1860 the northern portion of Fairhaven was set apart as Acushnet. Most of the references to Dartmouth in the Stetson family story are referring to that portion that became New Bedford. References to the head of the Acushnet River are speaking of the area which is now the border between New Bedford and Acushnet.

Charles Stetson came to Rochester as a ship builder, and pioneered in developing the village of Mattapoisett on Mattapoisett Harbor, as a ship building center. Charles Mendell, Jr., a local historian, described the role of Charles Stetson in a 1937 address to the Old Dartmouth Historical Society:^[3]

Aside from this mysterious builder [William Rotch], the first shipbuilder to come to Mattapoisett was Charles Stetson, a shipwright from the yards of Scituate in the North River, where his ancestors had been building ships for several generations. In 1752 Stetson made a dicker with Deacon Constant Dexter, whose homestead comprised almost the entire village and more besides, and purchased, along with numerous wood lots, a strip of land -- roughly between the present Pearl and Barstow Streets -- extending from the shore three-quarters of a mile back into the forest to what is now Park Street, but was then the main highway from Hammondstown to Pine Islands. As far as I know, there was not then a house in what is now Mattapoisett village; but within 25 years -- that is, by the time the Minutemen rushed to Lexington -- no less than eight other shipbuilders, besides numerous mariners and ship yard laborers, came to this shore, established shipyards and wharves, built their homes and cleared their farms. . . .

Charles Stetson's shipyard lay at the foot of Pearl Street extending from the present Town Wharf property over to where Mr. Stackpole lives. His house, which was built before 1757, was, it is almost certain, the lovely old house now occupied by Mrs. Barklie. He must have prospered; for before long others came . . . They built their houses and barns close to the shore, almost in their shipyards; and from these their plowed fields, pastures and orchards stretched back; for in those pioneering days, a shipbuilder was also a farmer if he wanted to eat. . . .

Yet as a whole, shipbuilders did not prosper in those days. Few people today realize what hard times existed in Massachusetts from 1760 to 1775, when the trouble between the colonies and England was coming to a boil. There was practically no money in those days. Even building a ship was done by barter -- each vessel was the property of a group of men who contributed either labor or materials toward her construction. Then if she were sold to some merchant in Nantucket or Dartmouth or Newport, he promised to pay for her out of the proceeds of her voyage. And her voyage was so apt to be a total loss. The mortality of these little vessels was tremendous; gales, uncharted coasts, French and Spanish privateers, pirates -- all took a heavy toll. If the merchant couldn't pay for the vessel, what happened to the shipbuilder who was responsible to the men who financed her?

Charles Stetson, the first of the shipbuilders, furnishes a sad example of this. In 1767 and 1768 numerous court executions were obtained against him, and the plaintiffs in these cases show plainly with whom Stetson did business and for whom he built ships. They were Jonathan Burnell, Joseph Rotch, and Joseph Nicols of Nantucket, and Joseph Rotch, Jr., and John McPherson of Dartmouth -- all important shipping merchants of those places, McPherson being the victim whose wharves, ships and warehouses on the Acushnet River were burned by the British in 1778.

Stetson struggled along for over a year, selling his wood lots and saltmarshes piece by piece to pay off debts, until finally there was but one left; and on a June day in 1768 the Constable rode along Pine Island Way, turned down the cartpath to the shore, drew up to the house still standing there, and pulled out a warrant. . . .

And so the man who had brought to the shores of Mattapoisett harbor the sawpit, the scaffolding, the ox-drawn loads of timber, and the ever sounding hammers of the caulkers, went by the board and lost his shipyard. He continued to live in Mattapoisett, as did his sons, for they fought in the Revolution as Rochester soldiers; but when the war was over, the sons, and perhaps the old father, moved to New Bedford and established a shipyard quite a way north of the present bridge, where the Stetson sons built over 50 ships for the young village of New Bedford; and the descendants of these men were New Bedford whaling captains for many years.

Charles Stetson engaged in numerous real estate transaction in the Mattapoisett section of Rochester, as follows:

14 July 1752. Constant Dexter of Rochester, yeoman, sold for £ 88 to Charles Stetson of Scituate, shipwright, a parcel of 40 acres in Rochester bordering on the sea and extending to the Way from Mattapoisett Meeting House to Pine Islands.^[4]
10 February 1755. Samuel Gray, Gentleman, and Samuel Gray, Jr., yeoman, both of Little Compton, Newport County, Rhode Island sold for £ 80 to Charles Stetson of Rochester, shipwright, about 60 acres in Rochester.^[5]
25 February 1755. Charles Stetson of Rocheter, shipwright, sold for £ 26, 13 s, 4 p, to John Stuart of Rochester, yeoman, about 20 acres of the land he had purchased from the Grays. Barsha Stetson consented.^[6]
16 May 1759. Barzillai Hammond of Rochester sold for £ 24 to Charles Stetson of Rochester, shipwright, about 5 or 6 acres, including part of Ram Island.^[7]
5 October 1759. Joseph Childs of Barnstable, Barnstable County, yeoman, together with his wife Meribah Childs, late widow of Constant Dexter of Rochester, deceased, sold land to pay debts of the deceased, for £ 78, 3 s, to Charles Stetson of Rochester, shipwright, 21 acres with a dwelling house on the south side of the Way from Mattapoisett Meeting House to Pine Island.^[8]
24 December 1759. Nathaniel Hammond of Rochester, yeoman, for £ 23, 6 s, 8 p, sold to Charles Stetson of Rochester, shipwright, a tract of land in Rochester, on east side of Mattapoisett Harbor about 30 acres bounded by the Way from Mattapoisett Meeting House to Pine Island and by the sea, also half part of upland on Ram Island, about 2 acres.^[9]
17 January 1760, Charles Stetson of Rochester, shipwright, and Joseph Dexter of Rocheter, cordwainer, exchanged land: Stetson surrendered about 40 acres and 28 rods of his homestead, and received 3 acres at the head of Mattapoisett Harbor plus 4 acres of land and meadow.^[10]
6 June 1760. Charles Stetson of Rochester, shipwright, sold for £ 78, 3 s, 21 acres of upland and meadow with a dwelling house, part of the late Constant Dexter's land. Barsha Stetson consented.^[11]
5 June 1761. Theophilus Pease of Rochester sold for £ 26, 13 s, 4 p, about 6 acres in Rocheter, part of the former Mary Barlow estate, the 7th, 8th and 9th lots. On the same date, Simeon Freeman of Lunenbourough, Nova Scotia, carpenter, sold for £ 28, the 2d, 3d and 4th lots of the Barlow estate, about 4 acres.^[12]
27 February 1762. Zacheus Mead of Rochester, yeoman, and his wife Sarah, exchanged land with Charles Stetson of Rochester, shipwright, transferring to Stetson about 8 acres of land that formerly belonged to Ebenezer Barlow, bounded by Great Pond, Little Pond, and the sea. Stetson gave to Mead about 19 acres of land in Rochester. Barsha Stetson consented.^[13]
20 January 1764. Ephraim Dexter of Rochester, yeoman, for £ 45 sold to Charles Stetson of Rochester, shipwright, 44 acres in Rochester bounded by the Way from Mattapoisett Meeting House to Pine Island.^[14]
30 January 1767. Charles Stetson of Rochester, shipwright, sold for £ 93, 6 s, 8 p, to John Sherman of Rochester, yeoman, 30 acres in Rochester, extending from the sea to the Way from Mattapoisett Meeting House to Pine Islands. Barsha Stetson consented.^[15]
4 August 1767. Charles Stetson of Rochester, shipwright, sold for £ 60 to Ezra Stetson (his brother) of Rochester, blacksmith, part of the land he had purchased from the Grays. Barsha Stetson consented.^[16]
31 August 1767. Charles Stetson of Rochester, shipwright, sold for £ 180 to Jonathan Burnel of Nantucket, merchant, five parcels of land in Rochester: (1) 40 acres he had bought from Constant Dexter in 1752, (2) 4 acres he bought from Simeon Freeman in 1761, (3) 6 acres he bought from Theophilus Pease in 1761, (4) 8 acres he bought from Zaccheus Mead in 1762, and (5) 44 acres he bought from Ephraim Dexter in 1764. Barsha Stetson consented.21 September 1767. Also, Charles Stetson of Rochester, shipwright, sold for £ 24 to Wilbour Southworth, yeoman, land and salt meadow in Rochester and Ram Island, about 6 acres. Barsha Stetson consented.^[17]
21 September 1767. Charles Stetson of Rochester, shipwright, sold for £ 24 to William Southworth, yeoman, a parcel of land and salt meadow in Rochester, the whole of Ram Island about 6 acres.^[18]

23 May 1768. Joseph Rotch and Joseph Nichols of Sherburn [Nantucket] and Joseph Rotch, Jr., of Dartmouth, merchants, recovered judgment in Plymouth County Court against Charles Stetson of Rochester for £ 36, 6 s, 6 pence plus £ 2, 1 s, 6 p cost of suit and 1 s, 11 p cost of writ, the property of Charles Stetson to be assessed and forfeited to the amount required, if insufficient, Stetson to be placed in jail. The assessors examined a lot in Rochester, 4 acres, which Stetson had acquired from Joseph Dexter in an exchange in 1760, which they valued at £ 44 on 6 June 1768. It was delivered to the creditors.
John McPherson of Dartmouth, merchant, petitioned Bristol County Court of Common Pleas in May 1768 for a judgment against Charles Stetson of Rochester, shipbuilder for £ 13 pounds, 7 s, 2 ½ p, plis cost of suit £ 2, 3 s, 2 p., if insufficient, Stetson to be placed in jail. Appraisers reported a lot in Rochester about 1 acre, part of the land Stetson had acquired from Joseph Dexter in 1760, valued at £ 4 pounds.^[19]

This record of property transactions certainly supports the statements of Charles Mendell in 1937. Charles Stetson paid a rate bill in support of the Revolution in 1776.^[20] By 1784 his son Charles had settled in New Bedford [then still part of Dartmouth].

The 1790 Census reported the Charles Studson family in New Bedford consisting of 2 men over 16 and one female.^[21] This could be explained as Charles Stetson, his wife Barsha, and their youngest child, Joseph. Their son, Charles Stetson, Jr., was also reported as a separate household in New Bedford in 1790. The younger Charles was called "Charles Stetson, Junior" in land records up to 7 April 1789, but the "Junior" was dropped in land records beginning 18 February 1793, suggesting that by the latter date he was the only Charles Stetson living in New Bedford. This suggests that the senior Charles Stetson died at New Bedford some time between 1790 and 18 February 1793. The 1790 Census record also suggests that Barsha Stetson was living in 1790.

Charles Stetson and his wife Barsha (Hatch) (Nye) Stetson had the following children:

ANNE⁶ STETSON b. at Rochester on 28 May 1753; m. there on 26 December 1771 EBENEZER MORSE.^[22]

CHARLES⁶ STETSON b. at Rochester on 24 May 1755.

HANNAH⁶ STETSON b. at Rochester on 4 July 1757; d. there on 23 February 1816; m. (intentions published at Rochester on 26 May 1776) WILLIAM SHERMAN, 4th, b. at Rochester on 4 July 1748, d. there on 23 January 1814, child of John, Jr. and Deborah Sherman.^[23]

REBECCA⁶ STETSON b. at Rochester on 30 September 1761; m. at Dartmouth on 30 March 1784 RICHARD HAMMOND.^[24]

THADDEUS⁶ STETSON b. at Rochester on 23 June 1764; d. on 1844; m(1). at New Bedford on 24 May 1789 ESTHER JENNEY; Thaddeus m(2) at New Bedford on 30 April 1794 MARY HOWARD; Thaddeus m(3). at Rochester on 28 December 1809 SALLY BISBEE.^[25]

JOSEPH⁶ STETSON bp. at Rochester on 16 August 1772; d. on 1831; m(1). at New Bedford on 27 October 1793 LURANA WOOD, b. at Middleboro, Plymouth County, on 7 April 1772, d. on 9 September 1801; Joseph m(2). at New Bedford on 8 April 1802 LUCY WOOD; Joseph m(3). at Sandwich, Barnstable County, on 22 September 1803 FEAR PERRY, b. on 18 June 1775, d. at New Bedford on 2 February 1853.^[26]

NOTES

¹Vital Records of Scituate, Massachusetts: to the Year 1850 (Boston, Massachusetts: New England Historical and Genealogical Society, 1909), v. 1, p. 348. Vital Records of Rochester, Massachusetts: to the Year 1850 (Boston, Massachusetts: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1914), v. 2, p. 286. Vital Records of Dartmouth, Massachusetts: to the Year 1850 (Boston: New England Historical and Genealogical Society, 1929, 1929, 1930), v. 1, p. 174; v. 2, p. 338; v. 3, p. 51.
²Vital Records of Scituate, Massachusetts, v. 2, p. 282.
³Charles S. Mendell, Jr., "Shipbuilders of Mattapoisett," Old Dartmouth Historical Sketches, no. 66 (July 1937). Old Dartmouth Historical Society, New Bedford, Massachusetts, [no pagination].
⁴Plymouth County, Massachusetts, "Massachusetts Land Records, 1620-1986: Plymouth County," digital images, Family Search (familysearch.org : accessed 13 November 2020), v. 41, p. 257.
⁵"Massachusetts Land Records, 1620-1986: Plymouth County," v. 43, p. 145.
⁶"Massachusetts Land Records, 1620-1986: Plymouth County," v. 51, p. 104-5.
⁷"Massachusetts Land Records, 1620-1986: Plymouth County," v. 51, p. 101.
⁸"Massachusetts Land Records, 1620-1986: Plymouth County," v. 51, p. 102.
⁹"Massachusetts Land Records, 1620-1986: Plymouth County," v. 51, p. 101.
¹⁰"Massachusetts Land Records, 1620-1986: Plymouth County," v. 50, p. 40; v. 51, p. 102-3.
¹¹"Massachusetts Land Records, 1620-1986: Plymouth County," v. 51, p. 108.
¹²"Massachusetts Land Records, 1620-1986: Plymouth County," v. 51, p. 103-104.
¹³"Massachusetts Land Records, 1620-1986: Plymouth County," v. 48, p. 58.
¹⁴"Massachusetts Land Records, 1620-1986: Plymouth County," v. 51, p. 104.
¹⁵"Massachusetts Land Records, 1620-1986: Plymouth County," v. 52, p. 260.
¹⁶"Massachusetts Land Records, 1620-1986: Plymouth County," v. 54, p. 42.
¹⁷"Massachusetts Land Records, 1620-1986: Plymouth County," v. 53, p. 244.
¹⁸"Massachusetts Land Records, 1620-1986: Plymouth County," v. 53, p. 253.
¹⁹"Massachusetts Land Records, 1620-1986: Plymouth County," v. 54, p. 101-02
²⁰Oscar Frank Stetson, The Descendants of Cornet Robert Stetson: of Scituate, Massachusetts, sixteen hundred and thirty-four (N.p.: Stetson Kindred of America, Inc., 1933�56), v. 2, p. 109.
²¹First Census of the United States: 1790, population, New Bedford, Bristol County, Massachusetts, roll 4; p. 442, Charles Stutson; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 17 November 2020); NARA microfilm publication M637; Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.
²²Vital Records of Rochester, Massachusetts, v. 1, p. 288; v. 2, p. 291.
²³Vital Records of Rochester, Massachusetts, v. 1, pp. 262,288; v. 2, pp. 292,430-31
²⁴Vital Records of Rochester, Massachusetts, v. 1, p. 288. , v. 2, p. 479.
²⁵Vital Records of Rochester, Massachusetts, v. 1, p. 288. John Stetson Barry, A Genealogical and Biographical Sketch of the Name and Family of Stetson (Boston, Massachusetts: William A. Hall & Co., 1847), p. 32. Vital Records of New Bedford, Massachusetts: to the year 1850 (Boston: New England Historical and Genealogical Society, 1932. 1932, 1941), v. 2, p. 517. Vital Records of Rochester, Massachusetts, v. 2, p. 292.
²⁶Vital Records of Rochester, Massachusetts, v. 1, p. 287 (church record, Second Church of Rochester (Mattapoisett)). Barry, A Genealogical and Biographical Sketch of the Name and Family of Stetson, p. 32. Vital Records of New Bedford, Massachusetts, v. 2 p. 516. Riverside Cemetery, Fairhaven, Bristol County, Massachusetts, Find a Grave, digital images (findagrave.com : accessed 17 November 2020), Lurana Stetson; Created by: Caryn. Caroline Lewis Kardell and Russell A. Lovell Jr., Vital Records of Sandwich, Massachusetts: to 1885 (Boston, Massachusetts: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1996), p. 368. Old Bourne Cemetery, Bourne, Barnstable County, Massachusetts, Find a Grave, digital images (findagrve.com : accessed 17 November 2020), Fear Stetson; Created by: Caryn. Massachusetts Archives, "Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910," digital images, American Ancestors (americanancestors.org : accessed 18 November 2020), v. 75, p. 81a; Deaths New Bedford 1853; Fear Stetson.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Barry, John Stetson. A Genealogical and Biographical Sketch of the Name and Family of Stetson. Boston, Massachusetts: William A. Hall & Co., 1847.

Kardell, Caroline Lewis, and Russell A.Lovell, Jr. Vital Records of Sandwich, Massachusetts: to 1885. Boston, Massachusetts: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1996.

Massachusetts Archives. "Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910." Digital images. American Ancestors. americanancestors.org : 2020.

Mendell, Charles S., Jr., "Shipbuilders of Mattapoisett." Old Dartmouth Historical Sketches, no. 66 (July 1937). Old Dartmouth Historical Society, New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Old Bourne Cemetery, Bourne, Barnstable County, Massachusetts. Find a Grave. Digital images. findagrve.com : 2020.

Plymouth County, Massachusetts. "Massachusetts Land Records, 1620-1986: Plymouth County." Digital images. Family Search. familysearch.org : 2020.

Riverside Cemetery, Fairhaven, Bristol County, Massachusetts. Find a Grave. Digital images. findagrave.com : 2020.

Stetson, Oscar Frank. The Descendants of Cornet Robert Stetson: of Scituate, Massachusetts, sixteen hundred and thirty-four (N.p.: Stetson Kindred of America, Inc., 1933�56), v. 2, p. 109.

United States, Department of the Census. First Census of the United States: 1790, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2020.

Vital Records of Dartmouth, Massachusetts: to the Year 1850. Boston: New England Historical and Genealogical Society, 1929, 1929, 1930.

Vital Records of New Bedford, Massachusetts: to the year 1850. Boston: New England Historical and Genealogical Society, 1932. 1932, 1941.

Vital Records of Rochester, Massachusetts: to the Year 1850. Boston, Massachusetts: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1914.

Vital Records of Scituate, Massachusetts: to the Year 1850. Boston, Massachusetts: New England Historical and Genealogical Society, 1909.

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Some of The Descendants of Robert Stetson and his wife Honour Tucker of Scituate, Plymouth Colony by 1642 Fifth Generation

Some of The Descendants of
Robert Stetson
and his wife Honour Tucker
of Scituate, Plymouth Colony by 1642
Fifth Generation