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

SMITH⁷ STETSON (Charles^6-5, Anthony⁴, Robert³, Joseph², Robert¹) was born about 1786 a son of Charles Stetson and his wife Jane Jenney, and died at Portsmouth, Virginia, which was reported in a newpaper on 8 September 1815. He married at New Bedford, Bristol County, Massachusetts, on 18 September 1806 PHEBE HORTON. She was born on 16 August 1786, a daughter of Jotham Horton and his wife Sarah Francis. She died at Fairhaven, Bristol County, on 21 January 1838. Phebe married second, after publishing their marriage intentions at Fairhaven on 7 September 1822 EBENEZER AKIN POPE, as his fourth wife. Ebenezer was born at Dartmouth, Bristol County, on 12 June 1769, and died at Dartmouth on 26 March 1828. Phebe married third, after publishing their intentions to marry at Fairhaven on 6 October 1832 WILLIAM W. TABER. Phebe's second husband, Ebenezer Taber, had married first at Edgartown, Dukes County, Massachusewtts, on 28 March 1799 HANNAH KILLEY, who was born on 4 May 1777, and died at Dartmouth on 12 May 1803. Ebenezer married second at New Bedford on 18 September 1803 REBECCA ALLEN who was born about 1774-5 and died at Dartmouth on 2 May 1813. Ebenezer married third at Fairhaven on 25 August 1816 SUSAN TABER.^[1]

For a person like Smith Stetson, who made his living by the sea, the first two decades of the Nineteenth Century were difficult. Britain and Napoleon's France fought a series of wars beginning in 1803. Both forces seized American ships, and the British often impressed seamen who formerly had some relationship to Britain. President Jefferson's Embargo Act of 1807 prohibited all international trade. The embargo went through a series of modifications, but the general impact was an economic disaster on New England's ports. When the United States declared war on England in June 1812, maritime commerce became even more perilous.

Smith Stetson served as second mate on the Rising Hope engaged, supposedly, in coastal trade. On 6 November 1812, three days out of New York on their way to Charleston, off Cape Hatteras, they spotted two ships they believed to be men-of-war. The Rising Hope soon left the port of Charleston with cargo headed for Cadiz in Spain.^[2]

Let's pause for a moment to ask: What was the Rising Hope doing transporting cargo from Charleston to Cadiz? The seas are a dangerous place for a merchant vessel in time of war. In the Peninsula War, Napoleon's forces had driven the Britan-backed government of Spain to the port of Cadiz. If the Rising Hope was bound for Cadiz, they had a hold full of supplies to sell to the British allies in Spain - at a time when the United States and Britain were at war. It would appear that they were smugglers.

On 27 December H.M.S. sloop Wanderer seized the Rising Hope on the open seas, and transported their prize and its crew to Bermuda, where on 5 January 1813 Smith Stetson and the rest of the crew of the Rising Hope were placed in custody as prisoners of war. Stetson and the others were discharged on 27 January 1813 and allowed to return to the United States.^[3]

On his return, Smith Stetson joined the United States Army. On 4 March 1813 he was reported a member of artillery company, second brigade, fifth division, stationed at New Bedford.^[4]

Following the war, Smith Stetson evidently resumed his career as a mariner. The Salem, Massachusetts, Gazette reported his death in their issue of 8 September 1815:^[5]

Smith Stetson left a twenty-nine year old widow with daughters aged eight and six.

Seven years after Smith Stetson's death, his widow Phebe, age 36, married 53 year old widower Ebenezer Pope. Only after Phebe's remarriage did Smith Stetson's estate come before probate court, on 4 July 1823. The very modest inventory reported the total if Smith's earthly posessions:^[6]

Five and a half years after their marriage, Ebenezer Pope died. The probate record clearly identifies his widow as Phebe Pope.^[7] Four years later widow Phebe (Horton) (Stetson) Pope married William Taber. She died five years later. She is buried at Acushnet Cemetery, Acushnet, Bristol County, next to her father-in-law Charles Stetson.

The Stetson genealogies list four children of Smith and Phebe Stetson. However I have only found information on two. The 1810 Census reported Smith Stetson at New Bedford with a family consisting of a man and a woman between 16 and 25 (Smith was about 24, Phebe 23), and two girls under 10 (Jane was 3, Sarah 1).^[8]

Smith Stetson and his wife Phebe Horton had the following children:

1. JANE⁸ STETSON^[9] b. at New Bedford about June 1807, d. at Fairhaven on 1 June 1860; m. at Fairhaven on 3 February 1829 JOHN ALDEN, Jr. b. at Fairhaven about June 1807, d. there on 31 August 1882. Children of Jane and John
   1. Phebe A. Alden b. at Fairhaven about January-February 1833 (or 1831-2), d. there on 3 March 1905.
   2. John F. Alden b. at Fairhaven on 15 September 1833, d. at Oak Bluffs, Dukes County on 15 October 1908; m. at Cottage City, Dukes County, on 28 March 1900 Martha A. (Bunker) Galley b. at Cranberry Island, Hancock County, Maine, about 1853-4, d. at Cottage City on 25 October 1905. Martha had previously married before 1869 Arthur P. Galley b. at Maine about 1839-40. [NOTE: The town of Cottage City in 1907 changed its name to Oak Bluffs]
   3. Abby H. Alden b. at Fairhaven about 1839-40, died there on 13 June 1879.
2. WILLIAM⁸ STETSON.^[10]
3. SARAH H.⁸ STETSON b. at New Bedford on 4 July 1809.
4. FRANCES⁸ STETSON.^[11]

¹John Stetson Barry, A Genealogical and Biographical Sketch of the Name and Family of Stetson (Boston, Massachusetts: William A. Hall & Co., 1847), p. 31. "Died," Salem (Massachusetts) Gazette, 8 September 1815 (v. 29, issue 72); Genealogy Bank (genealogybank.com : accessed 18 November 2020). p. 3. Vital Records of New Bedford, Massachusetts: to the year 1850 (Boston: New England Historical and Genealogical Society, 1932. 1932, 1941), v. 2 p. 517; v. 2 p. 420. Vital Records of Dartmouth, Massachusetts: to the Year 1850 (Boston: New England Historical and Genealogical Society, 1929, 1929, 1930), v. 3, p. 72; gravemarker record, Acushnet Cemetery; v. 1, p. 183; v. 3, pp. 54-55; gravestone record, Acushnet Cemetery. Leonard H. Smith Jr., and Dorothy Marvelle Boyer, eds., Vital Records of the Town of Fairhaven, Massachusetts: to 1850 (Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1986, reprint 1993), marriage intentions, 47; marriage intentions, 87; marriages by Nehemiah Coy, 26. Vital Records of Edgartown, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850 (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1906), p. 167.
²"Cartel from Bermuda," Alexandria (Virginia) Gazette, 7 November 1812; Library of Virginia (virginiachronicle.com : accessed 15 November 2020), Virginia Chronicle. p. 3. "Ship News," Charleston (South Carolina) Daily Courier, 20 March 1813; Newspapers+ (newspapers.con : accessed 15 November 2020). p. 3.
³United Kingdom, "Prisoners Of War 1715-1945," digital images, Find My Past (findmypast.com : accessed 7 August 2018), Register of American POWs, Bermuda, 1812-1815, p. 23, no. 558; National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, England.
⁴Leonard Bolles Ellis, History of New Bedford : and its vicinity, 1602-1892. (Syracuse, New York: D. Mason & Co, 1892), p. 168.
⁵"Died."
⁶Bristol County, Massachusetts, Probate Court, v. 60, p. 446; v. 61, pp. 21-22, estate of Smith Stetson; Bristol County Court House, Taunton, Massachusetts.
⁷Bristol County, Massachusetts, Probate Court, v. 67, p. 170.
⁸Third Census of the United States: 1810, population, New Bedford, Bristol County, Massachusetts, roll 17, p. 312, Smith Stetson; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 23 February 2015); NARA microfilm publication M252; Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.
⁹Information on the family of Jane Stetson is from: Massachusetts Archives, "Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910," digital images, American Ancestors (americanancestors.org : accessed 17 September 2017), vol. 138, p. 76, e. 9, Fairhaven Deaths, 1860, Jane Alden; v. 337, p. 85, e. 37; Deaths Fairhaven 1882; John Alden; Deaths 1905, v. 39, certificate 92; Phebe Alden; Deaths 1908: v. 77, certificate 415; John Alden; v. 500, p. 313, e. 103; Marriages Cottage city, 1900; Alden-Galley; v. 310, p. 80, e. 23; Deaths Fairhaven 1879; Abby Alden. Smith, Vital Records of the Town of Fairhaven, Massachusetts, marriages by Alfred Nye, j.p., 72. Tenth Census of the United States: 1880, population, Calais, Washington County, Maine, enumeration district (ED) 168, roll 489, p. 85C, household 546, Arthur Galley family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 19 November 2020); NARA microfilm publication T9; Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.
¹⁰Oscar 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. 3, p. 140.
¹¹Ibid.

Alexandria Gazette, Alexandria, Virginia. 7 November 1812.

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

Bristol County Probate Court. Bristol County, Massachusetts. Probate Records. Bristol County Court House, Taunton, Massachusetts.

Charleston Daily Courier, Charleston, South Carolina. 20 March 1813.

Ellis, Leonard Bolles. History of New Bedford : and its vicinity, 1602-1892. Syracuse, New York: D. Mason & Co, 1892.

Massachusetts Archives. "Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910." Digital images. American Ancestors. americanancestors.org : 2017.

Salem Gazette Salem, Essex County, Massachusetts. 8 September 1815 (v. 29, issue 72).

Smith, Leonard H. Jr., and Dorothy Marvelle Boyer, eds. Vital Records of the Town of Fairhaven, Massachusetts: to 1850. Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1986, reprint 1993.

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.

United Kingdom. "Prisoners Of War 1715-1945." Digital images. Find My Past. findmypast.com : 2018.

United States Department of the Census. Third Census of the United States: 1810, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2015.

________. Tenth Census of the United States: 1880, 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 Edgartown, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1906.