The family sketch of Samuel Witham and Rebecca Gardner is going to be quite short since they only have three recorded children and only one marriage for those children.
Samuel Witham was born 26 January 1671/72 in Gloucester, Essex, Tassachusetts. He married Rebecca Gardner on 5 December 1705 in Gloucester.
Rebecca was born 15 September 1675, also in Gloucester, the daughter of James Gardner and Elizabeth Vinson.
There are only three children to be found for this couple in the Gloucester town records:
- Samuel, born 11 July 1707; reportedly died at sea in 1759 off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, Canada; married Deborah Stanwood, 3 July 1732, Gloucester, Essex, Massachusetts
- Rebecca, born 11 October 1710; no further record
- John, born 10 September 1713; died 5 January 1713/14, Gloucester, Essex, Massachusetts
I am beginning to think that some of the Gloucester town clerks were as fastidious about recording deaths as they were about births and marriages because this is yet another couple for whom no death dates can be found. This supported by the discovery of a will proved for an elderly Benjamin Witham in February 1815. However, there is no death recorded for him even though he wrote his will as a resident of Gloucester.
If Samuel Witham died soon after 1713, but Rebecca survived him, there is no second marriage for any Rebecca Witham in that time period.
Thus, nothing further is known about this family except that Samuel Jr., born in 1707, married and has descendants.
Since family sketches have been posted in the past about the earlier Witham families, they won’t be repeated in this new series.
Next up is a look at the ancestry of Rebecca (Gardner) Witham.