Elizabeth BICKNELL

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact: Daughter of Thomas Bicknell of Middleboro, Mass.

Family/Spouse: Joel CHAFFE. Joel (son of John CHAFFE and Sarah HILLS) was born in 1702 in Swansea, Bristol Co., Massachusetts; died on 20 Jun 1745 in Woodstock, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Elizabeth married John LEE on 28 Mar 1748/9 in Thompson, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Name:
He was a farmer, and moved to Sharon from Mansfield, in 1755, shortly after his marriage. April 20, 1757, Matthew St. John of Sharon sold "for love, good will and affection" to his daughter, Mary, and son-in-law, Joshua, twelve acres of land in that town, and April 18, 1758, he sold to Joshua for L75, thirteen acres more there. Joshua sold to Ebenezer Smith, Jr., of Woodstock, Conn., for L12, 10s., two acres of orchard land in the latter town, January 7, 1763. He also bought and sold other pieces of land there. His name appears as one of the company of householders from Sharon, on a roll of Captain Eliphalet Holmes' company of minute men of East Haddam, raised in may, 1776, by order of the "Capt. General." (Connecticut Men in the Revolution). He was made a Freeman in Sharon, October 16, 1777. He made his will February 14, 1787, and in it names as his heirs, his wife Mary, sons oel, Matthew and Joshua Bignall, his daughters Betty, Mary Lucy, Vinie, Olive, Lettice and Julia, his son Joel being made executor. He and his wife are buried in Ellsworth, where their tombstones bear the following epitaph:

"For me to live is Christ and to die is gain."

Joshua married Mary ST. JOHN on 02 Jul 1755 in Sharon, Connecticut. Mary (daughter of Matthew ST. JOHN and Mary ELMER) was born on 25 Sep 1739 in Wilton, Connecticut; died on 28 Aug 1824 in Ellsworth, Connecticut; was buried in Ellsworth Buying Ground, Sharon, Litchfield Co., Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Name:
Joel Chaffe, Jr., was baptized in the First Congregational Church of Woodstock, May 6, 1733; he was a blacksmith, farmer and miller, in 1801 owning a fulling mill; as early as 1764 he owned property in Wilbraham; March 8, 1768, "Joel Chaffee Blacksmith of Wilbraham" sold to his cousin, Doctor Hezekiah Chaffe, of Windsor, Conn., for L30, ninety acres of land with the swelling house, barn and shop thereon, June 2nd following leasing this same property from Doctor Chaffe at a yearly rental of twenty shillings, the lease being for the term of Joel's life and after his death to be continued while his wife Hepzibah remained his widow; March 11, 1769, Joel Chaffe was chosen Constable of the town of Wilbraham; May 30, 1770, he owned with his wife and others, pew number three in the Congregational Church there, but July 3d of the same year, he and his wife, with five others, occupied pew number fourteen there, May 11, 1772, he was chosen Juror in Wilbraham, and that year bought of Philip Lyon of that place property there for L22; his was one of the one hundred and twenty-five signatures to an agreement made in South Wilbraham in 1774, not to buy English-made goods; in 1776 he was chosen Fence Viewer in Wilbraham, and in December of that year, was one of those elected to the office of "deerreaes"; October 18, 1779, he received $7 as bounty and mileage money for soldiers; March 22, 1786, he was chosen Surveyor; in the fall of that year, during Shays's rebellion, he served as a Private in Lieutenant Lewis Langdon's Company. Colonel Gideon Burt's Regiment of Militia, Fourth Division, who marched to Springfield in support of the Government, service from September 22 to 28, 1786; he bought land in Wilbraham from 1786 to 1799; his will, dated October 5, 1802, gave all his property to his wife, as they had no children; February 8, 1805, she sold land to Comfort Chaffe and may 10, 1808, another piece of land to Doctor Hezekiah Chaffe; both Joel and Hepzibah are buried in the old buryinggound, Hampden (formerly South Wilbraham), his tombstone bearing the following inscription:

"Go home my friends,
Dry up your tears,
I must lie here
till Christ appears."

Joel married Hepzibah GREEN on 3 Dec 1755 in Springfield, Massachusetts. Hepzibah was born about 1735 in Wales, Springfield Twp, Massachusetts; died on 19 Dec 1828. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Abigail married Nathaniel GOODELL on 29 May 1767. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Lucy married John CALL on 1 Jan 1761 in Woodstock, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]