Samuel EDDY

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact: Son of Samuel Eddy and Melatiah Pratt

Samuel married Lydia ALDEN on 5 Feb 1732/3 in Middleborough, Massachusetts. Lydia (daughter of John ALDEN and Hannah WHITE) was born on 18 Dec 1710 in Middleborough, Plymouth County, Massachusetts; died on 11 Mar 1803. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Name:
"He was a wheelwright and owned and occupied that part of his father's estate which included most of what is now known as Eddyville. His house stood by the great pear trees, long a landmark, and famous in all region for their size and fruit. It stood on a gentle knooll with a spring at its foot, the soil being fertile and easy of tilage, and well-watered.

"His home was burned to the ground about 1721, so he built another a little farther to the south of the site of the first. This is the one that is now standing in Eddyville, the oldest house existing in this line of ancestry and today it is in good preservation, cheerful and homelike." (Eddy Gen. 1881)

Melatiah was born in the fort where the inhabitants of Plymouth had taken refuge in the first year of King Philip's War. When she was an elderly woman she used to tell about the "times when the Indians were ten to one of the whites." Her parents died when she was young and she was brought up in the family of Ebenezer Tinkham, who was one of the deacons of the First Church when it was organized in 1694. Melatiah was admitted to the church on May 20, 1715. She was very religious. It is said of her that when her children were sick, she knelt down and prayed with them. She had a very frail constitution and always felt that her life would be short, but she outlived her husband, who was far more robust.

By a codicil added to his father's will on Dec. 17, 1722, Samuel was made executor. He appears on the town records when he and his brother Benjamin with others on Mar. 30, 1717 purchased of James Soule "two acres of land in the 26 Men's Purchase to be used for a Parish Burying Ground." This land is opposite the First Church and contains the graves of many of this branch of the family. Samuel was admitted to the First Church June 12, 1715. In the years between 1744 and 1748 there was a great dissension in the church at Middleboro between the "New Lights" and the "Old Lights". Samuel was one of those chosen to serve on a committee to devise some means to settle the differences.

In march 1734, Benjamin White, Samuel Eddy and Joseph Pumpus and two others petitioned the court for their "free consent to build a slitting mill on the Nemasket River on land of Moses Sturtewant." this permission was granted, but the dam was not built until later. They left "a sufficient opening for the passing of the herring up to the great ponds."

The earliest record of the First Military Co. of Middleboro, taken Jan. 19, 1710/11 has on its list, Serg Samuel eddy, and also the name of Benjamin Eddy. (Hist of Plymouth Col.)

"He was a man of uncommon strength and robust constitution, his frame being very large. Tradition has preserved remarkable proofs of his powers." (Eddy Gen. p. 208)

Samuel married Melatiah PRATT on 3 Feb 1702/3. Melatiah was born on 11 Dec 1676 in Plymouth, Massachusetts; died on 1768 or 1769 in Middleboro, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact: Daughter of Jonathan Pratt and Abigail Atwood