Comfort CHAFFE

Notes:

Name:
He had a dark complexion, black eyes and hair, was tall and well proportioned. he probably moved to Wales, a district of Springfield, Mass., with his parents in 1755, and was living there at the time of his marriage in 1758. he was a farmer. May 26, 1759, "Comfort Chaffee yeoman of Wales" bought seventy-five acres of land in the township of Springfield, for L75. As Wales was then a district of Springfield, this land may have been in what was then known as Wales, and which was shortly afterwards made part of Wilbraham. March 19, 1765, Comfort Chaffee was chosen "Deer Reaves" in Wilbraham. He was chosen "Hog Reaves" march 13, 1770, in South Wilbraham, and May 13, 1770, the records of the Congregational church there state that he and his wife, with six others, occupied pew number eighteen. April 6, 1773, Comfort and Mary (Bliss) Chaffee sold for L22, 2s., to Nathaniel, David, Jonathan, and Thomas Bliss of Wilbraham, forty-seven acres of land there, it being part of the estate of the late Nathaniel Bliss, father of Mary. A committee of which Comfort Chaffee was one appointed in Wilbraham, January 2, 1775, to prevent the killing of deer from January 1st to August 1st of that year. His name appears as a Private on the roll of Captain James Warriner's company of Wilbraham "who marched in defence of American Liberty on ye Alarm last April occasioned by Lexington Fight." He served ten days, travelled one hundred and eighty miles, and received L1, 9s. 2d., payment. His further Revolutionary service is as follows:

"Chaffee, Comfort. Private, Capt. James Shaw's co., Col. Charles Pynchon's regt.: enlisted Sept. 24, 1777; discharged Oct. 18, 1777; service, 32 days, travel included; company detached to join Gen. Gates's army." (Massachusetts Soldier and Sailors in the War of the Revolution.)

During his service, Comfort and another man discovered a deserted British vessel floating near the water's edge. They boarded it and finding it loaded with provisions and ammunition, turned it over to the Government. may 25, 1778, Comfort Chaffee was chosen one of the Constables for Wilbrahan. October 18, 1779, he received L20 as bounty and mileage money for soldiers....


Inscription:
From the Chaffee Genealogy by Wm. Chaffee:

"In memory of
Mr. Comfort Chaffe
who died
June 4, 1811
Aged 74 Years.

Let not the dead forgotten lie
Lest you forget that you must die
death is a debt to nature due
Which I have paid and so must you."

Find A Grave

Comfort married Mary BLISS on 19 Jan 1758. Mary was born on 21 Nov 1734; died on 15 Apr 1774. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Comfort married Hepzibah GREEN on 5 Jun 1808 in South Wilbraham, Massachusetts. Hepzibah was born about 1735 in Wales, Springfield Twp, Massachusetts; died on 19 Dec 1828. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Name:
Joseph Chaffe was Constable and town Sealer of weights and measures in Barrington in 1729.
January 21, 1729/30, "Joseph Chaffe Junr. of Barrington, boatman," bought of Benjamin Marcy of Woodstock, husbandman, a "Mansion house" and seventy-five acres of land in Woodstock, bounded by the land of Isaiah Tiffany and John Chaffe, for L300.
February 23, 1729/30, "Joseph Chaffee Junr. of Barrington in the County of Bristol in the Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England Boatman, for and in consideration of the sum of two hundred pounds to me paid by my Honoured Father, John Chaffee of Woodstock, in the County of Suffolk and Province aforesaid, yeoman, being part of my Portion or Patrimony of my said Father's Estate do by these presents Remit, Release and forever Quit Claim . . . unto my Father John Chaffee . . . all my right title interest Claim & Demand unto all of Housing & Lands of my said Father being & Lying in Woodstock Aforesaid, belonging . . . to me as a son or heir." This document was witnessed by his uncle Joseph Chaffe and Samuel Luther. (Woodstock Land Records.) In those days a man was called "Junior" if there was another man in his family of the same Christian name, whether he was his father or not. Between the date of the above release and July 5, 1730, Joseph and his family removed to Woodstock, Mass. (now Conn.) as on the latter date his wife was admitted to the First Congregational Church of Woodstock by a letter of dismission and recommendation from the Church of Christ in Barrington. He settled in what is now West Woodstock, and which was set off from Woodstock as the Second Precinct of Woodstock, or New Roxbury......

Joseph Chaffe died of smallpox, and one of the items in the account of the administrators against the estate is 5s. "for brimstone & rum to cleanse the infection out of the house." He lies buried in the cemetery in Hampden, Mass. (formerly South Wilbraham)...

Joseph married Hannah MAY. Hannah was born on 1 Oct 1704 in Swansea, Massachusetts; was christened on 12 Feb 1706/7 in Swansea, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact: Daughter of Ephraim May of Rehoboth, Mass.