Abijah and Keziah (Farrar) Joslin Family History

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Abijah Joslin
Letter to
His Wife

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Verona
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Family History

Abijah and Keziah Ferrar Joslin

¹Capt. Abijah Joslin, son of John and Lucy (Wilder) Joslin, born in Leominster, Mass. Jan. 24, 1744-5 (Leominster Vital Records, p. 84), baptized in First Church, Lancaster, Jan. 27, 1744-5 (Lancaster Vital Records, p. 293), married in Townsend, Mass., Jan. 5, 1769, Keziah Farrar (Sawtelle's History of Townsend, 1878, p. 390), who was born in Townsend, May 18, 1745, daughter of Isaac and Sarah (Brooks) Farrar.
Capt. Abijah Joslin as a young man removed to Ashburnham soon after its incorporation on Feb. 22, 1765. He was chosen a member of a committee of Correspondence at the town meeting held on Sep. 13, 1774, and at the same time was made captain of the Militia. (History of Ashburnham, 1887, p. 135.) At the annual town meeting in 1776, he was again chosen a member of the Committee of Correspondence (Ibid., p. 147), and a Selectman in 1777 (Ibid., p. 230). No service is given to him in Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors in the Revolution, but that he had actual service is clearly proved by the following copies of letters, the originals being in the possession of Mrs. Melora J. Clarke, 603 W. 139th St., New York. ....
Capt. Abijah Joslin removed in 1805 to Verona, Oneida Co., N.Y., where he lived until his death, which took place Sep. 1, 1811. His widow Keziah died Mar. 23, 1827. The inscriptions on their gravestones in the Verona Cemetery are as follows:
Capt Abijah Joslin died Sept 1^st1811 Aged 66 years.
In Memory of Kezia Wife of Abijah Joslin who died March 23 1827 in the 81 year of her age.

Children of Capt. Abijah and Keziah (Farrar) Joslin
All born or baptized in Ashburnham, and given in Vital Records, except No. 8

  i. Abijah, b. Jan. 3,1770; mar. -1792, Anna Smith, b. -1773, 
	dau. of Nathaniel and Anna (Dillingham) Smith.
 ii. Keziah, b. June 8,1771; mar. Joseph Blackmar. They are said to
	have lived in Vermont.
iii. Sarah, b. Dec. 29, 1772; d. Oct. 20, 1845; mar. Ashburnham, Nov.
	3, 1795, Peter Andrew Wilder, b. Leominster, Aug. 19, 1765, d.
	Oct. 3, 1855, son of Thomas and Abigail (Carter) Wilder.
	(Ashburnham Vital Records, p. 130; Leominster Vital Records,
	P.154.)
 iv. Ephraim, b. Aug. 28,1774; d. Verona, N. Y., June 10, 1869; mar.
	Feb. 14, 1801, Mehitable Cagwin, b. Mar. 9, 1777, d. Verona,
	May 25, 1868, dau. of Thomas and Jerusha (Gates) Keigwin.
	They had a son:
	  Isaac Joslyn, who was born in Verona, Mar. 15, 1806, died in
	  Bergen, Genesee Co., N. Y., Dec. 28, 1878, mar. Jan. 28,
	  1835, Marrietta Minerva Peters, b. Bergen, Apr. 27, 1813,
	  d. Brockport, Monroe Co., N. Y., Nov. 8, 1898, dau. of
	  William and Susan (Tuller) Peters. They had a son:
	    William Henry Joslyn, b. Brookport, Nov. 28, 1835, d.
	    Verona, Sep. 19, 1909, mar. (I) Oct. 18, 1856, Sophia
	    Louisa Brockway, b. May 16,1832, d. Oct. 16,1874, dau.
	    of Edwin and Louisa A. (Cagwin) Brockway; mar. (2)
	    Rochester, N. Y., Dec. 1, 1875, Mary Ann Duff, b.,
	    Sweden, N. Y., Aug. 17, 1856, d. Verona, Apr. 1, 1926,
	    dau. of John and Margaret (Markey) Duff. They had
	    a son:
	      William Henry Joslyn, b. Jackson, Mich., Aug. 5,
		  1878, d. Verona Station, N. Y., Oct. 21, 1918, mar.
		  Westmoreland Twp., Apr. 19, 1905, Mary Alice
		  Humstone, b. Verona, Feb. 12,1877, dau. of Edward
		  and Charlotte Amanda (Smith) Humstone. They
		  had 4 children, all born in Verona Twp.:
		   Edward Henry Joslyn, b. July 7, 1906
		   Florence Hazel Joslyn, b. Sep. 7, 1908.
		   Marion Lucille Joslyn, b. Mar. 12, 1910.
		   Gifford Betts Joslyn, b. Feb. 2, 1912, d. Aug. 2,
		     1912.
   v. George Washington, b. Apr. 18,1776; d. Verona, Aug. 16,1828; mar.
	Ashburnham, May 26, 1802, Rhoda Corey, b. Mar. 13, 1782,
	d. Verona, Aug. 12,1847, dau. of Hezekiah and Sarah (Fletcher)
	Corey. (Ashburnham Vital Records, p. 130; History of Ash-
	burnham, p. 650; Descendants of Robert Fletcher, 1881, p. 34.)
  vi. Lucy, b. Aug. 20, 1778; d. Ashburnham, Mass., Nov. 20, 1780.
	(Ashburnham Vital Records, p. 190.)
 vii. Isaac Farrar, b. Feb. 25, 1780; d. Ashburnham, Mar. 28, 1799.
	(Ashburnham Vital Records, p. 190.)
viii. Polly, b. about 1781; d. Verona, Aug. 9, 1838; mar. Ashburnham,
	Mass., Dec. 8, 1803, Hosea Foster, b. Ashburnham, Aug. 1, 1778,
	d. Verona, Feb. 23, 1855, son of Samuel and Susanna (Wood)
	Foster. [They had one son:
	    Hosea Foster, b. 1819, Stockbridge, N. Y., died 1883, Stockbridge, N.Y.;
        mar. Cornelia Scudden, b. 1822. They had 7 children:
           i. Catherine Foster, b. 1842, Stockbridge, N. Y.
          ii. George Foster, b. 1844, Stockbridge, N. Y.
         iii. Jane Foster, b. 1846, Stockbridge, N. Y.
          iv. John Wesley Foster, b. 1848.
           v. Emma Foster, b. 1848, Stockbirdge, N. Y.
          vi. Edwin Foster, b. 1859, Stockbridge, N. Y. 
         vii. Imogene Foster, b. 1865, Stockbridge, N. Y.; mar. Mr. New.]	    
	 Hosea Foster, Sr. had a second wife, Amy, who d. Dec. 21, 1861, aged
	   74. (Foster Genealogy, 1899, p. 300; Ashburnham Vital Rec-
	   ords, pp. 32, 118; Gravestones at Verona.)
  ix. John, bap. Mar. 30, 1782; d. young. (Ashburnham Vital Records,
	P.46.)
   x. Eunice, b. July 13, 1784, according to Bible record, but bap. Aug.
	31, 1783, by Ashburnham Vital Records; d. Joliet, Ill., May 5,
	1866; mar., probably Verona, N. Y., July 19, 1806, Thomas
	Keigwin, b. Montgomery, Mass., Mar. 15, 1784, according to
	Vital Records, or Mar. 16, 1785, by Bible record, d. at or near
	Brockport, N. Y., Nov. 17, 1839 (gravestone in Brockport
	Cemetery), son of Thomas and Jerusha (Gates) Keigwin. It is
	probable that the Vital Records give the correct dates. (Bible
	in possession of Mrs. Harless W. King, 312 Buell Ave., Joliet, Ill.)
  xi. Nahum, bap. Apr. 13, 1790; d. Joslin, Rock Island Co., Ill., Oct. 8,
	1879; mar. Mar. 27, 1817, Sarah Hammill Jones, b. Cherry Valley,
	N. Y., Feb. 28, 1800, d. Verona, Sep. 13, 1847 (gravestone), dau.
	of Ambrose and Elizabeth (Hammill) Jones. Their children were
	    i. Benjamin B. Joslin, b. Feb. 10, 1819; d. Sep. 14, 1874.
	   ii. Statira A. Joslin, b. July 12, 1821; d. June 1, 1903; mar. a Mr
	       Clark.
	  iii. Ruth Elizabeth Joslin, b. Oct. 4, 1823; d. Nov. 20, 1912; mar
	       Mar. 2, 1846, Charles Spencer Blackman, b. Aug. 17, 1824, d
	       Jan. 19, 1862.
	   iv. Sarah A. Joslin b. Dec. 11, 1825; d. Mar. I, 1900; mar. a Mr. Per-
	       kins. [Esli Squier Perkins 1821-1897]
	    v. Mary J. Joslin, b. Dec. 11, 1825; d. Aug. 2, 1869; mar. a Mr. FInk.
	   vi. Keziah S. Joslin, b. May 23, 1828; d. Nov. 19, 1874; mar. a Mr.
	       Osborn.
	  vii. Hannah C. Joslin, b. Dec. 5, 1830.
	 viii. Zenana Hammill Joslin, b. Mar. 5, 1833; d. Jan. 25, 1885; mar.
	        Rensselaer Stone, and they had 3 children:
			  1. George Nahum Stone; mar. Emma Holmes.
			  2. Carrie Cornelia Stone; mar. Byron Laflin Smith, and they had
		        4 children:
		     	   1. Solomon Albert Smith, who mar. Fredrika
		        	   Shumway, and they had 4 children: Mari Shumway
		             Smith, who mar. Scott Bromwell, Solomon Byron Smith,
		             Edward Shumway Smith, and Caroline Byron Smith;
		     	   2. Walter Byron Smith, who mar. Florence McCul-
		        	   lough, and they had a child, Winifred Byron Smith;
		     	   3. Harold Cornelius Smith, who mar. Emily Bernie;
		    	   4. Bruce Donald Smith, who mar. (1) Pauline Mackay,
					  (2) Florence Mann Fisher.
			  3. Fannie Elizabeth Stone; mar. John Winslow Sweet, and they
		   		  had 4 children: 1. Zenana Sweet, who mar. Stott Mills
		   		  Snyder; 2. Frances Sweet, who mar. Austin W. Brooks;
		   		  3. John Winslow Sweet, Jr., who mar. Harriet Hopkins,
		   		  and they have a child, John Forest Sweet; 4. George Stone
		   		  Sweet, who mar. Mary Rhoda Grier, and they have a child,
		   		  Jane Elizabeth Sweet.
 xii. Nancy, bap. Mar. 18) 1792; d. Ashburnham) Mar. 6) 1795. (Ash-
	burnham Vital Records) p. 190.)
xiii. Sophia, bap. Oct. 18. 1795; mar. Elijah Blackman.

¹Alfred L. Holman, Blackman and Allied Families. (Chicago: Privately Printed, 1928), pp. 107-113.

Contributed by:
Julia Ingles Gillett Hendrick
March 12, 2004