Cornelius Fisher (1660-1743) and Anna Whitney (1660-1701)

{Hills Ancestors}

Research by Rue Lynn Galbraith

Click here to go to a condensed version of this biography.

Cornelius Fisher was born 8 February 1659/60, in Dedham, Suffolk (now Norfolk), Massachusetts. He was the 4th of 7 children of Cornelius Fisher and Leah Heaton.

In this handwritten record, the month is a little smudged, and could be read as the 2nd month, not the 12th month, however looking at the entries above and below, it is possible to determine that the entry is the 12th month, which is February.

 

Picture 161

 

His mother, Leah, died in childbirth in 1663/64 when Cornelius was three years old. The baby, Ellice, also died. His father married Sarah Everett on 24 July 1665, and they had three more children. The family moved to Wrentham by 1673. His stepmother, Sarah, died in February 1674/75 when Cornelius was fourteen, and his father did not remarry. Shortly after Sarah’s death, the family had to return to Dedham for safety during King Phillip’s War, but were eventually able to return to Wrentham.

In 1692, Cornelius served as Wrentham’s representative to the General Court. He was a town selectman in 1692 and 1694, and the Wrentham treasurer from 1694 to 1696. He was a blacksmith, weaver, and farmer.3 He and his brother, Eleazer were named the executors of his father’s estate.4

Cornelius married three times. About 1690, he married Anna Whitney, the third of eleven children of Jonathan and Lydia Jones Whitney.

Picture 171

 

Anna Whitney was born in Watertown on 27 April 1660, but her family moved to Sherborn in 1679. Cornelius and Anna’s first child, Jonathan, was born 22 February 1691. They had five more children born in Wrentham: Cornelius (29 September 1692); Julia's ancestor Isaac, (19 May 16940; Anna (28 March 1696); Joseph (11 May 1698) and Benjamin (6 March 1700/01). Anna died in childbirth on 6 March 1700/01.

On 27 March 1702, Cornelius married Mercy Partridge Colburn, the widow of Samuel Colburn. Mercy and Samuel Colburn were the parents of Abial Colburn, another of our ancestors.

Picture 511

  “Cornelius and Marcy Colburn of Dedham, Apr. 29, 1702. In Dedham”

At the time of the marriage to Cornelius, Mercy’s two youngest daughters, Mary and Abiel, were still minors, and would have joined her in the Fisher household. Mercy and Cornelius had two more daughters, Mercy (27 January 1702/03); and Esther (27 October 1710). Mercy died 20 September 1726, Wrentham, Suffolk, Massachusetts,

“Marcy, w. of Cornel[i]us Sr., Sept. 20, 1726”2

Cornelius married Mrs. Mary (Wheelock) Ware, widow of Nathaniel Ware and daughter of Benjamin Wheelock on 13 February 1726/7, in Wrentham, Suffolk, Massachusetts.2 Four of her eight children would still have been minors at that time, but she and Cornelius had no more children. They were married for 16 years before his death on 6 June 1743, in Wrentham. He was 83 years old.

Mary remarried after Cornelius’ death, Thomas Bacon, 16 July 1746, Wrentham, Suffolk, Massachusetts, and she died 25 March 1750, in Wrentham, Suffolk.2

Sources

  1. Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.Original data: Town and City Clerks of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Vital and Town Records, Provo, UT: Holbrook Research Institute (Jay and Delene Holbrook).

  2. Vital Records of Wrentham, Massachusetts

  3. Legislators of the Massachusetts General Court, 1691-1780: A Biographical Dictionary by John A. Schutz

  4. Suffolk Co. MA Court Land and Probate Records: Case Number 2523, Vol. 2000-3999 page 2523:1