Eleazer Churchill
Of Plymouth, where he was born in 1652, probably the son of John Churchill and Hannah Pontus. He had one wife, Mary, the mother of all eleven of his children, and was probably the father of Mary, wife of Edward Stephens, through whom he was an ancestor of Phebe (Stephens) Ellis.
Life
- 1652Born20 Apr 1652, Plymouth, Plymouth Colony
PCR 8:15.
- 1716Died8 Mar 1716
As given in the master tree. The printed Plymouth VR death list has "Eleazar CHURCHILL decd. March 8th 1716." His gravestone says 25 March (see Open questions).
documentedprobable - —BuriedBurial Hill, Plymouth, Massachusetts
"Here lyes ye body of Mr ELEAZAR CHURCHELL died March ye 25th 1716 in ye 64th year of his age" (Kingman no. 36).
documentedproven
Family
- Father
- John Churchill
His birth is in PCR 8:15, but the research does not quote the entry or say whom it names as parents.
compiledprobableSources
- Records of the Colony of New Plymouth in New England, ed. Shurtleff and Pulsifer, vols 1-12 (1855-61)
- The Churchill Family in America (1904)
- Reasoning:
research/freeman-ellis/Freeman_Ellis_Master_Family_Tree.md
- Mother
- Spouse
- Mary Churchill
"The children of Eleazer Churchell & Mary his wife"; her stone calls her "wife to Mr Eleazar Churchell."
1 child
Pedigree
Notes
Son of John Churchill and Hannah Pontus. He had one wife, Mary, the mother of all eleven of his children (“The children of Eleazer Churchell & Mary his wife,” Plymouth VR p. 13). Ancestor of Phebe (Stephens) Ellis through his daughter Mary, wife of Edward Stephens.
The VR entry names Hannah, Joanna, Abigail, Eleazer, Stephen, Jedidah, Mary, Elkanah, Nathaniel, Josiah and Jonathan; in the printed text every birth date is blank except Stephen’s (Feb 1684/5). The Churchill Family in America (1904) gives the years: Hannah 1676, Joanna 1678, Abigail 1680, Eleazer 1682, Stephen 1685, Jedidah 1687, Mary 1688, Elkanah 1691, Nathaniel 1693, Josiah 1694 and John 1698.
He was a member of the Plymouth church. When Middleborough gathered its church on 26 Dec 1694 and ordained Samuel Fuller its teacher, the Plymouth church sent its pastor with “Deac: Faunce, Deac: George Morton, Bro: Eliezer Churchel & Bro: Ephraim Morton.” In 1696 he was again one of the brethren chosen to go with the pastor, this time to the ordination of Edward Thompson as pastor at Marshfield on 14 October (Plymouth Church Records, CSM 22).
After his death his son Eleazer fenced in some common land at “obery.” In 1716/17 the town gave up its claim to it, “only his Brother Elkana haveing his part of it according to their fathers will and Testament,” and the son gave thirty shillings “for the scole” (Plymouth Town Records 2:171-172; record).
The Churchill Family in America (1904, p. 7) and Mollie Pfeiffer gave him a wife “Mary Doty,” daughter of Edward Doty of the Mayflower and Faith Clarke, married 8 Feb 1688. The record is “Henery CHURCHILL married Mary DOTY widow 8 Feb. 1687/88” (MD 13:204): that was his brother-in-law Henry’s marriage to the widow of Thomas Doty. On Merrick’s reading (TAG 71, 1996) that widow was Eleazer’s own sister Mary, Thomas Doty’s widow [compiled]; she was living in 1722 as “widow of Henry Churchill of Plimton” (Doty-Doten Family, 1897). There is no Doty or Clarke descent in this line.
Open questions
- His death date. The page keeps the master tree’s 8 Mar 1716, which matches the Plymouth VR death list. The Holbrook-Low colonial tree gives 25 Mar 1716 from his Burial Hill stone, “died March ye 25th 1716 in ye 64th year of his age” (Kingman no. 36). One of the two is probably a misreading or a slip; the VR page image and the stone would settle it.
- His eleventh child: “Jonathan” in the printed Plymouth VR, “John, b. Sept. 12, 1698” in The Churchill Family in America, which the colonial tree follows.
Mollie's typescript
Mollie says he was born at Plymouth on 20 Apr 1652, became a freeman in 1683, and lived at Hobbs Hole in his father's first house.
ELEAZER CHURCHILL was born in Plymouth, Massachusetts, April 20, 1652. He was a freeman in 1683. He lived at Hobsole on the original estate of his father John, having come into possession of the first house built by him.
p. 63 →Active in church affairs, he was a delegate at the founding of the Middleborough church in 1694 and on a like mission to Marshfield in 1696, and was nominated to read the psalms.
Eleazer Churchill was evidently active in church affairs. He was sent, with Deacon Faunce and Geo. Morton to Middlebury as delegate when that church was founded in 1694
p. 64 →
Checked against the records
- DisprovenEdward Doty's daughter Mary married Eleazer Churchill in 1688
There is no Doty or Clarke descent. The 1687/8 record reads "Henery CHURCHILL married Mary DOTY widow" (Plymouth vital records): Henry married the widow of Edward's son Thomas. Eleazer's one wife, Mary, mother of all his children, was probably Mary Bryant (b. 1654). Edward Doty's own daughter Mary married Samuel Hatch.
Read it in the book, p. 52 → - DisprovenEleazer Churchill married Mary Doty on 8 Feb 1688
8 Feb 1687/8 is the date of Henry Churchill's marriage to "Mary DOTY widow", probably Eleazer's sister Mary, widow of Thomas Doty (p. 64). Eleazer's wife Mary died 11 Dec 1715 "aged 60", so was born about 1655, and Mollie's own list of their children has Stephen born in Feb 1684/5, three years before that wedding.
Read it in the book, p. 60 → - DisprovenEdward Doty and Joseph Wise, younger sons of noble families, were ancestors
Edward Doty was not an ancestor: the "Mary Doty" who married a Churchill in 1687/8 was Thomas Doty's widow, not Eleazer Churchill's wife. Joseph Wise was an ancestor, twice, but of no noble family: he was baptized at Bulkington, Warwickshire, in 1617, son of Henry Wise (West, NEHGR, 2023).
Read it in the book, p. 73 →
Connections
- In his ancestry
- 1 notable connection →
Every notable ancestor and famous relative that Eleazer's own ancestors lead to, with the lines drawn down to him.
- Small world