Israel Converse
Born at Stafford, Connecticut, in 1743, probably the son of Lt. Josiah Converse and Eleanor Richardson; a sergeant at the Lexington Alarm and a militia captain in the Revolution. He married Sarah Lewis in 1765 and Hannah Walbridge in 1771, and after the war went north to Randolph, Vermont, where he was judge of probate and died in 1806. Probably the father of Hannah (Converse) Cumins.
Life
- 1743Born7 Aug 1743, Stafford, Connecticut
The Stafford town records list "the chi. of Josiah and Eleanor Converse as Josiah, b. June 4, 1737, Israel, b. Aug. 7, 1743" (Wallbridge). WikiTree has 17 Aug 1743 on one of its two profiles.
documentedprobableSources
- 1765Married Sarah Lewis1765compiledprobable
- 1771Married Hannah Walbridge27 Jun 1771, Stafford, Connecticut
Stafford town records, as given by Wallbridge; Kith and Kin has "1771, at Stafford."
- 1806Died28 Mar 1806, Randolph, Vermont
The Ancestry tree has 28 May 1806 at Stafford. To decide (to-decide.md, item 23).
compiledprobable
Family
- Father
- Josiah Converse
His birth is recorded at Stafford among "the chi. of Josiah and Eleanor Converse."
documentedprobableSources
- William Gedney Wallbridge, Descendants of Henry Wallbridge, Who Married Anna Amos, December 25th, 1688, at Preston, Conn. (Litchfield, Conn., 1898)
- W. M. Dixon, Kith and Kin: Dixon and Allied Families (Los Angeles, 1922)
- DAR Lineage Book, vol. 33 (1900), no. 32031: Mrs. Ella Persis Chapin Browne
- Reasoning:
research/hatten/Browne_Chapin_Cumins.md
- Mother
- Eleanor Richardsondocumentedprobable
Sources
- William Gedney Wallbridge, Descendants of Henry Wallbridge, Who Married Anna Amos, December 25th, 1688, at Preston, Conn. (Litchfield, Conn., 1898)
- W. M. Dixon, Kith and Kin: Dixon and Allied Families (Los Angeles, 1922)
- DAR Lineage Book, vol. 33 (1900), no. 32031: Mrs. Ella Persis Chapin Browne
- Reasoning:
research/hatten/Browne_Chapin_Cumins.md
- Spouse 1
- Sarah Lewis
"June 18, 1769, Sarah Converse, wife of Mr. Israel Converse, d. aet. 24 years" (Stafford church records); mother of Shubael (1766) and Frederick (1768).
- Spouse 2
- Hannah Walbridgedocumentedproven
Sources
1 child
Pedigree
Notes
Father of Hannah (Converse) Cumins: a sergeant at the Lexington Alarm, a militia captain in the Revolution, and afterwards judge of probate on the Vermont frontier. Born at Stafford, Connecticut, in 1743, the sixth child of Lt. Josiah Converse and Eleanor Richardson, he married Sarah Lewis in 1765; she died in June 1769, aged 24, leaving two small sons, and two years later he married Hannah, daughter of Capt. (later Maj.) Amos Walbridge of Stafford (source). His descendant Ella (Chapin) Browne joined the DAR on his service: “Israel Converse, (1743-1806), served as sergeant at the Lexington Alarm and as captain, 1780, of Conn. militia. He was born in Stafford, Conn.; died in Randolph, Vt.” (source).
After the war the family went north to Randolph, Vermont, where Hannah was born in 1785. When Randolph District was given a probate court he became its judge: “The first case on the records is that of Ezra Dudley, of Roxbury, June 15, 1792, while Israel Converse was Judge, who was of course appointed in 1791, and held the office till Aaron Storrs was appointed in 1796” (source). Deming’s catalogue of Vermont’s officers also lists him in the General Assembly. He died at Randolph on 28 Mar 1806 (source). His widow died at Parkman, Ohio, in 1830.
Fourteen children are given in Kith and Kin: by Sarah, Shubael (1766) and Frederick (1768); by Hannah, Israel (1772-1773), Israel Jr. (1773), Dr. James (1775), Porter (1778), Sarah Lewis (1780-1858), who bore his first wife’s name, Celia (1783), Hannah (b. 8 Apr 1785), Eleanor (1787), Daniel Gilbert (1790), Judge John Phelps (1792), Orinda (1794) and Josiah (1797-1817). The name Orinda came down to Hannah’s daughter, Marion Orinda Cumins.
Research: research/hatten/Browne_Chapin_Cumins.md.
Open questions
- His death: 28 Mar 1806 (Kith and Kin, WikiTree) or 28 May 1806 (the Ancestry tree)? His gravestone at Randolph would settle it.
- When did the family move from Stafford to Randolph, and where were the children born before Hannah (1785)? The records have not been seen.