In his Macomber Genealogy, Everett S. Stackpole is unable to connect Elisha Macomber to a common ancestor. All he is able to do is to state is that Elisha Macomber, son of John and Mary, was born in Dartmouth about 1775 and died in New Bedford in 1855.[1] Elisha Macomber’s genealogy remains obscure.
His descent through his daughter Almira (Macomber) Haskell is not unclear though. Almira Macomber (1810-1880) married Andrew Haskell (1807-1875, a Mayflower descendant). Their daughter Lucinda M. Haskell (1833-1864) married John Congdon Hart (1829-1883), the grandfather of our maternal grandmother, Annie Congdon Hart (1894-1972). Thus, Elisha Macomber is the great-great grandfather of our grandmother Annie, and we are descended from Elisha.
Elisha Macomber may be descended from William Macomber of Marshfield, Mass. (ca. 1610-ca. 1670).
Elisha Macomber married Mary (Polly) in Plymouth, Mass. on August 2, 1802. The record reads: “Aug. 2 ... Elisha Macumbr & Mary Gullifer both now residents in Plymo. married at Plymo. [Marriage solemnized by Ephraim Spooner Esq.]”[2] Elisha was apparently living in Plymouth then, as the record states, but this seems odd in that most of his life was spent in Dartmouth, Mass., where he was born, and in New Bedford, which is adjacent to Dartmouth.[3] Also, the last name of Elisha’s wife Mary (Polly) is a mystery. It is Gullifer in this marriage record, but other records give it variously as Galacar, Galaver, and Galliver. Polly’s parents were named Charles and Margaret.[4]
Where was Polly born? This is also a mystery. Her death record appears to indicate (it is very hard to read) that she was born in Philadelphia. The death records for two of Polly’s children -- her son Elisha Macomber, Jr. (d. 1873) and her daughter Almira (Macomber) Haskell (d. 1880) -- though, indicate that Polly was born in Provincetown.
To return to Elisha Macomber. He was born in Dartmouth, Mass.[5] in about 1775 (based on age at death and age given in the 1850 census), son of John and Mary (______) Macomber.. He married Mary (Polly) “Gullifer” on August 2, 1802. He died on January 4 or 5, 1855 in New Bedford.[6]
Polly (“Gullifer”) Macomber was born in about 1783 (based on age at death and age given in the 1850 census). She died in September 6 or 7, 1857 in New Bedford.[7]
Elisha and Polly Macomber had four daughters (including daughter Almira, from whom we are descended) born in the period from about 1803 to 1810. They had a son, Elisha Macomber, Jr., born in about 1822 (based on age at death and census records). They may have had other children born between 1810 and 1822.[8]
Elisha Macomber does show up numerous times in contemporary records of land dealings:
“Clark Ricketson and Laban Thacher both of Dartmouth Gentlemen in consideration of fifty dollars paid by Elisha Macomber of Dartmouth Laboror sell and convey to Macomber a certain lot of land in Ricketsons Neck” …. December 24, 1809 / signed by Clark Ricketson, Laban Thacher, Mary Ricketson, Sarah Thacher / "Then ye above named Clark Ricketson and Laban Thacher acknowledged ye above Instrument [etc.]” / Received June 13, 1809 and recorded by James Williams Register.[9]
“Henry Ricketson of Dartmouth yeoman in consideration of the sum of sixty dollars paid by Elisha Macomber of Dartmouth Yeoman,” sells land to Macomber / dated March [?] 1, 1812 / recorded June 15, 1813.[10]
“Laban Thacher of Dartmouth yeoman sells land to Elisha Macomber of Dartmouth yeoman in consideration of the sum of fourteen hundred dollars paid by said Macomber. … Bounded as following North and East by the highway South by Seth Davis land, westerly land of Caleb Sanford, containing sixty acres" / dated Nov 14, 1817 / recorded June 5, 1818.[11]
“Elisha Macomber of Dartmouth, yeoman … in consideration of fourteen hundred dollars to me paid by Laban Thatcher of Dartmouth …. yeoman,” sells a certain tract of land situated in Dartmouth to Thatcher containing sixty acres ... bounded on the North and East by the highway, on the South by Seth Davis land, and on the West by land belonging to Caleb Sanford / dated April, 2, 1821 / Mary Macomber, wife to said Elisha / signed by Elisha Macomber and Mary Macomber / recorded Sept 16 [?], 1821[12]
“Elisha Macomber of Dartmouth yeoman in consideration of six hundred dollars paid by Laban Thacher of Dartmouth yeoman” sells land in Dartmouth to Thacher ... bounded Westerly on the highway that leads to David Thacher, Esq., Northerly by the highway leads to Stephen Mosher, Easterly on land of Mary Ricketson, and Southerly on way laid out by Henry Ricketson ... sixty-four acres / Elisha Macomber / my wife Polly / signed by Elisha Macomber and Polly Macomber / dated April 14, 1815 / recorded Feb 10, 1829[13]
Note that the sums paid in the last three of these transactions were considerable for the time.
The following advertisement from the New Bedford Mercury, March 12, 1819, is also of interest:
FARM AT AUCTION.
To be sold at Public Vendue, on the Premises, in Dartmouth, on TUESDAY, the 23d Inst. at 3 o’clock P. M.
THE FARM lately occupied by Joseph Keen, situated on the main road leading from New-Bedford to Russell’s Mills; containing about sixty acres of excellent Land, well proportioned for mowing, tillage, pasturing and wood land, with a young Orchard of about 500 Apple trees, and is well watered - a large and commodious Dwelling-House, two Barns, Corn-house, and other necessary out buildings. Conditions made known at time and place of sale,
ELISHA MACOMBER
Dartmouth, March 11, 1819
The term “yeoman” in the above deeds would indicate that Elisha was a small landowner and farmer. In the 1850 census, the occupation of Elisha, then 75, is given as “laborer.”[14]
Elisha Macomber served as a private in the Massachusetts militia in the War of 1812.[15]
Elisha’s son, Elisha, Jr., become a cooper, by the way, and in that capacity served on whaling vessels.[16]
Bibliographic Note: Researching Elisha Macomber is very difficult, as this article would suggest. The source Deaths Recorded in the New Bedford Mercury, 1845-1874, only available at the New Bedford Free Public Library in typescript; was very helpful in establishing and corroborating basic source information about Elisha and his family. So were the death records for Elisha and Polly at the Massachusetts Archives (in microfilm) that give their parents’ names. Some information is available on Elisha and Polly’s children from other newspaper sources (related to their marriages) and from records at the Massachusetts Archives. From these records, information can be gleaned at times, indirectly, about Elisha and Polly and their family. I was able with some success to trace vital record information about the couple’s four daughters -- Mary (Macomber) Turner (ca. 1803-1837), Margaret (Macomber) Cornell (1805-1835), Clarissa (Macomber) Hamblet or Hamlet (b. between 1809-1811), and Almira (Macomber) Haskell (1810-1880) -- and their son, Elisha Macomber, Jr. (ca. 1822-1873). I was not able to find a gravestone for Elisha and Polly in Rural Cemetery, New Bedford.
-- Roger W. Smith
March 2011
Macomber-1.doc
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[1] Stackpole, Everett S., Macomber Genealogy (Lewiston, Maine, 1907-1909), 120. The fact that Elisha Macomber’s parents were named John and Mary (______) was obtained from his death record.
[2] van Antwerp, Lee D. and Ruth Wilder Sherman, Vital Records of Plymouth, Massachusetts to the Year 1850 (Camden, Maine: Picton Press, 1993), 376.
[3] There is another anomaly here. In the 1810 U.S. census (M252, Mass.: Dartmouth, Bristol Co., pg. 285), for the Elisha Macomber household in Dartmouth [italics mine], the following breakdown is given for occupants of the house: number of free white males ages 26 – 45, 1 [Elisha]; number of free white females ages under 10, 3; number of free white females ages 10 –16, 1; number of free white females ages 16 – 26, 1 [Polly]. The figure of one female aged 10-16 is puzzling. This would seem to imply that Elisha and Polly had a daughter aged 10-16, meaning that the daughter was born in 1800 at the latest, which seems very unlikely if the couple were married in 1802. The 1810 census did not list individual names of family members.
[4] Death record, Mary Macomber, September 7, 1857, New Bedford, Mass. (Massachusetts Archives, vol. 111, pg. 124). In this record, her parents are given as Charles Galaver and Margaret ____.
[5] The birthplace of Dartmouth is given on Elisha’s death record.
[6] Deaths Recorded in the New Bedford Mercury, 1845-1874, typescript; undated; Free Public Library, New Bedford, Mass., 553, Elisha Macomber, of Dartmouth, 80, died in New Bedford January 4, 1855. .Death record, Elisha Macomber, New Bedford, Mass/ (Massachusetts Archives, vol. 93, pg. 75), #25: date of death, January 5, 1855; place of death: New Bedford; age, 80; cause of death, Old Age ; marital status, married; occupation, blank; place of birth, Dartmouth, Ma.; father John Macomber; mother Mary; parents’ place of birth, blank.
[7] Deaths Recorded in the New Bedford Mercury, 1845-1874, typescript; undated; Free Public Library, New Bedford, Mass., 554, Polly Macomber, 73, widow of Elisha, died in New Bedford Sept 6, 1857. Death record, Mary Macomber, New Bedford, Mass. (Massachusetts Archives, vol. 111, pg. 124), died New Bedford, Sept 7, 1857, Mary Macomber; age, 73 yrs; marital status, married; residence at time of death, 114 So. Water St., New Bedford; cause of death, Dropsy; born Philadelphia [hard to read] to Charles Galaver and Margaret ______.
[8] In the 1820 U.S. census for the Elisha Macumber household (Bristol 577, Dartmouth, M33, reel 47), the numbers of females living in the house are tabulated as follows: ages under 10, 1; ages 10–16, 2; ages 16 – 26, 1, with 2 adults ages 26- 45 (1 male and 1 female) living in the household. No male children are recorded. There would be four daughters, then, living in the house at the time, and their ages seem consistent with the known birth dates for Elisha and Polly’s four known daughters. The census also has a category, “number of persons engaged in agriculture,” for which the number given is 1, indicating that Elisha Macomber was a farmer. In the 1830 census index for the Elisha Macumber household (Mass.: Bristol 341, Dartmouth, M19, reel 59), the age breakdowns are as follows: number of males ages 5 – 10, 1; number of males ages 50 - 60, 1; number of females ages 40 – 50, 1, which implies that Elisha and Polly were then living with their son Elisha, Jr., who was born around 1822, and that that the daughters had all married and left the household. In the 1840 census for the Elisha Macomber household, the breakdown is as follows: number of males ages 60-70, 1 [Elisha]; females ages 50-60, 1 [Polly], with no other occupants of the house, indicating that son Elisha, Jr. was already on his own. The 1820, 1830, and 1840 censuses did not list individual names of family members. The 1841 New Bedford directory shows conclusively that Elisha, Jr. was living independently. It contains the following entries: “Macomber, Elisha [Jr.], app. [apprentice] to I. S. Whitney, bds.[boards] 68 Fourth / Macomber, Elisha, laborer, `Cove House,’ Clark’s cove.”
[9] Bristol County Deeds, vol. 90, pg. 60.
[10] Bristol County Deeds, vol. 95, pg. 395.
[11] Bristol County Deeds, vol. 104, pp. 198-199.
[12] Bristol County Deeds, vol. 110, pp. 417-418.
[13] Bristol County Deeds, vol. 126, pp. 50-51.
[14] The 1852 New Bedford Directory contains a listing for Macomber, Elisha, mason, b. [boards] 9 North Second.
[15] War of 1812 Muster Rolls. Consulted on Internet at Macomber Elisha. MACOMBER (26), ELISHA (2124). 2 Reg't (Lincoln's) Massachusetts Militia. Private. Roll Box 130. Roll Exct 602. During the waning months of the War of 1812, Massachusetts Governor Strong issued a call placing the militia in a state of readiness in anticipation of a British invasion.
[16] Crew lists, card file at New Bedford Free Public Library. Macomber, Elisha, Bark Statina, N.B.,
Aug 14, 1843 – July 31, 1845, Cooper, 1/70 [lay]. Elisha Macomber, Jr.’s son, Thomas B. Macomber, also became a mariner. Note that we are not direct descendants of either Elisha Macomber, Jr. or Thomas B. Macomber.