THE EARLY PULSIPHER FAMILY HISTORY Research and Arranging by Adah Mackleprang Wood
Much of the history about the early ancestors of the Pulsipher family has been obtained from the history of Gloucester, Massachusetts, the town records of Ipswich, Massachusetts. David Pulsipher who was formerly an embossing clerk in the Secretary of State’s office in Boston; James A. Pulsipher of Auburn, Maine, the official publication intitled “Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors in the War of the Revolution,” Volume 12; the excellent paper by Charles Louis Pulsipter of Auburn, New York; William Henry Pulsipher’s manuscript of the Pulsipher genealogy; the Poland, Maine, town records, “History of Poland,” published In 1890, a careful study of the Pulsipher family by the writer’s sister, Mrs. Camille M. Tilton; and many other sources.
Every authority consulted agrees that Benedict or Benedictus, the first of the name in America, was the founder of the family in this country who settled in Ipswich, Massachusetts, in or before l659. At a court held in Ipswich, September 24, 1678, Benedict Pulsephar, as he spelled his name, deposed that he had been in the town of Ipswich nineteen years. Ho record that the writer has examined gives the exact date of Benedict Pulsipher’s arrival in this country. Perhaps he upon arrival went immediately to Ipswich. If so, he must have reached that place in 1659. According to Savage’s Genealogical Dictionary, Benedict was known to be in New England in l662. If Benedict, or Benedictus arrived in America in l659 he was here one year before Charles II was beheaded at “Whitehall, England, January 30, l648, ten years before Benedict came to this country. I am at pains to mention this, because it has been claimed by some that Benedict changed his name when he reached America from Pulford, a well-known English family name, to Pulsephar, according to his spelling, in order to escape the emissaries of Charles II, whom it was thought Benedict feared, as Benedict was a Puritan in England and was perhaps connected with Cromwell’s army that was responsible for the beheading of Charles I.
History of Newton, Massachusetts, says that Benedict bought land in Ipswich in 1655. So, if he bought land in Massachusetts in 1655, he must have come soon after Charles I was beheaded.
There existed in ancient times in Florence, Italy, a family bearing the name of Pulci (pronounced Pulchee), undoubtedly derived from the Latin word “pulcher” meaning beautiful. This family included merchants, artisans, and sailors, as well as literary men, of the latter of whom the famous Lugigi Pulci was the most renouned example.
During the great spread of Florentine commerce, a member of this family, at about the time of the Norman conquest, either for commercial reasons or because attracted as other learned men of foreign birth were by the brilliant court of William, settled in England.
Bearing in mind the latin meaning of the Florentine name of Pulci, our ancestor being especially distinguished for good looks, his friends and acquaintances called him Puloi-vir — “handsome man”. The middle syllable of his name was speedily Anglicized, methathosis took place respecting the “vir” for euphony, and so in due course of time the name “Puloifer”, or “Pulsipher” (handsome man) was handed down as very euphonious and descriptive family name.
The same authority says:
“If we assume that the name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, then it could readily be derived from the Anglo-Saxon verb ‘pullian’ from which our verb ‘pull’ or ‘pulls’ is derived, and from the obsolete Anglo-Saxon preposition or adverb ‘infere’, which means ‘together’.”
They have also been known as patriotic citizens. It has been said that fifteen Pulsifers served in the war of the Revolution, but prior to that time Benedict (2) Pulsifer Junior, served in Cap¬tain Abraham Tilton’s Company which took part in the expedition of Quebec in 1690. Several Pulsiphers served in the War of 1812 and the Mexican War, and a large number served in the War of the Rebellion.
THE LINE OF DESCENT FROM BENEDICT
Benedict Pulsifer had settled in Ipswich, Massachusetts, according to his own statement, by 1659. He was probably married a year or two before coming to this country. He very likely brought his wife and infant son, Benedict II, or Junior. We have no record of the birth of the son or of another son, John, but Elizabeth’s birth in 1669 is recorded in the town records of Ipswich. His first wife, of whose maiden name we are ignorant, died at Ipswich July l6, 1673. His son, Mr. William Henry Pulsipher, says, “We’re of little help or comfort to his family.” Evidently, John moved to Gloucester, where he became a respected member of the family. There he probably supplemented his income as a fanner by occasionally building or help¬ing to build houses for his neighbors. He is styled in one document “Yeoman” and in another “mason”. In the “History of Gloucester”, J. J. Babson - 1860, page 130, appears the following:
“John Pulcifer, or Pulsever, settled about 1680, according to tradition near a spot still occupied by one of his descendants on the old road leading to Coffin’s Beach (Gloucester). In 1688 he had a piece of land “given to the house where he then lived.”
Benedict, Jr., proved to be a “roving blade”, according to Mr. William Henry Pulsifer. “We hear,” says Mr. Pulsifer, “of a Benedict Pulsepher engaged in an Indian fight in Maine in 1688. This was probably Benedict, Jr. Cotton Mather refers to the incident in his ‘Magnalia Christi Arnericana’ London 1702, Bood VII, page 63. Benedict, Jr., probably never married. In 1690 he engaged in Sir William Philip’s expedition to Quebec as a member of Captain Abraham Titton’s Company, and it is quite possible that he was killed or taken prisoner in the unfortunate attempt to capture that Canadian stronghold.”
“A Compendious History of New England” by Morse and Parrish, page 246, makes a confirmtory reference to this episode.
After the death of his first wife, July l6, 1673, Benedict, Senior, married in the succeeding February, Susana A. Waters of Salem, Massachusetts, who was the fifth daughter of Richard and Joyce Waters. She was born at Salem, Massachusetts, February 1, 1649. “Benedict Pulsephar, Senior, brought his young wife to Ipswich immediately after his marriage and entered upon what might be termed the second period of his career.” The records show that his young wife was rather vain. She liked to adorn herself. “She, among others, braved the laws in 1675 by appearing in the meeting house with a silk hood and scarf. She and the others were arrested, tried, and fined ten shillings each for yielding to their vanity.”
Benedict Pulsifer was a man of some means. He was also “a Ban of considerable education” in a period when educated Englishmen were rare. Late in l663, or early in l664, he bought a dwelling house with outhouse, orchard, gardens, etc. of Moses Pingry of Ipswich, Massachusetts, which property Pigry had acquired in 1652 of Richard Scofield, who came to New England in 1635, This estate was sitated on the north of the “Torn River”. It’s site is now occupied by a factory. The original deed to this property was either lost or “casually” burned, and on February 7, 1667, Pingry made a supplemen¬tary deed of the property which he gave Benedict Pulsipher. Benedict was then styled a “planter”.
He added to his estate in- I664. In the same year, the town of Ipswich granted him a share (No. 55) in the town lands on Plumb Island, Castle Neck, and Hogg Island. He continued to reside at Ipswich, pursuing his occupation as planter or farmer for many years.
The records show the children of Benedict and Susan Pulsipher to be as follows: Richard, born May 31, 1675; William, born December 12, 1676; Susannah, born September 5, 1678; Joseph, born November 13, l685; Jonathan, born September 25, 1687, and Johanna, born September 25, 1687, twins; Susanna, bora about 1689, (the other one died young); Elizabeth, born in 1690; Margaret, born February l4, 1693.
David, the sixth child of Benedict, is the one we are especially concerned about, and his wife Susanna. Their children were all born in Boston, namely: David (ours), born May 7, 1708; Susanna, born November 19, 1710; Margaret, born July 6, 1712; Joseph, born December 27, 1713; Elizabeth, born February 11, 1717, and Abigail, born November 27, 1720.
This David was a sailor of Boston. His wife, Susanna, was licensed to sell strong drinks in Boston in 1727, according to the “Boston Selectmen’s Minutes, 1716 to 1736.” So, if this is our David, born 1708, and Susanna was his mother, he would only be 19 years old when his mother sold strong drinks.
Probably that accounts for his going into Connecticut. Re¬cord show that he was a resident of Pomfret Windham County, Connecticut. He married in Pomfret, October 2, 1740. Elizabeth Stoel (Stowell), daughter of David Stowell and Patience Herrington, born August 21, 1719, in Newton, Massachusetts.
Their children born in Pomfret were: (Information from Pro. Ct. Record 9): Mary Pulsipher, born June 29, 1744, married John Harwood and died in 1786; Ester Pulsipher, born March 13, 1747; John Pulsipher, born July 8, 1749, and married Elizabeth Dutton; David Pulsipher, born October 6, 1751, died November 6, 1754; Elizabeth Pulsipher, born June 12, 1754, married Captain John H. Fuller; David Pulsipher, born September 29, 1756, died January 14, 1835; Ebenezer Pulsipher, born in 1758, first wife Priscilla Russell, second wife, Unity Reed.
David and Elizabeth moved to Ware River, Massachusetts, then in 1766 to Rockingham, Windham County, Vermont. The history of Rockingham states that he came “with wife” Elizabeth and five children. He settled on the Meadows opposite South Charleson, New Hampshire, and later moved to Rockingham village.
He built the first log cabin “Inn” in the town, located on the site of the dwelling now standing next, west of the old church. Town meetings were held in his home, also church meetings previous to the building of the first meeting or “town” house.
When the first church was organized in October, 1773, David and Elizabeth Pulsipher were among the first nineteen members and later David joined with others in presenting the town with the land which, for a century and a third”, has been occupied by the old meeting house and the burying ground adjoining.
Directly after the battle of Lexington, tidings of the event were sent to Rockingham, as wall as all surrounding towns and David with his son John, joined a band of Patriots gathered on both sides of the Connecticut River, and the morning of April 21, 1775. they were assigned to Captain John Maroy’s Company in Colonel James Reed’s Regiment which took an active part in the battle of Bunker Hill. It was believed that David was killed at this battle as he never returned home and his fate was never known. He nay have died of disease in the war. His wife and family remained in the old log cabin several years keeping it as a Public Tavern.
After the first church, organized in 1773, was discontinued in 1839, the Record Book as well as the Communion Service, the table cloth and one napkin were preserved by members of the Pulsipher family to whom much credit is given for their faithful care.
John Pulsipher, (the father of Zerah) was born July 8, Married in Rockingham, Elizabeth Dutton, who was born December 18, 1751, in Lunnenburg, Massachusetts. She was the daughter of Thomas Dutton and his first wife, Mary Hill. She was a descendant of the Thomas Dutton and his wife, Susanna, who settled in Reading, Massachusetts, and were the fourth great-grand parents of our “Beloved Prophet Joseph Smith”. This same Dutton family are said to be the family of Duttons who came to Chester, England, in 1066 with William The Conqueror.
Elizabeth joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1832. She was then living with her son, Zerah, and his family, her husband having died some years previous. He died in the Revolutionary War, with his father at the Battle of Bunker Hill. He was one of the founders of the first Baptist Church in Rockingham, Vermont, in 1789. (Some of paragraph was found to be incorrect later, the correct information can be found in the autobiograph of Zerah Pulsipher)
John Pulsipher, a grandson of John and Elizabeth, states in his history of his own life, that his grandmother, Elizabeth, died on December 2, 1838, of persecutions in a land of liberty.
Source:Brent Bunker