Dea. Eliazer Metcalf (1653-1704) and Meletiah Fisher (1667-1719)

{Hills and Ellis Ancestors}

Research by Rue Lynn Galbraith and the Johnson Genealogy Research Committee

Deacon Eliazer Metcalf was the 5th child of Michael Metcalf Jr. {1620-1654} and Mary Fairbanks {1622-1684}. He was born 2 March 1652/53 in Dedham, Suffolk, Massachusetts.1

 

Picture 51

 

This is the first occurrence we know of of the name "Eliazer" (or it’s variants) in the family, but two of Eliazer’s brothers and sisters named sons "Eleazer."

Eliazer’s father died when Eliazer was only a year old, and his mother married Christopher Smith. Christopher and Mary had one more son, John Smith.2

Melatiah Fisher was also born in Dedham, on 1 May 1667. She was the daughter of Samuel Fisher and Milcha Snow, the fourth of their nine children.1

Picture 8

Samuel Fisher was one of the first people to take up land in the newly created Wrentham, and he had moved his family there by 1672, when he was chosen to be the first deacon of the Wrentham Church. Melatiah would have been about five years old when she moved to Wrentham, and nine years old when her family, along with the other settlers had to take refuge back in Dedham for safety during King Phillip’s War. All but two of the houses in Wrentham were burned during the war. The settlers began returning to Wrentham to rebuild their homes by about 1678 or 1679.

Eliazer Metcalf’s older sisters, Mary and Sarah Metcalf, married John and Robert Ware, the brothers of our ancestor, Esther Ware who married Rev. Samuel Mann. Mary and John Ware had moved to Wrentham about 1673, but Mary died in Dedham 22 March 1676/77, five months after the birth of her youngest son, whom she named Eleazer Ware. John Ware and his family returned to Wrentham after King Phillip’s War, and Sarah and Robert Ware joined them there about 1679. Eliazer Metcalf also made the move to Wrentham sometime before 9 April 1684 when he was married to Meletiah Fisher in Wrentham. At the time of the marriage, Eliazer was 31 years old and Meletiah was almost 17 years old. Either at the time of the wedding, or sometime before that, Eliazer began spelling his last name "Medcalf".

Eliazer and Meletiah Medcalf had nine children, all born in Wrentham.3

  1. "Elizor" b. 30 May 1685;

  2. Elder Michael (Julia's ancestor) 21 May 1687, married Abial Colburn, died 9 January 1754 in Wrentham;

  3. Samuel 15 January 1689;

  4. Ebenezer 8 January1691;

  5. Jonathan April 9, 1693;

  6. Melatiah April 21, 1695;

  7. Capt. Timothy 2 July 1697;

  8. Martha (twin – also Julia's ancestor) 27 August 1699, married Jabez Hills, died 14 May 1754 in Wrentham;

  9. Mary (twin) 27 August 1699.

Two of Eliazer and Meletiah’s children are Julia's ancestors. Martha is the grandmother of Joseph Hills {1758-1787}, the father of Julia Hills Johnson, and Elder Michael Metcalf is the grandfather of Esther Ellis {1758-1818?}, Julia’s mother. Joseph Hills and Esther Ellis were second cousins.

Eliazer Medcalf followed his father-in-law, Samuel Fisher, as the deacon of the church in Wrentham. Both Samuel and Eliazer were influential in petitioning the General Court for a separate parish for the west side of Wrentham. This parish eventually became the town of Franklin.

He died in Wrentham in 1704 when he was 51 years old.3 (See the research notes below.) Widow Melatiah Fisher Metcalf died in Wrentham fifteen years later on 23 September 1719 ("Meletiah, wid. of -, Sept. 23, 1719") .3 She was also 52 years old when she died. Eliazer and Melatiah are both buried in the Wrentham Center Cemetery.4, 5

Sources:

  1. Massachusetts Vital and Town Records, 1620-1988 – Dedham Massachusetts. (Transcript of Births from the first book of original records. Database-on-line. Provo, UT., USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. 2011.

  2. Early Records of the Town of Dedham Vol 1

  3. Massachusetts Vital Records 1620-1850 – Wrentham

  4. Find A Grave Memorial # 28330698

  5. Find A Grave Memorial# 45113380

Research Notes:

It has been challenging to sort out our Metcalf family issues. It gets very complicated with all the duplication of names in the family and the perpetuation of errors from old family histories.

Some old family records show the birth date for Deacon Eliazer Medcalf as 20 March 1652. However, in the newly available Massachusetts Vital and Town Records, 1620-1988, the photograph of the handwritten record made it possible to see that the date is "2" rather than "20." Our records now show Deacon Eliazer's birth as 2 Mar 1652/53 in Dedham, Massachusetts. We are trying to determine his correct death date.

The records in our family file showed the death date for Deacon Eliazer Metcalf as 14 May 1704, and we were able to find an entry in the Wrentham death records which said, "MEDCALF (see Metcalf), Eliezer, May 14, 1704." However, our family file also attributed that death date to the oldest son of Deacon Eliazer and Melatiah Metcalf, Eleazor/Elizor Metcalf {born 1685 in Wrentham}. In addition, our file listed a supposed second son named "Eleazor," said to have been born on Nov. 21 1701 in Wrentham, who had married Margaret Ware in 1734; but it seemed unlikely that Eliazer and Meletiah would name a second son "Eleazer" in 1701 if their first son named "Eleazer" didn’t die until 1704.

As we tried to figure out which Eliazer/Eleazor had died on 14 May 1704, we found another entry in the Wrentham Vital Records which said, "METCALF (see Medcalf), ____, Dea., Sept. 13, 1704," and noted that Howard Metcalf had selected that as the death date for Deacon Eliazer Metcalf in his Metcalf family history, Some Descendents of the Rev. Leonard Metcalf, which may currently be the best available source of information about the Metcalf family in America. His book said that Deacon Eliazer’s firstborn son, Eleazer, had died in infancy, based on information found in Metcalf Genealogy, an 1852 article in the NEHGS Register, written by Luther Metcalf Harris. Mr. Harris provided no documentation for that assertion in his article.

The second "Eleazer" who was listed in our family file as a son of Deacon Eliazer and Meletiah Fisher and who married Margaret Ware, seems to actually be the grandson of Deacon Eliazer’s older brother, Michael Metcalf (1645-1693) through his son, Eleazer Metcalf (b. 1684/5) and Judeth Rockwood (b. 1680/81). Wrentham Vital Records gives the birthdate of this grandson as 21 November 1710 (note how easy it is to mistake 1710 for 1701). According to the Howard Metcalf book, it was this Eleazer who married Margaret Ware in 1735. Supporting evidence for this is that there is no death record in the Dedham or Wrentham Vital Records showing an infant death for the oldest son of Dea. Eliazer and Meletiah, and there is no birth record for a second "Eleazer" born to them.

Doing further research, Loni Gardner of the Johnson Committee, looked for probate records for Dea. Eliazer Metcalf (1653-1704) and discovered that when the remainder of his estate was divided in 1720, after the death of Melatiah Fisher Metcalf, the first son mentioned in the division was Eleazer, who received "In the house and barn a eight to the value of Eighteen Pounds five Shillings. More in Lands, three Acres of Meadow Land … One parcel containing two Acres lying by the West side of the Mine Brooke joyning to his own meadow South."

Then property was dispersed to Dea. Eliazer and Melatiah’s other sons, Michael (our ancestor), Samuel, Ebenezer, Jonathan, and Timothy who received property for himself and for his married sisters, Meletiah and Martha (our ancestor). Youngest sister, Mary, received her own parcel of land. No additional bequests were made. Given that the other sons are listed in the property division in the order of their birth (and that there is no evidence for the birth of a second son, Eleazer), it seems probable that the Eleazer mentioned first in the property division is actually the oldest son. It looks like the family histories that said that Deacon Eliazer's and Meletiah's eldest son, Elizer, died young, were wrong. There is a Dedham Massachusetts marriage record for an Eleazer Metcalf of Wrentham who married Hannah Ware in 1711, and this could well be this oldest son of Deacon Eliazer and Meletiah Fisher Metcalf. The Eleazer who married Hannah Ware was shown in the Harris Metcalf Genealogy as the son of Deacon Jonathan Metcalf (another brother of Dea. Eliazer) and Hannah Kendrick Metcalf of Dedham, but there is nothing in the Dedham Vital Records showing a son named "Eleazer" born to them, and the marriage record of Hannah Ware and Eleazer specifically says that Eleazer was "of Wrentham." If this was actually the son of Dea. Eliazer and Meletiah Fisher Medcalf, then Eleazer and Hannah Ware Metcalf and their children are currently sealed to the wrong family. We need further information to be able to verify this.

The Johnson Genealogy Research Committee has removed the 14 May 1704 death date from the record of Eleazer Metcalf (b. 1685), but we still don’t know for sure which 1704 death date belongs to his father, Deacon Eliazer. Eliazer spelled his last name "Medcalf" all his adult life, making it more likely that the 14 May date applies to him. But if so, who is the "Dea. Metcalf" in the 13 September 1704 death record? Deacon Eliazer’s uncle, Thomas Metcalf (1629-1702), was a deacon, but he died 16 November 1702. Eliazer’s brother, Jonathan, was also a deacon, but he died 23 May 1727 in Dedham. Eliazer’s son, Jonathan (b.1693), became a deacon, but he would have been too young for that in 1704. Is a puzzlement!