Isaac T. Demeritt
REVISED 4 Aug 2009
MAJOR UPDATE
I found the will of Robert Demeritt!!
Strafford County Probate, Vol. 34, p 135. Dated Feb. 14, 1834. These are the
highlights:
"...my son James Demeritt..."
"...daughtor-in-law Rachel Demeritt..."
"...granddaughtor Betsey Demeritt..."
"...grandson Isaac T. Demeritt...' executor of will
Witnesses: Samuel P. Montgomery, Nathaniel Berry, Israel Hall III
MYSTERY SOLVED
Send E-mail to ancestry@eagleswind.com
NOTE: I've made so much progress
in researching the Demeritts: John Franklin, Thomas and Sally, Andrew and
Suzzanah - and a possible connection to a John Demeritt from New Orleans -
that I will continue to research them on a separate web page that can be found
here:
Introduction
Eli Demeritt is my 9th Great Grandfather.
My grandfather is Earl Isaac Demeritt Jr b 1936
His father was Earl Issac Demeritt b 1909
His father was Walter Cleveland Demeritt b 1884 born in Barrington
His father was Samuel P.M. Demeritt b 1856 born in Barrington
His father was Isaac T. Demeritt b 1811 in all likelihood born near Strafford
Corner.
These 5 generations are ALL buried at Pine Grove Cemetery in
Barrington, NH.
His father was James Demeritt b. 1787 in all likelihood born
near Strafford Corner.
His father was Robert Demeritt b. 1761 born in Madbury.
These two are very likely buried in a verified plot on Crown
Point Road whose exact loaction is not presently known.
His father was Job Demeritt Jr. b. 1735 in all likelihood born
in Dover (now Madbury).
His father was Job Demeritt b. 1705 in all likelihood born in Dover (now Madbury).
His father was Eli Demeritt.
Graveyard of Barrington, New Hampshire,
Compiled by members of The Barrington, N.H. Historical Society, c1976.
Section Three - Pine Grove Cemetery - page 125
Name Birth-Death Plot Lot
Alice M. Demeritt 1896- 21 4E
Betsey 1807-1879 21 4W Isaac's sister. Read
towards bottom.
Isaac K. (mis trans. stone is a clear "T") 1811-1886 21 4W (husband
of Tamson)
John W. 1883-1945 21 4E (son of Samuel P.M.)
Olive A. 1853-1871 21 4W (daughter of Isaac and Tamson)
Samuel P. M. 1856-1933 21 5W (son of Isaac and Tamson)
Sarah E. 1865-1941 21 5W (wife of Samuel P.M.)
Tamson 1814-1898 21 4W (wife of Isaac)
Wilbert E. 1868-1939 102 4E
Lillia L. 1869-1948 102 4E
These were my notes
as I tried to determine who Isaac T. Demeritt's parent were.
On 14 July 2009 I found Robert
Demeritt's will which settled the matter.
Married Tamson H. Montgomery
"Capt. Isaac Demeritt was married to a Tamson H. Montgomery
24 June 1840" Canney, Robert Seyward Early
Marriages of Strafford County, NH Heritage Books:? Page 222 She
was the daughter of John and Abigail (Pitman) Montgomery.
“1898 Jan 24 - Tamson H Demeritt d Loudon ae 88y widow,
exhaustion” Barrington Annual Report.
She was buried in Barrington.
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nhmerrim/Loudon/josbatchelder.htm
Abby F. Demeritt, Isaac and Tamson’s daughter, married Joseph Batchelder,
son of Capt. Abraham Batchelder of Loudon, NH. It was his second marriage.
It’s likely that Tamson lived with her daughter in Loudon until she
passed away.
Painted by Joseph H.
Davis
I was rather shocked to find that a painter, Joseph H. Davis, in the early
1800s painted several Demeritts including Isaac T. - as well as his wife Tamson
H. as a young girl and a separate portrait of her parents John and Abigail
as well.
http://collections.currier.org/Obj66$1052
“The members of the Demeritt family, Van Dame's contemporaries in nearby
Farmington, New Hampshire, were painted the previous year, when, as the inscription
at the bottom of Davis's portrait of them indicates, Mark (1792-1875) was
forty-three; his wife, Abigail (1799-1881), thirty-six; and daughter Lois
Susan, a newborn. In 1835 and 1836, Davis would paint other Demeritts-Isaac
T., age twenty-four; John F., age thirty-two, and his younger brother Samuel
H., age twenty-five, of Barrington, New Hampshire; and Thomas, age sixty-seven,
and Sally, age fifty-seven, of Northwood, New Hampshire.”
Census used to determine
residence.
I knew Isaac T. Demeritt had married in 1840. When I did a census search for
Isaac in the 1840 census I found nothing - I assumed, if he was not married,
he was most likely living with his parents. So I tried looking for the same
house he was living in the 1850 census for Strafford in the 1840 census for
Barrington to see who had previously lived there. I paid special attention to
the neighbors that Isaac had in the 1850 Census. I was shocked to find Isaac!!
I'm curious who the other four people were living in his household. Obviously
Isaac is the oldest male and, I'm assuming, Betsey is the 2nd oldest female.
If Isaac and Tamson were married before this census this would account for another
female. But who are the others? There are several other unknown family members
even in the 1830 census.
Consulting the Berry family neighbors and their genealogies I
searched the 1830 census in Strafford for Isaac's residence as found in the
1840 Census. I found JAMES DEMERITT. Both Isaac and Betsey fit perfectly in
both 1840 and 1830 Census records.
Later I found an interesting reference in the book, History of Strafford, New
Hampshire, “Nathaniel (Berry) had thirteen children ... James Demeritt
(Berry) all died on the homestead” After much research I came to the conclusion
that the James living next to Isaac in the 1840 Census was more likely a James
M. Berry, son of Nicholas Berry as found next to James in the 1830 Census. However,
it is beyond reasonable doubt that this specific local Berry family had named
a son after James Demeritt.
Using this same methodology one more time I searched the 1810
census and found ROBERT DEMERITT.
I noticed in the census after Robert's name “+ Son” - James. There
is one young female present whom I believe is Betsey.
I suspected that, before 1790, Robert Demeritt had moved from
Madbury to Strafford. Comparing a 1852 historical map with the censuses I determined
that his residence was in the Crown Point section of Barrington. on present
day 2nd Crown Point Road near Strafford Corner. His neighbors were the Berry
and Pearl family. Many of Robert Demeritt's neighbors are buried right down
the road at Crown Point Baptist Cemetery - Berry, Foss, Babb and several others.
It is beyond reasonable doubt that Robert,
James, and Isaac all lived under the same roof at one time and were all under
the same roof in the 1830 US Census for Strafford, NH.
Where are the stones??
Recently I had a conversation with Roger Lieghton, a long time resident of Strafford.
Roger shared with me that on 2nd Crown Point Rd. there was DEMERITT burial ground.
His mother had transcribed the stones in the 1930s. When the Stafford Historical
Society had gone back in 1985 the burial plot could not be found. I contacted
a woman that I was told grew up on the Demeritt Property and could testify that
the burial plot actually existed. She told me that the site had stone markers
as opposed to actual headstones.
It is rumored that the stones are in someone's cellar. In 1985
the Strafford Historical Society published a book on Strafford Cemeteries and
stated that they had searched but did not find the Demeritt plot. Roger seemed
to communicate that there was an earlier book that was published that had his
mother's stone transcription that I'm looking for. I am still looking for this
book.
Stackpole's Demeritts
I have made a few discoveries in regards to this new theory. The first requires
me to quote Stackpole's, History of the town of Durham
word for word: page 117
4. Job Demeritt (Eli), born 29 March 1705, married Mary
Buzzell, daughter of John and Sarah, March 1734. He died
7 Aug. 1772, leaving wife, Mary, and the following children:
Job bapt. 13 July 1735; m. Sarah Buzzell, 2 Nov. 1758.
4 ch., Robert m. 26 Oct. 1786, Deborah
Twombly and had
ch; James m. Betsey Demeritt; Sophia
m. 16 Nov. 1828
Nathan Brown; Betsey, unm.
The following quote can be very confusing. The words
"and had" are vital in a proper reading.
I believe them to say:
1. Job Demeritt and Mary Buzzell
2. Job Demeritt and Sarah Buzzell
3. 4 children (one of them being) Robert
Demeritt married Deborah Twombly
4. (and had - Robert and Deborah)James
Demeritt married to Betsey Demeritt
(believed to be an error)
4. Sophia Demeritt married to Nathan Brown
4. Betsey Demeritt unmarried (who I believe
to be buried besides Isaac and Tamson)
I've seen several references making James, Sophia, and Betsey
- Job and Sarah's children. I believe this to be in error.
The following is found in The Early
Marriages of Strafford County, New Hampshire, Supplement
from Heritage Books, page 61:"DEMERITT, Robert, son of
Job, d Feb. 14 1839, aged 78, m. Oct. 26, 1786, by Rev. Benjamin Balch, Deborah
Twombly, both of Barrington." I've recently found
a contradiction to this saying that they were both from Madbury.
Regardless, I've seen hints that both of them originally came from Madbury
but did eventually end up in Barrington.
It is my opinion that this Robert Demeritt
is the same Robert Demeritt as noted in the Strafford Censuses.
Betseys, Betseys, and Betseys
In Stackpole's History of Durham, he has Job Demeritt, and under his section
there are listed four Betseys. For the sake of this study only two are of
particular interest - Betsey(1) the sister of James Demeritt, and Betsey(2)
the wife of James. There is also another Betsey(3) that that was born in 1807,
listed in several census's along with Isaac, and is buried in the same plot
with Isaac and Tamson.
Betsey(3), living with Isaac in 1850, was Isaac's sister. The 1810 Census
shows "Robert Demeritt and son" - there were only two males - and
3 females - a young girl (Betsey(3)), Deborah and, according to Stackpole,
Betsey(2), wife of James??. These two BETSEYs really bother me – the
Betsey(3) buried with Isaac and the Betsey(2) married to James. Stackpole
states that James married Betsey(2) and originally I was trying to tag a Betsey(3)
as being James' and Betsey's daughter (Isaac's sister). It's very uncommon
to a mother to name a daughter her own name. Something is not adding up here.
Earlier in my research I thought it more likely that Betsey(3) was the daughter(1)
of Robert and Deborah - James' sister. However, the will of Robert
Demeritt clearly mentions a Rachel Demeritt being his daughter-in-law.
Could James have been married twice? I doubt it.
Concerning the Betsey that is married to James - I'm beginning to think that
Stackpole could possibly be in error!! I found an interesting quote from the
Journals of Enoch Hayes Place - Volume 1: 1810-1849,
p. 507. It is in reference to the death of Robert Demeritt:
Feb. 14, 1839 “preached at our M. house at C. Point
in the A.M. then Spoke and prayed at the funeral of Br. Robert Demeritt
Ad 78 Elder Winkley preached Br. Demeritt was a member of the Christian Church
he was a good man and will be much missed by them out of a family of Six persons
in that house two only remains the other four the father and Mother
grand father and grand Mother have all deceased within a verry few years
“ (exact trans.)
At first this caused me much confusion. Robert was already rather old - how
could his parents and grand-parents have only recently passed away? Then it
dawned on me – he’s talking about the two that remain!
That would probably be in reference to Isaac and Betsey. So I observed what
I knew:
Robert died in 1839
Deborah died in 1828
James died in 1834
Betsey? grandmother died recently??
In a recent conversation with someone with the same lineage to Isaac T. Demeritt,
we were comparing names. We had everything in common with the exception of
one – she had Rachel Berry as the wife of James Demeritt. She could
not recall her source. Even though this would not have surprised me –
the Berrys being neighbors and having named one of there children James Demeritt
Berry – Stackpole had already named a Betsey Demeritt as being James’
wife.
Knowing this I went to a page on the Internet that I’ve often referenced:
The record is found at the following link:
http://www.usgennet.org/usa/nh/town/strafford/ed/d.htm
Very interesting! – Rachel Demeritt (widow) died Dec. 1834. James
had died in Oct. of 1834. I have Samuel Demeritt as her husband – I
am still searching for the source, BUT, this is likely a mismatch because
he died in 1856! Isaac's first child - RACHEL!
I believe that the The Journals of Enoch Hayes Place
1810 - 1865 record the deaths of Robert Demeritt, Deborah Twombly, "Captain"
James Demeritt and who is likely his wife Rachel Berry - as listed by Stackpole
and discussed above.
A note on Twombly.
One more small observation: Isaac was not a common Demeritt name. In all my
research I came up with only three other Isaac Demeritts. Isaac was, however,
a common Twombly name – Isaac's grandmother's, Deborah, maiden name was
Twombly. I have not been able to nail down who her parents were but there are
two Isaac Twombly's in the Barrington/Madbury area that I think could have been
her father. I am also researching a Moses Twombly that I know had a daughter
named Deborah in the Barrington area around the appropriate time period. Isaac
T. - Twombly??
At the town clerks office in Starfford they have some volume of
books on mortgages and tax collections. In the first book in looked in, Personal
Mortgages, No.1, 1833-1853, I found a copy of a mortgage dated Sept. 23, 1840.
Isaac Demeritt took possession of property belonging to Pearl Howard. The witnesses
that signed were Tamson H. Demeritt and ISAAC TWOMBLY. Interesting!
According to Strafford County probate records there was a division
of property of the late Benjamin Twombly made between Isaac
T Demeritt, Betsey Demeritt, and Isaac Twombly.
Contact Information
Mistakes and errors WILL be found. Please contact me with any corrections
or additions.
Send E-mail to ancestry@eagleswind.com