Visiting Deacon Joseph and Mary (Stearns) Wight in Dedham, Massachusetts

In April, my husband and I finally got the opportunity to complete the vacation we had originally scheduled for September 2014.  The episode where he fell off the ladder and shattered his heel, well, that ended the well-laid plans for our vacation.  Couldn't walk for over three months.  We LUV Southwest Airlines because there was no fee to change our flight -- but we did have to use the tickets by July 1st.  So rather than our preferred Fall trip to New England we went on a spring trip.  We are happy to report that the snow had all melted by the time we got there (giving us some cause to doubt the reports of the severe New England winter.  But they stand by their stories! It is so convenient for us that my brother and his family live in New Hampshire. We not only get to spend time visiting with them, we have a base of operations for our travels back in time.

For information on how I first fell into learning about my family history you can read a previous Light Keeper entry.  After our visit to Vermont a few years ago and becoming acquainted with Topsham, we have slowly been working backwards as we research older generations. This time we hoped to learn more about the Wights of Dedham and particularly Deacon Joseph and Mary (Stearns) Wight. 

Before we left we contacted the Dedham historical society and arranged to meet with the historian there on the first Thursday of our trip.  Here is their museum, library and resource room. 

Dedham was first settled around 1635-6 and the Wights were some of the early arrivals.  Deacon Joseph was the third generation of the family in the United States.  His father was Henry Wight and his grandfather was Thomas Wight.  Henry was born in England but Joseph was born in Massachusetts.  Thomas was a recipient of land in Dedham and was one of the signers of the original Covenant.  His land is outlined in blue in the map below. The purple area is the Old Village Cemetery.

Thomas lived in Dedham for awhile and then he and most of their children moved on to Medfield where later on they helped to found Harvard (sounds like a trip to Medford will be in our future).  However, Henry stayed on the Dedham property and raised his own children there.  Six generations of Wights lived on that property. After Henry died, Joseph Wight lived there and later his son Ebenezer farmed the land with his wife Subiah.  Ebenezer and Subiah are not recorded as buried in the Old Village Cemetery but it does not sound like they left Dedham.  For A LOT of information on the Wight family there are old published family histories as well as a detailed blog I came across.

 

We spent hours finding information about the family.  We spent the morning pouring over books and then took a lunch break and walked around the main downtown street. 

 This is the police station.

 A church on High Street.

A side residential street.

 We returned to the Historical Society  and then as it neared closing time we headed off to the Old Village Cemetery.  We knew the family there would be at home! 

Just a few blocks from the Historical Society stands the church and the Old Village Cemetery. The church stands on the corner of Church and Court Streets. 

 Thanks to modern technology, we were able to locate the gravesites of both Joseph and Mary with GPS locators on the Cemetery website.  So it did not take long to find them.  Here they have lain side by side (well, the real them is at home with the Lord!) for just shy 200 years.

Here they are; my great X 6 grandparents. 

Joseph was born on May 11, 1654 in Dedham, Massachusetts, a little less than 20 years after his father and grandfather came to America.  He died June 23, 1729.   He was the son of Henry Wight and Jane Goodenow.  A historical sketch from the Dedham Historical Society notes that he was deacon of the first church for 33 years, was a selectman for 18 years, and was town clerk for 13 years. He was regarded as having superior judgment and excellent understanding and that in his old age "many parents carried their children to him that they might implore for them the favor of heaven."  I like to think that at the same time he prayed for all the generations of his children to come in the future, of which I am one.

 Joseph married twice, Mary (my grandmother)and his second wife was daughter of Lt. Nathaniel Stearns.  She was born August 22, 1661 and died on Christmas Day 1733.  Mary's mother was Mary Stone -- and there are, I hear, a great number of Stone descendants in the US.   My brother did some digging around to learn more of them and it looks like it has some great potential for more fun family history.    It might be really sad to have to travel to England to further our knowledge!      

 

Only one home is still standing from the first settlement of Dedham.  As noted before, six generations of Wights lived in that family home.  Eight Fairbanks generations lived in their family home before it became a museum.  I imagine that in it's day the Wight's place looked a great deal like the Fairbanks House.  These houses were originally smaller, but as generations were added so were additional rooms.

We were too early in the year to tour the Fairbanks home, so that will be left for a different journey.  Maybe we can yet locate Ebenezer Wight and Subiah Hall Wight, his wife.  It is quite aggravating that I can't seem to find more information on her parents. She was reported to have been born in Stoughton.  With a unique name like Subiah one would think that she would be easy to find. On the bright side, as more vital statistics information gets published to the web, the possibility of new discoveries improve.  There is already much more information available than when we first began this journey less than ten years ago.

 

Psalm 145:4 says of the Lord, "One generation will acclaim your works to another and will describe your mighty actions."  I, and America as a whole, are the beneficiaries of these past generations who passed on their knowledge of the love of God.  I am grateful for these long-ago grandparents who have been faithful in their time to pass on their knowledge of and faith in God.