Hezekiah Gorton

of West Greenwich, Rhode Island

Hezekiah Gorton was born on March 7, 1751/52 in Swansea, Bristol County, Massachusetts. He was the fifth child and third son of Dr. Samuel and Ruth (Slade) Gorton of Warwick, Rhode Island. Hezekiah was a great-great-grandson of Samuel Gorton, the founder of Warwick.

In his genealogy, The Life and Times of Samuel Gorton, Adelos Gorton relates that Hezekiah's father, Dr. Samuel Gorton IV, "lived at Swansey (probably that part of Swansey which was, with a part of Rehobeth, included in the town of Warren, Bristol County, R. I., but was shortly after 1648 awarded to Massachusetts), Voluntown, Conn., and at Warwick". I have found many land records for both Hezekiah and Samuel Gorton in West Greenwich, RI, which is where I suspect Hezekiah lived from the late 1770s until his death in 1842. If Samuel Gorton IV did, indeed, live in Voluntown, Connecticut for a time, this might explain how Hezekiah's daughter, Olive, made the acquaintance of her husband, Lot Larkham of Voluntown.

About 1770, Hezekiah married Patience Wood, the 21-year-old daughter of William and Patience (Weaver) Wood of East Greenwich, Rhode Island. Hezekiah's older sister, Ruth, married William Wood, the older brother of Patience Wood. Around one year after their marriage, Hezekiah and Patience's first child, Daniel, was born. In their ~52 years of marriage, Hezekiah and Patience had at least nine children who survived to adulthood and whom Hezekiah named in his will. The children are:

On his twenty-sixth birthday, March 7, 1778, Hezekiah was received as freeman of West Greenwich. A series of town and land evidence records show that he settled in this township near his brothers Samuel, Benjamin, Slade, William, John, his sister and brother-in-law, Ruth (Gorton) and William Wood, and his sister and brother-in-law, Freelove (Gorton) and Daniel Wickes. This must surely have been the part of West Greenwich known as "Gorton's Corner".

Records from West Greenwich town council books hint at some of Hezekiah's Revolutionary War experience, where on the last Saturday in June, 1781, it is voted by the town council that he "go to Jonathan Nileson and Draw a States gun and get it Repaired and bring in and charge this town with the cost of repairing in Law of his that was lost in General Sulivan's Expedition." On December 28, 1782, the town council voted "that Hezekiah Gorton Have an order on the Town Treasury for five dollars for his gun lost in Gen. Spencer's Expedition ~~ order is given." I'm still not sure in whose expedition (Gen. Sullivan's or Gen. Spencer's) Hezekiah served, but he is listed in the NSDAR Patriot Index (part 2, p. 1195), so I plan to obtain his application records in the future.

The records indicate that Hezekiah and Patience Gorton remained in West Greenwich where they raised their brood of children. In addition to being a land owner and farmer, Hezekiah took an active role on the town council. Patience (Wood) Gorton died on July 28, 1822 at the age of seventy-three. Less than a year after Patience's death, on May 15, 1823, Hezekiah (at the age of seventy-one) married Eunice Whitford, a daughter of George and Hannah (Wickes) Whitford. There were no children from this marriage.

Hezekiah died in April or May of 1842 at the age of ninety. He outlived four of his daughters. His will, written on April 25, 1841 and proved on May 28, 1842, names his wife, Eunice; sons Daniel, Hezekiah and William; daughters Hannah, Phebe Wood (deceased), Mary James (deceased), Elizabeth James (deceased), and Betsey Olive Larkham [daughter of Olive (Gorton) Larkham], to whom he bequeathed "what I allotted for your Mothers portion that is deceased". Hezekiah bequeathed "all the residue and remainder of my Estate and Estates both Real and personal " to his son, William Gorton, who was was also named sole executor of Hezekiah's estate.

SOURCES

The Life and Times of Samuel Gorton, The Founders and the Founding of the Republic, A Section of Early United Stated History and a History of the Colony of Providence and Rhode Island Plantations in the Narrangansett Indian Country Now in the State of Rhode Island, 1592--1636--1677--1687, by Adelos Gorton, Philadelphia: George S. Ferguson Co., 1907.

NSDAR Patriot Index - Centennial Edition, Part 2, page 1195
(listing for Hezekiah Gorton, which gives his birth date and names his wife as Patience Wood)

West Greenwich, Rhode Island Land Evidence Records, (from LDS FHL microfilm # 0929539)

West Greenwich, Rhode Island Probate Records, Volume 9, page 74-75
(from LDS FHL microfilm # 0925977)

West Greenwich, Rhode Island Town Council Records, (from LDS FHL microfilm # 0925981)

The Wood Family Index by John Sumner Wood, pages 427 and 547, (provides Patience Woods' birth and death dates) (from LDS FHL microfilm # 0908765).

Town and Land Evidence Records
of
Hezekiah Gorton
(1751/2-1842)
of West Greenwich, Rhode Island

April 11, 1777: Samuel Gorton of Warwick deeded 122 acres of land to his son Hezekiah Gorton in West Greenwich. Witnessed by Reuben and Sarah Wightman.

May 30, 1777: Hezekiah Gorton, yeoman, of West Greenwich sold to William Wood of Warwick for 39 pounds. Bounderies: on the south: Hezekiah Gorton's land and a tract of land bought by Samuel Gorton, decd. of the heirs of David Vaughn. on the north: Slade Gorton; on the east: a river that runs through Hezekiah Gorton's land; West: a highway. Signed by Hezekiah Gorton and his wife, Patience Gorton. Witnessed by Joseph Budlong and Jedediah Aylesworth.

March 7, 1778: "Voted that Hezekiah Gorton and Constant Whitford By Both of Received as freeman of this town" (W. Greenwich town records).

April 15, 1778: "The following is A List of those that proxt for General assem. at the aforesaid Town meeting and their proxes were Received By the moderator of Said meeting: (list of 33 men including Hezekiah Gorton, Henry Olin, Joseph Weaver, Thomas Gorton, and Benjamin Gorton).

January 22, 1779: Samuel Gorton, yeoman, [brother of Hezekiah Gorton] of Warwick, Rhode Island, sells 122 acres of land to Hezekiah Gorton of West Greenwich for 60 pounds. The land was bordered by the following: on the south: Benjamin Tillinghast; on the north: William Wood and Hezekiah Gorton's existing property; on the east: Benjamin Tillinghast and Samuel Reynolds; on the west: a highway. Signed by Samuel Gorton and his wife, Anna Gorton. Witnessed by Richard Fry, Hopkins Cookes, Benjamin Gorton, and Elizabeth Wrigley.

February 1, 1779: Benjamin Gorton of Warwick sold 162 acres of land in West Greenwich to Hezekiah Gorton of West Greenwich for 30 pounds. The land was bordered by the following: on the south: Benjamin Tillinghast; on the north: Slade Gorton; on the east: Benjamin Tillinghast and Samuel Reynolds; on the west: a highway. Signed by Benjamin Gorton. Witnessed by Robert Allen and Slade Gorton.

February 1, 1779: Hezekiah Gorton gave a 12-acre tract of land to his sister-in-law Anna Gorton (wife of his brother Samuel Gorton, Jr.) for and in consideration of the love, good will and natural affection which he bore her. The land was bordered by the following: northerly on land of Slade Gorton, and to extend southerly on Slade Gorton's land twenty rods on a river that parts Hezekiah Gorton's land and William Wood from thence to extend easterly holding its width twenty rods wide until it comes to land of Samuel Reynolds. Signed by Hezekiah Gorton and his wife, Patience Gorton Witnessed by Benjamin Gorton, Slade Gorton, and Robert Allen.

February 15, 1779: "Voted that Slade Gorton (and 3 other men) all of them Stand propounded to Be Rejected or Received as free man of this town".

April 21, 1779: "The following is A List of those that provt for general officers and their provet were Received By the Moderator of said meeting (Hezekiah Gorton, Slade Gorton, and Thomas Gorton included among list).

April 19, 1780: "The following is A List of the freemen that Proxed for General Officers and their Proxes Received by the Moderator of Said Meeting." (List of 45 men including Hezekiah Gorton, James Weaver, Thomas Gorton, Benjamin Gorton).

Last Saturday in June 1781: "Voted that Hezekiah Gorton go to Jonathan Nileson and Draw a States gun and get it Repaired and bring in and change this town with the cost of repairing in Law of his that was lost in General Sulivan's Expedition."

September 29, 1781: "Resolved that the following persons be exempted paying a fine for the Deficiency of war like Ententiels Those in Capt. Jos. Hopkin's Comp. The senior chss. are Henry Hopkins, Peter Taryse, William Baker, Capt. Samuel Hopkins Company are (list of 47 men in 3 companies). In fourth company: Hezekiah Gorton.

December 4, 1781: "voted that (23 men including Hezekiah Gorton) all be put into the juror box in order to be Drawn out as jurors to attend the several courts to be held within and for the County of Kent.

December 28, 1782:
"Voted that Hezekiah Gorton Have an order on the Town Treasury for five dollars for his gun lost in Gen. Spencer's Expedition ~~ order is given."

April 1, 1788: Slade Gorton of Coventry sold to Daniel Wickes of Warwick, son of Thomas Wickes deceased for 42 pounds 80 acres bounded by: on the north and west: a highway; on the south: land formerly owned by Thomas Wickes dec.; on the east: John Gorton. Signed by Slade and Mary Gorton. Witnessed by Benjamin Gorton and Jonathan Gorton.

Need to check date (prob. April 1788: Daniel Wickes sold to John Gorton, son of Samuel Gorton doctor deceased for 45 pounds 80 acres bounded by: on the north and west: two highways; on the south: Thomas Nichols; on the east: land that did belong to William Gorton. Signed by Daniel Wickes. Witnessed by Hezekiah Gorton and Daniel Gorton (Hezekiah's eldest son).

April 13, 1789: John Gorton, yeoman of West Greenwich sold to William Gorton of Warwick, "son of Samuel Gorton, Doctor deceased of Warwick yeoman" for 280 Spanish milled silver dollars. The land was bounded by Slade Gorton, Thomas Nichols, Samuel Gorton (Jr. -- William's brother), and Benjamin Gorton (also William's brother). Signed by John Gorton. Witnessed by William Waterman (Anna Waterman Gorton's brother?) and David Wightman.

July 11, 1789: John Gorton, yeoman, of West Greenwich sold 60 acres of land to Hezekiah Gorton, yeoman, "the receipt whereof I do hereby acknowledge... the sd Hezekiah Gorton absolutely give ... unto Daniel Gorton of West Greenwich aforesaid a minor labourer and the son of the said Hezekiah Gorton to him the said Daniel Gorton..." The land was bounded by: Samuel Reynolds, Joseph Reynolds, William Gorton, Thomas Nichols, and a highway. Signed by John Gorton. Witnessed by Silas Wait, Gid. Waite. (Daniel Gorton would have been about 17 or 18 years old at the time).

February 11, 1791: John Gorton, yeoman of West Greenwich sold to John Bates of Exeter for 60 pounds 60 acres of land bounded by: on the north and west: two highways; on the south: land formerly owned by Thomas Wickes; on the east: land formerly owned by William Gorton. Signed by John Gorton. Witnessed by Hezekiah Gorton and Samuel Gorton.

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