Biography for Daniel Markham III (5th Great Grandfather)
Daniel was born November 13, 1704 in Middletown, Hartford (Middletown was in Hartford County until 1785, then moved to Middlesex County where it is today), Connecticut.[2] He died March 16, 1786 in Tyringham, Berkshire, Massachusetts.[3] He was 81 years old. His burial location is unknown.
His parents were Daniel Markham II and Deborah Meacham. Daniel II was born November 1, 1671 in Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts. He died May 6, 1761 in Enfield, Hartford, Connecticut. Deborah was born December 15, 1670 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts and died in 1761 in Enfield.
Daniel III married Patience Miller in Middletown on April 2, 1729.[4] She was born on February 17, 1706 in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut. Patience died in Stafford, Tolland, Connecticut sometime between 1738 and 1745. She was the daughter of Thomas Miller and Mary Rowell.
Daniel and Patience had the following children:
- Deborah Markham, born August 9, 1729, Middletown, Hartford, Connecticut; married Samuel Eaton, June 25, 1746, Middletown, Hartford, Connecticut.
- Daniel Markham IV, born August 9, 1731, Middletown, Hartford, Connecticut; married Rachel Heath, May 27, 1752, Stafford, Connecticut, USA; died April 7, 1812, Tyringham, Berkshire Co, MA.
- Patience Markham, born March 14, 1734, Enfield, Hampshire, Massachusetts; married Isaac Heath, September 8, 1755, Willington, Tolland, Connecticut; died May 8, 1806, Tryingham, Berkshire Co, MA.
- Abijah Markham, born May 8, 1735, Stafford, Tolland Co, CT; married February 4, 1762; died after January 30, 1818, Madison County, New York.
- Steven Markham was born on December 1, 1738 in Stafford, Tolland Co, CT. He died before 1828 at the age of 90.
He married second, Thankful Heath, in Stafford on November 14, 1745.[5] Thankful, daughter of Isaac Heath and Rachael Reed, was born on July 5, 1717 in Framingham, Middlesex Co, MA. She died after 1786 in Tyringham, Berkshire, Massachusetts. Her exact death date is unknown, but she is identified in Daniel’s 1786 probate documents.
Daniel and Thankful had the following children:
- Lucy Thankful Markham, born October 12, 1746, Stafford, Tolland Co, CT; married Israel Alden, July 11, 1765, Stafford, Tolland Co, CT; died October 28, 1825, Windsor, Broome County, NY.
- Samuel Markham was born on November 1, 1748 in Stafford, Tolland Co, CT.20 He died before 1838 at the age of 90. He lived in Connecticut.
- Benjamin Markham Sr., born July 14, 1752, Stafford, Tolland Co, CT; married Mercy Bentley, November 18, 1779, Tyringham, Berkshire Co, MA; died after 1816 per the date on the powder horn he carved in Granville, New York (this death date and location is not proven).
- Betsy Markham, born January 8, 1753, Stafford, Tolland Co, CT; married John Bentley, October 28, 1773, Tyringham, Berkshire, Massachusetts; died 1825.
Narrative
Daniel was born in Middletown, Hartford, Connecticut. He was the oldest of ten children, and was named after his father and grandfather (thus Daniel III). His father was a farmer, so Daniel would have worked on the farm as a young boy.
Sometime around 1716 to 1719, Daniel’s father, Daniel II, moved the family to Enfield. From the History of Enfield is this, “Daniel (Markham II) who erected a house near where the Iron Works formerly stood”. There is not a specific year stated, but it appears to be around 1716. On November 11, 1716 Daniel II and his wife, Deborah, sold land that she had inherited from her father in Enfield; Daniel II is shown as being from Middletown. Three years later, on December 8, 1719, Daniel II purchased land in Enfield and is shown as being from Enfield. So, he moved his family there sometime in this three-year period. Daniel III would have been 12-15 years old.
With their home in Enfield next to the Iron Works which was owned by Israel Meacham, Daniel’s uncle, it’s probable that Daniel’s father was somehow involved with that operation. This could mean that Daniel was involved also. His grandfather, Isaac Meacham, owned a sawmill and a fulling mill. It’s also possible that Daniel was involved with those in some way.
On April 2, 1729 Daniel married Patience Miller in Middletown. After the move with his father to Enfield, he apparently went back to Middletown at some point. The new couple’s first two children, Deborah and Daniel IV, were born in Middletown as well, in 1729 and 1731. Daniel’s father still owned land in Middletown, it’s likely that this is where they lived.
On June 29, 1729 this entry in the Middle Congregational Church Records was made: “Daniel Markham and Patience his Wife offered a Confession for the sin of fornication which was to the Acceptance”.[6] Fornification is consensual sexual intercourse between a man and woman who are not married to each other. They got married on April 2, then their daughter Deborah was born on August 9 the same year. So, Patience was pregnant when they got married and they had to confess this to the Church.
On May 29, 1732 Dan bought a small 1 ½ acre piece of land in Enfield.[7] Then on August 32, 1732 Daniel and Patience gave the land in Middletown that Patience had inherited from her father to her brothers, Stephen and James Miller.[8]
Their third daughter, Patience, was born on March 14, 1733/34 in Enfield. A week later, on March 22, Daniel bought 80 acres of land in Stafford, Tolland, Connecticut. Stafford is about 13 miles east of Enfield.
After living in Stafford for a couple of years, on February 2, 1734/35 Daniel was involved in a court case. The issue was money owed to him by David Root to the sum of eleven pounds, nineteen shillings and three pence. The sheriff was ordered to collect this money from Root, but the result ended up being that Daniel was given 16 hours of time in the Iron Works at Stafford. This was valued at fourteen pounds, thirteen shillings. Perhaps Daniel’s prior experience with an Iron Works enabled him to accept this resolution.
In 1736, on April 12, Daniel sold 103 acres of land for 120 pounds that he owned in Enfield. He was a yeoman and was of Stafford. The purchase record for this land has not been located. It is not in the county land records, and doesn’t match up with any land purchases by his father (thinking it might have been land his father gave him). More research is needed to understand this.
Daniel’s wife Patience died sometime after the birth of their fifth child, Steven, in 1738 and before 1745 when he married as his second wife, Thankful Heath, in Stafford. Over the next several years Thankful and Daniel had four children and Daniel bought two more pieces of land. He owned about 184 acres of land in Stafford before giving 20 acres to his son Daniel IV and 24 acres to his son Abijah, his two oldest sons.
In May of 1764 a group of Baptists, including Daniel, “praying to be exempted” from “paying anything towards the support of the ministry or building of meeting houses” took this request to the Connecticut General Assembly. Their request was approved and they were exempted.[9] As they were already paying for their own Baptist church, they weren’t required to also pay taxes for any other types of churches.
Daniel’s move to being a Baptist may have been driven by the Great Awakening. This was a religious revival that impacted the colonies during the 1730’s and 1740’s. Feeling that the passion for religion had grown stale, Christian leaders often traveled from town-to-town preaching about the Gospel, emphasizing salvation from sins and promoting enthusiasm for Christianity. The result was a renewed dedication toward religion. One of the key leaders, some say the most prominent theologian of this movement, was Jonathan Edwards, preacher at Northampton, Massachusetts. He delivered his most famous sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” on July 8, 1741, in Enfield, Connecticut.[10] Daniel may have very well have been in attendance for this. And it may have inspired him greatly.
On July 29, 1766 Daniel bought land in Tyringham, 52 acres for 40 pounds in lot 66.[11] This is where the family moved to and where he lived the rest of his life. He bought another 255 acres for 500 pounds in lots 17,18, 97 and 115 (all of these are relatively close together, north of what is today Lake Garfield) on November 12 of the same year, giving him over 300 acres.
On March 23, 1767 Daniel was awarded 20 shillings for providing ox labor to help build a school house.[12] Then on August 26, 1768 he was voted to serve as a petit juror at the Superior Court.[13] A few years later, on November 18, 1773, he was awarded 12 schilling for work done on the meeting house.[14]
In July of 1771 the Massachusetts General Court passed “An Act for Enquiring into the Rateable Estates of this Province”. This act required each town to elect assessors, whose duty it was to prepare a “valuation or State Bill”. This was a list of all taxpayers and taxable property lying within the town. Although valuation lists were made every year, it was only every seven years or so that a list as detailed as that for 1771 was required. The purpose of this assessment was to gather the information necessary to divide the burden of provincial taxes equitably among the towns. It also provided the basis for determining each individual’s share of the town’s annual province tax. Daniel’s assessment contained the following items:[15]
- Polls rateable – 2 (this was the number of men over 16 who were considered taxable, the second person is probably his youngest son Benjamin, who was 19 and likely still living at home to help on the farm)
- Houses and shops adjoining – 1
- Annual worth of the whole real estate – 8 pounds (this would have been the yearly value of the items produced on the farm)
- Horses – 1
- Oxen – 2
- Cattle – 5
- Goats and sheep – 12
- Swine – 3
- Acres of pasture – 20
- Number of cows pasture will keep – 6
- Acres of tillage – 4
- Bushels of grain produced per year – 40
- Barrels of cider produced per year – 10
- Acres of English and upland mowing land – 12
- Tons of English and upland hay per year – 10
- Acres of fresh meadow – 6
- Tons of fresh meadow hay per year – 6
- Town id – 832 (Tyringham)
- Individual id – 229 (meaning he was number 229 on the list)
Daniel would have owned about 260 acres of land at this time. The tax valuation accounts for 40 acres. The remaining 220 was all wooded, or perhaps just wasn’t accounted for.
In 1776 Daniel, along with his sons Benjamin and Daniel IV, signed the Oath of Allegiance in advance of the Revolutionary War.[16] Each colony had a version of this. They varied some, but two main components were that the signer had to renounce King George the Third of Great Britain and to discover and make known to officials all treasons and traitorous conspiracies to the colonies that the signer became aware of.[17] Any man who didn’t sign the Oath was not considered to be a Patriot, and would be seen as a Loyalist or Tory (remaining loyal to Great Britain and not the colonies). Signing this document allowed Daniel to be a DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) ancestor, as referenced on the DAR website by number A073785.[18]
Dated March 12, 1781 there is this entry in the Tyringham Vital Records book – “The Names of those that presented Certificates certifying that they belong to ye Baptist Church”. Daniel Markham is among the handful of names.[19] This may have been needed to continue relieving the Baptists from paying taxes for other churches, as initially documented in the 1764 General Assembly ruling. Interestingly, none of his sons are listed.
Daniel died March 16, 1786 without a will. But the probate process includes an inventory and a probate distribution.[20] Following is a summary of these items:
The total inventory was valued at 373L (L to represent pounds, shilling and pence are rounded). The homestead was valued at 150L (31 acres), house at 35L, barn at 10L plus other small items for a total of 203L.
His personal estate was valued at 170L, inclusive of 75L of “good debts”, exclusive of 33L of “bad debt” owed to the estate. Good debts were those that the appraisers felt could be collected, bad debts would probably not be collected.
Daniel had 44L of debts that he owed, debts due from the estate, which leaves about 125L of personal estate to be distributed. The land and personal estate were distributed as follows:
- Thankful, his widow – 7+ acres worth 77L plus 42L personal estate
- Daniel IV – 7+ acres worth 45L plus 14L personal estate (also what was already given him)
- Abijah – land worth 22L, acres not given (probably 4), plus 6L personal estate (also what was already given him)
- Patience Heath – 4 acres worth 22L plus 25L personal estate (also what was already given her)
- Lucy Alden – 5 acres worth 22L plus 18L personal estate (also what was already given her)
- Betsy Bentley – 5 acres worth 22L plus 19L personal estate (also what was already given her)
- Benjamin – had already received two land deed gifts that represented his full share (this was 84 acres that Benjamin sold later in the same year[21])
Daniel had also previously given his son Abijah 50 acres.[22] It is likely that also gave land to his oldest son Daniel IV, and to his daughters and their husbands, but no land records have been found for this. There are about 185 acres of his land unaccounted for (acres bought minus acres sold or given), so the assumption is that he did give this land to his other children.
His inventory consisted of the normal things that would be found on a farm in these times – clothes, bedding, kitchen and household items, two bibles and a psalm book, farm tools, livestock, a gun with bayonet, livestock, some hay and 400 foot of white pine boards.
Daniel was a yeoman, a farmer for most of his life. He left a comfortable estate for his widow and children. He had more money owed to him than he owed to others. After being a member of the First Congregational Church in Middletown, he later converted to be a Baptist. He must have felt strongly about this. There are no court records where Daniel was accused of an wrong doing. He was a good, contributing citizen of the towns he lived in.
Daniel lived in the following places:
1704 – He was born in Middletown, Hartford, Connecticut.
1716-1719 – Daniel’s father, Daniel II, moved the family to Enfield.
1729 – Daniel and Patience are married in Middletown and have two children there.
1733 – Daniel moves their family to Stafford, Tolland, Connecticut, as evidenced by a land purchase.[23]
1766 – Daniel moved his family to Tyringham, shown by a land purchase.[24]
1786 – Daniel dies in Tyringham.
Suggested reading:
“The History of Middlesex County 1635-1885”, by Henry Whittemore, published by J. H. Beers & Co., New York, NY, 1884.
“Middletown 1650-1950”, by Willard M. Wallace, City of Middletown, Connecticut, 1950.
“Middletown: Streets, Commerce, and People 1650-1981”, by Peter D. Hall, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 1981.
“The Development of Local Public Services 1650-1860: Lessons from Middletown, Connecticut”, by Hannah J. McKinney, published by Greenwood Press, Portsmouth, N.H., 1995.
“The Challenge of Change – Three Centuries of Enfield, Connecticut History” by Ruth Bridge, published for the Enfield Historical Society by Phoenix Publishing, Canaan, New Hampshire, 1977.
“Historical Sketch of the Town of Enfield” by A. Johnson, George H. Booth and L. H. Pease, M.D., published in Hartford by The Case, Lockwood & Brainard Co., Printers, 1876.
“The History of Enfield Connecticut”, Three volumes, by Francis Olcott Allen, published by The Wickersham Printing Co., Lancaster, PA, 1900.
“Tyringham – A Hinterland Settlement”, by Eloise Myers, published by Hinterland Press, 1989.
“A History of the Town of Tyringham, Mass., by Edwin Brewer, A.M.
“Stafford, Connecticut, 1719-1870 – From farm to factory”, by William P. McDermott, Kerleen Press, Tolland, CT, 2010.
“Berkshire – The First Three Hundred Years, 1676-1976”, by Tyler Resch, published by William H. Tague and Robert B. Kimball, 1961.
“Berkshire County, Its Past History and Achievements”, by Charles F. Palmer.
“The Berkshire Jubilee – Celebrated at Pittsfield, Mass – August 22 and 23, 1844”, by Weare C. Little and E. P. Little, Pittsfield, 1845.
“History of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men”, New York, J. B. Beers & Co., 1885.
“Four Papers of the Berkshire Historical and Scientific Society”, Published by the Society, 1886.
“Gazetteer of Berkshire County, Mass., 1725-1885”, by Hamilton Child, Syracuse, NY, Printed at the Journal Office, 1885.
Biography written by Kem & Becky Marcum; November, 2022.
[1] A Hinterland Settlement – Tyringham, Massachusetts and Bordering Lands, by Eloise Myers; Printed by Eagle Printing and Binding Company, Pittsfield, Massachusetts; Page 9.
[2] Descendants of Deacon Daniel Markham – Workbook 2008, by Curtis Hartwig and Nancy (Markham) Hartwig; Binghamton, New York; Page 12.
[3] Vital Records of Tyringham, Massachusetts to the Year 1850; Published by the New England Historic Genealogical Society at the Charge of the Eddy Town Record Fund; Boson, Mass., 1903, Page 101.
[4] Connecticut, Marriage Index, 1620-1926; Page 46; accessed at Ancestry.com.
[5] Connecticut, U.S., Town Marriage Records, pre-1870 (Barbour Collection), Stafford Vital Records 1719-1850, Page 105; accessed at Ancestry.com.
[6] Middletown First Congregational Church Records, Volume 1, Page 52; accessed on microfilm at Connecticut State Library, Hartford, Connecticut.
[7] Massachusetts Land Records, Hampden County, Volume L, Page 362; accessed at Familysearch.org.
[8] Middletown, Connecticut Land Records, Volume 5, Page 495; accessed on microfilm at Russell Library, Middletown, Connecticut.
[9] The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, Vol. XII, p271; accessed at Ancestry.com.
[10] “What was the Great Awakening? Know the Facts & Summary”, by Diane Severance, Ph.D.; accessed at https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1701-1800/the-great-awakening-11630212.html.
[11] Massachusetts Land Records, Berkshire County, Volume 12, Page 150; accessed at Familysearch.org.
[12] Tyringham’s book of records, 1711-1898; Page 43; accessed at Familysearch.org.
[13] Ibid, Tyringham’s book of records, 1711-1898; Page 51.
[14] Ibid, Tyringham’s book of records, 1711-1898; Page 96.
[15] The Massachusetts Tax Valuation List of 1771, Tyringham, Page 174; edited by Bettye Hobbs Pruitt; accessed at Dallas Public Library, Dallas, Texas.
[16] Ibid, A Hinterland Settlement, Page 9.
[17] Acts and Resolves of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, Volume 5 (1769-1780); Boston, 1886.
[18] DAR Genealogy Research, accessed at https://services.dar.org/Public/DAR_Research/search_adb/?action=full&p_id=A073785.
[19] Ibid, Tyringham’s book of records, 1711-1898; In the Vital Records section, in Deaths under the letter Y, which counts to be Page 96.
[20] Massachusetts Wills & Probate Records, 1635-1991, Volume 6, Page 10; accessed at Ancestry.com.
[21] Ibid, Massachusetts Land Records, Berkshire County, Volume 30, Page 444.
[22] Ibid, Massachusetts Land Records, Berkshire County, Volume 35, Page 291.
[23] Stafford, Connecticut Land Records, Volume B1, Page 467; accessed at Stafford, Connecticut Town Hall, County Clerk’s Office.
[24] Ibid, Massachusetts Land Records, Berkshire County, Volume 12, Page 150; accessed at Familysearch.org.