NORTHERN NEW YORK
Genealogical and family history of northern New York: a record of the achievements of her people
in the making of a commonwealth and the founding of a nation.
New York: Lewis Historical Pub. Co. 1910.



POMEROY



Transcribed by Coralynn Brown



This family is descended from Sir Ralph dePomeroy, knight in the army of William the Conqueror, whom he accompanied to England, and who received from that potentate a grant of fifty manors in Derbyshire and Somersetshire. In the latter district he built a castle which is still occupied by his descendants and is in a fair state of preservation.
When the Earl of Essex was lord lieutenant of Ireland one of the younger sons of a Pomeroy family accompanied him in the capacity of chaplain, and among his descendants was Major-General Pomeroy, who served in the British army in America during the revolution. The family was founded in this country by two brothers, Eltweed and Eldred, who immigrated about 1635, and settled in Dorchester, Mass. The spelling of the name of the first above-mentioned has varied from that of his own signature of Pumery to the present Pomeroy. His Christian name is variously spelled - Elty, Eltwed, Eltweed and Eltwood, and there are even suggestions that the crabbed manuscript may mean Eldad or even Edward.

(I) Eltweed Pomeroy, the sturdy commodore and gunsmith, is believed to have come to Massachusetts in 1630 in the ship "Mary and John." He was made a freeman of the colony of Mass., March 4, 1632, and was one of the first settlers and proprietors of the town of Dorchester, where he was first selectman in 1633. Nothing is known of his parentage or place in England whence he came. In 1636-37 he removed with Rev. John Warham's congregation to Windsor, Conn., where land was granted in 1638. He had a house lot in the "Palisado," which he sold to Thomas Newell in 1641. He deeded land to his sons, the youngest receiving the little stone house built on his land adjoining his dwelling house.
His place in the meeting house was on the "long seats."
The Christian name of his first wife, mother of his children, was Mary, and they were probably married in England. She died July 5, 1655, in Windsor, and he married (second), Nov. 30, 1661, Lydia (Brown), widow of Thomas Parsons; he made generous provision, in 1665, for her. In 1671 he removed to Northampton, Mass., to live with his son, Medad Pomeroy. Tradition says that he became blind in his old age.
He died in March, 1673, probably aged seventy-eight years.
Children:
Eldad, Mary (died young), John, Medad (mentioned below), Kaleb, Mary, Joshua and Joseph.

(II) Medad, third son of Eltweed and Mary Pomeroy, was born Aug. 19, 1638, in Windsor, and removed to Northampton about the time he attained his majority. He was welcomed by the town of Northampton on account of his skill as a blacksmith, and was granted land and a chest of tools.
He was deacon of the church at Northampton, town clerk, 1691-1712; treasurer, 1693-1710; selectman, many years, several years justice of the county of Hampshire. He was also one of the committee for resettling Deerfield in 1680, and was clerk of the proprietors of that town and commissioner of the United Colonies. He was engaged in the fight with the Indians at Turners Falls, May 19, 1676.
He was a man of large estates, of liberal and independent mind and great strength of character, and was foremost among those determined to keep their civil and religious freedom.
He married (first), Nov. 21, 1661, Experience, daughter of Henry Woodward, of Dorchester and Northampton, died June 8, 1686. He married (second) Sept. 8, 1686, Abigail, daughter of elder John Strong, and widow of Rev. Nathaniel Chauncey, of Hatfield, died April 15, 1704 (see Strong). He married (third) Jan. 24, 1705, Hannah, daughter of William and Joanna Warriner, of Springfield, Mass., and widow of Thomas Noble, of Westfield, born Aug. 17, 1643. Medad Pomeroy died Dec. 30, 1716.
Children of first wife:
John, Joseph, Mehetabel, Ebenezer (mentioned below), Medad, Eliachim, Mindwell, Thankful, Mary, and John (died young).
One child by second wife:
Rev. Samuel.

(III) Ebenezer, third son of Medad and Experience (Woodward) Pomeroy, was born May 30, 1669, and died Jan. 27, 1754. He was captain and subsequently major of militia, commissioner and high sheriff.
He married (first), May 4, 1690, Hannah Strong, (second) Sarah King, born May 3, 1671, died Nov. 5, 1747. She was the mother of his children:
Sarah (died young), John, Ebenezer, Sarah, Simeon, Josiah, Seth (mentioned below), Daniel and Thankful.

(IV) General Seth, fifth son of Ebenezer and Sarah (King) Pomeroy, was born May 20, 1706, in Northampton, where his boyhood and youth were largely spent in learning the trade of his father, which had come down from the original immigrant. He became such an excellent gunsmith that the Indians of the five nations and the Canadians sent annual deputations to Northampton to exchange furs for guns of his manufacture. He was an excellent shot in his younger days, and was very successful in hunting deer, bear, wolves and foxes. He worked many years at his trade, and to his sagacity, prudence, foresight and great activity, Berkshire is indebted for the first great thoroughfare through her mountains.
In 1745 he joined the expedition against Louisburg, with a major's commission, and during the next ten years he held many responsible positions in his country's service. He participated in the expedition against Crown Point in 1755 under Sir William Johnson, going out as lieutenant-colonel and succeeding Colonel Ephraim Williams, who died at Lake George, Sept. 8th that year.
Seth Pomeroy was prominent in the congress of the province and was present at Cambridge all of the spring of 1775, organizing the men that gathered about Boston, and was present at the battle of Bunker Hill, where he was offered the command, but declined it. He fought all day, doubtless with one of his own muskets, and two years later recruited and led a regiment to join Washington's army on the Hudson. In this service he died, Feb. 19, 1777, at Peeksill, only a month after leaving his home. A monument to his memory has been erected at Peekskill by the Sons of the Revolution.
He married, Dec. 14, 1732, Mary, daughter of Jonathan and Mary (Williams) Hunt, born Nov. 14, 1705, died Sept. 11, 1777.
Children:
Rev. Seth, Quartos, Medad, Lemuel (mentioned below), Martha, Mary, Sarah, a son who died in infancy, and Ashael.

(V) Lemuel, fourth son of Seth and Mary (Hunt) Pomeroy, was born Sept. 24, 1737, in Northampton, and was forty years a member of the state legislature, and died in December, 1819, in Southampton.
He married (first) Louisa Pynchon, who died Oct. 6, 1775, aged thirty-six years, and (second) in 1776, Eunice, daughter of Deacon Elias and Anna (Phelps) Lyman. Like his father, Lemuel Pomeroy gave valuable service during the revolution. He was a captain of the fifth company in Colonel Israel Chapin's second Hampshire county regiment of the Massachusetts militia. His name appears on the list of officers commissioned July 6, 1778.

(VI) Lemuel (2), son of Lemuel (1) Pomeroy, was born about 1760-62, and resided in Pittsfield, Mass. He married Hart Lester.

(VII) Olivia Hart, daughter of Lemuel (2) and Hart (Lester) Pomeroy, was born May 13, 1801, and became the wife of Rev. Charles Dewey, of Rochester, N.Y. (see Dewey VI).

RETURN TO INDEX

Have these webpages helped you?
Please let us know in the Guestook.
[ Read / Sign my guestbook ]
Get a free Guestbook