| Notes |
- "Two Samuel and Hannah Hutchinses of Massachusetts and Maine", by David Kendall Martin in TAG, Vol 73 [July 1998], pp. 172-175:
"During the early eighteenth century, there were two contemporary Samuel Hutchinses, one in Haverhill, Essex County, Massachusetts, and the other in Kittery, York County, Maine, who each married a woman named Hannah. The possibility of confusing them has apparently not been recognized by family historians, with the result that the wife of one is sometimes assigned, without comment, as wife of the other-- even by the same author. For example, inDescendants of John Hutchins of Newbury and Haverhill, Massachusetts, compiled by Edwin Colby Byam and edited by Jack Randolph Hutchins, we find that Samuel3 Hutchins (1682-1778), son of Joseph2 Hutchins (John1) and Joanna (Corliss) of Haverhill, married in Newbury, Massachusetts on 4 January 1715/6, Hannah Merrill, daughter of John and Lucy (Webster) Merrill. In 1976 Jack Randolph Hutchins published The Story of Jacob Hutchins of Athol, Massachusetts, Revolutionary Soldier, wherein he placed on a chart of the descendants of Enoch1 Hutchins and Mary (Stevenson) of Kittery, their son Samuel2 Hutchins (ca. 1685-1742) as husband of Hannah Merrill. In Hugh Hutchins of Old England, Jack Randolph Hutchins repeated his identification of the wife of Samuel Hutchins, son of Enoch, as Hannah Merrill; and in Robert Hutchins of Colonial America, he gave the same identification on page 334, while on pages 408 and 410 he noted Samuel Hutchins, the son of Joseph and Johannah (Corliss) Hutchins, as husband of Hannah Merrill.
The answer lies in the arrangement of entries for the vital records entered in the transcribed "Haverhill Town Meeting Records 1643-1724, 2 & 3", when compared with the wills of each of the two Samuel Hutchinses.
One Samuel Hutchins was born in Haverhill, Essex County, Massachusetts, on 20 August 1682, a son of Joseph and Joanna (Corliss) Hutchins, "Mr. Samuel Hutchins of Norwich, formerly of Haverhill in Massachusetts Bay", died at Norwich, New London County, Connecticut, on 15 May 1778, aged 96 years, 9 months and two days, leaving a will dated 23 May 1774 and proved on 2 June 1778, in which he mentions his children Hannah, Samuel, Abigail Fales, and Nathan. No wife is mentioned in the will. The vital records of Haverhill show as children of Samuel Hutchins and Hannah "Marrill": Samuel born on 17 September 1716, Hannah born on 1 May 1717 [sic: 1718?], Nathan born on 1 April 1722, and Abigail born on 1 June 1724. The death of Hannah, wife of Samuel Hutchins on 9 June 1744 is also recorded.
Meanwhile, about 25 miles northeast of Haverhill, the parish records of the First Church and Society of Kittery, Maine, note that in 1714 another Samuel Hutchins was one of the eighteen subscribers to the church's covenant. This Samuel was the son of Enoch Hutchins of Kittery. Enoch had married on 5 April 1664, Mary Stevenson.
Although the year of this Samuel's birth is usually given as about 1685, he must have been born earlier, say about 1677, since he was given a land grant in Kittery in 1699. He and his brother Benjamin were the original administrators of the estate of their Brother Enoch Hutchins Jr., who died in Kittery on 2 April 1706. They were replaced by Enoch's widow on 13 January 1706/7, after her return from captivity in Canada, where she had been taken on 4 May 1705.
The Kittery First Church and Society parish records note on 26 April 1719 the baptism of infants: Sarah Hutchins, Caleb Hutchins, Samuel Hutchins, Hannah Hutchins and Simeon Hutchins. No parents are named, however, the will cited below makes clear these are the children of Samuel Hutchins of Kittery. Given the normal two year interval between single births, this would indicate a marriage date of say 1710.
During the 1720s, this Samuel lived briefly in Essex County, Massachusetts. In 1724 Samuel sold his dwelling in Kittery. On 4 March 1723/4, John Webster Jr., of Salisbury, Essex County, Massachusetts, weaver for £363 sold to Mr. Samuel Hutchins of Kittery, yeoman, the farm in Salisbury "I now live on". On 11 May 1727, Samuel Hutchins of Salisbury, yeoman, for £400 sold this land to Mr. Edward Brown of "Reding". The same day Hannah Hutchins surrendered her dower rights, and both acknowledged the deed. By 30 June 1729, Samuel had settled in Arundel, Maine, where Samuel [his X mark] Hutchins, husbandman, of Arundel, York County, wrote his will on 20 October 1742, naming his wife Hannah and nine children. He died before 28 December 1742, the date his will was probated. His widow hannah died on 9 June 1747. Samuel and Hannah had ten children: the five whose baptisms are given above, and apparently born after 1719: Mary, Lydia, Joseph, Levi, and David, each named in his will, which also names children Simeon, Caleb, Samue, and Hannah. [no Sarah]
Newbury, Massachusetts, vital records note the marriage of Samuel Hutchins to Hannah Merrill, both of Haverhill, on 4 January 1715/6. As we have seen, this marriage has been attributed to both Samuel and Hannah of Haverhill and Samuel and Hannah of Kittery, Salisbury, and Arundel.
When the wills of these two Samuels are compared with the family record of Samuel Hutchins and Hannah "Marrill" preserved in the Haverhill Town Records, it is clear that the Samuel Hutchins who married Hannah Merrill was the son of Joseph and Johannah (Corliss) Hutchins of Haverhill.
Hannah merrill's family is revealed by Essex County. Massachusetts, deeds where it is recorded that on 26 July 1720 Lucy Merrill, widow of John Merrill late of Haverhill, who had been appointed administrator of his estate on 11 November 1707, deeded to "my son-in-law Samuel Hutchins & my son Nathaniel Merrill", both of Haverhill, 25 acres in haverhill, bounded west by Joseph Hutchins, "my father[-in-law] Nathaniel Merrill late of Newbury did give to my children.
The identity of Hannah, wife of Samuel2 Hutchins (Enoch1) of Kittery remains unknown."
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Abt 1677 - Bef 1742 (~ 65 years)
