Washburn Genealogy of Bridgewater Massachusetts

The Washburn family of Bridgewater, of which Mrs. Anna W. Bates and Mrs. George Eaton are descendants, is one of the first settled families of that place. The name has been variously spelled – Washburne, Washborn, Washborne, Washburn – but those bearing it in Plymouth county, use the form Washburn.

John Washburn, first of the name here, was an early settler in New England, and was a resident of Duxbury, Mass., before 1632, in which year he had an action in court against Edward Doten. He was named in the assessment of taxes in 1633, and in 1634 bought a place from Edward Bonparse known as “Eagle’s Nest.” He and his two sons, John and Philip, were included with those able to bear arms in 1643. He and his son John were original proprietors of Bridgewater, and they with the son Philip settled in the town as early as 1665. He died in Bridgewater before 1670.

John Washburn (2), son of John, located with his father in Bridgewater. He married in 1645 Elizabeth, daughter of Experience Mitchell, also of Bridgewater. Mr. Washburn made his home in Bridgewater and there died. His children were:

1. John Washburn
2. Thomas Washburn
3. Joseph Washburn
4. Samuel Washburn
5. Jonathan Washburn
6. Benjamin Washburn
7. Mary Washburn, born 1661, who married Samuel Kinsley
8. Elizabeth Washburn, who married (first) James Howard and (second) Edward Sealey
9. Jane Washburn, who married William Orcutt, Jr.
10. James Washburn, born in 1672
11. Sarah Washburn, who married in 1697 John Ames

John Washburn (3), son of John (2), was married in Bridgewater in 1679 to Rebecca Lapham, and their children were:

1. Josiah Washburn, born 1680
2. John Washburn, 1682
3. Joseph Washburn, 1683
4. William Washburn, 1686
5. Abigail Washburn, 1688 (married 1717 Josiah Leonard)
6. Rebecca Washburn (married 1719 David Johnson)

John Washburn (3) died between 1719 and 1724.

John Washburn (4), son of John (3), was born in 1682 in Bridgewater. In 1710 he married Margaret Packard, daughter of Nathaniel Packard, and they became the parents of children as follows:

1. John Washburn, born 1711
2. Nathaniel Washburn, 1713
3. Robert Washburn, 1715
4. Abraham Washburn, 1717
5. Margaret Washburn, 1718 (married in 1741, Ephraim Holmes)
6. Abishai Washburn, 1720
7. Jane Washburn, 1722 (married in 1745 Thomas Thompson)
8. Content Washburn, 1724 (married in 1746 Joseph Lathrop)

Nathaniel Washburn, son of John (4) and Margaret, was born in 1713 in Bridgewater, and in that town made his home as long as he lived. He there married Mary Pratt, of Middleboro, Mass., and their children were:

1. Lucy Washburn, born 1740, who married in 1756 Nathaniel Morton, of Halifax, Mass.
2. Abraham Washburn, born 1742
3. Nathaniel Washburn

Hannah Washburn, who married in 1762 Moses Snell. The father died, and the mother married for her second husband, in 1753, Eleazer Cary.

Capt. Abraham Washburne, son of Nathaniel, was born in the town of Bridgewater in 1742. In 1765 he married Rebecca Leonard, daughter of Josiah Leonard. Their children were:

1. Nathaniel Washburne, born 1766
2. Chloe Washburne, 1768 (married in 1789 Edward Mitchell, Jr.)
3. Abraham Washburne, 1772
4. Seth Washburne, 1776
5. Abram Washburne, 1779
6. Lucy Washburne, 1781 (married in 1813 Lawson Lyon, of Boston, and second Abel Whitney, of Boston)

Abraham Washburne was a soldier in the Revolution, and his record taken from the list of Sailors and Soldiers of Massachusetts in the Revolutionary war is as follows: Abraham Washburn, Captain of Bridgewater company, Col. Edward Mitchell’s regiment, served six days; company marched to Horse Neck in Braintree, March 4, 1776. Also captain in Col. John Cushing’s regiment, engaged Sept. 18, 1776 – service sixty-two days and a half; company stationed at Newport, R. I.; roll dated Bridgewater. Also captain on list of officers appointed to command several companies of a regiment drafted for Brig. Gen. Joseph Cushing’s brigade and Brig. Gen. Otis’s (Barnstable county) brigade, to be commanded by Col. John Cushing, Jr., and ordered to march to Rhode Island, as returned by Joseph Cushing, to Major Gen. Warren, dated Hanover, Oct. 30, 1776; company raised in Bridgewater. Also in Capt. Edward Mitchell’s regiment ó served sixteen days; company marched to Bristol, R. I., Dec. 8, 1776. Also in Col. Abijah Stern’s regiment; pay roll made up for service of said Washburn company from April 11, 1778, to July 2, 1778, at Castle Island. Also captain in Major Nathaniel Goodwin’s detachment, Col. Jacob Gerrish’s regiment of guards, engaged July 10, 1778, discharged Dec. 18, 1778 – service five months and nine days at and about Boston, term six months to expire Jan. 1, 1779. Also captain in Major Eliphalet Cary’s regiment, marched July 30, 1780, discharged Aug. 9, 1780 – served eleven days; company marched to Rhode Island on an alarm. Also captain in Col. Theophilus Cotton’s regiment, marched March 10, 1781 – service, twenty-two days; company marched to Newport, R. I., to serve forty days; roll dated Bridgewater.

Seth Washburn, Esq., son of Capt. Abraham, born Sept. 23, 1776, at the beginning of the great struggle for independence, grew to manhood and secured such education as was possible during those troublesome times. In his young manhood he came west to Ohio, locating in what is now Marietta, at that time a wilderness. After a few years he returned to Bridgewater, and became interested in the manufacture of cotton gins, forming a partnership with Eleazer Carver and others under the firm name of Carver, Washburn & Co. This business was conducted in Bridgewater, this firm being the pioneer in that industry in that part of New England. Mr. Washburn later bought a large tract of land near Titicut, in the town of Bridgewater, where he passed the remainder of his life. He died April 30, 1858, well known as an enterprising, public-spirited man. He married (first) in Marietta, Ohio, Bathsheba Loring, who died without issue, and in 1812 he married (second) Sarah (Carver) Willis, widow of Benjamin Willis, and daughter of Dr. Eleazer Carver, a well known physician and surgeon, who fought through the Revolutionary war as follows:

“Eleazer Carver, adjutant, 3d Plymouth county regiment, list of officers of Massachusetts militia, dated Bridgewater April 24, 1776, ordered in council April 27, 1776, that a commission be issued; was also with Col. Edward Mitchell’s regiment, marched to Bristol, R. I., on the alarm of Dec. 8, 1776 – service sixteen days. Dr. Eleazer Carver was surgeon in Major Eliphalet Cary’s regiment, marched July 30, 1780, discharged Aug. 9, 1780 – service eleven days, on an alarm at Tiverton, R. I.; roll sworn to in Plymouth county. Was also surgeon in hospital at Watertown, date and year not given.”

To Seth and Sarah Washburn were born four children:

1. Sarah Washburn, born 1812, who died unmarried
2. Anna Washburn, born 1814, who died in 1819
3. Seth Washburn, born 1817
4. Hosea Washburn, born 1819

Seth Washburn, Jr., son of Seth, born in Bridgewater Feb. 10, 1817, was educated in the local schools and in Bridgewater Academy, and completed his schooling in a Friends’ school at Bolton, Mass., taught by Thomas Ery. His school days over he went home and settled on the home farm, where he passed the remainder of his life. He died there Sept. 2, 1891, at the age of seventy-four years, and was laid to rest in the family lot in the South burial ground. In his political faith he was a Democrat up to the time of the Civil war, when he became a Republican, but he never cared for public office. He was a man of studious habits, and was well read. On Nov. 29, 1839, he married Casindania Pratt, who was born Dec. 25, 1820, daughter of William and Polly Keyser (Keith) Pratt, and they celebrated their golden wedding Nov. 29, 1889, at their home in Titicut, surrounded by their children and grandchildren, as well as friends from all over the county. Mrs. Washburn was a faithful member of the Church of the New Jerusalem. She died July 7, 1902, and was buried beside her husband in the South burial ground near their farm. The children of Seth and Casindania Washburn were:

1. Anna Washburn, born Sept. 19, 1840, married Joshua Bates
2. Seth Benjamin Washburn, born Dec. 5, 1843, died July 26, 1882
3. Lucy Washburn, born Oct. 14, 1847, married April 30, 1872, George Eaton, of Augusta, Maine, and lives in Bridgewater
4. Edward Washburn, born Jan. 26, 1850, died unmarried Aug. 21, 1899

To Mr. and Mrs. George Eaton were born the following children:

1. Rev. Russell Eaton, born July 6, 1873, a minister in the Church of the New Jerusalem, now located at Urbana, Ohio, married Harriet L. James, who died Sept. 1, 1909, leaving two children
   1. George Eaton, born June 5, 1906
   2. Harriet James Eaton, born July 24, 1908
2. William Wise Eaton, born Oct. 1, 1875, a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at Boston, and now a resident of Philadelphia, where he is engaged in the laundry business with his father-in-law, Morgan Esler, married Florence Esler, and they have three children:
   1. Elizabeth Russell Eaton, born Aug. 1, 1902
   2. Benjamin Eslerv, born Sept. 9, 1903
   3. Ella Warren Eaton, born Sept. 30, 1905
3. Amherst Eaton, born Oct. 27, 1877, is engaged in the newspaper business at Urbana, Ohio, where he is connected with the Daily Citizen
4. George Eaton, Jr., born June 14. 1880, now a teacher at the National Farm School at Doylestown, Pa., which is conducted by Dr. John H. Washburn, married Martha J. Nye, of Bridgewater, and they have one child
   1. Casindania Pratt Nye Eaton
5. Jane Sprague Eaton, born Aug. 12, 1883, a graduate of Wellesley College, class of 1905, and for a time a teacher at Chester, Mass., married June 28, 1910, Howard Augustine Newton, of Winchester, Massachusetts.