Descendants of Captain Samuel Bliss, Sr.

 

 

NOTE: The below HTML series of pages has a lot of material. However, this PDF contains more recent updates, more information, and several pictures. Its size is about 4 MB with 174 physical pages.

 

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Generation No. 2

 

2.  SAMUEL⁸ BLISS (SAMUEL "CAPTAIN"⁷) was born 9-4-1761 in Rehoboth, Bristol Co., MA, and died 3-15-1837 in Gilboa, Schoharie Co., NY.  He married ANNA MASON 9-16-1790 in Cheshire, Berkshire Co., MA, daughter of BROOKS MASON and ANNE EDDY.  She was born 9-5-1768 in Lanesborough, Berkshire Co., MA, and died 1-10-1840 in Gilboa, Schoharie Co., NY.

 

Notes for SAMUEL BLISS:

Samuel was a carpenter by occupation.

 

He served over a period of three years in the Revolutionary army, though not continuously, and it has often been claimed that he was a private in Capt. Cole's Company. [The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) have Samuel listed as a "Colonel" in their records.]

 

Near the end of his last enlistment Samuel became sick at Sakonnet Point, Newport Co., Rhode Island, to where he had marched after the Battle of Butts Hill, a “Battle on Rhode Island between the Americans under General Sullivan & the British.” This illness required hospitalization and basically ended his active participation in the Revolutionary War. His father would fetch him back to Rehoboth from Freetown, Bristol County, Massachusetts, where Samuel’s regiment was then located.

 

During his enlistments, Samuel served under a number of officers, including Colonel [Timothy?] Walker, Captain Israel Hicks (variously spelled Hix; other regiments Hicks/Hix served in were those of colonels Thomas Carpenter and John Daggett), Lieutenant James Horton, Ensign Samuel Carpenter; Colonel John Jacob, Captain Jacob Fuller, Lieutenant Samuel Horton, Ensign Michael Mollon, etc. The following paragraph is about Lieutenant James Horton.

 

http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/RIGENWEB/2003-03/1047054549

Lieutenant James Horton was born July 10, 1741, died in Rehoboth, Mass., August 10, 1833. In March, 1776, he was commissioned a first lieutenant in Captain Stephen Bullock's Sixth Company, Colonel Thomas Carpenter's first Bristol regiment of Massachusetts militia. He was later first lieutenant in Captain Simeon Crary's regiment, General John Fellow's brigade, and was in the list of men stationed in New York for five months, taking part in the evacuation of New York and the battle of White Plains. After that battle he was transferred to Captain Hix's company, Colonel John Daggett's regiment. Lieutenant Horton was in command of a company in Colonel Thomas Carpenter's regiment for eight days, August 1, 1780, to August 8, 1780, when the company marched to Tiverton, R. I., on an alarm. He was a very vigorous, active man, and lived to the age of ninety-two years.

 

The following is some important genealogical information gleaned from Samuel’s pension application.

 

Samuel "was born in the Town of Rehoboth in the County of Bristol in the State

of Massachussetts, where he resided until the spring of the year 1782; when he removed to the State of Rhode Island, where he resided until the spring of the year 1785; when he moved to the County of Berkshire in the State of Massachusetts, where he resided <Page 3> until the spring of the year 1803, when he resided in the County of Saratoga in the State of New York until the year 1807, when he moved to the Town of Pownall in the County of Bennington, in the State of Vermont, where he resided until the spring of the year 1815, when he removed to the now Town of Broome in the County of Schoharie, State of New York, where he has since resided." The preceding was from a declaration made by Samuel "in open court before the Honorable William Beckmann, Harry Shafer and William Mann, The Court of Common Pleas of the County of Schoharie in the State of New York," which occurred the "sixth day of January in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred thirty three."

 

[Michael Fitzgerald, Samuel’s 6^th great grandson, has transcribed National Archives copies of pension/service-related sworn statements by Samuel and his sister Esther (Bliss) Kingsley, wife of Cranston Kingsley. He has also provided the following excerpt:

 

From the collection of Beatrice Mattice, Conesville Town Historian. There is an excerpt from a letter to the previous town historian Kathrine X. Harrington, dated 28 April 1977.

 

"At least one other veteran of the Revolution is buried in the same cemetery (Flat Creek), my great, great grandfather Samuel Bliss (with his wife, Anna Mason) whose father Captain Samuel Bliss, also fought in the Revolutionary War, but is buried in Rehoboth, Massachussetts <sic !>. The "Flat Creek" Samuel Bliss served in the First New York Regiment of the Line, under Col. Goose Van Schaick, and was at the Battle of Saratoga, and several of the other battles participated in by the Famous First New York Regiment of the Line. I have his pension certificate, issued many years after the Revolution for his service in that War; as I recall it, he received a pension of $33.33 per year!
Sincerely,
F. Walter Bliss."]

 

From: The 1st New York Regiment in the Revolutionary War http://www.myrevolutionarywar.com/states/ny/ny-01.htm

 

1st New York Regiment was raised on May 25, 1775 at Albany, New York for service with the Continental Army under Colonel Van Schaick. The regiment would see action in the Invasion of Canada, Battle of Valcour Island, Battle of Saratoga, Battle of Monmouth, the Sullivan Expedition and the Battle of Yorktown. The regiment would be furloughed June 2, 1783 at Newburgh, New York and disbanded November 15, 1783.

 

Samuel was buried at the Flat Creek Cemetery, Gilboa, NY, on Flat Creek Road near Parsonage Hill Rd. (His age at time of death was written on the headstone as "76 years 4 Mo & 11 days," which, if correct, would make his date of birth 11-4-1760.)

 

Notes for ANNA MASON:

Anna was a 2nd great-granddaughter of Sampson and Mary (Butterworth) Mason of England and Rehoboth, Bristol County, MA.

 

Sampson and his father Robert Mason fought in the English civil war against King Charles I, and Robert died at the Battle of Bolton during that conflict.

 

At least one account has Anna born 9-5-1771.

 

Anna was buried at the Flat Creek Cemetery, Gilboa, NY, on Flat Creek Road near Parsonage Hill Rd.

 

Marriage Notes for SAMUEL BLISS and ANNA MASON:

Samuel Bliss, Jr. and "Anny Mason" were married in the Second Baptist Church of Cheshire, Berkshire Co., MA, by Elder Nathan Mason (who died there 26 March, 1804).

 

NOTE (From Michael J. Fitzgerald, Ph. D.): The hand written "marriage entry" for Samuel and "Anny" is in an early Marriage Book from Lanesborough. It lists their marriage as taking place on 16 September 1790, but the History of the Town of Lanesborough, Mass., 1741-1905, Part 1, by Charles Palmer, 1905, has their marriage as 6 September 1790, in Appendix VIII, p. 49—perhaps, a transcription error?? I guess we can take our pick, but I prefer the handwritten one myself.

 

They settled at Galway, NY, and later at Gilboa, Schoharie Co., NY.

 

http://www.rootsweb.com/~nyschoha/towns.html

GILBOA *- was formed from Blenheim and Broome, March 16, 1848. It is the central town upon the S. border of the co. Its surface is a mountainous upland, broken by deep ravines. Schoharie Creek* flows N. through the center, receiving Platter Kil from the E. and Mine Kil from the W. The streams are bordered by steep hillsides rising to a height of 2,000 to 3,000 ft. above tide. The soil is a gravelly and clayey loam. Gilboa, (p.v.) upon Schoharie Creek, contains 2 churches, a private seminary, cotton factory,** gristmill, tannery, and 566 inhabitants. South Gilboa, (p.v.) in the W. part, contains a church and 20 dwellings. West Gilboa, (p.o.) in the N.W. part, is a hamlet. Mackeys Corners, (Broome Center p.o.) in the E. part, contains a church and 15 dwellings. Mine Kil Falls is a p.o. Settlement was commenced in 1764, by Matthew and Jacob Dise.*** The first preacher was Rev. Joel Peebles, settled in 1808.

*A fall in the creek at the village was called by the Indians De-was-e-go.

**The Gilboa Cotton Mills Co. has a capital of $50,000, and runs 100 looms.

http://www.rootsweb.com/~nyschoha/gilcemrv.html

Cemetery Reinterments - Gilboa

The main street of the village of Gilboa was razed in October of 1925. Its site became part of the artificial lake, five miles long and holding twenty-two billion gallons of water, which provides water to the City of New York. The years of 1918 through 1921 saw the removals and reinterments, from the cemeteries of Gilboa, to make way for this new reservoir.

 

Children of SAMUEL BLISS and ANNA MASON are:

            i.          Susan H.⁹ Bliss, b. 2-22-1792; d. 8-23-1793, Gilboa, Schoharie Co., NY.

4.         ii.          Harvey Carpenter Bliss, b. 1-10-1794, Gilboa, Schoharie Co., NY;
                        d. 5-14-1874, Gilboa, Schoharie Co., NY.

            iii.         Lydia Bliss, b. 6-4-1795; d. 6-4-1861; m. Samuel More; b. Aft. 1785.

5.         iv.         Anna Bliss, b. 5-19-1797, Lanesborough, Berkshire Co., MA;
                        d. 2-28-1862, LaGrange, Cass Co., MI.

            v.         Samuel Bliss, b. 1-8-1799; d. 4-10-1812.

6.         vi.         Calvin Hall Bliss, b. 12-20-1802, Galway, Saratoga Co., NY;
                        d. 4-27-1891, Farmville, Prince Edward Co., VA.

7.         vii.        Barnum Bliss, b. 3-20-1805, Galway, Saratoga Co., NY; d. 1-14-1893.

8.         viii.       Susan Bliss, b. 3-10-1807; d. 7-31-1867, Cohoes, Albany Co., NY.

9.         ix.         Nathaniel Franklin Bliss, b. 6-5-1808, Pownal, Bennington Co., VT;
                        d. 10-6-1876, Stevens Point, Portage Co., WI.

 

 

3.  ESTHER⁸ BLISS (SAMUEL "CAPTAIN"⁷) was born 3-4-1764, and died 5-10-1848.  She married CRANSTON KINGSLEY.  He died 12-13-1847.

 

Notes for ESTHER BLISS:

See the statement Esther made in support of her brother Samuel’s Revolutionary War pension claim.

 

Esther was buried at the Flat Creek Cemetery, Gilboa, NY, on Flat Creek Road near Parsonage Hill Rd.

 

Notes for CRANSTON KINGSLEY:

Cranston was buried at the Flat Creek Cemetery, Gilboa, NY, on Flat Creek Road near Parsonage Hill Rd.

     

Children of ESTHER BLISS and CRANSTON KINGSLEY are:

             i.   Sarah⁹ Kingsley, d. 4-12-1890; m. Hezekiah Fuller; d. 3-3-1888.

 

Notes for Sarah Kingsley:

Sarah was buried at the Flat Creek Cemetery, Gilboa, NY, on Flat Creek Road near Parsonage Hill Rd.

 

Notes for Hezekiah Fuller:

Hezekiah was buried at the Flat Creek Cemetery, Gilboa, NY, on Flat Creek Road near Parsonage Hill Rd.

 

            ii.   William Kingsley, d. 1-13-1888.

 

Notes for William Kingsley:

William was buried at the Flat Creek Cemetery, Gilboa, NY, on Flat Creek Road near Parsonage Hill Rd.