Re: Maletha Mandeville 1805 Massachusetts
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In reply to:
Maletha Mandeville 1805 Massachusetts
12/21/01
Maletha was the oldest child of Benoni Mandeville and Dolly Waite.
Benoni "died 7/31/1861 aged 82 yrs, 5 mos & 5 d's" according to a transcription from his monument.He died in Poughkeepsie, NY and is buried in nearby Freedom Plains.
Benoni's parents were John Mandeville and Elizabeth ?.I have no dates, but John settled in Granby MA and was a successful trader, merchant & planter.He died and is buried in Delaware Co. (now Masonville), NY.
John Mandeville's father was John David Mandeville who settled in Orange Co, NY about 1717-1727 and was a farmer (4000 acres).
The Mandevilles were Hugenots who came to America from England, having fled that country from France to escape religious persecution; although, I don't know who or whenthe first one in America was.
Benoni's wife Dolly Waite was born around 1776 and died 1811. Her parents, names unknown, were among first settlers of Delaware Co., NY - along with 7 other families (3 of them their own children).Dolly's father was the first person buried there (Masonville).
Benoni and Dolly Waite Mandeville had 5 children: Maletha, Sumner (b. Feb. 15, 1800), Appleton (b. Feb. 26, 1802), Mathena, and Eliza.I only have dates for Sumner and Appleton.This listing of children comes from a little book kept in my family, Sumner's autobiography, in which he refers to Maletha as his “eldest sister” and later mentions his “two younger sisters, Mathena and Eliza, as well as his brother Appleton (my g-g-grandfather)Maletha, as Sumner's older sister, would have been born circa 1798.Mathena would be circa 1804, and Eliza circa 1806.
In this little autobiograph, the early part of Sumner's life is recorded.It will provide some clues for you as to Maletha and the Mandeville family...
"I was born, in what is now called Masonville, Delaware county, New York, on the fifteenth of February, 1800.The country was then an almost unbroken wilderness.Some of my earliest recollections are of the howling of wolves, and seeing deer and other wild animals.In the winter of 1806-07 my father sent me to our friends in Granby, Massachusetts.
"There I lived two years with an uncle of my father's, Deacon Ebenezer Smith.In the winter of 1808-09, my mother and the rest of the family also came to Granby.Father remained behind teaching school.During the summer of 1806, I worked for Gad Alvord; the winter following with my uncle Bartlett, in South Hadley, who had taken my eldest sister, Maletha, and kept her till she married.In the Spring of 1810 I went to live with Levi Taylor, who married father's aunt.In 1811 my dear mother died.She was an amiable, lovely woman, very dear to me, though I had been with her but little since 1806.
"Leaving his children in Granby with different relatives, my father made his way to Orwell, Bradford county, Pennsylvania.Here he finally married and settled on a farm of three hundred acres.In the fall of 1813, he sent for me and two younger sisters, Mathena and Eliza; brother Appleton and Maletha staying in Massachusetts.It was a long, tedious journey..."
It is in this little autobiography, that the information on the Waite family, above, is contained.