52 Ancestors – Week 191
By Don Taylor

Elishaba Smith was born, lived her entire life, and died in New London County, Connecticut. What makes that statement so odd and what provided such a source for learning for me was that I learned that there is no county government nor county seat for New London County.  There isn’t a county government in any of Connecticut’s eight counties. In Connecticut, the towns are responsible for all local government. Although some neighboring towns might share resources, water, gas, the county is a mapping convention and has no government.

Darling-Huber 2017 – Ancestor #99

List of Grandparents

• Grandfather: Robert Harry Darling
• 1^st Great-grandfather: Rufus Harry Darling
• 2^nd Great-grandfather: Rufus Holton Darling
• 3^rd Great-grandmother: Sally Ann Munsell
• 4^th Great-grandmother: Elishaba Smith
• 5^th Great-grandfather: Hezekiah Smith

Elishaba Smith (1748-1803)

Elishaba Smith was born on either 15 or 16 February 1747 in Lyme, New London. She was the child of Hezekiah and Sarah (Chadwick) Smith.

Childhood

Connecticut was an up-and-coming place in the mid 1700s. In 1758 the New London Summary was founded by Timothy Green. The newspaper was discontinued when Timothy Green died in 1763. However, the paper was immediately replaced by Timothy Green’s nephew, also named Timothy Green, with the New London Gazette.

Marriage

Elishaba married Timothy Munsell in Lyme on 11 Feb 1768.

They had seven children.

Children of Timothy and Elishaba (Smith) Munsell

Adult

1790 Census shows the Timothy Munsell family living in New London. It indicates three males living there under the age of 16.  Timothy (Age 12), James Andross (Age 9), and Thomas (Age 6) would have been the correct ages to fit the family.  William Wescott was born in 1770 and would have been 20 at the time so he must have lived elsewhere.

The census record also shows two females in the household. Elishaba (age 43) and Sally Ann (age 10)

1798 – Timothy Munsell died leaving Elishaba a widow.

1800 Census show Elishaba Munsell as the head of household. Living with her is one female between 10 and 16 years of age who is presumed to be Sally Ann who was born between 1784 and 1786.

Death

Elishaba Munsell died on 16 Sep 1803. Her burial location is unknown.

Sources

• 1790 Census (A) (NARA), Ancestry.com, 1790 Census – Timothy Munsill – New London, Connecticut.
• 1800 Census, 1800 – Elisheba Munsell – Lyme, New London, Connecticut, United States. https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHR8-9SQ.
• Connecticut Town Birth Records, pre-1870 ((Barbour Collection)), Ancestry.com, Page 224 – Smith, Elishaba, d. Hezekiah & Sarah b. Feb 15 1747. https://search.ancestry.com/search/collections/CTvitalsBarbour/614776/printer-friendly.
• Connecticut, Town Marriage Records, pre-1870 (Barbour Collection), Ancestry.com, Page 315 – Munsell & Smith. https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?viewrecord=1&r=an&db=BarbourCTMar&indiv=try&h=198274.
• Connecticut, Town Marriage Records, pre-1870 (Barbour Collection), Ancestry.com, Page 395 –  https://search.ancestry.com/search/collections/BarbourCTMar/195566/printer-friendly?ftm=mac.
• Family Trees (FS), Family Search, Elisha Smith – L7FY­-9X1. https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/L7FY-9X1/details.
• Munsell, Frank, Genealogy of the Munsell family (Munsill, Monsell, Maunsell) in America, Internet Archive, Page 173 – Timothy Munsell born in 1745. https://archive.org/details/genealogyofmunse00muns.
• Rootsweb Family Trees, Ancestry.com, Munsell Family – Bil Munsil smunsil@cox.net. https://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nancygcunningham/MunsellBMaug2008/fam477.html.