M. (1) about 1653 in Hartford, Connecticut
Wife: Mary Woodford
M. (2) 1686 in Northampton, Massachusetts
Wife: Mehitable Gunn
D. 27 Jul 1708 in Northampton, Massachusetts
In Puritan New England, it was up to average citizens to police each other, and Isaac Sheldon played that role in Northampton, Massachusetts during its early years. He was of unknown origins in England, probably born in Essex in about 1629. Some have connected Isaac to parents from Derbyshire, but recent DNA evidence disproved that claim.
At some point, Isaac migrated to America, first turning up in records of Windsor, Connecticut in 1652. That year he was an unmarried young man who owned a house, which he had purchased within the previous two years. On September 13th, the town approved a request that he could share his house with another young man, Samuel Rockwell. The ruling stated that Samuel could live with him as long as they lived a “sober” life and “did not entertain idle persons to the evil expense of time by night and day.” This tells a story of how Puritan settlers had to follow a strict lifestyle within their community or they could be kicked out of their home. Presumably, Isaac and his friend didn’t throw any wild parties.
Not long after Isaac started sharing his house with a roommate, he was ready to move on in life, and he sold the place to Rockwell. In about 1653, he married Mary Woodford, a young woman from Hartford. They started their large family with the birth of a daughter in 1654. Then in about 1656, Isaac moved the family up the Connecticut River to the new settlement of Northampton, where they had 12 more children. Mary’s father, Thomas Woodford, also relocated to Northampton, maybe a little before Isaac did. Isaac’s 4-acre lot in Northampton was on the east side of King Street, next door to Woodford; he also had 35 acres of meadow outside of town, in a section colorfully named “Hog’s Bladder.”
Monument dedicated in 1954 on site of Isaac's Northampton land. (source: Find-a-Grave)
Northampton in its beginnings was primarily settled by families from Connecticut and they formed a tight community. Isaac was made selectman in December of 1656, which meant he was responsible for whatever duties the town assigned him. One of the first things a Puritan town did was to organize a church, and in 1659, a new minister was assigned to it. There was a concern in town that too much of the land had been taken by the earliest town members, so everyone was ordered to give up six of their acres of meadow to the new minister, who would then use it to attract more settlers. Isaac promised to do so, but he had second thoughts about it a few months later. He told the town he would only offer up four acres, and he demanded to be paid for the fencing and plowing he had already done on the land.
Isaac served the community in several ways over the years. In 1675, he was appointed on a committee of four men to oversee some neglected work in laying out roads in the meadows. When places like Northampton were settled, it was important to establish strips of land between people’s property for roads. In outlying areas, it became a problem because landowners ignored the boundaries, so it was up to people like Isaac to keep people from building their fences where the road was supposed to go.
Perhaps Isaac did well supervising the roads because in March 1678, he was appointed to be a tithing-man along with five others. The role of a tithing-man was to make sure everyone in town was abiding by the strict rules of the church. Each man was to keep a watch on 10 to 12 families for such things as selling liquor without a license and being too idle. They weren’t given any authority to enforce the rules, just to make lists of people and report it.
On April 17, 1684, Isaac’s wife Mary died, likely from complications with the birth of their 13th child that February. With a houseful of small children, it was necessary to find a new wife, and in 1686, Isaac married Mehitable Ensign (maiden name Gunn), who had been divorced from an unfaithful first husband. Mehitable brought three children into their marriage, and together they added one more with the birth of a son in 1687.
When Isaac was nearly 70-years-old, he was once more called upon to perform a service to his town. He was assigned in 1698 to be an “overseer of the poor" along with two other Northampton men. Part of his duty was to see that the genuinely needy were provided for, but also to make sure that those who were able to work weren’t cheating the system. Again Isaac was keeping people in line with the rules.
On July 27, 1708, Isaac died in Northampton, and he was buried in Bridge Street Cemetery. His wife Mehitable passed away in 1720. Isaac was an ancestor of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Frances Cleveland, Nancy Reagan and Humphrey Bogart.
Children by Mary Woodford:
1. Mary Sheldon — B. 4 Sep 1654, Windsor, Connecticut; D. 20 Apr 1728, Northampton, Massachusetts; M. John Bridgman (1645-1712), 11 Dec 1670, Northampton, Massachusetts
2. Isaac Sheldon — B. 4 Sep 1656, Northampton, Massachusetts; D. 29 Mar 1712, Northampton, Massachusetts; M. (1) Sarah Warner (1667-1701), 25 Nov 1685, Northampton, Massachusetts; (2) Mary Warner (~1678-?)
3. John Sheldon — B. 5 Dec 1658, Northampton, Massachusetts; D. 1733, Hartford, Connecticut; M. (1) Hannah Stebbins (1664-1704), 5 Nov 1679; (2) Elizabeth Lee (1669-1758), 20 Apr 1708, Hartford, Connecticut
4. Thomas Sheldon — B. 6 Aug 1661, Northampton, Massachusetts; D. 7 Jun 1725, Northampton, Massachusetts; M. Mary Hinsdale (1665-1738)
5. Ruth Sheldon — B. 27 Aug 1663, Northampton, Massachusetts; D. 16 May 1728, Massachusetts; M. (1) Joseph Wright (1657-1697); (2) Samuel Strong (1652-1732), 28 Oct 1698, Massachusetts
6. Thankful Sheldon — B. 27 Aug 1663, Northampton, Massachusetts; D. 1741, Northampton, Massachusetts; M. Benjamin Edwards (1652-1724)
7. Mindwell Sheldon — B. 24 Feb 1666, Northampton, Massachusetts; D. 8 Apr 1735, Northampton, Massachusetts; M. (1) John Pomeroy (1662-1685), 30 Apr 1684; (2) John Lyman (1660-1740), 19 Apr 1687, Northampton, Massachusetts
8. Joseph Sheldon — B. 1 Feb 1668, Northampton, Massachusetts; D. 2 Jul 1708, Boston, Massachusetts; M. Mary Whiting, 8 Sep 1695, Westfield, Massachusetts
9. Hannah Sheldon — B. 29 Jun 1670, Northampton, Massachusetts; D. 27 Jan 1742, Springfield, Massachusetts; M. (1) Samuel Chapin (1665-1729), 1690; (2) Thomas Terry (1665-1760), 22 Mar 1735, Springfield, Massachusetts
10. Ebenezer Sheldon — B. 1672, Northampton, Massachusetts; D. 1672, Northampton, Massachusetts
11. Samuel Sheldon — B. 9 Nov 1675, Windsor, Connecticut; D. 31 Mar 1745, Boston, Massachusetts; M. Mary Warner (~1677-?), 1695, Hadley, Massachusetts
12. Ebenezer Sheldon — B. 1 Mar 1678, Windsor, Connecticut; D. 18 Mar 1755, Northampton, Massachusetts; M. Mary Hunt (1680-1767)
13. Mercy Sheldon — B. 4 Feb 1684, Northampton, Massachusetts; D. 4 Feb 1684, Northampton, Massachusetts
Children by Mehitable Gunn:
1. Jonathan Sheldon — B. 29 May 1687, Northampton, Massachusetts; D. 10 Apr 1769, Suffield, Connecticut; M. Mary Southwell (1688-1768), 30 Dec 1708, Northampton, Massachusetts
Sources:
History of Northampton, Massachusetts, From Its Settlement in 1654, Volume 1, James Russell Trumbull, Seth Pomeroy, 1898
Early Northampton, Massachusetts D.A.R., 1914
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