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CHAPTER VII.

THE THIRD AND FOURTH GENERATIONS.

Not power or fame they coveted; they sought, through good and ill,
Freedom to serve the Lord they loved - freedom to learn his will!
And through long lives of honest toil they kept his blessing still.

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THE THIRD GENERATION.

11.

JOHN STEERE, eldest son of John (2), grandson of John Steere, Sen. (1), was a resident of Glocester, having removed thither from Smithfield. He was probably born about 1700. He married Hannah He was made a freeman of the town January 27, 1723, at the same time with his brother Hosea, Thomas Williams, Jr., William Walling, John Gorton, etc., whose names were returned to the General Assembly for their acceptance to be made freemen of the Colony. Probably this was about the time of his marriage. He was a grand juryman the same year. But little is known respecting him beyond what has been already noted in the account of his father's family. He died in Glocester May 21, 1756, intestate. His inventory, approved June 10, 1756, amounted to £519 15s. His brother, Hosea Steere, was appointed administrator of his estate.

Child:

31 A daughter who married Joram Kinyon. John Steere deeded to J. Kinyon, his son-in-law, twenty-three acres in Glocester, for love, on the 7th of February, 1742.

John and Hosea Steere of Glocester united in a deed on the 6th of June, 1748, for the consideration of £7, to James Bloss of Glocester, of one third part of a certain lot in Glocester, containing in whole forty-eight acres and a half, being one of the small lots that were laid out adjoining the east line of the Colony of Connecticut, and in the third part of the lot No. 25.

12.

HOSEA STEERE, second son of John Steere (2), grandson of John Steere, Sen.

(1), was born about 1702. in Glocester, where he was

He married Sarah

He married Sarah, and took up his residence a farıner. As early as 1724 he was made freeman of

the town, with his brother John. A record of his being made freeman is again found in May, 1725. August 31, 1724, he was witness with his father to a deed from Edward Hawkins to Joseph Mowry. His elder brother John declining administration of his father's estate, Hosea was appointed to the trust. He also acted in the same capacity with reference to the estate of his mother in 1748, August 28th. Two years later he presented receipts from his brothers John and Hezekiah for legacies of £222 os. 3d. each, and from the guardians of his brother Wickenden Steere, viz.: John Aldrich and Thomas Steere, for a life legacy, and also for £72 15s. from his father's estate. He purchased, February 20, 1748, from Hezekiah, son of William Herendeen, eight and one third acres of common land, to be taken up on the west side of the Seven Mile Line, within the township of Scituate or Glocester, on the original right of William Wickenden, and in the one hundred acre division. Hosea Steere was alive in 1772, when he sold to Israel Wilkinson a certain piece of cedar swamp situated in Smithfield, and in the swamp commonly known by the name of "Mattaley." The subscribing witnesses were John Steere, Jr., and Richard Steere.

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33 II. NOAH, m., 1st,; 2d, Sally Cady of Killingly, Conn.; 3d, Ruth Wilbur of Smith

field, f.

34 III. JOHN, probably m., 1st, February 8, 1755, Deborah Phillips; 2d, June 29, 1799, Sarah

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13.

HEZEKIAH STEERE, son of John Steere (2), grandson of John Steere, Sen. (1), married, September 23, 1744, Widow Tryphenia Paine. Perhaps he had been previously married. February 4, 173, he was a resident of Smithfield, as he was made freeman of that town at that date by the General Assembly. He removed to Scituate, where he died September 6, 1762. Samuel Winsor, Esq., and Ezekiel Angell, both of Smithfield (who were by the Town Council appointed guardians of Hezekiah Steere and his family), appearing before the Town Council with Tryphenia, the widow, Messrs. Winsor and Angell were appointed administrators. The inventory amounted to £5,903 17s. 1d. His wife died in Scituate in 1795, having made her will April 4, 1794. She mentions her daughter Ruth Aldrich, who may have been by her former marriage; also her grandchildren Richard Casey, Hannah Tarbox, Experience Graham, and Nancy Carroll.

Children:

35

I. RACHEL, M., June 3, 1770, William Graham, son of James Graham.

36 II. TRYPHENIA, who probably died before her mother, as she is not mentioned in her mother's

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HON. THOMAS STEERE, son of Thomas Steere (5), grandson of John, Sen. (1), was born October 9, 1704, and was a resident of Smithfield. In the year 1733 his father deeded land to him, and in 1735 left him, in his will, all his lands on the easterly side of the Great Bridge, making provision, however, that his stepmother should be comfortably housed and maintained. March 20, 1735, he bought of Joseph Smith, for £6, a parcel of land to be taken up on the east side of the Seven Mile Line, containing twenty acres, to be laid out in the undivided lands, on the twenty acre division and upon the original right of Joseph Smith's grandfather, Edward Smith, deceased.* April 2, 1739, in connection with Daniel Jenckes he bought of David Wilkinson one hundred acres of land in Smithfield, bounded by land of Edward Bishop, the Crookfall River, the Pawtucket River, and lands of Samuel Wilkinson and William Sprague. The sum named in the deed is £3. July 28, 1743, he deeded, for £15 in bills, to Gideon Comstock of Smithfield, thirty acres of land to be taken up and laid out of the common or undivided land on the west side of the Seven Mile Line, within either the townships of Scituate or Glocester, on the original right of his grandfather, John Steere, and in the one hundred and twenty acre division. May 24, 1754, he bought of Joseph and Ruth Aldrich of Smithfield, for £200 old tenor, a certain tract of thirty acres which the latter had purchased of Joshua Winsor, Jr., bordering on a highway and logway leading to Slang Brook.‡ March 29, 1766, he bought of his brother, Richard Steere of Glocester, one half part of that land situate in Smithfield adjoining and partly under the dwellinghouse of Philip Smith that their grandfather Richard Arnold formerly set apart for the use of his mills, containing in the whole about six acres.§ April 28, 1768, he bought of Abraham and Rebecca Smith, and Jahal and Kezia Smith, fifty acres in Smithfield, on the northeast side of the highway that leads to the Stillwater bridge.|| June 6, 1774, he bought of Job Mowry, Jr., of Smithfield, for £2 75., six acres and over in Smithfield, on the north part of the swamp called Cedar Swamp.T

Thomas Steere was one of a committee appointed by the Quarterly Meeting of Friends held at Portsmouth in October, 1768, praying the General Assembly to pass an act to prevent the selling of liquors, and the playing at any games,

* Smithfield Records, vol. 2.

† Ibid., vol. I, p. 531.

‡ Ibid. vol. 3, p. 384.

$ Smithfield Records, vol. 5, p. 419.

|| Ibid., vol. 6, p. 167.

¶ Ibid., vol. 6, p. 393.

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