The Underground Railroad…Across Town: The Story of Toby Talbot [sic] of Bridgewater, Massachusetts

NOTE:  The following story uses paraphrases and quotes from historically contemporary records which may contain sensitive language that does not apply to modern times. The language does not reflect the viewpoints of the author and are simply included for the accuracy and preservation of this story.

 

The underground railroad was a system of secret routes for enslaved African Americans to escape into free states. When generally taught in schools today, the underground railroad speaks to an era of escape during the early to mid-19^th century, especially during the 1830s and leading up to the Civil War. However, such escape routes existed much earlier. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 was passed under the strong insistence of the southern slave states to assist slaveholders in recovering their escape slaves. This was later surpassed by Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, wherein governments of free states were required to enforce the capture and return of fugitive slaves. Northern governments may have assisted in these legal mechanisms but they rarely assisted or cooperated in all searches.

 

A typical story of the underground railroad also surrounds an enslaved person escaping the south towards the north or northwest. However, history books rarely expand upon the picture of slavery which existed north of the Mason-Dixon line prior to the Civil War. Indeed, while most of these states (north of the Mason-Dixon) abolished slavery in stages (some abolished slavery and the slave trade overall, while other like New York gradually emancipated the future children of slaves by 1827, and the Compromise of 1820, which banned slavery north of the 36° 30’ line), slavery existed in New England and New York during the first two centuries of English civilization of these areas. It was not universally accepted, but the Dutch of New York and some of the wealthier English families in New England did own slaves (often referred to as “servants” in their contemporary records). There are examples of emancipation, manumission, and also escape from these areas early in the regional history. One such story covers Toby Talbot, an enslaved man from Plymouth County, Massachusetts, whose “underground railroad” story does not cover hundreds of miles, but merely opposite ends of his hometown of Bridgewater, Massachusetts.

 

Toby Talbot, whose surname is often seen spelled as Talbot, Tarbott, Tarbot, Talbet, Tarbet, Torbet, Talbit, Talbut, and Talburt, appears to have spent much of his life a resident of Bridgewater, in Plymouth County, Massachusetts. Due to his enslavement, he does not appear to have had his birth registered in the town’s vital records. However, an 1869 letter written by the Overseers of the Poor for Kingston, Massachusetts, on 8 June 1869, indicated that Tobias Talbot was born in Africa, “kidnapped” and sent to America and enslaved by James Keith.  Almost all information known about Talbot comes from accounts passed down through time, but it appears he was enslaved to the Keith family for his younger years.  This status was recorded in the first vital record for Talbot, which was his marriage to Dinah Goold [or Gould]. His marriage is recorded in Bridgewater; on 3 February 1755[1], Tobie Talbit, the “Servant man of y^e Widow Lydia Keith, married Dinah Goold, the “Servant woman of Deacon Ephraim Fobes” dec’d.

The 1869 Letter in the records of the Overseers of the Poor, West Bridgewater, MA, establishing the early history of Toby Talbot.

According to accounts, Toby Talbot was originally enslaved by Rev. James Keith. However, no deeds or town records have identified any transfer of Toby unto a different family. According to an 1886 newspaper account, Toby passed onto James Keith’s heirs; if this is true, then the account is erroneous, for the owner would have been Joseph Keith[2], not James Keith.  Joseph Keith was the father of Ichabod Keith, who was born in Bridgewater on 14 March 1709[3]. Ichabod Keith married Lydia Williams on 17 October 1734 in Raynham, Bristol County, Massachusetts[4]; Ichabod was a resident of Bridgewater, Massachusetts while Lydia resided in Raynham. Ichabod died on 27 September 1753 in Bridgewater, aged 45 years[5]. Letters testamentary were delivered to Joseph Keith, yeoman, of Bridgewater, on 4 February 1754[6]. However, no estate division was made until 18 August 1796[7], when his estate was divided among the remainder of his surviving heirs; the delay in division was probably related to the length of time Lydia Keith survived her husband[8] and held onto her dower lands out of the said estate since Ichabod died intestate.

 

It was Toby Talbot’s 1755 marriage intention which show he was the servant of the Widow Lydia Keith of Bridgewater. Five months after Toby’s marriage, Lydia Keith married a second time, to Dr. Nathaniel White in Weymouth, Massachusetts, on 1 July 1755[9]. Her second marriage was short-lived as Nathaniel White died on 23 November 1758 in Weymouth, aged about 58 years[10]. On 24 April 1759[11], Lydia White married a third time to Dr. David Jones of Abington, Plymouth County, Massachusetts at his residence; Lydia’s residence was shown to be in Weymouth where her late husband resided.  No probate has been identified for Nathaniel White in Weymouth. Through all of the history of Lydia Williams and her three marriages, unfortunately, there are no legal records found recording any transfer or purchase of the said Tobey Talbot.

 

Despite Tobey’s status as a slave, or “servant” depending on the source, many Massachusetts towns kept vital records for enslaved persons, free men, and Native Americans who lived among the town residents. A full family record of Tobey’s children by his wife Dinah Goold can be found in the town records of Bridgewater, Massachusetts, and the following births are recorded[12]:

 

1. Sarah Talbot (Tarbit), born 3 September 1754, Bridgewater. She married Prince Brown on 4 December 1783 in Bridgewater (in that part of the city which later became North Bridgewater, and is now the city of Brockton); they are both recorded as “blacks” in the marriage returns[13]. In the 1810 Census, Prince Brown and his family were enumerated in Vassalborough, Maine District (when Maine was part of Massachusetts) with ten members of the household[14].
2. Abraham Talbot (Tarbit), born 27 May 1756, Bridgewater. He married Mary Dunbar on 3 September 1787 in Bridgewater (in that part which is now the city of Brockton); they are both recorded as black on their marriage record[15].
3. Tamar Talbot (Tarbit), born 27 March 1758, Bridgewater. She married Samuel Cordner[16] on 16 June 1785 in Bridgewater (in that part of the city which later became North Bridgewater, and is now the city of Brockton); they are both recorded as “blacks” in the marriage returns[17].
4. Ezekiel Talbot (Tarbit), born 25 February 1760, Bridgewater. He is very likely the Ezekiel Talbot found in China, Kennebec Co, Maine, in the 1820 Census; his household of 6 persons was enumerated entirely as slaves[18].
5. Dinah Talbot (Tarbit), born 25 March 1762, Bridgewater. She married John Foy on 29 September 1785 in Bridgewater[19] (in the part which later became North Bridgewater, and is now the city of Brockton, Massachusetts); their marriage record identified both as “blacks.” In 1810[20], John Foy’s household was living in Vassalborough, Kennebec County, Maine District (when Maine was part of Massachusetts).
6. Matilda Talbot (Metilda Tarbit), born 17 April 1764, Bridgewater. She was initially engaged to John Foy as shown by their marriage intentions recorded in Bridgewater on 20 August 1785[21]. However, shortly thereafter, John Foy “forbid his Publishment to the Said Mitilda and was Published to Dinah Talbut,” Matilda’s sister. On 31 March 1788, Matilda married Peter Pierce in Bridgewater; both are recorded as black[22].
7. Isaac Talbot (Tarbit), born 14 March 1766, Bridgewater. No further information can be found of Isaac and he very likely died young.
8. Jacob Talbot (Tarbit), born 13 January 1769, Bridgewater. He married Susanna Dunbar on 16 September 1794 in Bridgewater (in that part of the city which is now the city of Brockton); they are both recorded as black in one copy of their marriage record[23].
9. Levi Talbot (Tarbit), born 16 June 1771, Bridgewater. He married Rachel Hardin of Taunton, Massachusetts, sometime in 1796 in Taunton; their intentions were recorded in Bridgewater on 30 January 1796[24]; both are recorded as “blacks.”
10. Rebecca Talbot (Tarbit), born 11 April 1774, Bridgewater. No further information is known of Rebecca.
11. John Talbot (Tarbit), born 30 May 1780, Bridgewater. John could be the John Talbot who was a seaman, as a John Talbot applied for a seaman’s citizenship in New York City on 12 November 1823, aged 40 years[25]. He is described as being 5 feet 8 inches in height and dark-complexioned. However, further research is needed as there were John Talbot’s from the New Bedford area of Massachusetts, also a sea-faring area.

 

Toby Tarbot has a long military history during the American Revolution. His first tour of service occurred on 1 May 1775, when he enlisted as a Private soldier under Capt. Josiah Hayden in Brigadier-Gen. John Thomas’s Regiment; the muster roll dated 1 August 1775 showed that Tarbot was a resident of Bridgewater[26]. The muster roll for September and October 1775[27] showed that Capt. Hayden’s company was camped at Roxbury, Massachusetts for 61 days; this same list also identified Tarbot as a “Negro.”

 

His next term was for the year 1776, when he appeared on an order dated 17 June 1776 at Boston for advance pay for 1 month of service, as signed by Tarbett and others, which was payable to Captain Henry Prentiss[28]. On the same date, his name appears on a pay abstract of Captain Henry Prentiss’s company as a Private soldier in Col. Thomas Marshall’s regiment; his residence is shown as Bridgewater, Massachusetts[29]. A muster roll dated 1 August 1776 shows that Tarbot had enlisted in Prentiss’s company on 8 June 1776[30]. He spent much of the next several months at Boston, though the details of any action they encountered is not known at this time. Tarbot was discharged on 1 December 1776 from Capt. Prentiss’s company[31].

 

On 7 March 1777, Tarbot’s name appears on an order of wages for persons who marched under Captain Nathan Alden in Col. Jeremiah Hall’s Regiment to Bristol, Rhode Island for three months of service[32]. Tarbot was reenlisted by the town of Bridgewater as part of the town’s quota to reinforce the Continental Army at West Point, New York, in the summer of 1780. He is recorded as having marched from Bridgewater on 4 July 1780[33]. On a different muster roll around the same time, he is shown as a Private in Capt. Adams Bailey’s company in the 2^nd Massachusetts regiment under Col. John Bailey; he is shown as having enlisted 9 July 1780 and discharged 9 December 1780 after six months of service[34].

 

At Plymouth County Court in July 1779[35], Jesse Howard of Bridgewater, Plymouth County, gentleman, was summoned in an attachment valued at £200 to appear at the July 1779 court to answer the complaint of Toby Tarbet, a laborer of Bridgewater, in a plea of trespass. Talbot alleged that Jesse Howard, “with Force & Arms,” took and carried away “two Cows of the Plaintiff’s and in his Possession of the Price of one hundred & twenty Pounds, and converted said Cows to his own use.” Howard also took one of Talbot’s hogs, valued at £9, and also entered his land and took 25 bushels of parsnips, having “dug up, took and carryed away and converted to his own use, contrary to Law and against the Peace of the Government & People of Massachusets Bay in New England.” Talbot charged that his damages amounted to £139. Both parties appeared at Plymouth County court on 5 October 1779, upon a continuation of the cause; upon a motion, Shearjashub Bourn, Esq. (who also served as Talbot’s attorney), the “Endorser of the Writ was allowed to erase his Endorsement, and the Pl^t was admitted to endorse it himself.” Jesse Howard’s defense was argued by his attorney, Oakes Angier, Esq., who defended Howard’s force and injury by claiming that Talbot’s writ “ought not to be answered, because he says, that the said Tobey is the proper Negro servant for Life of the said Jesse, and that one David Jones of Abington in the County of Plymouth on the Second Day of January Anno Domini: 1771 was possessed of the said Toby as of his own proper negro Servant for Life, and being so thereof possessed, the aid David then and there for the Consideration of eighty Pounds sold Bargained & delivered to the said Jesse and one Elijah Snell the said Toby Tarbett to hold to the said Jesse & Elijah as their proper negro Servant for Life.” The said Elijah Snell of Bridgewater, MA, sold his right, title, and interest to Talbot to Jesse Howard on 16 April 1771 for the sum of £20, and since that time, Talbot had been enslaved by the said Howard. Shearjashub Bourn argued, in Talbot’s case, that Jesse Howard failed to answer Talbot’s writ in July 1779 because “he says he the said Toby is a Freeman, and not the proper Servant for Life of the said Jesse.” The case went before a jury, whereupon the jury returned the verdict that Toby Talbot was a freeman and that he recover the sum of £139 against the said Jesse Howard for his damages, plus the costs of the suit (valued at £91:17:8). Howard appealed to the court’s judgment to the next Superior Court of Judicature held for Plymouth County.

 

The peace in the family did not last too long; Toby Talbot [Tarbett] was back in the Plymouth Court of Common Pleas on 11 April 1780[36], on behalf of his daughter Matildah Talbot. At that court date, Samuel Dunbar of Bridgewater, yeoman, is revealed to have been summoned to appear at the court at December Term 1779 to answer unto Matildah Tarbett of Bridgewater, a minor (represented by her father Toby), in a plea of trespass on 28 September 1779 at Bridgewater. Matildah charged that on that date, Dunbar made “an Assault on the Body of the said Matilda, and her did then & there beat, imprison, and other ways ill treat, and the said Matildah in Prison without any reasonable Cause and against the Will of her the said Matildah for a long time, To wit, From the said twenty eighth day of September aforesaid until the Day of the Purchase of this Writ, continued & Kept.” Talbot charged damages against Dunbar in the sum of £2,000. However, when the case was presented in April 1780, the “Plaintiff was nonSuited,” but Samuel Dunbar appeared and prayed for the suit to be dismissed at costs; the court did strike the suit off and ordered Dunbar to recover from Matildah Talbot (through Toby) the sum of £43. According to marginal notes, an execution was granted and was returned as “settled.”

 

Even further, Toby’s daughter, Dinah Tarbett of Bridgewater, also a minor, appeared at the same court date in April 1780[37] to fight for her freedom. Elijah Snell of Bridgewater, who was previously mentioned as being a one-time owner of the said Toby Talbot, had been summoned by the same court in December Term 1779 to appear on a recognizance (or attachment) of £1,000 to answer the charge of Dinah Tarbett, Toby’s daughter, in yet another plea of trespass. Dinah’s case alleged that on 28 September 1779, Elijah Snell “made an Assault on the Body of her the said Dinah, and her the said Dinah did then & there beat, imprison, and evilly treat, and the said Dinah in Prison, without any reasonable Cause and against the will of her the said Dinah, for a long Time (to wit) from the said twenty eighth day of September aforesaid until the Day of the Purchase of this writ continued and kept…” In this suit, Toby Talbot also charged damages of £2,000 against Snell. On the court date, Snell’s attorney, Oakes Angier Esq., came and defended Snell’s actions because “the said Dinah Tarbett is the proper Negro Servant for Life to the said Elijah.” Angier argued that she was sold to Elijah Snell and Jesse Howard from the aforesaid David Jones of Bridgewater, on 2 January 1771; later, at Bridgewater on 16 April 1771, Jesse Howard conveyed all his right, title, and interest to Dinah Talbot to Snell for the sum of £20, and Angier argued that Dinah belonged to Snell since that time. Toby’s former attorney, Shearjashub Bourn [Bourne], represented Dinah Talbot as well, setting forth that Dinah was also not a “legal servant” but a free woman. Unlike her father’s verdict the previous year, the jury did not return a favorable verdict for Dinah Talbot; the jury ruled Dinah Tarbett a “Servant for Life,” and therefore her writ was not answered. Toby, however, appealed the judgment to the next Superior Court of Judicature for Plymouth County.

 

In contemporary records during his lifetime, very little can be found about Tobey Tarbet for the rest of his life.  He does appear in the first two federal censuses taken in Bridgewater. In the 1790 Census, his household was enumerated as consisting of four free persons, no genders specified[38]. In the 1800 Census, his household consisted of three free persons and yet again, no genders were specified of any of the members[39]. He is not found in the 1810 Census, though it is possible, due to his age, that he was probably living as a member of another household. His death was recorded in Bridgewater on 26 January 1815 in the South Precinct burial records, as “Toba, negrow,” and aged 92 years.  Military records estimate his birth in about 1735, which would place his age around 80 years at his death. Such discrepancies in fact, however, are not uncommon during this time period; the discrepancies and age range increases further with enslaved persons and freed blacks since many could not read or write.

 

In February 1886, a story ran about the “Old Bridgewater Slave” and his role in the “First Really Underground Railway.” The story was told as follows, as recollected by a local Bridgewater resident at the time[40]:

 

Tobey Tarbet, the old negro slave of whom many interesting stories are told, first appeared in Bridgewater as the slave of Rev. James Keith, one of the early Bridgewater Congregational ministers. Tobey was kidnapped on the coast of Africa early in the century, brought to Massachusetts and sold into slavery. He was married twice, and lived to be 110 years old. Little was known of his first marriage and history prior to that time. It was when he for the second time took unto himself a wife that the romance of his life began. It was like this: While Tobey was the property of the heirs of Parson Keith, his wife was the chattel of Seth Howard of Bridgewater, to whom the results of the marital relations were not pleasing. In consequence, Mr. Howard sold Tobey’s wife to an Abington man. This maddened Tobey, of course, and his one desire became to possess his wife entire, her freedom, their children’s, and his own liberty. He visited Abington under the cover of darkness, found his wife, and they fled to West Bridgewater and thence into the Matfield swamps. Here they constructed a rude hut and lived unmolested several years. [The site of their hut is still noted near the main road leading through the swamp from West Bridgewater to Brockton/] Though living in hiding, he frequently called upon certain neighbors, who sought to shield him from his family’s owners. Their owners made several attempts to recover their slave property, but Tobey’s sympathizers were too shrewd for them, and succeeded in keeping the negro family in hiding.

 

Tobey learned from his friends that Sheriff Whitmarsh of Abington was after him, and resolved to make defensive preparations. Living a sort of roving life, one day at a small place in the swamp, known as “Bull’s Hole,” a soft, deep bog, which human foot could not press with safety, he built a log road of cordwood below the surface, each stick being placed in this manner out of sight, and making a safe short path across the treacherous meadow, and at the same time built the original underground railway. He then repaired to a friend’s house to await the sheriff’s call, an event momentarily to be expected. The officer came, and as he entered the house by the north door, Tobey rushed from the south door in full sight of his pursuer.  It was a race for life and liberty or death, or worse than death. Tobey was swift-footed and an athlete of extraordinary ability, and he kept the officer tantalizingly near his rear until they approached that dangerous quagmire, when he bounded forward with renewed vigor upon his masked bridgeway.  Sheriff Whitman, all unconscious of what singular work either nature or art had done for the swamp, bounded after, maddened at his repeated failure to capture the flying man, but which quickly ended in a most unhappy collapse, for the first foot he let fall outside Tobey’s narrow road to freedom sent the doughty officer up to his neck in thick, bog mud.

 

The victorious Tarbet turned, and looking down upon his entrapped foe from a place of security, now made the surrounding wood resound with his laughter. An offer to compromise was heartily accepted by the discomfited sheriff, and the noble-hearted negro proceeded to extricate the now nearly-exhausted slave-hunter from his filthy and dangerous position.

 

The next sheriff who attempted to catch Tobey was a man by the name of White. This time Tobey sought shelter at the house of “honest old George Williams,” an old dwelling-house now standing in West Bridgewater.  Crouched in the garret the fugitive listened to the conversation of the officer and old man Williams as follows:

“Mr. Williams, can you tell me where Tobey Tarbet is?” asked the officer.

“Yes, I can; he is in my house,” answered the honest old man.

“Will you allow me to go in and bring the nigger out?” asked White.

“No, I won’t.” was the sharp, fearless reply, and at that date a man’s house was truly his castle, and the sheriff’s little game was up. At that period the laws of Massachusetts allowing citizens to hold a colored person in bondage were weak, and later the “bill of rights,” declaring all men born free and equal, made Tobey a free man.

 

The facts above outline that Tobey Tarbet had two wives; if this is accurate, then Dinah Goold must have been the second wife who is referenced in the story above. It would also appear the time period is roughly around the early to mid-1770s, since the details of Tobey’s ownership somewhat match the facts outlined in the 1779 court cases mentioned above. The town limits of Bridgewater was massive for a town in eastern Massachusetts during the 1770s, and it would not be surprising for such an “underground railroad” to have existed; slavery was relatively sparse in this area of Massachusetts (and New England) and was not universally accepted. Based on this 1886 account, cross-examined with the 1779 and 1780 court cases, Tobey Tarbet was successful in his efforts to achieve his emancipation and freedom from enslavement. However, he was unsuccessful in achieving the emancipation of some of his daughters, as evidenced by the court case of Dinah Tarbett.

Biographies of his children (whose stories can be traced) will follow in the weeks and months to come, illustrating the part they all played in the fight for American freedom during the American Revolution and their own struggles as people of color in New England during the early decades of the new United States. Stay tuned!

[1] “Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988,” Ancestry, citing Bridgewater, MA Vital Record Transcripts, Bridgewater Marriages, p. 361.

[2] In any event, this transfer did not occur through inheritance. Joseph Keith’s will was written on 22 September 1730 in Bridgewater, and proven 2 November 1730.  His will makes no reference to any slaves; he devised all of the rest of his lands in Bridgewater and other land rights in the said town which he did not devise to other persons to the said Ichabod Keith, his “fourth son,” and also his homestead and a two-year old colt, a yoke of oxen, a cart and wheels, chains, plows, a saddle, scythes, axes, and hoes [howes].

[3] “Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988,” Ancestry, citing Bridgewater, MA Vital Record Transcripts, Bridgewater Births, p. 185.

[4] Raynham, Massachusetts Births, Marriages & Deaths, vol. 1, p. 19, as found in “Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988,” Ancestry.

[5] “Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988,” Ancestry, citing West Bridgewater, MA Vital Record Transcripts, West Bridgewater Deaths, p. 106.

[6] Plymouth Co, MA Probate File Papers, Case No. 11,891, Box 107205, Ichabod Keith [erroneously filed as Ichabod Heith].

[7] Ibid.

[8] Lydia died on 19 January 1796 in Abington, Plymouth Co, MA, aged about 82 years. It should be noted her parents were Nathaniel Williams and Lydia King; her father died in 1726 in Taunton, Massachusetts, where Lydia was born. His will makes no reference to any slaves [Bristol Co, MA Probate Records, vol. 5, pp 350-351], and the inventory of his estate makes no reference to any slaves.

[9] “Massachusetts, Compiled Birth, Marriage, and Death Records, 1700-1850,” Ancestry, citing Vital Records of Weymouth, MA to 1850, Weymouth Marriages, p. 215.  The marriage intention erroneously shows the wife as Abigail Kieth, while a second copy of the town records shows her name as Lydia Keith. Lydia’s residence was Bridgewater, and her marriage in Weymouth is highly unusual in tradition for this time period; it was custom that the marriage take place at the residence of the bride, but it is unknown if Lydia’s widowhood had a role in determining the location of her second marriage.

[10] “Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988,” Ancestry.

[11] “Massachusetts, Compiled Birth, Marriage, and Death Records, 1700-1850,” Ancestry, citing Vital Records of Abington, MA to 1850, Abington Marriages, p. 226.

[12] Reference to Family History Library Microfilm No. 164,691 and 164,692; see “Massachusetts Birth and Christenings, 1639-1915,” on FamilySearch.

[13] “Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988,” Ancestry, citing Brockton, MA Vital Record Transcripts, Brockton Marriages, p. 290.

[14] 1810 Federal Census, Vassalborough, Kennebec Co, Maine District, Massachusetts, p. 708, NARA M252, Roll 11, Prince Brown, RG 29 Series.

[15] “Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988,” Ancestry, citing Brockton, MA Vital Record Transcripts, Brockton Marriages, p. 290.

[16] His surname is spelled Cordiner on their marriage record in Bridgewater’s town records; he is recorded as Cordner in the Brockton vital records.

[17] “Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988,” Ancestry, citing Brockton, MA Vital Record Transcripts, Brockton Marriages, p. 290.

[18] 1820 Federal Census, China, Kennebec Co, Maine District, Massachusetts, p. 679, NARA M33, Roll 35, Ezekiel Talbot, RG 29 Series.

[19] “Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988,” Ancestry, citing Brockton, MA Vital Record Transcripts, Brockton Marriages, p. 289.

[20] 1810 Federal Census, Vassalborough, Kennebec Co, Maine District, Massachusetts, p. 713, NARA M252, Roll 11, John Foy, RG 29 Series.

[21] “Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988,” Ancestry, citing Bridgewater, MA Vital Record Transcripts, Bridgewater Marriages, p. 362.

[22] Ibid.

[23] “Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988,” Ancestry, citing Brockton, MA Vital Record Transcripts, Brockton Marriages, p. 290.

[24] “Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988,” Ancestry, citing Bridgewater, MA Vital Record Transcripts, Bridgewater Marriages, p. 362.

[25] “U.S., Citizenship Affidavits of U.S. Born Seamen at Select Ports, 1792-1869,” Ancestry, citing NARA M2003, Quarterly Abstracts of Seamen’s Protection Certificates, New York City, NY, 1815-1869, RG 36, Roll 1, img. 486/1279, Certificate No. 2,651, John Talbot.

[26] Massachusetts Eight Months Service, vol. 15, p. 25, indexed in “Massachusetts, Revolutionary War, Index cards to Muster Rolls, 1775-1783,” FamilySearch.

[27] Massachusetts Muster and Pay Rolls, volume 69, p. 2, indexed in “Massachusetts, Revolutionary War, Index cards to Muster Rolls, 1775-1783,” FamilySearch.

[28] Massachusetts Muster and Pay Rolls, volume 21, p. 191a, indexed in “Massachusetts, Revolutionary War, Index cards to Muster Rolls, 1775-1783,” FamilySearch.

[29] Massachusetts Muster and Pay Rolls, volume 21, p. 191, indexed in “Massachusetts, Revolutionary War, Index cards to Muster Rolls, 1775-1783,” FamilySearch.

[30] Massachusetts Muster and Pay Rolls, volume 21, p. 192, indexed in “Massachusetts, Revolutionary War, Index cards to Muster Rolls, 1775-1783,” FamilySearch.

[31] Massachusetts Muster and Pay Rolls, volume 21, p. 193, indexed in “Massachusetts, Revolutionary War, Index cards to Muster Rolls, 1775-1783,” FamilySearch.

[32] Massachusetts Muster and Pay Rolls, volume 49, p. 9, indexed in “Massachusetts, Revolutionary War, Index cards to Muster Rolls, 1775-1783,” FamilySearch.

[33] Massachusetts Six Months Town Rolls, vol. 4, p. 50, indexed in “Massachusetts, Revolutionary War, Index cards to Muster Rolls, 1775-1783,” FamilySearch.

[34] Massachusetts Muster and Pay Rolls, volume 55, p. K-101, indexed in “Massachusetts, Revolutionary War, Index cards to Muster Rolls, 1775-1783,” FamilySearch.

[35] All of the details in this paragraph are obtained from the minutes of Plymouth County, Massachusetts Court of Common Pleas, vol. 15, 1773-1783, pp. 219-220, Family History Library Microfilm No. 906,736.

[36] Plymouth County, Massachusetts Court of Common Pleas, vol. 15, 1773-1783, p. 228, Family History Library Microfilm No. 906,736.

[37] Plymouth County, Massachusetts Court of Common Pleas, vol. 15, 1773-1783, p. 227, Family History Library Microfilm No. 906,736.

[38] 1790 US Federal Census, Bridgewater, Plymouth Co, MA, p. 75, Toby Torbet, NARA M637, Roll 4, RG 29 Series.

[39] 1800 US Federal Census, Bridgewater, Plymouth Co, MA, p. 49, Tobey Tarbert, NARA M32, Roll 16, RG 29 Series.

[40] The account was published in The Boston Globe, Boston, MA, Saturday, 27 February 1886, p. 8, accessed 1 July 2020 at https://www.newspapers.com/image/430999959/?terms=%22Tobey%2BTarbet%22.

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