Researching the life of this Kent family has been more difficult than any research I have ever done. I have found few genealogy books for this family to provide hints. The descendants of Noah and his wife Deliverence Granger lived in early Suffield and original vital records no longer exist and I found many errors in transcriptions that were copied and preserved. The lives of his children were the most challenging to research. All of his children left Suffield for lives in other towns. All 4 of his sons left for new settlements. I had to dig deep to learn about Noah and his children. Despite the fact that I travelled from my home in the midwest to New England to dig through the Kent Memorial Library in Suffield and the Connecticut State Library and Archives in Hartford, and a variety of other archives throughout Massachusetts, I found little on the lives of Noah and his family. One thing was clear, a lot of the issues I had were a direct result of the Suffield transcriptions at the Connecticut State Library and Archives. All the books listed in my sources repeated the bad information from those transcripts. Specifically, the date of Abel Kent's birth and Deborah Kent's husband's surname and Noah's date of birth. I am fairly shocked they repeated the mistakes without further research and verification.
Noah Kent was born in Suffield on 28 April 1714 in Suffield, Connecticut to John Kent and his second wife Abigail Winchell. John, his father Samuel, and his brother Samuel, Junior were among the earliest settlers of Suffield. John Kent arrived in Suffield around 1686. John Kent had 2 wives and 12 children. When Noah was 11 years old his father died. Since I was unable to find a will for John Kent, I do not know what, if anything Noah inherited. His father had amassed a huge estate with several different plots of land including a plot on presant day Main Street from the First Church of Suffield and the adjacent cemetery past the present day location of the Suffield Academy. The land where the church is was donated to the church by John Kent. According to his bequests in his will, Noah prospered as well.
Noah died at the age of 41, young even in his time period. His wife followed him in death just 7 months later after giving birth to their tenth child. However, we do have some evidence of his life. He left a will. He also held posts in Suffield so to tell his story, I had to rely on books about the history of Suffield, and it's town records.
The graves of Noah and Delverence no longer exist. The cemetery which is on the property of the First Church of Suffield still exists, however, the church made additions that resulted in the destruction of the tombstones of many of Suffield's founders. I was told some of the bodies were removed while others just had the church extension built over them but I was unable to verify the truth of that statement. Regardless, I searched every inch of the cemetery and did not find the graves of Noah or Deliverence.
Deliverence Granger was born in Suffield on 8 August 1713 to Samuel Granger and Esther Hanchett. Both the Granger and Hancett families were well regarded and respected in the area. She married Noah Kent at the age of 21 on 3 October 1734. A year later she gave birth to the first of 10 children. The number one cause of death in women from the beginning of time through the early 1900s was childbirth or infections that resulted after the birth of a child. Although we do not know the actual cause of the death of Deliverence, the fact she died three weeks after the birth of her last child tells us the most likely cause of death was infection as a result of the birth. Her first born daughter Phebe would suffer the same fate.
Noah Kent did not serve in the French Indian Wars. There was a Noah Kent who served under Captain Aaron Hitchcock of Suffield and First Lietenant Joanathan Humphery of Simsbury, Connecticut. His name appears in the muster rolls on 31 March 1756. Since our Noah died in May of 1755, this soldier must be a different Noah Kent of Suffield. I believe it may be Noah's son, also named Noah. His son Noah would have been 19 in 1756. I searched for other men named Noah Kent between the ages of 17 to 50 to determine if I could prove the younger Noah's participation and was unable to find another Noah Kent. With no additional information such as age or names of parents, I cannot be sure of the identity of this Noah.
After the deaths of Noah and Deliverence most of their children left Suffield. Below is a list of their children.
A copy of the will of Noah Kent was obtained by me in 2007 at the Connecticut State Library and Archives in Hartford. Today it is available on Ancestry .com. The will of Noah Kent was worded like the majority of wills from this time period with 2 exceptions. He left property to one of his brothers Joseph. Generally a man with a wife and children left everything to the wife and children. His situation was complicated by the fact that he died when his wife was about 2 months pregnant and it is unclear if he knew that. No provisions were made for that child so I assume he did not know. Noah left a substantial estate. His bequests were as follows:
To my beloved wife Deliverence I leave 2 cows and 1 calf, three years old, all my house and goods to her whole life forever plus one half of the improvement(?) lot of his real estate as long as she remains my widow and after she marries, and after all my full debts and funeral charges are paid, I will and bequeth to Noah, my oldest son, my riding mare that to have more than the rest sons, 1 yoke yearling steers. The rest of my estate I give and bequeth to my sons Noah, Gideon, Abel and Nathaniel all of the rest of my estate real and personal, in equal shares they pay the rest, in equal shares they pay my legacies hereafter mentioned, the four last lines craft to be void.
I order my sons Noah and Abel to pay unto my two sons Gideon and Nathaniel the value of the three hundred pounds each when they arrive to 21 years and to be paid in meet (meat) cattle on lend accounting the balance of the money. Also I order my sons Noah and Able to pay unto Phebe my oldest daughter two hundred pounds of tenor of money at the rate about to be paid of meet cattle or other spices at the rate abject to be paid in meet cattle as will support her when she marries or arrives to eighten years old also I order my ?? to pay unto Elizabeth , Deborah and Mary one hundred pounds each, the money to be paid in meat cattle or ------ -- will suit them when they arrive to eighteen years old and hereby nominate and appoint my wife Deliverence executors and my brother Joseph Kent and my son Noah executors on this my last will and testament hereby giving them full dower and authority if they see cause to put any of my said children as appointees to some good grade as they shall choose the bu--- in the property? one years and the goods until they are eighteen years and hereby revoking all other wills and testaments holding good and -----. This and\this only to be my last will in witness where I have let my hand and seal the day alone. Signed, sealed...
The will was signed by witnesses Abigail Kent, (by her mark) Samuel Kent, and Joseph Kent. Abigail Kent was undoubtedly Noah's mother (Abigail Winchell Kent) who did not die until 1767. Samuel Kent was probably Noah's half brother and Joseph was definitely his brother mentioned in the will. I do not know when Joseph Kent died, however, he was clearly alive after Noah's death in 1755 and appeared in Hartford before the court on 20 June 1755. I am making a point of this because I have seen so many trees that list his date of death as 1753 in Middlesex County. This record belongs to a different John Kent. I did find probate records for a John Kent dated 3 November 1762. Since there was no will, it is not possible to prove if it was Noah's brother, however he was living in Suffield.
Noah's estate was not settled upon his death though. Six years after the death of Noah his oldest daughter Phebe married Medad Pomeroy. The marriage was brief though. They married on 8 July 1761 in Suffield. On January 6 1762 Phebe gave birth to a son named Phebus. She died a few weeks later on 25 January 1762 in Northampton. Medad Pomeroy filed a lawsuit against the estate of Noah Kent. He did not just sue for the portions of the estate bequethed to Phebe, he sued for Noah and Abel's bequests as well. He did this as gaurdian (and father) of Phebe's heir and son Phebus. He wanted more than Phebe's bequest and asked for one half of Noah Kent Junior and Abel Kent's bequests of the estate. At the time their sisters and brother Nathaniel were not yet 18 and did not receive their bequests yet, therefore, we was asking for one half of the entire estate. It is interesting to note he did not file suit upon the marriage but waited until her death.
Because I have put so much work into the lives of the Kent children, I have decided to create a separate page about them. It was too long for this split page so you can view that page HERE
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