Daniel Kittredge
Daniel Kittredge
| Born | 1670-07-22 Billerica, MA |
| Died | 1742-03-08 Tewksbury, MA |
| Constable | |
| In Office | 1714 - 1714 |
| Select Board | |
| In Office | 1719 - 1720 1729 - 1732 |
| Father | John Kittredge |
| Mother | Mary Littlefield |
| Spouses | Elizabeth |
| Children |
Abigail
Sarah Hannah Mary Daniel (b. 1697-10-12) |
Daniel Kittredge (1670 to 1742) was a farmer in the north part of Billerica, a lieutenant of the militia and a selectman, who in his sixties became one of the first inhabitants of Tewksbury when that town was set off from Billerica. He was born in Billerica on July 22, 1670, the third son of John Kittredge, who had come to Billerica about 1660 in the service of John Parker and from whom, Farmer wrote in 1816, all of the name in New England descended, and of Mary Littlefield. His father died on October 18, 1676, when Daniel was six, and his mother afterwards married John French. His eldest brother, John Kittredge, became the town's physician.
He married a wife named Elizabeth, whose family is not recorded, and their children were born in Billerica between 1695 and 1714: Mary, who married Samuel Peacock; Daniel (1697); Elizabeth, who married a Manning; Sarah (1703), who married Kendall Patten; Hannah (1708), who married Thomas Patten; Mehitabel (1711), who married a Haywood; and Abigail (1714), who married Joseph Frost of Tewksbury in 1731. When the common lands west of the Concord River were divided in 1708 he was among the proprietors who drew a lot there.
In 1714 he was a Constable of the town, and on December 9 of that year the selectmen committed to him the collection of half of the town's rates: 41 pounds 4 shillings 4 pence of the salary rate for the minister, Samuel Ruggles, and 20 pounds 12 shillings 2 pence of the town rate, out of which he was ordered to pay the town's bills, among them the deputy's allowance and the bell ringer's wages. He was chosen to the Select Board in 1719 and again in 1729, 1730 and 1731. On the minister's rate of 1733 he appears as "Lt. Daniel" Kittredge of the north part of the town, with his son Daniel Jr. listed next to him.
By then the families of the north and northeast part of Billerica were asking to be set off. On December 19, 1733, town meeting appointed Mr. Samuel Danforth, "Lieutenant Daniel Kittredge," Lieut. Joseph Hill, Samuel Hunt Jr. and Lieut. Joseph Kidder to "view the land," and on their report of January 9, 1734, the town voted that the northerly part be made a township with two thirds of the land between Andover line and the meeting house. Tewksbury was incorporated on December 23, 1734, and Daniel Kittredge and his son were among the families that went with it; Hazen observed that the new town took every Kittredge then in Billerica.
He made his will at Tewksbury on November 28, 1741, describing himself as a husbandman "being very weak in body." He left his wife Elizabeth the household goods, except his military arms, and the use for life of a third of his real estate, the west half of the dwelling house, a third of the barn, and a horse and cow, which his son was to keep for her. His son Daniel received the rest of the farm and the husbandry tools, with the duty of paying his sisters' portions, and the will divided his weapons among the men of the family: his carbine to his son, his long gun to his grandson Daniel Kittredge, his sword and belt to his grandson Daniel Peacock, and his old pistol to his grandson Samuel Kittredge. The widowed Hannah Patten was given the use of a room with a fireplace in the house after her mother's death, and the children of his daughter Sarah, who had died in 1737, took her share. He named his "cousin" Joseph Kittredge, his brother John's son, sole executor. Deacon Daniel Kittredge died on March 8, 1742, and the will was proved on April 5, 1742.
References
- Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), Genealogical Register p. 85, KITTREDGE 4
- Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), p. 201: selectmen commit the 1714 minister's and town rates to Daniel Kittredge, Constable
- Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), p. 204, tax list of 1733: Kittredge, Lt. Daniel, N., and Daniel Jr.
- Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), pp. 220-221: Lieutenant Daniel Kittredge on the 1733 committee to view the land for Tewksbury; listed among the families set off in 1734
- Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), p. 306, list of selectmen: Daniel Kittredge, 1719, 1729-31
- Vital Records of Billerica (1908), births: Daniel, s. John and Mary, July 22, 1670, and children of Daniel and Elizabeth Kittredge, 1695-1714
- Middlesex County Probate File Papers, case 13347: will of Daniel Kittredge of Tewksbury, husbandman, dated Nov. 28, 1741, proved April 5, 1742; cousin Joseph Kittredge executor