Joshua Knowles

Biography

Joshua Knowles married Sarah Paine at Eastham, on Cape Cod in present-day Massachusetts, on March 13, 1717/18, before Nathaniel Freeman. Their eight children included two daughters named Sarah: the first died young; the second, born in 1732, became the wife of Elkanah Higgins. Other children were Jesse, Rebecca, Joshua, Josiah, Simeon and Susanna.

Sarah Paine died in 1772. Joshua later married Phebe, who survived him and appears in the will he made on November 2, 1778. By that date his sons Jesse and Josiah were dead, and the will provided for their heirs. Another son, Joshua, died in 1779, before the elder Joshua's death at Eastham on May 27, 1786. The estate papers consequently record a family altered between the making of the will and its execution.

The property division makes his surroundings tangible. In November 1786 the commissioners set off Phebe's third share, describing the barn, bridge field, meadow, swamp and woodland by roads, fences, stones and neighboring owners. The other heirs retained access to the barn and permission to move manure across the allotted ground. Phebe's share also included a tenth of a pew in the North meetinghouse.

These were practical arrangements for a divided farm. The court approved the widow's allotment in February 1787 and then ordered division of the remaining real estate among the other heirs.