Ephraim CHAFFE

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Ephraim Chaffee was a farmer and a joiner. June 19, 1751, he bought of Joseph Chaffee for L650, forty acres of land with a house in Woodstock. March 22, 1753, he was appointed to appraise a stray horse. September 17, 1753, at a meeting of the inhabitants of the southeast district of the town of Woodstock he was appointed one of a committee to divide the district into two schools. September 3, 1754, he sold forty acres of land "a mansion house and a Dutch barn" for L1,000. This was probably the same property which he bought in 1751. January 12, 1756, he bought of Benjamin Munn sixty acres of land in Brimfield, Mass., and march 9th following, forty-seven acres there of Josiah Montague. Soon after this, he moved from Woodstock to Wales, a district of Springfield, Mass., as he was of the latter place when he marched in August, 1757, to the relief of Fort William Henry during the Colonial Wars. Ephraim Chaffee is said to have been scalped and killed by the Indians, in a place between Sandy Hill and Glens Falls, NY., near Fort Edward, in the same place where Jane McCrae was scalped during the Revolution. He is said to have been a teamster and an officer over the baggage train. The records make no mention of his service at this time, during the year 1758, but state that he was a Private in Captain Benjamin Day's company, South Hampshire County regiment, which marched on the Alarm for the relief of Fort William Henry in August, 1757. He is spoken of as "of Springfield," travelled sixty-four miles, and was in service ten and a half days. (Massachusetts Archived, Muster Rolls, Vol. XCV, page 444.) February 6, 1758, he sold land in Brimfield to J. Torrey for L20. The estate of Ephraim Chaffee "late of Wales" was administered by his father, Joseph Chaffe, who was appointed August 30, 1758 (Northampton Probate Records). After his death in 1760, Ephraim's widow took charge of the administration. In January, 1763, she and her second husband, William Stacy, petitioned the court in Boston for permission to sell the real estate of Ephraim Chaffee. Permission was evidently granted, for May 20, 1763, sixty acres of land in Wales were sold for L48, 10s., to "Simeon Chaffe of Woodstock yeoman" as the highest bidder.

Ephraim Chaffee and his brother Isaiah are said to have helped drive the wolf of Israel Putnam fame into the cave where it was captured. It had wrought sad havoc among the sheep in the neighborhood of Pomfret, Conn.

Ephraim married Anna TORREY on 21 Nov 1752 in Woodstock, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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Joseph Chaffe was Constable and town Sealer of weights and measures in Barrington in 1729.
January 21, 1729/30, "Joseph Chaffe Junr. of Barrington, boatman," bought of Benjamin Marcy of Woodstock, husbandman, a "Mansion house" and seventy-five acres of land in Woodstock, bounded by the land of Isaiah Tiffany and John Chaffe, for L300.
February 23, 1729/30, "Joseph Chaffee Junr. of Barrington in the County of Bristol in the Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England Boatman, for and in consideration of the sum of two hundred pounds to me paid by my Honoured Father, John Chaffee of Woodstock, in the County of Suffolk and Province aforesaid, yeoman, being part of my Portion or Patrimony of my said Father's Estate do by these presents Remit, Release and forever Quit Claim . . . unto my Father John Chaffee . . . all my right title interest Claim & Demand unto all of Housing & Lands of my said Father being & Lying in Woodstock Aforesaid, belonging . . . to me as a son or heir." This document was witnessed by his uncle Joseph Chaffe and Samuel Luther. (Woodstock Land Records.) In those days a man was called "Junior" if there was another man in his family of the same Christian name, whether he was his father or not. Between the date of the above release and July 5, 1730, Joseph and his family removed to Woodstock, Mass. (now Conn.) as on the latter date his wife was admitted to the First Congregational Church of Woodstock by a letter of dismission and recommendation from the Church of Christ in Barrington. He settled in what is now West Woodstock, and which was set off from Woodstock as the Second Precinct of Woodstock, or New Roxbury......

Joseph Chaffe died of smallpox, and one of the items in the account of the administrators against the estate is 5s. "for brimstone & rum to cleanse the infection out of the house." He lies buried in the cemetery in Hampden, Mass. (formerly South Wilbraham)...

Joseph married Hannah MAY. Hannah was born on 1 Oct 1704 in Swansea, Massachusetts; was christened on 12 Feb 1706/7 in Swansea, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact: Daughter of Ephraim May of Rehoboth, Mass.