Our Two Cousins Named Ebenezer Stanton-Part One

Rebellion Era 3rd Cousins
One Name, Two Revolutionary Warriors 

One Connecticut Line Officer, One New York Militia Enlisted Soldier

This post is Part One of a two-part piece covering Ebenezer Stanton (1746, Preston, New London Co, CT - 1819 Coeymans, Albany Co, NY).

Part Two of this analysis is published 9 December 2019 as related to Ebenezer Stanton (1757, Stonington, New London Co, CT - 1811, New London, New London Co, CT).
To View Part Two. Click HERE 

Nicknames appear in public official records making research on distant ancestors more difficult: "Jack" or "Jno" for John or Jonathan, "Sally" for Sarah, "Frank" for Francis, "Ettie" for Henrietta, "Polly" or "Molly" for Mary, "Betsy for Elizabeth, etc., etc., etc. Experienced family genealogists know that the nicknames "Eben" and "Eber" are common historical record abbreviations for the given name Ebenezer. This post reports on two middle Eighteenth Century distant cousin contemporaries named Ebenezer Stanton. These two cousins are 5^th generation descendants (Great-Great-Grandsons) of the early New England Stanton Family progenitor and original Stonington, Connecticut founder Mr. Thomas Stanton Sr. (d.1677). The two men named Ebenezer Stanton are misunderstood and confused both in some older SAR and DAR records, and in several current family trees at Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.org, et al.

Note: A significant cause for this cross-merging problem is the subject Ebenezer Stanton cousins are both Revolutionary War Veterans who each married young ladies named Mary. And family tree data on the two wives Mary are likewise interchanged yielding still more published misinformation. A root cause behind current cross-contamination errors is the unfortunate presentation of misleading and wrongly applied Ancestry.com hints. These typically helpful hints can sometimes confuse users when identical hints are presented to the profiles of multiple individuals with the same or similar names. These all-too-helpful Ancestry hints present lesser experienced family genealogists with a direct means toward an unintentional proliferation of ancestral misinformation.

My original very limited distribution email dated 1 Nov 2019 on two Rebellion-Era Ebenezer Stanton men contained a couple of cross-contamination errors – by referring to Ebenezer Stanton (1746-1819, who died at Coeymans, Albany County, NY, USA), addressed wrongly as Captain Ebenezer Stanton, he was never a captain in any context.  This Ebenezer Stanton (1746-1819) is hereafter referred to as #1 Ebenezer in this paper.

Case 1 – The elder #1 Ebenezer –

#1 Ebenezer Stanton (1746-1819), the son of Joseph (d.1798) and Abigail [Freeman] Stanton (d.1806), is a 5^th generation descendant of Stonington, CT Founder Thomas Stanton Sr. (d.1677) [his all-male Stanton lineage: 4-Joseph Stanton (d.1798); 3-John Stanton Jr. (d.1755); 2-Captain John Stanton Sr. (d.1713); 1-Thomas Stanton Sr (d.1677)]. #1 Ebenezer's Revolutionary War (RW) military service is as an enlisted militia soldier in Captain Henry Van Bergen's Company, Colonel Anthony Van Bergen's Eleventh Regiment, Albany County Militia of Foot, as documented in 1777 in official rolls. #1 Ebenezer's three brothers Joseph, Nathan, and James are also documented as members of the same 11^th Albany County Militia Regiment. All Albany County Militia Regiments were called up for various periods of military service in the days and weeks prior to The Battle of Saratoga in September and October 1777, serving with the New York State Brigade of about 3000 men commanded Brigadier General Abraham Ten Broeck. Few, if any, records apparently exist that name the enlisted soldiers who actually saw action at Saratoga. See: “Albany County's Part In The Battle Of Saratoga” – by B.H. Mills.

Reference: [ https://www.jstor.org/stable/42889531 ].

#1 Ebenezer's parents Joseph Stanton (d.1798) and Abigail [Freeman] Stanton (d.1806), and their eight children removed from Connecticut Colony to New York Colony in the mid-1750s when #1 Ebenezer was about age ten years. The SAR applications of Hiram D. Wing (Nat. # 3634) and his brother Edwin W. Wing (Nat. #27021) as approved in 1894 and 1918 respectively, incorrectly cite #1 Ebenezer's Revolutionary War military service as Lieutenant and Paymaster with the active-duty Connecticut Line (this military service citation is NOT #1 Ebenezer.). Rather, this military service is the fully-documented record of the Continental Soldier and Connecticut Line Officer Ebenezer Stanton (1857-.1811) as later presented in Part Two of this paper. This factual military service credit error by the Wing brothers in their approved public domain SAR applications are the likely root source of significant military misinformation on #1 Ebenezer; however, at least one approved DAR lineage record of Mrs. Maria A. Kretsinger (Nat. ID #37274), dated 1901, the last two lines of her approved app simply cites the wrong Ebenezer Stanton.  Internal DAR database records are more correct, in a classic double negative "not incorrect" -- yet remain highly nebulous.   

Annotated SAR public domain app of Edwin Wing is presented as follows:

Maria Kretsinger's annotated public-domain DAR Record is presented as follows:

Current Errors and Corrective Comments in Revolutionary War Veteran Ebenezer Stanton Record (Ancestor # A108691) errors cited as currently presented in DAR Internal GRS Database: 

#1 Ebenezer's wife Mary [Palmer] Stanton (1751/52-1818, Coeymans, Albany County, NY), is with high certainty NOT a daughter of Daniel Palmer (d.1772) and Mrs. Mary [Hewitt] Palmer (d.1787) as wrongly presented in several Ancestry family trees. Several readings of the difficult-to-read Daniel Palmer (d.Aug1772) probate court asset distribution dated March 1773 is completed, this asset distribution document is NOT Daniel's last will as some claim. His will, if any, was deemed lost by the probate court judge. All of Daniel Palmer's known children are mentioned in the asset distribution, his named eldest daughter Mary Stanton (b.1737) is Mary [Palmer] Stanton, the wife of Samuel Stanton (b.1726). The Mary Stanton cited in said asset distribution papers is “Mary 3” (aka Mary [Palmer] Stanton) mentioned in Lynn Alperin's 27 Apr 2016 analysis to Brian Bonner. Note: Daniel's distribution of assets does NOT mention a second daughter named Mary. The probate court asset distribution record, where all Daniel's known children are mentioned, is strong evidence to rule out Daniel Palmer (d.1772) as the father of #1 Ebenezer's wife Mary [Palmer]Stanton (1751/52-1818) of Albany County, NY, USA. The husband of Daniel Palmer's eldest daughter Mary, aka Mrs. Mary [Palmer] Stanton (1737-1815[?], is with strong confidence Samuel Stanton (1726-1803).

#1 Ebenezer's wife Mrs. Mary [Palmer] Stanton (1751/52-1818) parents are probably the weakly-sourced married couple Mr. Thomas Palmer (1725-1752) and Mrs. Mary Wilbor (aka Wilbur, 1723-1775). Errors noted in some Ancestry family trees mention Nathaniel Palmer (d.1790) or Ichabod Palmer (d.1749) as the father of #1 Ebenezer's wife Mrs. Mary Palmer-Stanton (1751/52-1818) – citations that are untrue. Ichabod Palmer's daughter Mary Palmer died unmarried aged 18 in 1754 Stonington, Connecticut; and, Nathaniel Palmer's daughter Mary Palmer, died in 1839 Stonington, Connecticut, she the wife of Jesse Brown Sr. (d.1822). Neither of these two Mary Palmer women, the daughters of Nathaniel Palmer and Ichabod Palmer is the wife Mary [Palmer] Stanton (1751/52-1818) of #1 Ebenezer.

Mary Palmer's father Thomas Palmer (d.1752) has died when she is aged about one year.  Thomas' will or distribution of assets is settled in probate records dated 1769; whereas, the unmarried Mary Palmer and her elder sister Elizabeth Palmer-Wells are mentioned (Mary is the future wife of #1 Ebenezer).  

#1 Ebenezer (d.1819) and his lovely wife Mrs. Mary [Palmer] Stanton (d.1818) lived their entire married life in New York Colony and State where they are interred side-by-side at Stanton Family Burying Ground, Tracey Road, Coeymans Hollow, Albany County, NY, USA, in lands the family then owned.  No record is found suggesting #1 Ebenezer and/or his wife Mary [Palmer] Stanton ever traveled to Connecticut during their married life.

  

It's far better to leave contradicting or possible uncertain genealogical information as unknown blanks in public family trees, much better to write nothing than to unintentionally misinform another family genealogist through the public propagation of misinformation. At a minimum, warnings or cautionary advisories should be tagged as works-in-progress in published public family trees where more research is needed. Please think about posting something like this warning image to preliminary information added to public family trees:

WARNING: Also, be exceedingly careful in accepting Ancestry.com “hints” on #1 Ebenezer, as most hints presented relate to the second Ebenezer Stanton (aka-the real Capt. Ebenezer Stanton 1757-1811). Ancestry.com is now a strong contributor to errors in subscriber family trees via their fuzzy-logic-search criteria in presenting ancestor profile hints.  Capt. Ebenezer Stanton's (1757-1811) case will be detailed in Part Two of this presentation not-later-than mid-December 2019.  

Note: The image at the top of this post is a collage of two Revolutionary War Era men, found by simple Internet search, and depicted here unaltered for non-profit use under the educational fair-use principle.