GOULD, EBENEZER (1724-1804). Associator, Town of Huntington. Although there are Connecticut birth and church records and postings on Ancestry.com and Find A Grave, the information about Ebenezer’s birth place, birth year and parentage differ, making it confusing to analyze accurately. According to his family tree posted on Ancestry.com, Ebenezer was born in Huntington, New York on December 20, 1724, to Ebenezer (1650-1764) and Lois Gould; however, that same site lists that his mother was Pricilla Bateman (1687-1830) who died when he was six. Further, Find A Grave lists a birth year of 1723, names his birthplace as Huntington, and notes that his father, Ebenezer, moved to Huntington from Fairfield, Connecticut; no mother is listed. However, Connecticut birth and church records show his birth there. Although Ancestry lists Lois Gould as his biological mother, it also shows that his mother died in 1830 making Lois his stepmother. Ancestry notes that he was baptized in Putnam, Connecticut; this would make sense given that Killingly, Connecticut birth records show Ebenezer baptized there on December 20 and his birth mother was Persilla (sic); confusingly, the father is listed as Thomas. His online family tree cites the births and deaths of numerous half-siblings: Thomas (1715-1736); John (1717-1755); Mary (1718-1740); Daniel (1722-1751); Jeremiah (1720-1778); Priscilla (died 1783); and Samuel (1726-1754). The half-siblings are named on the Connecticut church records along with the notation that Priscilla and Thomas were church members.
According to his online family tree, Ebenezer had two marriages. The first was to Abigail Carriel (born 1726) and the second to Rebecca Conklin (1734-1825) in 1756. Find A Grave only lists the marriage to Rebecca. There was one child from his first marriage, John (1750-1821), born in Worchester, Massachusetts. Ebenezer and Rebecca had many children: John (1757-1834); Rebecca (1760-1836); Amy (1761-1838); Elizabeth (1764-1841); Ebenezer (1766-1844); Thomas (1771-1823); David (1773-1860); Sarah (1778-1810); and Conklin (1781-1867).
As per Frederic G. Mather in The Refugees of 1776 from Long Island to Connecticut (1913), pages 1062-1063, Ebenezer was an associator who signed Huntington’s Articles of Association. On May 8, 1775, 403 men, most of them Huntington residents (a few were from Islip), “shocked by the bloody Scene” that had occurred just weeks before at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts, where patriot Minutemen and British regulars had engaged in a bloody armed struggle, put their signatures on Huntington’s Articles of Association. Only 37 Huntington residents, either Loyalists or those wanting to stay out of the fray, refused to sign. The Articles noted that the signers affirmed their “Love to our Country,” agreed “to whatever Measures may be recommended by the Continental Congress; or resolved upon by our Provincial Convention, for the Purpose of preserving our Constitution, and opposition to the Execution of the several arbitrary, and oppressive Acts of the British Parliament,” and prayed for “a Reconciliation between Great-Britain and America.” The actions of these associators were seen by both patriots and the British as a step towards rebellion. The fact that these men signed these Articles, placing themselves in danger of British retaliation, including imprisonment, seizure of their property, and exile from Long Island, is proof of their patriotic service.
According to “Old Times in Huntington, An Historical Address,” delivered on July 4, 1876 in Huntington, the Gould family lived in Huntington prior to the American Revolution. Ebenezer, the subject of this biography, lived on West Neck. He was a descendant of Ebenezer Gould of Fairfield, Connecticut who was prominent there in 1658 and was known for being among three Fairfield men “who settled a dispute between Norwalk and the Indians.” That document states that Ebenezer had sons Ebenezer III and Conklin; it did not mention the other children listed on the online family tree.
When Huntington was occupied by the British within days of their victory at the Battle of Long Island (Battle of Brooklyn) on August 27, 1776, Gould is listed as among those whose wheat, corn, rye, flour and other grains were confiscated by the British; Huntington Town Records report that no compensation was given for any necessities taken or damage to property despite requests for protection and willingness to supply His Majesty’s troops. Town Records show that Ebenezer was among those in Huntington who took the Oath of Allegiance to the Crown in 1778; many did this unwillingly, coerced by British and loyalist troops occupying the town. During the occupation, Huntington Town Records show that Ebenezer was among those in West Neck who owned one horse; others listed owned ox teams, oxen, wagons and servants. The records show that near the close of the occupation (1782), Ebenezer’s property was assessed at 32.10 (presumably pounds and shillings); this was a modest assessment compared to his neighbors on the list. Ebenezer remained in Huntington throughout the war and is listed in Huntington Town Records as an inhabitant in 1783.
U.S. Family History Books list Ebenezer and his wife Rebecca living in Lloyd’s Neck, Suffolk County. United States Tax Assessment Rolls of Real and Personal Estates for 1799 in Huntington report that Ebenezer owned $650 in real estate and $12 in personal estate owing 66 cents in taxes. As per Cemetery Inscriptions from Huntington, Long Island, compiled by Josephine C. Frost in 1911, there was a gravestone in the Old Burying Ground inscribed with “Ebenezer Gould, died Nov. 29, 1804, Age 81 yrs.” He is interred next to his wife, Rebecca, and with several of his children. Huntington Town Records from 1807 through 1824 show that Ebenezer Gould, the son of the subject of this biography, had a tavern in town and was licensed to sell spirits.
