| Notes |
- From Jeff Hall:
http://www.designscience.com/Genealogy/richardhall/
James moved to Shrewsbury, MA and there married Silance Parker (see Genealogy of Dea. Thomas Parker). Silance was born in a part of Hubbardston known as Great Farm Number 1 that comprised 500 acres at the foot of Mount Wachusett. That exact land later became part of Princeton and accounts for the unusual missing eastern-most piece in the map of Hubbardston today.
James and Silance had a number of children who are documented in the Hall genealogy compiled by my brother William Carl Hall of West Hartford, CT.
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http://www.designscience.com/Genealogy/richardhall/Descendants%20of%20Richard(1)%20Hall.htm
James was for a long time (100 years) the oldest member of the Hall family who had been traced. He was born in 1787 as evidenced by the birth date on his gravestone. This is also documented by a faded inscription in his bible noting his birth to be 1787 January __? The exact day can not be read well. In his death announcement in the National Aegis Newspaper and also in the death records of the State of Massachusetts his age is listed as 53 years old. Since he died in August 1841 this would not correlate with a birth date in 1787 but rather 1788. At this time we cannot say for sure if his age or birth date is correct. We did not know who his parents were or where he originally came from. James Hall was felt to have worked in Charlton or Sutton in his early years which is near Uxbridge. He was a carpenter/steeplejack by trade.
He was married to Silence Parker in October of 1811. Repeated efforts to find any Congregational Church records of his marriage in Shrewsbury have proved futile even with the help of a very enthusiastic church historian, Polly Kimmett. She has stated however that the records are quite disorganized. This marriage is noted in the Parker family genealogy book and was also verified by William Carl Hall in the vital records of the Town of Shrewsbury. His death was also verified by W.C.H. in the Massachusetts death records first compiled in 1841 and the microfilm viewed at the New England Historical and Genealogical Society in Boston. It was noted that he was 53 at the time of his death and that he died from a fall at a construction site in Worcester. Oral history from William Edgar Hall indicates that his son William Eustis Hall was working with him and that he too was a carpenter. A review of James's probate records, obtained by William Carl Hall, lists his place of residence as Northborough when he died. No specific address was given and no land was mentioned in his estate. His worldly possessions, consisting mostly of household items and carpenters tools, were appraised at about $85.00 and were left to his children (no one specifically). His oldest son James Monroe Hall was mentioned in the legal papers as being of Shrewsbury at the time and signed papers turning over the handling of the estate to a local attorney.
He is buried in the third oldest part of the cemetery behind the Congregational Church in the center of Shrewsbury. The prominence and size of the plot (6 or 8 spaces) may be due to the prominence of his wife's family as she was buried first in 1832 following the birth of her last child. Also buried there are William Judson Hall and his wife Annie Hovey as well as their son and his wife Robert Hall and Charlotte Williams. Oral history from William Floyd Hall has it that William Judson or his son Robert Judson had the present HALL monument erected on the Shrewsbury plot and used the old marker from James and Silence as the base for the newer and larger monument and put it atop the old stone!
Correspondence with the historian for the Town of Northborough in the summer of 2001, Bob Ellis, reveals that James Hall did live in town in at least 1839-1841 and paid poll taxes for 1839 and had his taxes paid for him in 1842 by the executor of his estate. He may have been in arrears for the years 1840 and 1841. The small amount of his taxes would indicate that he did not own a house or land. He was hired in 1837 or 1838 to oversee the construction of the new Center District school, now the Grange Hall on School Street for 10 shillings per day but walked off the job much to the disadvantage of the town for reasons unknown. This was recorded in the Northborough history published in 1921. The tax records for the town from 1836 - 1838 were lost according to Mr. Ellis and James does not appear on any of the earlier records. Presumably, he may have been living in Shrewsbury or elsewhere then.
On Oct.18, 2001, William C. Hall reviewed the 1830 and 1840 census records for Worcester County and specifically the Town of Northborough at the NEHG. James was not found in the 1830 census in Northborough. He was however noted in the Northborough census for the year 1840. His name was listed after Asaph Rice and before Harriett Eager, Elijah Ball Jr. and John R. Miller. No middle initial is used for James Hall in this record. After James' name is listed 1 male 15-20 yrs., 1 male 50-60, presumably James himself, 1 female 5-10, 2 females 15-20, 1 female 20-30, for a total of six in the household. His wife Silence had long since predeceased him. It also listed one person in the family employed in manufacturing and trades. A close scrutiny of the 1830 census records for Worcester County did show a James Hall at the end of page 277 next to the bottom of the page for Shrewsbury. After his entry as head of household is listed 1 5-10 year old male, (William Eustis), 1 10-15 year old male, (James Munroe), 1 40-50 year old male, (James himself), 1 5-10 year old female, (Mary Jane), 1 10-15 year old female, (Anna Parker), 1 15-20 year old female, (Louisa Augusta or Sarah Zebiah, one of these two may have been married, dead?, or out of the house) and 1 40-50 year old female, (Silence, the mother). Silence Maria had not been born yet. Under categories at the end of the census James is not listed as a foreigner, naturalized, or freeman of color other than white. Therefore, I believe him to have been born in the United States. Also, no one was listed as deaf, dumb, or blind in the family. At the time of this 1830 census Shrewsbury was a town of 1386 people.
I, William C. Hall, feel that I have come across James Hall in the Worcester County census of 1820 in Sutton, Mass., a town that has had a great many Halls in it since the early 1700s. Two other bits of information are contributory here as I found no other James Hall listed in any Worcester County towns for this census period and the Parker family genealogy account has James Hall falling off the meeting house (not injured) in Sutton in 1828. At the time of this 1820 census report there was 1 male under 10 years of age, (James Munroe), and three females less than 10 years old, (Sarah Zebiah, Louisa Augusta and Anna Parker), and one female 26-45 presumably his wife Silence. Now, what is troubling is that there is no adult male checked off that would represent the father James. The answer I got to this question at the NEHG was that these were imperfect records and they probably just forgot! Could you be in jail, or have left the family, been in the service, worked elsewhere, or been dead and this is the wrong James?
In an e-mail communication with Bob Ellis, Northborough town historian, He felt that James Hall and his family were most likely borders at the homestead of Asaph Rice. He was a widower of about 72 years of age and lived on a farm on Lincoln Street. There were no other immediate neighbors and it is quite possible that James Hall could have grown crops there as were mentioned in his probate records. According to Mr. Ellis, Asaph Rice was the cousin of Jacob Rice whose daughter, Sophia married James Hall's son James Munroe Hall in 1840. He stated that Jacob Rice married his wife Nancy Barber of Shrewsbury in 1805 and their daughter was Sophia Rice. There is a photo of this Rice family homestead in the Northborough Historical Society. The original house "perished" according to Bob Ellis in 1900.
Personal communication on June 28, 2001 with Denis Laurie of the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, Mass. show that he found mention of James Hall's fatal accident in the Massachusetts Spy Aug. 25, 1841. His recollection was that he was hit by a timber and "lingered" for two days before dying. Also mentioned was a previous fall he had had working on another project earlier in his life. There was also a death notice. He also found the probate postings on Sept. 15 and 22 of 1841 as well as the postings on Sept. 14, 21, 28 of 1842. "If no claim against estate children would get inheritance."
William C. Hall personally visited the American Antiquarian Society on August 17, 2001 and found the microfilm record of James Hall's probate notice of September, 1841 in the Mass. Spy Newspaper. It revealed nothing that wasn't already known from his probate papers already obtained. The National Aegis, another paper in Worcester at the time, had James's death notice as of August 22, 1841 and listed his age as 53 years. In the August 25, 1841 Mass. Spy Newspaper there was a story of his accident which revealed that he was hit in the head by a timber while working constructing wood sheds for the Boston and Worcester Railroad in the rail yards in Worcester. He died two days after his accident.The newspaper article from 1841 about his death also commented on the fact that he had fallen "a few years earlier" from a meeting house spire in Charlton but was not visibly injured. This account is in conflict with the data from the Parker family genealogy which states that he fell from the meeting house spire in Sutton in 1828.
After a very rewarding consultation with Marcia Melnyk of the NEHG, I sent off, at her suggestion, for the death certificates of Wm. Eustis Hall and his brother James M. Hall to see if they listed the birthplace of their parents, most notably James Hall. I have received Wm. Eustis's report and it indicated an unknown city in New Hampshire. This I consider a real breakthrough! On March 18, 2002 Jeffrey Lee Hall cracked the case of the origin of James Hall! On information from his brother, William Carl Hall, Jeff located records in Concord, New Hampshire indicating that James Hall was the son of Timothy and Sarah Hall, and was probably the youngest of six children.
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1787 - 1841 (54 years)
