♂Moses Dudley

Moses Dudley (29 January 1766 – 2 July 1843) was a landowner of Raymond, New Hampshire, who bought half of his father’s farm and administered the estate of his father, the judge John Dudley (1725–1805). He was a brother of Nathaniel Dudley (1763–1844), the fourth great-grandfather of Nancy Jane Blanchard (1929–2006).

Birth and family

A family history published in 1886 gives his birth as 29 January 1766 at Exeter, New Hampshire, the youngest of the eight children of John Dudley (1725–1805) and Elizabeth Gilman, and his death as 2 July 1843 at Raymond. The same book says the family moved to a farm at Raymond that year, so he grew up there. It names his wife as Nancy Glidden.

The farm at Raymond

By a deed dated 27 April 1795, John Dudley of Raymond sold “my Son Moses Dudley of Raymond” one half of the farm on which he lived, two hundred acres. It was acknowledged on 11 May 1795 and recorded on 28 February 1807.

His father’s estate

The judge died intestate in 1805. On 14 June 1805 his widow wrote from Raymond to Judge Nathaniel Rogers that, “in consequence of my extreme debility both of body & mind”, she could not take on the administration, and asked that it be granted to the bearer, “my son Moses Dudley”. At a Court of Probate held at Exeter on 17 June 1805, administration of the estate of John Dudley late of Raymond, Esquire, was granted to Moses Dudley of Raymond, Esquire, who gave bond with two sureties of Candia. The inventory of 22 June 1805 lists 133 acres at Raymond with buildings, stock and furniture.

The next year, by a deed dated 10 March 1806, Nathaniel Dudley, then of Mount Vernon, and John Dudley of Mount Vernon, yeoman, sold to Moses Dudley (1766–1843) of Raymond all the land that fell to them in Raymond from the estate of “our late Father John Dudley Esqr. deceased”. It was held in common and undivided, and consisted of their shares in the Dunlop Lot and in the farm where Josiah Hook then lived, together one third of the whole. The deed was acknowledged at Rockingham on 14 March 1806 and recorded on 28 February 1807. Two shares making one third implies six heirs, which agrees with the family history’s statement that six children survived the judge.