1Joseph Gardner Bartlett, The Belcher Families in New England, NEHGR Vol. 60, pp. 246-247 (Jul 1906).
"24. REV. JOSEPH4 BELCHER (Dea. Gregory,3 Samuel,2 Gregory1), born Aug. 19, 1704, graduated from Harvard College in 1723, and studied for the ministry. After preaching at Walpole, Mass., and other places, he received a call to Easton, Mass., where he was settled and ordained, Oct. 6, 1731. He was a man of peculiar temperament, and was subject to periodical attacks of partial insanity, which resulted in serious difficulties in his church, and in his dismission on Apr. 16, 1744. Financial embarassments finally induced him, shortly after the death of his wife, to desert his children and flee from his creditors. He was for a while at Wicasset, Me., but on Dec. 3, 1757, acknowledged a deed at Taunton, Mass. (Suffolk Co. Deeds, Vol. 94, page 67.) His further history is unknown to the writer, but the Harvard College states that he died in 1773.
He married, in 1732, Deborah, born Mar. 8, 1710-11, daughter of Rev. Samuel and Hannah (Pope) Hunt of Dartmouth, who died Mar. 21, 1753.
Children:
i. HANNAH,5b. Jan. 23, 1732-3; m. in Bridgewater, Dec. 14, 1769, as his second wife, Capt. Moses Curtis of Braintree.
ii. REBECCA, b. Apr. 1, 1735; m. in Bridgewater, Jan. 5, 1764, Jesse Edson.
iii. "DR." JOSEPH, b. Apr. 1, 1735; served in Capt. Simeon Carey's Co. in two Crown Pint expeditions, in 1758 and 1759; settled, about 1762, in Stoughton, where he carried on a farm and also posed as a physician, his specialty being a quack eye lotion; m. Mar. 2, 1762, Abial Hollis, who d. Feb. 14, 1838, aged 94; d. Apr. 20, 1803. Eight children.
iv. BENJAMIN, b. about 1737 (?). A Benjamin Belcher appears on the roll of Capt. Simeon Carey's Co. in 1758, on a Crown Pint expedition. This individual cannot be placed unless he was a son of Rev. Joseph.4
v. GREGORY, b. Jan. 26, 1738-9; lived in Easton; m. (1) Deborah ------, by whom he had one child; m. (2) June 29, 1775, Elizabeth Pratt, by whom he had three children.
vi. DEBORAH, b. Mar. 31, 1741; m. in Bridgewater, Dec. 3, 1761, Seth Dunbar.
vii. SAMUEL, b. Feb. 4, 1742-3; d. Jan. 29, 1755.
viii. ELEAZER, b. Sept. 1, 1745; went to Stoughton, and settled in that part which in 1778 became Foxborough; served in the Revolution; m. (int. pub. Nov. 10, 1766) Elizabeth,6 b. Sept. 10, 1745, dau. of Timothy5 and Elizabeth (Partridge) Morse of Stoughton, who d. in Apr., 1838; d. Dec. 24, 1818. Nine children.
ix. WILLIAM, b. Jan. 29, 1748; is said to have been killed or captured near New York, in Sept., 1776, in the Revolution. (History of Easton, page 100.)
x. JONATHAN, b. in Feb., 1753; lived in Stoughton and Needham during the revolution, and rendered protracted service in the army; later setted and d. in his native town of Easton; m. Jan. 4, 1778, Abigail, b. in 1751, dau. of Daniel and Hannah (Rose) Corthrell of Bridgewater. They had issue.".
1John Emery Morris, Stephen Lincoln, of Oakham, Mass.,: His Ancestry and Descendants, p. 28 (1895).
"2. Richard Williams, baptized Jan. 28, 1606, came to America from Glamorganshire, Wales, and settled first in Gloucester, where two of his children were born. He removed to Taunton, where he was made freeman, June 5, 1644. He married, Feb. 11, 1632, Frances Dighton, daughter of Jane and Jane (Bassett) Dighton of Somersetshire, England. Her sister Katharine became the second wife of Governor Thomas Dudley.
He was one of the eighty purchasers of the tract of land bought of the Cohannet Indians, which became known as the "Eight Mile Square," and which received the name of Taunton at the time of incorporation in 1640. He was a representative to the General Court at Plymouth at fifteen sessions between 1643 and 1669, and Oct. 20, 1646, was fined twenty shillings for non-attendance, which fine was afterwards remitted. He was selectman of taunton from 1666 to 1677, with exception of the years 1669 and 1670; and April 2, 1677, was a member of the council created to regulate the distribution of arms and ammunition to the people should war offer an occasion. We do not know the date of the death of his wife. He died in 1693. He was a tanner by trade, deacon of the church, and one of the original shareholders of the Taunton Iron Works, receiving his dividends in bar-iron, at a good average rate on his investment.
CHILDREN.
JOHN, bap. March 17, 1634; d. young.
ELIZABETH, bap. Feb. 7, 1635-6; d. young.
SAMUEL, b. -----; m. Jane Gilbert.
*JOSEPH, b. -----.
NATHANIEL, b. -----; m. Nov. 17, 1668, Elizabeth Rogers of Duxbury.
THOMAS, b. -----; m. Mary -----.
BENJAMIN, b. -----; m. March 18, 1689-90, Rebeckah Macy.
ELIZABETH, b. about 1647; m. John Bird, son of Thomas and Ann Bird of Dorchester. He was b. March 11, 1641, and d. Aug. 2, 1732.
HANNAH, b. -----; m. John Parmenter of Boston.".